Flipping through my Vette magazine last night looking at all the advertisements and such and mentally putting together a wish list of new things that i would like to do I realized something "whens enough HP" and will I ever be satisfied. Now I don't have as many goodies as many of you smokinvettes have, but still I found this to be a valid question! :D So when is when enough? ha ha ha

HP is dictated by ones wallet! :D

HP is dictated by ones wallet! :D

How true that is!

Flipping through my Vette magazine last night looking at all the advertisements and such and mentally putting together a wish list of new things that i would like to do I realized something "whens enough HP" and will I ever be satisfied. Now I don't have as many goodies as many of you smokinvettes have, but still I found this to be a valid question! :D So when is when enough? ha ha ha

Theres never to much! Unless you talk to my wife!

HP is dictated by ones wallet! :D

I completly understand this :D , you know what I mean? Assuming money is not an issue how far do you go?

Theres an adage with FI that as you increase the boost, the cost of repairing inevitable problems rises exponentially. That said, I'm not smart enough to heed that advice myself (I'm running 16 lbs of boost).

Theres an adage with FI that as you increase the boost, the cost of repairing inevitable problems rises exponentially. That said, I'm not smart enough to heed that advice myself (I'm running 16 lbs of boost).

Boys and their toys, I have added only modest upgrades! And thats good for me. :p

Boys and their toys, I have added only modest upgrades! And thats good for me. :p

Well said.

My advice to most is to stay stock or keep your power mods simple. A APS twin turbo set up will get you trouble free HP and a ton of low end power. It will easily boost the HP and Torque by 60%-65%. Anything more isn't practical even with tubbing the car and putting on extra wide drag radials(you will still spin the tires and have trouble hooking up). Anymore also requires meth injection, custom fuel pumps, separate radiators, oil coolers ....... Not worth it.

If you plan to road race the car, scrap what I've said and leave the engine alone. After you log a bunch of seat time and get some experience, then you can spring for a racing engine. Ie. Naturally Aspirated engines can be had for the bargain price of $20,000+. Ergo not for the faint of heart!

I read somewhere that everything should stay together up to about 400 - 450 RWHP. Above that you're looking at drivetrain, suspension/wheels & Tires ect.. upgrades. BUT I'm not sure about the application, meaning a DD with occasional HPDEs or like Tom, freguent track time...

Personally if you want occasional neck snapping power in between trips back and forth to work, get a GOOD NOS system. With 6 bolt mains ect.. our engine can handle a 150 shot used occasionally very easily... A 150 shot Wet or Dry) with typical mods, like in my sig will get you to this "mysterious" 400 - 450 RWHP number...

Your generally ok for street use until around 550-575 rwhp. That's if you don't dump the clutch and do some very tough launches for 1/4. If you do, you will probably need a clutch and output shaft upgrade. You don't need to forge your bottom end at that boost level.

A TT will get you that HP level, a maggie can get you to around 500 hp or centrif blower will do the job. The first two will get you more hp at low rpm ranges. The centrif blower won't feel like much until your spinning your engine 3,500 rpm+. The TT won't require the high rise hood upgrade of the maggie.

If your thinking seriously about road racing skip FI. Try cam and head upgrade or if you want serious hp, go bigger displacement NA.

If your thinking about a track only car (few are), you may want to stay with the stock engine, install some forged components, cyl heads, cam and increase the compression(13/1) and run race fuel(110 octane). That will get you a very powerful engine 500 hp, w a ton of low end torque for about $10,000.

Your generally ok for street use until around 550-575 rwhp. That's if you don't dump the clutch and do some very tough launches for 1/4. If you do, you will probably need a clutch and output shaft upgrade. You don't need to forge your bottom end at that boost level.

A TT will get you that HP level, a maggie can get you to around 500 hp or centrif blower will do the job. The first two will get you more hp at low rpm ranges. The centrif blower won't feel like much until your spinning your engine 3,500 rpm+. The TT won't require the high rise hood upgrade of the maggie.

If your thinking seriously about road racing skip FI. Try cam and head upgrade or if you want serious hp, go bigger displacement NA.

If your thinking about a track only car (few are), you may want to stay with the stock engine, install some forged components, cyl heads, cam and increase the compression(13/1) and run race fuel(110 octane). That will get you a very powerful engine 500 hp, w a ton of low end torque for about $10,000.

Hi Tom just out of curiousity, why stay stock with track car? Minus those few changes you spoke about? Are we talking about keeping the weight off?

There is never enough HP! Just never enough $$! :D

HP is dictated by ones wallet! :D

No kidding, parts seem to always be up there!

Hi Tom just out of curiousity, why stay stock with track car? Minus those few changes you spoke about? Are we talking about keeping the weight off?

Road race FI applications generally overheat the engines. On the street you can't boost compression and run racing fuel to get HP gains. On the track you can. A high compression track only car running 110 octane can generate the hp of a SC car, without overheating. It will run longer and have superior low end torque. Most race cars are NA.

Turbo race cars are a handful to drive because of the lag and overheat.

Road race FI applications generally overheat the engines. On the street you can't boost compression and run racing fuel to get HP gains. On the track you can. A high compression track only car running 110 octane can generate the hp of a SC car, without overheating. It will run longer and have superior low end torque. Most race cars are NA.

Turbo race cars are a handful to drive because of the lag and overheat.

Any ideas what sort of gains if any by running 110 octane at drag strip in stock to slightly modified Vette?

NA engines can generate significant HP gains by boosting the compression ratio. The only problem is you need to up the octane of the gas, to avoid detonating and blowing your engine. Ergo run 110 racing fuel. The higher octane fuel doesn't generate more HP, rather it allows you to boost the compression in the engine.

Extreme example: Normal vette OEM will run compression of about 10/1. The racing engine I'm building, which is a 427, will run at about 13/1 and generate about 800 hp at the crank and aout 700 at the wheels. An F1 engine, only about 1.5-1.8 liters, will generate over 800 hp because the compression ratio is over 20/1. Those engines last about 4-5 races.

By comparison, in order to generate that type of hp in a OEM compression environment, you need to run a SC or TT set up.

NA engines can generate significant HP gains by boosting the compression ratio. The only problem is you need to up the octane of the gas, to avoid detonating and blowing your engine. Ergo run 110 racing fuel. The higher octane fuel doesn't generate more HP, rather it allows you to boost the compression in the engine.

Extreme example: Normal vette OEM will run compression of about 10/1. The racing engine I'm building, which is a 427, will run at about 13/1 and generate about 800 hp at the crank and aout 700 at the wheels. An F1 engine, only about 1.5-1.8 liters, will generate over 800 hp because the compression ratio is over 20/1. Those engines last about 4-5 races.

By comparison, in order to generate that type of hp in a OEM compression environment, you need to run a SC or TT set up.

If these engine require higher octane to run? What are you doing when you out and about? If your car needs 110 Octane and the pump only has 93 Octane? Octane booster? Or you have a personal pit crew that is following you? 427? Thats a biggg motor! :D

HP is dictated by ones wallet! :D

Thats how it is, just like that! I have a 2001 that I have decided to pull the motor with a buddy of mine and send it off to be rebuilt, 1st time doing this! Where up in NJ so this keeps us in a nice warm garage for the winter!