is this possible? I was thinking of trading my truck in on a 05-06 GTO or 03 cobra, but if i could achieve a very street friendly, CA EMISSIONS LEGAL 400 rwhp in a 4th gen fbody that would be better. I know its not hard to get 400 hp out of an ls1, but im not looking to make a car that has some monster cam that barely idles with a power band that keeps the rpms above 4k all day. I probably wouldnt ever take it to the track, just for fun driving to work. Is this a pipe dream or feasible? A few months back i was looking into the lq9 6.0 iron builds, and now im thinking what would be necessary to achieve the same driveablity/performance of the 6.0 in the GTO's, but in a m6 fbody. Sorry for the rambling long post, but i need some guidance here. Thanks for your time.

edit: the car in the sig is long gone, i think 5 years ago......... its been a while.

 

If you need to stay CA emissions legal, you're pretty screwed in any kind of build that will make REAL power. Your options are very limited.

Thunder Racing makes a heads/cam package called the cheaTR that produces right under 400rwhp through the stock exhaust manifolds, etc.

If I had to stay strict CA emissions legal, I'd put all the bolt-ons I legally could on my car, an LS6 intake manifold (if that was allowed), some ported LS6 heads, a cam with as little overlap as possible, then spray it.

 

Why not just supercharge it?

 

You can supercharge your stock set-up & pass emmisions...Andy & A&A out there has a good package that passes...

 

Didn't they make that power on an LS1 or are those LS2 results?



Primer,
MTI also has their Stealth grinds that will pass emissions. They are wide LSA 22X grinds w/ less lift than the cheaTR and would probably be easier on springs.

IMO HP goals are virtually pointless because you need to look at the car as a whole. I've out ran guys making more hp because they neglected to build up their suspension or had crappy gearing etc. Think of the guys with mid-high 230 grind cams that are barely in the 11's while guys were running 11's on small cams back when baby cams were the only thing for an LS engine. Build a set up to work well so your car runs hard and don't worry about the dyno queens.

 

LS1.

 

So with the LS2 it should theoreticly be closer.

 

An 01-02 car would be your best starting point as it has the LS6 intake and no EGR from the factory. A set of AFR 205cc heads which have a CARB number along with a 224/224 114LSA cam (practical limit of emissions friendly cams), emissions legal headers - I think JBA is the only company to make CA approved headers, high flow cats and catback with an underdrive pulley, lid, and ported throttle body should easily do it, and remain quite docile. Granted you'll give up power and add cost with every component due to the smog *****, but it can be done.

 

You could do a setup like mine with full exhaust and a s/c and make thast kind of power. I have a 99 camaro with a d1sc and slp lt lm1 and I make 462 rwhp. I would also consider a rear mount turbo setup if I were you they seem to be making some nice numbers. with the ls1 cars it doesnt seem to hard to make the numbers you wanna make.

 

if i got an iron 402 short block and slapped the original ls6 intake, maybe ls6 heads on there, wouldnt that give me about that much power with stock driveability? pretty much a ls6 with more cubes, right? and should still pass emissions because its all stock parts, other than block.

 

Yes, you could do that. But you would still need a H/C setup to make any decent power. Again, tha'ts more money, a good bit with a shortblock swap. Then you still have the illegal engine in the car. But if you have some way of getting around that, then why create a thread like this at all?

 

illegal engine? how are they going to be able to tell its not a stock ls1 block. as long as it passes the emissions test?

 

Maybe you can do a 402 with some L92 heads and an L76 intake with a smaller cam.

I don't get into the "emissions" builds

 

I wouldn't think the high flowing L92 set up wouldn't do well with a small cam. Wouldn't ported 243s, Dart, or AFR heads be a better combination for a small cam?

I say get a 05-06 GTO if you're worried about dynoing a given HP. The LS2 moves heavy TBSS's relly well in mild form.

 

ok so then which supercharger kit should i go with for a stock ls1? i was looking at vortechs super quiet units, they are 8-9lbs i think.