Hello, I have a 2005 gt, auto, and just bought it and dont know squat about engines and that stuff. All I know is that it has flowmaster axle backs, spectre cold air intake, ram air, and it feels like it has gears....how exactly can i tell if i have a stock midpipe, gears, or u/d pulleys. I have no clue of all the mods made previously, and how would i do compared to a LS1 camaro...that is my goal is to beat a lightly modded LS1. Can someone help me.

 

the stock midpipe is a regular h-pipe (and there aren't that many aftermarket h-pipes that are catted; so if you have an h-pipe with cats in front, it is most likely stock), and your typical aftermarket setup for that is an o/r setup (no cats and the midpipe), and on top of that, most of those setups use an x-pipe instead (i hope that made sense ). so to make a long story short, if you have an h-pipe with cats, it's probably stock; if you have an x-pipe or a combo with no cats, it's aftermarket.

aftermarket u/d pulleys would probably be painted (black usually) and have the manufacturer's name on them as well; if they look kind of gray/brown in color, then they're stock.

for the gears, the best way i know is to tear the rear end out and have a look-see (but i've never delved into the realm of gears before).

now, for what you know you have on: the axlebacks won't gain much (maybe 5 hp max). i don't know too much about that brand cai, but from what i've found about them, it's probably not helping much either; maybe 7-10 hp gain max. and for the ram air, i'm not exactly sure what that would be; is it a shaker style hood, or one of those tubing things that run from the front fascia to the intake? so, with what you know you have the total hp gain is probably about 6-12 hp total (i know it's kind of a wide range, but each car's results are different)


ok, wrapping all that together for running against an ls1, if the ls1 is stock, it will probably be a drivers race between it and yours. to help, i'd recommend dumping the spectre cai and getting one that can properly utilize a tune (i.e. a c&l cai with a custom tune); a good cai/tune combo can usually gain you 25-30 rwhp. plus, if you have any other aftermarket parts, the tune could also be programed with those other parts in mind to squeeze a little more hp out. with that, you might have the edge over the ls1

 

+1 what xeno said. I'd get some help finding out what you do and don't have first. That way, you can work with or around those things. It's important to know before you do anything else.

Without going FI (forced induction), the CAI & tune combo are your bigger bang-for-the-buck. The CAI you have sounds like a no-tune-required CAI which isn't worth squat. I'm a bit more conservative than xeno and figure it's giving you MAYBE 4-6 RWHP. But I DO agree with the 25 or more RWHP from a good CAI & tune combo, preferrably from Brenspeed, Bama, Tillman or VMP. Also, any mods beyond the H or X pipe won't gain you squat. The stock exhaust flows well so there's no power gains to be had from other axlebacks or catbacks. You'll also be able to use the tune to optimize some of your other existing or future mods.

Read the forum stickies and you'll find out a lot of good info.

 

ewwww.... spectre, thats like the Autozone generic getto brand. I dont think your gaining anything from that man. Also, with the autos, you can gain BIG numbers and even better a feel of the tranny with a tune... no matter what you have, I would start with a SCT tuner. Only say SCT of diablo cause both Brenspeed and Bamachips tunes with them, so you can have either email you a tune. Start wtih one of there canned performance tunes while you figure out what you have on there. Then once you have the first couple parts you want on there, and you know what you have, then get a good intake that is tune required and get a custom emailed tune. If you buy all the parts from the same place (brenspeed for example) I dont think they will even charge you for the tune.

so:

Step 1 - Figure what you got
Step 2 - Get good intake (x pipe also if you feel frisky)
Step 3 - (maybe 2 1/2) get a handheld tuner with a custom tune for above parts.

Good luck


OH!!! Check the for sale section often here, the s197 classifieds. You can almost always snag a good deal on these parts.

 

if your car has gears and wasnt tuned or had the speedo calibrated it will probably off, so i guess a good way to find out is check your speed, I know i accidently didnt put the right ratio on my sct one time and put 3.73 instead of 4.10 (what i have) and the speedo was saying i was going faster than i really was.

 

you're right, i was probably a little too high with those numbers... all the non-tune cai's i've seen have averaged 7-10 on a dyno, so i was just going by that. but, looking at that particular cai, 4-6 (if not less) is more like it.

just look at those 'mandrel bends'