OttawaLS1

Ok this has been a tough decision to make, I have searched every forum for info on all of them, but it's hard to find the right info for the same situation I am in and looking for in results.

Main goal is to make a daily driver car, that is very streetable, reliable, and if I ever take to the track can run high-11's or VERY low 12's with. I want something I can drive and cruise around in easily everyday in the summer, can hook up somewhat well on the street and track, and that will PASS EMISSIONS!! I only go to the track maybe 3-4 times a year.

Car as it sits now: 1999 T/A, A4, 3.42 gears, 3200 stall TC, air lid, RAM AIR, LCA relocators, panhard bar, tranny cooler - best time to date is 13.0 in the 1/4 with a 2.0 60' time.

The girlfriend is helping me out by giving me some cash to spend on my car for my bday soon, so I should have about $4000 to play with, give or take a few $$.

Would a heads/cam/intake/headers combo, supercharger or turbo suit my needs best?

Thanks guys and I will stop bugging you guys after this post

BuffJoeyD

iTrader: (2)

Well, I may not be the most educated at all bout Ls1 and performance gains from one item to the next but it sounds like ur not getting much from what u have. I ran 13.4 @105 on a 2.4 60 foot. Mods, cutout and a K&N filter. I would ask for some more info on ur old timeslip and other info on ur car, Are u sure its running well- Just seems a little slow for ur list of mods unless u had extra weight in the car. Or That ur far from sea level and the height is screwing up ur times. If all is well Id say with heads and cam you would eliminate enough hold up to bring ur car into low 12 if not 11. Just a mild comp cam with some stage 1 heads shouldnt be much of a smog problem.

I hope I was of some help - or brought some ideas that u had overlooked. Good luck.

jrp

iTrader: (16)

4k aint enough for a turbo and barely covers a s/c. FI is not cheap for the ls1

i'd go TEA 5.3 heads and an FMS custom cam, full bolt ons, and bigger stall.

and what kind of emissions do you have to pass OBDII or sniffer?

unit213

Your goals do not warrant going with forced induction. You can achieve high 11's low 12's with nothing more than a few bolt ons. jrp is right...$4K isn't going to get you a blower or a turbo. For $4K, you could easily be running a low 10 though if you know what mods to buy. Heads, cam, headers, cutout, nitrous, bigger stall, tires. You could run a 10 second 1/4 mile while eating a cheeseburger with those mods. Since you're looking for emissions friendly mods...I'd definitely go with some heads, cam, and ET streets. I suggest talking to some of our sponsors for details on their H/C packages. There are many available.

VetteCrazy

To be honest with you if thats all your looking for save yourself the money and just put some spray on it!!!
I meen people with just cam and headers are hitting high 10 seconds.
You can get a mild cam running mid 11's

OttawaLS1

Well if it's worth saving up the extra cash for FI, I can save up another $1-2K.

But if H/C will be cheaper then FI and still net me the same results, and still pass emissions, that road makes more sense.

Kurt D

iTrader: (2)

First get some tires on that thing, you should be faster than 13.0 with what you have. I've run run 12.8 on street tires babying it off the line (still got 1.9x 60), and my mods are similar to yours. You could easily knock a few more tenth off that way. Second, nitrous would be the cheapest route to 11's. If that's out of the question I'm sure a good sets of heads with a mild cam and tune could get you high 11's/low 12's and pass emissions. If you don't have visual then headers too. Either way you have to come off the line better and you need tires.

PunkNPonys

iTrader: (2)

If it were me i would buy some LT headers w/catted y-pipe= (only cuz of emissions), SFC,and maybe some Hals, ASP pulley, TB, FMS cam and springs, a good tune and you should be where you want to be.

Red91vette

iTrader: (3)

You guys have to keep in mind that the stock rear won't like to take that abuse for very long. I would consider swapping a 12 bolt in there as well, just my opinion, but from what I've heard, the 10 bolts are pretty weak.

SMOKIN01TA

iTrader: (10)

there is no need for a 12 bolt in a automatic looking to barley break 11's
all he needs for that is a 3800 or 4200 stall and full boltons, and some good drag radials or et streets will get him in the 11's no problem. also you can get a tune and gain even more on a stock motor. you should have no problems getting a few tenths into the 11's with that stuff. assuming you can launch decent.
friend of min put 200+ passes on stock rear with slicks and was still going strong runing low 11's on spray cutting 1.5 60's

onebadz

TEA 5.3s and a TR 224 is a very nice setup...throw in some hooker LT's and you will have a very nice streetable setup that could run low 11s. As for the FI thing I would'nt consider it. The turbo kit will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5k and if you wanted to put a little more boost on the motor you would have to go forged bottom end. I think the stock Bottom end will hold around 8-9 max lbs of boost. Good luck

Wes

JZ'sTA

iTrader: (23)

I have a little different oponion then some and agree with others.
First off lets rule out the Forced Induction idea.
Why... Too expensive. The S/C kit's are 4k plus and you will need install, headers, tuning, bigger injectors, etc. This would run you 6.5k plus. ( a better cam would be good, but not needed to run 11's) (heads wouldn't hurt, but are not needed)
A turbo kit from someone like 1/4 mile performance is 7k by itself and includes everything except the 1500 dollar install.

