killer zee

Hey guys, new to this site and looking for some advice..
i have a 99 z28 but i want more from it. Hoping to get about 500 horsepower somewhat cheaply. Where should i start?? Its a daily driver, all stock except for slp lid and throttle body.

Im thinking full exhaust, ls6 intake, heads and cam. But what else?

What gears for an automatic?
What suspension upgrades do i need?

Trying to keep it under $7000 Any and all advice welcome

wilkes02SS

heads cam intake toque converter, Dr's or real slicks and definitely get rid of the 10 bolt rear end. Are you looking to do this NA?, because that is tapping that engine out to the max. If you want to add FI plan on alot more than $7k to do it right.

wilkes02SS

torque converter sorry

DaveyB

I'm in the same boat kind of. My first round of upgrades for my bone stock 98 is full exhaust, lid, heads, cam, intake, custom tune, tq converter with about 3500rpm stall an a 12 bolt with gears and then the suspension and cage to go with it. I'll run it like that for awhile with a little spray while saving up an then round 2 will involve at least 1 turbo.
I wanna keep the car still somewhat streetable cuz I like driving fast stuff on the street, but eventually I'd like it to be in the low 9 sec range in the 1/4 which isn't really all that fast compared to alotta the guys in here, but it'll make for a fun street car for me.

killer zee

NA?? Yea i know ill spend way more than 7k but thats just where im starting for now. What kind of Fi plan are you talking about?

killer zee

Turbo would be sweet.

wilkes02SS

NA(naturally aspirated or all engine). by FI(forced induction) I mean either a turbo, TT if you're feeling froggy, or a superchager of some variant. If you don't drive the car as a DD I would pull the block and get it bored out to a 383. that was the first thing I did, but at the time it wasn't my DD

Decadence75

iTrader: (17)

You will be hard pressed to get 500rwhp from an A4 N/A LS1. A supercharger will get you to that goal cheaper than building up this motor to do it N/A. However, you could get reasonably close to that just by making a swap over to something like an LQ9 408. TSP has a longblock including their aftermarket PRC 225 as cast heads for right at 6500 plus the shipping. You would just need to talk to them to get the right cam into it for your purposes.

Although I am not sure that you are taking into account that by going for this much power at the rear is going to also require you to upgrade to a higher stall torque converter, a better built transmission and likely a new rear end as well. Not to mention the needed suspension upgrades to actually apply that much power to the ground.

I would suggest you sit down and come up with an absolute end goal that you want your finished car to be. Then you can split the upgrades into phases so that you can do the supporting mods in the right order to maintain usability and safety. If you just do upgrades on the fly you are going to end up doing things multiple times and waste funds. That is how I started up and wish I would have thought it through a little more first.

wilkes02SS

I completely agree and that is what I was getting at. 500 With NA is possible on the LS1 block. it's very hard, very very expensive and requires alot of time and serious knowledge to do it. There's a few folks on here that have done it and have build threads. also, I can't imagine that 500 NA is very "streetable" and by that I mean pleasant to drive light to light as a DD.

killer zee

natural asp for now... sorry took me a sec there lol. Just trying to get a strong durable motor that can handle a single turbo. Never had one before or fooled with them much. Would i need new pistons/pushrods to handle turbo?
And whats a good cam/ heads combo for ls1?

wilkes02SS

You will need to replace just about everything for a single, or a double for that matter. as Far as heads and cam, you will hear alot of different set ups all that work fairly well. Like I said my LS1 is bored to a 383. I have a Lunati Voodoo cam with AFR ported, polished 245cc heads. I would look into replacing the rear end and a good strong high torque converter. If you dont replace the 10 bolt rear end and try to run slicks you WILL frag it. I learned that the hard way and didnt listen to most everyone on here. After I watched one of my wheels go down the track I wished i would have done that first. i am not sure if the A4 will support the 10 bolt any better than my M6, but you will definitely need to replace eventually. Do you plan on keeping it streetable, or DD, or just for track eventually?

killer zee

It wont see much of a track considering where i live. How much dose a bore cost usually?

