looking for an LT1 shop in NE or IA

Im looking to do some internal mods to my 1997 Z28 and need some advise on a good shop in NE or IA. Im located in Bellevue NE. Im hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks. Also are there any F body clubs around the area?

Chris.
1997 Z28 Camaro 30th Anniversary Edition.

I'm not to sure of any shops out your way, or even around DM, just because most of us do it ourselves.

As for heads and cam you may be able to do that yourself.

As for local clubs, I'm not sure about NE, but there is the IFBA. www.iowafbody.com and plenty of hands on guys who can at least give you some advice if you chose to do it yourself.

Thanks for the reply. It is heads and cam that I am looking to do. Not sure if Im proficient enough to tackle that myself though. Thanks for the IFBA website. Ill check into it.

Chris
1997 Z28 Camaro 30th Anniversary Edition.

Another club in Iowa is the Mid-Iowa Camaro Club.

www.midiowacamaroclub.com

I would recommend Mike Jones at Bob Brown Chevrolet here in Des Moines. I hooked him up with Bille Lawler who used to be a wrench at GMMG, Inc. and then went out on his own. Bille owns Prescribed Power.

http://www.prescribedpower.com/index.html

One of the guys in my club (Tim) asked for the same advice and he went the route that I just gave you. He called Bille and purchased headers/cam, springs, roller rockers, etc. from him and then had Mike Jones at Bob Brown Chevrolet here in Des Moines do the work. After Mike completed the work he sent the computer down to Bille for custom programing.

Tim (the guy I am speaking about in the paragraph above) was extremely pleased with the work done. He thinks he is running about 450 h.p. now but the test will come on the 21st when our club has a dyno day and will put it on the dyno to find out what he is putting down to the ground. :)

Im looking to do some internal mods to my 1997 Z28 and need some advise on a good shop in NE or IA. Im located in Bellevue NE. Im hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks. Also are there any F body clubs around the area?

Chris.
1997 Z28 Camaro 30th Anniversary Edition.

Chris if your around this weekend, the EIFBA will be up at Camp Couragous in Monticello for the car show, not too far away from you. Want more info got to the link in my signature and check out the board and the calander for information on the show.

Tony

Hey I am from Bellevue Ne!

Have you looked at HP motorsports in Omaha Ne. I think they just recently moved to another location. They did some head work on my friends 95 z28. They do pretty good work from what I hear and they warranty it. They charge about 69 bucks an hour for labor. So you might be spending at least 2000 grand for labor. What mods have you done so far?

Hey I am from Bellevue Ne!

Have you looked at HP motorsports in Omaha Ne. I think they just recently moved to another location. They did some head work on my friends 95 z28. They do pretty good work from what I hear and they warranty it. They charge about 69 bucks an hour for labor. So you might be spending at least 2000 grand for labor. What mods have you done so far?

Another 95 Hawk owner who needs to come to the Firehawk Rally :D

Thanks for all the help and replys. I did check out HP motorsports and they do want a lot in labor. I was quoted roughly 1600 to 1800 for the head and cam install. They said I should throw a supercharger on it for the same labor cost. Figure I should probably build up the bottom end first though. Redfirehawk101, my car is basically stock except for complete suspension and minor bolt ons. Its an Anniversary edition, lowered on 18's which make it kind of hard to miss. Thanks again everyone for the help.
Chris.

Hey, Chris!

How much are you willing to spend?Do you have the head and cam combo already? I know HP is pricy but they do warranty there work. The only bad thing with them is that they build stock cars to be emission friendly. A friend of mine had his Z worked on there and was expecting more gains with his head and cam combo. I guess what is your goal! Do you wanna drag race it to be fast in the quarter or is it for street racing with other cars on the road?? How many miles are on the motor? Would it be worth it to rebuild first from the bottom up? I tell you from just simple mods like my vigalante torque converter and headers made a night and day difference on my firehawk. Also other things to consider would be an effective tuning shop. There is one in omaha that does excellent tuning. I am thinking about putting a camshaft in my car but have not decided yet on the right cam yet/valvetrain setup. To many options to consider! If you don't have headers get those first. As far as an omaha fbody club there was one until recently, it kind of died off. I think there website says that the club is dead or something. www.omahafbody.com. People went dragracing from Omaha at Scribner. I don't know if you have been there or not. Anyways there are only a few more shops I would trust my car with in omaha. Let me know what you want to spend and I can maybe help you out.

Mike



Mike

Hey Mike thanks for the reply and interest. My car is a virgin 51000 mile 97 M6 that dosnt get driven very often. Bolt ons are basic, consisting of only Hypertech tune and powerstat, SLP intake, and a catback. Ive got about 4 to 5 thousand to play with. My goal is to have a strong car that sounds incredible and has power to back it up. I guess Im looking for something to revive the car again, Let her be proud and not feel intimidated by 03+ Cobras, WRX's, and even Neon's. Im thinking 425-450 horsepower range. More if possible. Im all ears if you or anyone has suggestions and am eager to pull the trigger on this project. Thanks again for the interest.

