picking up my '01 WS6 w/ 17k miles A4 on Sat. Can't wait-that car is so sweet. Planning on the following mods, see what ppl think: air lid and mass air sensor (SLP)
Vig TC 3000-3200 stall
MAYBE progamming from Speed Inc for the TC

Dont really want a cat back right away so dont say get a cat back. I'll get one eventually but it would be sweet to have a car that SHOULD be capable of high 12s w/ stock exhaust and looks/ sounds mostly stock. Sleeper anyone?

 

I would strongly advise you to NOT change the MAF especially with a big converter. Mark my words "you'll be sorry"!!
Spend the money on a Transgo kit and a trans cooler. And you will absolutely need tuning with a big converter in an 01 to remove torque management and set shift points and such. A Diablo Sport Predator would do the job or LS1 edit.

 

I understand you wanting a sleeper per say but the stock muffler is sooo boring sounding and flow restrictive. You don't need a new cat back but drive your new car for a month and you may decide like I did that a new muffler was just the ticket. Our cars have stock pipes that are 2.75" mandrel press bent stainless steel so just a muffler is a viable alternative.

Then if you want a sound close to stock but just a hair deeper/louder get a hooker aerochamber muffler. But if you really want the car to sound sweet and flow like niagra falls then get a 12" or 18" dynomax bullet race muffler installed in the I pipe. My car is no where near as loud as cutouts or loudmouths so I don't worry about cops behind me in traffic but when I punch the gas it sounds like a race car. SWEET!

Other then that I'd say get some sticky tires or DR's. You'll be spinning the tires like crazy with the TC from what I am hearing. Oh and it's a little pricy ($300 I think) but the BG ram air kit will make your ws6 hood flow worlds better as it will close that 1-2" gap between your nostrils and the airbox allowing the true RAMING of the air WooHoo.

Anyway it sounds like a sweet ride so enjoy it,

P.S. hey al, I was getting a vig 3200 stall in my 99 formula as my next mod along with some tires but do I need any programming on mine? No one in any of the previous forums I read while researching mentioned needing any type programming unit before.

 

what's wrong w/ a MAS?

 

there is nothing "wrong" with it per-say. it's just that many guys are not picking up any power with it, particularly on near stock cars.
and basically it is $2-300 better spent elsewhere.

you say you don't want a cat back, but at least have a better muffler welded up to the stock pipes and tips...it will give you some increase in power, a better sound and it's only about $100 depending on muffler and labor

as suggested you'd see big gains from a converter and trans-cooler

other things to look into would be maybe some suspension upgrades to get traction. like LCA's and maybe brackets, and a poly torque arm bushing is inexpensive and can make a good difference on wheel hop

which lid were you looking at. i've been doing alot of research lately since i just picked up my new LS1 yesterday...and from what i've read the lids from texas speed are the highest performing. just call them, since some are on b/o.

peace...and enjoy

 

if the stock catback is sufficient then why do people see a consistent 10-15 hp gain from a catback?.....I disagree with the statement saying a catback is worthless...buy one as soon as you can...some of them are still quiet if you want a sleeper and still offer you the catback hp gain

 

i remember an article from Camaro performers (?) magazine where they got 19 rwhp from lid and MAF. They got 9 rwhp from headers and cat back. It doesn't look to me that most of the cat backs are great except for borla or the loudmouth. I dont want to spend the money for borla and the loudmouth would likely be too noisy. Maybe I'd get a hooker but idk. It's ugly and is cross flow just like the stock. We shall see- it won't be the first thing I do for sure b/c I hate doing exhaust work.

 

I spent two weeks researching catbacks by reading old forums, reading reviews, listening to sound clips and here is what I learned on flow and hp gains:

stock was something like 280 cmf

flowmaster was 350 cmf and not real sure if it gains anything. loud and has drone.

Hooker was about 700 cmf I think with 4-7 hp estimated gain. littler louder then stock at idle/cruise but nice difference at wot. all in all a quiet setup.

Borla flows 900 cmf and was loud, medium or soft depending on which cutout you used and no noticable drone. 7-10 hp gain estimated.

