My cam is smallish but has great street manners. My Hooker muffler is too loud, however. If you had a mild cam with lope, you would not want to go back to stock.

My ride is kinda ruff, so the 315 tires up front was not a great decision..... they do not scrap or rub so I keep them....

Other than that, all my mods were successful.

My ported MAF sessor suked so I went back to stock a few years ago....

 

I left the ws6 stock, and the vette got an intake, corsa exhaust (no drone) and tune. those are fantastic cruisers/weekend cars.. the 67.. that gets beat on and is fun to fix..hopfully i dont brake too much stuff now that its got a blower.. but I def see the appeal of the stockers.. theres a perfect time to drive a certian car.. racecars arnt fun on the street (everyday) and street cars arn't as much fun to race!

 

stock f bodies have very decent power stock..

I'm just getting into modding my first f body and I've been really worried from the beginning about ruining my car. Drivability has been my main focus of this build. Power being number two. That's why I went with an off the shelf cam that has a reputation for drivability and power with stock heads (TR230, 243's, and an LS7 clutch, through D/D CME).

I do however feel guilty like I ruined a very mint stock car and it can never be the same.

 

My car was down for about a month and a half. The problem I had was that I didn't have a back up car. My wife had to have her car to go to and from work and pick up the boys. I ended up having to borrow her grandfather's new Honda Accord. I have to say, it was nice. Good A/C, the windows wouldn't take an hour to roll up. I could actually hear what was on the radio. And it was just a nice smooth ride. So yeah, sometimes I get sick of my car. But I don't think I would go thru the trouble of de-modding it. I just don't think I would do it again unless I had a back up car.

 

I hear you senicalj. You wouldn't believe how much stuff we cram into our car. Do you have AAA? Thats the only way to go with out a trailer. They have free tows up to a 100 miles no question asked. If you upgrade they have 200 mile tows. Ask me how I know.

 

Hey im glad you meantion that. I have no aaa or anykind of insurance like that. I need to look into the 200 mile one cause its 150 to the track.I still new to drag and only been 5 times but still...Im playin with fire. ****!

 

Not only was I surprised to see this one come back to the top, I am amazed that you were the only one to make that observation. Almost 4 years later, its nice to see that others have thoughts on both sides of this one.

I have for years been fortunate enough to have a company car for a daily driver - that was key to buying the SS in the first place. After all this time, I still have the same basic mods (catback, lid, minor stuff). I still get excited about this cam, or these heads from time to time, but I haven't been able to bring myself to dive in head first.

I think my biggest fear is making it so loud that it's no longer enjoyable, and that I'll have to ditch the GMMG for something quieter.

Thanks to all who contributed!

 

I have debated on selling my car for a few months now. I am tired of things breaking, it not running like it should, and the overall stress I deal with owning this car, ha. I wish sometimes I would have left it as a bolt on car with some spray. Everytime I think I should sell it, I take it for a drive and it puts a smile on my face again. I have put a lot of time and money into fixing issues lately (tranny, clutch, etc.) but would be sad to see the car go.

I sometimes would like to start over with a completely stock car and take a different approach with it. Then I think about all the time and money spent on the current car and think otherwise. I think I am ready for a nice set of heads and maybe a different cam now, ha.

(On another note I should have kept my low mileage LT1 that was paid off )

This is a good thread to be back on top.

 

My car is not my daily but if I had to drive it everyday, it would probably get annoying in stop and go traffic. The clutch pedal is stiff and its really hard to drive it slow without any bucking. I have flowmaster exhaust with an electric cutout so when its closed you can bearly tell it has a cam in it.

I still drive it alot, put 11,000 miles on it since last summer.

 

I have to disagree with people saying they hate driving their modded cars. Of course there's stuff you aren't going to like about it. but i gaurantee if you could magically take your car back to stock, you'd regret it in two weeks.

I've had a cammed car for 30k miles. Its got a 228 cam, all the bolt ons all hardened poly mounts, a Monster puck clutch, tick master, borla and a cutout. and whatever other bullshit that you don't really care to know

It's also got a massive misfire on like 4 cylinders right now, a rear end that sounds like it's about to **** the bed, an exhaust that rattles only god knows where, ANOTHER broken window button holder thing, a roof panel that looks like the plague hit it, and 92k miles. and i LOVE it.

it's my baby, i've spent so many hours under that thing swearing and smiling and having redneck boys rev at me in the advance parking lot hoping i'll rev back cause they wanna hear it, blah blah blah, yes it's gonna **** you off but dude all my friends treat it like a high honor when they get to drive my car, cause it gives them such a cool feeling when the car is shaking at a stop light. And i know they're just hoping i say "punch it" when the light turns green. Don't lie, you love your car modded. i hope that wasn't too cheesy, but it's all true

 

Just a FYI for ya all ...driveability (is that a word) is directly connected to the tune of your car .... you can mod the hell out of it and with a proper tune it will drive like stock...you can have a small cam and some bolt ons and have a car that is a PIA to drive if the tune is not spot on. So if you do not like the way that your car is driving change tuners or if you tuned it yourself go back to school cause you failed the tuning class. I bought this car to be a fun daily driver and a never ending project so to speak. It has been in its present state for 80,000 + miles now and it is getting to be time to sit down and figure out how the next round of mods and up grades is going to go.

