Looking at sending my 92 off to a tuner the end of summer. For around $20k, what can I get done and need some opinions on which to send it to. I've heard a lot of good things about LPE and DRM. I know there are others out there too. The car is getting repainted next week, so I want to wait until Sept or so before getting the engine work done. All opinions welcome, as I'm sure there will be many and varied. Can spend a little more if needed, but don't want to get too crazy on cost.
Looking at sending my 92 off to a tuner the end of summer. For around $20k, what can I get done and need some opinions on which to send it to. I've heard a lot of good things about LPE and DRM. I know there are others out there too. The car is getting repainted next week, so I want to wait until Sept or so before getting the engine work done. All opinions welcome, as I'm sure there will be many and varied. Can spend a little more if needed, but don't want to get too crazy on cost.
What are your goals with the car? There are a lot of ways to spend $20K, but you need to set some parameters around how you want to use the car. Do you want to drag race, auto-x, road race, street drive? How much power do you think you want? Do you want it to be NA, N20, Turbo etc...
Please provide some more input, and there are many people on the site that can help.
Ron
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1989 Corvette Coupe (Red/Red A4)
MODS: MORE Performance 396cid L98, AFR heads, LPE SuperRam, FAST Engine Management, TPIS Headers, Power Effects exhaust, DeWitts C4 Radiator, MP built 700R4 with Vigilante 2800 stall convertor, Custom Simmons 3 piece wheels, 18x10F & 18x11R, Sound by Infinity and Alpine. 410RWHP, 430RWTQ on a Mustang Dyno.
sorry, more details. I'm looking to street drive the majority of the time, on weekends when the weather is nice. Doesn't matter if it is NA or Turbo or supercharged. Might hit the drags once in a while. Had the car on the dynojet dyno last week, 364hp 345ft-lbs. It has a chip in it, not sure who burned it, and a B&B exhaust. Might have the intake ported, but don't think the heads were done. I bought the car last Nov, and am just trying to make a special, fast car even more so. Would love to get it to 500hp. Love the Z so far.
I know he has a wait right now but you might want to check with Corey Henderson also. He's been doing some minor tuning to my car and has been outstanding to work with.
Location: It's a Chevy... you can fix it with a hammer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmascharka
sorry, more details. I'm looking to street drive the majority of the time, on weekends when the weather is nice. Doesn't matter if it is NA or Turbo or supercharged. Might hit the drags once in a while. Had the car on the dynojet dyno last week, 364hp 345ft-lbs. It has a chip in it, not sure who burned it, and a B&B exhaust. Might have the intake ported, but don't think the heads were done. I bought the car last Nov, and am just trying to make a special, fast car even more so. Would love to get it to 500hp. Love the Z so far.
I already have what your looking for in my Z and It's enough for me...as far as what I've done with it, I've drag raced it once, I have done 1 standing mile event, I have done two open road races and the car outperformed me at all the events.
I don't know what kind of power levels you are used to, but IMO for what the car is, a naturally aspirated LT5 is the way to go. You can't put a blower on this car, no one has done it yet...there are a handful of turbo cars out there, (less than 15), and you would blow your wad on that mod.
If I were you, and I think I am by what you've written...save your money and do sensible mods like headers, gears if you want them, exhaust for sure and maybe some top end porting and tuning...it's hard/impossible to get 500 RWH with a 350 and no power adder, so if you want that, it's going to mean adding displacement and popping your motor's cherry...
I've never driven one with that much more power, but I can't get mine to hook up and it make's 410 at the wheel. Plain Jane 350 with cams headers and a little top end porting. Any more and trying to put it to the ground is even going to be more difficult. I can also tell you that at one of my open road races, I got smoked by 20 mph by a stock 350 ZR1 and even a girl driving an LT1 and an automatic drove the car 15mph faster than I did on average...part of this power game that I have learned this year is that sure you can build something with a lot of power, but does it make sense if you don't have the balls to use it?
OR, you never will use it? At the standing mile event in Goliad texas, there were 4 of us there, Bob Hall, Sanjay, W i l l, and myself, I was the only one with a stock displacement ZR1. Sanjay and W i l l had their 415's out and Bob had his 368 or 385, I can't remember which.
Bob went 181 mph
W i l l went 182
Sanjay did 184
I did 170 Now, I have 4:10 gears and was bumping the rev limiter in 5th going through the traps. Bob told me he had 3:73's Remember, this is a standing mile event.
It's like someone said above, to get the most for your money, mod according to what your going to do with the car.
