LS1 Newby Power plan

[Florro]

Hi everyone, yes I am a newby and I am going to ask newby questions. Sorry in advance.

I have just entered the wonderful land of LS1 and am pleasantly surprised with the engine. It revs up faster than I expected and has a good amount of power. (But that is never enough is it)

The car we have just brought is an 05 Berlina and is bog stock. FE2 suspension, leather seats and that is about it. It is a daily driver and the Mrs drives it the most of the time. So I am not after a lot of power but just a bit more than your average. My thoughts so far are:

Tri-Y Extractors
High Flow Cats
Cat back Exhaust
OTR CAI
Mafless tune

I would like to get some opinions for the best brand, CAI, extractors & exhaust as well some thoughts about the mafless tune. I have never had a mafless tune done on a car and am unsure as to how it will effect day to drive-ability and fuel consumption. I have seen some claims from "Stage 1" kits to save up to 15% in fuel economy is this likely or would they be running a very lean tune?

The other thing I wanted to ask is... On my VX XU6 my tuner had put bascially 2 tunes it using kalmaker software. When the power button was off it was an economical tune with regular shift points, when the power was pressed it ran a different fuel map and shift points. Is it possible to do the same again?

[185iboy]

Hard to say which brand is best regarding OTR's. Some are good, some are overpriced, some don't fit too well. I can throw up the names 'Ramjet' by GM Motorsport, VCM OTR by Autotechnique and HPF (Horsepower Factory) all in VIC. There's also DUS and Russo.

Tri Y's are fine, cats you can choose from Ballistic, Outlaw, Venom, plenty more! Catbacks there's endless choices and threads to search on. Xforce can drone a bit on an auto there's also Difillipo, Manta, Sureflo.

Mafless tunes are the way to go but are illegal if you get pulled up..good to keep a standard computer handy at home in case. Not too sure if the two different tunes are possible.

[RARASV8]

Hard to say which brand is best regarding OTR's. Some are good, some are overpriced, some don't fit too well. I can throw up the names 'Ramjet' by GM Motorsport, VCM OTR by Autotechnique and HPF (Horsepower Factory) all in VIC. There's also DUS and Russo.

Tri Y's are fine, cats you can choose from Ballistic, Outlaw, Venom, plenty more! Catbacks there's endless choices and threads to search on. Xforce can drone a bit on an auto there's also Difillipo, Manta, Sureflo.

Mafless tunes are the way to go but are illegal if you get pulled up..good to keep a standard computer handy at home in case. Not too sure if the two different tunes are possible.

with your auto the tuner will tune it for both normal and power button, the misses ss is alot better to drive with the mafless tune, auto changes firmer and precise, more acceleration with less pedal required, and with the power button it steps side ways from 1st to 2nd.
with a tune economy usually drops 1-2 l/100k's

Garry

[whitels1ss]

with a tune economy usually drops 1-2 l/100k's

Garry

Just to be 100% clear, you do mean it improves by not drops by.....don't you? (It gets better economy?)

[RAVENLS1]

Hard to say which brand is best regarding OTR's. Some are good, some are overpriced, some don't fit too well. I can throw up the names 'Ramjet' by GM Motorsport, VCM OTR by Autotechnique and HPF (Horsepower Factory) all in VIC. There's also DUS and Russo.

Tri Y's are fine, cats you can choose from Ballistic, Outlaw, Venom, plenty more! Catbacks there's endless choices and threads to search on. Xforce can drone a bit on an auto there's also Difillipo, Manta, Sureflo.

Mafless tunes are the way to go but are illegal if you get pulled up..good to keep a standard computer handy at home in case. Not too sure if the two different tunes are possible.

you forgot to mention extractors and a catback will make too loud and illegal too

[Florro]

thanks heaps for the replies everyone. I have actually considered the xforce exhaust. I was recommended it by the local exhaust bloke because it has less drone than the other ones he sells. :-/ So I am little confused now. I know any mods I do will make it illegal but these are the risks we take driving modified cars.

[DaveHAT]

3.46 diff gears
Opened standard cats
Cat back Exhaust
OTR CAI
Mafless tune

Revised/better value list IMO

CATBACK - all much of a muchness on a bolt on car. Anyone who honestly believes otherwise is having you on.
CAI - DUS OTR ... best fit & finish on VZI and earlier cars.
EXTRACTORS V's DIFF GEARS - You'll get more seat of the pants fun & kick in the arse from a second hand set of manual 3.46 gears than you will from extractors and fancy cats. It'll more that likely work out cheaper too.


Just my opinions.

[JT]

thanks heaps for the replies everyone. I have actually considered the xforce exhaust. I was recommended it by the local exhaust bloke because it has less drone than the other ones he sells. :-/ So I am little confused now. I know any mods I do will make it illegal but these are the risks we take driving modified cars.

xforce WILL drone, difillipo much better in that regard.From my experience anyway.
keep a lookout for VYII HSV 285 headers, they pop up relatively cheap from time to time.
3.46 or even 3.7 diff gears will liven it right up

[Waughy]

I'm in the same boat, having just purchased an auto LS1 VZ Calais, a "small" step up from the carby 5L VL Calais I have at home. Exhaust is more about the note than power from what I've been lead to believe. You'll get a bit more power but nothing big. The VL has Genie headers, high flow metal core cat and 2-1/2 inch cat back with no resonator. It's not too loud, doesn't drone and sounds very nice to me. I'm looking to do something with the VZ to get a decent note out of it, either pacemaker or DiFillipo extractors, some hi flow cats and a twin 2-1/2 inch system. I'm yet to speak with my local exhaust guy but he's pretty good so should be able to do something good with things.
I'll need to do something with the intake side of things as my airbox has been raped by the revious owner, with holes drilled all over the place. Was thinking of just getting another box and doing a 2 hole mod, possibly with the monaro intake shroud. Still got a bit of research to do there. Same with diff gears, hadn't really thought about it but it's been mentioned a few times now so might be worth looking into.
Are HSV headers worth looking at? I've been told they aren't that great, still better than the standard manifolds though.

[surfwagon]

To Florro and waughy as has been said before, best performance bang for buck with LS1's is diff gears.
Unlike the old 5L which had masses of low down torque but didn't like to rev the LS1's are doughy down low but love to rev and never feel strained liike the old 5L.
On a stock LS1 some 3.46 (or even 3.73 if you don't do a lot of highway driving) will wake these things up.
As for eaxhaust there isn't a lot to be gained from a catback in power, you just need to find one that sounds right to you personally not what everyone else likes.
Have fun fellas.

[Florro]

Thanks surfwagon. I honestly hadnt considered the diff gears, mainly due to the fact we do a fair bit of highway driving and I thought it would have really effected fuel economy. Particularly with the VZ only being the 4 speed auto

I'll have a bit more of a look into it and see what its like on the fuel.