Got rid of my 03Cobra. God that car was fun...but so many little problems that I just couldnt enjoy it much anymore. My dad had a few friends down at a GM Dealership and they had a 02Camaro SS they would sell him for 22G with very little mileage...so I jumped on it. Anyways, I've always been a Mustang guy and havent the slightest clue about this car. I have a tried doing some research thru boards like this and have a few questions I would like to know more about :

1) The big issue seems to be the POS 10bolt rear. I've heard talk of replacing it with a 12, 9 or 8.8". I was looking at Moser for these, and they have a 12 and 9, but the 9 is much cheaper....am I looking at the right thing? http://www.moserengineering.com/mose...ts.asp?CatID=8 I hope to have a 550/550 at the wheels daily driver one day, and was wondering if the 9bolt would be strong enough to handle this kind of power?

2) What kind of things will I have to do to beef up the tranny and other components of the car to handle that type of power? New cluth etc....?

3) The handling seems pretty good, definetly feels more nimble than the chunky 03. What are your thoughts on the SLP suspension Stage I kit?

4) This is more of a legal issues. I have never done new heads on any of my cars, nor have any of my friends. I hear that they will not make the car louder tho...is this true? Also, if I get ones that are not emissions legal and have someone "inspect" the car and clear it....is there a way that they could get in trouble for this? I've never heard of a cop saying "Woah, that cant be emissions legal..."....but if its ear-bleeding loud, they might get suspicious.

Thanks for you help guys...

 

Put the Moser 12 bolt on, you can set it up for your abs and tcs.
If you put any power through the clutch it will die. Use the search and you can see what most are running for a clutch.
Avoid the SLP suspension package, you can do better using the aftermarket(higher quality)
Go ahead and put the new heads on the car, there are now a lot of choices(still expensive) as for emission concerns you can address those with some good computer tuning.

 

Id leave your rear til you need to worry about it...generally people do all the bolt ons 1st...lid/catback/headers, maybe gears. Then move on to heads and cam...Gm guys seem to like them over forced...LT1/LS1 really arent blower friendly, w/ there compression ratio they cant run a whole lotta boost safely without building up the low end

 

1) 9 inch, and 12 bolt will end up costing similar, I chose the 12 bolt due to less weight, and rotating mass. If you don't plan on running sticky *** tires, or drag racing.. the 10 bolt will suffice on the street for quite some time. I've seen 420rwhp pushed through one for 50k+ miles. Who knows how long 550rwhp could last, but on Nittos it'd probably last some time. If you went ET streets, it'd probably die the first pass

2) A Ram 910, Ram 402/6130, Mcleod Twin Disk, Spec Stage III, and IV will suffice to your needs of 500rwhp+. I chose the Ram 402/980 for 400rwhp-ish range. If you drive it like a civilized person, and don't grind gears the t-56 will last a while. You eventually will probably need a rebuild tho.. and get steel shift forks, and good synchros and keys.

C. You can go with a custom suspension and do alot better than the SLP. I went with mostly BMR components due to cost, but LG Motorsports has really done alot with this platform and has proven results.

D. I would THINK your talking about headers, not heads. If this is the case, it is "illegal to relocate" the cats. However, you can run some longtubes with relocated cats and so long as you retain the EGR/AIR you will still pass an OBDII or sniffer test so long as they don't do the visual you will be fine (alot neglect to do this, because our cars sit low). As far as heads go, most port the stock casting.. so there'd be no way of telling.

Jet Hot, Dynatech, Pacesetter, Kooks, Hooker, and several others all make longtube headers that are good for 20-30 horses. I bought my pacesetters for $330. Headers will make your car louder, but it really depends on what muffler setup you go with. There are several ways to keep a longtube fairly tame. You can pass emissions without cats on local OBDII testing here by deleting the code, or running o2 sims.



For 550rwhp, you could drop your car off at QMP and have them install a new clutch and a turbo kit and be done. They seem to make 550rwhp-600rwhp with alcohol injection without too much fuss. They charge 8k-9k installed and tuned. Clutch packages range from $300-$1000.

You could also just do boltons, a decent cam, and a 150 wet shot.

Peace,