I have, thru the forum and looking at others cars taken bits from one and another car and came up with an exterior that I drool over everytime I look at it. Now it's time for performance mods. I don't want to start out to crazy so I have come to the 2 choices above. I already have a Halltech Trap. I was set with the cam and headers but then I had a lengthy conversation with a tuner on the east coast yesterday. He recommended the 4:10's instead of the cam. He has done this combo on many cars and the result has been a car that runs and always start's like stock and gains the TQ where most guy's that just run around on the street use it. I'm a first thru 3rd and shut it down driver. I do not do 160mph on the freeway, atleast not often. His point is that the stock tranny has 2 overdrives that are rarely used and the 4:10's gain gobbs of TQ down low where I am going to use it and with the 5th and 6th gears gas mileage is nearly unaffected making this a better FIRST mod than the cam. What are all your thoughts?
I live in the Detroit area and there are no good vette tuners around that I know of. This is the main reason for wanting to go with the gear first. Does anyone know of any in my area? From what I hear that tuning a cam in these cars can be difficult if they do not have alot of experience. And that our seasons change so rapidly that it may have to be tweaked for weather condition like summer to fall, or is this just not the case?


DROID

 

I'll say this once I WOULD NEVER PUT GEARS IN A Z06

Your car allready has an mn12 gear box w/ agressive gearing and can allready sping tires into 3rd gear. You currently clear 60 in 2nd and 100 in 3rd.

Now if you had a coupe w/ the MN6 gear box then a set of 3.90's are a great mod and get you on par w/ the MN12 gearbox.

I've ridden in an Z06 w/ 4.10's and it's has horrid... the car gets no traction and you're constantly shifting.

Don't ever run a road couse w/ this setup you'll quickly get the over temp warning in the gearbox.

Cam/headers is the way to go... you'll get 400-430rwhp depending on the cam.

 

(except 72mph in2nd ), and if you can't afford both cam and heads, just do the cam, i'm at 430rwhp with stock heads.

 

Go with the cam... with the right cam you can still have a modest idle, good torque, and loads of fun. I agree with 4.10s in the MN12 it will be a little excessive.

 

DEFINITELY go with a cam and headers. Like someone else said, I would never put gears in a Z06, the gearing is already aggressive enough.

 

IMO a gear change is ths most effective way to increase your acceleration in a straight line. Traction is an issue but if youv'e had a Z06 for any length ot time, your traction is limited anyway. Good Luck with your mods.

 

Yes... on a car is lacking power and proper gearing. For example, my '97 mustang cobra performed worlds better w/ a 3.73 gear over the factory 3.27's because it was heavy and a bit under powered. The gears really pepped it up.

On a Z06 you've got over 400 hp, 3100 lbs, and the optimal gearing allready in place.

 

4.10 gears have their place - and with a Z06 that would be only at the 1/4 mile track.

Otherwise your MN12 tranny is acting like 3.90s for the 1st 3 gears so what are you gaining by switching to 4.10s - nothing.

My vote headers, cam and some head work. Your car will be fast and if you ever want to do HPDEs then your gearing will be perfect.

 

3.90's or perhaps a 4.10 makes perfect sense for the base cars .... but, the C5Z already has the equivalent of 3.90. Don't mess up a perfectly good tranny/differential.

Now for the C6Z ..... I'd go with a 3.70 or 3.90 in a heartbeat.

 

I don't mean to sidebar the OP but i'm in almost the exact same boat. I have the headers already, and the next steps is gonna be $3-4k for the Head/Cam combo...

With pretty much the same question the OP asked except on a M6 '97 Vette what are people's opinion?

Thanks

Dan

 

^ Since you have the MN6 I'd go w/ 3.90 gears.

Actually... since I want big cubes one day I'd leave the MN6 w/ the 3.42s. I like a little longer gearing.

 

depends on your driving style. I have 458 rwhp with 3.73 gears. I had 4.10 which were fun from light to light or at the 1/4, but were not fun on road courses.

If you are going with a H/C package anyway then I would wait and see how you like it. You will not be saving money either doing it during the H/C or after so it makes sense to wait and see if your current setup satisfies your driving habits. If it doesn't then you make a decision from there.

 

Actually the 3.42s work nicely in the C6Z when you change the headers and do a tune. 4.10s would be over kill for that car, but I can see 3.73s being a decent choice.

 

I'm not even going to touch the bulk of these two posts, other than we have installed literally 100's of h/c pkg's and have never dropped the engine to do it and have not broke any sensors that I can recall.
We consider the cam swap a day job.



OH, cam over gears IMO.

 

I had to remove the car chasis to change a tire once, it was a lot of work, but I didn't want to scratch the paint with my 4way lug nut wrench.

 

FWIW, I have a different take on this. Had a bone stock 02 Z and now have a Z51 C6: same HP, same gears as yours. I am a road racer and HPDE guy.

My 02 spun the tires thru 1st every time, bone stock. The I replaced the GYs with Nitto R2s (305 rear and 275 front) on the stock wheels. Spinning was over. Just good hard pulls in each gear.

I just put 4.10s on my C6 + headers, 1.85 rockers, CAI, tune and FAST 90 + ported the stock 90mm TB. I dynoed 427 RWHP before gears versus my 355 RWHP stock Z dyno. I also threw on the Nittos in the aformentioned sizes on modified Y2K wheels (for correct offset) to deal with gears. The result is that this thing is a rocket. Sure, you're through 1st in a blink, but the feeling of thrust is incredible. Yes, you have to adjust your shift points on the road course, but you are accelerating harder in every gear, so you'll turn faster laps.

Your Z06s don't have enough gear; they just don't have enough tire. 4.10s, stock motor and Nittos will transform your car, straightline and in the twisties. Heck at least just get the Nittos.

 

 

4.10 gears for most tracks causes way too many shifts which increases engine heat and also decreases stability (adding shifts decreases the balance of the car).

The only place that I found 4.10s to be an advantage was at Limerock which is a small track and there is only one place that you shift into 5th gear. Outside of that Longer tracks like Watkins Glen and Pocono the 4.10s would run out too soon on the straights and there were too many places that the gear would run out too soon for the turns.

Go over to the Road Race section and see how many guys are running 4.10s and you will see no one is running them. Either we are all wrong or we all know something.

Sure you can make adjustments to your shift patterns, but why put more strain on your car when it is not needed.

I do agree 100% that the tires need to be changed.

 

I just had 3.90's installed in my H/C/ LT 03 and I absolutely love them!!! My debate was 3.73 or 3.90 - many suggested those were the "sweet spot" gears.

 

Yes there are shops local to you. Search or ask in the Great Lakes Regional Forum. I'm going to end up driving down there myself one of these days.