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I appreciate the post, and the numbers. Very insightful. It's pretty much what I always expected it to cost to actually get a complete forced induction setup including parts, installation, and tuning, all done professionally. I would love to have a car like yours but I would be a wreck during the whole process of buying parts and building it.

I need to drive a C6 and if something about the car bothers me enough I may yet consider doing boost to the S2000. The S2000 is definitely the most fun I've had in a car so that's why I'm reluctant to move on. I know I want more power, it's just a matter of figuring out how to get there.

 

Believe me it's so true. Never had a car that I had this kind of a connection with. Even my folks love the car and said if I ever get rid of it they want it lol. Also you have to plan for things that can and will go wrong down the road when your adding FI to a NA car no matter how safe your numbers are.

At least with the c6 it's made for the power it has and then some. One of my co-workers husband is a vette guy and has 4 of them with one being a c5 making over 800hp on stock everything. Theses cars can hold some impressive numbers without having to tear the entire thing apart and making sure the clutch, axles, tranny etc are up to par with what your plans are.

The new c7's look to finally get the right combo with looks, power as well as fit and finish with the interior. I feel it may be the best vette yet.

If you do go with the c6 make sure you get the z51 package. Definitely is worth it in my opinion as a base model just feels wobbly and incomplete too me at least.

Mike

 

My s2000 was turbo'd with the greedy kit before I purchased the C6. Granted I never had any real issues, I was still always worried something was going to break. The greddy came off when I purchased the vette and I don't miss the turbo at all. When I want to go fast I grab the keys to the vette.

 

If the vette doesnt do it for you, you need to get a ride in one with a good driver. I have just got a s2k with 293/197 and I love love love it. AMAZING car. But on Woodside road the only thing I will beat my car in is a VETTE!!! Pure huge grip. Very technical to drive right, but FAST!!!!!!

 

I've driven many C6's and ridden in many more, prob. 1/2 or more at the track. They're great cars, but steering feel on pre-08's is unacceptable to me, so I'd only consider an '08+. The one thing that drives me nuts is the the seats truly have a terrible lack of support for track use. For the street, they're prob. OK.

Having S/C'd my first S2000 (and my former NC Miata), I wouldn't consider FI an alternative, just a likely waste of time and money. Factory-engineered power is far preferable IMO.

 

I'll second your motion for factory engineered power. I personally love N/A high revving engines for their benign and predictable nature. I've owned turbo cars and my current car is factory supercharged. The turbo is the least attractive to me. No matter what the reviews say about managing turbo lag and linear power delivery for a given engine, they just dont feel right to me. There is always lag followed by a huge torque jump at some point. The supercharger seems much more "normal" to me. It just makes a smaller engine feel much much bigger with torque on demand instantly at any rpm. But, the huge torque at low rpm can be more difficult to control than a N/A engine that builds torque more slowly.

Now take forced induction out of the factory and into the hands of a small tuning shop or backyard kit installer and I have to believe that in a high percentage of cases the stuff I dislike about forced induction will be even worse than what factory engineers would have come up with.

Take my current car rated at 330 HP and 310 lb/ft from the factory. These numbers were lowered for internal corporate political reasons. The car actually measures 350 hp and 330 lb/ft stock with 14 psi of boost from the lysholm twin screw supercharger. I then had a supercharger pulley installed along with a dyno tune. The car now measures 407 hp and 389 lb/ft from 18 psi of boost in the same 3,200 lb coupe. Is it better? Well, yes and no. It's undeniably more powerful with 16% more power and 18% more torque. And it's faster when you can use the power, mostly in a straight line. But it's tougher to launch. And the extra torque makes it easy to overwhelm the rear tires in turns. And the tune as it stands right now has a less linear (sudden) throttle tip in which the car doesn't need with all that torque. To compound the grip / torque problems the car has a pretty intrusive stability control system which will chop the throttle hard, early, and long. It's annoying. So I drive with it off most of the time, foregoing the extra protection to get a more predictable response as counter intuitive as that sounds.

I'm actually thinking of going back to stock because I think I enjoyed the more balanced overall package that the factory engineers labored hard to create.

 

I find that as i get older, going fast becomes less important than the sensation of fast, in this i agree with chris and spud. You can put a better turbo, tune, etc etc, but the additional performance just doesnt feel as solid as a stock car making similar power. Plus add in the extra stress of having to monitor temps and me being ultra paranoid for every little weid sound or stumble from the engine and it just gets old. Dont get me wrong, i love vast amounts of power, love simple mods like basic bolt ons and tunes, but when you really start modding or fi-ing na cars... yeah.

 

Also, i used to be a turbo junky, but man as i get older well prepped na motor, whether a high revving 4 cyl or a big old big block, just the sudden and, for lack of better term, intuitive power just gets me going. I remember a couple of friends took out a z06, beat on it, parked it, and the guy with a mkiv supra turbo was like wow, park it hot, walk away, and not once check or worry about any othe vitals. I feel like with moderatelyto heavy modded cars, you really count miles as you drive it, whereas with relatively stock cars you can focus more on the pleasure aspect of car ownership.

 

I too agree with the NA lovers. My current set up is with the baby turbo (greddy) and I love it, but you have to drive it differenly than the way the car came stock and the extra power and tourque change the way the suspension was made to handle like from factory with factory power. I love love a c6, but the best corvette IMO is the c5 z06. Balance, power, steering, feedback. AWESOME...

 

I guess I know what my next car is going to be! I've got my sights set on a c6z!