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What made the difference between 475 and 490 horse Callaways?

kaijumax

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
96
Location
Central,MA
Corvette
1990 Callaway Supernatural
I can't seem to find direct information on this.
Anybody Know?
 
Callaway Headers w/ cats, along w/ low restriction Callaway Exhaust and the single mass flywheel / clutch...
It seems that it consists of many of the C.h.i.e.f components :cool

Tony C. or Big John - Both would be able to confirm the package content & know if there is anything else :cool

also, more info can be read here: http://www.callawayownersgroup.com/Pages/SNinfo.htm

I hope this helps :v :m
 
Yeah, the pages Chris has up of the catalog seem to indicate what he just said. I'm sure the 475 package comes with a chip, but I believe it's stock exhaust and flywheel. It's just the engine work. The 490 is basically the 475 engine work and then the CHIEF stuff.

The prices they sent me recently were in line with that. The 475hp package was like $13,000, the 490 was basically that much plus the cost of the CHIEF package.

So I guess to do it in steps, you could either get the CHIEF package first for about $4500, then later get the 475/490 engine work done. Or get the engine work done, and later toss on the CHIEF stuff for a little more juice.

They still offer the 475 package, the 490 package, and the CHIEF package.
 
Aurora40 said:
Yeah, the pages Chris has up of the catalog seem to indicate what he just said. I'm sure the 475 package comes with a chip, but I believe it's stock exhaust and flywheel. It's just the engine work. The 490 is basically the 475 engine work and then the CHIEF stuff.

The prices they sent me recently were in line with that. The 475hp package was like $13,000, the 490 was basically that much plus the cost of the CHIEF package.

So I guess to do it in steps, you could either get the CHIEF package first for about $4500, then later get the 475/490 engine work done. Or get the engine work done, and later toss on the CHIEF stuff for a little more juice.

They still offer the 475 package, the 490 package, and the CHIEF package.

Now this is confusing!
The single-mass flywheel is less mass so the engine can rev quicker, it doesn't add power.
 
John H. Christensen said:
Now this is confusing!
The single-mass flywheel is less mass so the engine can rev quicker, it doesn't add power.
I apologize if I was confusing or had any mis-information. I was merely saying the pricing seemed in-line with what Chris had said.

So the 490 package does not include the single-mass flywheel?
 
I was thinking that the 490 upgraded something in the longblock. I thought I had it in an old email but I cannot find it.
 
John H. Christensen said:
Now this is confusing!
The single-mass flywheel is less mass so the engine can rev quicker, it doesn't add power.

doesn't add more power to the crank, but the car will lose less power in the driveline so it will have more power to the wheels:)
 
The difference is the headers with cats.

After comparing the online information with my original Callaway brochure,
the difference is the headers and cats. Both the 475 and the 490 engines were completely dissaembled by Callaway, balanced,blueprinted,with the plenum and heads ported and sharp edges blended,dyno'd and software recalibrated, plus the required addition of Callaways larger exhaust.
My car has the twin mufflers w/2.75 tubes and the D tips. The center exhaust was an option.
The CHIEF package was bolt ons without internal mod's. These parts seem to have been available seperately, in addition the required mod's.
Hope this clears up some of the questions.
 
Twin Pipes

I like it. I have an older article on the original Run Flat cars. The tester wrote that the center muffler exhaust had alot of resonance,typical for many of the C4 aftermarket exhaust systems, which I don't hear with this system. This must have been the reason the original owner didn't choose that option.
I don't have any video or sound clips yet.
Hopefully this spring as my Baby has been put away for a long winters nap.:cry
Aurora40 said:
How do you like it? And do you have any sound clips or videos of it?
 
I was thinking that the 490 had the Oliver rods?
 
Here are a couple of post that I found. Thanks to other forum members for the info.

