I have a 97 Black Trans Am with pacesetter race headers ory and magnaflow catback. It also has a centerforce clutch with pro 5.0 shifter and a ligenfelter cold air intake. What do you guys think the next best couple mods would be and what order you would get them in. I was thinking 3" electric qtp cutout, lt4 intake manifold and a 58 mm bbk throttle body. What are your suggestions and opinions?

 

A good tune and then some suspension. PCMforless is a good company for the tune and rear lower control arms is a good place to start for suspension.

 

Another small list that comes to mind :

160* Thermostat (before the tune)
Decent plugs and wires
Electric water pump

Don't waste your time with a intake manifold until you get some heads as well. Have them worked and ported together so they are built to work together.

 

Gears!

 

dont mess with the intake/tb unless u do heads/cam.....wont see enough umph for the money u spent...id get a tstat, intake elbow, pullies(some ppl hate them some swear by them), gears, and a tune.....then start with some suspension upgrades...maybe the brakes(ls1fbod or... c5 if u can afford it)

no point in havin all the horsepower if u cant put in to the ground
and not a good idea to go fast and have crappy lt1 brakes

 

9" lol

 

Tune!!!!

 

TTT i wanna get your opinions guys. I have a hypertech programmer that the guy gave me with the car is that what you guys are refering to for the tune and if not can you please explain. Thanks

 

^^^^Hypertechs are supposedly crap and don't do anything for you. I've never used one, so I don't know first hand. But, I've never really heard anything decent about a hand-held tuner on any Fbody. Go to MadZ28.com or PCM4Less.com and read up on the info there. They're both mail-order tuning companies. Also, like said, don't waste money on a bigger TB or intake manifold without having aftermarket heads/cam, otherwise, they're a big waste of money. If I were you, I'd look at some gears, dr's, and suspension mods, along with a tune from one of the mail-order sites I mentioned. A cutout is a good mod, but I wouldn't waste the money on the electric one. They cost a lot of money, and I've heard of the motors going bad quite often. You could just order a manual cutout from summitracing, or some other place, for around $25. Just put it in a convenient spot, that's easy to access and you're good to go.

 

The hypertechs are not crap, they do advance the timing & lean out the fuel curve, plus you can adj. your speedo/tire size & rev. limiter/stat, so they do quit a bit, BUT once you cam the engine, or change any internal parts, its no longer a good tuner, then you go with Trifectca/MadZ/PCMforless to really dial things in, but as for the hypertech being "junk", it isn't, just not the best tuner with internal mods, i run one on my 97Z, its been on there for over 5 yrs. & still works great.

 

410 gears

cutout

cam

tune

 

since you have the hypertech id say use it until you are done with bolt-ons and then get a tune with any heads/cam,forced induction or nitrous you might run. an ewp, a low-temp stat and a lt4 knock module could be done yourself no-sweat.wires and plugs too as long as you're willing to get underneath for a couple of the plugs...good shocks make a world of difference.

 

OK fine, we'll clear the air here. Hypertechs are junk as far as tuning goes, but are handy when it comes to changing some features, but only worth it if you get it for under $100.

I'd say a tune, 4:10 (or at least 3.73s) or 100 shot of NOS (you can do up to a 150 if you want w/o having to do anything).

 

I'm surprised no one asked him what his overall goals are for the car.

For a sweet street car, I would finish up the drivetrain (stall/gears/shift kit) and suspension (LCAs, SFC, TA). The stock throttle body can actually support quite a bit, but for an upgrade I would go with the 52mm, 58 is kinda big for stock intake and heads. Or you can port the stock 48mm if you have the tools/skills.

 

Well he's got an M6, so stall and shift kit is out of the question. Suspension isn't a bad idea though.

 

Lt4 intake will not work on Lt1 heads. Let me rephrase that, Lt4 intake won't work unless the intake is modified to work.

 

And heads.

 

I'm not sure about the Hypertech tuners, but I know with Diablosport if you know how to read the real time data being displayed while driving, you'll be able to properly adjust it for your vehicle to make similar gains as a dyno tune. It took me a while to learn how to use the tuner and the preloaded tunes are always crap. I ran it with the preloaded for a few months and then learned how to set up my fueling and adjusted the shift points. It feels like a completely different beast once you've got it dialed in. If you are planning on a lot of mods very soon though, I wouldn't bother with a handheld. There are too many variables once you start getting deep into the engine.