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It's cheesy yes I know. But I have a couple of reasons.
Obviously I get a nerdy thrill out of being able to tell someone I have a 436 horsepower c6, which is clearly misleading.
Additionally, as I'm sure some of you can relate, once I start to modify a car, it turns into a never ending thing which results in an unreasonably fast car that I've spent an unreasonable amount of money on. I want to maintain something thats fast but also maintain drivability & reliability.
Then there's the concept of usable power on the streets. I don't want to give up second gear or put race tires on the car, but I do want to run 11's and be able to have a competitive car on the road course 2x a year or so. I think the numbers I'm shooting for are sort of a sweet spot for the above desires. I should also say that I plan to hit my arbitrary number on a dyno dynamics hearbreaker dyno. So take that for what you will. It will read lower than a dj under the same conditions.
I wanted to make this thread to document my own progress and maybe give others an idea of what it takes. Dollars, time, trade offs on reliability and or drivability, and most important.... Will it be enough to satisfy me?
My goal is to hit this number with a full set of bolt ons, 93 octane, and a tune, but I believe I'll be pushing it on the particular dyno dyamics that I'm wanting to hit the number on. If I do a cam it will be something tame.
When I picked up the car (08 z51 with a 6 speed), it only had a BB Bullets axle back. It made 396whp and 398wtq on Mayhem Motorsports DJ, and then 414whp 412wtq with the addition of a halltech superbee and a 93 octane dyno tune by the guys up at Mayhem (super nice guys, never too busy to answer umpteen questions from an eager owner). Also went ahead and switched the tranny fluid over to syncromax in hopes of a smoother shift.
Dyno attached. I don't have any image for the baseline.
Next up will be a set of lg or kooks 1 3/4" longtubes and a retune. Still not sure if a ported throttle body or intake manifold is worth the $$ on an NA project. Any warnings, advice, criticism, whatevra is welcome.
Edit - Updated title... Currently still at the power levels shown in the dyno above... I am adding Mamofied Trick Flow 255's, 227/236 Cam, Rick Crawford Rod Mod Intake, RCR throttle Body, 10% underdrive and stainless works headers. My goal is 505whp on a stingy dyno and 130+ MPH trap speed. Car is intended to be a balanced twisty road/road course/daily drive beast, that can hold it's own in mexico.
asking if it will satisfy you is impossible to answer.
my 07 ls2 is right at 430 whp and I'm happy but i dont drag race it i rail the back roads and its great, but then i get on my yamaha R1 and the car feels like a pickup truck so it's all relative.
my car:
07 ls2
dynatech 1 7/8" headers, highflow cats, corsa (extreme i believe)
cam (dont know specs bought it with it in there but its mild)
ported intake
cold air
ported throttle body
tune
430hp 430? tq something like that i havent looked at the sheet in a while i'll dig it up tonight
I got a dyno sheet that says 575, without a blower! The shop does my work, rented their dyno to a guy that went in and jacked with the calibration to show higher numbers. Really pissed off the guy that owned the dyno because he had to pay to get it re calibrated
.
Thanks for the replies guys. The "will it satisfy me?" Part was a question to myself that will be answered throughout the progression of the thread. Although I'm pretty sure I already know the answer.
Thanks for the replies guys. The "will it satisfy me?" Part was a question to myself that will be answered throughout the progression of the thread. Although I'm pretty sure I already know the answer.
your car will run 11's the way it sits now with no further mods required
your car will run 11's the way it sits now with no further mods required
still waiting for a driver mod to pop up in the for sale section!
In all seriousness though, I know it's capable of high 11's now. I just need to find a night that one of the strips here in NC is open so I can run it.
Daniel very well written post and all to familiar to me personally. I bought my 08 Z51 6 speed coupe in 09 and swore I was going to leave it stock but like you I soon wanted a little more. It started with a cold air intake, Kooks 1 3/4 headers and a dyno tune. That made 138 WHP on a Mustang dyno (up from 394 stock) and that worked for a while. Even at this level I was having trouble hooking the stock Goodyear tires from a 1st gear roll. Six months later I read Spinmonster's recipe for getting 500 WHP out of a LS3 and I was off to the races again. Spin's modification formula was successful and along with using his traction monster formula all that extra power was usable on the street. That set of modifications have worked for me until now with a very drivable street car that has had no mechanical problems. Depending on how much power you want to make the LS3 really responds to more cam and compression.
Originally Posted by danielwebb
It's cheesy yes I know. But I have a couple of reasons.
Obviously I get a nerdy thrill out of being able to tell someone I have a 436 horsepower c6, which is clearly misleading.
Additionally, as I'm sure some of you can relate, once I start to modify a car, it turns into a never ending thing which results in an unreasonably fast car that I've spent an unreasonable amont of money on. I want to maintain something thats fast but also maintain drivability and reliability.
Then there's the concept of usable power on the streets. I don't want to give up second gear or put race tires on the car, but I do want to run 11's and be able to have a competitive car on the road course 2x a year or so. I think the numbers I'm shooting for are sort of a sweet spot for the above desires. I should also say that I plan to hit my arbitrary number on a dyno dynamics hearbreaker dyno. So take that for what you will. It will read lower than a dj under the same conditions.
