BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

The car isn't a daily driver so I'm not concerned with mpg. I prefer to keep the 4l60e if possible, but if it doesn't hold up I'll go from there. I do like cruising on the highway at a lower rpm so I like my overdrive for that reason. With stock gears trapping 135 mph I was shifting into overdrive right at the end of the quarter mile. That worked out perfect, but if I trapped higher I'd have to run a taller tire or taller gear.

If if I could make 700 rwhp NA and be streetable I would. I doubt that can happen so it's either procharger or turbo. Speed inc has done most of my work and all my tuning over the years so I'll work out the details with them since my mind is pretty set on the procharger now.

Game ova

You're spending money twice. Get rid of the 4L60 now while it still works, I don't care what "level" it is......it WON'T hang out for as long as a tried and true hydramatic. Same thing with the procharger, you'll be ripping it off in a year or so... and be trying to piece together a turbo setup. And to be clear, I'm not being a smart alec when I say this, but if you skip the shop and do it yourself..... you could have twice the car. No need for some fancy shop to build your motor, keep it in house man. Now, if your living arrangements don't allow that (apartment).. . then I guess it makes sense to farm it out.

ddnspider

iTrader: (26)

did you do it with a stock motor and converter? I'm running a D1SC kit on a stock 4l60e and its pretty awesome. But it does have a 3600 yank and a healthy cam.

Nali6.2

because they don't listen the first time when people tell them to go turbo, than they end up regretting it and realizing how much their 5k procarger sucks.

SLOW SEDAN

iTrader: (13)

I agree its like blowers need 10psi to make up for the weight and crank drag and don't wakeup until 13psi.


That doesn't seem right at all, either you aren't revving it out or running a tiny tire. 28 tire and 3.45's should have you crossing at 155mph depending on converter slip.

You might be surprised what 500-600NA horsepower will do. Head/cam LS7's dyno mid 600's all the time. I had a LSX454 after having a blower and the NA throttle response **** on it. I ran 11.3 in a 4000lb car with the stock 6.0 putting out only 425hp, being lighter even 500hp would have you deep in the 10's. I don't know what your MPH/ET goal is but with your budget you can build a really nice NA engine to run deep 10's and give it the jug on race days to run single digits without any of the hassle of blower or turbos.

sweet99ss

iTrader: (41)

If you are wanting the power now. Just build the one thing that is guaranteed to break with any kind of power the 4l60e... The ls2 will handle 600rwhp all day on a decent tune.. Put a built tranny in. If going 4l60e then don't waist your time and go with the absolute hands down best RPM TRANSMISSIONS.. Do a built tranny and d1sc kit with a 10psi pulley and go make some good power...

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

Ok I've been paying attention...and here is what I've learned in this thread...

Don't put a blower on a stock motor because you will just have to pull it off when you replace the motor.

Don't put a blower or built motor in the car until you put a Th400 in it because anything else is a waste of money.

Don't do any of that until the rear end is built.

Don't put a supercharger on the car at all because you will replace it within two years with a turbo.

I just bought the car about 3 months ago. With the price of the car, cam, headers, converter, rear suspension, wheels, and tires I've got 20g in it in 3 months, which isn't too bad. I plan to spend another 20g on it this winter. That is not enough to put a custom turbo, built motor, built th400, built rear end, and fuel system in it. So it looks like I will do nothing at all and wait until the following winter after this coming one when I have 30 to 40g to spend.

If only we could all start off with a perfectly built 1000+ rwhp car that nothing will ever break or need to be replaced again...lol...we all know everything can break and eventually will. We also know very few of us can afford to buy a car and replace every single thing and make over 1000 rwhp in the first year of ownership. Some people here can and those are the guys I like watching not trying to compete with because I can't! At the same time I root for them as they compete with the best "street" cars in the country.

So maybe forced induction is the wrong choice for me or I'm better off building a stroker motor, trans, and rear this winter while staying NA until the following year then adding boost. E85 is an option if I wanted to run 11 to 1 NA for a year or I could run 10 to 1 and still boost it with 93 plus meth.

