I'm looking into adding a turbo to my 96 Z28. I need to know what modifications/upgrades I need to do to my engine to support the added power.
I currently have a few mods (mildly ported heads and intake, shorty headers, CAI, and a few others). I'm thinking of getting a 3000 stall TC soon as well. What kinds of cams should I be looking at? I know I'll need a better one for the TC but is there one that will work best for the new TC as well as after I get the turbo put on? Also, is it better to return my engine to a more stock configuration to support the turbo or would replacing it with better ported heads and intake increase the performance? Thanks for the help!

 

To better answer your question regaurding modifications to the engine it would be nice to know what kinda power goals your looking for. If you wanted 450 hp you could get away with a low buck rebuild with dished forged pistions. If you want 600-800 the mods become more expensive. I ran my engine with the stock crank and rods and a set of Speed Pro -21cc dished pistons up to 542 rwhp. I would have felt comfortable with some new rods, but I just got a new rotating assembly.

Bill

 

Honestly, though, if you are asking those types of questions, you probably shouldn't go the turbo route. Making an off-the-shelf supercharger kit work properly is tough enough, and turbos are much more complicated, involved, and difficult to install.

Mike

 

Sorry, forgot to mention I was looking to make around 500-550HP. I'm going for 11's and it's possible I'll be doing it in CO and they have some really annoying emissions laws. I'm not planning on installing it personally. My car was down for over a year because of a crap mechanic so I'm not doing anything that would be bad for her... like trying to install a turbo myslef I don't like the whine or a supercharger and I'm trying to stay away from the spray... but I may not get much of a choice

 

The "noise" of a supercharger is hardly significant enough to go through the extra pain, cost, and reliability debits from a turbo. Maybe consider an SQ Vortech.

Mike

 

yea, check out vortechs SQ trim. its pretty damn quiet.

 

Wasnt there something called like a bypass valve that you can get on a supercharger to make it sound like a turbo blow-off valve? Correct me if im wrong.