Female Gearhead Intro
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: South of Houston
Female Gearhead Intro At the suggestion of one of you, I am posting another intro for the Texans. I live South of Houston in the Pearland/Friendswood area. I went looking for an economical car and came home with a 99 Formula, 5.7 with and A4, 25,000 miles. Anyway, it was traded in by the original owner, at the age of 71 ( not that I am bashing him- I'm going through my mid life crisis too). It is super clean and I gave $10,500. I feel like I got a great deal. And that LS1- all I can say is "hell yeah"! First tank of gas and 25 MPG (with my foot in it). My 7 year old son's new words are- "yep, we broke the tires loose that time". Ok so for mods, it sounds like -lid, headers, exhaust and torque convertor. What stall are you all running with and A4? 3500-4000?? Keep in mind this will be my daily driver. Headers- long or short and favorite exhaust?
Thanks,
Kathy
Thanks,
Kathy
welcome to the board! you made a wise decision on your car, and there are a lot of resources here.
i can't say much about automatic transmissions, but for headers, i got a set of Kooks stainless long tubes. with an LS1, for the most part, anything other than long tubes is a waste of money, although some say that mac mid-length are almost as good. The kooks are a little more expensive than most, but my priorities were durability of stainless vs ceramic coated and the ease of install. i've also been told that they make more power than other brands, but all LT's dyno within a few hp of eachother, so i wouldnt let that be your determining factor.
i can't say much about automatic transmissions, but for headers, i got a set of Kooks stainless long tubes. with an LS1, for the most part, anything other than long tubes is a waste of money, although some say that mac mid-length are almost as good. The kooks are a little more expensive than most, but my priorities were durability of stainless vs ceramic coated and the ease of install. i've also been told that they make more power than other brands, but all LT's dyno within a few hp of eachother, so i wouldnt let that be your determining factor.
Also not to well known for my automatic knowlege, but 3500-4000 stall is too high for the street given the mods you're planning. I would think a 2800rpm stall would be more than enough. Along the lines of transmission modification you can always go with a shift kit from TransGo. Other than that I think you're on the right track to having a very fun and reliable daily driver.
Apparently you don't drive a 4L60e with a converter. 3500 isn't loose at all, given the deep first gear ratio. Heck, there's MANY people on this site who daily drive 4000+ RPM converters. The biggest comment I hear from folks with 2800 converters is "I wish I would have gone bigger, because I'm already looking to upgrade."IMHO 3200 to 3600 is the sweet spot for a daily driver.
Welcome to the site! I grew up in Friendswood, my parents still live there. Good to see other lady enthusiasts posting, especially the kind that like to modify their cars.
what color is your Formula?
Tony
what color is your Formula?
Tony
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: South of Houston
Thanks for the info! This is a great site! The car is pewter, so it will be easy to keep clean. Although it will be a daily driver, I can't ever leave anything alone. Here is a list of what else I can't leave alone:
99 Harley Heritage-bolt on mods only-new sheetmetal with my paint job
66 Chevy stepside/ 305 with a high energy cam and reworked heads/th350
still doing the body work on it. Restoration can be seen on www.txwheelers.com look for Kath's Chevy
67 Mustang GTA Convertible with a very warm 390-lot's left to do on this since it's a ground up restoration
27 Chevy Sports Coupe- will be traditional 50's style- I have a '57 Chrysler 354 Poly motor for it, with the pushbutton transmission (if I ever get to it?)
Yes I am an addict!
Kathy
99 Harley Heritage-bolt on mods only-new sheetmetal with my paint job
66 Chevy stepside/ 305 with a high energy cam and reworked heads/th350
still doing the body work on it. Restoration can be seen on www.txwheelers.com look for Kath's Chevy
67 Mustang GTA Convertible with a very warm 390-lot's left to do on this since it's a ground up restoration
27 Chevy Sports Coupe- will be traditional 50's style- I have a '57 Chrysler 354 Poly motor for it, with the pushbutton transmission (if I ever get to it?)
Yes I am an addict!
