2013 Camaro LT 3.6L LFX HP mods

[zellis1984]

What are the best mods for 3.6 LFX (auto trans) to get more power? First time Camaro owner. Always wanted one and am glad it's a Gen5! I know it's not the SS or a manual like I wanted, but beggars can't be choosers! Any advice is appreciated.

I did put on a Spectre CAI (will probably switch to a different brand later) and replaced the factory mufflers from the axel back with flowmaster super 10's. Thanks for any help and advice!

[redcoats1976]

not sure theres a lot that are cost effective.lets face it,you are getting 323 horsepower out of 217 cubic inches.GM did a pretty good job with these motors to begin with.

[BuddyLee]

Larger throttle body and headers? My son Little Ricky had a nice V-6 1992 that put hood and decal on. Any year Camaro V-6 are great for body and interior mods and are the best for driving country roads with many many twists and turns. Oh, and my Buick V-6 is faster than my 2SS Rs every day of the week.

[mikeman]

Originally Posted by BuddyLee

Larger throttle body and headers? My son Little Ricky had a nice V-6 1992 that put hood and decal on. Any year Camaro V-6 are great for body and interior mods and are the best for driving country roads with many many twists and turns. Oh, and my Buick V-6 is faster than my 2SS Rs every day of the week.

Beautiful Iroc!

[chasmanian]

I had a CAI, intake spacer and tune (between upper and lower plenum). The seat of the pants meter registered a big change. You can also do high flow cats, throttle body and spacer, gears, forced induction, and even cams from a company in Australia.

[KillboyPowerhead]

Best bang-for-your-buck mods might include:

Cold air intake;
Jacfab's Laminator FX (perhaps not as effective as a ported/modified factory manifold but a lot cheaper);
Jacfab's Extendolator (spacer between plenum and manifold);
Removing the secondary cat on the factory downpipes;
Tune.

From there it all comes down to how much you want to spend:

Ported factory manifold;
80mm throttle body;
High-flow cats (if you removed the secondary cats on the factory pipes I suspect these wouldn't add much benefit);
Cams (Mace Engineering makes these; I have them but haven't installed them - plan to fairly soon!).
Rear end swap (such as going to the 1LE rear end for 3.91 gears).
E85 kit.

Intake + exhaust + tune will get you around 300 WHP (stock is ~250); E85 will get you another 15 HP I believe; cams can get you another 40 or so with proper tuning (seems to be a lot of uncertainty about how much power these cams can make as some tuners don't play with the variable valve timing and allow the engine to spin past redline - guess I'll find out for myself after I install them). In any case, full bolt-ons including cams will get you somewhere in the vicinity of 400+ HP/~320 lb/ft torque at the crank which ain't too shabby for an NA 3.6 V6! With 3.91 gears on top of this you're looking at a 0-60 in ~5.0 seconds, also not bad for a fat ass car.

[mikeman]

Torque is what you feel when driving around and there's no way to significantly improve on that unless you go F.I. However, the $6K+ it would cost to do that, you might well upgrade to an SS that comes with 400tq stock.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do any mods on your V6 like some will advise, but don't expect it to be a torque monster like the V8.

[chasmanian]

mikeman is right to a point, but if you have the auto, you'll feel a lot from the tune alone. The stock shift program is pretty soft.

[BuddyLee]

Originally Posted by zellis1984

What are the best mods for 3.6 LFX (auto trans) to get more power? First time Camaro owner. Always wanted one and am glad it's a Gen5! I know it's not the SS or a manual like I wanted, but beggars can't be choosers! Any advice is appreciated.

I did put on a Spectre CAI (will probably switch to a different brand later) and replaced the factory mufflers from the axel back with flowmaster super 10's. Thanks for any help and advice!

Dyno Steve seems to be a quick response type. you might ask him what you could expect from one of his tunes.

[joekono]

Originally Posted by redcoats1976

not sure theres a lot that are cost effective.lets face it,you are getting 323 horsepower out of 217 cubic inches.GM did a pretty good job with these motors to begin with.

Amen to that!!

[TheFlyingBananaSS]

It continues to amaze me how many people mod the V6.

[BuddyLee]

Cold air induction system, long-tube headers, a stock SS mid-pipe, performance mufflers, ported throttle-body, and a tune would push low 14. I would think.

[ariZona28]

Can't do headers because of the LFX integrated head/ex manifold design. In order to get significant HP gains you'll need to spend significant coin. It is doable, just expensive. You'll probably end up with the cost of the car and mods being greater than the cost of a similar condition bone stock SS car. Doing serious mods can also effect daily driver dependability. Don't forget your drivetrain is factory built for 323 HP, expensive improvements are needed to handle extra power. Maybe do a 3.91 1LE rear swap (probably not cheap) to get the best results on the glute dyno. Other upgrades: suspension and tire improvements as components wear out. Enjoy the car as GM designed, as mentioned above they did a pretty good job on this one.

[yzark99]

You'll probably end up with the cost of the car and mods being greater than the cost of a similar condition bone stock SS car.

Not quite. With all of my mods, including the mistakes, I'm still 2 grand under what the dealer wanted for a 2LT, and still not even close to the V8 price then. The factory drivetrain is good for 500 HP; proven on C5 many times. The best bang for the buck is hi-flos cats or a tune. Intake is a waste of money. If you are lazy, you could always pick up a used V8. Some of us like a challenge @ 30 MPG.