Author Topic: WOOOOT!!! My first LS1 mod!! (Read 1379 times)

1K3 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 27, 2006, 01:43:33 PM »

How about just light weight flywheels, double plate clutch, and light weight drive shaft, and close-ratio gears. Isnt that gonna give you more performance even without HP increase?

eagl · « **Reply #16 on:** September 28, 2006, 02:44:16 AM »

Maverick,

Actually, it can be part of an active social life. Don't trash something you don't understand, especially coming from a "virtual community" like this. Guys were getting together to race, work on cars, etc. long before you were born so just because you have no use except transport for a car, don't bag on those who enjoy the things.

How much would you listen to a ricer boy trash talking about pasty faced computer wimps like *us*? Well, that's pretty much what you sound like when you try to minimize what a car can mean to someone. What your computer means to you, a car means to others.

My computer and AH gets me out of the house maybe once a year for the AH con... My car racing hobby gets me out of the house meeting real people 2-3 weekends per month. Sounds like a legitimate hobby and social life to me.

Hell, how many guys do you know who met their wife at a computer game event, or conceived their first child sitting on their computer? I know dozens of people who met their wives at motorsports events and conceived their first child in the back seat of their car... Not quite as limited as you thought, maybe?

eagl · « **Reply #17 on:** September 28, 2006, 02:48:07 AM »

ik3 the LS1 F-body drivetrain is already the most efficient one in GM's lineup, and some of those components are already about as lightweight as they can reasonably get. The driveshaft for example is lightweight aluminum from the factory. There's not much there.

Yea gears would get you straight-line acceleration but at a huge penalty in fuel efficiency. With the 5-speed manual, the car is already geared perfectly for the 1/4 mile, redlining 4th gear right around 130 mph. You gotta bump up over 400hp to exceed 130 in the quarter mile in an f-body. The auto trans is likewise geared very well for the 1/4 mile without any mods, yet they still get around 30 mpg on the freeway due to very tall overdrive ratios in the last gear.

Grayeagle · « **Reply #18 on:** September 28, 2006, 02:48:58 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Maverick
..Ten years from now the world, country, state, county, city or neighbor hood won't give a crap about what car you drove. ...

Well.. mebbe not what *you* drive or have driven.
I've had people come up to me at a car show or cruise an remember my lil Duster from when they were in high school, how it and the guy drivin it got them interested in the whole 'car' thing.. and now they had their own set of nice lookin wheels (this blonde and her boyfriend had dropped a 440 6-pac into a Challenger convertible they found, and put alla R/T stickers and emblems on it .. it was a bee-yootiful red on red with a white rag top, 4-gear car)

-GE (but hey .. you go right on ahead an trundle to work an back in yer hack)

DiabloTX · « **Reply #19 on:** September 28, 2006, 02:55:16 AM »

Well said.

DiabloTX · « **Reply #20 on:** September 28, 2006, 02:57:17 AM »

After doing some research it looks like I will go with a cat-back system made by either Borla (which I had on my last Camaro) or one made by Corsa. I'm going to hold off for a while before I do it though.

Eagl, what oil are you using?

eagl · « **Reply #21 on:** September 28, 2006, 03:22:11 AM »

I've been using valvoline 10-30... Basic dino oil changed every 3k or so. I pretty much use the weight range recommended by the manual and use valvoline 'cause I like the blue and white logo and they were an SCCA sponsor years back. Dunno if they still are, but the logo is still neat IMHO and it doesn't cost any more than any other brand if you buy it on sale.

I don't use synthetic 'cause if you don't switch to 100% synthetic very early on in the car's life, you run the risk of blowing out gaskets because the car breaks in it's bearings, tolerances, and wear surfaces based on the oil you use for the first few thousand miles. I tried to switch another older car to synthetic at around 60k and it burned a quart every 2000 miles. Switched back to dead dinosaur oil and it quit burning oil again.

At 120k on the car/motor, I think the dino oil has proven that it's good enough for an LS1 even in fairly hard use (my amature racing).

DiabloTX · « **Reply #22 on:** September 28, 2006, 03:44:34 AM »

Yeah I understand about being loyal to a sponsor. I've been reading up on oils for the LS1 and alot of what I have read have been recommending GC 0w30. I bought some with a KnN oil filter (higher flow rate than regular filters) and am going to have the oil changed soon.

There is an LS1Tech meet on the 8th coming up and I intend to go there and start networking. I can't believe the differences between my '96 and this '02 and I'm not talking about styling or ergonomics.

eagl · « **Reply #23 on:** September 28, 2006, 04:18:04 AM »

Be careful about oil filters... Fram sucks. I try to get motorcraft or mobil filters, based on a really old web expose' published by some guy who went out and bought about 20 filters, and cut them open. He found a lot of interesting things inside there. For example, the flow rate of a filter depends on filter thickness and number of pleats. If the filter density is small, you lose flow rate unless you increase the number of pleats. Decrease the pleats, and you have to increase the allowable particle size. Also, the bypass valve in many filters is made out of cardboard instead of some sort of silicone or rubber and metal. Fram filters were among the worst, with very few pleats, a weak bypass spring, and the bypass valve was cardboard. Pretty much all of the oil going through a fram filter just went through the bypass because there wasn't enough surface area in the pleats.

