I have to ask this cowboy. I know in my case, my mom never could tell when I did something to my car or truck. But when it came to my dad, and mind you, he is pretty car savvy, but not necessarilly on the modding out part, but he knows his cars and stuff. My dad could always tell when I changed something. Be it just a magnaflow muffler with stock cast tips on my 2000 trans am or whatever. And magnaflow mufflers are not that much louder than stock. I'm not saying not to mod out your car, I would too. But I do however think that there are certain things that your parents might notice. You say that your folks ride in your car too from time to time and I would also guess that since you live in the same house, they don't want you modding it out so they may have bought the car for you or not, but I am guessing that they have access to your keys and may from time to time be able to look under the hood and also drive your car. That being said, I think that you should stay away from things that are somewhat obvious.

Headers are pretty noticable and even though with stock exhaust, it will be louder and if your dad knows anything about cars he will notice that this is not a stock manifold. I think you need to stick with mods that can go unseen. A high stall torque converter with a trangsgo shift kit and corvette or billet servo would be a good place to start. You can also go with a new air lid, I believe they still make some that look damn near stock; paired with the free ram air mod. You could port the TB, add new spark plugs and wires(just make sure to stay with black wires). And no one else has mentioned it and I don't know why, but why not have the PCM tuned? I don't know what type of budget you are on, but a tuned pcm is a quality mod and will go un-noticed to anybody. You could also swap out your crank pulley to an ASP unit pretty freely. And then when you get out of the house, go nuts with the exhaust. Short of digging into the engine and camming it and switching out roller rockers and springs and such, this is my best answer to you. Happy modding and don't get caught.

 

i don't think my parents will care about a lid, but a shift kit will be really noticable when it shifts though, right? they don't have access to my keys, they have to ask me for them and my dad isn't that car savvy, i had to learn on my own how to do an oil change and do basic maintance, i took apart the door of my maxima to replace the window motor and switch and he had no clue what i was doin, he would rather take anything to the Dealer then do it himself, although he used to work with my grandfather at a GM factory

i guess i'll wait for exhaust then, i am gonna keep the stock cat-back probably for a long time since i will have a Electric cut-out, then later after i do most of my mods swap in a decent cat-back

 

I am pretty much a newbie still, but I agree about the tuning. However, I wouldn't pay to have it tuned yet. I would seriously think about getting HP Tuners (especially if you are getting a laptop for college). That way, you can learn how to tune your car easily while it is still stock and get the most out of future mods. Plus, you will gain some just from tuning a stock car. Just something to think about.

 

probably no laptop unless i'm given one, i spent a sh*tload of money when i shouldn't have on a good desktop, i realized this after i got the Camaro and wanted to do some things, lol

but i can probably borrow someones or get a really crappy bare laptop just so i can do the tuning, but that will wait for a while

i was reading in another post spark plugs made a difference, how much of a difference if i get the NGK ones and i only have 30k miles on the car? And what wires would you recomend or are they all the same?

 

Well, I agree with the tuning, if you have the laptop to do so, get the ls1 edit and do the tuning yourself if you have the knowledge of what you are doing.

And if your parents are not car savvy like you say, then they may not notice the headers and such. I think though that if you believe they will notice the car shifting a little firmer, that they will notice a difference in sound also.

You could always do like someone said and try to open the door and ask for a muffler or exhaust for christmas or something and then add the headers and such at that same time.

 

Well, the plugs and wires are not going to give you much of a gain that you will feel. But in the scheme of things they work together with other mods for a good solid build up process. Since your car is mostly stock, I would go with a set of NGK Tr55's and the MSD superconductor plug wires. Also one other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that you could go with a 160 or 180 degree thermostat that the folks would never notice.

 

Don't waste your money on plug wires unless you know they're bad, or you hate the way they look. It will give you zero hp. Instead of spending money on little mods you won't feel like plug wires, ported tb, maf, you might wanna think about upgrading your suspension, or maybe get 4.10's or something. If you are thinking about serious mods in the future, saving up for hptuners is a good idea, you will learn a ton about your car and it makes troubleshooting problems much easier.

