Hey all,
Just registered on here, new to the site but not to cars. I own a little used car lot and have owned every car you can think of....any way right now I have a 00 Corvette M6,and my daily driver is a 98 Z automatic bone stock other than a 160 stat..
i've been looking throgh the msg board and am not familiar with all the abrveations and such so please answer me in dumb*** words!! any how my buddy has a 03 cobra and i'm looking to gain some HP, my car has brand new tires and just had a tune up..last year at the track I ran a 13.8 and my buddy runs high 12's. Just wondering without getting into cams and heads, what can I do to really wake this car up? What's the MAF? Is that just the air intake? any help would be great thanks guys and nice meeting everyone, oh and how can i tell what gears I have stock?

 

is it a M6 or auto trans?

You will get alot of opinions but first things you need to do is help it breathe....
air lid, headers, exaust....

Now get the power to the ground....gears converter tires etc.

Then cams,heads and tuning comes....

12. are easy...

a MAF is a mass airflow sensor.....it calibrates you fuels needs in the computer.

Kraest can give you some tips, he knows a little about LS1's......a little.

 

His post said his 'vette was an M6 and the Camaro an auto

 

Ok,
well the K&N air intake system.....is that take the place of the mass airflow or is that different, sorry man i'm illiterate when it comes to this ..and what exactly does the stall convertor do?

 

so, a K&N air system...headers and mufflers, and a computer chip like hypertech etc.. should I do that or should I just get a wet 100 shot? And i'm comfused about the air intake..is the K&N system include that mass airflow also or is that separate or ??

 

Which car are you trying to modify? Vette or Z?

 

Forget about the MAF. No reason to modify it or buy another one.

And forget about the Hypertech. It's garbage. If you want a handheld, get a Diablosport.

I'd do bolt-ons like a K&N cold air kit, catback, longtube headers, gears, torque converter (if you're modifying the auto), and a tune... then a 100 shot.

 

I'm modifying the camaro, the corvette gets drove by the woman too I can't even smoke my guanga in it!! Hows that? I pay
30k for a car I should be able to sh** on the hood if i want. anyway, are gears hard to install? How much am I looking at buyin and installing gears and the converter? and what does the convertor do?

 

And you say after my mods get a tune? Is that the diablosport your talking about? Sorry , my brother has a 300zxtt and i could ask him but he's an *** , and only knows tuner cars which i'm not a big fan of.

 

haha. i have one of those.. I think what kraest was talking about was a dyno tune, just so you can have the most effective tune for the effort. the handheld tuners would probably be decent for a bolt-on car, and dyno tunes are common for bigger builds like heads and cams, or they maybe even do them just for nitrous, i dont know. If you've got the extra money for a professional dyno tune you might as well do that, its a great result plus you know what numbers your car puts out

 

You paid about 10k too high if you paid 30k for a 2000 Corvette.

Anyway, you'll need them done professionally if you've never done them before. Figure around $500 labor is the going rate.

www.howstuffworks.com is a place you can go for common questions about automobiles or anything in general.

 

You may know mechanics, but i own a carlot I know what cars are worth.....my vette has 7,500 miles, and has a special head and cam setup, it was a dealer demo and was never titled i bought it at a dealer auction because thats what i am a dealer the car is STILL worth 30,000...anyway i'm tryin to get my camaro in the 12's , im sure a tune isn't going to get me there, so I guess nitrous is my best bet

 

Be warned that the rear end in 4th gen (93-02) F-bodies (Camaros and Firebirds) isn't very strong, and that launching hard on sticky tires can break it. There are a number of things you can do to add a little bit of strength, and there are a number of people who have performed dozens of hard launches without breaking anything. It's a crapshoot, but be forewarned that the minute you mount a sticky tire, all bets are off. It could break at any time, and a stronger rear end that can handle the abuse is going to cost you at least two grand.

As an added bonus, when you buy a rear end, you get to pick your gear ratio. If you wait to get gears until you also get a rear end, you end up saving a couple hundred dollars. To make this decision easier, look at your RPO code sticker and let us know which gears you have. The code GU2 means you have the standard 2.73:1 gears, GU5 means you have the optional 3.23:1.