Magnaflow was 1100 cmf and medium sound with no noticeable drone. Lots of good reviews and maybe 8-11 hp gain estimated.

Loudmouth 2200 cmf and loud as heck with drone. 12-14hp gain estimated.

dynomouth 2200 cmf semi loud. between magnaflow and loudmouth I'd say with no noticeable drone and 11-13 hp gain estimated.

These hp gains were from research and presumably from totally stock cars without headers. I think if you tried the dynomouth you would love it. great flows, sounds great without being too loud or too soft and it's cheap.

Dynomax race bullet muffler is $36.00 plus shipping. You can get a muffler shop to install it in the I-pipe while removing the old muffler and attatching a pipe to keep the dual out continuity. Then have them reuse the old tips. Muffler shop charged me $100.00 for parts and labor.

$100.00 labor
$50.00 bullet race muffler after shipping/handling fees.

$150.00 total cost and you didn't even get your hands dirty, got 2200 cfm flows, 12hp gain (hopefully) and you sound friggin awesome.

If you want a little quieter get the 18" bullet instead of the 12" one but I gotta say the 12" sounds perfect IMHO.

But enjoy your car with or without a new muffler and be sure to destroy any ricer you see

 

OK well I partially disagree with you.

10-15 hp is consistently gained from a catback (like you said)....On NON-SS, WS6 models.

Since he has a WS6 , with a more freeflowing exhaust, he wont see nearly 15 hp or even 10. Unless he was going to spend $300 on LM (clearly not a sleeper cat) anything else would be a waste for the price for the performance added. (deciding on a catback or muffler for sound is a whole different story)

Back to being a sleeper.... an electric cutout would be a good way to go if you wanted to have the extra 5-10 hp for a race and keep it quiet when someone has you rev it.

 

Definately get a lid/filter.

Direct the money you were going to spend on the SLP MAS (around $150 I think?) and get CAI or ram air setup. you will see much better gains (made a HUGE difference in my M6 SS)

Smooth bellows (custom one for under $20 or Slp for $50)

Air temp module ($25 SLP)

Ported STOCK Throttle Body , Do it yourself or take it to a shop to have it done.

Now if you want a FAST sleeper get a new Cam and keep it sounding Completly stock (ZO6 cam is a good choice)

And then there is always N2O.

Sleepers Rock. But then again so do Aggressive Heads/Cam packages that are pushing down 450 to the wheels.

 

reliability is a major issue so I wouldn't go with a cam or NOS set up. A cam prolly wouldnt make the car much less reliable, but I'm starting dental school so I won't have time to fix much myself. That's also why I got the WS6 and decided to store my LT1 Z28. I wanted to get an SS but the WS6 is so sweet and I got a hell of a deal on it.

 

Hey you sound like me except I didn't get to store my 93 Z I had to sell it . And all I got for it was about a years worth of Insurance payments! But there is no Comparison to my 00 SS.

Do you still have a warranty? If so you can drop a zo6 cam in through the dealer and keep the warranty. They might take an arm and a leg though.

Once again sleepers rock.

 

only have warranty for another month. I got the extended warranty on my 93 and it wasnt worth is so I'm not gonna get it on the 01. Also the LS1 appears to be much more reliable than the LT1s but that may just be b/c they are newer-and lack optis.

If I do put a cam in, it won't be for a year or two. It at least looks a lot easier to install than on the LT1-that was a PITA.

 

Why do you think that the texas speed lid is so much better than SLP or whisper??? They are basically the same and I can get a blemished SLP lid w/ a stamping error for 75 but the texas speed lid starts at $130- damn near twice as much money! If it's THAT much better than I guess it's worth it but i'm skeptical.

 

You might be able to run it fine without programming but if you want to get the most benifit you will need to fine tune your shift points.
I like the Predator for entry level (yes I consider my car as entry level) because:
1. decent tune for stock cars, with custom tuning available
2. deletes torque managment
3. allows small adjustments of timing and fuel for fine tuning
4. has live data monitoring
5. can read and clear trouble codes
6. allows you to adjust umpteen other parameters (fans, gears, tires, shift points, rev limiters, and on and on.