Daydreaming

So I've had my Z28 for a month now, and already I'm dreaming of more power. I thought it would last longer than this...

The car is my daily driver. I'm just curious what you guys think would be the better setup (turbo or supercharger), if my goal is to increase power across the band, without affecting street drivability. I like the smoothness of the stock powerband. I'm thinking supercharger, based on the impression I have that they provide a fairly linear increase in performance.

The other option that comes to mind is a big, laggy turbocharger. Normal street driving (<3k rpm) wouldn't be enough to get it spooled, so it wouldn't interfere, but if I opened things up, all hell (and my tires) would break loose.

Right now, my car is completely stock except for my Corsa cat-back and an airbox lid. I love the stock look, inside and out. I don't want to do anything that's going to alter the appearance of the car (with the hood closed). I also want to be able to run on regular street tires.

Let the opinions fly! Turbo? How big? Supercharger? Which one? For whatever you recommend, what kind of budget is involved? What supporting mods are needed? What affects will I see on performance, and drivability, and sound?

I'm a car guy, but I'm new to the F-body world and to making modifications, so the more information you have, the better.

-Jake

My goal, by the way, is to beat my wife's GN, which runs a 12.9 on 108-octane with drag radials. A side goal would be to beat my father in law's 1970 Buick GSX with a built 455 (we're guessing high 11's), but I don't think I can get there within my budget and the aforementioned, self-imposed limits.

Bolt on any supercharger to that LS1, get a cam and a tune and you'd beat your wifes GN right there, I bet you'd be knocking on the door or beating that 455 as well. Cam-Supercharger-clutch-some sticky tires-and hope your rear end holds!! Have fun!

sorry to sidetrack, Bill whats been goin on with your car? havnt seen many updates and your site is down...last i heard you were sellin your old system but keeping the turbos for your future project...

I bolted everything back up and ceramic coated all the parts after blasting. The car is still in the garage, I drive it pretty infrequently due to some low oil pressure problems when hot. I reused my old lifters that were in my old motor before it blew, and they had quite a bit of metal in them. I cleaned them up and put them back in. When preoiling the engine I noticed a couple of them leaked really bad, so I replaced them. I have never had good oil press with this thing when hot. My next step is to replace the lifters with new ones, and if that doesn't help, I already have collected all the parts for another rebuild, which will be done by a competent machine shop. I just had surgery and am not in a hurry to tear apart stuff. I really need a new radiator as the thing gets warm on the highway, it buzzes at 3500 at 75 mph with the TH350 and 3:50 gears. I'm also looking at some lower gears for the rear to bring the revs down on the highway so I can drive it a ways again. It never ends... I'm looking at doing something different this winter, either another twin setup made in stainless, or a large single. With the new radiator setup, I'll have lots of engine compartment room. I'm really leaning at redoing the twins, as I have everything already!

Okay, so I wouldn't install a forced-induction setup of any kind without stronger internals, unless the stock stuff was forged. Why? Because 6-8lbs of boost just isn't enough! :-)

I've heard that the LS1 crank is forged, but that the pistons and rods are not. True? Who here is using upgraded internals? What do you have? I've heard that if you get forged pistons, the rods will be fine.

What about valve gear? I'm sure I'd upgrade the cam to something better-suited to FI, but what about pushrods, lifters, springs, rockers, etc? Do they need upgrading? What else should I be thinking about?

Thanks!

-Jake