Anyhow, I don't know if that review exists anymore or if it still reflects the current products, but after that I don't buy fram filters unless they're all I can get, and then I swap them out as soon as possible and no later than the 3k oil change.

The mobil1 and motorcraft filters cost about 4x what a fram filter does ($14 vs. $4), but that's because it has twice the filter material and a robust bypass valve stuffed inside the same space. I consider that to be worth the extra expense. I can change the oil every 3k miles with a $20 filter a whole lot of times before it's as expensive as dropping a new $6,000 crate LS1 into my car, so it's just cheap insurance IMHO.

It's hard to find stats since most cars get wrecked or junked or blow up far before $120,000 miles, but it seems like most car enthusiasts who own very high mileage performance cars change the oil at 3k miles and use quality filters. It's a small and biased sample population though, so it's tough to tell if it's a real cause-effect relationship or not. It's not that much more per oil change, per year, or per mile, so I figure it's better to err on the side of caution and think of it as engine insurance.

eagl · « **Reply #24 on:** September 28, 2006, 04:24:19 AM »

I almost forgot to mention, regarding the diff in performance from the V6 to the V8... Welcome to the dark side

I haven't met a single f-body owner who'd willingly switch to a mustang or pretty much anything else. They get rid of their V8 cars only when absolutely forced to. The price/performance ratio is very very high. If you get a car that isn't a maintenance lemon, it's a very satisfying car to drive. I've found that most people who talk trash about the 1998- f-body cars are mostly jealous because the car's performance dominates everything in it's price range.

It was satisfying to know I still had a nice car when some 22 yr old riceboy told me how a "mere" $4,000 mod to his WRX would let it beat my 4 year old firebird in the 1/4 mile... He was pretty proud but he had to fxxk with his car to make it as fast as mine, and I bet his turbo gives out before my car loses even 10 hp due to age.

Plus I towed an 1800 lb trailer up and over the Tahoe mountain range with an AVERAGE speed of 80mph... Try that in a WRX and you'll be walking in no time

DiabloTX · « **Reply #25 on:** September 28, 2006, 05:20:27 AM »

No doubt. Since I've been driving my LS1 Z I've suddenly found out what I've been missing all these years. My family have asked me what's it like going from the Series II to the LS1 and I tell them it's like a combination of my '96 Camaro and my old '65 Pontiac GTO; I get the best of both worlds. Hearing that V8 growl is something that I had long forgotten the thrill of. Not quite as noisy as my old 389 motor but much more civilised.

wetrat · « **Reply #26 on:** September 28, 2006, 11:31:59 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by eddiek
Pardon me for sounding ignorant, Diablo, but I gotta ask.......do the K&N setups honestly give you any more power? I ask cause I was looking at two K&N cold air kits for my truck and with what they cost, they better give me some performance improvement.
I've never added a cold air kit before, cause til this truck my stuff was mostly old school carbureted engines, and while I love the new EFI setups and the reliability, I am admittedly way behind on what add ons work and what doesn't.

a CAI _might_ give you a couple hp on the highway... if your motor is stock, it's probably a waste of money

tikky · « **Reply #27 on:** September 28, 2006, 04:59:43 PM »

I wonder how this car can handle the twisties...

eagl · « **Reply #28 on:** September 28, 2006, 05:27:44 PM »

tikky,

It handles twisties very well. Even better with a few inexpensive suspension mods like better swaybars, but it's pretty good considering it's size. It does pretty well on road courses and with the right alignment setup it can be very neutral in the corners. Drive it in too fast and the front end will push of course, but a blip of the brake then throttle and the rear end comes around really nicely.

You just have to understand that where a miata *instantly* takes a set and turns, a bigger car like this takes *2 instants* to set and turn. But once your reflexes match the car, it is really fun to drive on the track or in the mountains, etc. Especially twisty mountain roads with the t-tops off

J_A_B · « **Reply #29 on:** September 28, 2006, 05:31:27 PM »

DiabloTX--

I remember several months ago we had a short discussion on how well you liked your V-6 Camaro. It seems you've finally realized the error of your ways!

"a CAI _might_ give you a couple hp on the highway... if your motor is stock, it's probably a waste of money"

This depends greatly on how good or bad the car's stock air intake is. GM likes equipping its cars with lousy intakes, and replacing the stock intake (all of it, not just the air filter) can in some cases mean a signifigant power improvement.

J_A_B