 

good advice, but i wouldnt run a spool on the street.


underdrive pulley, ported TB, lid, filter, then build your suspension up. if you get a stall or do some kind of forced induction setup then your need it anyways.
headers Y-pipe, TC, Catback are all noticable so you should hold off IMO

 

suspension!!!! is a must...since you got an A4....you can always get the TA Girdle (its been known to save many rear ends in most cases...with a stall

if this is your all season baby and your in NJ id say this

some sort of ram air...dont get FIPK they say it needs a new hood in most cases

go Lid, Filter, Ported Throttle Body, ASP (or other 25%) underdrive pulley, if any exhaust SLP Dual/Dual, 2800-3000 stall torque converter w/ tranny cooler, 160° T-stat, program/dynotune, Lower Control Arms, Sub-frame connectors, Adj. Torque Arm, mayb some 1.8-1.85 rocker arms if you run outa ideas...but that should all set you quite possibly into mid-low 11's

 

I drove a '98 SS with a Vig 3600 and trans go shift kit and it really wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. The shifts at normal throttle were quick (not mushy like the stock shifts) but not "hard" like people think they will be, as for the stall the only diffrence was a slight increase in rpm until you got to lockup speed (40mph ish) The only thing noticable was the exahust note (LT's, ORP and SLP dual dual) before lockup due to the slight increase in rpm, but with stock exahust you would prolly not even notice. Head over to the A4 section on here and do some reading, there is TONS of good info. Good luck!!

 

Alright, here is my suggestions take them for what they are worth.
I have a buddy that runs in the 11's with what are considered mild mods. You can escape your parents knowing about any of them especially if your folks aren't at all car savy.
I have a bud with a cammed SS running basicly your exhaust proposal (wow first time I have ever used that word on the net). His car is dead silent, and I mean you can barely here it start up and he even deleted his cat. With a cat behind the cutout, you wouldn't really be able to tell it was cammed, and I am really serious about that.

Saying that camming was way to much then have no fear 11's are still possible.

Look on Installuniversity.com and do all of the free mods
Suspension and Body.
Buy some good shocks like QA'1s or Bilsteins.
Change your control arms
tubular K member
and rear end girdle
Motor
3200-3500 Stall
GM Hot Cam (if possible)
Pullies
Exhaust
Long Tubes
Cutout----with cat behind the cutout
stock cat back


Here is a car that has a few things done to it, and ran 11's....sorry we just got the site back and it hasn't been brought back to date.
The car ran 11.6 @119 on a 75 shot and 11.85 @114 with the basic mods that you see and a few more suspension mods.
http://www.auburnextremeracing.com/d...josh/index.htm

 

this keeps gettin better and better, thanks again to everyone here

 

lid, k&n, gears, chip, shift kit

 

i very much disagree with 5.7 or whoever that is if he is talking about a 12 sec 1/4 mile he is sorely mistaken maybe in the 1/8 but that should be a given in your truck anyways my end result is going to be a mid 12 second truck with a 212/218 cam, heads ported polished and milled, converter and 100 shot so while it will make a difference and you will be able to beat a stock truck you will by no means pull a 12 in the 1/4 mile and i recommend a converter prolly first especially if your parents dont drive it or they will notice because a stall behaves wierd compared to stock

 

^ ok, so you are sayin i can't hit 12's in my Z28 with a lid, ram air, headers and a converter? and i ran a 13.4 stock! lol, you got to be kiddin me, or do you think i have a truck? i can't tell who your are talkin to most of the time due to lack of periods and sentences, maybe it's just me...

and a shift kit is out of the question too noticable, i look around and maybe get a *low* converter or the P/T and F/T one mentioned before

 

a converter ona stock car....can prolly get you 13.0 flat or high 12....without the lid and or catback with your time of 13.4 most exhausts are noticeable....if your p's are semi hard of hearing good deal SLP Dual/Dual....anything else will be too noticeable...(i think stock tips will fit on there as well)...now...a Lid and real ram air and other boltons OTHER THAN HEADERS.....headers are much louder with or without stock catback...nottt a good idea if it hasta stay quiet...SLP Dual dual and an electric cutout will do you fine...till you move out....LCA's and SFC's...and then lil power gainers like Pulleys, T-stat, Throttle Body....etc....and also if you dont have 01-02 get an LS6 intake manifold...and well your set from there and you can also tune it or program it

 

ok, thanks, i wasn't plannin on gettin new exhaust anyway for a while, i already have dual cut-outs so i'll just keep those in storage so i can use em later down the road, how much more noticable is, say a 3200 stall? and when /where will i feel the difference? i keep on buggin you guys, but you are so helpful i can't hold back!!! thank you soooo much, i think i am set on mods til i move than!

 

for those of you telling this guy not to do any of the suspention / chassis mods...
answer 1 question please. have YOU done these mods???
if not, please stop talking out of the side of your mouth, cause you dont have a clue...

the differance in a properly set up suspention and the SLOP crap from the factory is NIGHT and DAY differant at ANY speed at little throttle, 1/2 , or WOT. the car feels like a ROCK solid peice instead of a rattling slug .

ANY fbody in ANY stage of mod from bone stock to trailer queen will benifit leaps and bounds .

 

chip?
you sure you drive an fbody?


who makes a "chip" for fbodys?