LS1 free mods?
 

so what are some "free" mods for the LS1??

coolant tb bypass, cutting the bottom of the air box.

there are a few things like the IAT tricker, which requires a certain resistor. this is good only if you have the stock tune.

you can also make a skip shift eliminator with a certain resistor as well.

^ +1 and weight reduction: delete the rear seats and seat belts, get rid of sound deadening, egr and air delete, ac delete....depends on what you can deal with.

I did all the free mods and cant say I felt a difference. The filter gets dirty a lot faster with the free ram air. Interior noise is louder w/o deadening. more room where seats were though.

LS1 DM.

Not really a free mod but you should try the FTRA or SSRA ram air kits.

Wondering also, already have the ac delete

I considered them, but just not worth the $ in my opinion

!EGR and !AIR cleans up the engine bay a LOT and makes for much quicker plug changes (that reason alone is worth it ten fold IMO). TB bypass ain't bad, I had the IAT tricker on my car when I first got it, ripped it off and went back to stock, wasn't worth it, noticed zero difference. If you are clever you can P&P your own throttle body... I never real had the gumption to do that however.

-J

if keeping egr, remove the pipe going into intake, cut it shorter and replace. thats one i remember reading about

So have any of these free mods actaully been proven to do anything HP related?

No.

In theory, yes... proven, no.

Delete EGR : More clean air going into motor.
TB Bypass : Cooler air in the TB.

I have read *claims* of 8-10 hp for FRA and 3-5 for TB bypass. Data shading? TB bypass keeps the TB from reaching the coolant temperature, but it will still absorb radiant heat from the engine (lesser evil). Both are methods of cooling inlet air, so it really depends on ambient air of the surroundings and circulation. Realistically, I would say you net more mental satisfaction than hp.

TB bypass works on the LT1 style TB but the coolant line barely touches the TB on the LS setup so it doesn't heat up like the LT1 does so maybe 1 or 2 hp. The biggest benefit is if you remove the TB often you don't have to worry about the coolant lines being connected. Trim the EGR tube that sticks down into the top of the intake. That has to block airflow and result in some hp increase. Get a ported TB for around $60-100. It definitely makes the car more driveable with faster response and is probably worth 5-7 hp. I'll never go back to a stock TB, it really makes that much of a difference. One thing to look at is the PCV tends to pull oil vapors into the intake. That can lead to carbon buildup and loss of power. Check inside your TB and see if it's oil covered. If it is, you want to find some way of trapping that oil vapor with a catch can or filter or longer PCV line. I swapped in the PCV valve from the LS trucks and it has a much smaller opening to limit what can get pulled in.

Ported TB's DO work...

My car and Samhains both had it on the dyno same day... same mods... (LS6 Intake, Longtubes, catless Y, Lid) Only difference is I have a Magnaflow catback and he had his cutout open, 13 more HP...

On that subject, with a cutout on his car picked up 17 horse or so from the stock catback.

Any cat-back is worth 17 hp over the stock cat-back, the cutout isn't really that much of an improvement over a decent aftermarket cat-back.

Just saying price wise...

HP/$ a cutout is tough to beat...

I saw an article (GMHTP maybe) that showed the cut out closed lost 2-3 hp due to turbulance....

i ran a 12.97 @ 110mph on street tires with a lid, catback and free mods, full weight in my 98 "the slowest year for the fbodies". they help then, bolt ons and some weight reduction knocked off over a second since then :)

I dont know if it works but i descreened the maf.

The catback & lid make your impressive gains irrelevant to this!

Hey TTP Matt, let's dyno free mods!