I'm considering getting an '05 AT Z, and thinking about FI, but am concerned about damage to engine or tranny. Stock 287HP just doesn't seem enough. I want to be able to hang (maybe even beat) an '05 Vette. With all the TC & SC kits available for the Z, most seem to add about 100hp which is good enough for me. I'm mostly concerned with safety & relibility. Keeping in mind that it will be an auto tranny, which would be the best:
- turbo or supercharger?
- which brand?

Money isn't much of a consideration at this point.

The other option I'm considering is an '05 Vette because of the horsepower/torque but I like Japanese cars much more than domestics.

Thanks!

PS: Forgot to mention: It has to be 50-state street legal

 

Auto z will more than handle the horsepower but you will want a valve body upgrade and cooler to help minimize slip and wear. Some will tell you a torque converter but that does nothing to minimize wear on the tranny but it will help you get your launch rpms up. The 5sp auto being used in the Z is the same one in the Titan P/U with a 9000lb towing capacity so I don't think structural integrity of the tranny will ever be an issue.
With F/I you most likely will NOT be able to let the thing shift in auto mode at wot because the little bit of extra time the auto takes to shift lets the engine hit the rev-limiter.
An ecu reflash to raise the rev-limiter out of the way of the shift command may resolve this, I haven't tried it yet but I can promise you the Valve body did not fix this like level ten promised it would.
A lot of people will tell you that you should be shifting in manual mode anyway but I can tell you that that SUCKS because the manual shift mode is just a signal to the tranny to shift and there is a BIG delay from when you tell it to shift and when it does shift., It does this even on N/A cars and it is not due to slip as it even does at part throttle shifts on N/A cars. To make this happen when racing you have to watch the rpms and shift around 500 rpms before redline. This sucks for trying to be consisitent.

Incidentally our ATI'ed Auto 350 is running mid to low 12's which will smoke most any stock 'Vette, Mustangs and Camaros so it is plenty fun. It's also a daily driver.

 

Thanks wfcall, some really good info & sounds promising. Any more thoughts?
Trying to avoid buying the Vette. I think I'd like a turbo'd Z much more

Also, thinking turbo but unsure of which brand/kit.

 

If you go Vortech SC, send your ECU to Technosquare during the install and get the "Limited Flash". It gives you 100% throttle, removes speed limiter and rev limiter increased to 7100 rpm. Solves that shift problem in the "A" Mode.

 

Also, you might consider going 6MT since you haven't bought the car yet. If you're not a big fan of stick shift driving, one race car driving class will probably convert you into one.

 

If you're thinking you need 100hp only on demand(next to a vette),then buy a nitrous kit(ZEX is cheap,easy & safe).If you always want hp,then buy a TT or SC.The only carb approved FI system available is the Stillen SC.If that's not enough,try both FI & n2o.
Wait,what am I saying.FI & n2o,that's NUTS!