I have a 2000 trans am a4 car. I bracket race on the weekends and only drive my car on nice days. So far I have done a borla catback, vigilante 3400 stall converter, drag radials, and a hyper tech reprogrammer which I only use for shift points, speed limiter and fan controls. Now I heard there is a show coming to our local airport to run heads up drags and I want to know what to do next for more power. I have thought about gears, headers, nitrous, and some day bigger mods such as heads and cam or supercharging. I have about $1200.00 saved up for mods so any ideas would be appreciated. I just don't want to get smoked by some ricer trash with turbo or nitrous that would just be embarrassing.

 

Gears aren't worth it at this time,nitrous is good for the easy kill but refills get expensive,headers are something you WILL need if you want to go h/c and beyond.I say headers,homemade ram air,ud pulley,ported t-body and possibly ls6 manifold.That might be alittle more than $1200 though.If you are frugal you could probably do headers and nitrous.Lots of possibilities just try to go with something that works with your future goals.

 

Thanks man. I was thinking about going with headers to complete my exhaust system but everything is really confusing when shopping for headers. I thought about pacesetters b/c some guys on here say they fit the best but then I don't know to go with emissions or not and if I should go ory or cats and if I go ory I have to get o2 simulators or get them eliminated with a tune which I don't know if I need or not after headers. See now my head is spinning again. Sorry man I just needed to vent a little.

 

If you need to pass vehicle inspections in your state you will need cats.If not ory's are usually cheaper and worth a little bit more power,it will totally change the sound of your car (LOUD!).I prefer stainless headers for durability (kooks,qtp,etc) but that would put you close to 1200 for just headers and ory coated headers are usually way cheaper.I went with qtp's on my ss because I knew they would last and at the time they were some of the best out there.I'm not sure what the preffered headers are nowadays just check the external engines forum.
Like I said earlier if you have to pass vehicle inspections you'll need emissions.If not you can delete them.You usually don't need a tune for headers but it would help.By deleting the cats and the rear o2's you will throw a trouble code but it won't effect the cars performance at all.Or you could keep the emissions and use o2 sims and you shouldn't set any codes.My opinion, the emissions system is unneeded clutter.I deleted mine and the cats,I do have the trouble codes but it runs just fine.