Thanks for the add trackbird! Id just like to give a brief description of what my plans are and what I have. so any slight inputs would be appreciated! as I build I will post up
the build and ask for further input.

Currently my car is a: 1996 Camaro SS lt1/t56 with full SLP billstien lv2 suspension.
: Car has powerdyne 6# supercharger kit installed stock tune with fmu (for now, hope to fix this later)
: Also installed is a moser 12 rear to the max with goodies
: 28 (or 26 don't fully remember its been a few years since ordered) axles
: truetrac locker diff
: Richmond 4:11 gears
: 6 puc performance clutch

Future mods to start : Brake upgrades, start with 98+ spindles and ls1 brakes to start off with and see where I need to go from there.
: 3 point subframe connectors ( possible slp or umi?) would like to get the transmission crossmember while I'm there as well.
: Tuff stuff lt1 high volume water pump for cooling
: strut tower brace ( again SLP or umi? maybe BMR as well.)
: Good set of performance street tires ( I don't want to go with R compounds yet. id like to learn on street tires and progress as I learn.)
: Stainless brake lines and good brake fluid flush.

All in all these few minor upgrades will not be too expensive, yet should be some decent starter upgrades to the car for racing at Sebring international. (this will be my primary track)
any suggestions to these upgrades would be appreciated. I don't like to waste money on upgrades, so its hard for me to not just go and spend the $1500 on wilwoods to start.
but I will if its THAT much better and worth the money. Thanks in advance.

Welcome!!

What kind of power are you making? Non intercooled? Unfortunately you're going to probably blow your engine because of too much heat if you don't spend some time and money to make sure your intake temps don't sky rocket.

Your gearing will probably be too short, but it's not a deal breaker. Stock ratios are what I prefer.

What size wheels do you have? I really like Nitto NT05's.

If you have 17's and plan on staying with that size, I'd consider the C5 brake upgrade. If you have 18's, CTSV brakes. Skip the LS1 brakes.

The blower is going to be your greatest challenge. If you're planning on doing HPDE's on a regular basis, it would probably be cheaper/easier/safer to sell the blower and put that money towards a cam.

Lots of great info on here and some very smart people. Welcome!

Never dyno'd the car. plan to do that sooner or later. from reading forums, it should be around 350whp closer to the 380 range with headers. I have a water to air cooler that I plan to attempt to install, or try a front mount air-air cooler to try to help with intake temps.

I'm not sure how the gearing will be, but none the less its what I have and ill just deal with it for now, upgrade later if needed.

stock wheels, 17's with 275's on it. I was thinking the nt05's to start would be a good choice.

Ive read a lot about the c5 upgrade, and it seems ok, but I'm not sure if I really want to go that route?

I have looked into the cts-v brakes, both 4 and 6 piston kits, and I might not be apposed to upgrading to the 18's. I just need to see what kind of money ill put into it.


As far as the blower, other than intake temps, what will be my challenge? is it really that unsafe to drive it without an intercooler as it sits? I have looked into doing a Cam potentially in the future,
but I don't want to add power until I get the suspension caught up to the rest of the vehicle.

I've had the blower installed for roughly 30-40k miles but never had any issues.

Welcome aboard

I've got 17's brakes on my 97 and I really like them. With cooling ducts and good pads, they stop really well. Someday I'll upgrade to 18's and CTSV brakes but for now I'm enjoying cheap tires.

Is it difficult to remove the blower? That would be far better than trying to keep it cool on the track. The problem with blowers is they just aren't meant extended high RPM use. But that's just what I've read, I'm not talking from experience.

I think you'd have way more fun and learn so much more with stock power. I used to have a 396 LT1 and now I have a bone stock LT1 down to the manifolds. I focused on weight reduction and suspension. I am faster with the stock engine and I'm having much more fun than I ever did with 100 extra hp.

My future plans are to swap a stock LS1 with LS6 intake and probably long tubes and that'll give me just enough rwhp for the time trial class that I want to run. Should be around 330 rwhp and I'll also loose 100 lbs.

Well, I COULD remove it? its not ridiculously hard to remove, id have to dig out the old SS ram air intake system from the closet and install that back on. stock power I feel Is just going to be annoying to me considering how ridiculously slow it is stock. my truck would destroy my Camaro stock in a drag race.

selling the blower would be an option, but not sure what the market is for those powerdynes as they aren't the "big market" chargers. the head is kinda small for a SBC powerplant. but they make decent power for a bolt on low cost charger. they don't make HUGE power like a Vortec unless I swap the headunit.

I don't want to make it an absolute full track car, as it is a numbered car and kinda rare. so I don't want to drill or hack things up too much. I DO plan to install some longtube headers to compliment the Borla system I have on it.

Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing competitive races or not.. for now I just plan to do some track time and go play around and just enjoy it. I HATE the idea of water meth, but I know it would help my intake temps quite a bit. race gas might help me out a lot too (which I planned on running)

Ive also looked into the efi LS1 pcm swap kit.. tuning with hp tuners and the charger will greatly affect its performance and reliability I feel.

I know would always like to increase everything. but not pushing the limits of the motor.. the power level its at now is quite responsive and id like to keep it there. tig welding in an intercooler probably won't be that difficult and should yield the intake temps needed I would think. I keep debating the air-water cooler.. but I'm not sure how that will work for a 30 minute session on sebring compared to an air-air cooler. the air-water kit will also add that much more weight too compared to the air-air kit..

now that I think of it, the charger might add a lot of work for me to make it reliable! Lol.. if only I could find a good set of heads with a slightly larger CC to lower my compression about .5 ticks, would probably do the trick for me. then again I might get jumpy and just order forged pistons and call it a day..

thanks for the replies!

