1st Post - Advice for Mods including lowering, etc...

[2SS1LE-and-SS]

Hey everybody. New to this forum. Love the information. So, I have a 2015 2SS1LE that I would like to modify a bit and I am looking for advice as I am not overly technical with much of these topics. Learning.... I mainly use my Camaro for cruise nights, river runs, and road trips. Heading to Black Hills, SD in late August for Hot Cars / Cool Nights. No course or track racing for me. Nice weather car only. But I want my Camaro mean looking, mean sounding, and with the ability to back it up. Here are some modifications I am thinking about:

1) Lowering front 1.25" and back 1.5" to reduce wheel gap. Looking for advice here. I don't want to create a horrible ride. I'd like to keep ride as stock as possible. Is this too aggressive for the ride quality? Any advice on lowering springs that have worked better?

2) Cold air intake. Adds much to horsepower?

3) Installing ZL1AddOn Rock Guards and likely going to repaint lower 1/4 to eliminate some road rash (car only has 6,000 miles, but it is annoying already).

4) Pull the fuse on the NPP? Noticeable or waste of time? Mild to Wild?

5) Maybe blackout accessories. Unsure.

6) Any other must do modifications for sound, horsepower, and quality of ride?

Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated for this new member! Great forum! Thanks

[lemontwist]

just me but i wouldn't lower a 1LE.

[terry_b]

Even if you lower it, because of how the rear tire is stretched on the 11" rim, there will still be a "gap" there.

Also, I wouldn't mess with the suspension too much right out of the gate. I ended up with Pedders Xa coilovers after my 1LE struts started to feel worn after 60k miles. I'm happy with them but I still really liked how the OEM struts handled overall. I really need to tune the damping a bit more on the pedders because the ride is very stiff.

Definitely look into solid subframe bushings or at least the inserts. Night/day difference in the rear end feel. Really firms up the rear end step out feeling. I regret not doing them sooner.

Intakes are all fairly similar, just pick which one you like. I'm partial to the Z28 intake for the OEM look and feel, but still haven't bought it. I just put a K&N drop in filter in so I can switch them out easily. There's a chart on here somewhere that shows the measured gains of different brands.

Exhaust is a personal preference thing all the way. My car has the NPP dual mode exhaust and I think it's the best sounding one out there. If yours has it, just pop out the fuse that controls it and enjoy!

Very nice looking car!

[Chevyjk33]

I would agree intakes are all fairly the same except for the no-name ebay ones. However, like the post above I went with the Z28 intake because I liked the clean OEM fit and look. I wouldn't expect a ton of power difference, but you will hear the engine slightly more. Your butt dyno will tell you the car feels a little less corked with one though.

I pulled my NPP fuse and didn't consider the Mild to Wild. Its a cool unit, but unless you live in a fussy neighborhood, I like to always hear the car. Its noticeable, but not hugely noticeable. Even with my headers, I can cruise the highway in 6th and there is no obnoxious sound or drone.

The ZL1 Addons Rock Guards are a must. The previous owner to me must have lived on a gravel road. The gills on the back quarter panel catch a lot of what the tires throw.

If you really want a noticeable power and sound increase that is also a good bang for the buck, look at headers. I went with Kooks 1 7/8 headers on mine with the cats and the sound with the NPP exhaust makes me very happy. Louder than stock, but not obnoxious loud . I was at NCM this past weekend for Camaorfest and it sounded amazing flying down the front straight at 120mph. It was even better after I got the car tuned by Dynosteve at RDP. Way more useable power than it felt like before.

I do autocross and road course mine, so I can't speak to lowering the car. I agree less wheel gap would be nice, but the handling is too good to mess with it for my application.

[Tunamanz]

Talk to JPSS, they have a perfect setup. I did a 1.5" DSE lowering setup and absolutely love it

[Hoosier1LE]

An intake is a must. I have a CAI brand that I like. But if you want to maximize the intake, get the air scoop and washer bottle relocate. That made a noticeable difference in the butt dyno.

Another nice bolt on mod is headers. I put ARH 1 7/8" long tubes with off road pipes, and have the NPP exhaust. Sound is amazing. And with a tune, got 437 HP at the wheels.

[1 Long onE]

Best advice for non track owner of the 1le is to buy 1.25 in lowering pfadt(sold under AFE power now) progressive springs. They increase the overall springs rate, lower the ride height to close the wheel gap and then they even make the car drive smoother. Win-win in all situations. If you were to track the car, then I would invest in a linear spring set up.

In terms of performance, I put the Z28 cai(any good brand cai would do), ported throttle body, and tuned by dynosteve(all worth it and easy to do). He also turned off the skip shift for me. I would also recommend this.

If you are doing long tubes, then invest in the mild to wild so that you can close the flaps when you want it quiet. Im not sure if mild to wild does fully closed as an option or not, but there may be a competitor that does have the option of fully closed, fully opened and automatic. I think mild to wild has fully open and automatic as the only options.

Anyways good luck and congrats on a great car.

[jokrz187]

There is a good post on doing the mild/wild/factory switch. i just did it after thorough reading and i couldn't be any happier about it. i took my time and ran the wires up under the back seat to the middle console and that took patience. but in the end it is so worth it. i included the link, with the NPP and if you decide to do headers and other work, this is a must do. i have tsp headers, straight pipe to a x pipe and then factory npp exhaust and love it.

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318683

[mpsgolf]

Great CAI thread. Spreadsheet has test results from Jannety Racing. I went with CAI.

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107002