Kathy
Originally Posted by kisam
Thanks for the info! This is a great site! The car is pewter, so it will be easy to keep clean. Although it will be a daily driver, I can't ever leave anything alone. Here is a list of what else I can't leave alone:
99 Harley Heritage-bolt on mods only-new sheetmetal with my paint job
66 Chevy stepside/ 305 with a high energy cam and reworked heads/th350
still doing the body work on it. Restoration can be seen on www.txwheelers.com look for Kath's Chevy
67 Mustang GTA Convertible with a very warm 390-lot's left to do on this since it's a ground up restoration
27 Chevy Sports Coupe- will be traditional 50's style- I have a '57 Chrysler 354 Poly motor for it, with the pushbutton transmission (if I ever get to it?)
Yes I am an addict!
Kathy
99 Harley Heritage-bolt on mods only-new sheetmetal with my paint job
66 Chevy stepside/ 305 with a high energy cam and reworked heads/th350
still doing the body work on it. Restoration can be seen on www.txwheelers.com look for Kath's Chevy
67 Mustang GTA Convertible with a very warm 390-lot's left to do on this since it's a ground up restoration
27 Chevy Sports Coupe- will be traditional 50's style- I have a '57 Chrysler 354 Poly motor for it, with the pushbutton transmission (if I ever get to it?)
Yes I am an addict!
Kathy
Those sound like some VERY cool projects!Welcome to the board...
I have had two auto LS1s and although I prefer the M6 manuals,the auto version of LS1s are NOTHING to sneeze at...awesome cars...
Post pics of your Formy as soon as you get the chance!
Trending Topics
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Verdad Gallardo
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
Amazing '71 Camaro Restomod Is Modern Muscle Car Under the Skin
Verdad Gallardo
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Welcome to the board. I like the 3200-3600 sreies of converters (Vig. or Yank preferably for me.)for the daily drivers. To listen to F-bodies with different exhaust go to LS1sounds.com and you can get an idea of what they sound like won't sound exactly as nothing beats the real thing but it can help you make up your own mind. Personally I loved my Corsa with the stock manifolds and cats with the long tubes it has some rasp that I didn't care for, but it made great power and sounds bad *** at WOT.
Welcome to the site....
What i did was when i first got my ls1 was, put hooker longtubes on, and then got a lid, and corsa exhaust......buts all up to you once you want to spend the money...but with those 3 mods, you will gain good horsepower...then get a cam and a converter....
What i did was when i first got my ls1 was, put hooker longtubes on, and then got a lid, and corsa exhaust......buts all up to you once you want to spend the money...but with those 3 mods, you will gain good horsepower...then get a cam and a converter....
Just quickly scanned throught here. Welcome to the board. 
Make sure you add a good transmission cooler when you go with the looser stall converter. Then enemy is heat, and a loose converter will generate more of it. In order to protect and preserve that 4L60E, you should install a cooler at the same time you swap converters.
For the uninitiated, a 2800 stall might be plenty. Everyone has a different tolerance level. I currently have a TCI SSF 3500 in my '94 and it doesn't bother me, just occasionally in parking lots etc. when it seems lazy and I dont' want to apply too much throttle. I've driven cars with 4400 stalls that were daily driven by the owners and wondered how they could tolerate that on a daily basis, but again, different strokes for different folks...
Make sure you add a good transmission cooler when you go with the looser stall converter. Then enemy is heat, and a loose converter will generate more of it. In order to protect and preserve that 4L60E, you should install a cooler at the same time you swap converters.
For the uninitiated, a 2800 stall might be plenty. Everyone has a different tolerance level. I currently have a TCI SSF 3500 in my '94 and it doesn't bother me, just occasionally in parking lots etc. when it seems lazy and I dont' want to apply too much throttle. I've driven cars with 4400 stalls that were daily driven by the owners and wondered how they could tolerate that on a daily basis, but again, different strokes for different folks...
12 Second Club
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 345
Likes: 0
From: Brazoria
Originally Posted by Brains
Apparently you don't drive a 4L60e with a converter. 3500 isn't loose at all, given the deep first gear ratio. Heck, there's MANY people on this site who daily drive 4000+ RPM converters. The biggest comment I hear from folks with 2800 converters is "I wish I would have gone bigger, because I'm already looking to upgrade."IMHO 3200 to 3600 is the sweet spot for a daily driver.
Just know that 25 mpg will be no more when you put a torque convertor in it. Even if you drive it easy.
I recommend TCI convertors, half the price ,just as good and very good customer service.
I recommend TCI convertors, half the price ,just as good and very good customer service.
