97SS0594

i was having a discussion with a buddy and he said the rating for the 96-97 SS's is 305, and i said it was 315, but i looked in my rusty trusty camaro history book and it says 305 for 1996, but nothing for 97, but i could swear i was told the rating for my 97 was 315, not that it matters, cuz my car is no were near stock now, but for conversation sake. thanks!!
btw i seen a firehawk today and it had 315 on the hood, and as far as i know the firehawks and the SS's in those 2 years are pretty much identical.

warwickbass

I don't think the LT1s were rated about 305 for F-Bodies.

alex-z28

96 and 97 ss and WS6 were rated at 305hp, and LT4s were rated at 335hp.

warwickbass

Conservative rating for the LT4s too.

sssalah

The SS an Firehauk are rated at 305 with factory exhaust. With the optional 2 otl exhaust the rating jumps to 315.

ZeeDub

is the Z28 that far off from an SS? maybe like, 285 290? or what was the stock rating for the Z?

97SS0594

the earlier models of the lt1 93-95 i think had 275, and the 96-97 has 285. and thats what i thought that the 2otl gave it the 315, but my buddy found some stuff that says 305 for 96, but nothing for 97, oh btw the LT4 was 330 it says so right under the left tail light.

ZeeDub

you know... i have to object, that a difference of "ram" air induction could give the same car, with the same motor as much as 40 HP, or even 30.... thats one HELL of a HP gain just by adding ram induction..... did they use a different cam or something? 40 HP.... thats frickin insane.... thats a cam(obviously nothing too wild), lifters, rocker arms, and CAI... or maybe just a new intake and cam? what in the HELL would give that car so much more HP?

stereomandan

Hey there, I see you're from Bay City. I bought my Z28 new at Graff in Bay City.

Anyways, the SS for '97 was rated at 305 HP and the Z28 was rated at 285 HP. I never heard of a factory rating with the TOTL exhaust though.

Dan

Compstall

A friend of mine has a '95 Firehawk with the optional TOTL exhaust from the factory. 315hp sticker right on the hood.

Don 97 SS

I am an original owner of my 97 SS. I am a little rusty on my recollection, but the 97 SSwas definitely listed in brochures as having 305 base HP. Presumably this was from the air intake, but manufacturer HP ratings are influenced more by the marketing department than the reality of powertrain engineering. Frankly, I believe GM used 305 because the new mustang engine in the Cobra was introduced in 96 with a 305 HP rating and GM did not want to be out done that year.

I recall the optional exhaust added 5 hp in some references, but overall they claimed a total of 315 in some reported references. 305+5=310, but they came up with 315?

Also, the early SS had honed exhaust manifolds that supposedly provided about 5hp, but who knows for sure. The only thing I know for sure is that a limited number of 96SSs got them before they stopped and my 97 definitely did not have honed exhaust manifolds. GM continued to mention honed exhaust manifolds on all SSs (as in my 97 brochure) long after SLP stopped providing them.

My point is don't try applying logic to factory HP ratings.

ZeeDub

i also hear that the ratings are "shaved" a bit for insurance, and other reasons, not to mention that no motor is built exactly alike, where as you could have a stock Lt1 running 12 flat..... BONE STOCK! and yes, i have seen it.... but then you have the OTHER bone stock LT1, that would be lucky to hit a 15.5 on a 10 degree downslope with winds in his favor.... lol im just saying that just like coolant ratios, computer programming, tire pressure, and even fuel octane requirements can all be affected by weather, altitude, geography, and even something as small as how long the motor was TRULY broken in for before you started romping on it.... i for one... took a brand new 2002 SS 6 speed out for a testdrive when it had 5 miles on it........... i think its a lemon now LOL i ran that car like a bat out of hell.... so in my opinion, screw stock... you want HP figures? screw what you had 10 years ago, or 150,000 miles ago.... take it for a dyno run, and let the machine do a real time, real condition test on it, and THEN talk about what you have... some are disappointed by what they hear, but then... theres that factory freak.... thats pushin 390 RWHP LOL..... just my $0.02....

97SS0594

im by far a magazine racer, but i was just curiouse about it, cuz of that discussion i was having with my buddy, but we found some stuff that said 315 with the 2otl 305 with the step down exhaust.

95z28 -quicksilver