The first things I plan to do to my stock z is open up the air flow. I want the maximum amount of air going through my engine at all time (I think this may be everyones goal). Is getting a new intake manifold a good investment, what about a ported MAF, and what about a big throttle body. Also I plan to lower my car and I believe I have decided on getting the SLP Loudmouth cat-back, will this have enough clearance and what about adding headers to that combo. Lastly, what is better long tube or shorties.

 

Okay. the ls6 intake manifold, and an aftermarket lid or the K&N FIPK (fuel injection performance kit) are a must have. You'll gain up to 20 rwhp with just these mods. Ported MAF and throttle body are totally unnecessary, they'll support up to 425-450rwhp in stock form (that's about 530 hp at the flywheel), so you won't need to swap those out until you really start modding, on top of the fact that porting the MAF could really mess up your pcm. Consider a cold air induction, like the SSRA(super sucker ram air) or a similar setup. If anything look into a ported stock throttle body, good for a couple HP, but again, you won't even need this until you mod more heavily.

The SLP loudmouth will fit on a lowered car, but you're going to lose a bit of ground clearance, same with the longtubes, but again, these are must have mods (catback & headers). It's not really a contest between shorties & longtubes, it's LT's all the way. Shorties will barely give a gain, longtubes are the best bet.

Look into a cam to take advantage of your exhaust/intake mods. The ls6 cam is a good stock replacement, but if you want max power, there are tons of options.

 

In about 2-3 years i plan to stroke the engine to a 383 or 396 (whatever it is), I was wondering if i were to get a new cam would i need a new one when i rebuilt the engine.

 

Not necessarily. Depends on your goals... Track only/weekend car making max power, or driveability/good street manners.

 

I want something I can drive everyday, and not risk hurting my car. However, eventually I want it to be the baddest thing on the road, while being able to drive it daily.

 

Unless you have more money than most you will never be the baddest on the street. There's always someone with more money.

 

well... in that case go with a large cam from the get-go, and a bored engine will tame it down a bit, while still keeping good power. if you get the right springs, rockers, etc., you can simply do a cam swap in the future, cams aren't that expensive.