Hey guys and gals I am looking to get serious about increasing the performance of my Formula, I am looking for around 400 hp to keep me happy for probably the life of the vehicle. My biggest concerns lie with gas mileage and reliability because this car is my daily driver ( for now anyway) cost of course is a big concern. What is the best way to achieve this ? I would really prefer no nitrous. I am looking to do this over the course of about the next year so if there is a best order of things that helps alot. Thanks as always for any inputs you cool cats might have for me

 

looking fro 400 rear wheel or crank horsepower? cuzz you can get 400 crank with the money out of your couch seats

 

well my one and only suggestions thats cheap and doesnt mess with gas is n2o... sadly enough u said perferably not! is your car m6 or a4? that might help a bit.

 

Sorry it is an A4 so surely a stall will end up in there at some point. Also this engine has at least 78k miles on it (possibly more the vehicle was issued a not actual mileage title from last owner) is it safe to mod an engine with that kind of mileage without sacrifcing ALOT of reliability ? Oh and around 400 @ the wheels

 

Heads and cam with all the boltons will get you there. Reliablility won't be much of an issue if you get good parts and a good installer. Make sure to select good valvesprings and a cam that doesn't have very steep ramp rates.

 

Talk to your local performance shops, they all have some sort of heads cam, special. As for what your car can and can't handle, it'sanyone's guess, noone but the last owner knows the true odometer reading. You only know what they tell you. I have seen cars with 10k miles and 160k miles do well for a long whils with mods... Good luck..

 

It's true, every car is different. My 2000 Z28 started running into problems at 60k miles and was just about stock. On the other hand, I've seen plenty of guys add H/C packages to their 100k mile cars on this site and be very happy with them. Cheapest way to get very close to your goal is to get a moderate cam, long tube headers, LS6 intake manifold. If you don't have anything yet, start with a lid for sure, and think about the underdrive pullies when you do the cam. About $3K you can be right where you want to be. Good luck!

 

I just recently did a .580ish lift cam (u could probably get one on the forums for 250), ls6 intake (300ish), lid (75ish), ported and polished tb (75ish), headers and oryp (400), Catback if u want (I did hooker for like 300shipped new i think) Then maybe a stall, (dont know what they cost cuz i have an m6 and never looked at them (im guessing 400ish) Thats about 1800 in parts, now start reading on how to do the work and find a buddy who is expirenced to help pay him like 200 bucks and theres 2000. Then go get it tuned for 450 at speed inc. And you will probably be pretty close to 400rwhp!

How far are u from gurnee? Thats where im from! We should meet up sometime and hang!

 

If you want a solid car thatll last i would look at beefing things up before adding power. Start with a catback/lid and then work on STB, SFC, torque arm, and strengthen the rear end with at LEAST a cover. Heres my list im workin on, these are decent quality parts thatll do their job at bolt on hp for not too much money:

SLP LM (used $150, $300 new)
Lid (used $75, $100 new)
Pacesetter LTs/Cats ($700 from TSP)
FTRA ($150 new)
!CATS, !FRA
Smooth bellows (homemade from Homedepot $5)
Ported Maf ends ($65)
Ported TB ($65)
LS6 intake ($300 used, $400 new)
Some sort of moderate cam ($200-400, plus springs ect)
Tune ($400-600)

Total: $2500-3000 and about 385-425rwhp depending on cam

and if you really want some good #s Port the stock heads ($600) and put in a F13 with spring kit ($800) and youll be looking at anywhere from 425-450rwhp.

 

where you gettin ported heads for 600 bucks?

 

You can't do a cam swap for those prices either. You can buy the cam, but then you need rods, retainers, springs, and gaskets. Just FYI

 

lotsa good info guys, about the gurnee thing, I am in homewood if you know where that is if not its about 25 miles south of chicago near tinley park, orland and matteson. I am thinking of starting of course with a lid , I've already got a hooker catback and I'm looking at some hooker LTs & ORY. I think its a good idea to stiffen the thing up as well . Also I have 2:72 gears how much is that going to hurt my 1/4 should I think about replacing that as well ? (I may break it anyway) And the most important question concerning its daily driveability is right now I am at about 18-20 mpg city and 25 - 28 mpg hwy. How much would a mild heads cam package effect that ?

 

Gas mileage won't suffer too bad with H/C. Ported stock heads may be a good way to go for your goals... I think there's a sponsor here will do that for around $800 or so. I doubt you can do 400 RWHP in an A4 with just a cam and still keep it a daily driver, but ported heads could get you there. Of course that depends on your personal tolerance for drivability. You're definitely going to want to match your cam to your heads and make sure it doesn't have really radical lobes or spin too high for your springs. That's the key to reliability.

 

again i ask.... who????

with the exception of AFR(pimp) ALL of the other heads are stock ported heads... and they go for 1300-2000 depending on what you get....


is there some super fantastic GP we are all missing here?

 

My apologies, they are $899. I was thinking of the PRC budget exchange stage 1 heads:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamometer-results-comparisons/320142-prc-budget-stage-1-heads-dyno-results.html

I remembered the "8" but forgot about that "99!"

 

BTW the reason I decided to get serious about performance is that this ricer that has been bothering my gf ( who is about to get his *** beat off the street) says that a Formula could never run 12s . I about died laughing while realizing he is an idiot and slightly insane if he thinks an LS1 can't run 12s. surely 400hp would put me at 12s? If not much lower ?

400HP just seemed like a nice number to be able to throw around... maybe I should be looking more at times than HP numbers

 

Your reaction sounds about right. My formula ran 12.870@113.75 the other week and that's with a >2.0 60ft, and that's with only boltons and a cam. That's with 392.98 RWHP. If I had a better launch and didn't bump the rev limiter, I could be mid-low 12's.

With an A4 you should have a lot less trouble launching than me, so expect with good boltons and the cheap heads I recommended you can run low 12's or high 11's. With more pricey heads you can have EASY 11's.

 

if what you wanted was an 11 second time slip .... why didn't you just say so?

i wrote a recipe for 11's in this thread... copy.... get your time slip... leave it on that ricers knocked out body so he can be amased when he wakes up after you kick his *** for messin with your ol lady...
https://ls1tech.com/forums/new-ls1-owners-newbie-tech/342596-want-help-spending-wisely.html

 

Lol, a photoshopped time slip, a universal way of saying "in your face!"

btw i think bo white did porting for ~$600. Just look around, theres some places locally thatll probly do it that specialize in machining. im talkin bout tearin out ur own heads and takin em somewhere and payin for labor to get em ported. Plus throw in couple hundred for valves and wat not.

 

um......you can run DEEP in the 12's with no internal engine mods and stock horsepower level


a GOOD 3500-4000 convertor
3.73 or 4.10 gears
Lid and ported TB
a few suspension mods

go run LOW 12's all day long