Hey everyone well Im very interested in buying a C-5 Corvette a 97-00 torch red hatchback 6 spd. Anyway I am crossing the lines from being a FORD bleeding fool... I have a 91 mustang GT with about 20k into it, but now Im ready to "grow up" and get a man's car. So my questions are from someone that knows cars. First of all I read that 97-02 hatchbacks run 13.4's stock ? Is this the fastest they are stock ? I always thought they were a lot faster. 2nd if I lower the gears will the top speed increase from the low 170's ? 3rd whats the best engine mod to make if I want the car to be faster. I read about the twin screw blowers are a great way to improve the performance of a vette. Am I better off spending the $6k on the blower and leaveing everything else alone ? Eventually Id get into headers, x pipe, cam, lifters, rockers, heads, but Id rather bolt on the H.P to begin with. Thanks for any information you guy's can give me.

Clint

 

Is anyone gonna help me out ? I dont think these questions are very hard ? I know if someone asked in a mustnag forum people would jump on this to help someone out COMMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks...

Clint

 

Go buy your vette and take it to the track and see if you get a 13.4...I will give you a cookie if you do. Potential and reality don’t always coexist. A stock C5 will top out in 5th gear...its 170ish. If you want a faster than stock vette....a blower will help you out on that, yes. You can raise the rev limiter when you get a better cam/springs and with your lower gears you can still go 170 on the freeway like you wish you could do in your mustang. The best mod you will do for your vette is reading posts on this site as much as possible and using the search button to answer many questions. Upgrading your driving ability and your knowlege is the first thing you should do IMO. There are many great sponsers on the right side of the screen that can sell you any go fast part you want once you have a good plan for your car.

 

HAHA thanks for the info I really wasnt sure if a blower would give a vette more H.P. haha your a funny guy. Also I think I can do better than a 13.4 in a vette considering when my 91 5.0 mustang was completely stock I got it to a 14.4. So make that cookie chocolate chip. Here is a list of what I have done to my mustang so you dont make the mistake on my knowlede of fast cars and modifications. Yeah you got a point on me my mustang will not get close to 170, but I did get it to 155 when it had stock gears 2:73's. thanks.
CLint


Induction:

VORTECH S-Trim supercharger (polished)
FORDMOTORSPORTS Upper/Lower GT-40 (powder coated white)
BBK Phenolic 1" spacer kit
BBK 70 mm throttle body (powder caoted white)
BBK 70mm throttle body spacer (powder coated white)
PRO-M 75mm mass air meter (chrome)
K&N 9" conical filter
FORD MOTORSPORTS GT-40 X-heads
FORD MOTORSPORTS E-303 cam
FORD MOTORSPORTS '1.7 roller/rockers


Fuel/Power adder:

FORD RACING PERFORMANCE 30 Ib.'s fuel injector's
KIRBAN billet adjustable fuel pressure regulator
BBK intank 255 Ib.'s fuel pump
FUEL PRESSURE GAUGE (fuel line mounted)
CARTECH High performance fuel rails
NoS Stage 1 EFI kit (dry) 75 h.p. nozzle
NoS remote bottle opener


Exuast:

BBK full length headers (chrome)
BBK off-road H-pipe
FLOWMASTER catback 40 series mufflers
24" x 31/2" chrome tips
STAGE 8 locking header bolts

Cooling/Electrical:

FLEX-A-LITE dual 12" electric fan kit
SUMMIT polished aluminium overflow bottle
MSD blaster coil
MSD cap & rotor
MSD 6-AL rev limiter
VORTECH/MSD boost adjuster
FORDMOTORSPORTS 9mm wires
130 amp alternator
MARCH polished performance pulley's
FORD MOTORCRAFT spark plugs

Exterior:

COBRA AUTO DESIGNS Mach 1 hood 1 1/2" cowl
CANADIAN COMPOSITES cowl grill
CERVINI'S stalker front bumper
CERVINI'S cobra rear bumper
SALEEN spolier

