First time to the track... disappointed.
TECH Regular
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 442
Likes: 3
From: Raleigh, NC
Bingo. It's not exactly easy to get a 3.42-geared M6 car to 2.0x short times on street tires. I raced mine for a couple years in stock or bolt-on form and while I was able to eventually cut consistent 2.1s, I only cut a handful of 2.0s.
To be honest, 98mph even sounds slow to me. My LS1 M6 dynoed 306 SAE bone stock on a Dynojet and it went 13.2 at 108. My SS put down 272 bone stock. While I haven't had it on the track yet, I highly doubt it would trap under 100, and it isn't any faster than any other M6 LT1. It might just be short shifting like was mentioned. When my SS was on the dyno, the tach read 300 rpm higher than actual, so that could definitely throw things off by causing short-shifting.
I've got a compilation book of Motor Trend 4th gen articles and all the LT1 cars ran similar times to the OP, mid 14s at 95 to 98 mph. It's funny how all these 'stock' cars get faster as the years go by.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 200
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
Back when my car had very similar mods to the OP's I was usually shifting to 4th about 100 feet before the traps. I was trapping 101-104 mph depending on track conditions. I was on stock 16 inch wheels with 245 section tires though. When I later went to 17s my traps dropped by about 2mph on average until I did more mods.
If you're wanting to get the most out of a stock or bolt on car then ditch the 17s for track duty. Get a good shifter so you can shift more quickly. Next mods should be good headers and exhaust, 1.6 rockers and springs to enable you to rev it to 6100rpm, and a tune. A M6 bolt on car set up like this will usually run low 13s or very high 12s at around 105-107mph on street tires in good weather.
If you're wanting to get the most out of a stock or bolt on car then ditch the 17s for track duty. Get a good shifter so you can shift more quickly. Next mods should be good headers and exhaust, 1.6 rockers and springs to enable you to rev it to 6100rpm, and a tune. A M6 bolt on car set up like this will usually run low 13s or very high 12s at around 105-107mph on street tires in good weather.
TECH Addict
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,610
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From: Maricopa, AZ
To be honest, 98mph even sounds slow to me. My LS1 M6 dynoed 306 SAE bone stock on a Dynojet and it went 13.2 at 108. My SS put down 272 bone stock. While I haven't had it on the track yet, I highly doubt it would trap under 100, and it isn't any faster than any other M6 LT1. It might just be short shifting like was mentioned. When my SS was on the dyno, the tach read 300 rpm higher than actual, so that could definitely throw things off by causing short-shifting.
More perspective, I could get more power out of my Suburbans 5.3L for less money than my LT1 Camaro every day of the week. And it would last longer.
I'd be very happy with low 13's out of a bolt-on car. A lot of people have been pointing out the shorty headers being a problem, but is that really my sticking point right now? They must flow better than stock manifolds, and I still have the stock y-pipe. I feel like the y-pipe would be the choke point and the headers should be able to handle more power than I'm currently putting out, but you guys would know better than me. The problem is finding a y-pipe that fits up to my mish-mash of an exhaust system... I might be forced to go with an all new exhaust. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. :-) The only problem is finding the budget. 1.6 rockers and a tune are definitely doable.
Just keep practicing on your launch.
If you plan on lowering your car those shorty's might be helpful for ground clearance. Here's my LT's on a 1.25" drop ground clearance. It looks bigger than it really is.
Will long tube headers help? That's debatable. It really depends on many other factors (cam, heads, collector size, collector length, primary shape and size, merge points, scavenging timing, etc.). Some report gains below peak tq (which could hurt launch) with LTs over shorties and roughly the same power above peak tq. Others show big gains up top with drops down low using LT's over shorties. It all depends on your particular set up.
The LS1 is a sizable step up from the potent LT1. Mod for Mod a 5.7L Gen3 will eat up a 5.7L Gen2 SBC. The LM7 5.3L stock from 2001 pushed more power than a LT1 from 1995. Smaller displacement, lower rpm, smaller cam, more power. The Gen3 Motor really is that good. That's not saying an LT1 is horrible, they aren't. I eat up many others with my 19 year old Camaro. But an equally modded LS1 would beat me every time.
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Verdad Gallardo TECH Regular
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 442
Likes: 3
From: Raleigh, NC
I'd be very happy with low 13's out of a bolt-on car. A lot of people have been pointing out the shorty headers being a problem, but is that really my sticking point right now? They must flow better than stock manifolds, and I still have the stock y-pipe. I feel like the y-pipe would be the choke point and the headers should be able to handle more power than I'm currently putting out, but you guys would know better than me. The problem is finding a y-pipe that fits up to my mish-mash of an exhaust system... I might be forced to go with an all new exhaust. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. :-) The only problem is finding the budget. 1.6 rockers and a tune are definitely doable.
Get some mids or longtubes and a bigger, catless y-pipe. Bolt a good flowing catback or cutout behind all that and you're good to go. You can likely find all of those parts in the classifieds here gently used for much less than new parts. Don't forget a tune.
