I am a fairly new Camaro owner (97 Z28) and plan on doing an engine swap in two or three years. Until then, though, I would like any tips on improving my LT1 engine while staying under a $2,000 budget. I'm not much of a car guy, but would like to start learning on my own vehicle. Again, any tips would help, thanks.

 

Cold air intake, catback exhaust or duals, headers, throttle body coolant bypass, 1.6X full roller rockers, more aggressive camshaft.

Is the trans automatic or manual? If automatic, which rear axle ratio does it have?

 

It's stock everything with an automatic, so whatever came stock with the 97 Z28 model. Also, what brand of catback should I get, I know Flowmaster is American, but I also know it's more expensive than Magnaflow and the Magnaflow is stainless steel.

 

You could get either a 6-speed manual trans, or a 4-speed automatic trans with either 2.73 (RPO code "GU2") or 3.23 ("GU5") rear axle. Which one do you have? Axle codes are on the build code tag in the glove box.

With an automatic, a higher stall torque converter and a set of 3.73 gears will really wake it up. With a manual trans, consider 4.10 rear gears.

 

Go with the Magnaflow cat back system because it sounds GREAT on the LT1 car's!!!!