Darren,

I wasn't upset at you, I was quite aware that a 2.73 A4 LS1 is the slowest LS1 f-body made. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because the LS1 is such a great engine you're gonna be quick in terms of street use no matter your gear setup, imo anyway.

As I said before, it is definitely an improvement over my LT1 with the same gears, not that the LT1 is a dog. I will always have a place in my heart fot the good ole LT1.

My planes for the car, since I already have a good catback, is an airlid, and a set of either 3.23's or 3.42's. I would also like to add a Raptor hood eventually. It all comes it time though, especially when you're stilly paying payments on the car. If someone would buy my Z28 then I could get to this stuff a lot quicker! lol

 

With a good converter I wouldn't worry about the gears. Having a quality converter with 2.73 gears would run better than steeper gears without a converter. I had a link for a 2.73:1 car which was heavily modded that picked up zero by swapping to 3.73 gears. Also, keep in mind that 2.73:1 gears are the strongest stock ratio in terms of durability.

If I were in your position, I'd get a set of your favorite long tubes, a $30 cutout, a lid, 3200 vigilante, and some nitto DRs. Your car might just surprise you and a lot of people in this forum. Having or not having an LS6 intake is not going make that much of a difference. As for gears, the the instability in fuel prices, I'd keep what you have as long as you're comfortable with them.

If track conditions are favorable, the above should have no trouble hitting mid 12s consistantly and reliable. FWIW, I have a friend with an LT1 car that pulls 1.5 60' times with 2.73 gears.

Ben T.

 

Raptor hoods look sweet. I was considering that hood for my car also. If your dead set against 3.73's then I highly recommend 3.42's for your upgrade. It's just not worth the money to go from 2.73's to 3.23's. But whatever you do, find a way to afford a torque converter. It's not cheap but you will be so happy you did. You can get a good 3000-3500 stall from TCI or Fuddle for about $450 and then get a 24K trans cooler for another $50. You can get that installed with a basic tranny tune for about $350-400.

That alone will shave off half a second at the track, gain 1-2 mph in trap, get rid of your dead spot and just make the car 10 times more fun to drive. Although you may find traction with street tires has become an endangered species

I'm glad you weren't taking my first post the wrong way. I definately wasn't trying to make you upset. I was just trying to prepare you for what it might run at the track vs what other late model F-bodies do. But not many cars in general get to start out in the 13's and over 100 in trap so any LS1 was definately a good choice. And a Trans Am was a good choice for body style to wrap around that nice engine

Have fun and happy modding. It's definately addictive.

 

98's have larger injectors+ a larger cam than 99 or newr. They seem to put down some pretty good numbers with LT's and LS6

BTW my car ran 13.53 during the hot summer air, and the first time to the track with the M6. So don't get down on your car, it'll run fine.

TONY

 

I don't have a pulley or installed LS6 intake either, but have the rest of the bolt-ons. My '98 M6 Z28 with 410s went 12.8s on a g-tech with ET streets AND with a 200+ passenger.

I'll have dyno numbers after Saturday (TR dyno day).

Ben T.

 

Glad to hear it. They're really not that bad. See what kind of milage you get after you get it tuned up well (new filters, plugs, etc) and use that in your decision as what to do.

You responded to the above comment with saying "maybe in a short race". I think you showed more intelligence that the guy who simply said his "stock" LT1 car "easily" out ran an LS1 car.

Ben T.

 

he's got a borla...no need for the cutout.

start with the small mods and get to know the car, a good driver is the best modification for any car.

 

I'm sure that there is still a pressure drop associated with the borla. I pick up power opening my cutout with a magnaflow.

Ben T.

 

Whoever said an LS6 intake manifold doesn't help that much over an LS1 intake manifold is misinformed!

Brian, if you can cut a good 60' time, your car should be good for a mid-13-second run, assuming good conditions.

Mods you should consider, in order:
1. Airbox lid (get the one with the looks you like best; they're all functionally identical)
2. Tires (a dedicated set of drag slicks makes a HUGE difference)
3. Converter (a few options here, check with the auto guys for details)
4. Gears (need to think about your driving tendencies, and how important track performance is to you, in order to decide which ones)

If you do all of that, and you can drive, you'll run in the 12's, assuming low elevation and sub-70 air temps. You might get in the 12's without the gears, but it'll perk the car up noticeably.

 

That was me. It's like it's going to give you an extra 20hp on this car. The 01 and '02 cars were some faster than the earlier years, but we're not talking night and day difference here. The latter years did shave off a few tenths than the earlier ones, but the intake wasn't the only difference.

Do you have any dyno graphs showing only the difference in these two intakes? Do you have any track times to back this up?

I'm not saying that is is NOT worth it at all. I mean, I bought an LS6 intake for my '98. I was just saying that a converter and drag radials with a lid would be a lot better approach especially considering the cost of an LS6 intake.

Ben T.

 

you do realize a borla exhaust HAS a built in cutout right??

so that would be kindda like putting a cutout in front of a cutout....

but anyway...

the LS6 has been proven time and again to yield 7-10hp at the wheels on mild bolt on cars, and more on more modded engines.

not many mods can consistently do that.

even the best flowing catbacks only gain you between 10-15hp, and those are typically more expensive, sometimes MUCH more, than a good used intake.

 

need to get the 273's outta there...373's all the way

 

I don't think 3.73's are what I *need*. Sure they're quick, but I want decent gas mileage, and want to be able to hear the radio on the highway. That Borla exhaust isn't quiet as it is. lol I think 3.23's or 3.42's will be my choice if/when I change.

 

Also, I have been told that if I change gears, I have to have my computer re-programmed to correct the partial throttle shifting, is this right? When all you guys change gears to you have to? I am new to the gear thing, at least changing them, so be patient!

 

Your speedo and odometer will be off with a gear change. There are tables in the pcm that reference mph, and therefore will be off. A simple tune ($100~125) can correct this and tweak a few other things as well (change rev limiter, fan turn on/off temps, remove tq mgt, etc.).