This is the route I took on my 97z. It had sfc's & hooker cat back when i got it. then did cai,160 thermostat, tb bypass, lca's, 3.73s, a4 rebuild, ss3600 stall, shocks, mtdr's, LT headers, y pipe, cam & top build, opti, plugs, wires, phr, tunnel mount tq arm.dyno tune. If I could do it over again I would cam & HEADS same time. Best 1/4 when I got car was 15.0 Best 1/4 now 12.84 @105.9. mabey this will help you.

 

Well.. just a little info. I live in a **** controlled emissions area (Dallas Fort Worth Texas area). So that is one concern. Second concern are the headers. Atleast 4 of my f-body buds have long tube headers. EVERY SINGLE one of those guys have some kind of damage (some minor and some not so minor) from hitting those large "city-t*tties" or speed bumps. The long tubes are awesome but they sit really low and if you lower the car any further, it obviously increases your chances of bottoming out. The 4th gen f-bodies sit low to the ground (lower than my 1998 mustang did). Just trying to help with info.

What I ended up doing was taking about a 5hp loss and installed a set of Mac mid-length headers (thanks John for the pointers).. A friend of mine has them on his 97 Z-28 and he has not had a single issue! I purchased my Mac mid-length headers and took them over to performance coating specialties in Arlington, Texas (similiar coatings like the ones offered by Jet-Hot, up to 2000 degrees F).

As for the transmission, I had my A4 completely rebuilt and beefed up. I opted for an Edge Racing 3000rpm converter ( http://www.edgeracingconverters.com/...ex&cPath=12_22 ).. I believe they come standard with the anti ballooning plates (handy when spraying).

 

pacesetter longtubes, and a vigilante converter dropped 8 tenths off my 1/4 et most likely would be alot more if I had traction. When I had the stock converter and manifolds I could launch with no traction issues now after the converter and LT's I need some DR's.

 

i think my car has already been lowered b/c it does sit really low.. and from reading around on this site, i do think i will go with mid-lenghts.. my car has a ram air hood and its got a K&N cold air that goes to the side, would it be worth buying a ram air intake? or does it not make much of a difference?

 

That is one of the debatable things amoung F-Body owners.. Each type of intake has a small list of pro's and con's. Personally, I have a Moroso Cold Air Intake {CAI} (which goes to the side like yours). I love it. I am always in the market for a Ram Air hood but I have NO intention of buying the ram air duct work. The hood would be strickly for looks. If you have the 'stock' air intake / duct work, I would get rid of it. It's very restrictive. Either way, if you get a good aftermarket CAI (ram air or otherwise), then you should be fine.

If indeed you have the factory air intake, hold on to it.. There are enthusiasts who like to restore F-Body cars to their original factory setup's. I am actually selling my 'factory' air setup including the MAF and a K&N air filter for $25 bux. The only problem is finding the intended / interested parties who are in the market for the factory setup.. LOL.

Just like dlk1950 mentioned on his setup, there are some relatively low cost mods that should benefit your LT1 (throttle body by-pass, new wires and plugs, CAI, headers, etc). Since you have a HIGHER mileage vehicle (assuming you have emissions testing where you live), you might want to consider a high flow catalytic converter. The factory one(s), are a "clogging" point on your exhaust (obviously). I would love NOT having a CAT on my LT1 but I know it's not an option for me (legal, emissions, passing a state inspection). I found a really decent high flow CAT here: http://www.randomtechnology.com/universal.html

 

Well imma take the moderator approach here. lol. This site is a great place to come to find help on these cars. To further the help you recieve, fill out a "signature". common ones contain "Year, Make, Model, Mods." next fill out your personal stuff, mainly just where ya live to help out with whether your restricted by emmisions or not.

On to the help. Check out this thread, it was my first thread i read on here and still to this day helps me out.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...ewbie-faq.html

Next, heres a list of mods i made to help me start out my car project, of course mine came COMPLETELY STOCK. So i have the CAI mod that youv ealready accomplished. just check things off and go on to the next item.
1)CAI(I bought a K&N off a local kid who wrecked his Z, paid $50 for it, sold it a month ago for $100, amazing how these things keep their value while the rest of our cars dont. lol)
2)Intake Elbow(Bought mine, it was a granatelli, polished, from another local guy returning his trans am to stock, paid $70 for it. It helps the flow to the TB because our stock elbows are rubber and have baffles in them.)
3)Throttle Body Bypass(Removes the coolant line from the TB, keeps it from heating cold intake air when it passes through the TB when the car is warm.)
4)TB Upgrade, either an air foil for the center of your current stock TB, or you can get a 52mm TB. No need to go to a 58mm since the intake manifold is only made for 52, youll just created a spot of turbulence in the TB where it meets the manifold with that extra air.
5)160* thermostat
6)Fan Switch, these cars get hot and the cooler you can keep em the better theyll run.
now that youve done everything from your air filter, to your intake manifold. You have more/colder/denser aka "better" air getting into your engine, this will open up a decent amount of extra power, and plenty more room to grow for your future heads/cam set-up.

Next, i would say go on to your exhaust. I started off by going to true duals, then got LT headers, BIG MISTAKE, do your exhaust once. You talk abotu getting mids which is a great choice, take that to a y pipe and throw a cut-out at the end of it, then connect to a good catback system, and the hi flow cat stated above. Im no good with cat-back stuff as im a duals guy so ill let others chime in for whats good and whats not.

After your exhaust i would get a tune to accomodate for the changes. You can wait to do the fan switch til now cuz your tuner can change the temperature your fans come on in the tune. Also, if you are not restricted by emissions, remove the AIR/EGR stuff. Fairly easy to do when swapping manifolds/headers and the block off kit is like 25 plus shipping. This will need to be switched in the tune also.

Well hope all this helps and well be waiting to see your progress.
-$Glen$

 

being in Michigan it's sadly cold right now so i haven't had a chance to really look at it but as i did say its got a K&N cold air, its doesn't have the chrome elbow but its a K&N black elbow? it has a magnaflow dual exshaust not sure of aftermarket headers or not.. earlier it was mentioned that a ported MAF doesn't do a whole lot? can you 2 elaborate? also what do you to think would be the best mid-length headers?

 

If you don't have emissions up there, I would still go Longtubes with an ORY.

Just my .02

The previous owner before me put shorties on mine and I mean they sound good, but doubt they add much power at all. I think most guys go with MAC or Pacesetter midlengths. If you are going to do longtubes, go with Jethot, Hooker, or LPP... I perceive Pacesetters as being a budget header that you will have to replace in a few years, so being the type of guy who only wants to do things once, I'm not interested

 

Just go with longtubes. even if u have emissions there r ways around all that. i live in maryland and we have to do emissions every two years. im getting ready to install pacesetter longtubes (race style) and ORY. in r emissions there is the visual inspection were they just take the mirror and look under to make sure u have a cat. i plan on just welding a cat in my y-pipe when i have to go to emissions and take it back out when i would get home. then for obd2 vehicles they hook the scanner up and as long as u dont have any codes stored in the computer or a check engine light on it will pass. if u have emissions every couple of years when u have to go to it just slip a cat in place to go to emissions and then take it right back out. here in maryland i even took my straight piped truck to emissions with no muffler but it did have a cat and it had to go on rollers. it was loud, but it passed. now unfortuantly i got pulled over by marylands finest and he said it was to loud and i had to put the glasspack back on. but any way thats just my 2 cents.