LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 08:53 AM
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I have a 97 Anniv. Z28, it has 35000 miles on it. I am going to put a cat back and CAI on it. My question is would it be beneficial to have the car tuned? I definately want the skip shift taken out. Would I notice any performance gains or would the tune be a waste of money?

Barney
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by barney1golf
I have a 97 Anniv. Z28, it has 35000 miles on it. I am going to put a cat back and CAI on it. My question is would it be beneficial to have the car tuned? I definately want the skip shift taken out. Would I notice any performance gains or would the tune be a waste of money?

Barney
You might see 5-7 hp out of a tune. IMO, you should wait until you have more mods before you get a tune. In the mean time, you can get a skip shift eliminator.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 10:13 AM
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Wait on the tune...no need for one w/ those modifications
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 11:54 AM
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A tune helps even a stock car so I would definetly get one now unless your planning on adding more mods soon. I forget the site but there is a write-up I used to take the computer out and unplug a wire or two which disables the skip shift and costs nothing. I did it for my buddies '94 Z about 2 years ago or so and its been great since.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 12:19 PM
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Originally Posted by StealthFormula
A tune helps even a stock car so I would definetly get one now unless your planning on adding more mods soon. I forget the site but there is a write-up I used to take the computer out and unplug a wire or two which disables the skip shift and costs nothing. I did it for my buddies '94 Z about 2 years ago or so and its been great since.
Like I said, probably 5-7 hp, to some it's worth it, to others its not.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 01:04 PM
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For what it would run him to tune it he would be better off putting the money towards headers or something else...
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Elliott's94Z
For what it would run him to tune it he would be better off putting the money towards headers or something else...
Then a tune would help alot more, its a rough cycle aint it.

Since everyone seems to be taking this post different. The point was
He "could" get a tune now and see 5-6hp gain, which would not be worth it imo. Or he could buy headers, then the tune would be worth a lot more then it was before. But since he bought the headers, he will not be able to afford the tune till later.

Last edited by bombebomb; Dec 24, 2008 at 03:02 PM.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 01:59 PM
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no tune until you have more mods like everyonelse said good luck
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted by bombebomb
Then a tune would help alot more, its a rough cycle aint it.
That's why you tune AFTER more mods.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 02:24 PM
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after 11 years I would do a tune up. plugs wires fuel filter at least
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 02:40 PM
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Get long tubes, your CAI, catback, Off-road y-pipe or whatever y-pipe you choose, then get a tune

For the price of a tune with just CAI and catback, you could probably get a nice set of LT's.

If you plan on buying more mods soon (long-tubes or whatever), then don't get a tune, if more mods are much farther down the road (2 years wise) then yes, if you can afford it, get the tune.

It's always more expensive to do the same work twice instead of once, ya dig?
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 02:42 PM
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Originally Posted by ss.slp.ls1
That's why you tune AFTER more mods.
Obviously.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 02:56 PM
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Originally Posted by bombebomb
Then a tune would help alot more, its a rough cycle aint it.
A tune for what he's done would be a waste of $$ unless that's all he's going to do mod wise....then a tune wouldn't be a bad idea.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 03:46 PM
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While it's not EXACTLY worth it on a stock car, I'm willing to bet that a professional tune (mail order I'm talking) would yield a bit more than 5-7hp. There's quite a bit you can free up from a tune. I can say with quite a bit of certainty that the tune I did on my own car, resulted in about 5-7, and I quite literally have no clue what I'm doing (other than reading a bunch of stuff online) and it was only my second tune ever. I even managed to wake my TPI car up, and it was my first! All I did was change the VE tables (you don't really have them due to MAF, unless you ditch it and convert to a SD tune) and let it know I had 25.5# injectors over my stock 22#.

So, if you can get it for $125 I'd say it's well worth it, but I think a mail order is a bit more than that :\
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 07:23 PM
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I have a guy locally where I live that used to work for Calloway. He now has a Dyno shop, Pro Dyno Tech. I have talked to guys who have used him and are very satisfied. He tells me it would be a custom tune and I will get a copy of what he did and a copy of what came out. He says I will see a big difference in the way the car runs. I just wanted to get your thoughts on this matter. I really don't want to do alot of mods to the car. It is such a solid car and my wife and I just drive it on the weekends and to some local shows. It gets 28 mpg on the highway and is so mechanically sound, I am not afraid to drive it anywhere. The more mods you do, the more reliability you take away from one.
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Old Dec 24, 2008 | 07:30 PM
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Originally Posted by barney1golf
I have a guy locally where I live that used to work for Calloway. He now has a Dyno shop, Pro Dyno Tech. I have talked to guys who have used him and are very satisfied. He tells me it would be a custom tune and I will get a copy of what he did and a copy of what came out. He says I will see a big difference in the way the car runs. I just wanted to get your thoughts on this matter. I really don't want to do alot of mods to the car. It is such a solid car and my wife and I just drive it on the weekends and to some local shows. It gets 28 mpg on the highway and is so mechanically sound, I am not afraid to drive it anywhere. The more mods you do, the more reliability you take away from one.
I think you would really be happy with some Mac mids if you did do one last mod. I do more daily driving and them Macs were really nice. Really made the car's power feel more solid and you will still have a great daily car for you and your wife. Emissions friendly as well. So get some Mids and then a tune Good luck..
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Old Dec 26, 2008 | 03:26 PM
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Everyone keeps saying wait on the tune but since your saying you want to stop at a catback and CAI then a tune is a good mod to do now. If there is any chance you will do more like headers etc. then wait but otherwise now is a fine time to tune it. Everyone also keeps saying you will only get 5-7hp from a tune but I personally have heard 10+ but regardless there is alot more to a tune than just increased horsepower and torque and we all know that.
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Old Dec 26, 2008 | 06:39 PM
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I don't think that you lose reliability with more mods. Now, if you go nuts and start doing hard core launches, yea you'll start to damage the rear end. Other than that though, our cars are meant to be thrashed on, and the motors take a SHITLOAD before they toss in the towel. People here have 150K-200K and still spray 150shot all the time! People have done heads and cams and didn't freshen anything up (with maybe the exception of the cam bearings (I hope)) and they run for just as long as the stockers. The only real weakness is the opti, and with the exception of spinning it higher than 6800RPMs, you're going to see the same fail rate between stock and modified.

Speaking of RPMs, have the dude up your rev limiter to around 6400 (6300 if you want to play it a little safer), since lots of people here up theirs to 6500, even on a stock bottom end. GM set it pretty low for what our motors are capable of

So, what are you thinking will break if you start to mod your car?

And +1 on at least running midlength headers.
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Old Dec 26, 2008 | 07:00 PM
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The cam bearings huh..other then the front one wouldn't you have to have the motor out to change the others? Never hear of anyone doing this unless the motor is out and being completely rebuilt...maybe I'm wrong.
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Old Dec 26, 2008 | 11:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Elliott's94Z
The cam bearings huh..other then the front one wouldn't you have to have the motor out to change the others? Never hear of anyone doing this unless the motor is out and being completely rebuilt...maybe I'm wrong.
I ask in earnest, why would you have to pull the motor? Sure, you'd need some room in front, like having the radiator out, but on other vehicles I've heard of people doing cam bearings with it inside the car. That and pulling the motor out isn't all that much work for some people, so for the extra peace of mind that the bearings won't take a crap later on, it's not a huge deal heh
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