Newbie - Best bolt on mods / bang for the buck - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

mkorgan · 09-25-2012, 08:25 PM

New to the forums. Just picked up my ZL1 yesterday and am looking for bolt on mods that provide the best performance for the money. I have both a first (69 Z) and second generation (70 Z) when the old school, displacement, cams, cranks, intakes, etc. were the way to more horsepower. I am not familiar with all the computer managed, supercharged, engines of today so I want to go slow to get up to speed (no pun intended) on these new engines. I expect air flow is still important (like in the old days) so I am thinking CAI and new exhaust but beyond that I am kinds fuzzy. Any recommendations on programmers or tuners? I don't want to open the engine up, at least not at this point. Any help for this older Camaro owner now stepping up to the new generation would be greatly appreciated. There seems to be a lot of expertise I would love to tap into. Thanks in advance.

Blown355 · 09-25-2012, 09:14 PM

If you're not worried about voiding the factory warranty, a smaller supercharger pulley and a tune seems to be a good bang per buck mod. If your want to keep your warranty, maybe a larger heat exchanger to help keep the incoming air temps down.

And congrats on your purchase!

hognutz · 09-25-2012, 09:20 PM

My .02

Cai, 2.55 upper pulley, tb, tune this could get you close to 600whp from what I have seen and should not break the bank.

Not much HP in catback if any. headers seem to work well but are expensive.

I am pondering on lower puller instead of upper and longtubes I think but that is going to cost another $1600 or so to go that way.

if you go into the mods forum there are some vendors that are doing great things that could point you in a good direction.

09-25-2012, 08:25 PM	#1
mkorgan Drives: 1970-1/2 Z-28, 2017 ZL1 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Sanford, Fl Posts: 973	Newbie - Best bolt on mods / bang for the buck New to the forums. Just picked up my ZL1 yesterday and am looking for bolt on mods that provide the best performance for the money. I have both a first (69 Z) and second generation (70 Z) when the old school, displacement, cams, cranks, intakes, etc. were the way to more horsepower. I am not familiar with all the computer managed, supercharged, engines of today so I want to go slow to get up to speed (no pun intended) on these new engines. I expect air flow is still important (like in the old days) so I am thinking CAI and new exhaust but beyond that I am kinds fuzzy. Any recommendations on programmers or tuners? I don't want to open the engine up, at least not at this point. Any help for this older Camaro owner now stepping up to the new generation would be greatly appreciated. There seems to be a lot of expertise I would love to tap into. Thanks in advance.

09-25-2012, 09:14 PM	#2
Blown355 Drives: 2017 ZL1 A10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Austin TX Posts: 866	If you're not worried about voiding the factory warranty, a smaller supercharger pulley and a tune seems to be a good bang per buck mod. If your want to keep your warranty, maybe a larger heat exchanger to help keep the incoming air temps down. And congrats on your purchase! __________________ 2017 ZL1 A10 Redhot with stripe

09-25-2012, 09:20 PM	#3
hognutz Drives: 2013 ZL1 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: tangent or Posts: 2,984	My .02 Cai, 2.55 upper pulley, tb, tune this could get you close to 600whp from what I have seen and should not break the bank. Not much HP in catback if any. headers seem to work well but are expensive. I am pondering on lower puller instead of upper and longtubes I think but that is going to cost another $1600 or so to go that way. if you go into the mods forum there are some vendors that are doing great things that could point you in a good direction. __________________ shopping for 2017+1le or zl1 2009 CTS-V -sold 2015 Hellcat-sold 2013 ZL1 -sold 2007 Z06- sold 2014 Chrysler 300 2011 Duramax 8" lift, deleted tuned Last edited by hognutz; 09-25-2012 at 11:37 PM.