Performance Questions

[MSull16]

Hello,

So I am pretty content with how my car is cosmetically and now Im switching gears (no pun intended) to performance and shes at 52k miles. My primary goal right now would be to get the SW retro 3in catback and SW Headers, Rotofab intake, and of course a tune. Later next summer Im going to look into getting it cammed. With that being said my goal is to get the car close to 500hp. I haven't ruled out boosting.. which I know would get me over that alone.

What is the best order to do these upgrades?

Any other Recommendations?

[Gunmetal Speedster]

I don't think the order is really that important, the end game will be the same. That setup will get you close, especially if you go with a big cam. But adding heads seems to be the general consensus if you're looking to get 500rwhp while staying NA.

[christianchevell]

Intake then headers and later when doing the cam have all the extras like the c5r, pump, dampener and done if your going to go into it and do new lifters and if you dream of boost it would be good to upgrade the heads gaskets on reinstall with new buckets for the lifters needed also along with the entire three bolt cam package......And me personally I do a break in with BR30 and dyno tune. The headers having to have you tuned would be cheaper if installed with the cam for one tune....If dyno tuning and not just doing it remote via SCT /data logging with some tuner shop to give tunes per mods.

[BubbaSS]

The cam will need the first headers to breathe

[MSull16]

Im really looking forward to the cam I hear thats easily one of the best ways to meet reasonable gains without boost. May just stick with doing exhaust, headers, intake tune for a while unless decent cam prices are lower than I expect.

[Motarded421]

I'm sitting at the intake/headers/exhaust/tune point at the moment. I'm in the air on if I want to spend the money to do heads/cam or if I want to just say to hell with it and go to a blower or turbo setup. I can always add the heads and cam later (or just build another motor?)

Tough decisions once you've gotten all the low hanging fruit

[Can'tHave2MuchHP]

Buddy of mine had an SS, he did Full exhaust (That includes Headers), Air intake, and a Comp cam and got to about 420+ rwhp.

[Gunmetal Speedster]

Originally Posted by Can'tHave2MuchHP

Buddy of mine had an SS, he did Full exhaust (That includes Headers), Air intake, and a Comp cam and got to about 420+ rwhp.

That seems on the lower end of the spectrum, unless it was just the dyno he was on?

[Tim417]

When doing exhaust, do headers first. Decide if you like the sound. A cat back wont give you any performance gains.

[Magna_Flow]

A good free-flowing exhaust system becomes much more crucial once you are cammed!

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by Gunmetal Speedster

I don't think the order is really that important, the end game will be the same. That setup will get you close, especially if you go with a big cam. But adding heads seems to be the general consensus if you're looking to get 500rwhp while staying NA.

Agreed, order is not important. But typically, I tend to do intake first, then catback, then canned tune. Then after that is when I start getting deeper into things with stuff that needs a custom tune...like ported or aftermarket IM, LT headers, cat deletes, etc. But again, there is really no order that necessarily has to be done.

[Roto-fab 1]

Originally Posted by MSull16

Hello,

So I am pretty content with how my car is cosmetically and now Im switching gears (no pun intended) to performance and shes at 52k miles. My primary goal right now would be to get the SW retro 3in catback and SW Headers, Rotofab intake, and of course a tune. Later next summer Im going to look into getting it cammed. With that being said my goal is to get the car close to 500hp. I haven't ruled out boosting.. which I know would get me over that alone.

What is the best order to do these upgrades?

Any other Recommendations?

Thank you for your interest in the Roto-fab CAI. Our system is a great upgrade for performance, appearance, and sound. My first mod would either be the headers or Roto-fab intake. If you would like to see our different color combinations as they would look on your car, check out our interactive engine bay designer at www.roto-fab.com!


Interactive engine bay designer at www.roto-fab.com

Thanks again for your interest in our CAI,
Michael

[amerimuscle]

Well there's a plethora of terrible advice here. I'll give you my opinion, which will sooner or later make more sense than any of the aforementioned comments / "advice".

1. Decide right now if you will boost or not (sounds like a dumb and abrupt decision, but the ability to answer this now = saving thousands of dollars).

If no boost- intake, headers/full exhaust, cam / heads.

If boost-
1. Supercharger you'll want/need headers sooner or later then cam.
2. Turbo, don't buy anything at all until you get the turbo kit, everything will be useless except fuel, then cam.

Notice how cam is always last?
Don't buy long tubes if your gonna turbo
Don't get a big NA cam if your gonna boost
Don't buy bolt on's that won't be compatible with future build.

Your welcome

[LSX Camaro]

Originally Posted by amerimuscle

Well there's a plethora of terrible advice here. I'll give you my opinion, which will sooner or later make more sense than any of the aforementioned comments / "advice".

1. Decide right now if you will boost or not (sounds like a dumb and abrupt decision, but the ability to answer this now = saving thousands of dollars).

If no boost- intake, headers/full exhaust, cam / heads.

If boost-
1. Supercharger you'll want/need headers sooner or later then cam.
2. Turbo, don't buy anything at all until you get the turbo kit, everything will be useless except fuel, then cam.

Notice how cam is always last?
Don't buy long tubes if your gonna turbo
Don't get a big NA cam if your gonna boost
Don't buy bolt on's that won't be compatible with future build.

Your welcome

Very well said. I agree 100%. Many of the previous posts are clueless. "Order is not important"