Two fbodies battling it out.

Shift518 Automotive
1

Met up with a few friends last night and I had a blast hanging out and getting in on a couple races.

My friend mentioned that he hasn’t done much racing and has never gotten the chance to line up with another fbody, so we were able to set it up.

His car is a 1999 Formula, 6-Speed, with LT headers, catted Y, catback, lid, UD pulley, and LS6 intake.

My other friend has a 2001 Camaro SS is also a 6-speed car and is stock except for cat deletes.

Both cars had a passenger.

First race was from 40 mph with both cars in 2nd gear. The Camaro missed 4th gear, but it was a good run until that point.

youtu.be/W0Zju12CEGk

Second race was from 20 mph, with both cars in 1st gear. Both cars had minor traction issues. Apologies for the shoddy camera work in the beginning. I realized at the last second that my window was up and we couldn’t hear the beeps, so I was putting the window down quick, rather than watching the camera.

youtu.be/Auw5kUxkg9Q

The Camaro is a strong car, but I think the Formula could get him with a little practice.

Fun races to ride along for and I’m sure there will be some rematches in the future!

2

those 01’s run hard :wink:

3

Is there something wrong with that Formula? Stock vs Stock my '99 Z28 vs my mothers '01 Formula (both had stock 2.73 gearing, both auto) was a dead even race. With all those bolt-ons the Formula should have been steadily pulling.

4

I do believe that driving had something to do with the outcome of these races. The guy with the Camaro kills it and the guy with the Formula almost never races.

Also, the 2001-2002 cars are just stronger in general. This Formula put down 335 rwhp with it’s mods. Alot of 01 and 02 cars put down 315-320 stock. My 2002 made 332 with the only mods being a lid and a catback. I don’t know how much power the cat deletes are worth, but I bet this SS is making good power.

Couple the close power that the cars are probably making with the differences in driver ability and you get what we saw here :slight_smile:

5

Formula has 2.79 or 3.23 gears as “performance ratio” unless its a WS6. SS has 3.42 gears. Its a small difference but its something.

6

I’m pretty sure that only automatic cars were available with 3.23’s or 2.73’s. All 6-speed cars came with 3.42’s.

7

“LS6” intake manifold and cam change were the only substantial differences. Casting #'s are different on the heads but the actual design is identical (just like 799 and 243 heads are the same). The 01+ LS1 uses the LQ4 cam which is actually SMALLER than the 98-00 cam.

*2.73, but that’s for automatics only. For M6 cars the base axle is 3.23 with 3.42 as the performance option.

8

Driving makes all the difference apparently… but maybe that catted Y is choking it.

9

fbodies are super dumpy!!!

one of those boyz needs to buy my t-rex cam… “hint” “hint”

10

CAM IT UP

11

The improvement in power on the 01/02 cars is probably due mostly to the LS6 intake.

I’ve never seen or heard of a 6-Speed LS1 with anything other than a 3.42. I could be wrong, but I don’t think there were any other options.

It’s possible. The high flow cats on my heads/cam Z28 lost me 8 rwhp vs off road pipes.

12

Intake is worth a lot of power honestly and the casting method was different on the heads (old were inconsistent in smoothness) so there is something there.

I hear conflicting reports on this, I don’t know for sure honestly. It might have only been the LT1’s that had the 3.23/T56 combo.

Fuck Cats (emissions devices and animals alike).

13

I think you’re right about the LT1 cars having different options, at least during some years. I read about a 1993 6-Speed that came with 2.73’s stock (can you even imagine that combo?). I’m always skeptical of oddities that I’ve only heard of once before, though.

I agree 100%. I throw them on to pass the visual emissions inspection and then they come right back off. I’m finally getting around to deleting all the A.I.R. tubes and the pump when I get it fixed up.