Currently working between multiple different shops in the Raleigh, NC area & getting a lot of mixed feedback on what is truly needed to accomplish my goals.

Current mod list:

aFe Intake (Looking to upgrade to the Cordes 5")
Kong Ported Blower/Snout
2.3 Upper Pulley
Soler 107mm Throttle Body
Borla X-pipe
Cordes Expansion Tank
DSX Flex Fuel Sensor

I would like to be around 750RWHP with the next round of mods I do. I 100% want to cam the car & want the ability to run E, even if it requires mixing. I would like to avoid being fuel dependent on Meth, but not against it as long as this doesn't create more issues down the road (not super familiar with meth as I have never used it).

I already plan on adding the DSX low side fuel pump and 2" headers. What else is truly needed to achieve these goals in a safe & cost effective manner? Shops are giving me $15,000-$20,000 quotes & that just sounds extremely high after skimming through the forums and looking at other builds.
Also open to any shop recommendations in the area. Have already spoken to RPM & Mayhem.

Thanks in advance.

 

You should be very close to 700hp with the mods that you have listed. The cam, low-side fuel pump, and meth should easily get you to 750+. The cam and supporting hardware I would estimate to be about $1000, add another $1500 for labor for the install, headers are going to about $2k, $1000 for the DSX Low-side, plus labor to install, I don't know the prices of the Cords intake or expansion tank off the top of my head, an alky control dual nozzle kit is about $800 plus labor. Then figure ~$600 for tuning. Seems like $10k should cover it unless they are wanting you to add a HPFP and injectors, then you'd be in the $15k range, but I don't believe those are necessary to get to 750 unless you want to do it on full E85 and no meth.

My '16 Z06 has a 2.3 pulley, AFE intake, Kook's 2" headers, DSX flex-fuel sensor and low-side fuel pump, cords expansion tank, and an alky control dual nozzle meth kit. It makes right at 700HP and a little over that on torque. With the ported blower, TB, and adding a cam you would easily hit 750.

 

Currently the car is putting down 647 at the wheels. The shops around here are recommending I get CNC cylinder heads as well. Not sure if that is even necessary at this power level.

 

There's no way a reputable shop is installing a cam in a C7 for $1500. Unfortunately C7's are not cheap once you start exceeding 700whp.

 

Mayhem worked on my C7. Good guys.

 

I had the opposite experience with them when I got my flex fuel sensor and tune. The tune itself feels off. The car almost stutters in the higher RPMs. They also used self tapping screws to re-attach my side skirt instead of the rivets that are normally used. I also asked them to bleed my supercharger coolant tank and they failed to do so but still charged me for it. Needless to say, I will be taking my car elsewhere going forward.

 

The reason they are quoting you so much for the cam is the amount of labor it takes to install one. Look it up on YouT()be. It is a major pain in the....
Plus the demand right now is HUGE, and the 'You own a Corvette" surcharge. Then they need to pay the employees.
The Z06 cam isn't really that bad.Yes, it suffers a little on the intake side which costs you on the low end, but NOBODY has complained about the low end on a Vette since.... 1951. Wait there was no Vette then!
For 7 grand buy a Maggie 2650, a cam lockout and figure out how to tune it yourself. It does take an investment. But as they say after you lose to them at the track, " I do the work myself"

 

A cam and e85 tune should get you there if you add the lowside and headers. Meth is fine to use. I really doubt you'd need it though unless you were pushing for 800. You won't need heads either.
My cost was something like:

• 2900 cam/dod delete kit/trunions etc. / 2k labor
• 1k lowside / 300 labor
• 1800 headers / dont remember labor cost
• 1k for tune

I don't think you should be spending more than $10,000 to get to 750 whp with what you have now.

 

Yes! I want to learn to tune on cam/2650 LT4, Gen V none the less! That's a great idea. It's a small investment of 4-5 blown LT4s to learn on but definitely worth it. Teach my your ways JimmiT! Do you just scale the MAF or what?

 

Install a WB then remote tune with a proven shop.

I second the 2650 advice above. 2650 with an 80mm pulley, DSX low side, flex sensor, and big bore hpfp would be a very nice setup. Would prob support somewhere in the E50-E70 range and 750-800 rwhp.

 

I am definitely not a teacher! Or a professional mechanic! Lets get that out of the way first.
There are many ways to build a car and many uses for that car. It is always an it depends situation. I do not preach any gospel, that is for certain. And I certainly would never claim to have more experience, or know more than any of the shops that do sell their services professionally.
I will say this. Engines are fuel burners. Air and fuel are what they take to run. More air means more fuel can be pumped into the cylinder for combustion.

Intake - big tube allows more air. There is a sensor there, MAF, that measures the airflow. If you increase the size of the tube, you need to adjust the tune. Period.
Supercharger - An air pump that generates heat because of the laws of physics surrounding the compression of air.
Cylinder - where combustion takes place. Big combustion can cause big problems all the way down the line if the engine is not prepared for the big bangs.
Exhaust - this evacuates the spent gasses from the engine and out from under the car. Hopefully muffled a little so you don't harm you hearing.
Only 4 real variables, right!

