donwil

I don't have any performance mods on my 05 other than a corsa sport and x pipe. Wanted to ask you guys if any wished they had left their vette alone or the mods they did just weren't worth the problems they may have caused. I had a T/A 02 WS6 and a guy on the LS1 forum had said after all his mods his car was fast as hell but apita to drive, Said he wished he had left it alone as it was a great car stock and he felt he had ruined a perfectly good car. I am getting the itch for more power but the car runs so damn good stock I hate to mess with it. What are your experiences and opinions. I do very little of my own work on the car. I am not a good mechanic. Thx

wayback

For some easy extra power with no downside get some...............

BLACK WHEELS

Best to do your homework before adding power.

I am lucky and have some of the best Corvette shops local. LG and Twenty First Century are local. I went with LG for headers and tune....no problems in 8 years.

ZR1Cat

That is a great question that should garner a wide variety of opinions. I feel like that guy you mention. I have modified a number of cars over the decades that I have been in this hobby and for the most part I regret most of the mods I have done. All mods were exciting at first but after a few years that faded. When it came time to sell the car is when my regret really struck home. That is one of the reasons I bought a then new ZR1. I got all the power I can possible use on the street and feel no need for cobbling together some expensive aftermarket components with the endless quest for more power. I can enjoy my vette and am not as worried as much about reliability or having a professional tuner/shop owner as my best friend and neighbor.

harley_dude34601

I like to mod for looks, only can go so fast on the streets, but looks is everything to me.

COMMANDER2OOO

all show an no go isnt good either. back in the day i had a camaro rs that i had all painted up with racing stripe, spoiler, wheels, cowl hood, exhaust, the works.
the car looked bad *** but the engine was completely stock. it was fast for a normal everyday car on the street, but as far as performance it was a joke. an it didnt take everyone around town long to figure that out. i than became the all show an no go joke about town.
now my vette is heavily modded inside an out. it looks like a bad ***, sound like a bad ***, an run like a bad ***. i have raced no one around town an dont even have to because everyone know this is not the car u wanna mess with an trust its a much better feeling.

J3TVETTE

Honestly, I choose all of my modifications carefully and always things that are easy to remove/go back to OEM if the new owner desires. Basic bolt on's is pretty much the extent of what I'm willing to do as far as performance. Don't get me wrong, a cam would be great but that is not that easy to reverse.

ErnieN85

choose very carefully, probably the only thing i would change back on my car is the T1 bars just because the Z06 bars ride better and T1 only work better with slicks (track) the T1's feelgood (really flat) but keep the street tires from really working right.

ZR1Cat

I hear you. Looks can very important or of paramount importance. Other mod dimensions include sound systems, custom paint, and the list goes on. As far as looks go, I not only wanted a ZR1 for performance. I selected the one that fired my passion, a Centennial Edition model. I love the looks and don't feel the need to change a thing. Yes, one and done for me.

H2O_Doc

I regretted modding and then trying to sell once. Dealers wanted the car back to stock and most non-dealer buyers didn't like how loud the car was.

The first corvette I modded made me a little nervous after talking to the dealership, who told me I had voided my warranty blah, blah, blah. Turns out consumer warranty protection laws were on my side and claims of warranty voiding made by dealerships are often grossly misinformed (but possibly worth consideration).

I'm moving to a C6 in the Spring and am struggling with the whole modding idea. If I get a GS, I'd probably mod, but part of me thinks I should just get Z06 and call it a day. I'm coming from a C5 so any C6 will be a significant change.

Yours is a good question for a variety of reasons

J3TVETTE

I think no matter what car you end up with, GS or Z06 you will still want to mod it.

H2O_Doc

I know that is true but I will continue lie to myself. I know this because although I have a C5, I spend hours pouring over the C6 section to figure what bolt ons make the most sense.

77vette05

I think it all depends on what power level you want to be at. When you get to 600 hp+ stuff can start breaking. That's when you will say "I wish I just left it alone". After putting all that money to get the power, now you gotta fix rear end/trans ect...... it sucks. That's what happened with me. Blew up the trans after 8000 miles. I said to my self "wish I left it alone" knowing it was going to run another $5000 to fix. That being said I still would keep my s/c because it is a blast to drive. The car drives completely bone stock until you hammer it.

JaimeVrod

I have a supercharged 05 with a Borla axle back muffler set up. My only regret is the McLeod RXT twin disc clutch. Its a good clutch, but is not as smooth on engagement for street driving as the stock clutch and it didn't make any difference in 1/4milecET. I have road raced once and the clutch held up great. Long tube mufflers and xpipe are going on tomorrow.

