started talking to a local performance shop and they stated that they would suggest head studs and headgasket to make these kind of numbers. gonna sort of turn this thread into a questions and progress on my build. been trying to refine my car into the beast i always pictured it would be.

 

This largely depends on the mileage and condition of your engine.
You don’t ‘need’ either of them for low boost, esp if you’ve got lower miles and car doesn’t burn oil, but again this depends on the conditional up keep of the engine.. if all general maintenance has been done including valve adjustment then imo I’d say your fine. Having the timing chain serviced is also a good call, more than likely won’t need replacement but maybe just tighten and possibly new guides so the chain and valves being serviced puts you in good shape… The studs and gasket would be great to throw in IF you can afford it, that strengthens your internals and would provide a piece of mind, how important is that piece of mind to you is really the question
Every mod usually requires another part or parts to be changed/serviced/upgraded as well to ‘support‘ that mod - most just do the bare minimum and run a certain level of risk then fix stuff when/as it breaks - upgrading the head studs / head gasket / valve adjustment / timing chain service would provide all the support you need and then some which may let the engine/build last longer.
So basically do you ‘need’ them to achieve what your looking for, No not necessarily, BUT if you are hard on your car and the valves are making noise already and it burns even some oil then Yes you should tend to all of that before boosting.
Don‘t forget about the transmission as well

 

Running a stock gasket is perfectly fine. The current condition of the motor would be the deciding factor if opening it up is worth it.

If you get a new head gasket you WILL need to resurface the head and deck the block, I don't care what anyone says about it being an aluminum head; do it right the first time.

I'd say head studs aren't that necessary, but if you have the real estate, grab some 4piston ones that they make for the z7.

The main thing I'd be worried about is your chain tensioner and your 3-4 trans gear. Those are the weakest link in these motors. You have a few options on gears, cheapest being m-factory or gear-x, which are essentially the same.

As for tensioner, the hybrid racing duel ratchet is great so I'd look into that.

If you have any further questions just ask and we'll see what we can do. 400hp is not hard to achieve with these cars.

 

thank you for the suggestions on tensioner upgrade and gears. already debating on gear-x probably gonna just get the 1-4 gears. but had no idea about the tensioner. still will probably always resurface for gasket just to be certain the seal is good

 

echo echo echo … 😝

Can’t say I agree with the resurfacing though — that really all depends again on the condition of the engine, in a perfect world yes I agree with you he should do that and all of those other things but if it’s low miles and doesn’t leak then may not need to even do that - it should be inspected for sure but if it’s in good shape and in spec then not necessary just clean mating surface and prep ..

 

I would 100% agree with that — unfortunately not many with that mentality, everyone wants the cool power upgrades and don’t do the supporting mods until something breaks and even then just do bare minimum to get it back on the road … crazy part is plenty of folks get away with the bare minimum but like you I’d rather not take the chance. I’m at an age where when I get in my car I want it to start and drive well every time — when I was younger I played the let’s see if it’ll start game way to often lol