|
Post by hesaves on Feb 16, 2012 13:24:57 GMT -5
So here she is. I've got to do some research on it but, it has the SLP air cleaner box, C5 wheels (which I'm looking to replace with WS6 wheels ), and some sort of after market exhaust that I need to find out what kind. The plans are to upgrade the front and rear suspension with UMI parts and then upgrade the brakes. New rubber will be needed very soon, then I'll look at long tube headers, a new intake, the bigger Throttle Body, once that's done then JET Performance stage 2 ECM. That should do nicely, but I'm thinking the Trans and the rear end might need work (Beefing up) before I venture into the motor mods. So if anybodies got some ideas on how I should go about doing this that would be great. <>< Sean Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by JPACK on Feb 16, 2012 13:50:29 GMT -5
Nice. Got some solid plans ahead for the car. I would steer clear of the jet performance stuff. One of our sponsors here tunes with hp Tuners and you would be better off having him tune the car after you complete mods that require tuning.
Umi makes awesome stuff. Most of the suspension pieces on my car are from there. Excellent quality.
As for your trans, are you auto or manual?
Rear ends on these cars in stock form are weak and really not worth throwing anything at them. It isn't a matter of if it will break, its when.....
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 16, 2012 13:56:32 GMT -5
Nice. Got some solid plans ahead for the car. I would steer clear of the jet performance stuff. One of our sponsors here tunes with hp Tuners and you would be better off having him tune the car after you complete mods that require tuning. Umi makes awesome stuff. Most of the suspension pieces on my car are from there. Excellent quality. As for your trans, are you auto or manual? Rear ends on these cars in stock form are weak and really not worth throwing anything at them. It isn't a matter of if it will break, its when..... Thanks for the heads up on the JET stuff....it seems expensive so it's good I should stay away from them. Quick question, how hard is it to get the UMI stuff on? I might need to take a look at the overall health of my suspension and see if I require more work before I through the UMI stuff on. It's an automatic, so I really don't know where to start. I'm still trying to learn what trans is in it... I'm still a newbie so.... So is there a way for me to put a different rear end in the car or is that too expensive? <>< Sean
|
|
|
Post by JPACK on Feb 16, 2012 14:19:27 GMT -5
The umi stuff is really easy to put in and set up. That's one of my things I enjoy doing.
They sell packages which is really the best route to go to save some money.
Best bang for the money..... Adjustable rear lower control arms Adjustable panhard bar Subframe connectors.... A must have on these cars.... Bolt in ones... Tack weld in later Adjustable torque ARM and relocation crossmember. The relocation bar takes the stress off the tailshaft of the trans.
Your automatic is a 4l60e. It is all electronically controlled. Single best thing you can do for an auto car is get a higher stalled torque converter. FTI is our best option
The rear end.... Yeah the weakest link. The problem with them is the axle tubes being really small and flexing when you hook the tires good. Once that happens the gears will POP. Automatic cars are more forgiving and less shock.
Hey are expensive to upgrade to a more hefty unit. I went with a strange Dana s60 that I purchased through Clayton Racing. Plan upwards of $2k to purchase.
Doing the suspension and torque converter will make it feel like a whole new animal.
|
|
|
Post by PhoenixTA on Feb 16, 2012 21:25:15 GMT -5
Welcome to the boards! Always nice to see another Bird. Your car reminds me of my first trans am... I miss it Sounds like you have some nice plans for your build! I have a couple parts laying around if you are interested. a small cam, a set of ported heads, valve springs... Anyway as far as Power is concerned, the headers and intake will give you the most gain out of what you have listed. You would be surprised how restricting the stock exhaust is. As far as seat of your pants feel, you will notice the most out of the higher stall torque converter and or a gear change in your rear end. With those mods alone your car will feel like Jim said "a whole new animal." Your rear end will break.. with enough power... but you can baby it along for a while with a nice diff cover girdle. I was making 460rwhp and a little over 400rwtq with mine last year and didn't have any rear end issues. The fact that you are an auto vs. a six speed helps out a lot as far as rear end reliability. The torque converter takes some of the initial shock away from the rear end. As far as Torque converters, everyone has their bias toward a single company. I have had good luck with Midwest Torque Converters. They are out of Rockford, IL and have great customer service. I sent in a converter to have it cleaned up and re-stalled and got it back in two days. I hear good things about FTI, Edge and Circle-D as well. What are your goals for the car? Power level? Driving habits? BTW.. I noticed you said you are looking to change out your c5 wheels for WS6 wheels. The wheels wouldn't be c5 Z06 would they? If they are Would you be interested in a trade?
|
|
|
Post by david on Feb 17, 2012 10:33:08 GMT -5
Nice bird
|
|
bryceslu
New Member
NHRA Formula Sleeping...
