New to the game
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 36
From: Atlanta, Il
New to the game
Just wanting to know if anyone could help me out. I'm new to the whole camaro world. See I've hand nine mustangs then I got smart. A little help with some mods would be great. It's a 97 ss 6 speed. I appreciate any help given.
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9,507
From: Okemos, MI
Re: New to the game
Okay, so lots of power. Nothing wrong with that. 
Is the car 100% stock right now?
To give you the best advice, we still need to know what you're going to do with the car. Not how you're going to mod it -- how you're going to drive it.
-You want good streetability -- so is it your daily driver?
-Does it snow where you live? If so, will you drive it in the winter?
-Will you drag race it? Do you have an ET goal? Will you be competing? Would you be competing in bracket racing or heads-up racing?
-Will you autocross/roadrace it? What class? Do you care if you win, or just for fun?
-Will you compete in car shows? What category(ies)? Will you actually be trying to win, or just for fun?
-Do you street race? ( :slap on wrist:
) Any interest in "hidden" mods?
-Are there any mods you don't want/don't care for? (for example, I will never install nitrous on my car).
Answer all of those, and we'll really be able to help you.
Is the car 100% stock right now?
To give you the best advice, we still need to know what you're going to do with the car. Not how you're going to mod it -- how you're going to drive it.
-You want good streetability -- so is it your daily driver?
-Does it snow where you live? If so, will you drive it in the winter?
-Will you drag race it? Do you have an ET goal? Will you be competing? Would you be competing in bracket racing or heads-up racing?
-Will you autocross/roadrace it? What class? Do you care if you win, or just for fun?
-Will you compete in car shows? What category(ies)? Will you actually be trying to win, or just for fun?
-Do you street race? ( :slap on wrist:
) Any interest in "hidden" mods?-Are there any mods you don't want/don't care for? (for example, I will never install nitrous on my car).
Answer all of those, and we'll really be able to help you.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,158
From: Chicagoland Area
Re: New to the game
Start with basics,
Cold Air Induction, full exhaust - headers to catback.
Then research a nice Heads/Cam package and some valvetrain build up that compliments each other well and meets your personal objectives (torque vs top end, streetability vs strip)
Finish it off with a good PCM tuning and your set with a good N/A 75-125 RWHP (depending on the combo), a nice sounding car, and tons of fun.
Hope that helps. Let me know more what your looking for and we can give you some good cam/valvetrain/head setups
Cold Air Induction, full exhaust - headers to catback.
Then research a nice Heads/Cam package and some valvetrain build up that compliments each other well and meets your personal objectives (torque vs top end, streetability vs strip)
Finish it off with a good PCM tuning and your set with a good N/A 75-125 RWHP (depending on the combo), a nice sounding car, and tons of fun.
Hope that helps. Let me know more what your looking for and we can give you some good cam/valvetrain/head setups
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,220
From: houston, texas
Re: New to the game
Advice....hmmm.. get out of the game, run away from the game, the game can control you!
Seriously though, start off slow, see what power level is comfortable for YOU and not the internet. It doesn't take much for power to become useless (tires spinning in every gear) on a street car.
-b
Seriously though, start off slow, see what power level is comfortable for YOU and not the internet. It doesn't take much for power to become useless (tires spinning in every gear) on a street car.
-b
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 36
From: Atlanta, Il
Re: New to the game
Man I'm realy diggin this site all you guys are real helpful. This is what I have. A bone stock 97 6 speed ss. I want more of a sleeper than anything. I live in Illinois but I would never drive it in the winter. I want to retain the driveability for my g/f.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 725
From: Nebraska
Re: New to the game
Look into a nice Cold air intake, exhaust and other minor bolt ons/mods. Roller rocker arms, Electric water pump, shifter (great mod for 6speeds) rear end gears. If you looking into a 383 later on all those mods can be transfered to it later on. And still get you decent power to start.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 725
From: Nebraska
Re: New to the game
Computer aided gear slection. There is an electronic motor that will/can shift your car into 4th gear making it a bitch to drive.... go to yahoo and search for "CAGS" and you'll come up with how to disable it.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 36
From: Atlanta, Il
Re: New to the game
Ok, so I just need to order the skip shift kit from like summit then I will be fine? I was looking at a set of afr heads and I was wanting to know if the lt4 intake would be my best setup for the pair?
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9,507
From: Okemos, MI
Re: New to the game
Originally Posted by CustomSSI
Computer aided gear slection. There is an electronic motor that will/can shift your car into 4th gear making it a bitch to drive.... go to yahoo and search for "CAGS" and you'll come up with how to disable it.
CAGS is designed to maximize fuel economy by keeping revs down when you are not accelerating hard.
There is a light on your dash that says "Skip Shift" (bottom right corner near the fuel gauge) and a solenoid on the transmission which can gate off second and third gear.
If the engine is up to operating temperature, you're in first, you're going about 15mph, and you're not accelerating very hard, CAGS will activate the solenoid and the dash light will come on. When you go to shift out of first, you will have to go to fourth. It doesn't hurt the engine, but it's pretty annoying. I would never say that it "makes it a bitch" to drive. It's just annoying. It is very easy to get used to, but you'll probably never like it.
If you double-clutch, it will let you into second. If you rev a little, it will let you into second.
There are a few methods to disable it:
1. Just unhook the solenoid. It's a plug that goes into the tailshaft of the transmission on the driver side. Result: you can get into second any time you want, but the light still comes on to tell you that shifting to fourth might help your gas mileage. The PCM will be able to tell that the solenoid is not connected, and it will throw a code (the Service Engine Soon light will come on), but the car will run fine. Cost: $0. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
2. Unhook the solenoid and jump the connector with a resistor. This fools the computer into thinking the solenoid is there. The result is the same as #1, but without the SES code. Cost: <$5. Time: 1 hour, tops, not counting the trip to Radio Shack for the resistor. You'll need some electrical tape.
