Hey my name is Tyson and I�m new here but I�m starting my first LS1 build and am looking for some advice.

A few weeks ago I got my hands on a 98� Z-28 M6 for a good deal and I�ve already purchased a few upgrades for it and they go as follows

-FAST LSXR 102mm intake
-FAST 102mm big mouth throttle body
-Earls head bolts kit
-used 243 heads
-LS7 lifters and new lifter trays
-FAST billet fuel rails and FAST LS fuel rail conversion kit
-TSP 228R 228/228 .600�/.600� 112LSA
-TSP .660" Dual Spring Kit w/ Integrated One-Piece Seat & Seal, Titanium Retainers, PAC Springs ​​​​​
-Rollermaster LS2 timing chain
-GM high performance oil pump

Honest goals with this car is just a fun street car that�ll make the average person scared for there life.

I�ve had �quick� cars before but nothing ever American or V8 so this is all new to me, and I�m excited to see how it pans out.

My plan for the car long term is to blow up the LS1 and take off my intake and heads,
install a 5.3 and turbo it. As a result I�m not very concerned about the internals of the engine but I�d like to know from some people who have way more experience what else would you recommend doing to the car.

I should also mention the car came with an unknown set of long tube headers installed and weird old style tuner called a JET PCM stage 1 (see picture)


So I�m not really sure if that should be taken off or what.

Any guidance on what to watch out for or what else I should buy/do while I already have the engine taken apart would be greatly appreciated.

Also any estimates on WHP and WTQ would be welcomed aswell, thank you.

 

Welcome to the fray Tyson!


A cam and intake is a super great way to get your feet wet and enjoy your car. I personally would take that tuner off of the car as fast as possible, and get to having some more 21st century tuning done by someone who knows what they're doing. You'll need that to realize the gains that the cam and intake will be capable of. You've got great parts picked out, and it sounds like you've done some good research.

My .02 would be to just get the standard Melling 10295 Oil pump, as it will be just fine for your application. You might want to consider ARP head studs if you ever plan on swapping out those 243's to something else, ARP Head Studs are reusable, where as the standard Torque To Yield (TTY) bolts are use once and throw away.

 

Are you staying MAF tuned? If so then look into getting a TSP 100mm MAF. With a good set of heads and a new tune 400whp is capable. I see a new clutch in the not too distant future.

 

Hey thanks so much man, the reason i opted for the earls head bolts is because they are suppose to be reusable like the ARP head studs/bolts but correct me if I�m wrong. And thank you for the input on the tuner I think I am just gonna take it off and go from there.

 

Well honestly I haven�t looked into that so thank you for bringing that to my attention. What would be the alternative to a MAF tune? I�d like to stay stock ecm if possible but if it�s going to be worth it to switch to a Dominator or Terminator or whatever in theory I could.

And yes I think I smell a new clutch in my future too, I�m worried about the rear end too considering it�s got about 107k miles on it, from what I�ve read the stock unit is garbage.

 

Oh nice! Earl's makes good stuff, so whatever they recommend. Dominator is the king of the Holley ECU's and can control approximately 4 billion I/O options, so if you plan on using a ton of them, that makes sense, whereas the Terminator is more of the entry level ECU that only can control 4 inputs and outputs. Since you're manual transmission I would take a look at the basic Terminator X, (not Max) there's a ton of great supporting vendors here that can help you get where you want to go!

 

There's speed density tuning and many have gone SD tune so talk to a tuner regarding this. As for engine management it depends on what your looking to do or get out of the car really but a factory ECM and engine harness will work fine for most needs in a daily driver. The work has already been done for you and everything is pretty much plug and play. I've enjoyed working on the 4th Gen F-bodies and there's plenty of good information on the forum regarding these cars. Yes the rear diff in these cars do leave little to be desired when looking at it from a drag racing standpoint with the hard launches and clutch dumps on sticky tires but in a daily it can provide many years of enjoyment.

 

Awesome I�ll keep that in mind, also is that oil pump that I ordered going to work for my setup or am I going to have to return it and get the one you suggested

 

Ok fair enough thank you for the info, I have emissions where I�m from in Indiana and
not really sure how to get around it, so contacting a tuner may be my best option. The car came with catless long tubes and a SLP loud mouth so its gonna be loud and smelly 😂

 

Which one did you order specifically? If it's the GM one, I'm you'll be fine. Sometimes people get this notion that they need this ultra badass high pressure oil pump, and in reality, the GM one or equivalent (the one I suggested) will be totally fine.

 

I believe it is gm: GM High Performance Oil Pump (28-12710303)

that�s the part number they gave me

 

Welcome to LS land, Tyson.

Regarding that Jet Chip/thing - while hyped as better than sliced bread 🍞 back in the day, most of the actual dyno results I saw posted, showed it was good for losing ~10 to 15 whp 😳 and not much else. I'd removed it as mentioned.

​​​​​​​When doing cam, measure with adjustable push rod checker before ordering push rods.

Sounds like a good plan and you've picked suitable parts. Best wishes with the build(s).

 

sounds like a good plan, and thank you, you unknowingly helped me pick a lot of my parts, you give a lot of good info to the community and I appreciate you man.

 

My car had a Jet chip on it when I bought it. I took it off and didn't notice any difference in power or the way it drove.

Also, since it sandwiches between you ECU and your wiring harness, it was causing the wiring harness to rub on the hood hinge. I'm sure a few more years of driving would have caused a short.

 

You are good to go brother.

 

An alternate to the TSP 100mm MAF would be to use a stock 85mm MAF from a 6.0 truck and an adapter harness. At your HP level the 85mm MAF will not be much if any restriction to air flow. You will also need a 104mm air filter lid and piping.

A lot of tuners used to not like the FAST 102 TB, you may want to check into that.

 

Damn I figured for the price that the FAST 102 tb would be a good buy and I hope it goes that way, and as for the MAF i actually ended up buying a 4inch spectra intake pipe that has a slot for the LS7 MAF sensor and i got the harness adapter so the LS7 one will work in my setup. Pretty much the same size as the 102 so no restriction