Just as the titles says, what is the next correct modification to do?

Car - 1997 Z28
Trans - A4
Miles - 75,8XX

Performance Mods Only:

• Full CAI
• Pulleys (UD on hub and OD on alt)
• MM Catch Can
• SLP Airfoil
• 1 LE Intake Elbow (had one with opti vent now have a new non-opti vent 1LE)
• TorqHead 24X VC mounted
• Pacesetter Long Tube Headers
• Pacesetter ORY/Removed all cats/dumped before real axle
• PS Cooler
• Built “10 Bolt” – TA Peformance Girdle/Stud Cap Kit/Motive Orange 373 thick gears
• Strano Springs
• Bilstein HD shocks
• HAWKS HPS pads all around with BrakeMotive Slotted Rotors
• NITTO NT05 275/40/17 front and NITTO NT05R 275/40/217 rear
• Full UMI everything front and rear (full suspension is single on car adjustable are Poly/Roto, Poly/Rod or Delrin/Rod. Also included all Blaine Fab front sway mounts and all UMI delrin steering inserts. Every suspension component they make for our cars I pretty much have minus the driver side PHB lowering to make it level, but I have to get their upper bar to at the same time.
• All new shock mounting hardware/inner and outer tie rods/ball joints etc.

What I was thinking of next in order.

• FLT Level 4 4L60E with large cooler (Maybe TRU-COOL 40K?), Trans Go HD2 Shift Kit
• YANK 3600 Stall?
• Motor Work (LE or AFT heads and cam or go 383)
• Ford 9” but waiting till my 10 bolt dies

Thoughts/Input?

 

Built trans, stall, and trans cooler all at once gets my vote.

 

That's kind of what I was leaning towards honestly, just knock it all out at once. Have a opinion on coolers? I've always heard the Trans Cooler "TRU-COOL 40 K" is the best; problem is I've read all the threads on where to mount it and I don't want to cut everything all up.

Rear end crossed my mind but I'll wait till it explodes lol!

I will say when I do the motor I'll be going KOOKS or ARH headers etc. I'll be selling off my Pacesetters or get the AIR/EGR welded shut and keep them as backups. I already have the AIR pump taken out and everything capped off.

 

agreed, you've beefed the rear and it will last longer behind an auto car....beef the tranny, add the Yank 3600 and get a tranny cooler....any cooler will work, Id go with the biggest plate/fin style you can get. This is exactly the route I'm going with my 97 WS6 TA, however I'm building an 8.8 as it's cheaper for me and built right should take everything I'm throwing at it.

 

Have FLT do the whole trans, you should not be doing any shift kit etc.


I think this is the cooler I have, but I may have the bigger version. Cooler trans temps makes everyone happy.

https://www.jegs.com/i/B%26M/130/702...CABEgKNOPD_BwE

Only advise on trans cooler, spend the coin and go braided SS with proper fittings. Blowing off cooler lines sucks, as does leaking cooler lines.

 

Well one thing is for sure, if you're already planning to do heads and cam you're going to need a good transmission. Having said that you might want to discuss your goals with the guys that you have in mind for doing your top end. Torque converter selection and cams need to work together. Having said that, your top end guys will be able to help you select the proper converter for your goals and intended use.
Even still on the stock or bolt on setup most guys see a pretty significant drop in ET from a good converter and tranny so the car is likely to pick up and you'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

Converter is definitely the most logical next step but as mentioned you'll want to match it to the combo you plan to run. Not a bad idea to build the trans at the same time, you may not need that shift kit, leave it up to the builder. For cooling, I've run the B&M 70264 cooler on a number of cars for many years now and it's a viable option. If I could only do one mod to an auto f-body, it would be a good quality, properly sized converter.

I see two things in your current setup that will be opportunity areas once you hop the motor up with H/C or stroker: your current CAI and y-pipe. I'd suggest converting to an LS1 lid setup if it will fit under your hood. I'd also hack off your current Pacesetter y-pipe merge and weld on a good quality 3"-3.5" or 3"-4" merge or just go true duals. The single 3" exhaust (assuming that's what you have) will hold you back when the motor is pushing 450-500+ crank horsepower with H/C or stroker plus the merges on many of these y-pipes is just garbage. Lot of LS guys run the Flowmaster merges and pick up good power from that, you'll just have to change increase the pipe diameter coming out of the Y and get a new muffler. May even help on any rasp too.

Your rear may never be an issue so I wouldn't worry about it now. I've been cutting 1.5 60 foots on my stock 10 bolt for a decade now, they tend to live behind autos.

 

I definitely agree with the LS lid conversion. One helluva bang for the buck. I added the CHRS1313 Ram Air to mine as well, damn!

 

I was thinking their best 4L60E possible it is like $2,000; I’d go with SS lines and the best fittings I could get my hands on. I went all metal fittings and lines with flared ends when we did my PS cooler.

 

Heads probably LE2 and his custom cam. I don’t know if I could do his LE3 heads on a stock bottom end.

Overall goal is to make the most reliable and high powered NA LT1 I can. I drive maybe a few hundred miles a year with the car from April/May to end of October early November (as long as no snow etc).

 

Thank you for your input!

initial ideas - kooks long tubes/kooks y-pipe or merge and GMMG Cat-Back exhaust with a low profile cut out would all be done with the heads and cam.

 

I have a stock 97 Z hood and recently picked up a 97 OEM SS Hood for a pretty penny, would prefer not to hack up under my hood either my stock unit or my SS hood to gain a few HP. Could it be done without hacking it?

 

I'm with you. I want to do this too, but I'm not messing with my SS hood!