3. Unhook the solenoid and install an aftermarket terminator. Many companies sell these. It's an adaptor that plugs into the end of the connector and does the same thing as a resistor. Results are identical to #2. Most kits also include a dummy plug to put in the socket on the tranny to keep water out. Cost: about $30. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
4. Get a PCM tune and have the CAGS feature disabled. Result: no light, no solenoid, and no crawling under the car. Cost: $100-200, but you can do more than just disable CAGS (raise rev limit, tune for mods, etc). Time: a couple hours to swap in the reprogrammed PCM.
5. Use a computer program like LT1-Edit to disable the code. Result: same as #4. You'll need a computer (laptop), the software, and a cable which you can get for pretty cheap from eBay. No idea on cost or time for this one.
Registered User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 725
From: Nebraska
Re: New to the game
Originally Posted by JakeRobb
Hey, that's not even close to correct. Hold on a minute.
CAGS is designed to maximize fuel economy by keeping revs down when you are not accelerating hard.
There is a light on your dash that says "Skip Shift" (bottom right corner near the fuel gauge) and a solenoid on the transmission which can gate off second and third gear.
If the engine is up to operating temperature, you're in first, you're going about 15mph, and you're not accelerating very hard, CAGS will activate the solenoid and the dash light will come on. When you go to shift out of first, you will have to go to fourth. It doesn't hurt the engine, but it's pretty annoying. I would never say that it "makes it a bitch" to drive. It's just annoying. It is very easy to get used to, but you'll probably never like it.
If you double-clutch, it will let you into second. If you rev a little, it will let you into second.
There are a few methods to disable it:
1. Just unhook the solenoid. It's a plug that goes into the tailshaft of the transmission on the driver side. Result: you can get into second any time you want, but the light still comes on to tell you that shifting to fourth might help your gas mileage. The PCM will be able to tell that the solenoid is not connected, and it will throw a code (the Service Engine Soon light will come on), but the car will run fine. Cost: $0. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
2. Unhook the solenoid and jump the connector with a resistor. This fools the computer into thinking the solenoid is there. The result is the same as #1, but without the SES code. Cost: <$5. Time: 1 hour, tops, not counting the trip to Radio Shack for the resistor. You'll need some electrical tape.
3. Unhook the solenoid and install an aftermarket terminator. Many companies sell these. It's an adaptor that plugs into the end of the connector and does the same thing as a resistor. Results are identical to #2. Most kits also include a dummy plug to put in the socket on the tranny to keep water out. Cost: about $30. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
4. Get a PCM tune and have the CAGS feature disabled. Result: no light, no solenoid, and no crawling under the car. Cost: $100-200, but you can do more than just disable CAGS (raise rev limit, tune for mods, etc). Time: a couple hours to swap in the reprogrammed PCM.
5. Use a computer program like LT1-Edit to disable the code. Result: same as #4. You'll need a computer (laptop), the software, and a cable which you can get for pretty cheap from eBay. No idea on cost or time for this one.
CAGS is designed to maximize fuel economy by keeping revs down when you are not accelerating hard.
There is a light on your dash that says "Skip Shift" (bottom right corner near the fuel gauge) and a solenoid on the transmission which can gate off second and third gear.
If the engine is up to operating temperature, you're in first, you're going about 15mph, and you're not accelerating very hard, CAGS will activate the solenoid and the dash light will come on. When you go to shift out of first, you will have to go to fourth. It doesn't hurt the engine, but it's pretty annoying. I would never say that it "makes it a bitch" to drive. It's just annoying. It is very easy to get used to, but you'll probably never like it.
If you double-clutch, it will let you into second. If you rev a little, it will let you into second.
There are a few methods to disable it:
1. Just unhook the solenoid. It's a plug that goes into the tailshaft of the transmission on the driver side. Result: you can get into second any time you want, but the light still comes on to tell you that shifting to fourth might help your gas mileage. The PCM will be able to tell that the solenoid is not connected, and it will throw a code (the Service Engine Soon light will come on), but the car will run fine. Cost: $0. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
2. Unhook the solenoid and jump the connector with a resistor. This fools the computer into thinking the solenoid is there. The result is the same as #1, but without the SES code. Cost: <$5. Time: 1 hour, tops, not counting the trip to Radio Shack for the resistor. You'll need some electrical tape.
3. Unhook the solenoid and install an aftermarket terminator. Many companies sell these. It's an adaptor that plugs into the end of the connector and does the same thing as a resistor. Results are identical to #2. Most kits also include a dummy plug to put in the socket on the tranny to keep water out. Cost: about $30. Time: 15 minutes, tops.
4. Get a PCM tune and have the CAGS feature disabled. Result: no light, no solenoid, and no crawling under the car. Cost: $100-200, but you can do more than just disable CAGS (raise rev limit, tune for mods, etc). Time: a couple hours to swap in the reprogrammed PCM.
5. Use a computer program like LT1-Edit to disable the code. Result: same as #4. You'll need a computer (laptop), the software, and a cable which you can get for pretty cheap from eBay. No idea on cost or time for this one.
Sorry i phrased that wrong, we're saying th e same thing just not phrasing it the same :-D
Super Moderator
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9,507
From: Okemos, MI
Re: New to the game
Originally Posted by CustomSSI
Sorry i phrased that wrong, we're saying th e same thing just not phrasing it the same :-D
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 36
From: Atlanta, Il
Re: New to the game
Thanks for the help. I'll get that fixed and go from there. What might be a good head and intake combo? I was thinking afr heads and an lt4 intaked. Ported of course.Cam?????????