Ok, I have friend that has a 2002 ss and wants to put down 500 to the wheels, Its an a4. I believe he has 5,000.00 for this project.

Any sugestions what he'll need to make this happen ? No juice either.

I suggested the T-Rex cam to start.

 

the Trex is a nasty cam...and even that isn't gonna get you to 500hp.

it's pretty readical, and not very reliable from some of the posts i've seen.

thunder claimed 450hp with it, but i have yet to see a real world dyno test that matches the numbers advertised (for the Trex and other cams). 425 is probably more like it in the real world.

not sure how it would respond to a good set of heads. but i think 500 at the wheels is out of the question without a stroker and some very high $$ components.

how bout a nice moderate cam and a 100hp shot of juice?

 

425 with the cam and a set of AFR heads should be close, along with tuning injectors?

No juice aloud.

 

There is a local shop that has a cam similar to the T-rex. I saw a C5 put down 460 whp with that cam and ported ls1 heads, fully tuned, etc etc etc.

For $5k, he'd be better off getting the STS turbo system w/methanol injection.

 

I agree with the turbo comment, no heads and cam package thats under 5 grand will give you 500 at the wheels, ESPECIALLY with an automatic.

 

ditto on the sts comments. if you want to go the n/a route, talk to tsp. i just had my car dyno @435rwhp for $3300. everything i bought was thru tsp. mac headers w/ orp $529. rumbler cb, $199, o2 sims $89. blockoff plates $20, custom mail order tune $250, prc stage 2.5 heads $1529, tsp cam 233/239 .600"/.605" 112lsa $400, and various other stuff equalling $300+ that you dont need, i.e wires, sfc's, 160 therm, etc. so to your budget id have close to 2k left. 65rwhp can be done for 2k. when you get to 500hp start saving up for tranny rebuild (cpt $1200) and 12 bolt.

 

Just out of curiousity, what would the drivetrain loss be with an A4 compared to a m6?

 

12-14% for an M6 and 17-20% for an A4 (depending on the how loose it is from a high stall, personally i gained 20 hp just by locking the converter on the dyno.)

 

500rwhp with bolt-ons for $5000---not easy to do. Naturally aspirated or FI?

You will need a bored out LS1+ bolt-ons for N/A (for $5k, forget about it)-- Unless you're looking for a MASSIVE cam that will tear your engine apart from the inside-out. 425-430rwhp with a t-rex and full bolt-ons. A great set of heads will put you at around 460-470. Not exactly "close" to 500, in my opinion. You'll need close to 650hp at the flywheel to hit 500rwhp with an auto

Boltons, heads/cam + a decent shot of spray will get you there easy.

Blowers/turbos are out of the question with a little budget like that.

Better start saving for your new tranny, block, pistons, crank, and rear-end too.

 

I always cringe when i see posts like this. If you want to make 500 RWHP, the budget can't be the first thing on your mind. these cars are expensive in general and making big power RELIABLY costs big dollars. if your friend only has 5 grand to spend, convince him to use it wisely. upgrade the things that are going to break (trans, driveshaft, rear, etc) then use whats left to squeeze a little more hp out of the car. taking a near stock car and dropping an entire 5 grand into the motor is building a car backwards. In addition to durability issues, there are other supporting parts that need to be there too. for one thing, a 500 RWHP car with a stock suspension is going to be about as worthwhile as pissing into the wind. another thing is you can't make that kind of power without SIGNIFICANT tuning which is NOT cheap.

I would MUCH rather have a 425 RWHP car that stands up to my abuse and maintains a degree of driveability than a 500 RWHP that stumbles at idle because the cam is so big, gets 4 mpg, is not pleasant to drive and spends 8 months out of every year in the garage with fragged parts in it..

 

Ya, but it is fun when you out run the people who have 100hp more than you, because they can't hook.

 

Your friend would be better off shooting for 400-450rwhp with a budget like that, especially through an auto.

 

If you go with some literally hogged out LS6 heads or 5.3 heads to get a little more compression, the TSP 233/239 cam or a T-Rex, and all the best bolt ons you can do like LT's, 3" TD's with a DR. Gas X, bigger TB, SSRA, port matched LS6 intake or better yet LSX, a good dyno tune, you could get close to 500rwhp, maybe hit it with a M6. But to make use of that, you're gonna have to spin the motor to 7k+, and the stock bottom end won't take too kindly to that after awhile. A shortblock with JE pistons, H beam rods at least will be needed, the stock crank would be fine if balanced really well.

Jason

 

Professional shops with all the tuning, one-off parts, experimenting, and dyno tricks aren't hitting 500rwhp with a heads/cam package...let alone doing it on a budget. IMO, the only way you will see 500rwhp through an auto for $5000 is to spray a H/C combo. You could get close with used blower or turbo set-up...

 

u can surely make it to 500rwhp with ALL bolt ons and a head/cam pakage. a good tune will definently help! but not with $5000! u will need more money to get to 500. i say swap the ls1 n put a ls2 than u can make it more quicker, might be more money but more power to where u wanna go.