NOT TRUCK, but WTF do i do.. so indecisive...Need some advice.
Alright, so i figured perhaps i would bounce this off a few of you and maybe get some constructive advice.
I am working on my gto, and have hit a wall as far as what the heck i want to do with it.
Currently ive got about every bolt on i can find for the ls2, along with a pretty nasty nitrous kit ive not even used yet. I am still running stock heads, so yea i realize i could do heads and make more power but thats where im haulted. I want MORE power not just more power
I have raced a few people locally and, well... Im not sure with the nitrous on here its even going to be what i want. Yes i could probably beat a few of the cars, but its not that someone is faster, its that i have reasoned with myself that the car is only around a 130 trapping car with what ive got which IMO isnt what i need to stay entertained.. I realize that there will always be someone faster, and thats an endless battle, however these are not all out race cars that are getting me, and it gets to be a bit discouraging and i begin to lose interest if i cant beat the average run of the mill stuff(please done assume thats a pompus statement, im just used to my old rx7 that was as fast as this gto would be on spray on an almost stock ls6). This has just dummed down my perspective on how fast the car actually is since i realize its been ages since i ripped in my rx7 setup. Now where i stand is ive got all kinds of parts and i dont know what the hell i want to do.
I have a master power gt45 with the .66/1.22 wheels, a tial q valve blow off valve, tial 44mm gate, a godspeed whatever ebay brand 24x14x3 dual 3 inch outlet intercooler, truck manifolds/ls4 manifolds (since the gto is a bit cramped and i dunno which will work), and piping to set things up.
On the car now ive also got a big nitrous kit with big nx solenoids, nitrogen assisted 4500psi setup, bad ass wheel speed progressive controller, lingenfelter lnc-002 timing controller, huge fuel system, yadda yadda yadda.
Parts of me want to sell the turbo stuff since the extent of the fab work needed is going to put this car down for a while, not to mention i think its going to kill a lot of the reliability i seek since the configuration used makes the turbo sit right on the radiator(just an inch or so away, and stuff is SUPER CRAMPED) and i have to remove the abs, have downpipe running right alongside brake lines, move all sorts of crap in order to achieve the kit i am looking for/can grow into with a forged motor if im going to spend the time/cash to fab stuff up, bla bla bla. This car is primarially a street car, but ive got plans of taking it some events.... but more or less its well, a highway car. Now i know some may get turned away by that thinking im some jaggoff street racer kid or whatever, but i dont really need someone on the highway next to me, im just saying the car in general is not a car im building to drive like a tractor around turns, its something i want to handle very well, and handle big speed decently without boiling down from stuff sitting on top of the radiator, ect...With this in mind, ive contemplated getting a procharger setup, and going with an f1a(or even severely modding a d1sc) that i will run very low boost levels(unless i got the d1sc) on while i am building a longblock (wanted to do ls2 block with a forged rotating assembly 408-418 or so, arp fasteners, and some thick deck tfs 235's with larger combustion chambers). As any of you know, that order alone is close to 7 grand after machine work, not to mention im going to need all kinds more parts like a bigger clutch, better intercooler, bypass valve, better routing of ic pipes (since i was shooting for over 850 if ive got a block in here thats built). This is whats starting to overwhelm me at the moment and make me realize i may not need to hurdle from right around 500 to 850 at the moment to be as fast as i currently desire in a 3300lb car.
Parts of me have considered a tvs 2300 for simplicity.. however instead of getting the 213412341234 dollar kit, just getting the unit itself, a better larger heat exchanger of my own, using my 102 throttlebody and machining whats necessary to make it work on the unit, then having a 102 fast intake to sell i wont be using anymore..(as you can probably tell, even if its on a stock motor for now, the forced induction i run is not going to be an off the shelf setup, even the procharger id probably want to redo the intercooler setup so it runs over the radiator directly into the 102, as well as some other changes). As far as the tvs, The cool part of this idea is how simple i could bolt this on, and be ready to go even on my stock block for a while just needing to swap my g6x3 cam out for an appropreate blower cam. I wouldnt need to do all sorts of fab work aside from making the throttlebody work, but call me a riceboy or a redneck, i just really like to make noise. I love how i can pull into a lot and shake people down with this big cam now, and having a cog converted/race bypassed big procharger on a rough blower cam would just give me a boner alone, keeping me a little entertained. From a friends tvs car, its pretty tame as far as noise, however seeing as this car has tiny fenders on the back of it, i can only get a 275 tire on here. The instant thrust of that roots style kit is going to make this car SCARY ive got a feeling and it may run out of the steam i enjoy at big end? Maybe im an idiot with that assumption.
