I would reconsider the crawford plenum only because i think running a strut bar is more important. Have u thought about the plenum spacers??? The 5/16 motordyne will give u roughly the same gains as a new plenum such as your crawford. I dont think its worth it to lose your strut bar IMO. BTW thats a good price for the polished kit. I hear Avalon has the best pricing.

 

Yeah I like the Crawford plenum but I was looking at the parts list for the Vortech Kit and I think I saw something that said plenum spacer but that may have been a seal? I would agree to not get the Crawford if the motordyne will work the same. I dont really want to give up the strut bar because I live near some great roads that I can really tear it up on. Are Headers a must? I will have the HKS.

 

Must be a seal or something...look into the motordyne spacer, i hear its a great buy for what you gain. Headers, i dont know, i read mixed reviews of them. For, i dont know, 950-1200 something for nismo headers and u gain what 5-9 hp, not worth it to me. Maybe DC headers would be a better buy (i know backagain runs them), but i dont know, maybe look around for people who run headers with their vortech. Ask them how they feel.

 

nismos will give you more than 5-9hp if you are with a SC. With SC you have to pretty much get all the bolt ons in if you want maxium power.

 

Thread Updated!! Slowly but surely filling in the blanks.

1) Vortech S/C Kit Should I get T-trim?
2) 2.87 or 3.12 pulley
3) Gauges- Whats neccesary?
4) Return Fuel System- What Brand?
5) Crawford High Flow Cats
6) HKS Ti High Power Exhaust
7) Upgrade Belt-Gates 93"
8) 550c Injectors-Rc
9) Walbro Fuel Pump-size?
10) E- Management-which one?
11) New Spark Plugs-Which brand? Gapped to?
12) New Clutch- Which one?
13)Anyone help is great in this thread.
14) What else do I need for the F/I?

 

Holy crap thats a huge list,. You are going to be spending a chit load of money.

1. Tuner kit if u want to do your own EM stuff, otherwise just go fullkit, get polished one if u like a purdy engine bay
2. i'd start off with 3.12, if u go 2.87 right away u void warranty
3. Boost, wideband, and fuel pressure if u getting a fuel system
4. AAM i hear is pretty good
5. They cool
6. Good brand, quality and power
7. You have to do this if u change pulley, again i'd start 3.12 otherwise bye bye warranty right off the bat
8. Only needed if u trying to get like 450+ hp
9. Not sure size, look around i guess
10. Utech is by far the best, but greddy emange ultimate i hear works well with vortech
11. NGK 1 step colder
12. Dont bother getting a new clutch right off the bat, again do that later if needed
13. Hope i helped, i'm learning from my own experience as well
14. You are building a supermachine thats going to cost bucks, what is your budget? These things can get out of hand.

 

1. I need to research EM better to see if I could do it, or the full kit.
2. If I get the 3.12 pulley it will void in a year anyways. Might as well get 2.87
3. Gotta find quality gauges for a good price. Cost?
4. Gotta check out AAM. Cost?
5. On the hunt for Crawfords HFC
6. HKS Rules I hope.
7. Gates- Belt for either pulley 3.12 or 2.87
8. 550c Rc Injectors. Fuel rail needed??? Hope not.
9. Walbro Fuel Pump size and cost?
10. U-tech or Greddy?
11. NGK- one step Colder- Brrr
12. I can wait for a clutch. If i could.
13. Maybe motordyne 5/16? Anyone with done w/vortech?
14. Great Help so far. Thanks
15. My budget is around $8k. I think it is possible. I have a great(FREE) mechanic and access to a lift. I want a solid 400whp and a very reliable safe daily driver without hassles.

15. Wow all the options and opinions. Scared to order anything for fear it is wrong. Ordering Hks and cats 2mrw.

 

BTW buffmanjeff, my list is not too much longer than yours. What budget are you aiming for and is it what was expected? Mine keep getting higher$$$. Not what I like.

