What to do?

[Daniel P.]

So I've got some money saved up, and I've been lookin at things that i can do to my car, which just has exhaust and raim air(that I know of, these were done before i got the car) and I no longer have the c5 rims, owner sold those before i got the car. The question is what now?, I have looked into headers, but i still owe my dad some for the car and he says to wait 30k and the exhaust will be shot anyway, so i should just wait till them. I know I know to each his own do what you want but i'm out of ideas. And also don't say that i should buy off the rest of my car cause i am working the car off

P.S. here is the car http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2111681

[Hotrod]

I don't know that I'd wait for the exhaust to "go out" before replacing anything, I'd buy the headers personally. But if your dad says no, then maybe buy gears or just buy a new set of rims.

BTW...that's a NICE looking car you got! Not too big on body kits on them but yours looks mean, and that hood is awesome!

[jerseymike02]

Nice car, I have the same hood..I just need to get it painted and put it on..

[SSzoe]

It all depends man....I personaly don;t think headers are all that and if you have a little money to spend like me here is what I did as my first (cheap mods)

Granatelli MAF or SLP whichever you prefer
SLP Smooth air bellow
C5 Z06 Rims- or once again whickever you prefer
Gears-Whichever you prefer 3.73's or 3.50's are common upgrades
Slp Cold air induction kit

Hope this helps its a pretty good start depending on how much extra cash ya got

[Daniel P.]

OK I'll look into the MAF , the holes int the raim air hood lead directly to and open air filter so the air induction and bellow don't do me much good.

[Capster78]

OK I'll look into the MAF , the holes int the raim air hood lead directly to and open air filter so the air induction and bellow don't do me much good.

Dont listen to this guy. Instead of buying usless headers (which will gain you about 15-20hp) he should buy a MAF on a mostly stock car (which will add just about 2-3hp). Makes no sense at all. Since you probably won't have enough money to build this car past basic boltons (unless you have the car for a long time). Id say get yourself the headers and make sure you change out that Y-pipe. Sometimes when someone does exhaust work to a car they just change the muffler and not that Y-pipe. If you do a full exhaust (Headers, Y-pipe, High flow cats) you should pull an easy 20+hp out of the car. If you can afford it get some DR's so you can put that extra power to use.

I wouldent bother with gears because your on stock suspension and they only really help if you have the proper suspension and will hurt you in the higher gears.

Just be carefull because cops love to jack 16 year olds insurance rates up and that exhaust will definatly draw alot more attention.

[SSzoe]

I personaly gained 15 hp with the granatelli maf,slp smooth air bellow and a tune! So I hate to say it man but don't talk sh*t unless you got the facts to back it up (header's still a waste of money to me )

But Capster did bring up a really good point..........build up on the suspesnion cuz that stuff helps out ALOT as well (doesnt really add any hp but it puts EVERYTHING your pushing to the ground which makes a huge differance)

sub frame connectors, sway bars, torque arms and stuff like that helps out alot as well

Still a big fan of the Granatelli MAF though

[ss~zoso~ss]

dont wait around for the exhaust to go it will last a while i had a 1998 with 65k on it and the exhaust was fine

[Capster78]

I personaly gained 15 hp with the granatelli maf,slp smooth air bellow and a tune! So I hate to say it man but don't talk sh*t unless you got the facts to back it up (header's still a waste of money to me )

But Capster did bring up a really good point..........build up on the suspesnion cuz that stuff helps out ALOT as well (doesnt really add any hp but it puts EVERYTHING your pushing to the ground which makes a huge differance)

sub frame connectors, sway bars, torque arms and stuff like that helps out alot as well

Still a big fan of the Granatelli MAF though

Okay, lets price this out..

Granatelli Maf $309
SLP Bellows $ 54
Dyno Time with tuning $150/hr
Z06 C5 rims $1200 (without tires)
SLP CAI $129.00
Gears (3.73/4.10) $230.00
Total = $1943

Gain 15hp if the guy tuning the car knows how to tune for a MAF. I read a thread here
http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread...ght=Granatelli
which tells you how many customers are not geting 15hp out of the Granatelli Maf because as Granatelli mentions, alot of tuners don't know how to tune for it. So you MIGHT get 15 hp if you find a good tuner (which are rare)

Or you can go this route

SLP Loudmouth exhaust system $379.00
Kooks headers, Y-pipe and high flow cats $1500
BFG DR's $300
Total = $2179

Difference of maybe $240 and a gauruntee of 20+ hp. A bad ass sounding exhuast system and some traction.

You decide.

[Daniel P.]

minus the high flow cats, where i'm at you're weird if you do have cats, unless it will cause problems?

[Capster78]

alot of states have emmission laws that require you to have cats. Random Tech's high flow cats are almost like not having any cats at all while adding a tad bit of back pressure. I lived in a state that required this to past the state inspection so I found a way around it. I guess you could gut your cats or if your in a state without crazy emmission laws go ahead and go without them.