Hey Chris, There are alot of things you could do with 4-5 grand. It depends if you wanna go naturally aspirated or a supercharger or turbo application. If it was me, I would go with an STS turbo combo that can be installed yourself off of your exhaust. That way you have turbo lag to where you not use your turbo until a certain RPM. This will reduce overall engine stress until you reach an certain RPM, to where a supercharger puts constant stress on your motor running off pulleys. You could also do a NOS setup which wont put you at 425-450 but will give you extra power.(just for racing) You should now be able to beat WRX's and neons with your current setup and good driving skills As far as the cobras, it will take a little work. Head and Cam combos take more money really to get you at 450 rwhp if you wanna be safe and get everything situated so things don't start breaking on you. In fact I think with a good set of headers, gears, and a good torque converter will allow you to beat alot of cars out there. In my opinion, you can have all the torque and horsepower in the world but if you cannot transfer that to the ground with traction it is useless. Then you will have too look at suspension work to hold that power to the ground. Unless you are mechanically incline I would not mess with the internals because things can start breaking on you. I know from some of my friends in towns personal experiences with modding aftermarket stuff internally led to stuff breaking overtime. If you insist on internals, I can see if some buddies of mine would want to work on your car intown here. Let me know



Mike

Ive been actually doing some research on forced induction and am leaning towards the STS kit. Im also interested in the Procharger P600b or Vortech S-trim. My main concern (and after doing some searching on this board seems validated) is the bottom end. I know that 5 grand isnt going to get me a built bottom end and forced induction. However a member on this board is selling a 355 shortblock that might be just the ticket. Ill be able to turbo or supercharge it, but Ill be running a stock top end for a few months. Any suggestions on this idea?

Hey Chris, A guy that I know shattered his crank with a procharger. I would lean to the STS kit. He ran the pro- charger on a stock bottom end though. I really like turbos over superchargers because of the lag factor. Just my opinion though. You run the risk with superchargers to damage the bottom end and with a 355 you really don't know what and how it was built and what stress you would have on it. Plus with an STS kit you can do it yourself and save on labor costs; plus in my opinion it is safer on the stock motor on how it is designed.

Mike

A guy here in town spun his balancer on his crank with his ATI Procharger, because he didn't run with a keyed balancer. ATI Superdamper = $350 for the light weight one and has a keyed hub. No driving his SS this year till he gets the money to rebuild the motor. I would suggest to put a keyed balancer on so you don't scratch the crank. That and get an aftermarket crank with a heavier nose on it to sustain the front end stress and pull of the supercharger, if you go that way.

Thanks for the heads up gixxer92. The short block I was looking at has forged pistons, but a stock crank. The more I look into this project, the more I realize I need deeper pockets.

I don't know how close you are to Kansas City, but there is an AWESOME shop here called MC Racing. Nick and Matt there are VERY good with F-bodies and Vettes. I would suggest you give them a call...the number is (913) 789-9888.

It would be worth the drive.

Thanks Josh. Im actually heading down to Wichita KS tomorrow so I will be buzzing by Kansas City. Thanks for the number, Ill give them a call and maybe stop in this weekend to see what they have to offer.

Hey Chris, I sent you an email to see if you want to go with the STS kit or I know someone in town who is willing to put either the STS kit on or heads and cam install. Let me know

Mike

Thanks for looking out Mike. If I could find a complete STS kit at a good price I would go that route. Right now I got a great deal on a P600b complete kit. Im just not looking forward to blowing the motor. I need to find a 4 bolt block with a forged bottom end. Anyone out there with one for sale? Anyways, the more I use the search button the more I get overwhelmed about messing something up.

Thanks for looking out Mike. If I could find a complete STS kit at a good price I would go that route. Right now I got a great deal on a P600b complete kit. Im just not looking forward to blowing the motor. I need to find a 4 bolt block with a forged bottom end. Anyone out there with one for sale? Anyways, the more I use the search button the more I get overwhelmed about messing something up.

Use your 2 bolt block and go with splayed main caps. Miloden and Callies both make splayed main caps, once again it comes down to digging into those pockets :) to find the cash to do it. I think I spent $1500 on machine work to the 383 I had built (still isn't in the car :(). Blueprinted and balanced all specs measured corrected and noted. A good forged crank from Eagle (Engine builder suggested these guys) will help along with rods. I ordered a light weight Eagle that was supposed to be balanced. Engine builder said that it would help him get closer to a true balance, he ended up drilling out a little on both ends of the throws, to get the crank as close as he could.