I never asked, what's your experience with track days? Will this be your first?

I'm sure others will chime in soon. I'm curious to hear their opinions.

In an actual track environment yes. This will be my first. I will be running with pboc and pca events with a friend of mine who is an instructor.

Most of my driving has been drag strip and horsing around in various parking lots/streets. It should be fun!

upgraded cooling system, oil cooler and yes you should consider adding the inter-cooler. Its not that hard to pick up the pace that on a boosted car it's going to create alot of heat. Then adding in the 4.11 its going to be a lot of shifting to keep the revs down. A stock boosted motor is just a ticking time bomb in my opinion. I too came from a drag background. Let me tell you it wasn't long before I was WOT for 20 min sessions. That's just how I drive.

If Sebring is going to be your home track so to speak. Its Big, fast=breaking demands. I would consider the c5 upgrade, track pad and brake ducts. These cars with 330rwhp and the right setup/driven well are way faster than you think.

Is the c5 brakes adequate for more though? I tend to overbuild my projects.. I'm not sure how the c5 brakes will hold up compared to a ctsv kit or better. I will be going with the Ls1 spindles as I have a set already sitting here. And the ctsv brakes are basically a bolt on at that point.

Would the ctsv 4 pistons be significantly more than I'd ever need?? Or would getting a wilwood 6 piston or ctsv 6 piston caliper be worth the little extra money?

I've read the wilwood kits are roughly 17lbs lighter than stock Ls1 brakes, which makes me think the unsprung weight would be really nice paired with a lightweight 18" wheel.. There's just so many options Im having a hard time deciding on when enough is really enough 😂

Oh I might add, I do have aftermarket cooling fans and shroud added to go with the high volume water pump. Also will add a 160 thermostat. Was thinking of either tuning the fans temp ranges or just switching them on full blast while track driving.

So check out my "1SC" build. I just ordered 18" wheels and CTSV brakes for my dads car. We'll be installing them hopefully next week. I haven't experienced the CTSV brakes yet, but I think they are going to be pretty awesome.

That being said, here's what I honestly think. You need seat time. HPDE's are the most addictive thing and a fast car is the last thing you need. You will be amazed at how little you know about how to get a car around a race track.

So I started out in a Toyota MR2 Turbo. That car is pretty awesome/scary. But it taught me a ton about weight transfer and I swear that has helped me today. Then I jumped into my dads 396 Camaro that I had bought from him. I absolutely loved that car, and I still have it today. What I also love loved the fact that I was always fast with the camaro. I was rarely passed by anyone, even in the advanced group. Then one track day there was this chick who had a 1980's VW rabbit in my run group. It was gutted, paint color was rust, and it sounded like shit. Sometime that day I got behind her. It took me no less than 3 laps to get around her. I had 430 hp, she had like 87.

To be completely honest, I would do nothing more than remove the blower and install some good pads on your stock brakes and go learn something. Once you get a couple of track days under your belt, then you might want bigger brakes (safety thing) and then start working on the handling. But you really do have a long ways to go before you want more power.

This is my car. 3400 lbs with me in it and a junkyard bone stock LT1.

https://youtu.be/3rPVKzYGklk


But it's honestly your car and your money. Whatever you decide we'll help you make the best of whatever you're going to do.

When do you think your first track day will be?

My first track day won't be for alittle while yet as I have a few things I want to work on, and I'll be going through the car checking the bushings and everything else to make sure the car is safe.

Your response is basically what I was going to do! I was going to go out basically stock (didn't think the charger would have such a heat issue though, yet doesn't surprise me much) and get seat time, see how the car acted and upgrade from there one step at a time.

I am probably going to install the Ls1 brakes as they came with my spindles when I purchased those (paid 100 bucks) which will be a slight upgrade and would make me feel alittle more confident in the cars braking capabilities.

I greatly appreciate your guys info so far, and all options are considered. I'll definitely look into taking the charger off and go from there. Thanks!

Go ahead and install the LS1 brakes since you have them, they are a big upgrade over the LT1's. Get a good set of pads, flush the system with good fluid and go have some fun. I started withe the LT1's, went to LS1's and then a C6 setup with brakes ducts & DTC-70 pads. That setup has been rock solid on Sebring, my home track too, but I didn't need to go there until I had a lot of seat time under my belt. I ultimately spread a couple of sets of LS1 calipers before I made the upgrade. The braking for turn 7 & 10 gets brutal once you start carrying some speed.

My LT1 is bone stock with long tube headers, Magnaflow, cold air intake and a tune. Its been good enough for several 2nd place finishes in NASA's TTC class so yes I would like a little more power but it would jump me into a class where I would never be competitive. Focus on the safety stuff, then go out and start learning. As you gain experience it will reveal where the car needs attention. Here's the car on a wide open track running Time Trials with NASA at Sebring.

NASA TTC

That video was great! Thanks for that! If you don't mind me asking, what's your spring rate for Sebring? Is it the staple 550/150 like the strano Springs? I was contemplating the strano Springs, or eibach pro kit for later on upgrades.

I ran the Strano springs for a while and they work great but when I went to coilovers I bumped it slightly to 600# fronts and 175# rears. Glad you enjoyed the video.