my current mods are intake, muffler, trans cooler, and various other bs mods. my car has the 2.73 rear and honestly i kinda like it (it may be a pain in city driving b/c it kills my gas mileage, but on the freeway that mf gives me incredible top end and saves fuel), so im prolly gonna do the gears last regardless, but btw the other two options (headers, or stall and shift kit) what seems to be the general concensus on what should come first? ive heard that a stall will really wake these cars up, but have heard similar things about headers. all will be done over the course of a few months but which will i be most impressed with as a first real mod? thanx in advance

 

How incredible is your top end? I never really got a straightforward answer out of people when I asked a question related to top speed before, I think one of the ramair guys said 197, another simply said they had pegged the speedo. Mine's bone stock and I got it to about 140 before I hit my off ramp on the freeway. I want new tires before I go at it again. 10% or less tread left right now.

 

I want to do the headers & stall on mine also. I will do them together to save some money. Since I'm having a shop do the stall I may as well have the headers put up in while its on the rack. That way I can have the tuning done for both also. BTW i'm thinking AS&m headers with a 2800 Vig stall.

 

well when it was bone stock i did 145 with 3 other people in the car (dont ask why, i was immature and stupid, i didnt even have my license yet) recently i got the whole 150 at about 5200 rpms. ive seen videos of people who've pegged the speedo and i get jealous. i honestly think my car is capable of it right now, but i just dont wanna over-rev the motor or spin a bearin or somethin cause i wouldnt be able to get it fixed. maybe one day ill try to max her out...whats the rev limiter set at anyway?

 

I would say it really depends on what you want. Headers should help you more on the highway, where a higher stall would help a lot in town. If you're keeping the 2.73s, I'd say do the stall/tc. But most of my driving is stoplight to stoplight, so I don't have to worry about top end. I think you would be more impressed with the new tc when you stomp the gas at a light...

 

i think anybodys Z should be capable of 140 stock, with a good tune up. my goal is to peg the speedo at about 3500 rpms...im afraid that may take a procharger though .

 

im really anxious to see what the big fuss is about TC's, i can only imagine her launchin like a raped ape !

 

The stall will get you better performance off the line, and the headers will help you once you're moving. So it's your choice. Do you want better launches, or better throttle on the street.

I would do headers, gears, then stall, but that's just me.

The headers will help you daily driving alot.

The gears will make the car feel so much more responsive and have better acceleration.

The stall will eat a little HP, but get you off the line quicker.

Dan

 

A higher than stock stall converter will help to get the engine into the fat of it's torque/power curve quicker, which will help to lessen the gearing disadvantage you have over the 3 and 4 series cars. You'll lose a little power due to the increased slippage of the higher stall converter though.

The headers are going to free up the breathing of the engine and let the exhaust flow better (assuming you don't have a restrictive exhaust from the cat-back). This will generate even more power and torque.

So on one hand, you get to what power you have faster, or gain some power. Me, I went with CAI, Cat-back, gears (3.42s) and NOW headers, then stall.

As for the shift kit, I'm told that it's better to do it in the PCM if you have a 94 and up car. I'm told that the shift kit itself can damage the transmission if instsalled improperly.

 

Headers.

 

ive done the performance shift mod, and yea it increases shifts a lil, but i desire the neck snappin, sit back and shut up shifts a transgo will provide !

 

I did the stall (2600 Vig) and re-programmed the PCM to adjust the part throttle shift points and TC lockup. Made ALL the difference in the world. You can't JUST do the stall though. To get the most out of it you almost have to re-program the computer. Before I did the re-programming, it seemed like it was always running right at the stall speed. After the programming, night and day difference. I love my Vig.....

 

I would get a set of LT headers. Don't bother with shorties or mids. You gain power everywhere with them even down low. I let my one my buddy with a 96 T/A stock with just a catback drive my car and he said there was a huge difference. It pulls way harder up to and also on the bottom. Also, these cars are capable of doing 155+mph . I have pegged the speedo a couple times in 5th gear, the most revvs I have gotton in 5th is about 5,500rpm. How fast is that?

 

Get headers first....I disagree with having to get Full Length headers though unless you are planning on getting fully ported heads and cam int he near future.. Mid length 1 3/4 headers can also make a ton of power.

 

First, do headers...then gears...then stall.