Posts: 29
|
Post by bryceslu on Feb 19, 2012 20:29:14 GMT -5
So here she is. I've got to do some research on it but, it has the SLP air cleaner box, C5 wheels (which I'm looking to replace with WS6 wheels ), and some sort of after market exhaust that I need to find out what kind. The plans are to upgrade the front and rear suspension with UMI parts and then upgrade the brakes. New rubber will be needed very soon, then I'll look at long tube headers, a new intake, the bigger Throttle Body, once that's done then JET Performance stage 2 ECM. That should do nicely, but I'm thinking the Trans and the rear end might need work (Beefing up) before I venture into the motor mods. So if anybodies got some ideas on how I should go about doing this that would be great. <>< Sean Pretty much where I started with my car and very similar mods planned. You probably wouldnt need to upgrade the throttle body with those mods planned...just ported and polished. What intake did you want to go with...what year is your car?
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 19, 2012 20:30:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the pointers Phoenix. So I have Flow Masters on the car, I have no idea what style, but it's newer, the tips, pipes and mufflers look newer. I can tell right off the bat how small the stock exhaust is...so once the Trans and suspension are taken care of then the exhaust will be next. So what do I have to do to block off the EGR on the car? Is there something I have to do to the compy to remove the EGR? Also, when it comes to breaks I have a question. Right now I have some cheap looking drilled/slotted rotors that have seemed to warped. So the guy who had the car before me just threw pads at the car and I have some seriously bad pulsing in the petal. The guys at the dealership says the pads are fine and that rotors should solve the problem. I don't feel right just replacing the rotors and having the pads chew the rotors up. So if I'm not looking for huge breaking power on road course racing, just something that can help me out to stop at the end of a straight line run, what manufacture should I look at for rotors and pads? Phoenix...I'm not the greatest guy at telling what wheels they are. The 'vette guy I talked to just said they were C5 wheels. I'll post a picture. If you like what you see maybe we can trade I do know they are 18x9.5 wheels. <>< Sean
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 19, 2012 20:41:01 GMT -5
Pretty much where I started with my car and very similar mods planned. You probably wouldnt need to upgrade the throttle body with those mods planned...just ported and polished. What intake did you want to go with...what year is your car? I was looking at a LS6 intake and the FAST LSX intake, but with both I would need Fuel rail upgrades. If I go with the FAST intake then I have the option of the 102 mm that FAST makes. It's a 01 Formula.
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 19, 2012 21:04:54 GMT -5
More Pics:
|
|
|
Post by david on Feb 19, 2012 21:09:02 GMT -5
Nice
|
|
bryceslu
New Member
NHRA Formula Sleeping...
Posts: 29
|
Post by bryceslu on Feb 19, 2012 21:48:20 GMT -5
Pretty much where I started with my car and very similar mods planned. You probably wouldnt need to upgrade the throttle body with those mods planned...just ported and polished. What intake did you want to go with...what year is your car? I was looking at a LS6 intake and the FAST LSX intake, but with both I would need Fuel rail upgrades. If I go with the FAST intake then I have the option of the 102 mm that FAST makes. It's a 01 Formula. If its an 01 than you already have a LS6 intake and you dont have any EGR. I believe the consensus is that heads/cam would be first or same time as upping to a Fast intake. But of course everyone has their own opinion on the matter.
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 19, 2012 22:01:03 GMT -5
If its an 01 than you already have a LS6 intake and you dont have any EGR. I believe the consensus is that heads/cam would be first or same time as upping to a Fast intake. But of course everyone has their own opinion on the matter. Cool I thought I had an EGR because I have something coming off the manifolds to the rear drivers side of the motor. Is it some sort of smog control module? I had something like this on a 05 Trailblazer that on start up it would blow fresh air down the exhaust to heat up the CAT faster. What do you suggest with the heads/cam? <>< Sean
|
|
|
Post by PhoenixTA on Feb 19, 2012 22:12:21 GMT -5
If you are wanting suggestions for a H/C setup, we need to know what your goals for the car are. HP Levels? is the car a daily driver? Is gas mileage an issue? How high do you want to spin the engine?
|
|
|
Post by hesaves on Feb 19, 2012 22:41:36 GMT -5
If you are wanting suggestions for a H/C setup, we need to know what your goals for the car are. HP Levels? is the car a daily driver? Is gas mileage an issue? How high do you want to spin the engine? I would love to keep the car street legal(I have no way of towing her to the track ;D). Gas mileage will not be an issue because in about two months this car will not be a daily driver. What I'm worried about is doing this in the correct steps. I know that if I want the car to inhale better then it needs to exhale just as well. I also, know that first I need to get driveablity taken care of. So that means in the next few months getting the UMI suspension I want and then the trans taken care of. Then I'm thinking if I do the heads and the exhaust at the same time then I can kill two birds with one stone. If I've read right the LS6 intake is a good intake and I might want to look at a WS6 hood to aid with air flow. I have read that the SLP smooth intake hose helps also. To give you guys some background I started my major car work on Turbo Dodges...they are cheap and they go fast cheap. So I understand some of the ideas behind forced induction but I'm trying to wrap my head around NA setup. In a TD, there was no real gain from aftermarket cams so I never really looked and them and still need to understand what they do in regards to timing. In forced induction you need bigger injectors as you up boost, so do I need to worry about that in a NA set-up? Or do you worry about how much more fuel they deliver vs the PSI that they are? So to stay on point with this I guess what I'm looking for in the next year is some solid HP gains, maybe up to 400HP by the end of this year, because then through the winter I can save the cash for a new rear end. <>< Sean
|
|