 

Get a couple of electric cutouts and you can be nice and quiet or hit the button and be as loud a you want...(I hid the button in the ash tray) that might be the best fun mod I ever did.

 

Well, I can say this much. This is the first thread I have read every single post of in a long loooong time. I could not stop reading, because I could not agree more. I think every car guy knows how hard it is to maintain a balance. I for one, can speak on it like many others. I have owned four, 4th Gens… Two LT1 Z28s, and Two LS1 SSs… They have been everything from simple bolt on cars, to my last creation of my own single front mount turbo on my 98 SS. I just happen to be put in a financial situation that forced me to sell out of my turbo kit to stay afloat, and at least keep the car. Now I am tasked with the thought of where to go from here.. I am at that crossroads… and you know, I just might go as fast as I can, with less…. I commend the honesty in this thread, and encourage anyone on the fence to at the very least make note that many of the guys including myself that are saying sometimes “less is more”….have had more before wanting less….

 

I have looked at what the GMMG brings with this exact thought in mind. I still have the stock cat-back, and the money from the GMMG could go a long way towards some LT's.

Or, if I wuss out after installing LT's, I could go that route at that time. For the record, I should say I have had a car with headers, true duals and two chamber flowmaster's with turndowns. I loved it at the time, but that was 15 years ago.

Both excellent points. Some folks have spent thousands of their hard earned money to mod their cars. Getting someone to admit that it may not be all that it was cracked up to be can be tough in the ego.

 

i blew my original engine in january (hydrolock ) so since this car is my DD i thought about numerous things, 383 LS1, N/A LQ4 with big stall, S/C LQ4 with a smaller stall and big boost. i had LT's with true duas on the car before i blew it then swapped out to my stock manifolds and cats. i since bought a stock LS1 and installed it, put LT's on and MSD wires with my P&P TB . . . even my old LS1 intake went back on it. i'd still like to put something new in it but it'll be something with a 230/227 116LSA cause i hate those cars that are obnoxiously loud and draw the attention of police everywhere withing a 5 mile radius. i was thinking of savin up for a blower still but i thought about how much i love driving my car and the fact of having that much power and most of the time if not all i'd just sit and spin, i'd have to baby the throttle everywhere and i wouldn't be happy with that.

 

This has been a great thread to read with a drink in hand. I find my self at a cross road of modding. I'm younger (26) but I know I couldn't sell my car. But the idea having to to give a mod a 2nd try or De-mod makes my wallet cry. I've been looking for that fine line of balance for months it seems. It seems recently I've have been digging(by Searching) up older threads with TONS of useful information in them!

Really thinking a mild 383 for a Street car, this has been my homework as you will to read as much as i can. Be for I start in.

 

i just like the mellow sound of manifolds on a DD

my buddy had a '00 243 TR230 LT corsa and couldnt believe how nice stock ls1 is.

its so hard not turning into a 430rwhp na monster tho

 

ive always had the mindset when modding my car not to go too far. For me i have found my perfect setup.... Stall isnt too high, engine runs smooth. The hotchkis springs with bilstein shocks ride better then stock. If i had to say there was one mod that i didnt like from a drive ability standpoint it was the long tube headers... they're just noisy.... but i deal with it because the stock manifolds were really holding power back. Actually i take that back... the most hated mod i have is also the cheapest.. by far the the poly trans mount SUCKS but it stays because i dont want to swap out a stock one every month... As far as my favorite mod so far (besides motor work, horsepower is always #1 lol) i really think its the stall converter... Its nice to be able to launch at the track... I hated the way the car felt shifting into 2nd gear with the stock stall.

 

Add me to the de-modders list

First LS car in my life is the current Camaro SS 2001 M6, I used to owned this car since 08 and kept it bolt-ons for one year .. it was fun to drive, sounds great ..

I decided to move for the next stage of modding my SS, just pick-up one of the biggest cams in market which is (( Tsunami ))

I didn't give any damn care to the drivability, power under the curve ..etc cause for sure I was new at this zone = no knowlodge, and I thought that these are only rumers about the big cam !! and as most biggest cam lovers say ( it will be better with tune !!! )

Got the cam and other parts installed with new clutch ( Spec 3+ ) and what a life of chatter and bucking I got ! I was planing to change the cam anyhow but before I did that I was having a broken piston so I return back to stock

What I will do within two months is LS3 427cid or LS7 441cid longblock ( cannot decide until now ) with custom cam that feature street manners and power everywhere in my curve

 

The most nicely modded F-body I know of is a friend of mines. Its an 02 WS6 with a TR224 cam being the biggest mod. Kooks LT's with their catted y-pipe with stock exhaust sound great. An LS7 clutch is really nice to drive. Its quiet with a good tone and slightly lopey idle. As far as ride goes its better than stock with only suspension mods being a set of Koni shocks on lower perch and rear heater hose mod. Other than an SLP lid and what I've mentioned the car is all stock.