Alright, best bud is now finally getting competitive for the first time in his life.

Bought a Taurus SHO hoping it would be fast, well, its not. He works for Ford, and is going to get an 03 Cobra.

He's already planning on replacing the superchager pulley, says theres someone he works with that did that and dynos over 450hp.

Who knows that or not, but I'd like to be prepared. He's never beat me in my life, and I'd like to keep it that way.


Supercharger? Cam? I've already got a lid, I've already got minor exhaust work (flowmaster muffler, whoopdie doo), what should I do? Oh yeah, I'd like to start with the less expensive to start off with, lol. I'm cheap.

 

Well if he's gonna be pullin 450hp w/ the new pulley, you can throw that "I'd like to start with less expensive" phrase out the window.

If you go forced induction (supercharger), you'll risk damaging your engine if you run a decent amount of boost, unless you get a little rebuild.

I'd go with heads/cam and a small nitrous shot. Of course that's assuming you have most feasable bolt-ons. Don't expect it to be cheap. Heads are $1500+ typically, and a cam alone is $200+ not including accessories like springs, pushrods, etc. Be prepared to spend at least $5,000.

 

How much would I expect to pay a shop to replcae the CAM? Whats that good for, 40 or more HP/TQ?


-Jason

 

100 shot of NX wet kit, headers,direct flo lid and all the free
at www.installuniversity.com
..except for porting the MAF. I don't know if you should have got the flowmaster. I had it on my car then went to dynomax bullet muffler...(ask Ratio411 for the diagram). With the above mods you will increase your HP by 150.

About your boy doing 450...well he can, so don't underestimate.

 

OK I have a 2002 Camaro SS with mods listed in sig..... I just got back form the track last night and there were 2 03 cobras there running with good drivers... I ran consist 2.4 60's and 13.8-13.9... the cobras ran 13.5-13.6 (both of them)... no spin from the cobras off the line... now I know both of these cobras had exhaust and intake.. but as far as a pulley change I don't know....


This was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on a 50 degree night.. with some wind blowing at us on the lanes...

I would say if you can drive and your friend can't you could stand a good chance... if he can drive and you can drive.. I say he takes you by a car in the 1/4...

 

Get headers, a nitrous kit and tires... then you are good to go.

 

Yeah...those 2 cobras most likely were not modified. My friend runs that in 03 cobra on the regular...he's actually hit 13 flat a good few times.

Oh by the way....don't rush into the n20....look into it thoroughly. You should go ahead and get the headers regardless of whatever you going to do....it's going to help a lot. I'd say if he stays stock and you have your headers and the direct flo lid and the FRA mod you can do some hurting on a rolling start. BTW do you have an A4 or M6?

Another thing...have someone record the run!!!

 

I have a M6.


I'm a good driver, not the best, far from perfect, but experienced.

14k miles on the car so far.


Headers, what kind, how much, where to get them, and it seems like they would be nearly impossible for me to put on I cant imagine getting to the headers they are so far up and in there... how much do shops usually charge labor for that stuff?

 

Sorry but I dont see 150 from those mods..
Basically you are saying that you get 50 from headers,direct flo lid and all the free mods.. Not hardly.. Headers and the lid will only net you about a total of 16-20 at most from all the dyno graphs I have seen. The free mods wont get you anything that you can actually say was a direct result of them.

 

Around here FLP costs about $1500-$1750 installed.. Thats the headers, the hi flow cats, the off road pipes and the Y pipe installed. of course you choose the off road or cats.. most leave the off road pipes on and only put on the cats for inspections..

 

Just a clarification - don't do the headers if you foresee yourself going with a turbo in the future. Turbo's use their own manifolds in the plumbing.

First, you're not going to get by cheap. What I'd do, installation cost not included, for a good bang-for-the buck setup:

1)100 shot N2O, $600. If a wet kit, needs bottle heater (add'l).
2) Timing Tuner and/or MAF Translator (~$280 each). Else custom wideband tuning $500.
3) Colder spark plugs $20
4) Hooker Competition longtube headers $630 (custom y-pipe and exhaust dump extra)
5) G5X2 cam on a 114 LSA ($450)
6) Better valvesprings as a result of the cam, ~$200

That's about $2500. The plugs you can install yourself. It'll be easier to have mecahanically inclined LS1 friends help with the other stuff. Otherwise you're looking at about 15-20 hours labor at your shops posted rate. My local shops charge about $60/hr.

Do the tuning last and play it safe. I'd rather lose a race and some pride than pay for a new shortblock. The cam will require annual spring replacement. The N2O won't be as convenient as blown applications due to bottle refills.

Superchargers are in the $3500 range, plus installation. I believe Turbo kits are in the same range if not slightly more expensive.

If you have an automatic, get yourself a good converter. All of the stuff above matters not without traction. Get yourself a good set of drag radials.

 

depends, are we talking 150 crank or rwhp? 150 crank is definitely doable. NX rates their kits at the wheels, FLP's, catback, and lid will probably net you another 25 rwhp, at least thats what i see on the cars out here. 125rwhp translates into 147 crank hp an an M6, so its doable, and im sure the free mods can pick you up 3 hp or so. IMO thats a good way to attack it. granted all the exhaust mods will definitely help, but you may wanna just see how the nitrous does alone, may be enough to get you there!
good luck!
brian

 

N2O worked for me, just beat a 2002 super charged Viper GTS twice.

I had to go with the 150 jets though.

 

get nx....spray that fbod and see the cobra in your rear view mirror

 

I'd like to stay away from Nitrous.


We race around town all the time, on the highways, and I just want to stay competitive - maybe when we track consistantly I'll N20, but whats to say he wont N20 as well?

So I'd like to focus elsewhere.