Hello everyone!

[z28man2009]

Hello,

My name is Sean and I just purchased a used 2001 Camaro Z28 with the LS1 motor. It only has 46K miles on it, and the motor looks to be in pretty good shape. I've got a pic of the engine bay below. This is only my second Camaro, the previous car was a '97 Z28 with the LT1 motor.

A mechanic friend of mine said the LS1 is a good, strong motor and you could get alot out of it at a budget price. My goal is to reach around 600rwhp (no boost) and maintain street drive-ability. Not sure if this is possible to obtain on a naturally aspirated engine, but that's my goal. If there is anyone that has a setup that achieves this, please let me know! I'm not sure if I should start out with the Trick Flow performance Kit or go a different route. From what I can tell, the current mods on the car are: SLP Intake, SLP Catback exhaust system, performance shifter. I hope someone can help me out! It's great to be on here, thank you for your time!

Here is a pic of the car and engine bay:

[KahanaReef]

Welcome to the site, Sean and congrats on your new toy

That black top Interstate looks a whole lot better than my day-glow green one

[pajeff02]

Welcome! And congrats on your new car!

Stock LS engines are strong runners and can be built to exceed 500 hp with bolt on parts. Higher power levels will require more serious modifications, and a better foundation, if you wish to avoid forced induction or nitrous. Several members run Pro Charger equipped cars and are very happy with their setups, so it may be something to think about...

[z28man2009]

Welcome! And congrats on your new car!

Stock LS engines are strong runners and can be built to exceed 500 hp with bolt on parts. Higher power levels will require more serious modifications, and a better foundation, if you wish to avoid forced induction or nitrous. Several members run Pro Charger equipped cars and are very happy with their setups, so it may be something to think about...

If I can get to 500 and still keep the driveability, that would be awesome! In their Pro Charger setups, are they running stock compression ratio with low boost levels or did they change the compression ratio? I think the stock LS1's are 10.1?

[35th-ANV-SS]

The bottom end of the motor, suspension and drive train will likely need modifications to support that power level so be prepared to build the car from the ground up to some degree. I'm not sure 600rwhp is achievable on all motor with only 346ci, but as Jeff mentions, FI gets there quite easily while still maintaining driveability (not easy on the pocket book though). I would think NA you'd need a huge cam on top of a great set of heads. Driveability will likely not be ideal with a large cam if this will be a daily driver or cruiser.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your build.

[z28man2009]

The bottom end of the motor, suspension and drive train will likely need modifications to support that power level so be prepared to build the car from the ground up to some degree. I'm not sure 600rwhp is achievable on all motor with only 346ci, but as Jeff mentions, FI gets there quite easily while still maintaining driveability (not easy on the pocket book though). I would think NA you'd need a huge cam on top of a great set of heads. Driveability will likely not be ideal with a large cam if this will be a daily driver or cruiser.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your build.

It's great to be here, thanks for the advice! :-)

[pajeff02]

Some notes on building up these cars: Best initial mods are always subframe connectors, rear lower control arms and a panhard bar out back (strongly recommend UMI). Also, getting the front torque arm mount off the transmission and onto the crossmember is a good move (also UMI). The stock rear is fragile at best and an upgrade to a 12 bolt, 9 inch or S60 out back is recommended, together with a swap up to a 4.10 gear set. Higher power levels will almost require a better clutch setup, particularly the hydraulics as the stock setup can be finicky. Once the car can handle the power, then jump into headers (Kooks are a great choice) and then your engine mods. Other recommended goodies include a catch can (stock PCV setup is marginal and draws oil into the intake), ditch the secondary air system in its entirety, and then install some new front O2 senders (Bosch P/N 13111). There is a lot you can do to these cars.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Pretty much everything Jeff said. Add tires and a forged bottom end to that list if FI and wanting 600rwhp. Possibly an upgraded driveshaft too .

[theorangeguy]

welcome aboard! I dont think your engine bay is clean enough... car looks very nice and very clean. Those are getting harder and harder to come by these days.

[z28man2009]

welcome aboard! I dont think your engine bay is clean enough... car looks very nice and very clean. Those are getting harder and harder to come by these days.

Haha, I couldn't believe it either....really got a sweet deal on it. Thanks man!

[Jim Harrison]

Very nice toy. I will certainly be watching this thread to see what you come up with. I am working with a junk yard LS1, don't know what it came out of, might have 113K miles (or so I was told), I don't have all the wiring harness and I'm going carbed. This site is where I belong too. Happy wrenching.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Not to threadjack, but for Jim - what's the reason for wanting to go carburetor over fuel injected?

[goof4080]

I am at 407 rwhp with just a cam tune and full exhaust, which is about 450 at the flywheel(which is alluminum btw, 2nd best mod outside of the cam). I could be up over 500 if i did heads n a fast intake, but right now its just about enough power to keep it exciting. Although, I really wanna do heads AND a Maggie!

[goof4080]

I guess i should add i have full built umi suspension and corvette brakes which was all done before adding power. And i wont add anymore until a either have a 9" rear end or enough extra $$ left in my piggy bank for when the stocker explodes a day after I add anymore power or drag radials.

[z28man2009]

Hey guys, why am I getting this error message when trying to post?

"Post denied. New posts are limited by number of URLs it may contain and checked if it doesn't contain forbidden words."

I was trying to post an update since I had the car on the Dyno.

[z28man2009]

Just a quick update guys, I was able to get the car on the dyno and also have a vid. It put down 320hp and 335tq to the wheels. It seems the car has just the exhaust and SLP intake system. Are these decent numbers? Also, I noticed the car couldn't finish the Dyno run in 4th gear and power was cut off @ 5300 rpms. Do these cars have a speed or Rev limiter from the factory?

**Looks like I was able to post this now, not sure what happend lol**

Here is the vid:

[theorangeguy]

Just a quick update guys, I was able to get the car on the dyno and also have a vid. It put down 320hp and 335tq to the wheels. It seems the car has just the exhaust and SLP intake system. Are these decent numbers? Also, I noticed the car couldn't finish the Dyno run in 4th gear and power was cut off @ 5300 rpms. Do these cars have a speed or Rev limiter from the factory?

**Looks like I was able to post this now, not sure what happend lol**

Here is the vid:

No reason it should have cut off at 5300rpm unless something is going on with the car.

[z28man2009]

No reason it should have cut off at 5300rpm unless something is going on with the car.

hmmm....it's strange because I can rev to 6K in third gear fine, but it cuts off before I get to 6K in 4th. There's no check engine light or misfiring going on (at least as far as I can tell).

[35th-ANV-SS]

Can you elaborate some on "cut off" in 4th at the posted RPM? What exactly does the car do? Is it just power loss, or can you not physically go above that RPM? What if you try going past it gradually as opposed to a wide open throttle pull?

Stock PCM settings should redline at roughly 6,250 RPM.

[pajeff02]

Factoring in driveline losses, those are respectable numbers. Like Jon said, not sure why it would "cut out" at that rpm.