apollo240

Posted this on z06vette but havent heard anything. Maybe ill have better luck here.


Looking to start modding my 02 Z soon. As of now its 100% stock, except for the skip shift eliminator. I think i have a general idea of what i want to do to it, but am not sure of some things. Ive heard mixed reviews on some things so Im hoping to hear from people who have tried them. Im not looking for a ton of power. I seriously doubt ill ever get into the engine. No cam, no heads. Its a dd, gets great gas mileage, drives great. My goal would be to have. 405/400 at the wheels, but if i come up short of that no big deal.

Vararam(latest model). I heard a rumor that the intake ducts block airflow to the engine counteracting the benefit of it being a cold air. Supposedly the increased temps cause the ecu to pull timing. Maybe im missing something but i dont see how the air gets through those openings and around everything into the engine bay. The base vettes have housings there for the foglights so again, not sure if this is a true issue. Fitment issues, does it relocate the maf? I would be using the power duct with it. Tuning difficulty?

Ported tb.

Ported intake manifold. Heard some people say you cant or dont gain anything from porting a ls6 manifold. Others say theres a few.

Texas speed headers and o/r x. I like the price. My only concern is that it only comes in 3". How is that going to work with a 2.5" catback? People say it works but havent told me if theres anything special needed. Reducers?

Borla stingers. I know people say they dont add power, but i love the way they sound. 700 for the twin tips, thats expensive but i really like the sound. I like it enough that it may be my first mod. Again, this is a 2.5", how is that going to work with the 3" mid on the headers?

Tuner/chip: I WILL have the car dyno tuned, not using the canned tune it comes with. I come from the mustang world where you use a handheld to upload the tune in to the car. Also used to turn rear o2 sensors off for o/r mids. I assume the same thing for vettes. Noone has ever given me an answer regarding this. If so i was thinking sct.


Im pretty new to Florida. I live in Orlando, dont mind a little drive. I need to find a shop to tune the car. I read that the vararam does show its true power on a dyno. So im assuming a good tuner can account for this and make it work. My tuner for my mach 1 dyno tuned then took the car for a drive or vice versa. Data logged the drive to be sure it was good to go.

The only tuner Ive seen so far in my searching is Antivenom. Are there any others? I understand some shops offer packages for buying multiple products or include tuning specials, etc. i just want to explore all my options.

Im sure this stuff has been discussed before however my searching shows so many old threads. Things have changed since 05. Seeing a thread thats 9 years old may not be as accurate. Ex: i read that vararam has changed the design. Just want to be sure i do all my research, cover all my bases, and dont forget anything.

Z06ness03

Well, everything you said is pretty much on the money but the question is how much money do you want to spend? Personally if 400hp is your goal i would just go with a CAI, Headers back up to the stock Ti's, and maybe a ATI super dampener. You wont hit 400 but you will be close enough to it. Porting the manifolds, TB and that kinda stuff is going to cost a bit to get that last 10hp. Its worth it if you can do this yourself but in my opinion it's not if you have to pay someone. I like my hurricane intake btw. It draws moving air in from under the car via before the radiator and is designed to not suck water in. I got 10 whp from it on a dynojet from it with the car sitting in a 90+ degree shop with 70% humidity.

bikeriderga

You can hit 400 plus pretty easy. Mild cam, headers, 160 degree stat, CAI, adn tune will put you over 400 RWHP.

You can get to 390 with just CAI, 160 degree stat, long tubes, and tune or right at it.

momo20

please don't waste your money on a chip they don't work, I have a vararam on my 03 z and the rumors of it blocking air flow are well just a rumor, I run at 183 to 185 on the hwy, and maybe get to 200 sitting at a light, I am tuned of course which makes a big difference

rjwz28

Answers in red

405rwhp bolt-on only is a bit steep and will entirely depend on the dyno and conditions

I don't know anything about the Vararam, but I'm quite happy with my Halltech

That's a proven mod if you're looking for the small gains, but it may be worth investigating a swap for cost:benefit ratio

Ported intake manifold. Heard some people say you cant or dont gain anything from porting a ls6 manifold. Others say theres a few.

Again, solid mod for the small, proven gains, but check for cost vs benefit

I'm not sure about TSP, but most X-pipes bolt to the factory axleback

See above for the compatibility question. As to the power gains: you will add weight and noise, but not much power, if any. I recommend intake. headers, and X into the factory Ti first; mine sounds great that way

All GM OBDII vehicles have flashable PCMs and nearly all are supported by VCM editors like HPTuners and EFILive. Any competent GM tuner will have this software; don't waste your money buying a handheld tuner.


I haven't heard anything bad about Antivenom, but I recommend you Google and call around to find somebody YOU are comfortable with

Most things people ask here have been covered a lot... oh well

Most things haven't changed much at all

Good luck! Using Google to search the Corvette Forum works better than the search function

apollo240

Spending limit, ehhh since id be buying stuff spread out it different. With that list the most id spend at once is 700ish. Couple months later maybe another 700 on something else. That ati damper, i guess thats similar to an underdrive pulley?

390 is fine with me. A cam would be cool one day maybe, but i dont want to sacrifice drivability or gas mileage. My buddy could probably go through the swap with me which would save serious money, but it seems like a big job. If i did that, id probably want the heads ported too. Which is too much down time. I hope my car never has to sit that long. Does the 160 stat really add power?


