Seriousley man you are on a budget. I PROMISE you can go fast on a big cam+spray. This car for sure isnt a daily driver. What is your goal do you mind if it drives kinda crappy. Although after a master tuned mine it drives great. Anyhow i think that heads are terribly overrated. Not that i am saying they wont give you more power but im shooting for a 9 sec pass and mine have never been off of the car.
2k budget huh? well your gonna need something to tune with and getting it tuned by someone who can so heres a list:
budget set up:
ls6 intake manifold (300 or so)
ls6 heads(ive seen 400 before)
aggressive to big cam (750 ish with springs, retainers, pushrods)
nitrous kit(500 or cheaper, by used if you can)
injectors(something bigger)
tuning with program(500 or so…its a estimate)
so in reality your looking at 2450+(injectors) thats not even including install(unless you do it)
baller set up:
buy a new stroker engine (cost=enough)
also since you own a c5 and if you go through with the mods dont put drag radials or slicks on the car. The rear output shafts will be destroyed…ive heard of guys that break them during a highway pull. if your doin the rear gears then save yourself the trouble and do them at the same time…
call us, we do this every day.
First you should do yourself a favor, step back and figure out what you really want from your car and what you want it to drive like. Do you want a good daily driver or a car that feels like a purpose built strip car? Don’t get all caught up in dyno racing and peak HP if what you really want is a car that still idles below 1000 rpm and doesn’t surge, buck or stall in stop n go traffic. Sure you can throw a Trex in it, spray the shit out of it but IMO you won’t have a nice DD. And remember that no matter how fast you make it, eventually you will get used to it and it wont feel that ‘fast’ anymore and all your stuck with is a poorly thought out mod’d car that drives like shit because 90% of the time it is a DD.
Is your car going to be a DD?
Do you care if you have to change springs every 15K-20K miles?
Do you want a car that has peak power at 7000rpm and falls on it’s face under 4000 rpm or do you want a car that has good low end torque and peak power/shifts similar to stock or a slightly higher?
If you’re going to do it right then you really should plan to do heads and cam. And they really should be done at the same time because they should be matched to work well together. Yes AFR heads are top notch but those heads alone are over your budget…even used most of the time. For less than 3k you could get a nice set of Patriot LS6 style heads and a good cam package including LS2 timing chain, high flow oil pump, all the gaskets and seals etc. needed to do the install. Once you decide where you want the power curve and/or how much power you are expecting then I could help tell you what kind of valve events you are looking at (duration, lift, LSA, advance). Once that is decided we can look at your dynamic compression ratio (static compression ratio doesn’t really mean shit and dynamic CR is determined by the closing of the intake valves in degrees above bottom dead center) and then based off of that help choose a set of heads (chamber CCs) and gasket…etc. If this isn’t taken into consideration ahead of time then you could end up with a DCR to high and have detonation problems and if to low run into shit performance. These are just a few reasons that heads and cams ‘should’ be done at the same time or at the very least have a plan for future installation.
Once you decide what YOU actually want from the car and what the purpose is going to be (not what everyone else thinks you should want it to be) then some educated people here could much better guide you in the right direction. If you try to be more concerned with ‘area under the curve’ instead of ‘peak power’ that looks like Mount Everest on the dyno graph then I think you’re likely to be much happier in the long run.
So, before you toss that Trex in and end up hating your car because it’s a DD, what are you looking for? :beer2:
Ken
I already have a WET N20 set up…i’ll deff be spraying…
The car is not my DD, but I still want it to be somewhat drivable. When the gears get done I will be putting in the hardened long output shaft. I’d like a broad power band and I’d like to keep the idle under 1200…I won’t drive it in heavy traffic unless i get stuck on the threw way or something…I may be able to pull some more money outta my ass but not enough for good heads…I’d consider ls6 heads if they where cheap…
ls6 intake manifold (300 or so)
ls6 heads(ive seen 400 before)?maybe
aggressive to big cam (750 ish with springs, retainers, pushrods)
injectors(something bigger)?maybe
tuning with program(500 or so…its a estimate)
so in reality your looking at 2000 thats not even including install(unless you do it)
Thats right about where I want to be…plus I can do most of the work myself if need be, I’ve been known to turn a few wrenches…
im telling you, dont waste your money to put in stock 243 heads. the only staged heads i’d put in my car would be from a reputable company which costs a bit of money. you can have a cam-only car make good power while behaving to the corner store at the same time
Im telling you screw the heads utill you are on some type of baller ass budget. Do youself a favor and buy a T-rex you will be happy. Ill tell you my exact mods and mine goes 10.57 on the bottle 11.5 na.
ls6 intake
stock home ported throttle body
stock injectors
some fuel pump i got at inn-tune for 40 bux for a WRX lol
T-REX cam kit from thunder
Underdrive pully
4.10 gear
exhaust
Slicks
Toda/Nick W tune
FTMF budget win
‘area under the curve’
You know im really having a hard time on how to say this but i really think you guys are just plain silly. I mean seriousley the big cammed cars still make a shitton of tq hell i make over 400rwtq. Just when it come to up top they make alot more hp. But you guys know best right this is why so many people end up changing cam setups a ton of times. Thier are two type of people one wants the car to remain like stock ok get a small cam. Then their are peolpe who dont mind a little roughness and GO BIG or you are just stupid imo. But what do i know i like being faster then the rest anyhow. BTW MY CAMARO WITH SAID UNDRIVABLE CAM HAS BEEN MY DD FOR 3 YEARS GETS 16/23MPG DOSENT SEARCH FOR IDLE DOSENT BUCK NO ISSUES BUT I MUST JUST BE LUCKY.
Big cams FTW!!! I can’t wait til we swap out jeeves’ “area under the curve” cam for a “cookie cutter” cam that makes some serious power. People don’t realize that once the motor is above 2000 rpm it is just as smooth as a stock cam. What’s so bad about a nasty lopey idle?
Exactley my point i hate to sound like an asshole but iv seen it tons of times. Hell ive had 4 different ones in my car before i got it right. Honestley my T-rex with an outstanding tune drives no worse then when i had an LG G5X1. And area under the curve ive just never understood. Is this like for some 80mph pulls in 6th or something. My car makes enough of this said under the curve that i am forced to daily drive on drag radials or accept billows of some everytime i put the hammer down lol. BTW im not sying it is for everyone you guys are right on alot of it depends on his intent of the car but for years ive seen people afraid of big and i just cant figure it out.
Since you have a stick I’d go T-rex. Just make sure you get it tuned right. I’ve seen people with good parts and shit tune go slower than stock LS. Don’t do heads. If anything shave them .030 and port them. Save your money for a 6.0 and go with L92 heads, they are sweet. I have a set and the runners are like a big block head HUGE. GM makes an intake with injectors for $500 cheap. I’d go that route if you want to spend money. It’s nice making big power, but it sucks when you can’t put it down. Then you have to spend money on the suspension.
Can you mill that much with a trex with no PTV worries? I would think that’d be way too close without flycutting.
The only reason I would have people stay away from the TReX is…how high you should shift it to get maximum performance…with out a rod bolt upgrade…
I was always nervous revving it out to 7000…and I know you go higher :lol:
Obviously your car is the exception but still.
It’s not like he didn’t get the cam he asked for. Again as stated people’s minds change. Cougar said he changed it 4 times. Your car sounds good with the 847 in it. Jeeves car sounds good also and runs great. He’s been saying he wants bigger for awhile. Owner’s preference always plays the biggest role. I went with a mid grind because it was cheap for me and it works damned good for what i want it to do. I’m sure it’ll love the bottle too…