Basically, sitting in august, im kind of looking for some instant gratification and putting this motor together during the winter instead of getting in an enron costing project right now buying the internals, and everything else. Id like to get something on this stock motor for at least a little while before it gets cold that would give me some consistent continual power. I realize i can just hit the arm switch and have quite a bit of power seeing as im already making just a hair under 500 (488/459) with my car naturally aspired. I just dont want something that i am basically driving around on juice all the time, and end up melting an electrode off a plug, snapping a rod bolt, bla bla, cause i know once i feel the power, that will be my "fast" from then on out and it will feel slow without spray. I also know ill be ending up holding it entirely too long as i like the big end of things.
As far as im concerned, with 600-700 on tap constantly, id be pretty happy for the time being. I realize that may sound like a tall order for stock internals, but ive got a couple friends with stock ls2's and d1 prochargers that are upgraded that have made 620s for like 20 thousand miles and are pretty hard on them. Perhaps its just the nature of the procharger, perhaps the cars are just freaks, perhaps the dyno is made by communists and is wrong, who knows. All i can tell you is these cars absoloutely RAPE my car, and its hard for me to believe i can keep up with them with 125-150 hit that im going to have to shut off after a few seconds unless i want to be floor drying the oil slick off the road/track/runway/whatever.
Im just between selling my parts, buying a procharger kit, keeping my parts and building manifolds and using a small amount of spray to spool it up then shutting it off at a certain boost level(if the turbo sucks or is too big or is ineficient), buying a tvs2300, ahhhh!
I remember when decisions were easy to make! Anymore its like ive got the parts, but i dont know if i want to use them. I kind of thought about putting this on my 84 c20 for a while but realize, its the daily driver project and i want it to run seamless for years and have no need to dump these parts onto it. All that idea is turning into is, oh i now need a converter for this, and a shift kit, and a servo kit, and better this, and better that, and ultimately ANOTHER headache project i dont need to get distracted with. Id rather just keep it as stock as can be aside from some mild stuff like a stock ls2 cam and intake in the 5.3 and what gto stock parts ive got left over just so its reliable.
I hope i dont sound like a super dumbass here, i guess im just all over the place. Either way, the gto is about to get a very badass rear end setup thats more or less bomb proof, so that weak link is going to be out the door. I will more than likely have to upgrade the clutch and so forth for the forged motor goals, but can wait on that for a bit.. The only thing is, when i start adding stuff up, it just seems like a biblical length project thats going to be sitting for a while. Id like to at least get some use out of this thing this summer/fall and have some more fun. At the same time i guess ive got some friends telling me the turbo is a joke and the intercooler is a joke and i need better parts, that in the end are going to tag the price back up to nearly what a procharger that just bolts on the car will do.
The extent of the fab work needed to make this turbo work is going to be pretty intense, however in reality if i were to swap cams and run the turbo/parts i have on the stock ls2 motor, i pretty much have everything i need already. Is this turbo too big or a joke in reality with what ive got? If it is, couldnt i just use this uber expensive elaborate nitrous kit ive got to spool it up if its laggy on my 364? If i have too much compression, couldnt i just swap to some 317 heads cheaply and put some head studs on here while im at it?
Im sorry to ask all these questions, or build one thing up over another then kick it down with my next synopsis, i just am literally at this phase :rolly: in this project.
Any suggestions are glady appreciated. Im not looking to argue or anything, and im sorry if some think im some vin diesel street racer dunce, i guess im just trying to give you a good idea of what i want. I dont want some 90-10 drag shock deal that handles like crap, i dont really want something that sucks ass off the line and wont get going till its going 60mph, i do want something thats going to do well at all ranges of the powerband and make good power, and eventhough it may be extreme now for this stock block, i can grow into it with the new motor without redoing everything again. Redoing stuff is starting to wear thin on my patience and make me lose interest just as having my toy sitting on jackstands waiting for fab work to make things work.
Thanks again for the bandwidth and taking the time to read my lengthy/winded battle in my brain. Perhaps my recent stress load increase is putting me out of the zone and making these decisions a bit harder than they used to be. Either way i am going to stop talking and drink some more strongbow for the moment.
