Free Mod ?s

**robcas47** · 11-27-2007, 01:48 PM

came across the free mods thread a lil while ago and i was wondering how many,(if any), of these mods can be bad for a daily driver or just eventually harmful to the car. i'm saving up for a hypertech tuner and headers+ory. i plan on other mods but would like do get some of these done cause you can't beat free HP. should i wait till i get the car tuned right ? thing is that i'm deploying in about a month for a 15 month Afghan vacation and would like to drive this car to its fullest before i go. the rest of the mods will get done when i get back since i'll have the cash for it then. all i've done for now is a hooker aero chamber muffler and an air temp resistor. i'm sure a lot of you have already done these free mods so i appreciate your help.

**kool-aide** · 11-27-2007, 02:15 PM

well I did the !EGR, TB Bypass, and cut up the air box lid mods one night.

My car is a 99 Z28 with 97k. It feels fine. As to damage, don't know. IMO, you would have to tear down the engine before the mods and after to know if they really hurt. IMO the rest is speculation, and every one has slightly diff driving conditions.

I was in the middle of replacing the water pump and couldn't resist having the car torn apart not to do it.

I can say a TB port and polish is one that I don't know if I would do. Its one thing to screw up a piece of plastic, its another to mess up you TB. I doubt I would ever de-screen my MAF. While I don't agree w/ the "straight" air theory. I don't like the idea of stuff flying into my MAF wires.

Good luck

My brother has spent lots of time in Afganastan. I never heard him refer to it as a vacation...

God bless our troops...

**sroach20** · 11-27-2007, 03:25 PM

dont waste your money on the hypertech. youd be better saving the extra to get hp tuners or efi live. do a search on hypertech. the only free mod people seem to have trouble with is the descreening the maf. most say it doesnt do a damn thing.

**blue02Z** · 11-27-2007, 04:20 PM

do the heater hose mod

**blue02Z** · 11-27-2007, 04:21 PM

BTW- they are all worth it...every lil bit helps and ditto above, no bueno on the hypertech

**ApexVIII** · 11-29-2007, 06:40 PM

there are a few,
tb by pass,
fix the egr that hangs down in the intake mani

port polish your TB

but dont de screen the MAF its bad!

**Sunset T/A** · 12-15-2007, 09:22 AM

As mentioned above, I am one of those who had trouble with the desceening of the MAF, luckily I went the route of buying some descreened maf ends, in case it did not work, and was able to just re-install my stock ones. My car ran like crap.

**JL8Jeff** · 12-17-2007, 02:40 PM

I put on a lid, cut back the EGR tube, cut open the airbox base, put on a ported TB and all those mods increased my airflow dramatically. I was seeing 10-12% fuel being added while cruising so the car is flowing a lot more air and leaning out. I added longtube headers and I'm even leaner now! So I need a tune but I'm not sure if I'm done modding yet. The only thing I can think of that might cause a problem is the EGR tube mod. It looks like the tube is designed to catch any carbon deposits that could build up in the pipe and break loose. By cutting the tube, those deposits will go directly into the manifold instead of being caught in the bottom of the tube.

**craz1469** · 12-18-2007, 02:56 PM

Like said above HPP3 is a no go-----its shit. Spend the money on a real tune or better yet Hptuners or LS1edit. You will have to do a lot of reading and ask a lot of question but it will be so much better in the end. I descreened the MAF long ago and had no problems. But then again I felt no gains, so its up to you.

**robcas47** · 12-18-2007, 08:00 PM

hey thanks everyone, i've left the screen on and didn't mess with the egr. will wait on port/polish of tb for now. did the free ram air and ported the maf for now. cant wait to get LT and ORY. the tune will also have to wait till after the exhuast is done.

**ilikeppie** · 12-18-2007, 08:19 PM

I took the screen out of my MAF and lost power bad my WS6 lost to a regular TA and a regular Camaro afterwards bad idea oh and the Hypertech is a bad idea worst money i ever spent on a mod

**JoshieDoom** · 12-18-2007, 08:50 PM

Originally Posted by blue02Z

do the heater hose mod

What is this??

**Spaz** · 12-19-2007, 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by robcas47

came across the free mods thread a lil while ago and i was wondering how many,(if any), of these mods can be bad for a daily driver or just eventually harmful to the car.

none are harmful...

