Mod not till the Lord sayeth your stock stuff runs as well as it can!!!

For all you guys wanting to mod your engines with the latest crap advertised, you should spend the $100 on the real shop manuals and read how your sh*t is supposed to work.

Once you have that sucker in perfect tune (easily comparable with the plethora of stock dyno sheets available on the net... take it to a dyno or track, your butt-o-meter means zilch) then you can consider doing a serious upgrade.

Airfilters, oil, oil filters, coolant bypasses, MAFs, HyperTechs, IAT placement, elbows, anything named Lucas won't do crap to make your car run better.

And when you do plan an upgrade, don't half *** it. You're better off saving three times the amount of money for that "cam only" upgrade and including head porting or at least full length headers. There are incremental upgrades but they don't cost $100 bucks... more like $1-3K a shot if you want to do it correctly.

The first upgrade for everyone is to buy the shop manuals. Second would to be to at least read a Charles Probst book on fuel injection. Lastly, get your sh*t running good the way it is supposed to run. FINALLY... spend a couple grand on upgrades.

Sorry for the kids out there busting their *** at a crummy job... but that's the way it is. No short cut to glory.

 

Alright, sounds a bit more like a rant than an LT1 tech post, but I'll give it an A+ for condemnation.

I think that modding is part of learning how your car works and responds to various upgrades. I am not really sure why no one is allowed to mod their car until that have read several manuals on the technical aspects of the vehicle.

I also think that some folks only want or can afford a cam only upgrade. Whats for some folks doesnt work for all folks. I see no harm in doing a cheap LT4 Hotcam kit for some extra power.

I spent around $1,000 for my upgrades buying stuff used. I just dont think that dropping a 2-3 thousand bucks on mods is for everyone.

-Dustin-

 

You are correct.. It's a rant.

But hopefully some food for thought.

 

Well I got my car to run 13.7xx bone stock, in Florida's hot humid summer, so I guess I made sure to get the best out of it while it was stock?

 

I agree that some basic knowledge is very helpful and having a good shop manual can be a lifesaver. However, not everyone can afford to spend 1-3 grand at a time for a complete heads and cam package nor is it what everyone is after. I see nothing wrong with slapping a set of headers on for a small performance gain along with a better sound. If it makes the driver smile then mission accomplished. Modding a car is not a do it this way or it is wrong type of thing. Many different approaches and not a single one is "the right way".

 

If god wanted you to mod, he'd/she'd have put about 10 grand in the golve box.

 

Well, my .02 cents. I don't think you need to read the shop manual for cold air induction or exhaust. The homework has already been done and proven it's performance on not just these mods but other bolt on mods. If your breaking into the engine for the first time, then yes, read the manual.

 

Got 2 things to add:

1. Don't mod until you find out for sure what others have done that works well.

2. Do it "right" or make sure whoever does it has a stellar reputation and will stand behind their work.

I don't know much, but it seems to me that if you take a stock engine that was designed and built by the manufacturer and merely replace stock parts with high quality parts; clean up the casted heads by porting, etc. replacing the parts which seem to be inferior from the factory, remove air flow restrictions, tune the pcm, etc. that you are only improving the engine and hopefully increasing the performance and longevity, but...if any of this is done without first understanding what is being done; without paying attention to detail and quality of materials; neglecting to make sure that whoever does the work is thurough and reliable, that you most certainly run the risk of ruining your engine.

And, of course, if you beat the hell out of it, regardless of your mods to improve the integrity, you are going to pay for it in the end. JMHO

 

There are mods that are tried and true that you do not need to be an expert on how the car works to apply properly. Thats why the manufacturer of said mods spend so much on R&D so you don't have to. However, I do agree with getting what you have to run right before you begin. Modding a tired or out of tune engine is not the right way to start in this hobby.

I, however, do have a philosophy that I follow that I will share here. When you are getting ready to modify and existing part or remove and replace a factory part, try to understand why the engineers built it that way. The engineers have a reason for doing everything they did on the car. By understanding what they did and why, will allow you to make the proper choices. Many things the engineers do are compromises for cost or EPA restrictions etc. But other things may be important and modifying it could be detrimental or counterproductive.

 

I fail to see any LT1 tech related subject matter..........and there are PLENTY of cheap upgrades that work, just ALOT more that dont. Thats what this website is for, to see what works and what doesnt.

 

Guess i better put my stock cam back in since im a kid busting my *** at a crummy job and cant get my heads ported. And ditch my mids for lts because the lord has spoken, and assume everything i did to my car is wrong because i didnt memorize the manulas.

 

You've got some good points about shop manuals being helpful but you combined it with religion which just creates problems.

Posts having to do with religion aren't allowed here (see user agreement) because of the problems they create.