ZL1 or 454?

[James4086]

Ok, I'm in a bit of a predicament. I have a 2010 Camaro with a LSX 454, CAI, headers, exhaust, sway bars, tow links, trailing arms, strut tower brace, sub-frame connectors, carbon fiber hood and probably a few other things I'm forgetting on it... like custom tail lights and oracle halo's on the head and fog lamps. In other words, a completely customized Camaro.

However, I'm not as confident in the transmission as I could be, and I want to take it to the track, but I'm afraid I'll bust the trans. again... yes again. Apparently it wasn't programmed properly, but I've got it set up where it won't be a problem for daily driving... but like I said I'm scared to properly run it on the track.

I've come to 2 possible options, and I need to make a decision soon.

Option A: Livernois and Red Line both do the LSX454 swap, and I'm considering sending it to one of them and letting them just verify everything and do whatever needs to be done to have the trans. properly tuned so that it is track ready... However, that would mean several weeks, if not months, without my daily driver, and they could end up finding something serious that would need repair or replacement. Right now, the car has 460rwhp on a hot day, but should be able to make more with the proper tuning, and my end goal is to run something in the area of a 12.0 quarter mile. This is the less expensive choice.

Option B: or rather option ZL1, is to try and get my family to pool together my college graduation, Christmas, and birthday (which is in January so it wouldn't be a problem) presents and buy a ZL1. If I get a Z, I'll have to change out that suede interior, and get another set of lights and the CAI, headers and exhaust.

[AdamZ]

454.

[hognutz]

Well if the trans is all your concerned about just fix the trans. your pretty deap into your SS to switch cars if the trans is your only concern. If you schedule time with the right show it should be more like 3-4 days tops in downtime for tranny issue.

The one advantage that to the ZL1 that people never bring up is the fact the parts were all engineered to work together. when you do this mix and match of aftermarket the reliablity of the car is not always OEM.

I have never modified a car as far as you talk about and not had some issues crop up along the way. there are always little quirks to a car that have taken that far or built from scratch.

the thing I like about the ZL1 is many of the upgrades, clutch, tranny, rear diff, etc seem to take 600-650whp without blinking.

now if you are just going to mod the carp out f the ZL1 the I so don't go that way. the resale hit you could take is huge. you see it on the corvette side. A guy will put 25k into a Z06 and it might take him longer to sell than a stock one and he may only get 5k over a stock on.

[LWM]

Sounds like you presently have a beast Camaro! For what it is worth, I would allow Livernois to perform their magic on the tranny/gears and not take the beating on the resale. Your beast will most probably run in the low 12 s! I watched ZL 1 s all day at Camaro Fest III barely break 12.5 quarters! Considering the heat/track conditions/ etc....Just saying.... the ZL 1 is still an awesome engineered beast!

[SlingShot]

Fix what you have now, you shouldn't be breaking the tranny with only 460rwhp. The ZL1 can wait until YOU can pay for it, you are an adult now and I just don't see where a family needs to buy you a $60k car ... IMHO

[69NMYSS]

Thats a tough decision. If you get a ZL1, the car is bullet proof and we have already seen 11.77 et BONE stock. So you can run 12 flat with a full warranty. Not sure how much you already have in your Camaro and what it will cost to send it to someone for the tranny work?

[hognutz]

Originally Posted by 69NMYSS

Thats a tough decision. If you get a ZL1, the car is bullet proof and we have already seen 11.77 et BONE stock. So you can run 12 flat with a full warranty. Not sure how much you already have in your Camaro and what it will cost to send it to someone for the tranny work?

I would think 3k-5k depending on options. That is if there is an issue with the tranny.

if the tranny just needs some tweaks should be more like $1500.

[gm_joe]

I had the same problem 25 years ago. A daily driver that doubles as a track car is never a good idea. Even if it is a ZL1. If you break your daily driver you need to repair it at any cost. A second track car can be left idle, if broken until the funds are available. My opinion, flog your SS and play until she cant play no more, but at the same time get a practical daily driver. One that gets good gas milage and is inexpensive to insure.

[69NMYSS]

Originally Posted by hognutz

I would think 3k-5k depending on options. That is if there is an issue with the tranny.

if the tranny just needs some tweaks should be more like $1500.

Well thats not too bad, if that is the case, might want to just go that route, save up, and wait for the new ZL1 platform which should be 2015, I think?

[James4086]

Originally Posted by gm_joe

I had the same problem 25 years ago. A daily driver that doubles as a track car is never a good idea. Even if it is a ZL1. If you break your daily driver you need to repair it at any cost. A second track car can be left idle, if broken until the funds are available. My opinion, flog your SS and play until she cant play no more, but at the same time get a practical daily driver. One that gets good gas milage and is inexpensive to insure.

I've considered this, however, I am unable to have a second vehicle. That's why I think I want the Z, because I could leave it stock and still be 100hp up from where I am.

oh, and

[BlackinBlack]

Originally Posted by James4086

Option B: or rather option ZL1, is to try and get my family to pool together my college graduation, Christmas, and birthday (which is in January so it wouldn't be a problem) presents and buy a ZL1. If I get a Z, I'll have to change out that suede interior, and get another set of lights and the CAI, headers and exhaust.

Originally Posted by James4086

I've considered this, however, I am unable to have a second vehicle. That's why I think I want the Z, because I could leave it stock and still be 100hp up from where I am.

oh, and

Keep your car. If you are already planning to mod a ZL1 out of the box buying one makes no sense. Why buy a new car with a warranty for both street and track just to void it right away.

I was deciding on modding my SS or buy a ZL1. I bought the ZL1 because I can drive it hard and if it breaks GM will fix it. (IMHO a valid reason for the price difference) As it is my DD the deciding factor was the warranty. If you mod it you remove that feature.

I had a heavily modded car as a DD it was a PITA. (True 10 second car) I sold it for a stock car that was over 3 seconds slower.... but was worth it. My stock car was reliable and if it broke someone else had to fix it while I drove a free loaner to work.

[DRKS1D3]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

Fix what you have now, you shouldn't be breaking the tranny with only 460rwhp. The ZL1 can wait until YOU can pay for it, you are an adult now and I just don't see where a family needs to buy you a $60k car ... IMHO

This! Pooling together graduation, X-mas and birthday money to buy something as an adult??? Earn the car...yourself.

[C586]

Why don't you just have your parents but you a DD?? And they could pay for the upgrades to the drivetrain for you too. Must be nice to have it handed to you. Did you earn anything you have into the car now or was it handed to you too?? Buy it on your own.

Or since you can only have 1 car why can't your parents buy you something more suitable for a DD??

[James4086]

ok, this isn't an argument about how I acquire the car. It is an opinion question about which car I should go with. I could sit here and justify how I am earning the car (and it isn't being "given" to me) but that is not why I started the thread.

The other thing, changing the interior and air path does not void the warranty. The interior would be done with Katskin through the dealership. Also, there's a thread somewhere on this site that deals with what can and cannot legally void the power-trainwarranty, and basic air-path mods don't.

I'm not planning on modding the crap out of the Z, I've modded the crap out of my ss (solely with my own money for those of you who suffer a heart attack from the idea that someone could receive something as a gift, God forbid).

But honestly, at this point, I should have come to expect this kind of response. I asked for advice about superchargers one time on here and got mostly insults and mocking with only a few helpful responses.

So if you don't have something useful to say, keep your mouth shut and your fingers still because I don't give a flying sack of burning unicorn poo what you think of me or my financial situation.