What to do and when
I knew a guy who ran a 150 shot on a stock engine. This was back in 1998 when the LS1 cars first came out. It was a loaded Z28. He had just passed the 500 mile mark on the car when he installed the nitrous system. He blew the motor with just over 3,000 miles on the odometer.
No my friend I did not take that personally.. I enjoy all of our platforms. It just so happens I end up getting Lt1 cars. I actually was in the market for an Ls car but I saw this Formula with 81k on it and I was hooked.
On the "starting back to front" and "fix things that break" note, you have 22 year old suspension, so first step I always recommend is bilstein HD shocks to replace those garbage worn out shocks, and go through your tie rods, ball joints, and front bushings. That will make it ride 100x better and handle better than new. Then let it breathe, with long tubes, ORY and a magnaflow cat back. Flow master catbacks don't flow any better than stock, borla is expensive, and SLP is loud. Then do an LS1 lid or a cold air intake, 1.6 full roller non self aligning rockers, new valvesprings like Alex's springs or Howard's, and 7/16 studs, and a mail order tune, and you can safely spin it to 6300 rpm shifts for best time on the stock heads and cam. A stall and sticky tires should then give you that 12 second pass.
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TECH Regular
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 471
Likes: 14
From: Tucker, GA
Another thing people tend to forget about in their quest for speed, is the quest to stop. Don't forget that your brakes need to be able to pull-down all that newfound speed, whenever needed, as often as needed. Part of the reason I have invested what I've invested in the brakes on this car.
Atlantadan is on point here!
The least expensive route is Ls1 front brakes with vented rotors and ceramic pads, braided brake lines.
Some will say doing the Ls1 rears is not really needed however, as far as I am concerned it all is a matched setup and I definitely was able to feel the difference going from 165 to 45 .
The least expensive route is Ls1 front brakes with vented rotors and ceramic pads, braided brake lines.
Some will say doing the Ls1 rears is not really needed however, as far as I am concerned it all is a matched setup and I definitely was able to feel the difference going from 165 to 45 .
Actually, I like LT1 cars a lot. I prefer the look of the early 93-97 Camaro over the newer 98-02 models. I just happen to have found a super clean 2001 Camaro SS roller, so I went with that. On the Pontiac side, I think the lines of the LT1 cars are smoother and generally flow better. They look sleeker to me than the later cars. That said, a WS6 RAM air Trans Am is one of the meanest looking vehicles to ever hit the pavement.