I was thinking about ordering the vararam in the next few days, or picking one up from a local shop if they have in stock die same price. Would i be ok running without a tune? Same if i did a 160 stat?

momo20

you can run the vararam with out a tune no issues there..only one you might see is the lean left and right banks but that is just due to the car seeing the extra air flow, that is where the honey comb air insert comes in handy and I think its from halltech or katech cant recall where I got mine atm...and the 160 I think you would have to tune for and to me a 160 stat is really not worth the min. gains you get

apollo240

Lean code is not good. My 98 didnt do that with the k&n intake.

bobby777

Vararam--What kind of $--t did you hear--it draws the outside temp into the motor-period! Best CAI on the market-Burns my A$$ when kids talk crap about nothing they know-Look at the system--where is the air coming from that goes into the motor??

warren s

Your looking for about another 45 hp at the rear wheels.

A set of long tube headers with a cat back system may add close to 25hp, a ported throttle body with a Vararam may add between 5 and 10 more hp. A 25% under drive pulley may add 3 to 5hp

A word about the Vararam, its not made for showing hp numbers on the dyno. The rush of air going into the front fog light openings when a car is moving between 40 and 100 plus miles per hour is difficult at best to simulate with a big fan just blowing air into the front of the car on the dyno. IF you jack up your car and look underneath the front end, you can clearly see how the Vararam doesn’t block any air flow., nor does the openings it covers cool the engine. The Vararam may reduce your ET in the quarter by between 2 to 3 tenths. That’s a big deal to drag racers.

The 160 thermostat is controversial, and unless you also control the electric fans it wont do much.

I would recommend a set of XSPower headers with catted X pipe and any cat back system, a PowerBond under drive pulley (The stock ones come apart with age anyway) a ported TB and a 180 degree T-stat and a Vararam. The car will really benefit from a tune(done by a competent tech) and the cooling fans could be programmed to come on at 180 to take advantage of the T-stat. (The 160 has it place, but not here)

It may gain 35 to 40hp, but instead of being concerned about the numbers I would be more satisfied with the extra pep. These parts would compliment a cam and heads if you wanted to go that route later.

apollo240

Yeah the numbers arent a major deal. I know the difference similar mods made on my Mach 1 so i imagine the z would do even better. I did start thinking about a cam today. With you alls help i think i have a good idea of what to ask about when i start calling shops. That will help me decide when and how ill work the mods vs tuning. I guess headers last bc my understanding they will really make the car need a tune. Especially with an o/r x. Itll throw codes without cats right?

I am hoping to get the vararam very soon. Pending money tomorrow, maybe this week.

Also researching how to port the tb and manifold myself. Id be doing it by hand most likely. I think my neighbors got some power tools but i dont want to get too crazy. Itll take forever, but to save the money and gain exp, i think itll be worth it. Long as i dont screw it up lol

warren s

When installed headers, an LS6 manifold, Vararam and ported TB the only code I got was for the AIR system - as I removed it completely.

It ran noticeably stronger but when I got a "street tune" - not a dyno tune it really woke it up, not just wide open but throttle response and smoothness.

apollo240

I guess ill start ordering parts soon, if i get a lean code, take them ofd until i can get it tuned. Antivenom sells the ported tb's for 175. Exchange my old one for the new one and thats that. I didnt ask him about ported manifolds.

fastrob691

As far as mileage, i've got a moderate cam(228/232) driveability isnt bad at all, and i've gotten 27.4 mpg On fuelly, not the tripmeter, 2 times now. At an 80mph cruise with a breezy day at that. If i did 75 mph 28 or more wouldnt be out of the question.

A proper tune should keep your mileage and driveability with a decent sized cam.

Sirk17

Im in Orlando too If you want to check out my car I'm more than happy to take you for a ride to give you an idea of what those mods will get you. There is some stuff I can tackle to if you're not mechanically inclined Id be happy to do if for a small fee and some beers!! I can also do any and all stereo stuff if your going to go down that road.

Edit: You don't "need" a tune after the long tubes but you will throw O2 codes. The tune picks up extra HP and and take full advantage of the long tubes I think Next Level may due a street tune for like $250

Also Antivenom is an easy mod to the tranny where the shifter linkage hooks up blah blah blah.. I didn't do it some like it some love it. make the shifter "easier to move" but feels sloppy. Again if you come out you can feel my Hurst Shifter and see what you think.
Also leave your factory Ti cat back exhaust. You will love it once you get headers. If you want it louder get a set of electric cut outs

Here's the order I went:

Shifter
Vararam with power duct
Kooks longs tubes into O/R Xpipe.
I had a friend street tune with HP Tuners
car went 12.3 (crappy) at 120mph(awesome)

Cam is next then Im prob done

apollo240

Pm inbound



I wanna switch to the Borlas because ive always loved the sound. But i hear a rattle from the ti's. My buddy heard it at work the other day. Sounded like a can rattling with rocks in it. That was the icing on the cake. I try to keep the car as quiet as possible for now lol.

jpandes

Long-tubes will make your car much louder even with the STock Ti's

jpandes

Check out my old thread with my list of staged mods, dyno numbers and cost:http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-z...rwhp-gain.html

I hope this helps.

C5Dobie

vararam is legit, has been proven so many times, not just on the vette but their systems are at the top of the class on other applications as well

JeremyGSU

I have an '04 Z and am also located in Florida.

I have a Vararam intake, ported throttle body by Jeremy Formato, 160 degree thermostat, Kooks 1 7/8 headers and no cats with the stock TI exhaust with the exhaust by-pass mod.

My car made 392whp / 377 tq. It feels much better than stock.

I had the car tuned by FasterProms by Jeremy Formato in Tampa. He is a well known Corvette tuner and a member/sponsor on the forums.

I would not use a hand held tuner if you are looking for maximum power and have your car dyno tuned or just street tuned. They will improve the efficiency across the board as well as the throttle response.

Many other members have used Jeremy and I've never heard anything negative about him.

Hope this helps.