I browsed through an issue of Chevy High Performance(or Super Chevy, I forget which) recently and it had the sweetest article about showing up with a Plain Jane, Plain Brown Wrapper, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, etc etc. The article really appealled to me.

It went on to quote Teddy Roosevelt on the "Speak softly and carry a big stick" and whatnot.

The article really captured my interest and I think I may go after that goal. Not so much to surprise people at stoplights(it will be tempting, but I'm going to stop street racing, I got caught once and won't have my license back until Feb, so I think I've learned my lesson), but more so to show up at the local car meet every week or so looking and sounding completely stock until I pop the hood and present a dyno graph and/or timeslips.

I'd say these are my ultimate goals:
-Appear completely stock
-Sound damn near stock(no lope in the cam, no !cats, etc etc)
-Run high 12s on street tires, low 12s on DRs
-Let it be nitrous-friendly to spray some extra fun
-Remain usable as a daily driver

What would you guys suggest to achieve these goals? I'm thinking to remain as streetable and quiet as possible, invest most of the money into suspension and drivetrain and possibly weight reduction.

Something along the lines of this:
-3.73s(I have an auto)
-Stall converter in the 2800 range I'd guess, but I would have to consult whoever grinds a cam for the final decision
-Shift kit

-Adjustable torque arm, panhard rod, shocks, springs(but retain stock ride height!), LCAs.
-New K-member to drop about 40lbs from the front
-Mickey Thompson DRs(I've heard they stick like glue )

-Ported heads and an "old man cam" ... I've heard that tons of lift and less duration helps to shut up the lope?
-Lightweight battery or move a regular battery to the rear
-E-WP
-Midlength headers
-Whatever cats... lol
-The quietest freakin catback available, I've heard that the Dynomax catbacks are extremely quiet
-Electric cutout for the surprise factor right before a run

-Nitrous. I'm thinking that I'll wait to do this until I have the engine rebuild with all forged internals(or at least pistons I suppose) to handle something insane like a 200 or more shot. If I use the cheater gas, I want it to at least hit 10s, but in my mind it would bad-*** to hit the single digits

With forged internals, upgraded fuel pump, window switch, bottle heater, N20 pressure gauge, fuel pressure gauge, bottle heater, direct port kit(or possibly wet, not sure what the limiting factor would be).

The lines won't need to be hidden, I'd like to just surprise whoever is looking at my car when I pop the hood. That's where it counts

I'm thinking that if this is too much power for a 245 wide tire, maybe I could even go so far as to send out the rear rims to get widened to say 9.5" ?

What do you guys think?
Anyone with a sleeper car themselves please chime in!
I need to know if this is a pipe dream or if forced induction would be the only feasible way of doing this.

 

I'll email you a picture of what it sounds like you want I'm 11.50s right now, but will be lowwww 11s next year looking bone stock, no power adder...give me your email address...

--Alan

 

flatlander757@yahoo.com

Thanks!

So you think a 383 is the best way to go?

No matter how I rebuild my engine, I will probably just get a shortblock/even longblock to save some time and hassle.

 

I think that a 383 is a great choice because you don't have to spin the motor to the moon to make power. My set up is very easy to duplicate....I'll email you the picture of my car at launch in full sleeper trim...The 11.51 at 118 was thru shorties, too...I am switching to Kooks 1 3/4 stepped to 1 7/8 headers and an EWP..should get 2-3 tenths which would be 11.20s looking stock..go a little bigger on the cam and 10.90s are very possible, but I like the small cam I have especially since it gets 21 mpg on the highway

And you heard right...the M/T DRs are like glue...here comes the photo...

--Alan

 

You can definately do what you want with a baby cam.

 

The statement is-- Walk and talk softley and carry two blue bottles.
A forged 383 with SB2 heads a sheet metal and ALL the necessary things to go with it. 11" DR and a 9" with 4.56 gear(twelve bolt won't take it) a built 4L60E 3500 stall drive shaft,suspension and a 300 shot will take care of anything that pulls alongside ya.
Bring your check book,what I just said will cost in the neighborhood of $30,000 not counting the price of the car. With you doing all the labor(it ain't all bolt on's) ask me how I know.
Our shop car looks like a stock Z with wheels and tires. It has air,stereo,PS and power brakes with full interior. About 680FWHP and the NO2. Ya ain't gonna get there with an "old man cam". This old man is running a 260ish on a 112 with .760 net lift. That's how ya get there with converted heads that flow in excess of 330CFM.The SB2's can flow 400+CFM.

