considering mods at fast specialties in vancouver

[christianchevell]

Hello there! I am due to get some mods done in the future due to having funds coming and have been researching for days the best things to do for bang for the buck. What I have come up with that I would like to do soon with already having a CAI brand cai and scoop, oil catch can and separate clutch reservoir are this:

Install of comp cams ultra gold rocker arms with the 1.82 ratio upping the ratio of the rockers from the stock 1.7 ratio. This in turn would liven up the cam and make for more lift and duration without the costly removal of the front end of the car and putting in of a new cam with its costs. I know I may need to do springs and pushrods. I can see getting the rockers cheapest at Maryland speed for $419, and the springs for beehives around $200 and hardened pushrods for $150 if they are needed which I think they will due to the geometry change. Has anyone had this done? I think the stock cam lift I found from a gm ls3 crate engine website of a lift of .551 intake and .522 exhaust will be greatly enhanced to make it more in the nature of .600 lift and the exhaust around .570 lift a much more respectable and still very streetable and valve train friendly cam. I have not figured the duration gain and think of course it will make the car sound much more cammed than just the stock dual mode lets through.

I also at the same time want to install headers I found cheapest at Maryland speed for $712 for stainless power with high flow cats, the best deal I could find. Between those two mods I hope to expect gains with a dyno h.p. tune from Fast specialties to get me in the solid 500 hp flywheel range and hopefully around 425+ rwhp. I searched a lot of websites for various deals including jannetty, phastek, jegs, summit, autoanything, etc etc etc etc And determined this to be the path to the quickest and cheapest way to liven up my ls3, and plan on more mods in the future.

I am hoping to bring this in with mechanics labor and tune for around $2500. I just wonder have others gone down this practical path to making power as cheap as possible? If so please chime in.

For things I want to do in the future I would like a BBK throttle body, and have considered the vmax ported stock throttle body yet would put out the extra funds for BBK as it would be the 95 mm and larger than the stock which strangely I cannot find easily the specs on online ...It must be 87 or 90 mm? at auto anything I found a 95 mm for $306.84 , I also want to have sixstates upgrade my rear end to the 3.91 which would be just under 1 grand parts included. At the same time I would put in new trailing arms from BMR with polyurethane bushings for $150 , with BMR toe rods for $130 And a set of BMR tubular sways for $240 along with new cradle bushings for $250 and that should take care of body roll and wheel hop.
Once again the cheapest prices for the BMR stuff was at Maryland speed.

Jannetty did seem nice for including free tunes if you buy a SXT x3 scanner for a canned tune, yet their prices were a little more for some things like the headers etc.... And I know custom tuning is most likely required and best on a dyno.

And for this second round I plan on it being well under $2500 with install of the gears and rear end suspension parts going hand in hand and not costing any more than the just under 1 grand quoted as the revised rear sway is easier to remove than the 2010-2011 and the front being just more of a hassle as the rear has to come off anyway to get the pumpkin out.

SO that's what this old hot rodder has been up to lately thinking of the best cheapest mods for my ss, Anyone got a comment or tech info that would be greatly appreciated as experience sure helps. Geeze I remember the day when I could change cams in my driveway and pull engines and rebuild them so easy. Now I am doing the smart thing with this critical large investment I love. And this mod bug may die away for a while when I get this done as well, it gets spendy and this besides some visual mods like metal louvers and tinting are about what I think is all I need. Maybe............

[apr_gen5]

I would take the car across the street to Tom Wong's on Hwy 99. Nothing against Fast Specialties, but Tom is a GM expert.

[christianchevell]

looked him up sounds interesting and competent, yet price does matter, must compare him to the quotes I am waiting for from Fast, as they do have a dyno and are tuners certified on every brand hand held it seems and have a dyno and hp tuning. I might need the hp because of the valve train mod to dial it in.

[apr_gen5]

Tom has a Mustang dyno and may be able to guide you to the most cost effective mods. He is nationally know tuner with a great reputation.

[christianchevell]

Well I have never heard of anyone here making the simple change of the rocker arms for the performance gain, am I the only old school rodder here? lol, yes they do have a mustang, there is a dyno here in salem but they are not as competent from what I could tell from my talking to them about the tuning, and such as I would have liked to hear more competent things to inspire confidence like yes we have a hp tuner program and can buy the credits........ lol So I will just plug along and get quotes and talk to people.