As for this upcoming car, if GM was to build in free mods, how much power would you like them to release? Or would you rather have that power from the getgo?

 

Build in as many free mods as possible. That way the power is lower for a typical consumer and keeps insurance costs down for us 22 yr olds ( not that I could afford one for at least 3 more years lol). Then when you get it, free mods for us enthusiasts. Maybe give us a nice HP engine, with a lot of plastic blockage in teh intake to keep factory HP numbers lower lol.

 

I'd rather them not waste their resources "over-engineering" things, and just make the car work good right from the start . I mean, obviously we're not getting LT headers from the factory (those days are long gone ) but the car shouldn't have ~2.5" exhaust, nor should it have an intake that squeezes the air through a straw, or feeds the air through a tiny slit behind the radiator .

 

lol your post goes perfect with mine except I think the stock exhaust should be skinny too so we can unlock more power from stock. But I agree completely with the air coming behind the radiator, though I don't have to worry about that After 7 years I think they owe us a little over-engineering

 

I seriously doubt they will purposely build in "free" mods. When this is released, we'll be looking at Pony Car (is that term obsolete now?) HP wars between Chevy, Ford, Dodge and whoever else. Why in the hell would GM build in free mods to keep the HP down just so some people could save money on insurance.

Most of the free mods done to cars are just ways to correct the shortcuts/oversights/cost prohibitions that occur during desigh/production (porting intake plenum immediately behind TB on TPI cars, grinding down bump stop on LS1 TB), doing away with features designed into car for "worst case" driving conditions (TB bypass, early MAF heatsink removal, MAF screen removal, baffling removal in intake tract originally meant to prevent water ingestion), or to work around EPA/emissions issues (CAGS bypass, IAT resistor).

Will there be free mods? Sure, if you're willing to do away with or modify certain "reliability" or features that were engineered into the car for whatever reason by GM. Hopefully GM will catch any design "oversights" and not make too many design sacrifices just to save a few bucks here and there on each car built.

Not to be a jerk, but building in free mods?......come on get real.

....okay, I guess I DID come across like a jerk.

 

Don't worry I'm pretty hard to offend. But in the "HP wars", why would companies underrate the actual power of engines? The only reason I can think of is for insurance purposes and so that when the vehicle is tested, it out performs the other car with the same HP on paper, because it has more power than that in actualality.

Also, detuning can help the car pass the EPA standards, the same reason that many European sports cars are detuned for the US. Ever notice how some cars with a Hypertech or other tuning program get actual power, while others see negligible results?

 

Agreed.
But that was then, this is now.....at least I hope so.

But even if that was the case now, wouldn't it be easier/cheaper to just under estimate the power output as opposed to specifically engineering "tricks" into the car to shave power from the factory so that a power hungry owner can "fix" it after they take possession?

I agree with you 100% on the tuning issue. I think that would DEFINITELY be the easiest/cheapest way to knock the power down a bit if GM needed to for some reason.

 

The free-mods that some of us do I don't think are purposely done by GM, just that is what comes as a way to meet different climates, fuel economy, emissions, noise levels, ect.

 

As the LSx platform has proven, the usuals are expected from me.

I'm expecting TB Bypass and/or the EGR mod. Maybe 10-15 hp. We'll find, em tho..