The pro's are laughing at that statement because there are so many combinations. Your goals with the car and the amount of money you are willing to spend are the two first questions they usually start with.
The next questions are 'How reliable? and "How much ongoing maintenance $$$ are you willing to pony up?"
These are not simple questions to answer, and the answers might change over time.

I have a technical background and some mechanical experience, so I was will to do A LOT of learning and do it myself.

My Goals with the car are more likely different that 75% of the owners who modify their cars.
I wanted a little more power, with a supercharger that was better able to deal with heat generated, that is why I chose the Maggie 2650. It has massive cooling blocks compared to the 1.7 on the stock Z06, and can generate about any amount of power you can build. Right now Max power is not my goal. If I decide to go big later, I won't need to worry about the size of the air pump. 103 mm throttle body.

Intake - Part stock, part modified by me.
I have Kooks headers, x-pipes, into the stock exhaust. For me, it was the best bang for the buck, had the best reputation for fit and the install was pretty easy. I can have it catted or non-catted with a quick change of one of the segments. A really nice feature.
I am waiting on some other parts right now but have a stage 1 cam, 1 degree of overlap. I might move to a 0 degree overlap cam. I am not looking for huge duration and would actually prefer less lift and will probably sell this one and get a custom grind.
Why? High lift cams are harder on the valve system. I am not building a drag car. duration will flow plenty of air with a big blower for the power I want.

All LT4 owners should remove DOD. This exists only for fuel economy and makes the engine unreliable. Look up the lawsuits for "dropped lifters"
DOD. I use the plug kit

Cam issues as soon as you want more power- The variable valve timing VVT makes tuning the car ... difficult at best, and I follow the pack on this. GM says this help with low end torque and accommodates high end power. This car already has more torque than the tires can handle at low rpm's!

Cam phaser lockout., new lifters, trays, push rods, and lifter.

AEM wide-band installed in the exhaust.

I use HP Tuners to tune the car.
I started tuning by learning, adjusting, reading the results, and repeating the process. Tuning the car is what is the real time consuming thing and has the biggest learning curve. If you are willing to spend a decent amount of time learning the tuning software, you can do it too.
My track comment was not really serious. Neither my ego, nor my wallet is big enough to compete with any of the big shops. They sell an image. If the can claim big HP numbers, or low ET's they get people to buy their product. I am totally impressed with their dedication and I really like what they do. Without them, there would be no me. I ain't doing the research on what really works.

What I am doing is spending 1/2 the $$ for the work I am installing.

I could go on about driveline and traction, but my espresso machine is hot and I am ready for a latte!

 

Here is what you will need to make that power with no meth.

Cam and the required components with that, springs, pushrods, vvt lockout, dod delete, gaskets, etc.
low side
ati balancer w/ dsx 9.06 lower
headers
mm wild catch can
heat exchanger

That should get you there and you will be able to run 45-50% ethanol. If you do our intake it will do it with ease. If you add ported heads and upgraded to say the X port or Synergy race port on E50 it should land you around 800 rwhp, which is what we see routinely.

Since you have to blend ethanol if you want an easy solution to see E content I would do an aeroforce gauge and our behind the radio mount for it.

 

What about the procharger? I heard they can get 850HP from street unit with stock engine, but even more from race setups. It is a pretty involved install though..lot's to swap out

 

How many one went with these modes Upper lower pulley-

dsx supercharger lid-

meth kit-

air intake-

headers+xpipe-

Upgrade fuel pump
and what’s the power they made from them

 

5" intake
xported blower
2.3 upper
9.45 lower
cam and associated parts for dod delete afm delete springs pushrods che trunnion kit link bar lifters
ati balancer
thp port injection with e 85 analyzer motive ecu
vvt delete with katech billet cam cover c5r timing chain and sprocket
dsx aux fuel pump
headers
catless midpipe
107 soler t/b
stage 2 f/I interchiller with emp 29 pump all an12 lines
katech oil pump

did all of this in my garage with ZERO engine experience on pushrod motors. did the research and watched a dozen YouTube videos

results 775 on pump 93 @ 14 psi 18* timing 957 rwhp on e90 @16.5 psi 27* timing pulled 4.5* timing out tom make me feel better laid down 925 rwhp everything except the engine internals were used internals were all new but bought from people who paid retail for the parts sold the car then sold the parts to me for approximately .50 on the dollar. took 3 yrs to gather the parts list

its not that hard and I learned so much doing it myself. in my garage on my schedule and then let my tuner send me a startup file and broke it in. then to him for tuning. no way in would ever pay 20k for someone else to do the work and not know how it went together. dot to dot and send it is the motto for most shops nowadays


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