IMO this is an apples to oranges comparison. If you're talking easy 12s/13s on a 3800, you're certainly talking about some kind of boost (turbo kit on an NA engine or an l67 that comes with a supercharger). Boosted engines are typically easier to mod because as you increase the airflow, you can also crank up the boost to add even more power. On an NA setup, you can't exactly crank up the compression.

Easy way to big power on the ls4 is a turbo kit. There are other ways to make power on the ls4, as it isn't drastically different from other ls engines. The factory heads are pretty free flowing, but the intake manifold is pretty poor. Both factory rwd and aftermarket intake manifolds have been adapted to work. Also, adding a cam can really help wake the engine up, but as with any ls engine mated to an auto trans, if you get too crazy with the cam, you need a higher stall converter to match. Obviously headers are beneficial as well. As with the 3800 cars, going aftermarket in the catback exhaust gains virtually no power as the stock exhaust isn't particularly restrictive.

 

I suppose I'm looking at it in a financial point of view. It didn't take much money to make the 04 a low 13 second car, not to mention i didn't have to sacrafice fuel economy much. On the other hand, headers on the 07 alone are impossible to find other than obx which is just crazy to pay over a grand for headers. A turbo kit would cost thousands, and I'm unsure what an intake swap would cost but I'm sure it isn't reasonable lol

I wish there was a sticky for general mods on the LS4 like there is for the L67.

 

Unfortunately, no one took the time to write up a mod lay out for the LS4 (if so, we would happily make that a sticky) and I'm not sure as many people mod them as the 3800 platform (at least in the Montes, not sure about the other platforms like the Grand Prix and such). But we have a few that have made some mods.

There was a member here with an '06/07 LS4 Monte (I believe his username was MillerMonte), he put a turbo kit on the car. He claimed it blew the doors off new 5th gen v8 Camaros and his total cost of ownership for the car and modding was less then sticker on the new Camaros. He loved that more then anything. Might be worth finding some of his old threads, could even try shooting him a PM and see if he'll respond (not sure the last time he was on MCF.com, so hard to say).

But I have no doubt there are mods to get the LS4 into the 1/4 mile times you want, but it all takes money and time.

 

Nitrous is the equalizer, Put down many of rides thinking they can just blow by me with there hopped up toys.

 

Sorry, didn't know you were writing the post and looking to keep it on a small budget. Anyway, like previous member mentioned a post or two before, the only way to make the biggest power, get into 11 seconds and have it all day long is to put turbo on these cars. Should make around 500 whp with the cartuning kit and you could probably get that for 4500 USD$



Cartuning Performance

http://cartuning.ca/products/wbody/large_gxpdyno.jpg

The shorty headers won't do much either, give Cartuning guys a call and talk to them about it. They were happy I didn't bother putting the Doug Thorley Headers or OBX headers on the car.

What did you do to your 04 to make it a low 13 second car?

 

Yea I was reading that turbo kit but wow 11s is a bit much on a daily lol but regardless I'd still have to spend on a new transmission to handle all that power output.

On the 04 I had cai, headers, full exhaust, 1.9 rockers, 3.2 pulley, tune.

 

Again, that's just the benefit of buying a factory boosted car, especially a boosted engine that has been around as long as the 3800.

If your goal is low 13s on a budget without spray, I would think the best bet would be a cam, intake manifold, and some tires. Bone stock, the car should be right at a 14 flat, so youre just trying to cut a second off.

Since the first 60 feet is the most important, some sticky street tires or drag radials will help you get to full throttle faster.

A cam is fairly cheap and is a proven power mod for ls engines. The tricky part is figuring out what your long term plan for the converter is. The really big cams that will make for the biggest power increase could actually slow you down in the 1/4 if you leave the converter stock. If you're stuck with a stock converter, the best bet would be to contact one of the cam gurus (like comp cams, pat g, etc) to get a suggested grind from them to maximize power on your setup.

As for an intake manifold, you are correct that the aftermarket ones (msd, vararam, fast, etc) do tend to run almost $1000. The bang for the buck comes from the interchangability with other ls engines. An ls6 or ls2 manifold would be your best bets, and they aren't typically more than a couple hundred bucks used. There are also multiple ls based manifolds in trucks as well if one of those suits your needs better. There is a little custom work to make them fit, but at least the price isn't bad.


As far as a proven mod list/plan like the l67, there isn't really anything that I've seen specifically for these cars. The upside is there are 5.3 ls engines in numerous cars and trucks that are nearly identical. Sure some of the parts take a little more work to adapt, but the engine is basically the same.

Typical bolt ons for minor gains are usually underdrive crank pulley (not sure if there is an option for the ls4), intake manifold, intake filter/tube, headers, and a small cam.

Bigger gains without getting into boost money tend to be the above with ported or aftermarket heads / bigger cam / high stall converter. Keep in mind, the stock ls4 heads already flow pretty well, so you need to be going to a really aggressive cam spinning the engine rather high to make it worth spending the money on heads.

Beyond that, the next step most ls guys go with is either a bottom end rebuild for more compression and cubic inches to keep it NA or to add boost. Obviously this is where the prices start getting really high, but there are plenty of guys running tiny junkyard 5.3 engines with massive boost on a turbo kit.

The LS engines are a really great platform, it just depends how much you have to spend.

 

Would it recommended to upgrade the transmission if I go the route of cam and intake? Also should I go with a mild cam what is the recommended stall converter?

As for the tune, I really like the fact that it drops into 4cyl mode. I understand tuning it out would be beneficial but am I ok with keeping it or is tuning away the DOD a must?

 

The transmissions are hit or miss, and can really depend how you use them. Drag racing from a dig is harder on the trans than highway pulls, especially on sticky tires. If you're planning on modding and racing the car, I would definitely start a transmission replacement fund now. Some people get away with running the turbo kit on a stock trans for absurd amounts of time. Just comes down to luck and how you drive it. Others have broken the trans on a stock engine.

With the more mild cam offerings, you can get away with the stock converter. The goal is to have a matched setup though. The place you buy the cam from can help reccomend what stall would be best for the cam you pick.

As for going into going into 4 cylinder mode, that does conflict a bit with the other mods. 4 cylinder mode is made for saving fuel, but a bigger cam and loose converter are going to hurt your gas mileage. So if you're concerned about saving fuel, na modding is probably not the route to go. I would suggest doing the turbo setup instead as I bet fuel mileage with that isn't too far off from stock.

The other bad thing is the DOD lifters have lift limitations that put a cap on how big of a cam you can go. A lot of the rwd guys will delete the DOD setup with new lifters and such when going to a big cam.

 

The fact that it drops into 4 cyl mode actually sucks. It's only good on the hwy but I felt that in the long term more damage would be done than good with the engine constantly going from 8-4-8-4 all the time and how that could effect the lifters and locking pins that are associated with the DOD feature. Not to mention the exhaust tone actually sounds 100% better when it is using the full 8 cylinders all the time. Read the theory on DOD if you can and how it works and you will be blown away with how complicated it makes things.

After deleting cat, tune and disabling DOD I have better fuel mileage than when DOD was functioning. Deleting cat made the car way more free flowing for sure. I think it's the one mod that needs to be done to feel some more free flowing power. It was extremely noticable for me anyway.

If I do any more mods its the built trans and turbo. Nothing else in between is worth it to me.