My good friend just picked up an 03' prestine Z06 with only 4000 miles on it!
He wants to jump right into modding the car. What are the must have, and suggested upgrades for power and the occasional track day?

BTW - He paid 30K otd which I think is a STEAL! The car was owned by a collector and still has the plastic on the carpet and stereo. lol (Red/Black btw)

 

LG Longtube headers, AFR 205cc Heads, LG Cams, Borla Stingers.

or

APS TwinTurbo Kit

 

I would not waste a penny on bolt on crap other then a supercharger. He can spend $4k on all the bolt on stuff for a whoopping 450 rwhp max, or spend $5k on a procharger and make as much power as the long block will handle( 550 rwhp) with the option to turn it up if he ever upgrades the shortblock.

 

I had an 03 Z as well - great car! For the track, I would suggest another set of wheels and tires with slicks as well as track pads. He could also lower the car on the factory bolts if he isn't concerned about scraping on the street. Change all the fluids and add an extra quart of oil and he should be good to go.

If he wants more power - headers, an intake, and a tune wakes the car up quite a bit.

 

Tell him to go with long tube headers and some high flow cats. If he's not worried about emission controls, go catless, although it will be pretty loud. If money is not his concern, buy a brand new set of LG Motorsports Pro long tubes with their X-pipe. He can get it with an "off-road" section that bolts in and deletes the cats. They will sell it to him with Random Tech high flow cats already installed as well.

He can go with whatever catback system he wants, or just stay stock. There's not a ton of power to be made there unless he goes with a custom 3" catback...which I will be trying shortly...I'll let him know how that goes!

He needs to get a cold air intake as well. They're all pretty much the same, although some look a lot better than others. Vararam claims to make the most HP, but it's pretty plain jane. He can look at Halltech, Lingenfelter and Callaway too. Their stuff looks nicer.

Once he gets the cold and full exhaust system in, get it dyno tuned to realize the maximum power gains across the rev range and to make sure that his air/fuel mixture is safe. The mods can make you run a bit lean.

He should be somewhere around 355 to 365 rwhp as it sits stock. With those mods and a tune, he'll be up around 385 to 395 rwhp. The car will sound like it should and he'll notice the extra power everywhere. The car will run cooler as a benefit as well.

After that, if he needs more, throw in a cam. Most good shops have done a ton of cam swaps and will be able to set him up with something that really suits his needs. You are talking anywhere from 410 rwhp on up to 450 rwhp with only the cam swap and the requisite dyno tune.

Wheels and tires are his choice. The stockers will perform better than any aftermarket larger diameter rims. There's a trade-off for looks. The suspension and brakes will suit him fine as long as he's only doing a couple track days per year. More serious track use will probably warrant aftermarket upgrades to both. I'm sure he knows that he can lower the car around 1.5" within the factory settings and hardware. That mod will lower his center of gravity, sharpen the cornering, make the ride a tiny bit bouncy and will REALLY make the car look a LOT better.

Hope this helps.
Christian

 

LG headers, Vararam intake, lower an inch all around, better brakes pads/fluid , and a set of racing wheels/tires.

He can worry about the other stuff onces he realizes the potential of this setup. Stuff starts to get expensive and oftentimes less bulletproof after these initial mods.

 

screw putting a blower on it, NA is the way to go IMO


just have him do a mild head and cam package and he should be more then happy

 

LG Long Tubes + cam/heads package. Have him check out LPE for their heads & cam package. Can't go wrong there. I had LG Long Tubes on my old Z06 with no cats and stock Ti mufflers. It was not as loud as some will say. However, when you stomp the loud pedal you will get attention. If he is going the bolt on route I would suggest getting it tuned as well. As far as emission checks, most just plug into the ODBII port and with a good tune the car will not throw any codes, eg. passed inspection. How ever if they mic the tail pipes, you will fail the check. I see that you are in FL. Antivenom in Orlando is a great place to start when it comes to mods. Just my .02. Shoot me a PM if you want more information.

 

Send it to Lingenfelter for a 427 twin turbo upgrade.

 

agreed

 

FI is the best bang for buck if you actually want power...period! Been there done that. Heads, cam, and headers only got me 430 rwhp through an auto, FI on the same engine bumped that to over 800 rwhp.
Plus the Procharger is a super simple direct bolt on that can be removed just as easily and will make way more power then the heads cam deal could ever dream of.

Number one question for your question...How much power does he want, does he want to be a new ZO6?, and how much $$$ does he have for it??

 

and then it went boom

a 450-470rwhp NA car will run all day with a 550rwhp procharged car (about the conservative limit on a stock motor) and be more realiable

 

I have never even opened a valve cover, zero maintanance.

A procharger is far more reliable. Stock valve springs, cam, etc. Pretty much every person there is that wants real power always ends up with F.I. they realize after they have spent billions on other bolt ons that they should have done it in the first place.

How in the heck would a 450 rwhp car run with a 550 rwhp car?? Anyone have a 500 rwhp car they want to run against my car at 600 rwhp?? If both cars are setup for the power they have, it will always beat a car with less power.

 

Its called power under the curve. Most of the 346 s/c cars (non Magnuson) have horrible peaky curves. Lets not even mention heat soak and belt slippage that absolutely kill many s/c cars. If your car makes 600rwhp cool, how much does it make after 15 mins of high revs?

How many 550-600rwhp procharged cars are running 10s? How many heads/cam or big CID motor cars are running 10s? its not even close. Too bad you are in Wisconsin. Id run circles around a 600rwhp procharged car in my 550rwhp NA C5 on a 1/4 mile strip or a road race.

If you want to build your motor and go for huge hp numbers, the supercharger obviously has more potential. For a reliable and road race worthy car, NA is the way to.

 

A procharged has the identical power under the curve. It takes what the motor already has and just adds to it. Plus you get noticeably better mileage. When I tune car with prochargers I end up adding fuel and removing timing as rpms go up where it starts making boost based on rpm. below that the motor is basically on the stock tune.

Prochargers have the belt slip issues only with the non-cogged pullies over about 11-12 psi.

I am only preaching so hard because I have had so many NA motors, nitrous motors, and now my FI motor is twice as reliable and make twice the power. I could not be happier.

Like I mentions earlier, we need to know his goals and budget. If he want to spank on new vettes, he would have no choice, heck maybe a turbo is in the budget!! Then were talkin!