Best use of $5000 on a vz SS ute 5.7

[Tonner Matt]

Just to show you how quickly your $5000 can disappear take the exhaust system on my ute for example:
# 1 3/4" Pacemaker 4 into 1 extractors with 3" outlet $700 delivered.
# Ceramic coating of extractors $400. Not mandatory but was my personal choice
# Pacemaker Hi-flow cats with 3" inlet 2 1/2" outlet $800 delivered. This could have been done cheaper by buying the cats myself online and having them fitted to the car at an exhaust shop.
# 2 1/2" Manta Stainless steel twin system consisting of dual hotdogs and rear resonator. $1100 delivered. Stainless isn't necessary but again my personal choice as the system came with a 10 year warranty.
That is a total of $3000 and that was without labour as I fitted it all up myself. Could it have been done cheaper....most definitely.
But if I had to do the exhaust system again I would. And I would do it with the same parts and the same setup because I am impressed with the quality of the parts I chose to use and it sounds ******* awesome too.

All I'm trying to point out is that:
Mods aren't cheap and cheap mods aren't always good.
Paying for someone else to do everything will eat away at your funds pretty quickly.
Even having a workshop source or supply your parts required for the job puts you at risk of paying a hefty % mark up on their cost.

My advice is to research what you want, learn about those parts and shop around for the best deal.
Get quotes from shops and put the mods & costs up here for discussion. People will definitely comment when it comes to comparing prices.
Lots of new performance parts can be had for a reasonable price on Ebay if you know what you are looking for.

 

[harrop.senator]

If you can have someone fit the parts for you cheapish you'll get much further . Used prices for extractord cats and cat back is usually $500. Ive paid $70 for a twin 2.5" mild supercat catbsck system before. Exhaust shop labours usually cheaper then a mechanic.

You can get magnaflow 100 cpi cats for usually $150 ea new or so and have them welded in. Used headers are usually 150-250 a set.

Gm hotcams out of us can be bought cheap and being roller lobe wears usually minimal. I have found sealed power (federal mogul, general motors) lifters are always very good for the price.

If it were me id look for a used turbo set up or supercharger set up with pcm and exhaust.

 

[lowandslow]

Throw a full exhaust system at it, a clutch, OTR and a set of 3.9 gears. No point paying for a tune now if you want to cam it later on as you will most likely have to pay full cost again.

 

[harrop.senator]

Youll need to have it tuned to go otr as it removes the maf.

 

[Surfwagon]

Duspeed now do a OTR that will work with the VZ style Maf.

 

[lowandslow]

OTR's have been maf friendly for years

 

[Tonner Matt]

Surfwagon and lowandslow are absolutely 100% correct.
The days of having to go mafless because you want to fit an OTR are loooooooooooooong gone.
VCM do an OTR that accepts the MAF also.

I have the OTR pictured below for sale in as new condition. Might have to pull my finger out and post it in the for sale section

 

[Zeke Topanaga]

Surfwagon and lowandslow are absolutely 100% correct.
The days of having to go mafless because you want to fit an OTR are loooooooooooooong gone.
VCM do an OTR that accepts the MAF also.

I have the OTR pictured below for sale in as new condition. Might have to pull my finger out and post it in the for sale section
View attachment 190728

That type of air filter is the best way to get instant throttle response, I would not touch anything for a few months as you never know what problem you have bought, a mate has his VZ up for sale with the same k's but has been flogged the **** out off and when cold, it has that type of air filter on it and MAF less the rest is stock but for the 3.9 diff, intake growl sounds good when flat out. but he it did boil it once trying to keep up with me and the ute was about 3yo then, so they do hinder the radiator cooling a bit, but we were flat out for say half an hour, till that happened.

Going the 3.9 diff does nothing much but good for towing, if VZ sedan has the 3.73 diff but the VZ ute came with 3.46 and mate had to then go 3.9 in his VZ ute, when he bought the VZ ute he thought he was getting the 3.73 with it and he thought that he could live with that, but sure had a spac attack when found out the bastard came with 3.46.
He had to put 3.9 in his VY SS ute that he had before.

The 3.9 did nothing but made it quicker in 1st gear off the line and much slower over 210KM/H because she had run out in 5th gear and 6th is useless.
Once I was in 2ed gear and on I could out perform his VZ and mine was a stock VY SS just with the speed limiter removed.
The lower diff gives better response coming through some corners and it feels good to drive flat out, but plodding around town I mainly only use 1st to 3rd to 5th even with stock 3.46 diff taking off, rowing through every gear in town is just crap and even more so with low gears.
So I never bothered to lower the diff, but if I blew the diff up 3.73 would be good as only 1st and 6th is a bit to high geared at times.

With a worked engine with a big cam and 3.9 diff is the go for sure.

 

[harrop.senator]

Thats awesome to know about the maffed otr intakes unsure if the difference was just in the tunes or easier to fine tweak with the maf. But ive always found friends that retained their maf with their ls motors always had a bit better manners around town.

 

[Zeke Topanaga]

Thats awesome to know about the maffed otr intakes unsure if the difference was just in the tunes or easier to fine tweak with the maf. But ive always found friends that retained their maf with their ls motors always had a bit better manners around town.

Old mate destroyed his VZ MAF some how thinking he was bright, pulled the netting guts out of it I think, because he was informed that the VY type was crap, so he thought the VZ was crap as well and that's why his VZ ended up a MAF less tune, but the tuner said that the MAF was a good thing in the VZ so he had to go MAF less tune again.

I find that the long piping of the air filter to the throttle body restricts instant response, maybe a bit to do with the tune as well.