I have a stock ls1 in a 2000 Pontiac firebird with a t56, 3.73 gears and a borla catback. Yes it still has the 10 bolt rearend. I have about 3,000 to spend on upgrades. I’m looking for mostly engine upgrades right now. Looking to do bolt ons, heads and cam. I know I probably won’t be able to do all of that within the 3,000. I just want to get some input so I spend my money wisely

 

You can do a cam upgrade and headers easily with 3 grand. However, 3.73 gears are a waste in a 6 speed car. With a potent cam you'll love a 4.30 gear. Thank me later...

 

^^^That's where I would start.

 

cam, headers, tune, and a 8.8 rear you will have to do all the labor yourself to keep your budget though, and still might be a little tight lol

 

Cam (around 900-1000 with timing chain & gears, push rods, gaskets and valve springs) used 243 heads (400 or so plus take to machine shop to have valves and decks inspected 600 ish total), used FAST intake (800 ish) and headers (400-600) & tune. Most bang for the buck and close to your budget.

Cam will give you the most bang for buck, heads go a long way but really really needs headers and if you go heads and cam really needs a good intake on it too. But if you do cam and heads you'll be at your budget or above with no headers and still running a LS1 intake. That would be a crap setup unless you just want to upgrade later.

If you don't do a FAST intake do at least an LS6 intake and the 243 heads really do well even in stock form for what they cost.

 

Should i go with a ls6 or spend the extra money and get a fast? If I go with a fast which size should I go with?

 

FAST is better if you can afford it. 102 is the best 92 is still pretty damn good though.

I would imagine you could find a used intake with throttle body for around 800 ish. Maybe a little more/less. New the intake is a hair under 900 and throttle body prices range quite a bit. The fast is around 250 but a lot of people like the WARR throttle body those are $100 less. But on a good deal you could likely get a used 92 with throttle body for around 600. Just have to look around a lot and keep checking the classifieds on here.

Problem with the 102 is you need fuel rails too and that starts to add up.

You can sell that LS1 intake for a decent amount on craigslist. People will pay silly prices for them.

 

At the end of the day, no matter which route you choose, if you can’t afford to pay a good tuner, delete something until you can afford to pay a good tuner. Without a good tune, you will hate your car. Don’t skimp on the tune.

 

If it was my money I'd spend it on an upgraded rear end. A fabricated 9" or S60 seem to be the best options for an M6. That 10 bolt is a liability and once you start adding power it's only going to get worse.

 

But do the tune first...

 

The rear end is always an interesting call when you got 3k to spend.

You can buy a rear end to hold the power you don't make, or spend the money to make power the rear end won't hold if you hit it the wrong way.

I would spend the money on making the power and having a fun car to drive. Just avoid hard launches with stiff tires and hard shifts with heavy wheels and drag radials. Street tires usually spin so bad the rear end will live. Drag radials are hard on them. But with standard sidewall slicks and light wheels they hold up pretty well with a 10 bolt.

I grew up with F bodies and lived at the street races and the track for years on end back then ( was 18 when they came out in 98 ) and saw what a 10 bolt will and wont take and some will surprise you with the right setup, they'll also surprise you how easy they snap. I've driven 450 ish wheel hp stick cars with a 10 bolt and beat the **** out of them. On street tires they don't really care. Big wide drag radials on heavy wheels like a zr1 wheel they snap easy. On slicks.. if you slip the clutch a hair you can come out of the hole pretty hard even with a 10 bolt.