 

The key to doing what you want to do is having an excellent set of heads. You'll need a mild duration relatively high lift cam with decently aggressive lobes and then all the other required mods. Lightening the car will only help. A nice set of ported LT4's with something like a Crane 210/224 and a good tune would get you into the mid to low 12's and you could spray it on top of that.

 

I think the secret of getting a ultimate sleeper LT1 is WEIGHT!! Get the weight down as best as you can but retain a stock looking apparance is the key. God I wish someone made a Alumium LT1 block

But if it must look stock, i mean a K member would make it look modified. I dont know how close you want it to look, maybe on all outward apparances and underneath doesnt matter. Aside from getting the power up which I think is best served is honing out the manifolds, or putting headers on it, porting the heads, small cam to give it a little more and nitrous the hell out of it.

Since you can hide it all you can get the sleeper look and sound and it will rip down the road. Oh it would have to be a 6 speed/10 bolt combo to get the most power to the rear.

 

Yeah lower weight always helps.

Actually the key to a "sleeper" is the exhaust being quiet enough, and the rest of the setup is matching the right cam and compression to get you a really high idle vacuum so you have no lope from the cam. That right there is the sleeper material.

Awesome heads sure help all of this out though.

Bret

 

I'm thinking that forced induction may be an easier path to take. It would be easier to look/sound stock(except WOT ) and run extremely low 1/4 mile times and/or high *** trap speeds(130+).

Something like Mac mids, catted Y pipe, stock catback, electric cutout of course , LE2 ported heads with a relatively small but competent cam, and a procharger pushing enough boost to hit 600whp. Definitely not stock internals though

 

Heads/Sleeper cam/Nitrous

 

Well, I guess you have a lot of thinking to do...I think that what I have N/A is about as far as I'd go for a daily driver, aside from the bigger headers and EWP that will be going on soon. Like I said earlier I'll be good for 11.20s easy...and 11.50s in bad air..Roll bars are required for 11.49 and under so I should just cut it off now anyway..

Power adders are a whole different ball game...Once you pop your hood, the game is over. I pop mine and it looks like another LT1 with headers. Although my small cam sounds pretty nasty with the Borla plates out, when its capped up it doesn't throw any flags. My combo with a little more cam will run 10s, but I'll have more lope..This is something I'm considering, but then I'll need a roll bar and thats not what I built the car for...

I guess you need to decide how fast you want to go and what power adder, if any, you will use. Either way make sure you address the suspension and driveline first. 600rwhp won't do you any good if you can't use it. If you want to look stock and keep the stock wheels, etc you may not be able to harness the power you want to make. And, also remember that while peak hp #s are good, its the area under the curve that's very important also...And don't get caught up in numbers either..I've been to 3 different Dynojets and made 400, 362, and 385 rwhp...The track is my dyno now...

--Alan

 

What's the budget?
Does it need to look stock under the hood or just sound stock?

Please elaborate on what you feel a "sleeper" is.

-Mindgame

 

No set budget, but also no set amount of time... I'm hoping to have a fair amount of stuff done by the time I graduate(Summer 07). If I do decide upon forced induction(which I'm leaning away from again, you made some valid points), then as long as the enginework itself(not the blower and whatnot) will be what I want done by the time I finish school.

You made some very valid points, I think high 11s will need to be the new goal, because you're right about questioning what is and what isn't a street car.

I don't care how it looks under the hood, as long as it sounds stock and looks stock.

I want to get "badass car" comments from people who know what to look for.

I believe I'll try to make it a sleeper for day to day driving, but loud enough to wake the dead when the cutout is open And I'll probably get some wheels for it eventually killing the sleeper thing, but until then I don't want to be all show and no go.

 

If you want I'll PM you with what my car is all about. Its all about getting everything to work together. Like I said earlier my car is very easy to duplicate and once you feel that low 11s aint gonna cut, you go a little bigger on the cam and you're in the 10s..Slicks and skinnies and weight reduction and you're mid 10s N/A...Did you get my email? You wouldn't give my car a second look in the parking lot...

--Alan