It seems like the new age hotrod is only for someone with a large pocketbook...The days of DIY in the garage seem to be over...I admit that I have been intimidated by the thoughts of ripping apart my motor (I am/was a 350 chevy man/pushrod motor man) but I am now thinking to myself, how the hell am I going to learn if I dont jump into one of these motors? My 1st plan is to pick up an old intake and set of heads, and give a shot at port/polish...aside from paying out for the spare heads and intake, this should be free horsepower. But then again, I dont know how good or bad the factory job is, maybe these mod motors come from the factory as good as their gonna get, and thats why U have to blow the big change on aftermarket heads and a performance shop baked block...I cant in good concience drop 8-10K in my motor without hardly turning a wrench on it, it doesnt seem right. Especially for something that is being built for the fun of it..i am not avid in going to the strip or the track (id like to, but with 4 kids, priorities are different) Id just like to put my touch in the car, and not have it bone stock.
Everything seems expensive. I looked at a stroker kit for my car, were talking crank, rods, pistons, rings...and its 2K!!...it seems that when u buy a *kit* since someone has taken the minimal guess work out of assembling the parts, they charge u up the ass for it...I dont know, I could be very wrong. (or maybe just an out of touch cheap ass)
My plan is pretty simple. I am doing my suspension work 1st, minor stuff, looking to get bilsteins and 1.5inch drop on my car in a month...(as soon as i can find the used parts), 4.30 gears and irs bushing kit...(mine is hopping at will right now), do a full exhaust headers to tail pipe, (again, as i can mass together used parts, i will get this together) looking at something along the lines of MAC headers, prochamber, cat back, then if I have the heads and intake ready by the time this stuff is done, I would like to put my home ported heads and intake in with a set of cams. thats it. it seems that the car just needs to breathe better..as any stock car would. whatever I end up with, should be good enough...and what will it cost? hopefully I can find a string of guys cleaning out their garages. I am not opposed to the purchase of a procharger in the future, I was turned off by the 5K price tag, but I have seen a number of them for sale in the 1800-2500 range in SVTPerformance...so some day, that may be in my future. but for now, this is the road i am travelling on...
YES< i, as all u have, considered the jump to the 03-04, but the prices are still bad. also, it seems that the 99/01 are the same car (i know the differences, but on the exterior, and interior, basically the same...)..i just have a problem with shelling out all that extra dough for added performance...It would seem one cannot call themselves a true gearhead if they had to *pay* for the performance instead of wrenching it on your own....
Thats not to say u guys that have been able to go from a 99/01 to an 03/04 arent gearheads, U are just better off than me HAHA...anyways, its good to see some other guys out there interested in doing something with their 99/01s...