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I have a 97 corvette that's completely stock. What should I do to make it mean on the streets?

Depends... What's your emmissions laws? How much do you have to spend? Is it in good mechanical shape now? Is it an a4 or m6? What are your expectations from it? Are you wanting to stay N/A, run nitrous with it, procharge or turbo?

So right now I'm more focused on the best headers and cams setup I can get and then from there I want to get into the 450-475hp range so I'm starting slowly

I'd talk to a few vendors on here, let them know your expectations. But that goal can be attained at the crank with just a nice set of long tubes, ls6 intake, ported throttle body, and a good cam. I don't know much about vette's, but I think they sell a vararam cold air intake or something like that, that's supposed to be pretty good. If you're m6 then you'll need some decent gears in it to keep you in the powerband.

I'd personally call Texas Speed for what you're wanting to do and get one of their cam packages. They have everything you'll need, but you can also get ahold of some other vendors off to the right and have them spec you a cam. I think a shelf grind would do fine. Cam motion, Martin Smallwood, Brian Tooley, Pat G are just a few that do good work spec'ing cams.

I think Headers, exhaust, ported throttle body, cai, cam package, and gears if it's a 6 speed, stall if it's an auto, will make that car move out really good. You basically need all I mentioned (along with a set of drag radials) except the ported throttle body to do a cam swap.

I appreciate all the information. by the way, that's a real nice ws6!! Just contacted Texas speed and just waiting for a response back.

Thanks man!

There will be others in here that will give you some good info also. It all comes down to basically what you're planning for the future. But you can get some nice PRC heads from Texas Speed without breaking the bank and perform really well with your cam setup. You can check the classifieds here and get an ls6 intake for between $300-$350 and it's well worth it.

You're really gonna have a lot of fun with it when it's done. I'd say you'll easily break into the 11's with it if you take it to the track.

Bolt ons will get a C5 in the 11's w/ the right mods (usually stalled cars). The guy who did my work has the fastest bolt on record 10.70's in a frc.

Yeah, they are good running cars. I just wasn't sure how much money on bolt ons he wanted to do. It seems now days that everyone wants the fast way there, so they just do a cam, full exhaust, gears, or stall lol

Like Monmouth said, you take the time and do a full bolt on car that will perform like a basic cam setup. There are some good knowledgeable guys on here that can help you do it. Have to listen to them and you can get there.

Edit: I did the easy way on my first build, just cam, full exhaust, and stall I got into the 11's full weight. Had I done full bolt ons too, I think I could have gotten low 11's with some weight reduction.

"make it mean on the streets"

well if your car is an automatic and your talking from red lights or street dig racing start with an aggressive stall ( w/big trans cooler) and sticky tires

if your talking roll racing then forced induction or spray

a little more explanation of what you want to do would help us give better advice as well as what is your budget and if the car is your primary driver , a toy , etc...

dyno numbers don't win dig races applying the hp you have effectively to the ground does.

My corvette is my toy, mostly driven on thursdays-sunday. and when i said "mean on the streets" i was talking about from a roll. My budget maybe about 5k at the moment, but may go up if somethings change. Just spoke with Texas-Speed and was told this was a good setup due to me wanting headers and cam package with 233/239 camshaft.

http://www.texas-speed.com/p-3961-pr...m-package.aspx

You'll like that cam, it's the same one I used to have in my car. It pulls strong all the way to where my tuner had my shift points set at 6500rpm's. If your car is an auto, get at least a 3600 stall and a sticky tire and you'll run low 11's. Take that back, I just saw you're getting the prc 225's, if you're stalled, it'll be in the 10's and it will roll race really good if it's a stick. You're car is gonna run strong man, it'll be everything you wanted. Throw a fast intake on it and you'll be set!

Here's a couple of idle clips so you'll get an idea what it'll sound like. First one I took the plate out of my borla exhaust, so if you have a cutout then it'll sound closer to this than the second video. The 2nd video I put a 3/4" plate in it to force some of it through the muffler because it drew too much attention to the police.

No plate and doesn't go through the muffler.
3/4" plate forcing some through the muffler.

That's the type of roar I was looking for. I know once I get that header and cam package, it's probably going to be in my best interest to upgrade the brakes and my clutch. Any suggestions?