Hey guys, this is my first post here in ages, I don't even remember what my old name was so I just made a new name. (i was nobody important, i had like 300 posts)

Anyways my car is basically stock other than catback and a lid but im looking for at least 400rwhp.

heads and cam seem to be the best way to go as far as price/power ratio. in a perfect world, id like to supercharge, but im a broke *** college student and cant afford no supercharger

anyways, my real question is regarding the reliability on a H/C daily driver. Is this a bad idea? My main concern basically is that I can't afford for anything to go wrong. I have just enough money for the H/C package, but if something were to go wrong with it, i'd be out my car and with no money to fix it (or even afford a rental )

should I be worried about this? i know theres been some cases of engine failure and such (as a result of such an install) but it seems like those are a vast minority, and the results are overwhelmingly positive.

what do you guys think?

also, whats it like to own a H/C car? do you have to be careful about overdoing it, or can you basically treat your engine like it was stock and pretty much beat on it whenever? i know that beating on even a stock engine constantly is bad, but you know what i mean. i dont want to have all this horsepower but have to worry about **** breaking on me everytime i floor it


basically, the point of my thread is...is this a worry free mod? i dont want to be buying a problem, i just want my car to be faster and i dont want to have to worry about it...is that too much to ask?

thanks guys, ls1tech is definitely the place to go for questions like this. you guys rock

i need to start posting here more often

 

I would go with TEA or Patriot 5.3 heads and a tr224 ot F4. Anytime you mod your car there is alittle risk. If done right it is very little.If it were me i would do TEA 1.5's and a FMS F4.

 

Cam and Heads can cause you problems,but so can any mod for that matter.Cam and Head combo can be trouble free if you choose your parts well ,a reputiable performance shop does the install,and Boils down to Haveing a good tuner.A tuner can make or break a C/H package.But if you are that worried about breaking stuff,than leave it stock.Just my Thoughts

 

you just gave almost the exact response i gave on ls2.com

 

i have heads and cam on my daily driver. put abot 10-20 miles a day on it and the car has about 78k total

wouldnt have it any other way

 

I must be getting smarter

 

and it started with the purchace of an FMS cam . i cant wait for mine.

 

You might break your rearend with the added power, but as long as you get good springs that can handle your cam, you should be fine.

 

I drive my car 70 miles round trip to work and back every day.. and I've got a pretty aggressive setup I never have had any problems in all the time I've had a H/C package. You might want to call TSP and check on one of their new 225 cams and a set of PP 5.3's, that would be a little milder than what I'm running and would still make great reliable power.

 

my car is a dailydriver (summer only)w/heads,cam and all other goodies performs as good as stock,just a hell of alot faster. no problems with motor but i did break the weak parts from sticky tires.

 

Welcome back. Every member on LS1tech is important.

400rwhp should be doable. What does your car currently make? Is the car M6 or A4?


The best advice I can give you is have all the parts independantly checked to make sure they are right before they go into the car.

My heads and cam install went almost perfect because the guys from WAR caught the problems with the intake, headers, & heads BEFORE even looking at the car. Catching a problem before it's installed on your car isn't a big deal. Learning about it after the fact can be a very big deal.

I think you really have to ask yourself if your willing to take a small chance on a very serious consequence.

With the budget suggested and only have a cat back and lid doing the rest of the bolt on's now (maybe a mild cam) and waiting until you've $aved up additional cheddar $$$ might be wise. Or wait and save a little more then do the heads and cam package. I try to have some extra $$$ on hand before starting a project because stuff will often go wrong...it's just the nature of the game.

Who will do the install? Are you paying someone? Are they or the people helping you experienced? Where are you located?


It's always fun to own a H/C car IMO. Since my car has an XE-R cam I always allow the water temp to fully come up and the oil pressure to drop to normal BEFORE beating on it. If you don't let the typical H/C car warm up correctly you take a big chance on breaking a valve spring. It's never a good idea to beat on a cold engine stock or mod'd. With H/C you might have to worry about the stock clutch because most stock LS1 clutchs do not live a long time behind 400+rwhp. With sticky tires you'll have to worry about your 10-bolt rear. Of course you'll have to worry about your 10-bolt even with near stock car.

Destroying new Z06's, putting uppity Mercedes in their place etc on the street has it's own rewards to make it all worthwhile IMO.


Most of the worry depends on what you select for you cam. High lift fast ramp cams will require more frequent valve spring changes. If you run an aggressive Cam Motion or XE-R it's not unreasonable to plan on replacing or at least checking springs one a year. If you get a TR-224 (excellent cam) with less lift the springs will last longer. Of course if you beat on the car all the time the springs won't last as long etc.

You should post here more often.

As for specific packages. I think a set of 5.3 TEA 1.5's with a TR-220 or TR-224 cam, FlowTech headers & Y pipe, LS6 intake, tuning & 3.73's would make a nice package. Maybe 4.10's if you have M6. Ideally, wait a little more and get hand touch ups for a little more $$$ for your new TEA 1.5's!

My car is being used as a daily driver right now and has almost 9,000 miles on it since H & C.

Good Luck

 

belive it or not.. I'm going to once again agree with black bird, on a few things What he says about letting the car warm up is VERY important. I always make it a point to start my car up 5 or 10 mins before I'm ready to leave every morning. I just make it part of my routine, it has become habit now. I really think that is very important for a high lift, fast ramp cam.. heck I even do that with my stock WS6. It's just a good precaution in my book.

 

Thanks

right now my car is putting down 307rwhp and 320rwtq. its an A4.

Excellent advice. I will certainly not be doing the install. I'm one of those guys (I'll admit it) where I know about mods and what they do, but not 100% sure of how they work. so needless to say, i wouldnt call myself qualified enough to be doing the install. I'm near LA (culver city to be precise) so I'm thinking I'll probably take it to Don Lee Auto, unless someone can recommend better (from what i hear, unlikey )

sounds fun

i wouldnt dream of taking the car to the track without first replacing the factory 10 bolt, but do you think it would be necessary to do so with just street driving? im not gonna be doing any hard *** launches on the street, so it doesnt seem necessary to me until i start taking it to the track.

Also when i get the rear end, im gonna need some drag radials or slicks, too. my tires suck, BFG KDWS. good enough for scooting around town, bad for competitive driving :

thanks for the great advice. i really appreciate it.

 

i had MTI stage 2 heads and X1 cam with a 4000 3disc stall on my daily...put about 50-60 miles on it a day. Jayson tuned it and I NEVER had a problem.

 

I wouldn't really suggest it if you can barely afford it. Especially if you don't do the work yourself. If something gets screwed up, you're gonna be paying out the *** to get it diagnosed, repaired, etc. A4 with h/c is ok, I'd go with a TR220 or a TR224 on a 114 with TEA 1.5s and the associated bolt-ons (LS6 intake, CAI, longtubes, etc).. You will blow the A4 up eventually with 400rwhp. You will also want a higher stall converter (Yank 3000-3500 I'd recommend for a daily). Rear end should live fine behind an A4, as long as you don't throw sticky tires behind it. If you race the car a lot, even stock, you're gonna blow up stuff anyway. If it's just a street car, it should last quite well, but I still say the A4 is gonna be the weakest point. Upgraded tranny costs ~2k + install. Torque converters cost 500-750+ install depending on brand. Don't forget tuning, especially with an A4. If you don't do it yourself, you're talking ~500 to have a shop do it.

Always budget 2x as much $$ as you think something is gonna cost, unless you've done it before. Trust me. Between the nickle + dime little things, and repairs/fixes/extra maintanence, you will be over budget before you know it.

Dope