So far I have:
Whisper lid
K&N air filter
SS hood ram air
spintech split case - switching to slp lm

I plan on doing:
mid length or shorty headers
torque converter 3200 or 3600
tranny cooler

Basicly thats all I plan on doing due to it being a daily driver. My question is whats the best headers that will give me the most hp+tq? I need to use stock cat. converters and cant move them due to the California laws, none of the shops will touch my cats and moving them will fail the visual test. I also need to know if I dont get a dyno tune with this setup after headers will it cause ping/detonation now or later on in the cars life? I still have low miles, oh and its a 98' Z28. Sorry for the rant. Im open to hear other light modification advice too, no cams though.

 

Needs to be posted in external engine section.

 

free mods

 

The only things you could get away with are shorties. They aren' t going to give you as much as LTs, but, only shorties, WITH C.A.R.B. numbers will be legal. The only ones I know of are Hookers and JBA. I thought BBK was working on C.A.R.B. exemption, but I know they have some 1 3/4" primary shorties. Again, I don' t know if they are exempt though.

I think you can find replacement cats' from Random Technologies, but, they will probably be expensive. Unless they are bad, you should probably just save your money on some DRs, to hook up with that TC.

 

why no cam? you could get a good legal emissions cam, it won't be carb, but if the tune is right..you'd pas emisisons and they aren't gonna pull your cam to get the specs on it.

 

Cant run mids. Shorties are worthless. I would hate to live there.

 

I do ...

Friggin' bug-eatin' hippies

 

...tree-hugging toad-licking do-gooders...

 

ya, tell me about it... wait. what am i saying i live in Sacramento

 

how much gain can you expect form headers on light mods like those? Just a question...

 

Nice lol.

 

Im trying to stay with light mods that have the most hp+tq gains and keep my stock tune without causing ping/detonation. When I get alot of miles on the car, then im going to aim for the heavy modding but for now I want to keep it simple.

 

why no tune????????????????????????????

What is it with some of you guys. You're prepared to spend over $1000 on odd ball parts and then not spend $400 on tune that would probably offer more HP gain. Reckon many of you guys have your head screwed on backwards.

In CA you are stuck for decent n/a setups and there's no real way around it.

I'm going to have to add a link to this info in my sig, seems it's every other day I post it, lol

Exhaust tuning is about 2 things on a n/a setup.

1. Flow

2. Scavenging

For the most part flow is not an issue. Even stock the exhaust actually flows pretty well for the power level. Swapping to 3" piping and a better muffler (i.e. a catback) will net you some HP but not a great deal. Again swapping the mid pipe and cats for high flow ones will help but the gain will be even less.

Where the real power lies is with scavenging. You need tubular manifolds for this. The primary length will determine the rpm range where scavenging will take place. Shoty headers would require stupid rpms (I've heard claims of near 10,000) to scavenge successfully. Mids are slightly better but will still favour higher revving setups. Long tubes are the only manifold type that will scavenge in the LS1's rpm range correctly. This is why they will see the best gains in torque and HP.

On a mild bolt on cammed setup the stock manifolds will actually flow almost as well as shorties. the shorties are better flowing but the engine just can't make use of that extra flow. This is why shorties only tend to offer 3-5rwhp gain over stock manifolds. Which makes them very expensive in the $/HP game. 01/2 cars have better manifolds than 98-00 and the gain from shorties is even less.

Personally in CA proper exhaust tuning is out of the question. You might as well save the money and just get a catback (or duals). And leave the mid pipe, cats and headers stock. The cost for the gain is NOT worth it. And more gain can be had from other components.

Induction wise you want a lid and probably a decent TB and intake manifold setup. TPIS offer 90mm Ls6 intakes and TB's or there is the FAST 90mm manifold (if you require EGR it might be a pain in CA but one that can be overcome).

A good TB/intake setup will likely offer more gains than doing shorties and cats.

Other mods like pulleys and electric water pump would be sensible things too look at also.

Most free mods are pointless and a total waste of time.

No HP mods like suspension, body mounted torque arm, tyres, gears and a sensible stall will make the car faster without the need for more power.

If you want a little extra then nitrous is always an option.

I would however look at getting a cam, nothing too radical because of emissions but there are still some nice choices out there. But due to the reduced cam options and lack of proper exhaust tuning you may want to consider heads as well.

However this is all adding up to a lot of $$$

IMO the best option for CA is FI. I believe some of the Procharger kits are CARB legal and I think STS was trying to get some of their kits also. You'll need to check.

With FI you don't need to worry as much about the intake and exhaust mods or pulleys. As over 400rwhp is easy. Of course the extra mods will mean more power but it's not a requirement.

Stock headers will also work fine with FI, although this is where it gets complex. Scavenging doesn't take place with FI due to the intake air being forced into the combustion chamber at above atmospheric pressures. So flow is the only important thing. As I said earlier shorties will outflow stock manifolds, infact as long as the have the same diameter on the primaries and 3" collectors shorties will flow as well as long tubes do and on a FI setup it will show.

So therefore shorties will work very well with FI and would be a worthwhile upgrade.

 

So would that mean modding a Camaro in California is more of a waste of money? Your from England?

 

My head seems to be screwed on right, I want to leave the option of returning the car back to its stock form if I plan on selling it. I dont think I would get much if I left it modded. Whats so odd about the parts I have in mind alot of people out here have about the same setup as what I have in mind. I appreciate the advice though and I will look more into it. Im not here to argue, just get some info.

 

You can put together a completely legal 12 second car for California. I'm working on getting there myself. Just get a good cat back, lid, torque converter, gear, and tune then you've got a very fast car (I assume you're an A4, if not then scratch the torque converter). Once that's done, go for the cam.

These cars are so good that you only need to ask yourself how fast you want to go.

Living in California is difficult, though. We all need to do our part to keep the air clean so the governor can cruise around in his Hummer.

 

my goal right now is just to get my car to 12 seconds. I have seen others produce good times with stock tune. Im not sure weather I want to keep this car forever but I plan on upgrading to another GM vehicle but still waiting for the new linup. I was going to get a goat but I ended up buying a used Z.

 

a tune is the best things for these cars....best bang for the buck and its legal cause they can't prove it was tuned. you'll probably see around 10hp at the wheels and it won't effect the value...i don't see why you wouldn't do it.

 

Worst case senario for me is to put the stock exhaust back on.

 

Getting a tune will do wonders for your car. I basically have shorties and a catback and with the tune I got the car drives amazingly. It pulls and pulls. You can can have all the mods in the world but if you do not have it tuned it really will not perform to its full potential.

Livng in Cali can make it difficult to mod but it is not impossible. AFR makes C.A.R.B. approved heads and I think Edelbrock is working on getting their heads approved aswell.