went back to the track this weekend and got my time down to 14.5@97mph, still havent gotten the intake yet, but i was excited, beat out 2 different mustang cobras. I know that's still kinda slow, but anyhow, after the intake, what is the next mod I should go for? I'm trying to get my car ready for a turbo or super charger. Does anyone have any recommendations as to the steps I should take to make this happen? Which one should I choose?

 

well you should be closer to around 14.1 to 13.9 with decent tires that will hook and good shifting, little practice maybe.

Good choice on the CAI, I'd shoot for a decent free-flowing catback next, maybe headers after that...longtubes ...then save some money and look at doing 3:73 or 4:10 gears next...with good tires you should be somewhere around 13.6 to 13.8 somewhere around there....save some more and look at cam, springs, roller rockers and aim for 13.2 to 13.5's. That should get you started.

You have several free mods you can do, 160 thermostat, throttle body bypass, etc etc. Don't jack with porting your MAF, descreen it at most, if you need some tips on free mods you can also check out camaroz28.com, great source of Fbody data.

Welcome to the fever dude

 

With a turbocharger, you might want to go with a bigger exhaust system (from exhaust manifolds to y-pipe to cat-back). Having a turbine in the exhaust flow increases the restriction in the exhaust. This means that on the exhaust stroke, the engine has to push against a higher back-pressure (once you compare your stock e. manifolds to aftermarket ones, you'll see what I mean).

If you plan on running a lot of boost with either the supercharger or turbocharger (say, more than 6 to 8 psi), you'll need to replace the stock fuel pump and injectors. Also, relating to boost pressure, because the air pumped in the cylinders is under pressure (and then further compressed by the piston), the is more danger of knock (knocking happens because compressed air can get very hot, which may ignite the fuel before the spark plug does). An easy way to avoid this is to run a higher octane. But if you decide to run really high boost, then you'll have to reduce the compression ratio of the engine.

One big disadvantage with turbochargers is that they don't provide power boost immediately. It takes a second for the turbine to get up to speed before boost is produced (kinda like an auto with a stock torque converter). One way to get around this is to use a small turbocharger (but then you won't get boost pressure at higher rpm's). Some other ways to get around this problem (on larger turbochargers) is 2. get a wastegate, 3. use ball bearings, and/or 4. use ceramic turbine blades. All of these are options you can get with your turbocharger. Or, if you really have money to spend, just get two turbochargers (a smaller one spinning more quickly, thereby reducing lag, and a larger one to take over to provide boost at higher rpm's). Finally, you could just get an intercooler with a turbocharger (or with a supercharger). An intercooler just cools the compressed air.

The key difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger is in power supply. With a supercharger, there is a belt that connects to the engine (it gets power the same way a water pump or alternator would). With a turbocharger, power comes from the exhaust stream. It's up to you to decide. If it were me, I would get neither. I prefer a NA setup. But, if I had to choose, I would recommend the turbo setup (just because it recycles wasted energy--by using the exhaust stream for power). Superchargers are easier to install but tend to be more expensive.

 

For a blower/turbo, you'll want to beef up your fuel system first and foremost. Also make sure you're running a full exhaust. After that, you're pretty much ready for low level boost (~6psi). Then it's time to look into a cam/heads combo for forced induction (lots of info to be stated there, but that's probably a ways off for you). Last comes building the motor for forced induction- low compression and some forged pistons for strength. While you have the motor apart, it'd probably be best to replace the rest of the rotating assembly and components as well (rods, crank, bearings, etc). With a turbo, stroking the motor would help you out quite a bit- you could run a larger turbo with more peak power, but the lowend torque of a stroker would help out a lot with lag.

Go with a turbo kit if you've got the money. But a blower will get you pretty much the same results.