With drag racing, I'm in the 12's on street tires and, obviously, I can't drive. I don't know what these other guys do at the drags, but I would guess they are easily in the 11's if they can or can't drive, I don't know. I know I would be there with some sticky's.
That's my .03$
Good luck with it, and P.S. you are supposed to do the motor before you paint :/
Rick =)
Last edited by threestar40; 03-13-2008 at 05:09 PM.
Reason: I wasn't finished
ok ,its wish time my .02if you have a fairly low mileage motor under 70ki would do a full porting heads inj, and plenum new injectors if you havent done them allready, headers , fidanza flywheel ceramic disc clutch . 373 gears , goo d exhaust , some nice wheels , refurbish the interior. youd have some ledt over to boot . i have a fully ported stk blk car . it makes about 450 rwhp and is a blast to drive . runs in the 11s at the strip still gets 24mpg and i can get in it a drive 3k miles without any worries .my car has 150k on it and is still solid as a rock.. pricing it out 8-10 k for the porting and timming of the cams 1k fly wheel and clutch 1500 rear gears 2500 exhaust inc headers wheels and tires 4-6 k anterior 2.k . and your at 20 or a tad more . but with the new paint you got a car thats to die for .
By adding that 92 to some of that cash, an excellent ZR-1 could be had as a terrific platform with some left over for further mods...AND have a super car with nice street manners and take no prisoners attitude!
Gawd, I love the ZR-1!!
The "Z"...It's like having your cake and eating it too!!!
Location: It's a Chevy... you can fix it with a hammer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by terryszr1
ok ,its wish time my .02if you have a fairly low mileage motor under 70ki would do a full porting heads inj, and plenum new injectors if you havent done them allready, headers , fidanza flywheel ceramic disc clutch . 373 gears , goo d exhaust , some nice wheels , refurbish the interior. youd have some ledt over to boot . i have a fully ported stk blk car . it makes about 450 rwhp and is a blast to drive . runs in the 11s at the strip still gets 24mpg and i can get in it a drive 3k miles without any worries .my car has 150k on it and is still solid as a rock.. pricing it out 8-10 k for the porting and timming of the cams 1k fly wheel and clutch 1500 rear gears 2500 exhaust inc headers wheels and tires 4-6 k anterior 2.k . and your at 20 or a tad more . but with the new paint you got a car thats to die for .
I know I should do the engine before the paint, but I don't want to start the engine for a while. I've got 37k miles on it right now so the engine can be on the back burner for 6 months or so. I may be heading back to the desert and figure that's a good time to drop it off somewhere. In the meantime, one of the previous owners painted pinstripes on the car, then had the hood repainted later. Guess it wasn't such a good paintshop because they put tape on over the painted pinstripes. I was pulling it off and the hood was no problem. From the doors back, when I pulled up the tape, the painted stripes that were mostly faded and looked like crap was still there. So, I really don't want to drive it looking like this. That's why the paint is going on first. At least then, I won't be embarassed to drive it, the paint will all match and be looking good. My avatar is my car, you can see the color difference between the hood and doors.
The interior is still in great shape, I sent the bose enclosures out to get replacement amps and speakers and the stereo went out for refurb. I have a B&B exhaust that I had put in last month.
I don't think I'll race too much, but once in a while I might speed down the highway. And it's nice to pull out the dyno sheet when someone asks what the car can do. Besides, when I romp on it, I like to have some power behind the pedal. Right now, it's ok, until it gets to 3rd...then it really moves.
Yes, it makes lots of power now, but if a z06 rolls up, will I be able to stay ahead or even with him? It would be nice to show that the 09 ZR1 coming out is the only thing faster than my 92 ZR-1.
I do appreciate all the ideas, and I do have time to figure it all out. This is my first Vette, and I'm loving it!
if you havent taken it to the paint shop yet .hold on send me pics of the stripping a few closeups would help . one might be able to color sand the rest of the stipping off. then buff and you would be good to gho . I have done this for more than one person that thought they were sunk due to faded stipe residue . make sure the paint shop you take it to has a very solid backround in fibergalss cars . they take very special primers and sanding techs plus paint additive (flex agents ) or your paint will crack like crazy . just want to save you from being dissapointed and out cash . get o the forums and ask who does good work one or 2 names will keep comming up . thats where you go . they maybe a little more expensive ,but it will get done right the first time . verses having to get it done againand in the end costing more .i was a vic of this years ago .and if i can save one guy from bad paint then i have done my job. the key is take your time do your research word of mouth is the best indicator of workmanship. if you do it slowly and really ck them out you will spend yopur money only once and be a very happy camper . hope this helps .
Corvette Store
~$20k to spend on upgrade