Bruze

I was going to make a similar point. To expand on that:

Auto manufacturers spend a lot of money to come up with balanced designs. All the driveline components are designed to match the engine; in general there are no weak spots. Add a cam, slicks, whatever -- now you will find a "weak link" somewhere and it will probably break prematurely.

Let's say the clutch blows. So you put in a heavier racing clutch. No weak link there anymore, however keep beating it and the next weakest thing will then break. Maybe just a U-joint. Or maybe something in the tranny or rear end.

Forget about the computer stuff today, but way back the vast majority of guys didn't do a good job at adding/altering anything electrical. The connections we made were never as good as factory connections. I eventually soldered everything I did and in recent years, when necessary, made harnesses with the assortment of stuff available at any auto parts store. This stuff didn't exist 40-50 years ago so wires were taped together, which never lasted. Eventually they flopped around, got burned, rubbed against something and shorted out, whatever.

Me and my buddies of yore learned all this the hard way when we were young. And we also learned that screwing with our vehicles made them much harder to sell.

That's why when I was in the hunt for a C6 last winter/spring I didn't even consider anything other than bone stock. And I got the one I wanted.

2vettes

No regrets at all. My signature lists many of the mods.

sick cc

nope, I love to mod! its what makes your car "you". I still like to be reliable about everything since my vette gets driven a lot, but there's some things I shy away from if I see it being a future problem.

Vet Interested

The only thing I did and it was dumb besides, was replacing a perfectly good stock and almost new factory air filter with a K&N.

1rusty1

I am the same way. I MOD for looks first because I want something
visually different. People say that these kind of mods can cause issues with re-sale but mine usually sell right away. I have done a few HP mods on my motorcycles and will eventually get to that on the vette but I don't use the HP I have now and don't track so doubt I will get too carried away.

I have no problem with the people who mod for HP either. I say do what you have a passion for.

Wayne O

I wouldn't consider an aftermarket exhaust a "performance" mod per se but no matter....whether you leave your car stock, make appearance and/or performance mods it's all good depending on your desires and how you use your car. There's no rule that says performance mods cause problems. IMO modifications 'done right' make a great car even better and shops like Lingenfelter, Callaway, Katech and even LG Motorsports have well deserved reputations for quality and performance. Although I've seen professionally modified Corvettes sell for far more than the same car in stock trim would sell for, you never recoup your modification costs. That's OK....I've never purchased any car with a thought about resale value....I buy and/or modify a car solely for my use and enjoyment.

I'm an avid road racer and my C6 evolved into a dedicated track car (if you get serious about road racing you have to modify your car to be even remotely competitive). I bought my 2005 C6 new and about a year later I had 21st Century Muscle Cars (in Dallas) install a fully built Lingenfelter 403 motor. I've done many other mods over-the-years since then and I'm not done yet. I beat the proverbial snot out of my car on the track weekend after weekend, all year long and in over 8 years that fully built, naturally aspirated Lingenfelter engine hasn't so much as hiccupped. In fact, it puts down more horsepower and torque today than it did when it was brand new. I don't expect anything mechanical to last forever (especially how I use my car). If my engine blew-up tomorrow all I could say it was a great engine it was and then I'd buy another LPE engine. Just FYI Lingenfelter provides a great warranty on their performance applications (for street use...not for racing use). IMO if you want to performance modify your car 'do it right.' It may cost more but you'll end up with a far better car.

I have no regrets whatsoever that I performance modified my C6. I enjoyed driving my stock C6 tremendously. I enjoy driving my modified C6 about a thousand times more...it's a blast!

23/C8Z

i think nobody should regret exhaust and intake mods as they're easily returned to stock and have negligible effect on resale. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time any engine mods shouldn't be dwelled upon either. if the wrong shop or you screw up the mods...well then i could understand.. or you make a choice to totally mod the engine then can't deal with minor glitches in big cam characteristics, etc... then that's just poor planning or not doing diligence by asking the right questions..

the forum is a great place to ask these questions.. eg. "do you regret changing cams?"
"do you regret going S/C?, Stroker, Turbo, stall, etc etc"

Stock is boring. stock ZR1? not so much lol... i think street wise, on better than average tires, once you get to 600HP you are pushing the limits on "ludicrous" speed. There's not a lot of fun in spinning through all of third gear and 1st and 2nd being completely useless other than bragging rights.

Hell the stock LS3 auto (at least in my car) can't go WOT until i'm moving at about 35mph or it just starts roasting the tires and i only have LT's and a tune!