hotrod03

What was your Dyno results from the installation of the Halltech MF103 on a stock LS seven cam and exhaust. My heads have been ported and polished and mill 20,000 by American Heritage Performance. Stage four with Moldstar guides, PSI 1511 Springs and TI retainers. Going to do a dyno in March and wanted guesstimate on rwhp. Thank you for your input! 2013 vert hopping 485rwho

Suns_PSD

A solid guess is around 10-14 rwhp with your set up.

You chose well.

jaybee924

hotrod03

I would be really disappointed if that were true

MTPZ06

True gain from a CAI like the MF103...that's probably in the realm of very realistic. I'd say 10 hp. Why the disappointment??

All Dyno's vary, but if your car is 100% stock except for ported and milled AHP heads and an MF103...your car should realistically be in the 475-480 range. Again though, dyno's can vary greatly.

hotrod03

I Don’t ask myself why, but why not!! $500 for 10hp?? If that’s true, I’ll sell The CAI. Problem is, to see if i can get a before and after dyno. I’m hopping for 490. We will see soon. I hope your wrong, but it could be.

saplumr

Minimal gain from any CAI or exhaust regardless of what is claimed

hotrod03

Not sure I agree with that! Parts compliment other parts. If you add a cam and nothing else then I would say that it would not be much change. But in my case it wouldn’t apply ( hardly make any difference). Educate me!

saplumr

Adding a cam would not be much change but adding a cai and changing the exhaust will?? I obviously have it all backwards.

MTPZ06

Don't believe the 30 hp claims that CAI manufacturers make...that's pure BS. Bone stock C6Z, a tune is worth a very real 20 hp, and a CAI is maybe, maybe another 10 hp on top of that if you're lucky. The best advantage to a CAI is to use one that is insulated from hot under-hood air, and breathes plenty of fresh ambient temp air...which in turn will help keep IAT's in check to prevent the ECU from pulling timing (power) out of the car. Halltech MF103, Callaway Honker are top 2 on my list. Vararam works best for the 1/4 mile guys, but I don't care for their fitment issues and how the radiator shroud gets hacked up.

As for a cam in a stock C6Z....I can drop a mild/med cam in a completely stock C6Z, and it could easily dyno 50-60 hp over stock after tuning. Is there more HP that can be made out of that combo by adding complimenting mods (CAI, MSD/FAST, LT's, etc.)? Of course...

As for your heads...the porting also really needs complimenting mods to take full advantage of the porting (cam, MSD/FAST manifold)...but its worth some ponies on an otherwise stock car. You'll get more HP out of the .020 mill than the porting on your car IMO.

cv67

very few mods (esp bolt ons) do that much but can compliment what you change. Some add nothing but look cool

As Joe Sherman used to put it, "the more you have the more you get"

i woulndt waste a dime dynoing a CAI or catback mph always tells the story

mikecronis

It's true. Several posts showing various setups with CAI vs stock and no results of improvement on the dyno in every case, usually a loss with a CAI. One, I think Vaaram got a 1-2Hp gain with mods on top of mods with stock.

Port & Polish might get you 9Hp.

zzjakect

I added Vararam and LG longtube headers then had it tuned by LG Motorsports north of Dallas. They got my LS2 to 369HP on their dyno. Not sure the type of machine they used but it took them 8 hours of tuning.

zzjakect

Sorry it is upside down

Apocolipse

Stock CAI is not a restriction...nor is the stock exhaust for the stock cam.

Redat11k

Let me tell you a quick story about a boy who spent upwards of 5k dollars on the absolute BEST bolt ons you can potentially buy for a car...

This was on a much different car (2004 S2000) however I went out and bought the absolutely expensive parts I could get my hands on directly off of touge cars from the Js racing catalog. Js carbon intake, Js header and the Js catless one piece titanium exhaust.

Slap them all on and without a tune, I actually lost power and was running lean. After a tune and 5k in parts + another 750 for a piggy back and another 600-1000 for installation of said piggy back and tuning.

The car picked up about 30whp, I attribute all 30 of those ponies to losing the catalytic converter.

Now the car did also shave 50+ lbs off the car... (header back exhaust was 9 lbs). But you get my point.

What's the moral of this story? If you want to modify your car there's a few outlooks to take.

1. If you want or have a power goal prepare to spend some serious money. (I ended up about 30k dollars into a motor build, FI, fuel setups ETC) and am now parting out the car for a fraction of the price.

2. Modify your car for a specific class. Be it autocross, road course or the drag strip. Be prepared to spend serious money... Unless you stay in stock class

3. Just modify and slap parts on and enjoy the ride, the every day enthusiast won't notice 10 horsepower in the seat of their pants. You're not slapping on a GTX3582r, if you like the part aesthetically and/or want the engine to make a bit more sound. Enjoy it, it's 500$ on a vastly more expensive investment. FBO is honestly some of the most fun times I've had in cars. They are also the most reliable, don't set expectations just enjoy it didn't lose power.

jaredtxrx

But this case (although somewhat valid) is for an S2000, which is NOTORIOUSLY bad for modding. Honda pretty much nailed that motor from the factory and is so high strung OEM that is takes A LOT of work to get any power out of it.

As far as the OP is concerned. An LS3 intake is pretty solid from GM. You can maybe get a little bit out of a good aftermarket but it is minimal and you will need a tune to get the most out of it. The biggest thing is getting rid of the cats, that is the restriction and of course a tune is mandatory for this one. An LS2 (as shown by zzjacket) will benefit more from a new air intake as the LS2 design is pretty bad from the factory.

If you really want to see some gains w/out spending a ton of money get longtube headers with either high-flow or no cats and a good dyno tune.

gliot1

Over my years I have seen most folks believe what each bolt on piece manufacturer says and add it all up. I had one buddy who believed in simple bolt ons on a '70 454 Camaro gave him 200 HP more, yet he never dynoed it, so I would just laugh. Yes everything has to work in conjunction properly to achieve max results. In my case, the HP of stock Vettes is plenty, and the only reason I did a cold air intake was for looks and a new exhaust for sound. If I gained a couple of ponies so be it, but like others have noted, most people cannot feel or tell the difference. Many never even race their cars which confuses me further. We also have a few folks in our club that have to have the most powerful Vette, even though they never race. To me, they have small ***** syndrome in many cases....you can spend a lot of money in that chase to achieve small results as noted above!!!! If you want one that is an awesome amount of HP and reliable with a factory warranty, go buy the new ZR1 or a Z06. You could buy a GS, then as noted above spend $30k and still not get to what the Z06 or the ZR1 offer. In my case, I would be happy with what the new GS offer for the buck, and not feel the need to keep bolting on stuff.