So, as the title says I am looking to increase the horsepower of my 2002 Trans Am Ws6, automatic. The car is completely bone stock; not one bit of modification done to it. It's a daily driver because I love the thing so damn much. But anyhow, I'm new to the world of modifications and I have been doing some research but am still unsure of where to start. Ultimately, I would love to hit about 5oo horsepower with this thing, which I realize will be pricey. I've driven cars with similar power so I have no reservations about sitting behind the wheel of something with that kind of power.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestion? What cam is recommended for such a vehicle? Heads? Stall converter? Exhaust? Also, where is the best place to start with such a process? Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer.

 

Have a budget? How about goals with the car?

 

Your best bet may be to contact one of the sponsors and have them put together a parts list and maybe they'll give you a discount.

Parts to consider:
Aftermarket cylinder heads, like AFR or TFS.
FAST intake manifold and throttle body
Aftermarket intake lid
Custom grind camshaft w/ dual springs and pushrods
1 7/8" long tube headers w/ a free flowing exhaust system
3500-4000 stall, from Vig or Yank
Trans cooler
3.73 rear end gears
Additional but not really necessary: Underdrive pulley and electric water pump.

 

I'm no vendor, but here's a good recipe for you:

1. Top notch set of heads
2. Fast102 or msd airforce. Ported either way you go
3. LLSR cam kit. You can do it hydraulic, but LLSR makes better power and throttle response and better valve control to push rpm.
4. 1-7/8 x 3 headers. Dual 3 inch exhaust.
5. I would do the EWP and underdrive pulley. ATI dampens vibrations great. Actually helped reduce KR in my case.
6. Go ahead and buy hptuners. Or spend a ton Getting it tuned and retuned.

A 346 is going to max out around 430-440 lbs torque, so you need rpm to really punch through 500. Especially with a stalled auto. But if you barely miss it, a stalled auto with 490 hp will beat a 510 hp 6 spd.

There's two links in my sig. one of them is the three year ordeal I went through to hit 500. Very long thread, so take your phone with you when you have a power dump or something.

Other recommendations to make life easier:

1. Tubular k member. So much easier to work
2. Upgrade your rear axle
3. Upgrade your driveshaft. I twisted mine when I broke the rear.
4. Save up for transmission. I broke a t56. Auto will break too.

 

If you want it to be a whole lot faster for not much money, you could do the typical beginner (meaning starting from stock not saying you're a beginner) build. Lid, K&N filter, long tube headers, exhaust, and a stall. Then tune it. You'll need some serious rear tires at this point.

With those things alone you'll be surprised how much faster it will be.

Then do heads, cam, intake. Or just a cam at least. Which cam to go with is based on A LOT of different things. We can't recommend a one size fits all cam. Well we could, but most people would disagree on which one it is.

Then it'll be time to consider nitrous or boost, trans upgrade, and rear end upgrade. But you'll be right at 500hp with all the stuff before this step.

As far as the rear end and trans.. Keep the fluid changed in both every 30k miles or so if you beat on it a lot and they will live quite a while. My trans lasted till 191k miles with over 60k miles of hard hard abuse and a 3800 stall. The rear end did pretty good up till 180k and a bolt let go on the diff and I just threw an auburn in it and some moser axles after that. With an auto you can push that rear end pretty far.

 

I really like the idea of faster results for less money, naturally. I've been looking into Magnaflow exhaust since I've heard some good things about it. If you recommend any other brand please let me know. I like my cars loud but not too loud. Also, what brand of headers and which stall would you say are worthwhile? Once the lid, filter, exhaust, headers, and stall are installed and tuned, will it be necessary to put in new heads and intake after a cam to reach my goal; or is it simply a must?

 

If this were my "baby" and I wanted good quality over cost and I had plans for more in the future (heads/cam/power adder):
-Kooks or ARH 1 7/8" headers and y-pipe into a catback exhaust of your choice. Magnaflow is pretty good, I've used them in the past. I prefer Borla which is what is on my car now. Note - install poly motor mounts with the headers.
-FAST 102 intake and throttle body
-FTP or FastToys lid + larger MAF Delphi 85mm or larger aftermarket
-Vigilante or Yank stall converter + B&M trans cooler
-dyno tune from a reputable shop

Save/Plan for Heads/Cam in the future.

 

Since you don't mention a budget i'd say a turbo or supercharger is your best bet. 500 hp will be easy at that point

 

Turbo all day for a 500whp daily driver. But still haven't heard a budget.

 

​​​​​​​Touche...

 

Personally If I did my old build again I would have went procharger. I spent so much money on motor work and parts. Lost drive ability as well due to the size of the cam. Buy a D1 Procharger, run low boost on your stock motor and have fun while having decent MPGs and drivability

 

 

First mods should always be the ones you won't be removing later on down the road.
For example, don't buy headers if you plan to go turbo, don't buy a converter if you plan to go T56 or 80e, save your money and don't buy heads if you plan on going boost, don't buy gears for a rear end you might be upgrading, etc.

 

Boost. Even the smallest cheapest Procharger P1 kit you can get will easily eclipse your goals and still drive like stock. I'm getting older and I can't believe the money I wasted on heads and cams and the like. Slap a blower on it and be done. Especially since you haven't wasted any money yet.

 

You need a trans cooler for that 4L60e. Biggest you can fit. That should be mod #1. From there, we can start to add a bit of performance.

 

 

There are tons of people running forced induction with no issues. Like the heads cam and intake a lot of the reliability and performance is going to be in the tune and maintenance. Do not let one failure scare you off. I am trying to sell parts I have been collecting for 2 years now so I can just throw a turbo kit on it and be done. Just remember good parts and find a good tuner and you should not have to worry. I thought about the Procharger but the turbo seems a little more my speed. If you just want the power and not worried about camming go one of these these routes

 

As said above, it is ALL in the tune. You can blow any motor up if its not assembled and tuned correctly. Many people go the heads/cam route because A)it has a lesser cost of entry if you go the cheap route on head choice and B)they feel they can put their car back to stock easier if they wanted to. Most forced induction builds end up costing more than a heads/cam build but that is typically because people overbuild so they have head room for the future. The cost difference is becoming smaller and smaller as prices have come way down, especially for turbo kits. I remember when it was ~8-10k for a turbo kit plus all the peripherals. Now its way cheaper. The $$/hp of an entry level boosted setup cant be beat, plus the fact that itll drive better than something with a large cam and also doesn't require beating up the valvetrain.

 

If I were to go the forced induction route, what are a few things, as far as maintenance goes, I would have to keep an eye out for to prevent any future headaches?

 

Depends if its a blower setup or turbo. Blower setup you usually want to check every so often if the belt has loosened, although with stuff that has come out like the aster bracket, this isnt as big of an issue anymore since its got an automatic tensioner. You change the blower fluid about every 3k miles. With a turbo there isn't really much maintenance assuming the oil feed and return lines are done correctly. The blower is a more straightforward install with less piping under the hood and more access around the motor. The turbo requires more to fit, but typically is more flexible for boost levels and power goals. I've done both and once you get the bugs worked out it was really just spark plugs and oil changes.