Brakes/Rims/Tires:

FORD MOTORCRAFT 4 wheel disc 5 lug conversion (rear slotted & crossdrilled)
RUSSEL steel braided lines
ASF 17" x 9" chrome cobra R rim's
FALKEN 245-40's

Interior:

AUTOMETER phantom 5" tach (dash mounted)
AUTOMETER phantom 2 1/16" volts (A-piller)
AUTOMETER phantom 2 1/16" boost (A-piller)
AUTOMETER phantom 2 1/16" air/fuel (A-piller)
AUTOMETER phantom 2" oil pressure (mechanical)
AUTOMETER phantom 2" water temp (mechanical)
SPEEDWARE reverse glow 8 color adjustable stock gauges
SPEEDWARE white faced A/C **** cover
CARBON FIBER stock gauge panel cover
APR nitrous ready stearing wheel (button's for purge and nitrous)
SALEEN 93" SSC front seats (RECARO), with matching rear seats
AUTOMETER A-piller 3 gauge pod
AUTOMETER Gaugecage vent replacement with vents
CUSTOM interior door panels, rear hatch lid, armrest, shift boot, & e-brake
CALIFORNIA MUSTANG carbon fiber E-brake handle
CALIFORNIA MUSTANG carbon fiber shift
CALIFORNIA MUSTANG plug & chug ashtray drink holder
CALIFORNIA MUSTANG aluminium racing petals
STEEDA billet aluminium A/C *****
AUTOCUSTOM's mustang logo floor mats
APC white fire extinguisher
UPR aluminium ashtray switch panel

Drivetrain:

ENERGY SUSPENSION motor mounts
ENERGY SUSPENSION transmission mount
TREMEC TKO 5-speed
TREMEC bell housing
CENTERFORCE dual friction clutch
MCLOUD pressure plate & flywheel
PRO-5.0 shifter
BBK adjustable clutch adjuster quadrant & cable kit
BBK firewall clutch adjuster
FORD MOTORSPORTS 3:73 gears

Suspension:

BBK 1 1/2" lowering springs
MOROSO struts
GABRIEL shocks

Stereo system:

Alpine cd head unit
MB QUARTS 1" tweaters (powered by head unit)
ECLIPSE 3 1/2" dash speakers (powered by head unit)
LANZAR 6 1/2" door speakers (powered by head unit)
INFINITY 5x7" hatch speakers (powered by American pro 100 watt amp)
MTX 2 10" 7000 series in sealed banpass box (powered by American pro 800 watt amp)
AMERICAN PRO equalizer
AMERICAN PRO 800 watt amp
AMERICAN PRO 100 watt amp

 

A stock 6 speed coupe (hatch back) with a decent driver will turn 13.0 @ 109-110. The trick is launching it. The stock run-flat tires suck.

Not sure what you mean by “lowering” the gears. Numerically? Or ratio? Either way you won’t get much more top speed without adding more power. With a 6 speed 4.10 gears are the way to go unless you will be exceeding 500RWHP. With 4.10’s you will be able to pull roughly the same top speed using 6th gear instead of 5th gear (stock Vettes pull top speed in 5th gear). 4.10’s really wake the car up.

Best engine mod? Hahaha if you ask ten people you’ll probably get ten different answers. If you haven’t already looked it mods for the Vette you may be shocked to find out what things cost. Personally I went the heads/cam route. At any rate I wouldn’t just bolt a supercharger on the car without at least replacing the clutch and the out put shaft in the rear end. To the best of my knowledge a true twin screw s/c is not yet available for the C5 Vette. The two most popular s/c’s for the Vette seem to be the Magnacharger and the Pro Charger. The Pro Charger kit for the Vette sucks in stock form. There are a few shops A&A and ECS for example that modify the Pro Charger kit into something awesome. Generally they have no problem exceeding 500RWHP on a pretty much stock Vette.

