ZL1 stock internal upgradeability and reliability

[zlwhine]

Hey everyone! Apologies for the super long post in advance lol. Recently got my Stainless Works catback exhaust and their longtube headers for my ZL1. They are going to be installed within the next two weeks. I can't wait to hear the difference going from the stock NPP (with the plug pulled, of course) to the SW full catback system and longtube headers. So far people seem to be really happy with their installs so I have high expectations . Besides those mods performance-wise, all I have additionally is a rotofab CAI. The next mod I'm looking to get is a 9.55" crank pulley. (1) Do I need to upgrade my injectors and heat exchanger with the pulley upgrade? For cooling, instead of the heat exchanger, would a bigger reservoir be sufficient or will I need a new heat exchanger? The ZL1 is my daily driver and I'm concerned with its reliability and do not want to put anything out of balance. Also, I would really like to get a cam upgrade. People give me a lot of different answers (usually 50/50) about a cam upgrade and its reliability. So, (2) if I upgraded the cam, either to a LS9 stock cam or a bigger aftermarket cam, would the car be significantly less reliable or can it still be daily driven without worries? <-- and (3) if it is reliable with all these mods, will the stock internals be able to withstand all that power? I know LS motors are tanks, but sometimes I wish the LSA resembled the ZR1's LS9 a bit more (forged internals from the factory!). Maybe I've been reading the horror story threads a bit too much (on various forums including various cars) and am a bit anxious from finally ridding of my powertrain warrenty lol. I'm also wondering whether a catch can is needed (very beneficial to have) or simply just nice to have. There is a lot of talk on these forums about the benefits of catch cans, so if they are really essential mods, I will make them my next priority before other mods as they are cheap and very easy to DIY. My main goal is finding the perfect ratio of daily driveability (and thus reliability) to power output so I'm just afraid to go overboard (the mod-bug is definitaly contagious and seems to not be curable, lol .

[RedTape]

You are going to LOVE the stainless works headers and catback exhaust. When I got them installed on my zl1, which I always thought sounded really good from the factory, there was absolutely NO comparison. Trust me, in 2 weeks you will see exactly what I mean when I say the stainless works animate the car in a way that will surely put a smile on your face, even at idle.

You could probably get away without the injectors or heat exchanger and simply get a bigger reservoir, but I wouldn't risk it if it were my car. An extra grand to have confidence in your reliability seems worth it to me.

I personally wouldn't touch the internals and simply leave it full bolt on. Messing with the internals is where stuff usually starts to go wrong and it goes from being a reliable mass produced automobile into a shop car. If you must, the LS9 cam is known to be reliable, but I don't know how it would stack up to being placed in the LSA. Like I said, I wouldn't risk it.

Also, you said it yourself, the LS motors are tanks! The stock internals will easily be able to handle those mods (which will probably put you in the upper 600 range to the wheels)

Do yourself a favor: stop reading those horror stories of cars that blow their motors within the first 2000 miles. That is not likely and is VERY rare. I personally never buy warranties for anything unless they are thrown in for free because warranties are scams. They give you a time period where they know nothing will go wrong. Otherwise, they wouldn't offer it. That's why they don't make power train warranties last for hundreds of thousands of miles with no yearly limit; it would not help their business grow. Free yourself from the mindset that you must refrain from modding until your power train warranty ends. It will give you peace of mind and will make you exponentially more happy with your car.

As others have said in posts before numerous times, I would definitely get a catch can. The amount of oil it catches is crazy and will only then make you very happy you spent that extra $100-200 and did the easy install.

I would definitely do the pulley mod though. It makes the ZL1 a whole different animal. It'll give you the same feeling as if you traded it in for something better, except will be much more friendly on your wallet and will provide the same amount of smiles!

Goodluck with the headers and catback install! I can't wait to see your reaction to the new install. You are honestly going to wish you did it the day you bought the car lol.

[Ksacamaro]

I agree with RedTape with everything he said .... About the injectors i think its a must since ur stock ones will be maxed oout , for the heatexchanger i would just do it now instead of later for multiple reasons . Since u r gonna spin the SC faster then more heat -> higher engine temps , heat kills power so u wont be able to enjoy the full power as soon as the car gets hot you will feel the power is abit less ... & much more reasons .
my opinoun - Coolant reservoirs are a complete waste of money .

[Ksacamaro]

I would really like to hear ur Headers & exhaust as well . Thanks

[Dutchman427]

As long as you have a good dyno tune, you shouldn't have to worry about reliability. I see you are located in Illinois, I would look at having NicKey do your build.

