Mod my car ;)

[Walkabout]

Hey all. I have my list of things to do with the car, but I thought I'd try this little topic out, and see what you all would do. At some point (not right now though), I'll be banging out the modding. So heres the parameters for this little hypotheitcal situation:

2002 Trans AM WS6, Automatic.
You have about 9000 dollars to spend.
Currently bone stock, to a paper filter.
About 70000 miles on the odometer.
I live in California and can't afford to take parts off of it to smog (Boooo).
Bonus: Where is a good full service performance shop around Fresno (sigh).

And that's it! The sky is the limit (and craptastic california smog laws). What would YOU do!? Thanks in advance for your input everyone

[99SNAKESKINNER]

supercharger.... 9gs and n cali . but they did do a sm0g legal ss n gmhtp . l00k nt0 that

[67CamaroRSSS]

1. Sub frame connectors. Not a go-fast mod but you'll thank me later.
2. Cutout (electric or manual). It added 15rwhp/19rwt to my (at the time) otherwise stock 2002 Z28.
3. Cat back exhaust. You already have the best years (2001/2002) exhaust mainfolds they made. Only legal headers in Cali are shorties and they don't do any better than the stock exhaust manifolds.
4. Big stall converter. Like 3400 or bigger. Also supporting mods to tranny (cooler + internal things).
5. After the stall you'll probably need rear suspension mods to keep it glued to the ground. All the HP and Torque in the world is useless if you can't hook it up. I'd go for an adjustable body mount torque arm 1st.
6. There are more things you can do (MT tires?) but the above will get you a minimum high 12 second time slip at the track and it can still be used as a DD and pass smog.

[Knight]

1. Sub frame connectors. Not a go-fast mod but you'll thank me later.
2. Cutout (electric or manual). It added 15rwhp/19rwt to my (at the time) otherwise stock 2002 Z28.
3. Cat back exhaust. You already have the best years (2001/2002) exhaust mainfolds they made. Only legal headers in Cali are shorties and they don't do any better than the stock exhaust manifolds.
4. Big stall converter. Like 3400 or bigger. Also supporting mods to tranny (cooler + internal things).
5. After the stall you'll probably need rear suspension mods to keep it glued to the ground. All the HP and Torque in the world is useless if you can't hook it up. I'd go for an adjustable body mount torque arm 1st.
6. There are more things you can do (MT tires?) but the above will get you a minimum high 12 second time slip at the track and it can still be used as a DD and pass smog.

+1. Can't recommend much better myself.

[RyanJM]

+1 on doing a supercharger. I wish I would have done a charger and the the bolt on later. If you can afford it the charger will give you big power and still pass emmisions also the sfc's would be a cheap add on and defiatly good to have with the new power your car will be making. Get the car tuned and have the tranny done at the same time. Just retuning the tranny on my car made a big difference. Shifts faster, harder and runs to 6100 before it shifts.

[Walkabout]

TLDR (please read the whole thing, haha) Version: Can Forced Induction be done within my budget (or without exceeding it horribly), where it has room to grow beyond, say, let's start with 450ish RWHP? I know, that's essentially a low number, as some of these set ups can make a ton of power right out of the gate, but I'm being cautious and picking a humble starting point. More is just fine with me, if it works out budget-wise.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was thinking about a lot of the bolt ons listed here. Have the SFC's in the garage already, just need to get them welded on, and a Magnaflow catback. I was waiting on a set of shorty headers to come out of BBK that need to pass the California CARB testing, but as has been said, the effectiveness, or lack there of, of shorties on our cars is a debatable thing, so that's not a do or die thing. I considered also changing the rear gears.

The car will see a lot of drive time still, so I don't want it to be COMPLETELY bad mannered on the street. Although, honestly, I just don't mind a little bit of bad street manners if it comes to that, haha.

That brings me to superchargers. Sigh. That's what I'd like to do. If not this round, then I'd like to build with it in mind. With that in mind, I thought at first it seemed like a 3400-ish stall seemed a bit much, but probably, if I go with forced induction, it's not right? Or even without for that matter; it seems like it works well in our cars.

