So, almost all my friends have had Mustangs for the last few years. About 3 weeks ago, I upgraded from a '90 Cherokee to a '00 T/A, and am loving the hell out of it. I was also quite happy that I could scoff at the performance of all my friends' cars. Now, one of the punks has gone and bought himself a Z06. I'm not really seriously considering it, but I've been wondering just what the fastest (and cheapest) upgrade path would be to make my car faster than his. I would not want to use nitrous, as I don't want to screw up the lifespan of the car.

If you were to attempt this, what would you do?

 

there are so many things that you could do to be up his alley. a heads and cam package would probably be enough to do it. you could start off by doing simple bolt ons such as headers and the rest of the exhaust, air lid, hypertech power programer 3, maf sensor, etc but i don't know if all of the bolt ons would be enough if your friend's z06 has the 405hp ls6.

 

380 rwhp will get you the same power to rwhp ratio as a typical stock Z06. 400 will be faster. Most heads/cam packages well exceed that these days.

 

We've got a Z06 in our club and he's running 12.4's

We've got a 2002 SS that is faster ... 12.3's. To get there, he's got a lid, dynomouth exhaust, heads and cam, and a few minor suspension mods, along with drag radials.

Granted, this is a 2002 so it has a different cam and the LS6 intake.

 

You'll need more horsepower than him to be even with him. They are lighter and the IRS hooks very well.

Intake, longtubes w/ catback and an LS6 cam will be pretty cheap and should put you in the 360 rwhp range, which is pretty dang fast.

 

actually, i thought the independant rear made it harder to hook up?

 

That's what I thought too?? I thought that 'Vettes shine at high speed, not off the line?

But to match or exceed the Z06's power, basically get a cam that's similar to, but a little better than the Z06 cam (not sure what that would be, but I'm sure someone here knows), and even with the LS1 heads, if you upgrade your exhaust and intake, you should be able to run close or better. That's my opinion anyway?! Sticky tires would also be a good idea!

 

make sure you can drive better than he can and what happens if your friend puts intake/exhaust on his car...mods in my sig should help out, you wont need all of that, but i would suggest the nittos they hook nice after a brun out

 

Well, my friend is griping enough about monthly car payments that I think it will be quite a while before he mods the car. He went from a slightly-modded '99 GT to a 2002 Z06, so he's quite happy with the performance right now And remember this is all theoretical. The mods I see in the near future are the free mods, a whisper lid, a QTP cutout, and maybe a FTRA kit. Once the Kumho's that came with the car wear out, I'll probably put on some Nitto's, though I think I may want something I can get a little more mileage out of than the 555r's.

Yeah, so right now its just benchracing. I did just get a Ripper shifter, so I can't wait to get that installed, and the cutout is on backorder.

 

the mods in your sig didnt help u that much when we raced now did they ....and just wait till i spray

 

Wow, he must a really poor driver, or have a horrible heads/cam package. Did he get stage 1 and the GM LS1 Hotcam? LOL

Some of you guys are really misinformed. IRS makes it harder to hook.

Chupa: You need all the bolt ons, and a good cam like the TR 224, TR 230, or MTI X1. You can benefit from the latter two since you have an M6 and can street it better. Just make sure to have your car tuned properly and (obviously) upgrade the valve train to rev higher to take advantage of those cams' powerbands. Then add suspension mods and tires so you can hook up. And alot of practice at the track before you take him on. Z06s can run like no other bone stock and are even better with internal mods. Intake/exhaust doesnt make much of a diff on them, the stock stuff is fairly efficient (but as with anything there is certainly room for improvement). I should know, I'm buying one soon.

Good luck!

 

My thoughts exactly Scott... an SS w/ heads/cam runnin a 12.3? Dude must not know how to drive, or his car is just plain broken lol. Hell Nate's runnin a 12.4 and he's got headers/torque convertor/intake and thats about it.

But ya, I'd say a decent cam, some bolt-ons, and a few other minor things outta get you in the Z06 range.

 

Why are you selling your car?

 

In the IRS/live axle discussion, I like the think about it this way.

Camber is the tilt of the top of the tire relative to the bottom of the tire, as viewed from the front (or rear). This is negative camber: /--o--\
And this is positive camber \--o--/
Either reduced the patch of tire that is on the road. Now, when a car accelerates, weight transfers from the front to the back. This causes the car to squat, and it is the nature of IRS to for from this |--o--| to /--o--\ because the halfshafts are hinged on the pumpkin.

Live axle, or solid axle cars, always have 0 camber, assuming the axle and/or housing is not bent.

So on paper, a live axle is better for drag racing than IRS. But the C5 IRS is among the best ever, and a Z06 will typically cut a better 60' than a typical M6 F-body assuming both are stock.

 

He can't get too aggressive with the cam ... he still has to pass emissions.