i have a 96 camaro z28 and am looking to get more power out of it as in a chip of some sort or cam any help will help

 

Budget? HP goals? How is the car used - daily driver, street, strip, street & strip?

 

'chip' and cam are totally different.

No offense but by referring to a 'chip' it seems as though there is a lot for you to learn- you have come to the right spot though.

Take a few hours- read some older threads and see what you want to do. The possibilities are only limited by your budget. Hard to answer such a general question without more information.

 

you are right i have a lot to learn i just bought the car about three weeks ago and am just looking for more power on the cheap any suggestions will be greatly apprecated

 

Start with the free mods first. Move on to basic bolt on parts like intake and cat back. Getting a mail order tune is another nice way to squeeze extra HP out.... a "chip" or programmer is worthless as the PCM is what needs to be tailored to your vehicle.

If you are still hungry for more power (like we gear heads always are) you could start diving into headers, cam, heads, short block, blah, blah, blah....

 

what are some free mods and whats a good intake and what is a mail order tune

 

madz28.com will bench tune your ecu for around 100.00, but if your stock it wouldnt do you all that much good prolly should wait till you get some bolt ons on the car then send it in. I would start with freeing up the exhaust, maybe removing the egr/smog ,and air pump then getting some headers and removing the cats, you will gain 30+ hp for not alot of money

 

Removing the EGR/"smog" and AIR pump won't free up any power whatsoever and would not benefit the OP, especially if he has to pass emissions.

Most CAIs (cold air intakes) are the same. Whatever you can find cheapest, go with.

A mail-order tune is beneficial, even on a stock car. Gains of 10HP+ have been seen on stock and lightly modified cars.

 

Mail order tunes are for bolt on cars, and if he sends it in now he will just have to turn around and send it in again, so the samrt thing to do if your on a budget would be to wait till it actually needed a tune to send it in. He seems to be going for the cheap way not everyone can afford the best of everything, but if you do have to keep your car emmisions legal keep your air pump on but if not trash it its useless

 

Maybe you missed the part where I mentioned that even stock cars have benefited from a mail-order tune. It's not just the increase in HP (like I said, 10HP+), earlier cooling fan operation is incredibly useful, coupled with a $20 160-degree thermostat.

It's his car - he'll determine whether or not it's a waste. Not to mention, most programmers offer re-tunes incredibly cheaply and, if he has a data cable, can load it himself - no mailing of PCMs are necessary.

And to correct you once again, deleting the AIR pump will set the SES light, which in turn would need PCM programming to turn off anyway.. Even if there is still a good fuse in the system, an OBDII PCM (like the OPs) will be monitoring the O2s for evidence that the pump is operating and is functional. If no change in expected a/f ratio is seen, it will set an SES light.

 

Most mail order tuners will give you a reduced cost for an "update" of a previous tune. IMHO its a good idea to get a tune, even on a stock engine. Proven HP, simply from leaning out the factory's overly-rich PE mode target A/F ratios.

No answer to the questions about "budget"... other than "on the cheap". Hard to help, when the questions don't get answered.

Quick HP for a decent cost - put a 125-shot of nitrous on it. Probably about $1,000 at today's prices, done right.

 

ya sorry i forgot to answer that question about money and ya on the cheap is what im going for and i know this guy that has a nos kit for the lt1 its 150 shot and he only wants 600 for but im sure that i can get it cheaper than that and also it is 3/4 full already so how hard is it to hook up a nos system like that

 

hey my buddy is a mechanic and he told me not to put headers on the car because its gonna take a long time to put them on and he also said that when your doing that , that i may as well just put plugs and wires on also i know that i can get headers on ebay with a 3" y pipe for really cheap

 

Free mods are throttle body bypass and AIT sensor relocation.

Almost any CAI will be okay. Get one specific to the F body though, as universal kits do surely suck.

PCM isn't smart enough to figure out what you have done to the motor so it goes along it's merry way fueling the engine as if it where stock. A tune will basically tell the PCM the car isn't stock anymore and to adjust fuel and spark much more accurately to what the engine needs.

A mail order tune is you either send in your PCM or they exchange a programmed PCM. This will give you the max power increase out of your mods. Sometimes it will increase fuel economy also.

 

Headers are one of the best mods you can do on these cars. It is not to hard to put them in. I can install a set of LT's in about 5-6 hours. Most people will say that they are real hard to do but trust me there not. Do NOT buy cheap ebay headers. They are poor quality and fit like crap. You can buy a new set of painted pacesetter LT's and a y pipe for around $400. If you look around you can find a used set of the coated ones for a good price.