[14ZL1M6]

Originally Posted by zlwhine

Hey everyone! Apologies for the super long post in advance lol. Recently got my Stainless Works catback exhaust and their longtube headers for my ZL1. They are going to be installed within the next two weeks. I can't wait to hear the difference going from the stock NPP (with the plug pulled, of course) to the SW full catback system and longtube headers. So far people seem to be really happy with their installs so I have high expectations . Besides those mods performance-wise, all I have additionally is a rotofab CAI. The next mod I'm looking to get is a 9.55" crank pulley. (1) Do I need to upgrade my injectors and heat exchanger with the pulley upgrade? For cooling, instead of the heat exchanger, would a bigger reservoir be sufficient or will I need a new heat exchanger? The ZL1 is my daily driver and I'm concerned with its reliability and do not want to put anything out of balance. Also, I would really like to get a cam upgrade. People give me a lot of different answers (usually 50/50) about a cam upgrade and its reliability. So, (2) if I upgraded the cam, either to a LS9 stock cam or a bigger aftermarket cam, would the car be significantly less reliable or can it still be daily driven without worries? <-- and (3) if it is reliable with all these mods, will the stock internals be able to withstand all that power? I know LS motors are tanks, but sometimes I wish the LSA resembled the ZR1's LS9 a bit more (forged internals from the factory!). Maybe I've been reading the horror story threads a bit too much (on various forums including various cars) and am a bit anxious from finally ridding of my powertrain warrenty lol. I'm also wondering whether a catch can is needed (very beneficial to have) or simply just nice to have. There is a lot of talk on these forums about the benefits of catch cans, so if they are really essential mods, I will make them my next priority before other mods as they are cheap and very easy to DIY. My main goal is finding the perfect ratio of daily driveability (and thus reliability) to power output so I'm just afraid to go overboard (the mod-bug is definitaly contagious and seems to not be curable, lol .

Not sure if you're running cats or not. I love my Stainless Works system. It's loud and obnoxious, just the way I like it! ;-) You are pretty much going down the same route I have. You will need to upgrade your injectors for sure. I went with 1000cc because I know I'm doing future upgrades, so I didn't want to buy injectors twice. I have had no cooling issues with my setup so far, so you should be okay unless your tracking your car. A cam is my next mod so I can't comment on that yet, but I do know the LS9 cam is not that much of an upgrade, just not worth it. I think for what you're looking for, your best bet is probably like a stage 2 cam, not too aggressive. You should have a catch can on it even when its totally stock. After I installed mine and ran it for a bit, I couldn't believe the oil in the can.

[shaker]

My injecters were at 96% from cai, headers, and cat delete pipes. 13 m6. Need changed with boost upgrade.

[Redlineviper]

The LSA motors are built pretty well. The biggest thing that kills the motors is detonation. The bearings are fairly soft and the Pistons do not like it either.
With that said HP is not what often kills these motors. I have seen and heard about motors popping at 580-620whp with bad tunes and others living for a very long time north of 800-100whp with good tunes. Your mods should yeild you 620-650whp with a good tune and should live a long long time if everything is set up correctly.

[RedTape]

Originally Posted by Redlineviper

The LSA motors are built pretty well. The biggest thing that kills the motors is detonation. The bearings are fairly soft and the Pistons do not like it either.

With that said HP is not what often kills these motors. I have seen and heard about motors popping at 580-620whp with bad tunes and others living for a very long time north of 800-100whp with good tunes. Your mods should yeild you 620-650whp with a good tune and should live a long long time if everything is set up correctly.

Is there anything that can be done mod-wise to counteract this or prevent this sort of damage from happening that you know of? I have also heard this is a major issue with these motors and it has been worrying me a bit lol.

[zlwhine]

Originally Posted by Ksacamaro

I agree with RedTape with everything he said .... About the injectors i think its a must since ur stock ones will be maxed oout , for the heatexchanger i would just do it now instead of later for multiple reasons . Since u r gonna spin the SC faster then more heat -> higher engine temps , heat kills power so u wont be able to enjoy the full power as soon as the car gets hot you will feel the power is abit less ... & much more reasons .
my opinoun - Coolant reservoirs are a complete waste of money .

Could you explain a little bit more why the reservoirs are not worth it? I have seen numerous threads from vendors pushing coolant reservoirs - but it could be one of those things that is there for them to make money, i.e. just how ceramic coating is with headers. While I am not denying the benefit of ceramic coating headers, I simply do not think the benefit is worth how much it costs to have it done. Although it seems that people claim that coolant reservoirs, unlike ceramic coating, may actually give a viable boost in power and cooling both directly and indirectly. If that's the case, I would definitely just go with the heat exchanger and call it a day lol.