Old pricing>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
490 Converstion***$14.000(Includes ,head work,plenum mods,cam degreeing,blueprinting,lightweight pistons&rods,PCM recalibrated.center exhaust
Header/Cats******$2500
Single mass Flywheel&Clutch**$2500
Billet(not cast) Brembo Brakes,F&R***$10,000
ConollyLeather/Wilton Rug InteriorwRollbar***$15,000
Coilover suspension**$3000
Aerobody/full paint**$12,000-$15,000
Dymags/tires******$5,000



Early 475's were top end only.Intake runners opened up & polished,stock cams blueprinted,extensive head work,valvetrain strengthened ,free flowing exhaust & special Callaway computer chip.Result-475HP
Later 475/490(Call Joanne) engines received the above & lightweight rods & pistons which did not add HP but reduced rotating mass.
 
Redmanf1 said:
Early 475's were top end only.Intake runners opened up & polished,stock cams blueprinted,extensive head work,valvetrain strengthened ,free flowing exhaust & special Callaway computer chip.Result-475HP
Later 475/490(Call Joanne) engines received the above & lightweight rods & pistons which did not add HP but reduced rotating mass.
Interesting. I wonder if the bottom-end work pays off? It certainly must increase the price a lot, and the LT5 has a strong bottom end already. Lingenfelter does similar stuff, though, but they up the compression to 12:1 with different pistons.

I wonder if the top-end only package was cheaper? If Callaway did that for around $8-10K they'd be more in the ballpark with other companies that offer this work.
 
475/490 horse follow up

I have the original 1993 Callaway brochure. There is no mention of a 490 horse option, which tells me my car is an early Supernatural conversion. I was curious if my car could be brought up the the 490 specs.
By the way the OZ ZR1 wheel package was $4638.00 option also.
 
*89x2* said:
Callaway's Header Cats should do the trick :cool
I don't see them still available at there online store.
 
Here's the part numbers and prices they sent me in June of this year:

Headers (P/N 208.45.4950): $1,290.
Exhaust (P/N 208.45.4800): $1,850.
Clutch & Flywheel Kit, Single Mass -
(P/N 213.45.5550, 1990-93): $1,015.
(P/N 213.45.5551, 1994-95): $1,015.
C.h.i.e.f. Package (P/N 201.45.0021): $4,690.
SuperNatural 475 Package (P/N 208.45.0011) $13,350.
SuperNatural 490 Package (P/N 208.45.0001): $19,350.

Their headers are really quite reasonably priced. $1300 including cats. That said, the design is very similar to the stock 90-92 header design, just without that horrible pinch where the individual tubes hit the collector/cat, and without the shielding. The primaries are 1 3/4".

I would be curious if they still have the OZ wheels in stock. Though $4k+ is out of my price range, but they look really nice.
 
Jeal headers are the best now offered for the ZR-1. I think watson was the best but are now hard to find.
 
Redmanf1 said:
Jeal headers are the best now offered for the ZR-1. I think watson was the best but are now hard to find.
I believe both Watson and Jeals are no longer made. Stainless Works is the bet for long-tubes.

However, they won't fit with cats unless you chop up your exhaust system. Marc Haibeck sells a pretty cool short-tube header that will fit cats to the stock system. His and the Callaways are the only ones I've seen that are really retain all the emissions stuff (AIR and cats, the Callaways may not fit the EGR on later ZR-1's).

Actually, something in the Callaway text seemed odd/interesting. It mentions this in the catalog scanned on the owner's group:
Callaway's LT5 Header/Cats <clipped>. They feed 14 gauge 304 stainless steel collectors that flow into your stock catalytic convertors.
From: http://www.callawayownersgroup.com/Images/supernatural/s9.jpg

I wonder if that means they modify your stock headers? Or if you have to send them back as a core or something? Or maybe the use of the word "your" was just a bad choice?

I had tried to get some more info on the construction of their exhaust and where the header gains come from, but they never got back to me. I'm not all that likely to get them now, so I never asked again. But I'd be curious to know any information anyone finds out about them or about how the exhaust works (glass packing, baffling, chambering, etc).

I hope this isn't too far off-topic kaijumax. But here's a pict Marc Haibeck had of the stock manifold, and one 89x2 posted a while back of the Callaway. You can see where they fix that crimp in the stock setup. The '93-95 manifolds are different than this, though:

Stock:
stock90hdrs.jpg


Callaway:
cr1_mani.jpg
 

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