But theres a sticky on the LS1tech board about "The real cost of FI", which has me a bit jittery about doing it. In that guy's case it's a turbo setup, but it seems like it's gotten away from him some.

Add to that the fact that I can't seem to find a good performance shop here in the Fresno area as far as doing work goes, let alone doing a tune for my car after something major like that. All I've encountered thus far (just my bad luck I'm sure, so no offense to anyone at all), are just complete monkies with sticks, who bang around and break something else, instead of fixing the minor problem that they got the car for in the first place.

Plus, I've been hearing the rumors about Whipple (who are right here in town) designing a tuner kit for the f-body LS1 here soonish. A whipple would probably be amazing, but thats not cheap at all, and no matter how good their kit is, I have a feeling it will involve at least a little bit of chopping on the car, and at the moment, I don't think I'm willing to do that.

At any rate, I digress. Forced Induction. Can I do that, and the supporting work, without it getting out of my budget too much? I know that depends on what I'm shooting for. Say, 450ish rwhp? With stuff on it for room to up that in the future if I want to. So I wouldn't want to end up with some type of Forced Induction that just can't give me anymore than that, if I decide to get more out of it. If that means I'll be running a mild setup with some equipment designed to be a little bit more powerful, then I'm fine with that. Nothing wrong with a bit of caution, haha. Anyways...what do you all think of that aspect?

[cammed goat]

With all the mods listed...I didn't see an upgrade mentioned for a differential. That would be my FIRST mod.

[67CamaroRSSS]

With all the mods listed...I didn't see an upgrade mentioned for a differential. That would be my FIRST mod.

At ~$3K for new (I know they only cost about $22-2400 - less if you find a group buy - but he doesn't seem to be a DIY'er so +install cost) that's 1/3 of his budget.

As an A4 with the mods I mentioned he could get by with the 10-bolt if he doesn't abuse it too badly. Anything more or any extensive track time and, yeah a 12 bolt or 9" is a must. Either that or you will have to continually change out the pinion bearing and crush sleeve (or go with a solid bushing).

If he was M6 a better rearend would've been right behind the SFC's.

[RyanJM]

My friend has a vortec and a cam on his Ls1 and abuses it once in a while with a 6spd and his 10bolt is still in one piece. Depends how often your going to beat your car. I have every bolt on and full suspension(springs,shocks, sway bars, lca's and panhard) sfc's are coming next. My A4 put down 339hp before a few other mods I installed after and a more aggresive tune witha 3.73 in the 10bolt. Should be at 450 by now. I beat my car hard and the 10 bolt is still together. 3200 stall is going in April then a medium cam. Shoud put me at between 380 and 390 hp. If I would have taken the money I spent so far on power bolt ons and the cam and install parts I could have gotten a supercharger and have more power and would have been less headaches

[Adam_94_T/A]

How about a stroker ?

[squirlnutz]

1. Sub frame connectors. Not a go-fast mod but you'll thank me later.
2. Cutout (electric or manual). It added 15rwhp/19rwt to my (at the time) otherwise stock 2002 Z28.
3. Cat back exhaust. You already have the best years (2001/2002) exhaust mainfolds they made. Only legal headers in Cali are shorties and they don't do any better than the stock exhaust manifolds.
4. Big stall converter. Like 3400 or bigger. Also supporting mods to tranny (cooler + internal things).
5. After the stall you'll probably need rear suspension mods to keep it glued to the ground. All the HP and Torque in the world is useless if you can't hook it up. I'd go for an adjustable body mount torque arm 1st.
6. There are more things you can do (MT tires?) but the above will get you a minimum high 12 second time slip at the track and it can still be used as a DD and pass smog.

best advise

[cammed goat]

At ~$3K for new (I know they only cost about $22-2400 - less if you find a group buy - but he doesn't seem to be a DIY'er so +install cost) that's 1/3 of his budget.

As an A4 with the mods I mentioned he could get by with the 10-bolt if he doesn't abuse it too badly. Anything more or any extensive track time and, yeah a 12 bolt or 9" is a must. Either that or you will have to continually change out the pinion bearing and crush sleeve (or go with a solid bushing).

