Dtimekw

How much HP do you want to make? With a $2k-$3k budget, it won't get you too far with all of the other things you are wanting to do. If you are doing headers, might want to consider opening up the heads/intake and a nice cam. That's where the HP/TQ is made but it comes with a price. Lloyd Elliot is probably your best bet for this as he has different combinations and TONS of experience machining/matching the parts. I never bumped my orig 350 up so I don't know what they can do but I believe they do alright. A lot of people go 383 which requires block work and more money. We don't have emission tests in Florida so I can't speak intelligently on building an emission friendly LT1. Forgot to say congrats on your new car in my other post, sounds great!

sloppytot

Thanks!!! Very happy to finally get into a clean camaro, especially a low mileage SS! And yes, I am aware that my initial budget will run out very quickly without making any serious horsepower. Can't go much crazier with the budget the first year of owning it. Otherwise, the wife will have me living in it! I don't know much about heads/cam combo's and what a realistic budget is for that. If that's the best place to put the money, I can try to research the cost of a heads/cam/header combo and be done until next year.

97WS6SCharged

Best bang for the buck, imo? Sub frame connectors followed by a 24x/411 pcm conversion to get rid of the opti along with a copy of HP Tuners.

Mystery Bird

How is spending $2000 on a 24x conversion and software just to get rid of the opti a performance bang for the buck? I think he's looking for inexpensive ways to make his car faster.

sloppytot

Yes, I am just looking for some mod ideas with my budget. Obviously, I think it's safe to say that since I still have some of the "basics" to finish, it's not presenting nearly as much big decisions, yet. And yes, lots of reading is what I've been doing. Need to learn, learn, learn so I can mod, mod, mod (without paying someone else to do it!)

97WS6SCharged

It's a matter of opinion.

Some people have good luck with the opti while others have the worst luck imaginable. You're basically looking at the cost of two new Delco optis (the whole thing, not cap & rotor) to cover the cost of a basic 24x system if you don't need HP Tuners right away.

It may not be an immediate performance increase but with the LS coils the ignition is much stronger than the opti/coil that comes on the car. Generally you will see a slight mpg increase due to the ignition and better PCM capabilities. If you decide to install nitrous or a turbo/supercharger down the road then you don't need a CDI box. It also makes the car far more reliable and it's easier to find a tuner who will actually tune it compared to the LT1 PCM.

JakeRobb

Yep, that's where I got mine. They have one for the driver's side as well, plus a kit that gives you express-down on the passenger side.

AutoTrix :: 93-02 Camaro

They offer a kit that comes with motors, but it's massively overpriced -- an extra $100 relative to the hotwire kit alone. Just get ACDelco motors from RockAuto. They're under $40 each.