What will it take to get a stock 95 Z28??

joew623

Registered User
I have a stock 93 SC auto with 80k miles...my friend has a 95 stock Z28 with 50k miles. This is a daily driver and i have to commute about 2 hours each way to school twice a month. I was thinking exhaust first. I need something good flowing w/out the highway drone. I was thinking magnaflow res. and 2 dynomax mufflers using stock manafolds and stock cats to keep cost down. Can i count on 15 hp for that mod?? (i assume cost to be around 400 dollars) ok, so that would be like 225 hp... so i add a 5% OD pully...15hp?? 60 bucks. so thats like 240 hp for 460 dollars. Then get underdrive pulleys 10hp, 180 bucks....so 250hp for 640 dollars. Then get that magnum powers to "do their thing" to my blower for 30 hp? 500 bucks. so 280 hp, 355 torque? for $1140. Do u guys think that these are the most productive mods for the like 1200 i want to spend?? does 280hp sound about right for those mods? my friends Z28 is 270hp.
 
if you put a better blower on their with stock downtubes and cats you can probably kiss your headgastkets goodbye, do the whole exhaust
 
joew623

I have done all the mods you mentioned plus removing the air silencer, installing a 73 mm MAF, installing a K&N panel filter, custom modding the stock air box for better flow, 800cfm intercooler fan, and installing larger intake tubing between the MAF and TB.

My SC right now without a BBK 70mm TB will accelerate 0-60 in 5.2 secs. I get to 70mph in 6.6 secs. I believe it can run very low 14's average and can run high 13's depending on outside air density. Boost pings the needle at 16psi because i still have a stock exhaust (slightly modded) and i'm not experiencing detonation (cleaned out the fuel pump and changed the fuel filter).
I have already raced several WS6's (souped up pontiac trans am's, similar to SS Z28's) on the highway and none of them could pull away from me until over 110mph or so. Now I'm not saying my SC could beat them down, but with these mods they can't totally embarass you. You will at least match them up to a certain point. And that for me is enough satisfaction to make it unexpectedly hard for them to beat me, given that this car was not originally built to run like that.

No one expects the SC to run like that, that's why I love this car.

Make sure you keep the heads as cool as possible by installing a cooling fan switch and a lower temp thermostat. My fan is set to run all the time (the temp gauge stays well below the "N"), this mod has I believed saved my SC from blowing headgaskets. I've been running my SC like this for 1 year plus without major problems except for a detonation problem i had a few months ago that i have solved. I wouldn't recommend going out there running at max boost frequently though. This car will take you to the woodshed big time if you don't consider how your mods will effect your headgaskets. You must compensate for any upgrade that will introduce higher pressures on the heads.
 
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This is what my friend had and he beat LT1 Z28's and a 94 Cobra.

He still had stock heads, cam, exhaust manifolds.

MAC intake, 73mm MAF, 70mm TB, ic fan, raised top, 10% pulley, magnecore wires, asp underdrives, no cats, flowmaster resonator and mufflers w/ mandrel bent pipe (still had the early tank), 3.73:1 gears, B&M deep trans pan, Lentech Valve body, B&M torkmaster 2400 non locking convertor, 255/50/16" tires, 190 lph fuel pump, I'm sure it had 30 lb/hr injectors still.

Anyways he would embarass the LT1 cars. Not sure about the LS1's cuz they have about 50 more horsepower.

Anyways, without gears you aren't gonna beat him. Plus a good stall convertor can knock a good half second off your 1/4 mile time if you have traction to get good short times. I believe his car would run low 14's maybe high 13's, but we never got a good run at the track, best we got on street tires at the track w/ mid-high 14's but that car hooked up better on the street than it did at the track. He moved so I don't know if he ever got his slicks that he wanted.
 
my encounters at the track did not leave me impressed with the
z-28s i was running my stock 90 auto sc against a caged supercharged comaro maybe a 97-98. I smoked him to the 1/8 mile mark!!! 2-3 car leangths but then he caught me and ran a 15.3 to my 16.3, my car was about ready to blow the head gaskets and 2 months later it did.
 
The late model Camaros and Firebirds I've seen at the track usually run in the mid to low 13s with drag radials. I've seen a few that ran 12.9, and the owners wouldn't admit to making any mods. I'm sure they weren't being honest and I suspect they had exhaust, CAI, lightweight flywheel and a custom chip minimum.

I've always been able to beat them in the 1/8 mile even when I ran mid 14s, but they would always run me down shortly afterwards and pass me by on the top end.

This is why SCs do well stoplight to stoplight...Torque...it spins the tires and gets the car moving. This can trick a faster car into giving up the race...besides it gets too dangerous going over 75-80 mph in a 50 mph zone anyway.