Back to the drawing board I guess...LOL.

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

I was running a 4l60e with I believe 3.42 gears are stock in the GTO and a 26" tall tire. I trapped 134 to 135 typically and was shifting to OD right at the 1/4 mile. Converter was a yank 3600ss.

Game ova

Lol, I can see why you feel the way that you do. It just sucks to see a guy waste money when he doesn't have to. And you are definitely right about the money deal, it's hard to do everything at once... and it's safe to say that most people around this forum including myself can't pull that off. Now about the 400, if you do it yourself.... you can build your own 400 for under 1k and that's with a brake. And it will easily handle the power you are looking to make. Those 4l60s are just flat out sketchy, again.... go to the transmission section.

SLOW SEDAN

iTrader: (13)

You shifting at 6k RPM? haha Sounds like you needs a trans tune!



Do you have fancy $10k wheels? Aint no way a cam swap and boltons add up to $20k otherwise. You certainly don't need to spend $20k to go turbo. Heck most people I know don't even spend $5k.

I don't see why you need a built engine as the Gen4 bottom ends handle a lot of power. Run the stock engine until it gives up smoke... probably last longer then you think.

A $1500 TH400 will more then support what you are doing. The rears in those cars are weak though so whatever you can do to fix that after it breaks plan for it. But again I wouldn't bother until it breaks.

Fuel system is easy and even doing it fancy is $1000.

But I don't see anything that can possibly add up to $30-40k? Jesus with $30-40k I wouldn't even know where to start. Actually ya I do, I'd be using the same clapped out 5.3 and homegrown turbo kit I have now and slap the other $37k in the bank! But if you really want to spend money your budget would allow for an LSX block, Shearer Fab hotside, and a Precision PT118!

sweet99ss

iTrader: (41)

Yea I agree you have some crazy numbers. If your just smart about and spend A LOT more time researching you should be able to completely build the car for much much less. Learning to work on the car yourself will save you a TON of $. It can be a bitch some times, but being able to say you built it yourself is all worth it.. With boost you don't have to spend a crazy amount of $ on an engine. A basic forged 5.3-5.7 will have you easily 800+rwhp capable. I have a forged iron 5.7 on mine and it will be going 9's soon... I have much less then 40k invested in my car..

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

The wot shift point was about 6700 rpm. That weak *** 4l60e ran behind a NA 408 as a daily driver for a year. Then I put a 150 shot on it and ran it as nearly a daily for another year while making over 100 passes between 8th and 1/4 mile. The next season I melted a piston. Motor was bored another 10 thousandths and built with custom pistons. It ran another year before I sold it. Ten years later that trans is still fine although the new owner barely drove it and never raced it.

The 20g I spent on my new car includes the price of the car itself which I just bought 3 months ago.

The point I was trying to make in my previous post is...we all start some where we can't all just start with the perfect setup with the our dream amount of power right from the beginning. Some can, but those are usually guys competing with the fastest radial cars in the country not guys asking questions on an internet forum.

There were several guys that said putting a blower on a stock motor is a waste because you will just have to pull it off when you build the motor anyway. There were several guys that said 10 psi on a stock motor sucks it makes **** for power.

The thing is 500 rwhp at 8 psi is better than the 390 rwhp I make now cam only. So while that is **** power to most of you it's a step forward for me and might get a high 10 out of it in a GTO. I would definatley want a solid trans at that time as I wouldn't expect the stock 4l60e to hold up to 500 rwhp for long. I would build the rear at the same time along with driveshaft, half shafts, CV's, and stubs. The rear suspension is already done. When I can build the motor I could up the boost with the same supercharger and get near 700 rwhp. Then if a few years later I want more I sell the supercharger and go turbo.

We always want more no matter what we have. So the point is I can do this in a couple steps and while it will cost a little more if I plan carefully I can minimize wasted cash while still reaching my goal of 700 rwhp within a year and a half or two.

Do we tell everyone that wants to put a cam in their stock motor don't do it you're just wasting money. Wait until you can build the motor, trans, rear, and put a custom fabricated turbo on it so you don't waste money redoing anything? Hell no we say yes cam it!