 

Dude, you are headed on the right track. So far from my list that you've seen on my thread, i've spent like 8000 bucks, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut i dont have a free mechanic to put on my vortech. I hope you suck that guy off or something rewarding to him. This will cost me another G to put everything on (vortech, gauges, spacer, blah blah blah). My brother is a mechanic, but i wanted someone with experience with the vortech to put it on. I would feel more comfortable that way knowing my car wasn't an experiment and it will be done right the first time. Not that i dont trust my brother, but i just want that piece of mind. If i'm going to be spending this much money, might as well be right. My bro is however doing everything that doesn't involve the charger directly (exhaust, hfc, ect.). If i added your list up correctly, you are at about 11 Gs, only because utech will cost you about 950 and if you get a return fuel system thats another G. Also dont forget, you are going to need a good quality tune, another 500 dollars. Plus small things like oil change. When u get gauges, you will also have to weld a bung for the wideband or EGT. My original "planned budget" was 6500, but boy was i off. In the end, i'm spending about 9500 and hoping nothing goes wrong where i'll have to spend even more money. I'm getting everything done this weekend (besides tune of course) so if you want to meet up sometime, i'll give you a ride. I also have some quotes i've gotten from shops about costs of everything, one shop quoted me 15K for everything Keep searching man, you are on the right track.

 

got your PM New2350


At this point, I'm not so sure getting a different EMS like the UTEC or emanage ultimate is really going to be the MUCH better setup that people make it out to be over the SS box. they're all piggybacks and they're all going to react slower than the stock ECU will. Meaning you might have "target A/F" but the piggybacks only reach that target A/F by making adjustments after you went WOT and adjust a second after the fact. The ECU is capable of making adjustments while you're going WOT. Anyway long story short, as long as you use quality fuel and go WOT, a well tuned piggyback like the SS box should work fine.

Several if not most people running the vortech are running the SS box with good results - and a much easier install than the Utech or EU - and easier to learn for a shop that hasn't used one of these before. Be sure to check out the used market - lots of unichips and SS boxes being sold here and there.

a full return fuel system is going to run you $1000 and install will be another $400 or so depending on what experience the installer has. So far the instructions on the AAM and CJM aren't super great last I heard.

Definetly get a set of 550 injectors - buy used. Start a thread and wait at least a week for people to reply cause they're out there and want to sell you theirs. $300 is a reasonable price

go with the 3.12 pulley or 2.87 pulley. I'm not convinced the intercooler is too small at this point and don't think you'll require water injection, but you might want to run some race gas as insurance, especially with the 2.87 pulley. If you get the 2.87 pulley, have some timing pulled up top cause 12 lbs of boost is a lot. I personally wouldn't do the 2.87 unless you for sure had a fairly open exhaust and at least high flow cats. Otherwise that 12 lbs of boost will turn into 14-15 lbs of boost with a near stock breathing and that pressure is going to be more capable of hurting things and building up heat

walbro 255 high flow pump will be needed - $90 or so.

you do not need a new clutch. Stock will be fine for probably awhile with the vortech. Expect it to last 5-10k miles. If it lasts longer consider yourself lucky. It can last up to 30k miles in some cases with FI


the plenum spacer would probably work just fine - would be ideal to install while the fuel injectors are going in since it'll all have to come off anyway.


gauges are up to you. The defi D-gauges match the stock amber/orange gauges at nighttime, but there's a lot of gauges out there that are high quality gauges. Be sure you get a wideband A/F gauge - not all A/F guages are wideband. The zetronics ZT-2 is a decent unit that offers 4 gauges in 1 for like $400 or something, but lambda is kinda useless - basically it's A/F normalized by a 14.7 ratio, but it has a wideband capable A/F gauge. I went with the more expensive and pain in the butt innovative A/F gauge.

