what he said, but the more the better, as long as IIII can afford it

 

i aslo agree with that i would be happy with anything over 350hp

 

I won't be.

I want a 500+ hp beast. Read Charlie's post on what it felt like driving an original Z/28 compared to other cars from the same period. That's the feeling I want in my new Camaro.

 

but that had 290hp.

 

Yeah, "rated", just like LS1's only have ~310 HP, right? (at the wheels!)

 

The Evolution car with nothing more than gears, pulley and exhaust went 10.99 @ 128. Current setup has a lot more than a 10.40 in it. What I find comical is that there are people out there who find it impossible that a car other than their GM car can run a good number. This is what several of my friends (all of whom are on SVTperformance.com) as well as myself witnessed. I bet you'd be real quick to jump on the bandwagon if the 5th gen posted similar numbers with similar mods. Whatever lets you sleep at night.

 

I'm not so sure it's "nothing more than gears, pulley and exhaust" . I remember reading the early report on the Evolution GT500, and at the time they already had ~$2500 worth of mods into it (suspension, exhaust, gears, tuning), and it was running 11.80! Even some of the Mustang guys were disappointed with it. That is, those who expressed disappointment and weren't BANNED from the SVT forums .

Yes, the GT500 is fast. No, it's not as "cheap" and "simple" as one might expect for an already ~500 HP car to run the times that it has.

Yes, we'll be equally critical if the 5th-gen can't perform like we expect/hope it will. No, we (most?) won't be surprised if it's an "under-performer". I'm sure the weight is a big factor when it comes to this performance (for the current GT500 and the future Camaro).

In all honesty, I think the '03/'04 Cobra is probably the better "bang-for-the-buck" compared to the GT500?? (performance vs. cost)

 

You're right. Video of the 10.99 run also lists ported blower, unspecified suspension mods, custom x pipe, custom driveshaft, lightweight brakes & wheels, drag radials, and tuning. Not exactly a laundry list of mods but it's sure as hell more than gears, pulley and exhaust. From what I understand the car now has custom LT's and skicks/skinnies as well. I'd ask why it's so difficult to get a straight answer on what all has been done to this car but according to 95firehawk and the homers on svtperformance.com that would make me a hater and/or a gm nutswinger.

 

I think we all know that the base vette motor will find its was into the Camaro....LS3 as I understand. There is gonna be a motor in that car with 400+ hp. I dont think many would argue against it. The more relevant question that we still have no idea on is the cars production weight. If its light enough, the LS3 could be enough. How awesome would it be if the $30k 3550lb Z28 beat the 45k Cobra.

Ive also kept up with the evolution performance car, and have noticed a glaring flaw that goes unmentioned. The car made fantastic power under only the best of conditions. The first dyno they ran was when the car came in from a drive and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50rwhp under its peak. After cooloff and icing the blower they ran it again, and used those numbers as their baseline. In real world conditions, that motor gets winded quick, and drops in power. Screw road racing that pig. The Camaro will smack the Mustang on the course.

 

still not the 500hp beast he thinks the new one should be.

 

Well, the car felt special for alot of reasons, and it wasn't just for it's power. I drove much more powerful cars last weekend, which barely left me with an afterthought. This car was special for the total package. The looks, the style, the feel, the aura of nastiness that an early Z/28 has.....I don't know, in the other thread I try to put my finger on it....but it's hard to quantify. Whatever that "thing" is...it had it.

Earlier that day, I drove a '69 Camaro COPO replica with a 427 and a '69 Camaro SS with a 375/396, (both with auto). Both of those cars were incredible. Both of those cars undoubtedly had more power than the Z/28. But neither of those cars made me feel the same "magic" that the Z/28 did.

 

There's something about the no frills of the early Z/28's that were magical. No badges (displacement and/or Z/28 badges didn't arrive until 1968), no frills, just a 4-speed, that high winding small block that seemed to never stop putting out power, and runway stripes. They truly were race cars thinly disguised as street cars. Fastforward to 1969, and by then GM had worked out most of the bugs and nastiness that made the Z/28's so neat. (They thankfully fixed the wheelhop for one.) That SS 396 probably had all the bells and whistles and even the COPO (albeit a clone) being a stripper car built for the drag strip was more refined than the rawness of the '67 Z/28. That's why they'll always be my favorite Camaros.

 

Actually, the car didn't feel like a strippo at all. It had a pretty high level of interior trim compared to alot of the other period cars. It was just right, not too much, not too little.

 

Funny thing is, i never once defended any GM car, let alone the 5th gen...how can i without one spec?

I'm not on anyones bandwagon, if a cars fast...its fast! But lying about mods, or in your case not willing to admit that the car has a ported blower, suspension, lots of weight reduction...well its a page outta the ol' ricer handbook. Talk about jumping on a bandwagon, why don't you have a GT500?
Every car nowadays is fast, or at least has the potential to be, thats what makes this thread so funny. Buy whatever you want, don't base it on straight line performance, you can make any car new or old do that.

 

Id be happy with a 500+ horse z28,as long as I can still beat up the GT's.