My 2004 stock GTO.

**shadowslake** · 04-26-2011, 07:28 AM

Ok so my questions are many. I have had the car for less than a year. The car has a LS1 with Automatic trans. As far as I know the car is bone stock. The dealer boasted 400 HP. I asume that is flywheel. That being a generous est at best. I would like clarification if anyone know true specs.

The car performs well (Dry weather). This car begs for corners as well as acellerates nicely for a pure stock car. Turn the Traction control off and tire spin becomes a problem. Geez I wonder why. We have a local 1/8 mile track. Keep in mind the car has way more top end than botom end. My times with the TC on looks like this.

9.14 sec
9.15 sec
9.13 sec

Keep in mind that I am not experianced in raceing so my reaction times were all .6 sec give or take a few hundreds. The true performance of the care is atleast half a seccond less than my times. I think this is fairly respectable for a bone stock car and we are talking about the 1/8 mile not the 1/4.

What I am looking for is sugestions for upgrades that will improve my preformance both acelleration and handling. Would be nice to be able to turn the TC off. Most tires I have looked at were either designed for the street or the strip. Keep in mind that I drive the car daily to work as well as haul my kids around in the back seat. A nice rumble would be good to... but don't want to wake up my neighbors in the morning. Something that sounds good acellerating but not over zealous. I am looking for tested products by you that you reccomend. Keep in mind that I dont want to shorten the life of the vital componets like engine transmition etc.

**rc74racer** · 04-26-2011, 09:21 AM

The advertised stock HP at the crank is 350hp for an 04 GTO LS1. The 05/06 LS2 cars have 400hp.

Your times seem slow to me you should be under 9 secs in the 1/8. Your reaction times have nothing to do with your times the time starts when you leave the beams. I'm sure TC had a lot to do with the bad times you need to turn it off and use your foot to control wheel spin. Your 60ft times will tell the tale the lower you get them the better your times will be.

The biggest bang for your buck IMO as far as acceleration is concerned will be a stall, A4s really wake up when stalled. A catback will give you some sound but not much in the way of performance. A good airbox will give you more HP then a catback and is another good bang for the buck mod you can do yourself easily. Headers are a great mod too and when hooked up to the right exhaust will not be too loud.

**shadowslake** · 04-26-2011, 09:31 AM

I was wondering about a turbo system... not sure that is the way I desire to go... Dont wish to rebuild the engine so not sure how much the stock LS1 can handle. I will try the other mods you mention. I went bounceing aroudn the internet... Kinda hard to filter through all the junk and get something that will fit my application and car well. I am open to some product sugestions. I am not sure what is junk out there or what is good.

Also will a stall be driveable daily?

**Rob** · 04-26-2011, 10:23 AM

A tune for an '04 A4 GTO will net a huge gain. Torque Management is terrible on those.

Using the traction control is also killing performance. It yanks out a ton of timing.

What are your realistic plans for the car? Then you can plan for it.

**mark21742** · 04-26-2011, 10:56 AM

1st off I'd go with an exhaust and headers of you can, you font need a tune for this, but would see a good gain from a tune.
2nd id go for a 3,600-4,000 stall, you do need a tune with this, and you will NEED a tranny cooler.

Next poly brushing and springs and shocks..

**rc74racer** · 04-26-2011, 11:15 AM

A lot of people daily drive stalled cars. I don't think I'd go as high a 4k maybe 3600.

**shadowslake** · 04-26-2011, 12:11 PM

So to sum things up.

1) Get the car tuned because factory tune sucks. (Increaced performance)
2) 3200-3600 staul. (Leaveing harder)
3) Better tires. (still need sugestions on something that performs well on the road as
well as playing on weekends at the track1)
4) Exaust system upgrade with headers. (More HP and better sounding)
5) Suspention upgrade. (Beter traction and launch)
6) Turbo below 8 psi but only after doing the rest.

Did i miss anything or get something wrong? Also I am open to tire selection sugestions. I want something that will drive good daily even in rain but do well with the TC turned off.

Also has anyone tested stock motor with this setup?

http://www.airpowersystems.com/ls1/us_gto.htm

Was wondering if I needed to build the motor up for it.

**mark21742** · 04-26-2011, 12:41 PM

I don't think you can even get the APS system anymore, but there are some nice turbo setups out there

**rc74racer** · 04-26-2011, 01:18 PM

I agree I don't think APS is making those kits anymore. They were having all sorts of issues with the turbos failing. It's tough to find a good turbo kit you are better off having one fabricated. I personally would not do a turbo. I would do a supercharger, procharger and magnuson both make excellent systems for a GTO. If you go forced induction it's going to get very expensive. Your rearend, transmission, etc...will all need to be upgraded. You can still daily drive them though there is a supercharged GTO and another guy with a twin turbo C6 vette in my area both driven daily. These types of cars are no fun when it gets wet TC or not.

It's your money but I'd really figure out what is most important to you in a car and go from there. You don't want to dump a bunch of money it and find out it's not what you want because you will never get that money back out of it. You say you want something that accelerates good but not over zealous yet your talking turbos. Do you really want a 500hp 11 sec car that you drive daily? If you do forced induction is the way to go. If not you can build a nice 12 sec ride with bolt ons and a good tune.

**mark21742** · 04-26-2011, 01:37 PM

One of these days I will have a big twin turbo setup on my big cam high compression 408 that I have now

**shadowslake** · 05-06-2011, 08:18 AM

One more question. I have never used one of those computers to tune a car. Is there one that would be recommended for a noob like myself. I am fairly intelegent... just cant spell.

**cammed goat** · 05-06-2011, 08:32 AM

Some folks will say Diablo tuner. I haven't heard any negatives about it.

**shadowslake** · 05-06-2011, 09:05 AM

What are the dangers? Can you break your car if done wrong?

**mark21742** · 05-06-2011, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by shadowslake

What are the dangers? Can you break your car if done wrong?

short answer is yes... but I'd recommend hptuners

**cammed goat** · 05-06-2011, 09:48 AM

If I had the software, and knew what I was doing, I would use HPT again for the new motor in mine.

**2002ssslp** · 05-21-2012, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by shadowslake

Ok so my questions are many. I have had the car for less than a year. The car has a LS1 with Automatic trans. As far as I know the car is bone stock. The dealer boasted 400 HP. I asume that is flywheel. That being a generous est at best. I would like clarification if anyone know true specs.

The car performs well (Dry weather). This car begs for corners as well as acellerates nicely for a pure stock car. Turn the Traction control off and tire spin becomes a problem. Geez I wonder why. We have a local 1/8 mile track. Keep in mind the car has way more top end than botom end. My times with the TC on looks like this.

9.14 sec
9.15 sec
9.13 sec

Keep in mind that I am not experianced in raceing so my reaction times were all .6 sec give or take a few hundreds. The true performance of the care is atleast half a seccond less than my times. I think this is fairly respectable for a bone stock car and we are talking about the 1/8 mile not the 1/4.

What I am looking for is sugestions for upgrades that will improve my preformance both acelleration and handling. Would be nice to be able to turn the TC off. Most tires I have looked at were either designed for the street or the strip. Keep in mind that I drive the car daily to work as well as haul my kids around in the back seat. A nice rumble would be good to... but don't want to wake up my neighbors in the morning. Something that sounds good acellerating but not over zealous. I am looking for tested products by you that you reccomend. Keep in mind that I dont want to shorten the life of the vital componets like engine transmition etc.

Headers, Air intake system and Frost tune should give you 40 - 50 HP. Cast is under 1k