I wanted to make this thread to document my own progress and maybe give others an idea of what it takes. Dollars, time, trade offs on reliability and or drivability, and most important.... Will it be enough to satisfy me?
My goal is to hit this number with a full set of bolt ons, 93 octane, and a tune, but I believe I'll be pushing it on the particular dyno dyamics that I'm wanting to hit the number on. If I do a cam it will be something tame.
When I picked up the car (08 z51 with a 6 speed), it only had a BB Bullets axle back. It made 396whp and 398wtq on Mayhem Motorsports DJ, and then 414whp 412wtq with the addition of a halltech superbee and a 93 octane dyno tune by the guys up at Mayhem (super nice guys, never too busy to answer umpteen questions from an eager owner). Also went ahead and switched the tranny fluid over to syncromax in hopes of a smoother shift.
Dyno attached. I don't have any image for the baseline.
Next up will be a set of lg or kooks 1 3/4" longtubes and a retune. Still not sure if a ported throttle body or intake manifold is worth the $$ on an NA project. Any warnings, advice, criticism, whatevra is welcome.
Daniel very well written post and all to familiar to me personally. I bought my 08 Z51 6 speed coupe in 09 and swore I was going to leave it stock but like you I soon wanted a little more. It started with a cold air intake, Kooks 1 3/4 headers and a dyno tune. That made 138 WHP on a Mustang dyno (up from 394 stock) and that worked for a while. Even at this level I was having trouble hooking the stock Goodyear tires from a 1st gear roll. Six months later I read Spinmonster's recipe for getting 500 WHP out of a LS3 and I was off to the races again. Spin's modification formula was successful and along with using his traction monster formula all that extra power was usable on the street. That set of modifications have worked for me until now with a very drivable street car that has had no mechanical problems. Depending on how much power you want to make the LS3 really responds to more cam and compression.
thanks for that. Now I'm scared to even search on the 500rwhp formula you mentioned
your first #'s are BS 396-398 with those mods no way. you do know that your talking to people who do a cam job in our driveways and some of us change them out more often then some people change there socks.
If dyno numbers are what you are going for a ported ls3 manifold I can be had for fairly cheap. If you are doing some quarter mile passes I'd say go for a fast 102. It really woke my car up. Didn't show too much on the dyno though for peak numbers.
My car is auto and going through a 4000 converter but made 408/408 with headers/airaid intake 91 octane. Then added a fast 102 and swapped over to a vararam and it did 417/402
your first #'s are BS 396-398 with those mods no way. you do know that your talking to people who do a cam job in our driveways and some of us change them out more often then some people change there socks.
I don't think his #'s are that far out of line for an M6 on a Dynojet. He did buy the car used, it could possibly have had a tune in it already.
If dyno numbers are what you are going for a ported ls3 manifold I can be had for fairly cheap. If you are doing some quarter mile passes I'd say go for a fast 102. It really woke my car up. Didn't show too much on the dyno though for peak numbers.
My car is auto and going through a 4000 converter but made 408/408 with headers/airaid intake 91 octane. Then added a fast 102 and swapped over to a vararam and it did 417/402
ive been looking at the fast 102. It seems like the reviews are mixed. Some people saying it makes no real appreciable difference while others say the dyno numbers don't tell the whole story.
ive been looking at the fast 102. It seems like the reviews are mixed. Some people saying it makes no real appreciable difference while others say the dyno numbers don't tell the whole story.
my argument to that is if i cant feel it (seat of the pants) then who cares what the dyno says, if you cant "feel" it, its not there to me. but theres plenty of people that just like posting up numbers.
keep in mind that its not always just 1 mod that makes the power. so just a 102 isnt going to be anything special if you're using a factory airbox etc. its all part of a system. I've heard great things about the ported 102 but nothing spectacular if you already have a ported stock intake.
my argument to that is if i cant feel it (seat of the pants) then who cares what the dyno says, if you cant "feel" it, its not there to me. but theres plenty of people that just like posting up numbers.
keep in mind that its not always just 1 mod that makes the power. so just a 102 isnt going to be anything special if you're using a factory airbox etc. its all part of a system. I've heard great things about the ported 102 but nothing spectacular if you already have a ported stock intake.
For sure. Even though you might not see the SOTP represented in a peak number, you should be able to see it on a dyno overlay. And that's one odd thing about this place. Yes some people (lots actually) post dynos, but there are certain items that sem to be tough to find a dyno graph overlay for.
You need to uncork the bottlenecks to airflow in the proper order. Manifolds are the bottleneck on even stock cam. Then the cam becomes the bottleneck. On the ls 3 the intake and heads are really good and a cam only car can get 525 rwhp. I would only put on a FAST on the ls3 on an all out build and I'd do it after the electric water pump. Installing a FAST on a stock cam ls3 is a waste as the stock intake already flows more than the cam will let in and the intake is a good design for the heads (the heads are a great design as well for that matter).
The best mods for seat of the pants that you really feel are:
1. Headers
2. 4.10 gears
A CowBooster or the other plug in throttle response devices have MORE SOTP effect than any mod including the mods listed above. They make the car feel 500 lbs lighter in any circumstance. At WOT they have no effect of course but for tooling around town they make the car feel really peppy.
09-16-2016, 12:38 AM
Journey to 505whp - Mamofied TFS 255's + Cam, UPD, RCR Intake/TB