IMO you will need A/F and oil temp as your most needed gauges. A boost gauge I believe is less important on a SC than a turbo because it's rare for a SC to have boost spikes etc. But a boost gauge would be high on the list. Everyone is going to have a slightly different opinion. BTW if you do get an aftermarket fuel system, they come with a fuel pressure gauge that's mounted in the engine bay for someone to look at while tuning to adjust fuel pressure. It's not needed in the cabin so much, but of course never hurts to have. I'm sure some people will disagree with my opinions on what's important etc. It's up to you with how many gauges you want in the car with how many places you're ok with mounting them and what you can afford

the big debate to me is whether to get the full or tuner vortech kit. Life is simpler with the full vortech kit, but for the same money you can get potentially better parts if you're willing to spend the extra labor/headache getting them installed and working and find someone who's comfortable tuning the EMS

a big thing though is to make sure you have some sticky tires. Get wide tires and get some aggressive tires that probably don't do so well in the wet but will work in the dry really well - and be careful in the wet. I'd recommend BFG KD or something more aggressive, but there's a lot of good choices.

 

I think I will stay with the full kit because I am not too savy on tuning and the nearest tuner will be 3 hours away. I am not sure of the disadvantages of the full kit except I wont be able to fine tune the engine ( which would confuse me anyway). Doesn't the ss box come with the Vortech?

Im thinking I will go with the 3.12 pulley for now and for safety reasons. Does everyone concur on this? I will have an OPEN exhaust : 2.5 HKS Duals with Crawford HFC.

So.... Should I go with the Full kit instead of the Tuner Kit? The 3.12 or 2.87
Dont forget daily driver. The list is filling in great. I am currently on the hunt for parts so if anyone has someone they would like to refer I am open to all suggestions new or used. Thanks guys.

 

ss box comes with the full kit. 3.12 will reduce the warranty to 1 year, 2.87 will void the warranty completely. My advise, start with 3.33, drive some miles, if u want more power, go 3.12. HKS is nice, but be prepared to blow the ladies dresses off cuz that sucker is going to be super loud. My APS was quiet until i got the charger on. More airflow = louder, way louder, and i haven't even had a chance to install the HFCs yet. This weekend definately.

 

the SS box does come with the full kit. You're going to need to get the car custom tuned if you go with the 3.12 and bigger injectors and whatever exhaust setup you end up choosing. Really the stock vortech tune is designed for a stock car with stock injectors with the stock pulley.

I think some people might send you their tuning maps if the SS box is capable of exporting maps, but you still want to get your specific car tuned. Tuning is key

I think the SS box can scale injectors so I think it's ok to use it, but you're going to need to get it tuned - do yourself a favor and just make the drive and be sure to resist the temptation to floor the gas until you're tuned.

 

Yeah No flooring it till tuned. I am going to have everything installed by my mechanic and then tow the car (3 hours) to a tuner probably before I fire it up. I want to have them do a complete check on everything and then tune it.
1.So do you guys think it is ok to get the full kit with all my mods and then just have it tuned or get the tuner kit and have them tune it that way. I am aiming for 400-450whp and I want to be able to get there with the full kit if I can.
2.I am still wanting the 3.12 pulley to make sure I get the full use of the injectors and whp I want.

 

I'm going to say that without headers and cams you're going to be closer to 400whp than 450whp

towing the car would probably be wise since who knows if something would go wrong and you're stranded

 

I think it is up in the air about headers: no huge gains. As far as cams I dont know. I want between 400 and 450. If I got 400whp I would be dissapointed.

 

yeah they're not the best power/$ mod out there but headers will get you like 10-20whp and about the same amount of torque with a vortech. They're one of the few ways to really get torque out of the vortech setups

cams would probably be the better deal over headers, but hard to say. You'd want to ceramic coat the headers too

 

subscribing......... want to here more on how well it gose for you....I.to am in the mix of upgrading to FI, Vortec also...

Make sure your mechanic has experance in what his is doing you will also have to test and tune on the dyno.....

Alot of good info on here thanks to fellows Z bros.....

Good Luck I'll post back after they complete my in stall next week..

 

actually the 3.9 final drive is something I recommend with the vortech for people who have a good tire setup and LSD.

 

I will be having great tires and 19x10.5 in the rear so I will look into the 3.9 final gear drive. Any good links? I have the Performance edition with VLSD if that matters. I think I am going to set up a dyno appt. before my HKS install at my local speed shop. They have a dynoJet.