Prioritizing My Mods... a little help please.

[Naaman]

Alright, my goal is to make my daily drover as potent on the street as possible, while improving or at least maintaining practicality.

My understanding is that if I improve air flow, I improve fuel efficiency. With a tune, I can improve performance and economy at the same time.

The mods I'm looking at doing are the following:

Ram Air Hood
Air Lid
Cold Air Intake
Ported Throttle Body
LS6 Intake Manifold
(I already have a Magnaflow Exhaust)
Underdrive Pulley
PCM Tune

My questions:

Does an underdrive pulley free up horsepower? Are there reasons NOT to use one? I have read that they compromise the charging system and can cause the motor to run hot by slowing down the water pump. Are there any other pulleys on the belt that can be replaced with lighter alternatives?

Mass Airflow Sensor... Is it worth getting a bigger one if I plan to do only bolt-on mods?

Which mods will do the most for power gains in the 1500-3000 rpm range?

Thanks for the help.

[TokerM]

Mass Airflow Sensor... Is it worth getting a bigger one if I plan to do only bolt-on mods?

Stock MAF is fine for those mods.

I'll let others comment on the pulley, no idea from be, but if it's temp you're worried about, there's the 160deg thermostat you can swap to.

Also, considered a sub-frame?

**edit**
looked again at the list...

Ram Air Hood - Purely for aesthetics? CAI is a bottom-breather.

[LSXZ28]

Leave the stock MAF...

Underdrive pulley is fine as long as you don't have a bunch of crazy amp drawing amplifiers on your stereo or something... yes, they free up power...

LS6 intake is a good mod... ported throttle body is okay, just be careful where you get it - make sure others have had good results - not everyone knows how to port one correctly...

Agree - why CAI if you are putting a ram air hood on? Best thing to do is make or buy a seal setup to get the cool air from the hood to the air box...

The next thing I would do is a good set of stainless long tubes and Y-pipe... don't skimp here - you get what you pay for... inferior and inexpensive long tubes will leak, have the coating come off, and rust in no time (some cheap ones leak between the tubes from day one)...

[Naaman]

Stock MAF is fine for those mods.

I'll let others comment on the pulley, no idea from be, but if it's temp you're worried about, there's the 160deg thermostat you can swap to.

Also, considered a sub-frame?

**edit**
looked again at the list...

Ram Air Hood - Purely for aesthetics? CAI is a bottom-breather.

Hmm... Looking at the Volant Cold Air Intake, I seems to sit right up on top (where the airbox would be). Would that mean that it requires a ram air hood? The hood was going to be one of the last mods (due to expense).

I have considered a subframe connector. It is, in fact, the first thing I'm going to do.

Leave the stock MAF...

Underdrive pulley is fine as long as you don't have a bunch of crazy amp drawing amplifiers on your stereo or something... yes, they free up power...

LS6 intake is a good mod... ported throttle body is okay, just be careful where you get it - make sure others have had good results - not everyone knows how to port one correctly...

Agree - why CAI if you are putting a ram air hood on? Best thing to do is make or buy a seal setup to get the cool air from the hood to the air box...

The next thing I would do is a good set of stainless long tubes and Y-pipe... don't skimp here - you get what you pay for... inferior and inexpensive long tubes will leak, have the coating come off, and rust in no time (some cheap ones leak between the tubes from day one)...

As for the long tubes, I'm not to fluent with headers, but I bought it with a stainless steel cat-back Magnflow.

As for Y-pipes, if it's going to be 50-state legal, is it worth it?

[xmarkx]

Hmm... Looking at the Volant Cold Air Intake, I seems to sit right up on top (where the airbox would be). Would that mean that it requires a ram air hood? The hood was going to be one of the last mods (due to expense).

I have considered a subframe connector. It is, in fact, the first thing I'm going to do.



As for the long tubes, I'm not to fluent with headers, but I bought it with a stainless steel cat-back Magnflow.

As for Y-pipes, if it's going to be 50-state legal, is it worth it?

in general, anything that is CARB certified aka 50 state legal isn't worth a crap as far as gaining horse power. unless were talking superchargers that's a different story

[TokerM]

Hmm... Looking at the Volant Cold Air Intake

I don't know about Volants I have an SLP, a lot like an FTP. I thought those were only good on the birds?

[KMdef9]

As for Y-pipes, if it's going to be 50-state legal, is it worth it?

Aftermarket pipes can still have high flow cats, which should keep you legal. They also don't have the smashed restricted pipe under the driverside. Is it the best bang for your buck? No. But still will improve air flow.

I would def. go with the subframe connectors. Also would look into some other suspension options as well.

Keep in mind your rear end may not last for forever, so if you have the money now for it, I'd spring for a new one with a better gear ratio.

If that's out of the question, I'd go with the lid, smooth bellow, porter throttle body, ls6 intake (or better), headers and a good tune with the suspension work.

