Money required to make Turbo Buick quicker than Z06

[Marc87GN]

I don't know if that's a reason to dislike them. The car is probably one of the best performing cars in the world for the money.

The person was probably just learning. GN's come with automatics so it doesn't take John Force to get them down the track.

If he was trapping 120s, that car was really strong and will be a killer when the owner learns to drive it or decides to put a street legal ET Street on the back. That's the best kind of problem to have because it's a cheap fix. Getting your car to trap 120s is not.

 

[CHARGED]

That's the ONLY reason, I guess I just don't like most owners , not the car., and I have alot more respect for the owners who were at or go to the track.
Yes they are great cars, but they should be for being a 2 seater and $50k+

 

[XLR8]

Originally posted by Marc87GN
That's because my wife was driving. I have seen them stock on ET streets running 11.60s while I was running 11.60s with a turbo. Your experience is far from the norm, but a car is only as fast as the driver. Those only come with 6 speeds providing more room for error. Wait into you run into one with spray or heads/cam combo.

Remember that 77tech9 is up in the mountains. I think I have seen 1 high 12 second Z06 - most are in the mid 13's. Vipers are 13 second sleds around here.

 

[77tech9]

Vipers are very disappointing here

I keep forgetting that GNs defy altitude rules.

 

[Marc87GN]

Originally posted by XLR8
Remember that 77tech9 is up in the mountains. I think I have seen 1 high 12 second Z06 - most are in the mid 13's. Vipers are 13 second sleds around here.

Good point.

 

[galoush]

Hey Charged im trying to break the Vette owner mold you speak of . I picked up a 04 ZO6 Commem . two months ago and have been driving the Hell out of it . The car is quite fun to drive , the AC is nice , my Buick hasnt had it since 99 . When i brough the car to have its 1000mile first oil change the service lady said " Its nice to meet a Vette owner who drives his car , this was a month after i got it .

 

[TurboTnZ06]

My '01 Z06 only traps 115 at best. 112-113 if a bad launch and it is a hot engine. That means only low to mid 12 sec pass on the F1 Supercars. Most Z06's I've seen run high 12's low 13's for your avg driver and bone stock Z06.

I'd recommend dropping $15 to 20 grand in a 109 blocked Buick to make it reliable and fast and fun w/ good internals and suspension upgrades to go 10.2 @ 130ish... Then keep the Z06 for the curves and put a 150 shot on it...I've seen a mostly stock Z06 w/ a 150 shot go 10.8 on et streets...

 

[iamjeff]

i did a 12.5 at 113 on street tires and pump gas +alcohol. you can see my setup in the sig. im pretty sure you could get all of that for under 3000. excluding the rebuild of course.

-jeff

 

[Razor]

Cant beat cubic dollars. While we complain of 3k in mods for a Buick.. price out a cam and head swap.. clutch swap.. headers.. exhuast.. custom tuning for a Z06.

Its a different league $$$

I was at the track last night.. didnt see any 11 second Vettes. Tho I know they exist, it takes weather to have them come out. When its 95 degrees out.. its a reare sight.

One thing is faster at the track, another is faster on the street. MPH rules the street. Once you dont have the traction... all your left with is MPH.

Alky on a turbo motor levels the field a lot.

 

[salvageV6]

I agree with Razor and the others. Not many running in the 11's up at LVD in NY.

They are great cars however I'd like one, never trade a Buick for it tho.

No reason not to fix the A/C and have it working in your Buick, not sure why so many people rip it out rather than fix it, easy to convert it and get it running again.

Drive your cars.

 

[Marc87GN]

The Price may be high, but the rewards are high as well. Heads/Cam ZO6 runs low 11s/high 10s easily and trapping mid 120s N/A at sea level without killing the drivetrain. It doesn't need exhaust, clutches or major tuning to go fast.

There is a shop by my house that specializes in Corvettes and the tuning on the dyno doesn't cost much more, if any more, than any other car to do it right. Many guys tune GNs with regular O2s and spit head gaskets out left and right from what I have seen on these boards. If you don't turn the wrenches yourself, the cost of head gasket replacement can exceed $1K, not to mention transmission rebuilds & so-on.

When I spent the money and had my car tuned right on a dyno and on the street, I ran 11s and 10s for 3 years on a glass jaw stock 4.6 never losing a headgasket or experiencing detonation.

It's impossible to compare costs because there are far too many variables. Try buying brand new parts for a GN, paying to have it installed, tuned right and it will cost you alot of money. You can't compare taking used parts from here and there, different method of tuning and turning wrenches on your car in the garage to costs having it all professionally done which is what you want on a car like a ZO6.

I wouldn't let just anyone turn a wrench or throw used parts on my ZO6 if I owned one.

 

[Razor]

I dunno..maybe cuase its Florida and its hot. While I have seen some Vette's at the track, the 11 second ones are very very rare. Even at a recent Corvette Challenge held here at Bradenton Motorsports Park, out of 20 only 2-3 were really fast(high 10's/low 11's) the rest were in the 12's.

Not that it cant be done, its just not the norm. I go to my track 3-4 times a month weather permitting. So i am always looking at other cars, especially street cars. Maybe its there no fast Vette shops?? Maybe maybe??

And definetely not week in week out. There was a turbo Porshe here.. would drive in on Nito's.. run low 10's at 150.. drive out. He did that for like a month straight then broke a rocker arm.. cars been down for over a year now.

Mid 12's on a Vette or Viper.. way typical.

 

[Marc87GN]

I agree that there aren't a ton of 11 sec Corvettes floating around the tracks. I rarely see many of anything running 11s. The potential to put it in the 11s is just a set of tires though. The trapseed has 11s written all over it.

I went to the GN vs Mustang Shootouts every year at Englishtown and Atco and there were several fast GNs, but most were running 13s - 14s.

Of course the pool of Mustangs on the road is tons larger so I would expect to see alot of them running anywhere from 7s to 14s.

Can you make a GN faster in a straightline than a ZO6? Absolutely. Will it be as easy as people say? Probably not.
I have been turning the wrenches on my GN since I bought it and it isn't the most pleasant car to work on at times.

 

[Raven]

Originally posted by Marc87GN
Can you make a GN faster in a straightline than a ZO6? Absolutely. Will it be as easy as people say? Probably not.
I have been turning the wrenches on my GN since I bought it and it isn't the most pleasant car to work on at times.

Truer words were never spoken on this board! They are NOT the most pleasant car to work on at times. But then again, neither is a late model F-Body either! And while some people like you to think that you just pop in a chip, put on some drag radials, turn up the boost and run 11's, it is NOT that easy.

It takes a LOT of tuning and work along with the right combo which is the key to all of it. Good luck.