wilkes02SS

i actually had mine done for free, my grandfather is capable of doing all that. i am not smart enough or patient enough yet to learn that, or body work. I have done body/paint ONCE and will never do it again. I've seen people get it done from anywhere between $1500-$3500. I recomend sitting down and really thinking about what you want from the car. don't HP/TQ numbers, think about an end state( i want it to run 11's on pump gas and NA, etc)from there theres tons of tech guys that cn get you where you want to be. I just have a decent working knowledge of it becuase my build is just hitting the 8Kmile marker so Its still fairly fresh in my mind.

killer zee

Still trying to figure out what i want. Guess 500 hp might be a little unreasonable for now but i will eventually get a turbo. I really just want to get the most out of the block i have and keep it reliable under preasure of a tb. Not trying to go all out or drag it.

Decadence75

iTrader: (17)

Pushrods should be upgrades no matter what you do with the car. The stock ones are prone to bend. You need some hardened chromoly. I would wait for those until you decide on the heads/cam combo as depending on the resulting geometry the length might not be the same as stock. Any type of serious FI that goes over a few PSI is going to need a forged bottom end.

The autos don't abuse the stock 10 bolt as much as an M6 car does so he will be ok for a bit. Though I would eventually suggest an upgrade. I plan to go with an S60 one day myself but there have been 450+ rwhp autos running on the stock rear. I just wouldn't really chance it with that much power and this being a DD car.

You don't bore it out to a 383, you change the stroke. To make a 383 you go from the stock crank that is 3.622" to a 4.0" stroke. This makes it pull the pistons further down in the cylinder increasing the effective displacement of the motor. A rotating assembly is not a cheap upgrade though. They can routinely run around 2K and if you aren't familiar with engine building you would have to pay someone to put one in where as you could buy an entire 383 stoked shortblock for not a whole lot more. And even then, a 408 shortblock is almost the same price as a 383. Personally I think think taking an existing LS1 and stroking it to 383 is not cost productive and better can be had for the same money.

Decadence75

iTrader: (17)

If you just want a really nice quick street car I would do this:

LS6 intake manifold
TSP 1-7/8 stainless headers
X-pipe duals
25% UD pulley
Trunion upgrade to rockers
Hardened pushrods
3800-4000 stall
Heads and Cam. For this if you do not have 243 heads I would look into the PRC 225 as cast and the Tick SNS stage 2 cam. If you already have 243 heads I would send them to AI for the 226cc program and still get the same cam

With an A4 that should get you in the 430+ rwhp range which will be a really quick street car with some good manners after a decent tune.

Then you could work on the suspension with things like a new torque arm, LCAs, PHB, subframe connectors, swaybars, springs and better shocks.

wilkes02SS

You don't bore it out to a 383, you change the stroke. To make a 383 you go from the stock crank that is 3.622" to a 4.0" stroke. This makes it pull the pistons further down in the cylinder increasing the effective displacement of the motor. A rotating assembly is not a cheap upgrade though. They can routinely run around 2K and if you aren't familiar with engine building you would have to pay someone to put one in where as you could buy an entire 383 stoked shortblock for not a whole lot more. And even then, a 408 shortblock is almost the same price as a 383. Personally I think think taking an existing LS1 and stroking it to 383 is not cost productive and better can be had for the same money.[/QUOTE]


I was unclear on difference between boring/stroking thanks for that. I have a working knowledge of it, but it was my first build and I had a ton of help from my dad and Grandpa. They did the 383 at my grandfathers shop in Fl while I was deployed, got back in time to start putting it together. So i couldn't really beat free, but if I had to pay for I think I would go with the Iron 408, i have heard nothing but good things for them as NA engines. I am a big NA guy, theres just something about a big cam I love at idle.

m1a2d3

thats a good list by decadence75 i have a car close to those specs. if your driving it everyday i would do shocks and subframes this will make the car more fun everyday.it will be so much tighter. what are your rear end gears. a 4000 stall is very loose. i have a yankss3600 and i wish i went a little smaller but everyone is different. have you ever driven a stalled car with 400 rwhp you might be surprised at how fast it is. it will be night and day with the stock car. car will also be much louder with the headers and stall.

bigb916

224 cam, 3600 stall

killer zee

Cool thanks for all the advice guys