IMXCITD

DDDDDDDaaaaryl.....the only investment is in FUN! You really need to take a ride in an F/I car....and it will rock your narrow minded world. You only live once. No need to have a lifetime loner.....my TT car is 600 to the tires on the stock bottom end.....for years now! The only thing i need to worry about is....when my next drive will be!

TheRadioFlyer

but it looks so sexy!

Phillip50

If you go with the blower, just make sure you get a professional install. My ECS installed Procharger has been on the car over seven years now. . . . and over 40,000 miles of smiles. The best mod and money I've spent on the car. And, I agree with an earlier statement, it is money spent for fun-- not an investment.

megawatt1203

When I had my Vortech S/C installed, 500HP was the magic number for a stock A4 transmission. That's where I am at, 3 years supercharged and 17,000 miles on a stock A4 (70,000 total on car)), all with a big smile on my face.

01vetter

Not true! They are not that hard to install if you have some mechanical ability. I installed mine and have had mechanics complement me on the quality of the install. I did it myself for the experience and to make sure it was done right. An added benefit is I saved over $1k!

Phillip50

I guess if you have that kind of mechanical skill for the install and tune-- then you did a professional quality job. Congrats


But for the average Joe the best way to help ensure reliability is to have an experienced FI shop to do the work.

LoneStarLizzard

I fully agree with Clown's assessment...don't do it unless you are committed to keep the car a long time.

And for those who say a centrifugal supercharger doesn't make good torque (i.e. add meaningfully to your car's acceleration) at low rpms, I advise changing out the gear ratio from your A4's stock 2:73's to a 3:42 or something even shorter. That change alone will give you great "from the start" acceleration, well before the positive effects of forced induction kick in.

I didn't swap out my transmission for something stronger, mainly because I don't push the car hard. But I did have my wrench tune the stock A4 unit to gain crisper shifts (thereby getting rid of the slushy feel), and I am very happy with that result. That's something you should consider doing in any event.

Clown's $20K payment for all of his mods isn't at all out of line, particularly if you are buying new parts (rather than used parts) and are paying someone else to do the installs. While I haven't yet tackled interior/stereo upgrades, I have added LT headers, a cam, AFR 210 heads, 3:42 gears, a 2800 stall converter, an A&A Vortech unit and a transmission cooler. The aggregate cost of all that stuff (all professionally installed and dyno-tuned) was in the $20K range. I did mine in three stages - LT headers (and Z06 exhaust) first, next heads and cam, and finally the blower, stall converter and gear swap - over a two-year period. Each stage's completed results provided noticeable performance gains (after dyno tuning), and helped me decide whether to keep going.

Finally, when and as you improve your car's power you will also want to address its handling. At some point you will want to upgrade your suspenison from its C5 stock capabilities to something stouter - in my case to C6 Z51 sway bars and C6 Z06 shocks. The cost of these upgrades is very modest (compared to the powertrain costs) but the imporvement in your car's handling is very noticeable. I mean - why dramatically increase your car's power if your suspension won't handle it?

Brakes? The concensus on this Forum is your stock brakes are fine and don't need upgrading unless you plan to thrash the car. I don't, so I didn't.

Now...once all of the above is done, you can then do like Clown (and many others on this Forum) and take your engine's performance to an even higher level, which of course will compel you to address, all over again, your transmission, suspension, brakes and other components.

As Texas country singer/songwriter Robert Earl Kean has so elequently stated, "..the road goes on forever, and the party never ends."

Have fun.

The Lizzard

DevilDog II

Don't do it!

M_T_0

It all boils down to hot detailed you are, if you are the type that spends 2 hours polishing each wheel you will most likely do a better job than most shops. just do your home work.

01vetter

What kind of wise a$$ comment is that? I am no more overly detailed than anyone else who does their own mods and takes pride in the results. Go over to the FI section and see how many have installed their own blower. Go over to the tech section to see how many do their own heads/cam install, which is a lot more complicated than a blower install. They aren't that difficult to install. And there is plenty of help here if you run into problems.

oh1vette

for me it's time management. I'm lucky to have a shop that's fair priced enough and is renowned for their work....that it makes sense for me for them to do the work even though I may be capable...

esemes

my choice of location, for sure...

DDaaryl

Actually I was recently in a supercharged vert. A few weeks later I was able to learn a bit about the procedure to remove the transmission and wonder if it would still be shifting properly without that mod. Ain't knocking the fun but fun cost money. If money is no object I'd consider something other than a C5. $20k in mods on a $20k

Villain C5

Supercharger! Rediculous power, good mileage, no overheating, easy install!

want the best bang for your buck:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-p...cket-d1sc.html

DOUG @ ECS

We love seeing posts like these!! (it makes me all warm and fuzzy...)

LoneStarLizzard

As they say, there's a bun for every weenie.

The Lizzard

ChargedGN

I'm sure money is important to all of us, when you find a car that puts out 900+ HP reliably and looks and drives like his car for $40k let us know
Mine is at 600hp for < $30k

JaxEagle

Word!

flaagan

If everything else is in good working order on your car, and has been well maintained, do it. I will also agree with some comments about "doing it only if you intend to hold onto the car". If you're likely to sell the car in the next, oh, 3-5 years, it's probably not worth the investment, both financially and for the long term enjoyment of it.



I had 90k miles on mine at the point of this install, it's ~3 yr / 30k miles later now and I've had zero complaints or issues. My tune is a 'safe' one and the horsepower / torque is right on the cusp of what's considered 'safe' for the rest of the drivetrain.

The car's my daily driver and the increase in speed and acceleration is a hoot to say the least; freeway on-ramps have become a whole new level of fun for me.

M_T_0

calm down i was agreeing with you