StevenB L98/LS1

Okay this guy in a suped up 02 GT mustang with bolt ons has been begging for a race, so last night i gave it to him just to get it over with, i didnt care, because i know i was gonna lose. Stock l98 vs 02 GT with headers and etc.... He actually knows a lot of about 3rd gens and giving me the whole pep talk " O your car still has 40 more lbs of torque than me, knowing it was complete bull crap. did 4 races i beat him 1 race and he beat me the rest, the race i won on was 15- 65 mph race, i have bad tires on the back so the freakin thing spun like hell, but still managed to get it.

Heres what i want to do, i dont want to go to far in the upgrades just enough to beat this guy. He only has around 290-300 HP i believe.

What is the best headers to buy for my car? I know what exhaust i want to go with.

And possibly do a cam, but i dont want nothing drastic, just to have the car near stock as possible but still have it to show other cars who the boss is lol.

I have a hypertech chip to, but just never put it in. Should i? Anything i missed or input would be appreciated. Its time to upgrade the performance on my l98.

formula_novice

iTrader: (1)

My advice is don't waste your money trying to be faster than someone. If you beat this guy, another faster car will come along and you will spend more $$$ trying to beat him.
There will always be someone faster. This is the reality that every car owner has to accept. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make your car faster... just make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.

Heslekrants

Being the fastest kid on the block cost big $$$$$, being fast doesn't have too.

We did a $875 budget build (Seen build herel) on my Son's 90 Camaro and its faster than his freind's 00 GT that runs high 13s. The GT has CAI, dual exhaust, custom tune, stage 3 clutch, 275 rear tires.

Your budget & skill will dictate how fast you can be.

Faster on the cheap is N2O but doesn't made your daily driving any better and done wrong it creates scrap metal.

Budget upgrade:
CAI
Freeflow exhaust
Retune computer
Bigger cam or install 1.6 rockers(adds 10-15hp)
Install 3.73 or 4.10 posi

StevenB L98/LS1

Im doing it to be up this guys alley. I dont want to be the fastest car. I just want something closer to power of todays cars. My budget is $1300 for this car. Like i said i want the car as close to stock as possible but with a few upgrades. Thats all i want, even its not to beat mustangs, i just want to see what the l98 with a few mods can do for me, because no other person around has an l98 modded, they either never had one, or gutted one years ago, and im curious to see what l98 will do with some tuning and some headers, heads/cam possbily.

Ive heard bad things about the hypertech chip, that they really dont do crap. Is this true? My friend that had a 90 l98 completely stock trans am had one, and he said it didnt do anything.

TKOPerformance

Yeah, the old hot rodder's addage still applies: Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?

If you get into a pissing match with this guy you will get your car to beat his, then he'll get his car to beat yours, and it'll go back and forth like that until one of you runs out of money or interest.

I agree with formula_novice. If you want your car to be faster do it for you, not to beat someone else. There will always be someone faster. That's how you can tell a real hot rodder from a wanna be. A real hot rodder will tell you about the guy who blew his doors off, not just all the cars he beat.

I remember when I was about 20 I had a built 350 with Edelbrock heads and a roller cam in my K5. It was a beast, and fun to drive. I drove it like a dumbass and raced everything that would throw down. I beat a Porsche Boxster from 75 to 100, embarassed a lot of Mustangs and Camaros, and really thought I was hot stuff. I was starting to think I was unbeatable when this guy in an S10 blazer pulled up next to me at a light and reved his engine. I stalled it up and got ready to hand out another @$$ beating. We were neck in neck until about 60, then he walked away from me like I was standing still. It really knocked my you know what in the dirt. Several lights down the road I caught up to him and noticed this peculiar word on his truck that said "Typhoon". I knew I wasn't the fastest anymore and it forever shattered that illusion for me. Now the K5 is getting ready to go back together after many years of work with a 383, a built trans, built rears, and a lot of other custom touches. I didn't do all that work to beat Mr. Typhoon. I did it because I knew the truck could do more and would be more fun to drive both on and off road. However, if I run into Mr. Typhoon again (not likely after over ten years) I will definately try to run him again. It's not about beating him though; it's about seeing what the truck I've built has got. The other guy's vehicle is just a means to measure performance against since there are no clocks and timeslips on the street.

If you want a little more power get a set of Edelbrock or SLP headers, high flow cat, and cat back exhaust. A swap up to 3.73 gears is also a good idea. Get a decent set of reat tires, because all the power in the world is useless if you can't plant it. A Trans Go shift kit in the 700R4 will make a little bit of a difference, and a better converter if you want to get into it that far (you were talking about swapping the cam, so I assume this won't scare you). That'll give you a real world .5-.7 drop in your ET, which is like adding 50-70HP. You won't lose any driveability, you'll still be emissions compliant, and you should beat the guy with the '02 Mustang.

However, when he bolts on a blower you're going to have to get more serious...

StevenB L98/LS1

yea but the story about the mustang kid was just about me realizing i want more outta my l98 just to have it. Like say i go to McDonalds and order a cheese burger. You pretty much know what all goes on it, and i order a plain one. lol Thats pretty much what im just asking for performance. I like your ideas, but this is my daily driver to i just dont anything extreme. How do i go along finding a high flow cat? I have the dual converter and there only 2 1/4''. I talked to muffler shops about it but they said they couldnt do a high flow for the dual converter. Like they dont make them or something? I still have my stock cats on, even though im in florida and dont need them to pass emissions, i wanted to keep them considering there sorta rare lol. I heard that just the regular LT4 cam wasnt bad, or do you think the hot cam of the LT4 is more recommonded? Ive never had a serious suped up car before of my own, so i havent tryed all of these different setups yet.

I'd really wish i could go with longtube headers, but a lot of people say the hooker 2055 is the most popular and the power gain is enough.

As for heads what do you recommond? I have no clue yet.

What is your opinion on the hypertech chip because i everytime i look at it, the more curious i get, but people say there junk.