[ChibbMD]

Hey folks. I've been doing a little homework on popular bolt-on mods for our cars. I've got a SS 1LE. I know this is a common set-up as outlined in some other threads:

-LT2 manifold
-LT5 tb
-Rotofab
-Flex Fuel sensor

I already have a Rotofab. I generally like the plan to do a manifold and throttle body. I'm not crazy about the looks of the LT2 manifold vs a MSD, but I'm curious if going with the MSD and a 103tb is overkill or detrimental to performance in any way?

[wnta1ss]

Originally Posted by ChibbMD

Hey folks. I've been doing a little homework on popular bolt-on mods for our cars. I've got a SS 1LE. I know this is a common set-up as outlined in some other threads:

-LT2 manifold
-LT5 tb
-Rotofab
-Flex Fuel sensor

I already have a Rotofab. I generally like the plan to do a manifold and throttle body. I'm not crazy about the looks of the LT2 manifold vs a MSD, but I'm curious if going with the MSD and a 103tb is overkill or detrimental to performance in any way?

No, the MSD manifold is not overkill in my experience. I ran the following setup on an A8 SS with stock motor and stock exhaust:
-MSD manifold
-LT5 tb with mounting holes modded (no restrictor plate)
-Rotofab
-Flex fuel sensor with tuning

The car was then a good bit faster than stock. On the dragstrip for example, it ran as quick as high-10s on a dragpack with the stock torque converter. Drove fine on the street too.

As far as the 103 tb, if you're keeping it stock motor (just bolt-on mods), then the 95 (LT5) will likely be your sweet spot is my guess.

[RideWithDanger]

Its not "overkill" but MSD and 103 is typically for getting higher up in the RPM range. You'll be able to pull harder for longer than you would stock. The downside is that you really never see that driving on the street. If you drag race or just do long pulls often then you will notice the difference, but otherwise its not really the best bang for your buck.

Don't forget you can always get the LT2 Corvette cover and some custom Camaro lettering to make it look nice. I do agree that MSD intake looks really nice though, I just can't justify the price difference for how I drive the car.

[ChibbMD]

Thanks for the good feedback. I guess I was thinking that any TB smaller than 103 on the MSD would be kind of silly (i.e. you're only getting the benefit of your smallest restriction). Maybe that's overthinking it.

[ChibbMD]

OK, slight revision to my question now that I've got a little more info. How would you compare and contrast: 95tb with MSD vs 95tb with Ported LT2?

[Katech_Mike]

Originally Posted by ChibbMD

OK, slight revision to my question now that I've got a little more info. How would you compare and contrast: 95tb with MSD vs 95tb with Ported LT2?

At that power level the 103mm is not going to offer much gain over a LT5 95mm.

The MSD/103 is about 10hp better above 6,000rpm and gives up nothing down low vs the LT2/95. This was on a mild heads/cam LT1.

Red: LT1/87
Blue: LT2/95 with tapered adapter
Black: MSD/103
Green: Plazmaman Billet / 103

[ChibbMD]

Thanks Mike. I'm pretty settled on 95mm. Now I'm just trying to determine if there is any pro/con to MSD vs ported LT2. At the moment, I've got an MSD available for the about the same price I was going to pay for a ported LT2.

[RideWithDanger]

Originally Posted by ChibbMD

Thanks Mike. I'm pretty settled on 95mm. Now I'm just trying to determine if there is any pro/con to MSD vs ported LT2. At the moment, I've got an MSD available for the about the same price I was going to pay for a ported LT2.

From what I remember, porting the LT2 isn't worth the cost. Stock LT2 is most of the gains and very affordable, porting it has pretty minimal results and shoots the price way up. Between those two, id go with MSD. If you want to save money and have most of the gains, stick with a stock LT2.

[s346k]

Originally Posted by ChibbMD

OK, slight revision to my question now that I've got a little more info. How would you compare and contrast: 95tb with MSD vs 95tb with Ported LT2?

in my experience these combos will perform almost identically. my car on the street 60-130 within .2 every time, which honestly seemed really tight, given it was an m6 car. and both of those combos were within .1 of a stock tb/LT2 combo i had.

if i had it to do over, id go with an LT2 manifold, keep the stock tb and spend the money on an ati damper asap. on a basic setup, the damper will make MUCH more improvement in driving and performance than a 103 tb will.

best bang for your buck is a stock LT2, especially if you can do the work yourself. i had ~230 in mine and it picked up a lot. very noticeable over the pray ported LT1 that was on it originally. and honestly that pray ported LT1 manifold made good power & ran great.

[ChibbMD]

On a stock LT2, I'm still a little fuzzy on one thing - Is the inlet 87mm? If I ran a stock LT2 with a 95mm TB I'd need a tapered adapter, right?

[Daily1LE]

Originally Posted by ChibbMD

On a stock LT2, I'm still a little fuzzy on one thing - Is the inlet 87mm? If I ran a stock LT2 with a 95mm TB I'd need a tapered adapter, right?

Yes, LT2 is 87mm. I believe you can just elongate the holes on the LT5 TB and it will go on without an adapter, but then you got this sharp drop from 95mm to 87mm, where a tapered adapter can smooth that out.

Below link has some images if you scroll down a bit that explains the tapered adapter:
https://www.solerengineering.com/gen...9871-95-87-lt1