What mods should i do next?

[ElvisCordovi]

I have a 1995 camaro z28 with a summit racing cutout, bmr strut tower brace, vx series muffler, catless. I have plans for spraying the car in the future, any plans to really give the car a kick in the pants? I am on a budget. (Full time college student)

[zooguy]

get some longtube headers (used ones are fine as long as they arent rusted out)

if the car is an auto ... get a stall ~ 3000 rpms and if it has the 2.73 gears find a used 10 bolt that came out of a 6 speed car
it has the 3.42 gears <--big difference there

if the car is a 6 speed get some 4.10's and a good clutch. the clutch is one of the parts were you get what you pay for so dont skimp there. but the 6speed cars kill the 10bolts if you launch hard/ dump the clutch or bang gears hard. so start saving for a better rear upgrade (~$3000)

next is a good tune (lots of people here do GREAT mail order tunes check out the sponsors) pull a little timing and throw a 150 shot at it.

[ElvisCordovi]

Thanks, It is an a4 with 3.23 gears. I was planning on going with pacesetter longtubes and a 3600 stall. I'm not planning on doing any hard or nitrous launches any time soon because it is my daily. I was also planning on saving up for a big cam after the nitrous kit. I was wanting to spray a 100 shot to start off with. I also wanted to bore it out .30 over to a 355 (in the future)

[popo8]

First answer this question.

What is your budget for the next mod?

[ElvisCordovi]

I want to do mods little by little i don't have a specific budget but it's not enough for a heads cam intake swap/ new rear end/built tranny right now, i know that much lol.

[Injuneer]

Why would you "bore it out .30 over" (actually 0.030")? Unless there is evidence that the stock bore is damaged, there is no reason to overbore it. You aren't going to see any meaningful gains with 5.27 extra cubic inches (1.5% displacement increase).

Do the basics. I don't see a cold air intake in your list. Remove the coolant lines from the throttle body. Get a 3" mandrel-bent intermediate pipe so you don't have to run the cutout open on the street all the time (unless you really want to). No "kick in the pants", but eliminating the pinch points.

A "big cam" takes improved heads. I'd consider a having your heads ported by one of the LT1 head experts, with a matching cam. You can pick up more than 100HP that you are thinking about with a nitrous kit. Costs more (additional supporting upgrades required), but I went bolts ons + nitrous after buying my 94 new, and nowhere near as satisfying as making 450-500hP on a well-built heads & cam car.

Don't forget the as HP increases, you have to upgrade the suspension components to put the power to the pavement.

[ElvisCordovi]

I mean it was an option to bore it over and yes i meant 0.030 over. I wanted to go with trickflow LE heads and a 224/230 .573/.568 112 LSA cam. My cutout is electric so i can close it and open it with a push of a button. I honestly plan on just doing cai,longtubes,3.42 or 3.73 gears, 3600 stall. in that order for the time being, then either spray the car or do the heads cam intake.

[ElvisCordovi]

or a 232/240 .578/.574 110 LSA cam.

[shownomercy]

Do bolt ons, and save your money for beer/girls.

Wait till you can afford to do things right later, and you will be happier than making a basket case you can't rely 100% on.

[MoeHorsePower]

Do research, listen to what everyone is saying, people want cams, heads ect but don't think of everything else that can add up quickly, especially for a college student like yourself. when you start making horsepower, then you need to consider the fuel system, larger injectors, then a pump to support it, drive line, horsepower will start finding your weak points, like your A4. Suspension, if you cannot put the power to the ground, its useless..Do as said, go all bolt ons first..

[donfrye]

Do bolt ons, and save your money for beer/girls.

Wait till you can afford to do things right later, and you will be happier than making a basket case you can't rely 100% on.

That's a solid piece of advice.

The car's lasted 19 years, college (usually) only lasts 4.

That being said, and this could be off base, but isn't 3600 really high on that stock cam?

[Codyj]

Listen to all this advise. A car with power that doesn't hook is pointless. A convertor meant for a big cam without a big cam is pointless

[79LT1Monte]

I agree with the rest, start with bolt ons. In my opinion gears will give you the biggest kick in the pants for the buck. Put some 3:73's in it with a girdle cover and go practice, the best mod is the driver mod, get some seat time.

[TravisMcGill2000]

Like I was tellin ya at the track and these guys are telling you. Do just bolton for now. Headers, cai, full exhaust, susp, and stall. Those are good mods to start with. Your goin to want all those mods before you do heads and cam any way. If not your goin to be choking the motor down. Motors are basically a big are pump. The more air in and out the better.

[TravisMcGill2000]

Listen to all this advise. A car with power that doesn't hook is pointless. A convertor meant for a big cam without a big cam is pointless A bigger stall is 1 of the best mods you can do for a auto car. I ran a 3800 stall back when my car just had boltons. I loved it. I picked about 6ths in the 1/8 with it but like you said. You gota be able to put the power to the ground. Spinning aint winning

[Codyj]

A bigger stall is 1 of the best mods you can do for a auto car. I ran a 3800 stall back when my car just had boltons. I loved it. I picked about 6ths in the 1/8 with it but like you said. You gota be able to put the power to the ground. Spinning aint winning

Dang and that's pretty good man. Would he benefit from a stall say 3800 since that's what he wants if the car was stock? Like stated above gears will wake that car up a lota lot

[TravisMcGill2000]

Yes he would. As long as he can hook. You have to have a cam to run a stall. If I was him I would go with a 3600 and big tranny cooler.

[bustedassz28]

Fwiw, I'm in the same boat as you moneywise, and ive always started building my motor first. I did exactly what these guys are saying with my current car ie boltons and free mods, but with this build I'm starting at the rearend and working forward, reason being; I bought my other car ( a procharged c5 with n20 running 10lbs boost ) from my buddy who built h,p, and ignored the rest of the car. In all reality it should be an 11 sec car all day long ( poss 10s ), but the tires go up in smoke at speeds under 50 mph. Cool as hell if u wanna show off but like travis said spinnin aint winnin. I,m running a 373 and a 3600 stall and I agree with these guys that those two things are the best seat of the pants mods you can do and they are also things you wont have to change as you start doing heads cam etc. Look in the classifieds and you'll see a lot of low mileage parts because " they won't work with my current setup" or " going a different route with my build". If youre on a budget you don't wanna waste money n upgrades youll have to change next year....