Originally Posted by robcas47

i'm saving up for a hypertech tuner and headers+ory. i plan on other mods but would like do get some of these done cause you can't beat free HP. should i wait till i get the car tuned right ? thing is that i'm deploying in about a month for a 15 month Afghan vacation and would like to drive this car to its fullest before i go. the rest of the mods will get done when i get back since i'll have the cash for it then. all i've done for now is a hooker aero chamber muffler and an air temp resistor.

forget about a hyper tech... get a good dyno tune...about $300 - $350 for one... wait untill you do the mods to do it...

**Kill98** · 12-24-2007, 03:41 PM

Are you guys claiming descreening the MAF is bad due to A/F issues, or are you saying it's bad for the MAF/car itself due to the possibility of stuff getting in there?

I descreened mine and haven't had a problem

**kool-aide** · 12-24-2007, 06:25 PM

i think one claim is it will allow stuff into the passage and hurt the wires. Personally any junk big enough to get through the screen sounds like a air filter issue. The screen holes are not microscopic, but they are plenty big compared to an air filter, even compared to a K&N.

I think the other claim is it promotes "straight" air flow. Personally I would say get it up on a bench that would allow you turn run "dye" in an air steam and see what happens. I'm not really buying that "straight" air theory. Maybe someone with a PhD in fluid dynamics would elaborate. I say de-screen would promote "better" flow in the center of the stream and still give you expected turbulance on the sides. But what do I know, I'm only a software KB monkey.

Can any one recall any make and model that uses a MAF without a screen by design? Like a Mustang, heard rumors the Vette doesn't, any thing? I think if you can find at least one successful car that has a MAF setup like ours that runs without a screen. It begs to say you shouldn't fear large objects killing the wires.

**craz1469** · 12-24-2007, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by ilikeppie

I took the screen out of my MAF and lost power bad my WS6 lost to a regular TA and a regular Camaro afterwards bad idea oh and the Hypertech is a bad idea worst money i ever spent on a mod

I hope your being sarcastic.

**ilikeppie** · 01-15-2008, 09:02 PM

it happened i swear their cars were a few years newer maybe i just needed to tune it up or something

**gspfunk** · 01-16-2008, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by kool-aide

i think one claim is it will allow stuff into the passage and hurt the wires. Personally any junk big enough to get through the screen sounds like a air filter issue. The screen holes are not microscopic, but they are plenty big compared to an air filter, even compared to a K&N.

I think the other claim is it promotes "straight" air flow. Personally I would say get it up on a bench that would allow you turn run "dye" in an air steam and see what happens. I'm not really buying that "straight" air theory. Maybe someone with a PhD in fluid dynamics would elaborate. I say de-screen would promote "better" flow in the center of the stream and still give you expected turbulance on the sides. But what do I know, I'm only a software KB monkey.

Can any one recall any make and model that uses a MAF without a screen by design? Like a Mustang, heard rumors the Vette doesn't, any thing? I think if you can find at least one successful car that has a MAF setup like ours that runs without a screen. It begs to say you shouldn't fear large objects killing the wires.

Ford, at least the 5.0 and older 4.6, did not use screens in their MAF's. I don't know why it's part of the LS1 MAF to begin with.... Like you mentioned, if it's big enough for that screen to catch it, your air filter sucks or you have a leak in your intake system somewhere.

**kool-aide** · 01-16-2008, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by gspfunk

Ford, at least the 5.0 and older 4.6, did not use screens in their MAF's. I don't know why it's part of the LS1 MAF to begin with.... Like you mentioned, if it's big enough for that screen to catch it, your air filter sucks or you have a leak in your intake system somewhere.

i have heard others say they have found grass stuck to it. Well, so have I. Not big blades like you rip off the front lawn, but big enough to question my air filter and intake.

I do wonder what people think about all the non MAF setups that have no screen to protect the engine? Think about every car you have owned and ask yourself what kind of junk got sucked into the engine, scary. Of course most of my cars were always old beaters, so who cares.

Well I used my MAF housing as a test for my skills at porting an polishing. I tried every thing I could not to descreen it, but no such luck. The first time i nicked it with the cutting wheel it was all over.

so now i cross my fingers and watch ebay in case i need a replacement.