This leaves us with the H/C idea. You want to be fast and still have a very streetable car. Cool, not a problem. I am going to say lets get you in the 11's and forget about 12's. First you will need a better tire combo for the track. For about 400 dollars you should beable to go to the for sale section and buy some ET street's on 16x8 wheels, and hook all day long. A burnout with about 15 psi in the tires and off you go.
Next I would hurry up and take advantage of the H/C combo AS is currently running.
1899 for stage 2 heads, any cam, gead gaskets and Pushrods. Next I would buy Mac mid length headers, not as good as LT's but will get you where you are trying to go. If you can get away with LT headers, then the pacesetter headers are great for 499$$. The macs are very cheep and will do the job.
I would probally keep the stock exhaust setup and install a electronic cutout system.
Very cheep and will work great for the money plus keep you closer to emissions.
Then there is the extreemly important tune. 500 dollars plus dyno. You are out about 3500 dollars with this setup plus you have labor. (1200 - 1500 dollars for everything)
This takes you to 4700-5000 dollars installed. Even with your 3200 stall and 342 gears you should run 11's easily.
If you had any extra cash I would invest 400 dollars in a LS6 intake as well.
Good luck to you, and if you decide to take advantage of Absolute speed's H/C package you will be very happy.
Oh and a good cam will be a 224 from TR or maybe something just a hair bigger. 227, or a 228 from comp

WTB-a-Hawk

Okay say H/C package is around 1,800, how much would a place charge to do the install for you? I tried to look on Speed INC, but they don't list install prices for stuff like that.

#41

Do it for free yourself

skunk50

heads cam for $1800...that's assuming that you've already got longtubes, O2 extensions h-pipe, better intake, lid, ASP, ported throttlebody, etc. to make that 400-430 rwhp. then there's tuning with LS1 Edit ($350) + dyno time ($120). labor is like $1000-1200 ....(special right now at HPA for $500 if you buy PP heads/cam package from them...but they're in Illinois)....if you're paying for labor, you'd probably want to change some maintenance parts too since they are all coming off and back on.....waterpump, pushrods, timing chain, sparkplugs, wires, injectors....maybe the oilpump too..espec. if you've got a 98-99.

total comes out to almost $6000 for parts & labor.

doing it yourself, you save $1000...so it's $4500-5000.

then if it's a daily driver, you're looking at worse gas mileage ...i know some guys says otherwise, but my heads/cam mustang went from 19-20 mpg to 15-16mpg...and this is mostly with highway driving. getting on it alot would bring it down to 12-13 mpg. my A4 nearly stock is getting only 18-20 mpg with 65% hwy. i'm going cheap with 89 octane....but i'd figure if my car was going H/C/LS1 Edit, it would be on 93 octane....i'm not rich nor poor....but driving 50 miles per day to/from work...and gassing up every 3 days at $25 is not fun (even if i didn't buy this car for MPG, i'd still like 19-20mpg alot better)

just IMO

skunk50

how about a Powerdyne at 6psi for around $3400-3600? $500-800 install + LS1 Edit? i'd sooner try this self install myself than a H/C.

MPG usually goes up with a supercharger and you can stay out of boost. it will probably be more daily driver friendly.

and it can be taken off easier if the car needs to be sold and guys on here will jump all over it for $1000-1500.

jrp

iTrader: (16)

AS/TEA 5.3 S2: 1500
FMS custom cam: 400
TR hardened PR: 110
ported Ls6 oil pump: 130
Rollmaster double: 75
h/c bolt/gasket set: 150-300
Pacesetters/Flowtech 350-400
Catted Y: 400
catback:300-700
ls6 intake: 350 w/ coolant tubes
ASP pulley:220
Ported TB: home ported
dyno tune w/ edit: 500
----------------------------------------

4485 installed yourself. and thats assuming you pay full price for ****.

Powerdyne 6# s/c: 4000
injectors: 350-400
dyno tune with edit: 500
intake fuel pump: 150
-------------------------------------------

5000 asumming you do the install yourself.

WTB-a-Hawk

I would like to , but i don't know jack about cars when it comes to tearing a motor down and doing h/c. Hell doing headers would make me think twice. This is going to suck for me when i do get my car, because i will want to do some mods to it, and will have to pay for labor because i've never really worked on cars before. Maybe i will meet someone who knows alot of them. That would help alot.

skunk50

the $3600 6lb kit (www.summitracing) comes with a bigger pump and it's supposed to run safe with the stock injectors and i'd imagine the LS1 Edit would make it even more safer. but still, bigger injectors will probably be a good idea.

jaberwaki

i agree except for one part....
500 dyno tune for a FI ls1??? no freakin way man....
i bet most guys FI on here paid more then that in total dyno time alone trying to get in right...
i would say 1000 for dyno time and tune

other then that i think your dead on..