What Next?
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
Likes: 1
From: The South
How much are you looking to spend? Do you mind paying somebody to do the work? (converter/trans is the only work I won't do myself)
What I would (and did) do with a car in your current state: 3500+ stall speed torque converter, subframe connectors, Nitto NT-555R drag radials, Trans-Go shift kit, transmission temperature gauge and a transmission cooler. Possibly "basic" tuning for shift points and torque managment.
The stock converter is a piece of crap when it comes to performance. If you want to get the F*** up and GO put a converter in right now.
If you want something cheaper and simpler that may or may not give you a significant SOTP gain (but you want eventually anyway) an LS6 intake manifold and/or underdrive pulley is not a bad idea.
Based on the drag car listed in your sig I am surprised you havnt put a converter in the Z yet....
What I would (and did) do with a car in your current state: 3500+ stall speed torque converter, subframe connectors, Nitto NT-555R drag radials, Trans-Go shift kit, transmission temperature gauge and a transmission cooler. Possibly "basic" tuning for shift points and torque managment.
The stock converter is a piece of crap when it comes to performance. If you want to get the F*** up and GO put a converter in right now.
If you want something cheaper and simpler that may or may not give you a significant SOTP gain (but you want eventually anyway) an LS6 intake manifold and/or underdrive pulley is not a bad idea.
Based on the drag car listed in your sig I am surprised you havnt put a converter in the Z yet....
Yea I'm not too worried about the actual install if its anything like a TH-350 cause we've done all the work to the '74 including the converter and it really wasn't that bad, I just don't want to spend that kind of time or money right now since I would also need a tune and new tires which I have recently got brand new tires and I'm actually just fixing to get my retune back from Bryan...so far I've done all the work on my car myself besides the ORY which I got my local exhaust shop to fab up and install for me so working on the car is no biggie and I like saving the money too. The only thing I think I would pay someone else to do is internal work like cam, heads, etc. I'm thinking I might just finish up the boltons on my car for now (p/p tb and ls6) and leave it like that for a while then maybe next spring I'll start looking into either a converter or a hefty size cam 
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
Likes: 1
From: The South
Originally Posted by mccollum_007
Yea I'm not too worried about the actual install if its anything like a TH-350 cause we've done all the work to the '74 including the converter and it really wasn't that bad, I just don't want to spend that kind of time or money right now since I would also need a tune and new tires which I have recently got brand new tires and I'm actually just fixing to get my retune back from Bryan...so far I've done all the work on my car myself besides the ORY which I got my local exhaust shop to fab up and install for me so working on the car is no biggie and I like saving the money too. The only thing I think I would pay someone else to do is internal work like cam, heads, etc. I'm thinking I might just finish up the boltons on my car for now (p/p tb and ls6) and leave it like that for a while then maybe next spring I'll start looking into either a converter or a hefty size cam
Cam swap isn't very hard. If you have somebody to help you, basic mechanical ability and all the right tools you can do it yourself.
See sig.
You really think I need to do a converter before a cam???? Also on the cam swap can you even take it out without taking apart the front end on the car cause it seems like the motor fits in so tight theres no way to get it actually out of the car...Also I've worked on cars for quite some time but I'm still learning a lot when it comes to the LS1's internals and performance but I was wondering is there any cam I could swap in it that would get me 400rwhp or close to it with no other mods besides maybe an LS6/tb and tune that could still be driven on the street??
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
Likes: 1
From: The South
Originally Posted by mccollum_007
You really think I need to do a converter before a cam????
Originally Posted by mccollum_007
Also on the cam swap can you even take it out without taking apart the front end on the car cause it seems like the motor fits in so tight theres no way to get it actually out of the car...Also I've worked on cars for quite some time but I'm still learning a lot when it comes to the LS1's internals and performance but I was wondering is there any cam I could swap in it that would get me 400rwhp or close to it with no other mods besides maybe an LS6/tb and tune that could still be driven on the street??
Did you read hte link in my sig? Try www.ls1howto.com for a complete cam swap guide. Its really not that hard. Removing the radiator gives you the necessary room to work.
Alright thanks man, by the way what kind of cam could I get to get me to my goal cause I know some cams only get a lot of people up to 370 or 380 but that would probably be one of my last mods for a long time if I got it and I would love to be able to hit 400rwhp. I read that TSP's MS4 has been gaining on average 60rwhp which sounds sweet if its a streetable cam and if I'm already putting down 340/350ish then I should be up to 400/410 afterwards right?
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
Likes: 1
From: The South
Originally Posted by mccollum_007
Alright thanks man, by the way what kind of cam could I get to get me to my goal cause I know some cams only get a lot of people up to 370 or 380 but that would probably be one of my last mods for a long time if I got it and I would love to be able to hit 400rwhp. I read that TSP's MS4 has been gaining on average 60rwhp which sounds sweet if its a streetable cam and if I'm already putting down 340/350ish then I should be up to 400/410 afterwards right?
Not all cars dyno or run the same, even with identical mods, but there are a lot of cams that will get you to about 400 rwhp. The MS4 is one of them. With the right gears/converter I would daily drive an MS4 (I alrady do it iwth an MS3) but not everybody agrees with me on that. Streetability varies from person to person.
If you search, read the stickies, search some more and do a lot of reading you should learn enought o make a good decison on what cam you want by the time you ge that far.
Alright cool, all streetability means to me is that it will idle down nicely and not have any problem running in cold weather. I know our '74 (which I know is a different beast all together but I figure the same basic concept) has a pretty hefty size cam in it and it has trouble idleing in cold weather but idles down just fine usually. I don't know what other "streetable" characteristics factor into a cam choice to other people but if you could fill me in that would be great! Thanks for all the help again.
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11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,524
Likes: 1
From: The South
Originally Posted by mccollum_007
Alright cool, all streetability means to me is that it will idle down nicely and not have any problem running in cold weather. I know our '74 (which I know is a different beast all together but I figure the same basic concept) has a pretty hefty size cam in it and it has trouble idleing in cold weather but idles down just fine usually. I don't know what other "streetable" characteristics factor into a cam choice to other people but if you could fill me in that would be great! Thanks for all the help again.
It only gives me any notable problems when it is cold outside. It didn't care for the 5-15* temperatures we had a couple years ago. It had to run for several minutes before it would idle smoothly in gear. Until that time I had to hit the gas and brake slightly while in gear or put it into neutral and feather the throttle (only while stopped). Since it isn't normally that cold it doesn't bother me much.
See here in Arkansas unless its a very unusually cold winter it wont see below 30* or so most of the time so that really shouldn't be an issue. Just as long as I can still depend on it to get me to school and back everyday I'd have no problems going with a pretty beasty size cam in my dd...Thunder Racing seems to make some pretty nice cams, any ones you would reccomend for me in my situation??
Well actually I believe I'm going to go with some Poly motor mounts now haha, I was noticing my Y-pipe or headers seem to be banging on occasion and with 93K on the car I'm sure it couldn't hurt anyways. I'm just hoping it doesn't have to many ill affects on the car but for the price it seems like a pretty decent mod...