Having said that, here are the first mods you should do:

1. Airbox lid. $100 gets you 10rwhp.
2. K&N filter is optional; gains over the stock paper filter are 1-2hp at best.
3. Catback exhaust. Do NOT buy a Flowmaster -- it flows worse than stock. Corsa is best if you can afford it ($1100); I recommend Magnaflow if you want something cheaper ($400). Someone will come in here and recommend Borla, but it costs just as much as Corsa and doesn't flow quite as well. To hear what a Corsa exhaust sounds like, go to my FQuick garage.

You could get a tune at this point (a $150 mail-order tune would be fine), but there would only be a few horsepower to be gained with just those modifications. The above should get you down into the low 13's, assuming your tires are reasonably good street tires (see the times, dyno numbers, and mods in my sig).

From there, a pair of Mickey Thompson ET Street drag radials and some practice launching at the drag strip will almost certainly get you into the high 12's.

There are a handful of other things you can do:

1. Subframe connectors: this isn't going to affect your times much, but for $150 it will make the car ride and handle better, transfer power better, and quiet some of those nagging rattling sounds that all F-bodies eventually develop.

2. High-stall torque converter, aka "converter" or just "stall". This is the part that connects the engine's crankshaft to the transmission's input shaft, taking the place of a clutch on a manual trans. Don't skimp here -- you get what you pay for. Doesn't add horsepower, but allows the engine to get into its powerband sooner. You pick the stall RPM -- higher stall RPM gets you into the power band sooner, at the expense of streetability, and to some extent fuel economy. Most around here agree that Vigilante converters are the best.

3. Underdrive pulleys are a popular bolt-on modification, worth maybe 5hp. It slows down the accessories (alternator, power steering, water pump) by about 10%.

4. Ram air. Super Sucker Ram Air (SSRA) and Free Ram Air (FRA) are popular. SSRA is an aftermarket product; FRA just involves you cutting a long, skinny, rectangular hole in the front of the air intake, right below the filter element.

5. Long tube headers (worth as much as 25 horsepower) and a 3" Y-pipe. You can spend a lot of money on stainless steel (~$800 from Kooks or QTP), or you can go with cheap stuff (~$300 from Pacesetter). No power difference, but the stainless steel won't rust and will keep engine bay temperatures down (that's a good thing). Make sure you get a tune after this mod to maximize your gains. A mail-order tune will once again be fine.

 

If you're a car dealer, then you should know about Manheim.
Here's a listing.

03/28/08 MANHEIM Regular $30,500 4,369 Above MAGRED 8G 6 Yes
04/08/08 STATESVL Regular $28,750 4,472 Avg GRAY 8G O Yes
03/17/08 FAAO Regular $29,000 8,818 Avg WHITE 8G M Yes
03/17/08 FAAO Regular $29,200 10,582 Avg BLACK 8G M Yes
03/17/08 FAAO Regular $27,800 10,741 Avg BLACK 8G M Yes
03/17/08 FAAO Regular $29,000 12,399 Avg BLUE 8G M Yes
03/17/08 FAAO Regular $27,200 13,206 Avg BLACK 8G M Yes
03/14/08 MANHEIM Regular $28,000 15,256 Avg RED 8G 6 Yes
04/03/08 CHICAGO Regular $27,000 16,584 Avg SLVR 8G 6 Yes

BTW.. those are all 2004 cars. Even a 2000 with that mileage will go for $5-10k less easily.

Heads/cam setup from the factory? Utter bull****. You took that hook, line, and sinker.

Anyway, let's not get into that

Bolt-ons + nitrous is your best bet.

 

All you need in the Z to run mid to low 12s is:

lid
FRA
Yank ss3600 torque converter
a good cat back exhaust
Diablosport tuner to adjust shift points and such.
and sticky tires.

I ran mid 12s all the time with a best of 12.15 when in this mode.