You’ll probably get a lot better response if you go over to Corvette Forum.com and post your question there.

 

First of all I read that 97-02 hatchbacks run 13.4's stock ? Is this the fastest they are stock? I always thought they were a lot faster.

No, its all in the driver.

2nd if I lower the gears will the top speed increase from the low 170's ?

If you mean numerically lower then yes. With 2.73s/3.08s etc your top speed will be a bit higher than with 3.73s or 4.10s. But 170mph is fast enough on the street, and in the 1/4 is good for 7s so unless your goal is Bonneville, I wouldnt worry about top speed.

3rd whats the best engine mod to make if I want the car to be faster. I read about the twin screw blowers are a great way to improve the performance of a vette. Am I better off spending the $6k on the blower and leaveing everything else alone ? Eventually Id get into headers, x pipe, cam, lifters, rockers, heads, but Id rather bolt on the H.P to begin with. Thanks for any information you guy's can give me.

All depends on your budget, and plans for the car. If its a high milage car w/o any mods, you may wanna save up your $$ to replace parts vs instantly slapping on a blower. 100k LS1s have still netted crazy HP for "ran" engines, but age will show sooner or later. Those cars are almost 10 years old remember. And a blower is a good "easy" fix in the beginning. If your goal is more street duty w/ light track days then a blower @ 6-8psi will be good, esp being the boost cant be put up too high w/ a 10:1+ comp ratio. And if you go w/ headers, Xpipe, cam etc later, you can always make 'em comply w/ the blower more so than getting that stuff first, then puttin the blower on. And if you go the Magnacharger route, unless you cut your stock hood, you better have the coin to replace it w/ a cowl.

There really is no "best" mod, because everyone's roads, driving experience and car goals are all different. What works for me, may not work the best for you. The search feature has just about all the ?s you're lookin for as per reliability, perf mods, apperance mods etc.

And here's to a hopefull welcome to the darkside

 

My previous C5 had a 3.15 ratio and an A4. I had it too 173 before the rear started to wiggle a bit due to the roads being bad. Was alittle scary. I also ran it at teh track and it ran a 13.4@108 with a 2.0 60ft. It does ok but witout being able to stall the convertor over 1200 its hard to get her to move much faster. A new stall will get you 12's. I went with a H/C setup very mild cam a 222 duration cam with a 114 LSA, neted me 390HP and high 11's in teh 1/4. It was a blast with teh 3200 VIg stall i had too. Single best mod. Depends on what you get over all really. But since you are looking at a 6 spd well it comes down to what you think you wanna do. 1/4 mile stick with N/A h/c cam, and/or stroker motor. They perform much better on teh 1/4 then most F/I cars. I cannot recall seeing a F/I only car hitting 10's without at least a cam. Yet I have seen cammed only and h/c cars hit 10's. streetability is an issue usalluy depending on the tune. If you wanna play on teh highway my Pro CHarger will break teh tires loose at 60 and I had ti to 170+ with my 373's with alot more left in her. And it pulls my 6th gear like some stock ones do with a 342 in 5th gear. But I can run with most bikes out here in good ol Ky lol. There is faster though i know that I been beat down before lol. Right now I have a 2000 C5 with a 6 speed and A&A Corvettes ATI Procharger with teh front mounted IC. Love this kit. With a very crappy tune I still hit 488 RWHP and 460RWTQ. Have not had it to the track yet but I will when I get the tuen straight this spring. Most of those kits hit over 500 even with teh P1SC some have hit 600 on Z06's. Anyway good luck

 

Thanks for all the info guys made my decisions a little easier, money is not really a issue at the time. So Ill probably go with a blower right off the bat.... because I wont buy one under 50k miles. I'm pretty much on track with everything I need to do, regardless the differences between a mustang and a corvette cars are similar, clutch is a clutch, tranny is a tranny, blower = blower. I have had a ton of experience with my mustang, had it for 6 years. later

Clint