Modded 5.0 vs. Firebird

[VT StangFreak]

As you can see by my signature I have a pretty heavily modded 5.0 with only 8000 miles on the engine and drive-train. Anyways this guy I met on LS1Tech.com lives around Virginia Tech, he has been a Mustang enthusiast all of his life, and respects and loves Mustangs, however he owns a 99 Firebird (with the LS1 engine). We meet and discuss our cars, and cars in general. So I asked him if he wanted to run. He has an SLP Y-pipe and a Loudmouth Catback, and a whisper lid. That's it. So of course I am thinking I am going to kill him. The first time we took a right on to the main highway and he pulled next to me, and we went from like a 20 mile roll. He got a good start, and jumped out to like 2 cars because I spun the remainder of 1st and almost went side ways in second, but I started to come close at around 90mph, but by then it was too late. Second time we go from a 40 mph roll and I was already in 2nd so I revved my car out, and I kid you not we were nose and nose the whole freakin time, and I did not miss a shift, nor did I have any traction problems. I started pulling away a little, but not by much. It was a good victory for my 5.0, but those LS1's are pretty fast especially with simple exhaust mods. I am not on here to compliment LS1's but is there anything else I can I do to my car (keeping it N/A), short of dropping a 351 in it to make it perform better?? I do have to give respect to the LS1 engine though, because I seriously thought I would kill his car.

[srv1]

personally what i would do if i had your car is get 3.73's if i dont do alot of hoghway driving and a custom ground cam and mess with the fuel pressure abit. that i my opinion and that is what i would do.

also, not many people here will give the LS1 credit due to the only reason cause it is a Chevy i will though.

[VT StangFreak]

Sorry fellow readers, in my original post I said the car was a Firebird, but it was not, it was in fact a Trans Am. I know the difference between the Firebird, Formula, and the Trans Am, but I was tired as hell when I wrote the post, so I guess I overlooked it. My bad.

[Grn92LX]

In all honesty, im even suprised you beat him with your combo from that 2nd gear roll. Was it an auto or a 6spd? The custom grind cam would be the best bet and also porting the lower intake to match the heads better and maybe even milling the heads down. Is your combo tuned? I would say 16-18* timing is what your combo should want.

[Coupe50h]

from a roll, even the powerhouse 5.0's can be surprised, my friend has a forged, ported tfs 347, n/a he had a light modded ls1 run really close to him from a 30 mph punch(a4)

from a stop the stang had him killed, just never know.

[VT StangFreak]

Actually the car was a WS-6 T/A (6-speed). And I am surprised that I beat him on a 40mph roll. I was in 2nd and was tacking like 4200, so it was a quick shift for me since I only go up to 6500. Those damn LS1's are top end monsters. I think that from a dead stop I would have killed him because he said his clutch was weak (pitfall of stock LS1's) and those rear ends are tiny (something like 6.8). The reason I lost in 1st gear was he got a great jump, and I spun 1st and 2nd like crazy. (I am still new to having about 330 horses at my right foot. Anyways I do not have my car tuned at all. I was thinking of taking it to True Blue Performance in Raleigh, NC over Winter break. From what I hear they are the best at tuning 5.0's. Plus, there ain't a single place around Richmond, VA (where I live) that I have heard of. I am going to rebuild my engine over the summer, and get all of my internals forged and polish and port my heads and lower intake, and get a new cam. I might even port my throttle body while I am at it. So I might just wait to get the whole thing tuned after that. Not really sure. Thoughts??

[Green93notch]

did you ever goto a track to see your trap speed? did you dyno your car at all? i know of a 02 TA with Ypipe, slp exh. pullies, KnN air filter kit and he traps at 108 before he put the cam inside. after he put the cam in he traped at 110-111. next time you race him if you do, dont go from a 20 mph roll, simply because they're already in their power band, unless you had 308s or 273s because then ur right there too in 1st gear with him. BUT since you have 355s ide say tell him you want a 5 mph roll so then you shouldnt spin that much(just make sure tire presure is good enough to hook) all these ls1 guys never want to go from a stop, it seems like they love the roll cause 5.0 guys get a good jump (if they can hook) owell...whatever, im not really afraid of em.

Vinny