mild bolt-ons
 

hey guys, my father in law has a beautiful stock 96 z28 that he bought last summer. its an A4 with 3.23's and has about 80k. the only mod it has is a SLP cat back. for his b-day i bought him a set of hooker mid length headers and a cai (which i payed for and never got). anyhow, all he wants a a nice crussin car with a little pep to it. so i figured headers,cai and a mailorder tune would be good enough. but now im thinking, should i get him a nice cam, rr's and springs as well? i just dont want to send the pcm in and then have to send it in again this year. what do you guys think. are headers and cai going to make a noticeable difference? i was told that these headers gained 19 rwhp and that a cai is good for about 15rwhp and a tune around 15 as well.
what would you guys do?

well
 

if money isnt an issue. find a rebuildable set of alluminum heads and send them to lloyd elliot for one of his packages. that would be the best gift ever!

but if you dont wanna spend $1000+ some 1.6 roller rockers would compliment those headers pretty well. could always get'em a larger TB. and w/ that CAI should give a noticable gain, without all the PITA from yanking that cam and replacing it

Dont get the throttle body untill you need the extra fuel. The SOTP differrence will definately be there with the cai and headers. I would say your next best boltons would be an electric water pump or roller rockers. and the tune if you can afford it.

looks like itll just be the headers and cai for now with a tune. i told him that his cats would be deleted and he seems nervous about, but we dont have emissions tests here so... i just sent the form to madtunner and paid for it so i just have to mail it to him now. i figure this package should be good for 40 to 50 rwhp. so that should be a noticable difference. like i said he just loves the car and would never race anyone. he thinks the car rocket in stock form so this should do him well......and maybe he'll catch the "need for speed" once he notices the gains. thanks guys. maybe ill find a set of used 1.6rr's and keep them on the side for now, just incase.

Ditch the Throttle body, if money is not an issue then H/C package would be quite the gift. I think for a "gift" a cam and supporting mods is a bit much, is there a reason you went mid lenght headers?

well actually, i will be ditching the whole idea! i could tell he was nervous the day and he told my wife today that he doesnt even want to put the headers on it! sooooooo... now i have a set of mid length headers for sale and ill have to cancel the tune. i havent sent the pcm yet so it shouldnt be a problem. anyways thanks for the input guys. maybe next time