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How much HP from common mods?

9K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Shon Herron 
#1 ·
How much likely HP gain can be gained from the following modes being performed?

1) K&N CAI
2) Full Magnaflow exhaust
3) Dyno Tune

Cheers Ken./
 
#2 ·
If you take a few minutes to do a search you should be able to get a good amount of results for various mods.

I will go ahead and give you my guess for your list above.

1) CAI = 3-5 hp
2) Magnaflow (do you just mean cat-back, as Magnaflow doesn't make headers, which would be part of the full exhaust) = 2-3 hp
3) Dyno Tune = 7-10 hp

For a total of maybe 12-18 rwHP. Those mods that you listed are really more for sound (opens up the exhaust and makes it sound like a muscle car should) and enjoyment of the car (better throttle response, etc.) rather than pure power.

You can see my mods in my signature below. After the cat-back, plugs/wires, CAI, Kooks headers, and a dyno tune I only made 351 hp and 365 ft-lbs, which was an increase of 25 hp and 27 ft-lbs over stock. Most of that increase I attribute to the headers, and maybe a little to the dyno tune.
 
#15 ·
My estimation for the LS6 intake tract restriction in order Most to least is:

1) Stock squeeze rube/elbow. Swapping this out will do more than just about anything

2) Throttle body. Just get the 78mm ported, unless you plan to do a lot of other mods. Get a good port, or aftermarket billet, so you don't have surge/hang issues.

3) Filter/OEM airbox. Eventually this becomes a block, but not before you get at least headers and cat-back on the exhaust side

4) LS6 intake. You won't need to upgrade this unless you go to heads/cam (even then it's not really necesary)

5) MAF. The 85MM MAF has been shown to work with *major* mods. By the time this becomes a restriction, you won't need a MAF in your build.


Regarding the other mods, keep in mind that the HP gains *ARE NOT CUMULATIVE*. Also certain mods are supportive in nature, and as you open up the intake and exhasut tracts, they will increase their output (a great example is a ported TB, it won;t do much to a nearly stock engine, but put one on a cammed engine, and you'll see some results (assuming you have your other supporting mods done right)).

-Chris
 
#4 ·
On a LS2 I gained around 6hp with CAI, Magnaflow and dyno tune. Those mods by themselves don't do much, if anything at all for actual performance. Add headers, cam, heads...now they are crucial.

If all you are doing is CAI and cat back, don't waste your money on a tune. Wait till you get headers. If you insist on a tune, do a Wait4Me mail order tune. It's only $160 for you LS6 guys.
 
#7 ·
From stock, 30rwhp is average. Sound difference is night and day. If you think your car sounds good now, just wait sir.
 
#14 ·
lol... why is 20 so far fetched? I have done it to a few cars COMPLETELY stock, paper filter, you name it. Im sick of hearing only 10hp with a tune, this just means the tuner is lazy or has lack of tuning or doesnt feel like spending the time. I will say though, over 20 is where the magic pixie dust comes into play on an LS6. LS1's would easily go up to 28ish.
But I can tell you, it will not be 180 bucks for a tune like this...if that is what people are referring to.

These cars can easy take 4° commanded advance over 4800rpm to start. Bring the Lambda to .89 post cat. (a nice 13.1:1)... flatten it out. Turn off COT, increase attack and retard rate for spark knock, as some will burst knock (which is the computer 'guessing' there will be knock. Let it retard timing is fine.. i just make the reduction happen 4x quicker to get back to command. As there is no actual knock. There are few other things I do for drive ability, like TPS % vs TQ all to 100% TQ management, but all of this does not affect dyno numbers, just street 'Feel'. I think it was 5 runs on my cts-v. A few were testing boundaries, I wanted the 20... couldn't get it.. so yea, now that i think of it, pixie dust does exist!



http://www.cadillacforums.com/forum...cts-v-performance/190309-tuning-20rwhp-4.html


As for the headers... 20RWHP? hmm.
I would think 30 with proper tuning and using equal length 1 - 7/8" long tubes.
Im sure you will get less with the pacesetters not being equal length and a tad more tq / less hp top with 1-3/4. kooks for example.

peaks dont matter to me either... area under the curve.
Im done my rant for the day...
 
#11 ·
So let me get this straight.
$160 tune = 18hp. $1300 headers + tune = 20hp.
Hmmmm......:D
 
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