I looked at the pictures of your car and it was like looking at pictrues of my own. THey look identical till you look inside and mine is black. Here is what I did to mine. It still looks stockish but drives and performs better.
SLP headers 94-95 style
4:10 gears
SLP clutch
160 t-stat
1.6 gm roller rockers
LT-4 valve covers
BMR/LG suspension with lowering springs and bilstein shocks
Moroso CAI (to save the factory CAI for shows)

 

to beat ls1 i would do lt headers, cut out, 1.6 rr's, gears, and a good tune, should be enough to take some ls1, but as soon as the ls1 does a few bolt's it is back to the drawing broads.

 

Hot Cam Kit, Long tube headders, and a 100 shot. That's it. It will idle with a lope & drive nice, not cost you that much, and not require any supporting mods (EXCEPTION: in tank fuel pump as insurance for n20) . I had this set up for almost 3 years before I started upgrading the heads and such.
That set up got me 12.9 @ 110 NA, and high 11's on a 100 shot. Which would be plenty of performance to take out the occasional LS-1 (even lightly modded/ small cammed) If you are worried about using N20 you should not be. A correctly installed wet system (I have NX) will give you years of trouble free service, and a 100 shot is not big enough to start destroying parts.

For the ammount of miles you put on this car and the way you describe how you would use it/ preserve the car, I think this is the best way.

Here are a couple of vids from my Hot Cam days.
Dyno
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...3571cedcd4.htm

Track W/100 shot & slicks
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...7ee75718d5.htm

Track W/100 shot & street tires
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...9842cbefe5.htm

And Track W/ over a 100 shot & slicks
http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...0700d82153.htm
Of cource with that last vid, the engine would not have lasted for many more passes like that.

Bottle was nice because it gave me the extra kick I wanted, and didn't tax the rest of the engine or driveline the other 99.9% of the time I just drove the car arround, unlike a blower.

Your car looks nice. I hope that, regardless of your coice of how you get the car to where you want it, it all works out well for you. This way worked the best for me.

 

Anyone have some insight to any of these questions?

 

Dynaspark is considered the best optispark, go for it when your stocker bites the dust.
Nothing wrong with the stock plugs for mild N/A power. Other options NGK TR55 or the iridium version. MSD and Taylor make good wires.
Hooker LT headers are good. PCM tunning not mandetory for this. Hooker has a y-pipe for their headers.
Weld on SFC should be the way to go.
No need for limited slip additive if running a Torson LSD, use it with Auburn/Eaton.
You should consider a torque converter, rear gears, 1.6 rr with good valve spring and maybe a stealthy and healthy cam.

 

Any idea how to find out which LSD I have?

 

for a stock rear 96 SS, you need the additive
imo skip the intake & TB for now, they wont give you very good gains for the $ at all

 

Dynaspark:
This is a high quality opti unit which should serve you well. I have been on this board for over 5 years (on my 2nd username) and I have read little in the way of complaints about it. Another high quality opti alternative is the MSD unit which just came out not too long ago. I would do a few board searches on the MSD as it also appears to be a good alternative to stock.

Accel also makes an aftermarket opti spark but many threads have been made lately questioning the quality. This unit is much cheaper than the MSD and Dynaspark at about half the price. Quality concerns range from plastic molding residue found inside the casing to opti wheel deformation. Ungrounded concerns have been raised about he use of a bushing vs a bearnig in the unit. I am personally running one, have been for 4000 miles now and havent had any issues.

Plugs and Wires:
Plug wise, I'd say get whatever floats your boat. Many people are running NGK TR55's. I'm running them with no issues. Delcos are another popular option out there. If you dont plan on spraying the car get some platinum plugs for longetivity.

With respect to plug wires, all of the big name companies make quality wires. I have run both Accel's and MSDs (currently MSD) and was satisfied both times.

Many people will suggest you run your wires over the valve cover (OTVC routing) which helps aleviate burned plug wires when running headers. This requires you to buy a kit and cremp your own wires. I would say, if youre going to run headers where this is possible, its a good desicion, but many people run stock routing without issues as well. Also, if youre contemplating supercharging your car, I am not sure if the wire brackets sitting ontop of the valve covers would interfere with any charge piping.

Long Tube Headers/y-pipe/cats:
Do a few searches and you can compare the pros and cons of each brand of long tube headers. Jet Hot, Hooker and Pacesetter are the most popular. Whichever brand you get, the easiest solution for a y pipe is to purchase the matching y pipe made by the same manufacturer.

I know some companies such as Pypes manufacture "mini cats" which would be a breeze to install in a y pipe. I'm sure if you make a seperate thread you would get lots of answers on what people have done regarding cats and y pipes in the past.

Your car, being a 97 has 2 sets of oxygen sensors, before and after the cat. If you decide to run long tube headers, you have a few options. One is to purchase headers with emissions fittings, then install simulators to delete the rear oxygen sensors, and extend the front sensors to reach the bungs on the headers. Your EGR and AIR fittings will connect to these headers and no computer programming will be needed.

Option 2 is to get "race style" headers which do not have provisions for EGR or the AIR pump. In addition to deleting the rear oxygen sensors, you will have to block off the EGR, remove the airpump, and program these out of the PCM. There are site vendors that can do this programming for you.

SFC/STB:
I would post this in the suspension/chassis section of the board. You will get better responses there.



Hope that helps and the information I gave you was accurate. If I misspoke I'm sure someone will correct me.

 

i wouldnt go changing optis till yours bites the dust. im sitting on 91k on my stocker and its still going strong.

from what i remember about the slp bolt ons is that they hang way down.

our cars look identical on the inside mines a white hardtop with black mirrors and roof