Background:

Rivalry between me and my best friend DJ. Always competing between who's car is better, and faster. I have a 2002 SS. He buys a 2003 GT. He Procharges it. It Dynos 360tq, 380hp. He pulls fairly strong on me on the highway.

I have a 2002 SS, 6 Speed Manual. SLP Air lid, and a Flowmaster muffler. Nothing more. I want to get up to 380hp, without the mess of a supercharger.

A local performance shop claims to be albe to get me 20hp just through a $300 tuning session. What is the best way I can get to at least 380horses, without blowing it?

Cam? Full Cat-Back? What do you think? BTW - I'd also like to stay cheaper than a superchage install job.

What about that 383 stroker kit? What can I expect from that? No replacement for displacement, even if it is stroked, right?

Or should I just get a supercharger on it, and get it over with?

 

get headers a good cat back asp pulley tb cam and a tune and you'll be close to the 400 range and smoke that stang.

 

long tubed headers, offroad y-pipe or highflow cats and y-pipe, good catback exhaust ie, loudmouth, borla..., and a good cam and tune. maybe just a stage two chip instead of the cam, i dont know how much hp you will get from the chip....

 

heavy cam, pacestter headers, and a cutout and you should be able to get it to 400hp after a tune. if all else fails a 50 shot ontop would put you WELL over 400hp and a 50 shot won't hurt the engine one bit

 

First off, the stroker kit will cost in the neighborhood of $3,000, so if you want to do that, you might as well go the extra $2,000 for the S/C.

Now, what you CAN do:

You can do a head/cam kit with one of the cheaper (but still VERY effective) companies, like TEA or Patriot. Get the 5.3 litre heads. As far as a cam, you can get whatever. Anything from a 220 to a 230 something. I plan on going with a 230, just a FYI.

Next, full exhaut. Get LT's, ditch the cats if you can, and get a different cat-back, Flowmasters sound nice but supposedly don't flow as well as others. As far as LT's, go with JetHots, you get the ceramic coating on the inside and outside, plus they're good for a budget. Don't go SLP's unless you want to lose 1 1/2" of ground clearance.

Next, DON'T neglect your suspension. A good suspension setup can give you 5 tenths in the quarter (when you start putting alot of power to the ground) I recommend doing just about everything: LCA's, relocation brackets, torque arm, SFC's...

Get all of this done and you'll kill your friend. If you still need the added help, get a 100 shot on top of it all. Don't forget tuning though...

 

remember, you will need to get a clutch also so get a spec III because it will handle upto 600hp

 

Or a McCloud Twin Disc

Remember though... after you do this, have some money ready for a new rear because it's going bye-bye

 

just get nitrous if you want the cheap way out put a 100 wet shot and put colder plugs and wala over 400 rwhp

 

If your willing to pony up the zort for the blower you will be around 420-460rwhp with around 6-8psi (intercooled). But that is arond 4500. With a cam, full exhaust, gears,intake,dyno tune you'll be at 380rwhp and will eat the muskrat. And for around 2-3k depending on how much work you can do yourself.

 

Just get a good nitrous kit and necessary accessories and be done with him.
LS1's are known for taking well to nitrous, just please don't call it "naws".

 

I would shoot for well over 400rwhp. I visit the stang forums and those 99+ gt's with S/C's can make over 400. It would suck to do all that work just to catch up with him and he just put a smaller pulley on or headers or something and take the lead again.

 

A supercharged 03 GT only gets that much power? Well thats ForDUH for ya

Heads and cam would probably be enough for you. Dyno your SS, remember GM underrated the LS1 on the F-Body a LOT. You could be putting down more power than you think

Lunati's 382 stroker kit would give you MORE than enough to kill that Rustang. Not only that, but it would replace a lot of the "weaker" parts of your LS1, making it more durable. You can get their 382 for 3400 bucks, or go bigger with a 408 stroker for 3600 blangs

Make sure to flip your buddy off as you're passing him

 

if you REALLY wanna kill em forge out the engine in stock cubes *costs around 1500 to do*...... raise the revlimiter to 7k and put a HEAVY cam in, get the top end ported and polished and a few goodies in it and spray a nice easy 200 shot...... INSTA MUSTANG KILLER!

all that for around 3k or so if you do most the work yourself *building the engine which is really easy, its like a puzzle*

 

^^^^^^ 1% of 300 is 3 big guy^^^^^^

 

I made 381 rwhp/373 rwtq with a GM Hotcam and bolt-ons.