[race24x]

Has anyone tried just a couple mods like this and what gains did you get? I am thinking of doing the 2.3 upper and a Big Gulp. Eventually I would have ,y blower ported 103mm TB as well, but not this year. No headers yet but I do have an axle back exhaust.

[Z OH 6]

20-25whp, Big Gulp will require a tune though.

[KingLT1]

All a pulley will do is increase power on the first hit, then the blower is hot enough that you lose the added power because IAT is up in a range where timing will be pulled to keep from getting knock retard. Adding ethanol fixes a lot of short comings from the cooling side of the stock blower. Your best bet if limited to 93 octane is to do Intake, headers, ported blower. Gain power through efficiency improvements...not by forcing more hot air through a system that is limited by cooling and flow restrictions.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by KingLT1

All a pulley will do is increase power on the first hit, then the blower is hot enough that you lose the added power because IAT is up in a range where timing will be pulled to keep from getting knock retard. Adding ethanol fixes a lot of short comings from the cooling side of the stock blower. Your best bet if limited to 93 octane is to do Intake, headers, ported blower. Gain power through efficiency improvements...not by forcing more hot air through a system that is limited by cooling and flow restrictions.

Spot on.


OP pulleys are a waste of time on an otherwise stock set up OP because all it does is heat up the blower and the stock set up is already maxed out in the configuration it is in. You will create a lot of knock and the engine will pull timing then rob you of even more power.


It's a vicious cycle on these set ups, so it's best you make the effort to tune, switch to ethanol which will allow the engine supercooling AND THEN you can start changing out pulleys. If ethanol fueling is not available then the best thing to do are airflow efficiency upgrades. Cam, ported or larger blower, etc. But you don't want to spin the blower faster in your current configuration.


Basically everything that King said.

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Originally Posted by race24x

Has anyone tried just a couple mods like this and what gains did you get? I am thinking of doing the 2.3 upper and a Big Gulp. Eventually I would have ,y blower ported 103mm TB as well, but not this year. No headers yet but I do have an axle back exhaust.

Hey buddy, do you have access to E85?

[race24x]

No E85 in Maine unless I buy it by the can or barrel.

I was hoping that naturally cool temps in Maine would help me with the IAT temps as there is really only about 4 weeks of real summer LOL

So I probably shouldnt bother to change the pulley just a good CAI for now? If I get the blower ported and 103 TB I read that changing the pulley to a 2.3 then restores some of the low end torque and power that gets moved up in the RPMs by the porting?

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by race24x

No E85 in Maine unless I buy it by the can or barrel.

I was hoping that naturally cool temps in Maine would help me with the IAT temps as there is really only about 4 weeks of real summer LOL

So I probably shouldnt bother to change the pulley just a good CAI for now? If I get the blower ported and 103 TB I read that changing the pulley to a 2.3 then restores some of the low end torque and power that gets moved up in the RPMs by the porting?

There are currently two popular types of port jobs available. One is the Kong and the other is Jokerz. The one that requires a pulley down to restore low end power and is the Kong race port. The Jokerz full tilt does not have that problem.


Do with that information what you may.

[race24x]

Thank you for that

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Originally Posted by race24x

No E85 in Maine unless I buy it by the can or barrel.

I was hoping that naturally cool temps in Maine would help me with the IAT temps as there is really only about 4 weeks of real summer LOL

So I probably shouldnt bother to change the pulley just a good CAI for now? If I get the blower ported and 103 TB I read that changing the pulley to a 2.3 then restores some of the low end torque and power that gets moved up in the RPMs by the porting?

Lots of advantages to running E85, but only if it is accessible.
The paired logic is that if you are going to invest in tuning (either remote or in person) it's best to get your moneys worth, so prevailing thought be to bundle your first round of mods (Headers / Big Gulp / E85 etc...) to get a better value out of the time / cost of tuning.

Note, Porting the blower will help even on a stock motor. LMP has shown over 50rwhp on an otherwise stock blackwing...

Myself, gained 60rwhp + 5rwtq when going from a standard port to an Xport. Note; although I did not loose torque, it did move peak torque up from a peak of 3,500 to 4,500 rpm. Also not, some of the 60rwhp gain was from fixing a belt slip issue.

[TurboC3]

This is similar to my, currently 93oct, under warranty plan. Stage 1..x-port & 107tb, no tune. Stage 2..add a lower pulley, E85 and a tune. Is this a good plan? Don't want headers, trying to keep it as stock as possible...lol.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by TurboC3

This is similar to my, currently 93oct, under warranty plan. Stage 1..x-port & 107tb, no tune. Stage 2..add a lower pulley, E85 and a tune. Is this a good plan? Don't want headers, trying to keep it as stock as possible...lol.

Not a good plan. You do not change any airflow characteristics on this vehicle without needing to compensate for it within the calibration file itself. You will either be losing power from going lean, and/ or creating knock which will rob you of power due to timing pull, which is dangerous due to the fact that if you do it a lot you can grenade the engine despite forged internals in the LT4, so you'll either be making the same or quite possibly even less than what you make right now despite the extra mods. Just to give you an idea, despite all of my mods, I still only make 585 on 91 octane fueling (it's the most available fuel around where I am) and then as soon as I fill it up with pump E85 I go all the way up to 758, which is absolutely stupid from a power delivery standpoint, but those are the limitations of the standard gasoline fueling where I am. Is what it is I suppose.


Save yourself the trouble and get the mods you want on it, then tune for it. Just know if you do a pulley, a ported blower, and try to run E85 on it you will definitely not be able to run pump.


The mods in my signature, they're not on accident or just because I wanted extra fueling headroom. I was forced into it because in order to run ethanol the fuel system demands at least 30% more fueling over standard octane gasoline.

[red6.2]

best bet for you sounds like 100oct, long tubes and rotofab. its funny because you will end with a faster car with just a e85 tune. This will piss off many but its the truth.

[cajunzl1]

My 2018 ZL1 with a 2.3, ported TB, Std Rotofab and E55 did an easy 655 and had issues with tire spin on the dyno. Stock Blower and Stock Exhaust.

I do have the LMP heat exchanger and ADM expansion tank, IAT's would start to creep up after back to back to back pulls, but on street no problem with the temps and casual pulls.

E85 really helps.

[SJFGTO]

You do not need the extra flow of a Big Gulp at this point. Not even close. Headers, tune, lower/upper pulley and SC ported, tune. THEN a Big Gulp makes sense.