Hi well i just purchased a 98 z28 with right at 90k miles on it. Its in great shape and has a few things done to it.
FAST 90 intake
Comp Cam for the FAST intake
SLP cold air
Pacesetter LT's with 3" true duals
3.43 gears
Needs re-tuning but would like to do a little more work on the car before i take it to Tom Wong to get it tuned by the northwest LS master. I need help any suggestions. On next plan of action for me. Im in the navy so im a builder on a budget. But open for any suggestions

 

When you say it needs to be "re-tuned" I'm assuming it's already been tuned, and it still has some bugs to work out??? Honestly, whatever you put on it moving forward probably won't affect the tune very much. What are you goals for the car? Is it an M6 or an A4?

 

If is a A4 get the right stall.If it's a M6 get better clutchs.Lasty a retune.Then drive it till it blows!

 

its an A4 and its been tuned yes.... but it was awhile ago... ive put the LT's on it since then... and it being the 98 it has that stupid hard PCM to tune. And a stall is something i was thinking about already and been looking into getting a 3200. How logical is a 383 stroker kit with some new heads?

 

and plans are... street legal 10 second car... this is not my daily drive just my toy... that i wanna make very fast and fun... i want a track car that runs 10's as well as i can drive it around town

 

since your an auto, i would spend the money on a properly built tranny and a big stall.

 

stall is a must... and it will be the next purchase forsure... but i have another 2k i would like to spend on parts... what are suggestions... forced induction or keep it natural?

 

Tom has worked on all my F-Bodies. Great and very knowledgable guy. I would def look into a 3600 stall. Yank SS series is a good choice. I ran the SS3600 on my last Z28 A4 and it pulled hard. Put down almost 400rwh on Tom Mustang dyno. Keep it natural until you get the tranny and stall dialed in.

 

so on that note... i get the stall... whats next and i see ur from oregon what part of oregon and Tom is deff the master from what i hear up in this area... 243 heads are kinda a must are they not?

 

Tom is a God when it comes to tuning and building. Not a better builder/tuner in the area. I'm from Portland. Tom actually lives a couple miles from me and his shop is located in Wa.

Yes, I would upgrade the heads. I'm sure Tom has some cores laying around or can get his hands on some 5.3's or LS6 heads. I would call him up and ask him.

 

Don't even begin to think about FI unless u wanna drop some serious coin OR you can fab up everything and do all assembly. Which is not easy.
Definitely gonna need a build that tranny up but if you think that you will ever be doing FI I would suggest gettin a 4l80 and building that as they are alot stronger. The 4l60 is a time bomb. Just like making alot of power on stock bottom end. Its only a matter of time.

Gettin the 243 heads is a good starting point. But here is the rub as I see it. You should sit down and crunch some numbers. Find out how much money you realistically wanna spend on your car. Nearly everyone here can tell ya that they have spent money on the same part numerous times. IE heads, cam, tranny, rear. That kinda thing. Stuff that ya go and buy and then get further down the line and say **** i gotta get a better set of heads or the like. I know Ive done it many times. Not cause they broke but preventative stuff or simple limitations.

The 243's can be gotten cheap but the labor, whether you do it or pay someone to do it, is annoying to have 2x to put them in and take them out. They are good for NA but not good for FI. The truck heads are the same port and chamber design but larger CC combustion area so that you can lower compression without a big dish. You may decide that you want aftermarket heads with thicker decks. Making clamping force to the block much better.

You mention a 383. A cheaper way to go would be to get a truck engine and build that. They are 370 Ci so ya get a little more Ci plus the block is alot stronger. Not that the LS1 is horrible but if you decide that you have FI in your future its a cheap way to ensure togetherness.

So basically figure out what ya wanna spend and go from there. Certainly there is a million ideas here on tech as to what is the best or most efficient way to make power. But those ideas are useless if they don't fit within your budget.
GL man!

 

wow thanks 99ss-T that helped alot and the shitty thing is idk what i wanna spend but for the next 5 years i dont plan on putting any FI in my car... thats way down the road and when i find me a sugar momma to pay for it all. And i think for the time being heads and a stall is the next in line. Then once i save up a lil more ill start looking farther into it... as turning it into a straight track car... But thank you for the advice on everything so far... im looking into getting a set of 243's from the guys on the forums and then ima buy a stall... all the work will be done with me and a few buddys who are very mechanically smart... a few cases of beer and pizza is alot cheaper then having a shop do it... Then ill get ahold of Tom and see what he can do for me... but if he has heads down there that i can get ahold of for a good price then ill just have him install and tune it all while its down there... and then ill be done with it for awhile... until my bank account recovers