[zlwhine]

Originally Posted by RedTape

You are going to LOVE the stainless works headers and catback exhaust. When I got them installed on my zl1, which I always thought sounded really good from the factory, there was absolutely NO comparison. Trust me, in 2 weeks you will see exactly what I mean when I say the stainless works animate the car in a way that will surely put a smile on your face, even at idle.

You could probably get away without the injectors or heat exchanger and simply get a bigger reservoir, but I wouldn't risk it if it were my car. An extra grand to have confidence in your reliability seems worth it to me.

I personally wouldn't touch the internals and simply leave it full bolt on. Messing with the internals is where stuff usually starts to go wrong and it goes from being a reliable mass produced automobile into a shop car. If you must, the LS9 cam is known to be reliable, but I don't know how it would stack up to being placed in the LSA. Like I said, I wouldn't risk it.

Also, you said it yourself, the LS motors are tanks! The stock internals will easily be able to handle those mods (which will probably put you in the upper 600 range to the wheels)

Do yourself a favor: stop reading those horror stories of cars that blow their motors within the first 2000 miles. That is not likely and is VERY rare. I personally never buy warranties for anything unless they are thrown in for free because warranties are scams. They give you a time period where they know nothing will go wrong. Otherwise, they wouldn't offer it. That's why they don't make power train warranties last for hundreds of thousands of miles with no yearly limit; it would not help their business grow. Free yourself from the mindset that you must refrain from modding until your power train warranty ends. It will give you peace of mind and will make you exponentially more happy with your car.

As others have said in posts before numerous times, I would definitely get a catch can. The amount of oil it catches is crazy and will only then make you very happy you spent that extra $100-200 and did the easy install.

I would definitely do the pulley mod though. It makes the ZL1 a whole different animal. It'll give you the same feeling as if you traded it in for something better, except will be much more friendly on your wallet and will provide the same amount of smiles!

Goodluck with the headers and catback install! I can't wait to see your reaction to the new install. You are honestly going to wish you did it the day you bought the car lol.

A lot of great information int his reply; seems to have hit everything, not only I was asking, but covers a lot of basics for modding for beginners. Great post!

[zlwhine]

Originally Posted by Ksacamaro

I would really like to hear ur Headers & exhaust as well . Thanks

I will definitely post a clip of the full system's tone when I get it installed. It will all be done 10-21-15 and the wait has been killllling me! I can't wait until that day so that I can actually hear the difference for myself in person. It just sucks that usually, on camera, for some reason the sound is not picked up so well.

[zlwhine]

Originally Posted by 14ZL1M6

Not sure if you're running cats or not. I love my Stainless Works system. It's loud and obnoxious, just the way I like it! ;-) You are pretty much going down the same route I have. You will need to upgrade your injectors for sure. I went with 1000cc because I know I'm doing future upgrades, so I didn't want to buy injectors twice. I have had no cooling issues with my setup so far, so you should be okay unless your tracking your car. A cam is my next mod so I can't comment on that yet, but I do know the LS9 cam is not that much of an upgrade, just not worth it. I think for what you're looking for, your best bet is probably like a stage 2 cam, not too aggressive. You should have a catch can on it even when its totally stock. After I installed mine and ran it for a bit, I couldn't believe the oil in the can.

I opted for the high flow cats so they will be installed as well. You have the cats on right? I personally love obnoxious and loud exhaust so that makes me happy! While the ZL1's stock system had a nice tone, it was definitely not loud enough for my liking, which is one of the main reasons that I decided to upgrade the catback system along with the headers - the stock catback system on the ZL1 is not very restricted so the new system, despite being pretty pricey, will not yield that much of an increase power-wise, but will definitely provide more smiles per gallon.

I will definitely look more into the catch can then. The install seems very very straight forward and if its worth it, I don't see a reason not to get it, especially when it is such a cost-effective mod then.

Also, I was looking into the ID850 injectors. Everyone seems to have a lot of negativity towards any brands other than Injector Dynamics; but many vendors seem to say otherwise and that many of them do the same thing, especially in the present. People that say otherwise usually say that even that they do the same thing, at idle, other brands are not very good. What's your opinion on the other brands of injectors? Also, at what point in upgrading the power will the 1000 injectors be needed? I don't think i'm looking to go much further than 600-700 at the wheel, as the ZL1 is my warm weather daily driver (but who knows, the mod bug seems to never go away).

[zlwhine]

Originally Posted by RedTape

Is there anything that can be done mod-wise to counteract this or prevent this sort of damage from happening that you know of? I have also heard this is a major issue with these motors and it has been worrying me a bit lol.

+1 would like to know this as well!