i have a 1995 Lt1 z28 M6 i just bought it about a week ago and within the next 2-3 weeks i'm gonna buy some simple upgrades and run it on a dyno to see how much it will kick out

- Cold air intake
- straight pipe exhaust ...flowmaster muffler
- 8.5mm msd wires and tune up i.e spark plugs, opti spark

are those good to start off with...what else is simple and gives some extra horse

how much do you think i'd have to the wheels

 

The CAI is good for 10HP. The plugs, wires, Opti, etc., will only show an improvement if the current ones are bad, so no gain over stock. A full "catback" will show a much better improvement than simply replacing the muffler with a Flowmaster. By "straight pipe" do you mean a full aftermarket Y-pipe with off-road pipe? You might see 10HP with your current exhaust plans.... figure 240-245rwHP "stock", 260-265 with your planned mods.

 

If you are only going to change the muffler, I would suggest the Hooker Aerochamber instead of the Flowmaster.

With the muffler, and CAI, I would guess 267rwhp/302rwtq with the M6 if everything is running right. The wires and plugs do nothing if the stock ones are in good shape. Plugs are a good idea though.

Dan

 

well unless there is something wrong with your ignition, the opti, pluggs and wires won't add HP. Good for a tune up though. By straight pipes I guess you mean no cat. I might look into some headders if you can afford it, and get the whole exhaust system out of the way. You will probably put down 260ish RWHP I would guess.

 

i would guess 256rwhp

 

what would i need more to sit at like 300rwhp ? or maybe alittle more
headers ?
cams ?

 

Some longtubes with the mods you already have listed would probably get ya semi close to 300, probably around 290 at the wheels....

A cam will get ya in a whole new territory depending on what size you would go with

 

well whats a good size cam ? what do they run for ? and are the hard to install ?

 

LT4 Hotcam would be ok for the stock heads. 224/230 would work pretty well too, heck some people put very large cams on the stock heads (CC306 size). All depends on what you want out of it. If it were me, then I'd look at Hotcam size (maybe look into the kit so you get the rockers / springs / etc.). That will keep close to stock drivability while giving you a nice performance upgrade.

As far as hard to install... well, it isn't easy by any means (front of the engine has to come apart, intake manifold off, valve spring change, etc). Heck, just changing your plugs and wires will have you pulling your hair out for many hours. Doing headers will again have you doing the same.

I did heads and cam at the same time and probably had 35-50hrs into it, but I'm pretty methodical (or just slow, lol, one or the other). Maybe make an F-Body friend in the area that has done this kind of work before and together you could make relatively short work of it.

If all you ever want is 300rwhp, then CAI, and free flowing exhaust (headers, no cats, good muffler, 3" all the way) should get you very close. If not quite there, then get a tune from someone that knows what they are doing and you should eclipse 300 at the wheels.

Thats my take on it anyway.

 

I just did a cam swap a few weeks ago. I have the 224/230 cam with the 1.6 RR and new valve springs and whatnot. I paid 580 + shipping from Combination Motorsports for the whole kit which was an awesome deal. I looked at the Hotcam for a while and the kit was 500 +shipping so for the extra 80 bucks I went with the bigger cam. Just make sure that you go as big as you can the first time because its not something you are gonna wanna replace a few months down the road....

 

I think the estimates are conservative.

cold air, granatelli 81mm maf sensor, headers, cat back exhaust (gutted cat), lt4 knock sensor (if that means anything), gave me a top speed of 167mph on the A4. The LS1, with 300rwhp and M6 gets 161mph, and it has a lighter aluminum block as well.