After all that, start looking into internals of the motor.

[02sunsetorangeZ]

i dont know if mentioned but i would say before any power mods i would go with sub frame connectors. Also if m6 get a pro 5.0, your stock shifter can damage tranny by over traveling by shifting too hard.

[TokerM]

Also if m6 get a pro 5.0, your stock shifter can damage tranny by over traveling by shifting too hard.

I went with MGW, read some reviews from people that ran both... bit pricier, but short throw most definitely was a great upgrade for me!

[35th-ANV-SS]

1: SFC's
2: Airlid
3: LTs and Y-pipe/ORY

If you are only doing a UP and air lid, I wouldn't spend the money on a tune now unless your car is running poorly. Wait until you add more significant HP items like LTs/cam etc.

I'm personally not a fan of running a UP. Also, the comment above about having a 160 degree thermostat...that is fine and dandy. If you get one though, you need the PCM tuned to have your fans come on at the appropriate time with the new thermostat.

[02sunsetorangeZ]

I went with MGW, read some reviews from people that ran both... bit pricier, but short throw most definitely was a great upgrade for me!

i c i c. i got the 5.0 with lous short stick, lil tiny thing lol. probably one of my favorite mods haha

[TokerM]

1: SFC's
If you are only doing a UP and air lid, I wouldn't spend the money on a tune now unless your car is running poorly. Wait until you add more significant HP items like LTs/cam etc....

If going to the ls6 intake, he'll need to delete out the EGR. Mail-order tune from Frost. AIR/EGR/O2 delete, std tune, etc...

[SMWS6TA]

1. SFCs
2. LT Headers w/o egr
3. 3" ORY
4. Delete CATS EGR/Air Pump
5. Air Lid, forget CAI, SLP is good enough
6. LS6 Intake - while there do LS6 Valley tray, Knock sensors, LS6 PCV, LS6 Coolant Bypass
7. Tune By Frost
8. M6 - LS7 Clutch Kit, A4 - 3800 stall
9. FORGET CHANGING MAF Sensor, Stock is good, if you where to go FI (Supercharger or Turbo) then you might need to upgrade MAF.
10 Ported Throttle Body
11. NGK Spark Plugs and MSD Wires.


Hood is just for looks.

All of the above you can do in your garage except SFCs. You need to do it on a drive on lift. Suspension must be loaded to install SFCs

[SMWS6TA]

CAI is a bottom-breather.

Also makes it very easy to hydrolock engine.

[BashamWS6]

i dont know if mentioned but i would say before any power mods i would go with sub frame connectors. Also if m6 get a pro 5.0, your stock shifter can damage tranny by over traveling by shifting too hard.

hmm. care to explain this a little more to me?
ive been on this site for months and heard 100's of great advice but not one time has anyone mentioned this to me...

[xmarkx]

1. SFCs
2. LT Headers w/o egr
3. 3" ORY
4. Delete CATS EGR/Air Pump
5. Air Lid, forget CAI, SLP is good enough
6. LS6 Intake - while there do LS6 Valley tray, Knock sensors, LS6 PCV, LS6 Coolant Bypass
7. Tune By Frost
8. M6 - LS7 Clutch Kit, A4 - 3800 stall
9. FORGET CHANGING MAF Sensor, Stock is good, if you where to go FI (Supercharger or Turbo) then you might need to upgrade MAF.
10 Ported Throttle Body
11. NGK Spark Plugs and MSD Wires.


Hood is just for looks.

All of the above you can do in your garage except SFCs. You need to do it on a drive on lift. Suspension must be loaded to install SFCs

no reason why you can't do sfc at home. put wheel ramps under all 4 wheels then bolt up. then go to a shop from them to tac weld a couple spots

[KMdef9]

hmm. care to explain this a little more to me?
ive been on this site for months and heard 100's of great advice but not one time has anyone mentioned this to me...

Stocker lacks bump stops, over extending the throw of each shift, causing stress in the wrong places.

[02sunsetorangeZ]

yep what he said, my 4th gear got stuck and i finally got it out and no problems so with it now but ive heard people doing the same thing but actually breaking a shift fork as well, i think it might be the 3-4 fork is a weak link.

[BashamWS6]

well whats a good choice then? hurst? pro 5.0? umm any opinions?

[35th-ANV-SS]

yep what he said, my 4th gear got stuck and i finally got it out and no problems so with it now but ive heard people doing the same thing but actually breaking a shift fork as well, i think it might be the 3-4 fork is a weak link.

If your 4th gear got stuck, you probably damaged your synchronizer keys. My guess is this...the next time or possibly after a few times you slam it into 4th gear again...it will get stuck again.

The same thing happened to me....got stuck once...then I babied it for several months after getting the shifter out of gear and it shifted fine. Raced it and it got stuck in 4th again. That is when I had my transmission rebuilt from RPM Transmission. The keys were broken.