If he was M6 a better rearend would've been right behind the SFC's.

My friend has a vortec and a cam on his Ls1 and abuses it once in a while with a 6spd and his 10bolt is still in one piece. Depends how often your going to beat your car. I have every bolt on and full suspension(springs,shocks, sway bars, lca's and panhard) sfc's are coming next. My A4 put down 339hp before a few other mods I installed after and a more aggresive tune witha 3.73 in the 10bolt. Should be at 450 by now. I beat my car hard and the 10 bolt is still together. 3200 stall is going in April then a medium cam. Shoud put me at between 380 and 390 hp. If I would have taken the money I spent so far on power bolt ons and the cam and install parts I could have gotten a supercharger and have more power and would have been less headaches

Ah...I see. As I read through the thread I began to remember other threads of rears going to scheisse even stock. I began to picture the rears grenading upon launch. That is NOT a good thing.

[c5z28]

10 bolt would last if you stayed away from the hard launches and lets say just road raced it
everyone seems to be pointing in a good direction, what do you intend to do to with it?

[pewterz55]

what about these rebuild kits for the 10 bolt? ive been hearing people talk about em recently. i think it was like 100$ and restores your 10 bolt back to new condition. not a bad idea when doing gear swaps if these work decently

[c5z28]

what about these rebuild kits for the 10 bolt? ive been hearing people talk about em recently. i think it was like 100$ and restores your 10 bolt back to new condition. not a bad idea when doing gear swaps if these work decently

Find it^
Problems are carrier is what breaks, and a personal peeve of mine is that supposedly the outer bearings don't ride on races but the axles so if the race gets macked up you don't by a new race but a new axle none of which are $100. Still like to see this kit.

[Cutlass]

what about these rebuild kits for the 10 bolt? ive been hearing people talk about em recently. i think it was like 100$ and restores your 10 bolt back to new condition. not a bad idea when doing gear swaps if these work decently

I think your just talking about a bearings and seal kit for rebuilding a rear end. It doesn't do anything to strengthen the 10 bolt.

[pewterz55]

O ok. Idk I just read on here a couple people bought "rebuild" kits for $100 and did it when they swapped. I figured it wouldn't change much

[Walkabout]

10 bolt would last if you stayed away from the hard launches and lets say just road raced it
everyone seems to be pointing in a good direction, what do you intend to do to with it?

Well, of the list posted by 67CamaroRSSS above, I have 1-4, (minus 2) ready. I'm thinking I will seriously look into forced induction, and what it will cost, out the door. My biggest concern, as I stated above, is the tune however. I need to find a good place around here that can do it without mucking it up. If I can get supercharged (or maybe even turbo'ed, who knows) within budget or close, I can add supporting stuff to it as I go, from there. Suspension mods for traction certainly, but I think first would be a good stall (perhaps the recommended 3400), and supporting tranny mods needed. I won't be beating it up too bad, so I would think the 10 bolt would last until I could get it changed out. Sound reasonable?

[RyanJM]

O ok. Idk I just read on here a couple people bought "rebuild" kits for $100 and did it when they swapped. I figured it wouldn't change much

I got a kit when i swapped out by bad gears. It doesn't make them stonger but after replacing everything it was quieter.

[c5z28]

Where in Cali are you there are a few tuners up north in the bay.
Building the tranny is a good idea I have a friend who just a month after a 3600 stall and a 228 cam broke it, granted he beats it like Rhianna.
W/ a s/c you need a fuel pump(more than likely a hotwire kit as well) and injectors. A friend of mine used 36lb's in his p1sc setup and ran out of fuel then
went up to 60lb's and the car won't run right(couldn't pull the injector back enough), someone said he had the same problem and went down to 42's. This shouldn't have been a problem since the tuner should have known better but hey what are you going to do? One guy w/ an m-6, longtubes, ls-6 cam, p1s/c is making 520rwhp on a stock bottom end.
An adjustable torque arm would be a great idea as well.
Ooh almost forgot supposedly people have been taking the p1's and having procharger turn them into d1's so they can keep the carb legal p1 housing, if 450rwhp isn't enough