Brand New Craig Nicholson...
Brand New
Craig Nicholson picked up his new Z06 at a dealership in Georgia that was 70 milesfrom MTI Racing. The Z06 was headed for a rapid break-in.
The MTI Racing team set to workinstalling Callaway Honker Air intakes andMTI Racing high-energy spark plug wireson Chris and Tyrone's cars. Tyrone alsohad MTI install a 160-degree thermostatto help keep the temps in line. Chris hadalready made this change to his yellowride. Craig's black car was taken to theMTI Racing's lift to have their Stage Ipackage installed. This included a newthermostat, high-energy plug wires,Callaway Honker air intake, MTI Racinglong-tube 17⁄8-inch headers, Random Techhigh-flow cats, an and x pipe system.
Once the work was completed (all inone day for all three cars!), the carsreturned to the dyno for tuning. The tuningprocess is time-consuming, but vitalto maximize each car's performancepotential. Each Z06 leaves the factorywith an aggressive torque managementprogram to help minimize driveline breakage.A good tuner like Reese can unlocklots of torque and horsepower that is hiddeninside every LS-7 engine. Reese alsoadjusts each car's air/fuel mixture to maximizeefficiency. The net results wereimpressive. Tyrone's silver finished the dayat 494.1 RWHP and 469 RWT--a gain of39.90 RWHP and 19.50 RWT. Chris finishedwith 495.3 RWHP and 472.6 RWT--a gain of 41.60 RWHP and 20.80 RWT.Since Craig's car was bone stock, weexpected it to show the biggest gain andit did. His black beauty pulled 498.1RWHP and 471.7 RWT--a gain of 97.20RWHP and 86.7 RWT. These runs were alldone with the hood closed.
91 miles We are not kidding...
91 miles
We are not kidding when we said new! How many of us would modifyour brand-new Z06?
Amigo Land The three Amigos...
Amigo Land
The three Amigos ham it up, while Reese and Jesus Garcia install aCallaway Honker into Tyrone's Z06.
Callaway Honker Tyrone's...
Callaway Honker
Tyrone's installed Honker looks like a factory installation. This unitdramatically increases airflow to the LS-7 engine.
After some tire-burning test drives,Tyrone and Chris both had big smiles ontheir faces. After Craig returned from histest he looked like a kid who stole thekeys to the candy store. All three wereexclaiming how much better the throttleresponse was and how much they liked
their cars' flat torque curve. When thetesting was completed, Reese and hiscrew did a final check to make sure everythingwas satisfactory.
DIFFICULTY INDEX ::: N N N N N
ANYONE'S PROJECT | no tools required...................... N
BEGINNER | basic tools.......................................... N N
EXPERIENCED | special tools ................................ N N N
ACCOMPLISHED | special tools and outside help ...... N N N N
PROFESSIONALS ONLY | send this work out......... N N N N N
Baseline City All three cars...
Baseline City
All three cars were dynoed to determine their base horsepower.Tyrone's car was first up; Reese first tested the car with the hoodopened.
Hood Hell Next, Tyrone's...
Hood Hell
Next, Tyrone's car was dyno tested with the hood closed, and hisoutput dropped 29.70 RWHP.
Exhausting Fun All three...
Exhausting Fun
All three cars were equipped with long-tube headers, hi-flow cats,and an x pipe system. The headers were American Racing, LG, andMTI Racing. MTI Racing's headers are shown in this photo.