If you had $5000 to spend on a 94 Z28....

**hix5000** · 05-15-2009, 01:18 PM

If you had $5000 to spend on a stock 94 Z28 (Lt1, automatic trans) what would you do?

Only rules; No selling the 94 and switching cars.

No money is to be spent on interior, stereo, or paint. Car has to be street legal and still pass a smog/ visual state inspection when done.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 05-15-2009, 01:25 PM

I'd sell the 94 and buy a 96-97 (if you prefer the LT1) or a 98 up LS1 car and start there.

Stock LS1 car is faster than a (lightly, i.e., bolt on) modded LT1 car. I know as I've had both.

96 and up is OBDII and all you have to do to pass is not have any codes being thrown when they plug into the ALDL (provided you go to a place where no one checks real hard) and the gas cap has to pull vacuum. LS1 is easier as that is what most of the tuners have programs for these days.

Trust me. I live in Tempe.

**mpfranks** · 05-15-2009, 02:00 PM

down payment on a 2010 SS

**hix5000** · 05-15-2009, 02:03 PM

I knew I should have added that to the rules! I get the logic behind the swap and I agree with you howevewr that's not what I'm looking for at the moment.

Alright new rule: no selling the 94 and switching cars.

**bigrondownhiller** · 05-15-2009, 02:28 PM

How many miles on it and what are you looking for out of it? Do you want to go fast in a straight line or have it handle better?

**67CamaroRSSS** · 05-15-2009, 07:43 PM

Regardless of what you do your biggest problem will be tuning it after you mod.

1st: Weld in subframe connectors. This will keep the body straight (provided it isn't already tweaked).

2nd: High stall lock up torque converter with accompanying tranny mods. PM me for a guy here in town who can do this for you. He has a mid 11 sec car and he did my tranny.

3rd: Gears. 3.73 will do nicely.

4th: Air box and elbow.

5th: Headers and other exhaust components.

Unless you can do your own install work you may run out of money. Otherwise add a cam into it.

**Z28Thunder** · 05-15-2009, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by 67CamaroRSSS

Regardless of what you do your biggest problem will be tuning it after you mod.

1st: Weld in subframe connectors. This will keep the body straight (provided it isn't already tweaked).

2nd: High stall lock up torque converter with accompanying tranny mods. PM me for a guy here in town who can do this for you. He has a mid 11 sec car and he did my tranny.

3rd: Gears. 3.73 will do nicely.

4th: Air box and elbow.

5th: Headers and other exhaust components.

Unless you can do your own install work you may run out of money. Otherwise add a cam into it.

All the mods mentioned are great. One question tranny builder you know ran mid 11's without a cam? I can see high 11's like .99,.95 and maybe pushing it .89... I know the stall will help the .60 and the 3.73's will help it get there faster. Just asking.

**67CamaroRSSS** · 05-16-2009, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Z28Thunder

All the mods mentioned are great. One question tranny builder you know ran mid 11's without a cam? I can see high 11's like .99,.95 and maybe pushing it .89... I know the stall will help the .60 and the 3.73's will help it get there faster. Just asking.

The guy I know has a shop here in the Valley of the Sun on the East side. Tranny's are a specialty (auto and manual). His car does have a cam in it as well as supporting mods. What I was illustrating to the OP was that dude builds a stout tranny. If he goes with a converter he'll probably need the tranny gone thru. My 02 had only 44,xxx on it and it neded a "refresh" when I did the TC.

To the OP: Doing a converter also implies a tranny cooler, especially here on The Surface of the Sun....

**c5z28** · 05-16-2009, 01:08 PM

used supercharger

**00z28bubba** · 05-17-2009, 01:14 AM

pocket it until the eco gets back on the rise. then full suspension and some light bolts ons if that stack of cash allows.

**hix5000** · 05-19-2009, 12:22 PM

Ok, sorry it took me so long to get back on this thread, work and my wife have been running me ragged.

I'm not looking to tear up the drag stip or do any kind of racing. Although an occasional trip to the strip will happen. What I'm looking to do is put some time and money into my car and just get some more performance out of it. I would do these mods one at a time as cash allowed and probably look to space it out over a year or so. So keeping that in mind what mods would you do in what order?

Going over what has been suggested so far:

Sub Frame connectors (I will also throw in rear lower control arms, and shock tower brace) $450. installed by me, welded by shop.

High stall converter/ Trans mod. Lets call this $1,000 parts and Labor.

3.73 Gears. I have a question on the gears I live outside the city and spend a lot of time on the freeway. Would 3.73 gears kill me on th freeway? Meaning am I going to be at like 4000 rpm doing 85?

Air box and elbow- "cold air" intake (no such thing as cold air in Phoenix lol) $100.

Exhaust (headers, cat, muffler) $1,100. Installed by me, welded by shop.

Cam- a cam would require a modification to my chip right? Do you have a cam you would recommend? Browsing around I found them between $200-$400, add $400 in labor lets say $700 total.

SuperCharger- that would kick a$$, however unless I lucked into an amazing deal I think that one will have to wait. Also I would probably have to grease someones palm to make sure that didn't get noticed on a visual smog inspection.

So far all this totals up to $3,250 (assuming I don't go with the gears).

Any suggestions on igintion upgrades? Would upgrading the brakes be worth it?

**buswwa** · 05-19-2009, 03:06 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-...ht_2478wt_1197
thats what Id do.

**c5z28** · 05-19-2009, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by buswwa

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2004-...ht_2478wt_1197
thats what Id do.

We have a winner, and money left over for suspension, etc..

**SSwt00SS** · 05-19-2009, 05:05 PM

id do jackshit with it. chances are it has well over 100k+ miles on it. the money you would dump into it, you would never get back. keep it stock. if you have kept it stock this long then there really were no plans to do anything to it...

save your money and invest/direct it towards something else...

**bowtieguy02SS** · 05-19-2009, 06:03 PM

agreed

**hmorris7000** · 05-21-2009, 05:00 AM

buy another motor

**XcamaroZ06X** · 05-21-2009, 07:55 AM

do what i did, and swap an ls1 in the beast, buy a wrecked ls1 camaro and have fun with it, its mostly time

**hix5000** · 05-22-2009, 10:29 AM

You know swapping out the engine for an LS1 especially one like that auction that comes with the harness and accessories is a pretty damn good idea. So maybe I go ahead with the body stiffening and suspension mods skip engine and ehaust mods and go for the engine. A newer ls1 should blow cleaner than my old LT1 for the smog sniffer shouldn't it? I doubt any visual inspector would notice a difference.

**Firebirdjones** · 05-22-2009, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by XcamaroZ06X

do what i did, and swap an ls1 in the beast, buy a wrecked ls1 camaro and have fun with it, its mostly time

I was going to suggest the same thing, find a donor car and swap everything over.

I was looking into this heavily myself and was very close to purchasing a complete drivetrain,,,til my wifes 97 Z28 was rearended and totalled,,,,so we just went out and bought a 2000 SS camaro. Couldn't have happened at a better time.