All this assumes I would address the fuel system at the same time to handle my final goal plus a little more so I have room to grow.

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

I'm just being honest about my abilities. I'm not a tuner. I do have interest in learning at least some basics, but it's probably not a good idea to have my first tuning experience on a procharged, cammed, stock bottom end. Maybe you disagree...I suppose I could practice on a bunch of junk yard 5.3's or 6.0 lq4 motors until I get it figured out. Having said that people said it was foolish to put a blower on a stock bottom end only to have to pull it back off to build the motor later.

I can install a trans, but I'm not going to attempt to build the trans myself. I can install a differential, but I've never rebuilt a diff. So I could probably install a procharger, trans, and the rear end parts then take it to have it tuned.

I obviously have a lot to think about to spend my money wisely. That is why I'm planning now for something that will not start until this November.

sweet99ss

iTrader: (41)

Procharger d1scx kit - 8k
Level 6 Rpm trans- $3200
Built rear- $5k
TMS mighty mouse forged 5.7- $5300
Siemens 60lb injectors- $250
Racetronix dual pumps + wiring- $400

That is a 100% built car ready for the 9's at 700+rwhp for about 20k that doesn't include all the $ you can get back from selling stock parts.

Sell your engine-$1500
Sell rear end parsk-$500

So after that your under 20k for a completely built car

sweet99ss

iTrader: (41)

Not trying to get personal, but what kinda $ do you have for mods now? Why is the goal to start in October?

MY_2K_Z

iTrader: (1)

I've got 5k in my whole car including the car itself.

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

I'd like to enjoy the car as is this summer and run it a couple times at the track. It will not be driven during the winter so that is the best time to do mods. I'm well on pace to have the cash by then as well. I have the cash for a procharger right now, but not all the supporting mods yet. I don't want to break and be down during the summer. Work is doing much much better than I expected when I made this plan. So the budget for it could be higher, but I'm not wanting to count my eggs before they hatch. I've owned the car 3 months I can wait until winter to make sure the cash is there and do it right.

I bought a really old house cheap in 2004 on a 15 year loan and fixed it up slowly over time to where I'm happy with it. My daily driver is a Ford focus with a salvage title I bought for $4000 it only has 60,000 miles on it. I don't go on vacations and have perfect attendance for 18 consecutive years at my job. I've been living cheap for a long time and never had kids so this year I decided I wanted to buy a car and now I'm blowing all my savings LOL. I still have my retirement account and have another 25 years or so to work before retirement so it's time to play because you only live once.

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

...and you are probably faster than I'll ever be...LOL...I've always liked Pontiac and I really like these GTO's even though they aren't real Pontiacs and they are very difficult to make fast with their IRS, tire size limitations, and weight.

JosephIV

iTrader: (14)

OP, it sounds like you need to sit down with a pen and paper (if you're old school like me) and write down your goals. Then research and write down the kits / parts that will get you there with the part prices. Hop on the computer again and write down shops / vendors who sell, install, tune the stuff you're looking at. Call and e-mail them telling them your goals and budget. Message people on here who have done what you're looking at. Narrow it down to whatever best fits your goal / budget / skill level / etc and start punishing your checking account.

Vengeance, Brute Speed, Race Proven Motorsports, Livernois, and many others are LS1tech vendors / sponsors who have dealt with your ride and can answer questions and provide sales and service. There are plenty of site sponsors and non sponsors who have built and tuned high HP or 9 second GTO's with TVS 2300's, Prochargers, Vortechs, Paxtons, Turbos. There are people on this forum who have been there and done that. You can message inquiring about their setups and leverage all of that knowledge.

BCNUL8R

iTrader: (2)

Best post of the thread! Thank you! Instead of getting into a pissing match about how cheap I can build a car I'm being honest about my goals and my abilities. If I wanted to build a car cheap I would of started with a fox body not a low mileage GTO. I want a nice car that is reliable that you don't see a million of at the track. That costs money there is no way around it. I'll talk to some shops and trans builders to see what they recommend for my goals and budget and go from there.