edgarm8933

I’ve searched but I’m still confused. Idk much about engine stuff but my question is,

What can I do to my car to achieve 400hp or close to that number?.

Just want my car a bit faster.
Car is in immaculate condition, one owner and always garaged in winters and summers. Car was stock when bought and so far I have this

•V8 1994 LT1 trans am Gt, 64k miles, Magnaflow catback exhaust, Petris vented optispark w/new spark plugs and wires (full tune up) new summer performance continental tires w/18inch wheels, Stranos sway bars, UMI shock tower brace and vented LT1 hood.

I’ve seen Loyd Elliot LE2 stuff but sorry if I sound stupid but I don’t get what that means. Is it a performance package that you buy that gets sent to you for install ? I’ve heard LTH and a Cam then a dyno tune would help.
Please give me recommendations on what brand items to get so I can create a checklist to try to get this car faster without damaging my engine and tranny 😬. Car is my toy car not a dd by the way.
Thank you !

Injuneer

Welcome to CamaroZ28.com ! ! !

We need some basic info about you and your car.

- Do you want to achieve 400 HP at the engine's flywheel (the way the factory measures HP), or at the rear wheels (popular method with many performance enthusiasts)?

- Does your car have the 6-speed manual or 4-speed automatic transmission? That affects how much of that flywheel HP reaches the rear wheels.

- What emissions requirement do you have to meet? States like California have very strict rules, other states and areas have none.

- Are you more interested in straight line performance (drag racing), or going around corners (road racing, auto-X)?

- What is your budget?

edgarm8933

The car is an automatic. It doesn’t really matter if I get it at the rear wheels or not. Just wanted faster than now. I won’t race the car so I guess straight line. I’m just a very spirited driver.
I live in chicago and for emissions they just stick the little chip in the odb port and that’s it.

Injuneer

Hard to give you a list of items, part #'s and prices with such a vague definition of what you want. Best approach might be to take one step at a time, and stop when you feel you have achieved your goal of "a bit faster". A typical plan would be:

- cold air intake

- upgraded exhaust including long tube headers (LTH) and a high quality 3" catback (system from catalytic converter to muffler/tailpipes in the rear)

- performance camshaft with 1.6X full roller rocker arms. See next step, because they have to be coordinated.

- ported stock heads. This is what LE2 relates to. Lloyd Elliott, owner of Elliott's Port Works, can port your stock heads to produce 350 - 400 rear wheel HP. He would also recommend, and can supply a camshaft specifically matched to your driving requirements.

http://elliottsportworks.com/

- support the upgrades with a computer tune, larger fuel injectors, larger throttle body, etc.

With an automatic transmission you can get a significant improvement in acceleration with a high stall torque converter, and a higher numerical rear axle ratio (eg. 3.73:1)

And just out of curiosity, what is a "vented LT1 hood"? Do you man a "ram air hood"?

edgarm8933

Ok thank you !

yes I meant a ram air hood.

my budget would be under 2k. Again I’m not very versed on mechanical things aside from the typical stuff like filters and oils etc.
I just want a car that’s a bit faster than the 275 it puts out right now.
I have an Infiniti Q50 and ams does different stage packages that outlines what you need to achieve a certain amount of horsepower (down pipes, Cai, CBE, ecutek tune then dyno)
I just wanted to get an idea of what to get to achieve my end goal of getting this car to at least 380/400 HP.
Thanks again.

Injuneer

Do you have the air intake box for the ram air hood? If so, that eliminates the need for a cold air intake.

https://www.camaroz28.com/g/picture/18260188

raroz28

2k might get you there, depends how resourceful you can be. Good head porting, cam, rockers, injectors and a tune should get you close.

I have a bad *** LE custom grind that's going to be coming out soon as well as my 36# injectors. I'm going forged stroker with s/c and Lloyd has a new custom cam for my new setup on the way. I'll be using 60# injectors. If you're interested i can get you cam specs and if you're interested we can work out a deal. Been in the car for 8 months and has under 500 miles.

Germansheperd

your going to need 6k+ to do it right. 2k gets your heads ported and a cam with shipping. Then you have supporting parts as stated TB, rockers, long tube headers, exhaust, gaskets, bolts, fluids, tuning, larger injectors, and LABOR is going crush you.
YMMV

mrmint69

The hardest part is once you add performance upgrades you need to improve other parts of the car. I decided that 400+ horse power was plenty. So I upgraded the car to support those numbers. Exhaust was 1st upgrade. Then I did air intake with K&N filter. I went with a super charger kit for $5000. Ported heads like others said is a great route to take. You will always want more than you think. Horse power is like tattoos. You can never have enough.