David
 
I've got two SC 5-speeds, '97 T-bird, and a '95 Trans Am. I can't really see any of my T-birds pulling as hard as my T/A. It's just two completely different types of cars. I wouldn't worry about beating a Z28 in a straight line race. Now if you race thru some corners a SC stock could beat a Z28 any day. Plus the SC is much more comfortable than a Z28. Just my 2 cents.
 
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For $400 in the exhaust you could at least get the Flowmaster setup (15100 & 17100 p/n's). Better than stock, good bends etc, but not nearly as good as the SCP. Good for the money, no drone.

Might as well get a universal nitrous system in there, that'll be big bang for the buck (no pun intended) with a few benefits.

Or, for about 50¢ you can get a bottle of water and slip it in your buddy's gas tank for a large net improvement between the cars. JUST KIDDING! (That would be against the Manly Code: thou shalt not mess with another guy's car.)
 
It takes most of the old bolt on parts including a set of 38 lb inj & a modified Superchrgr (at least an S model)min to beat an LS1 equiped car,even then they will pull you in at the end of the 1/4.
As for the LT 1 equpped cars, (if stock!) You can get them with a full exhaust ,intake mods and a set of 3.73 gears in an auto.
If the LT1s got a good start on mods they'll run with the LS1s.
I've seen some fast LT1 Cars and some sorry *** LT1 cars that could barely run a high 14 stock!
 
I am the one that joew623 is worried about. My cars only mod is a KN cold ait intake. I our friends 90 SC (my old one) from a rolling stop and beat him easy. But i have not been to that track yet with it due to the winter but i looked it up on the internet and 95 stock Z28 runs the 1/4 in the low to mid 14s and a stock 90 SC runs it in the mid 15's. My stock ratings are 275 and 335 and i weigh 400lbs less then a SC so as long as my tq is at or close to the same rpm as a sc i would beat it.
 
Having the heads ported and a valvejob done will be the biggest bang for the buck. With a set of ported stock valve heads, 190 lph fuel pump, 94 blower with 91 pulley (very important to have a late style blower or MPII setup) and a custom exhaust I made 260 RWHP and 350 RWT. Best run was 14.5 @ 95 MPH with 2.73 or 3.08 gears. If I'd had 3.27s then, I might have gotten down to low 14s. All on street tires.

Basically, for what you're looking to spend, you don't stand a chance. You'll get close, but then he'll throw a CAI and exhaust at it and you're a half second behind again.
 
Haha Dave, that is what sucks about an auto. With my 5spd I will never forget the first time I ran down an LT1 on the top end. The dude was so pissed he went home.

At the time I had the stock blower and IC. (well and 2.73 gears too). Hehe.

Driving has a whole hell of a lot to do with it too. If the LT1 is a 6spd, he's got power on you, but the cars are a beyotch to launch, so just eat him off the line and hold on. If the LT1 is an auto, then it's even slower unless it has a converter, gears and DR's. In which case, well forget it. :)
 
How much for heads and valve job? and when u say valve job r u talking roller rockers or what? and where for heads? how much gains?
Joe
 
It's funny that someone would say a 6sp LT1 is faster than a auto LT1 stock cause most of the people I've talked to that have Camaros and Firebirds would say that the auto is faster. I've got a 6sp but like I said before don't even worry about beating a Z28. A Z28 LT1 will kill a SC in a straight line race. The SC wasn't made for drag racing. The SC is more of an all around sports car. Be happy with the kind of car you have or buy a different one.
 
Speak for yourself. :) I ran my best friends 96 SS 6spd (this was in 1996) with my 90 XR7 when I had only exhaust, chip, and pulley and I beat him two out of three. I have the time slips to prove it. He pulled me on the top end but it was too little too late.

I raced him recently with more mods. He now has a LPE top end package with LT's and some other stuff. It runs 12.1 on the track with ET streets, but on the street I got him out of the hole and held him off until part way through 3rd. I have similar mods.

An SC can play easy if it is done right.

As for Fbody auto vrs. stick, well that discussion is best taken up on an Fbody board. They still fight about it over there.
 
Any car can beat any car if you spend enough money. I didn't say it was impossible to beat the LT1 I just think its a waste of time and money. If you wanted a car that runs as fast as an LT1 then buy a car like that. Thats like me trying to get my T/A to hang with a Viper. Whats the point. The SC wasn't made to compete with LT1 track times.
 
So what you are saying is don't mod your car, if you want a fast car, then go buy one. (?) That makes about as much sense as saying why have a car that goes faster than the speed limit, you can't speed anyway, right?

Handing an Fbody his *** is one of the funnest things a person can do. I just pointed out that it is quite possible, and not that difficult.
 
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