The year is 1997 and GM has quite a few of the LT4 motors that were used in the 1996 Grand Sport and Collector's Edition Corvettes available.  Knowing this SLP approaches GM looking to do a special edition Firehawk and SS to send out the Gen II (LT1) based f-bodies (Firebird and Camaro) with a a bang.  After some negotiating GM agrees to have SLP do a limited production run of LT4 equipped Camaro SS and Firebird Firehawk cars.  This run is initially set to be 100 cars of each model.  The SS LT4s actually reach this production limit and exceed it by 6 cars to provide cars to six Canadian buyers. However due to the late start on the LT4 Firehawks, SLP ends up producing only 29 production models and 1 prototype car.  Needless to say, the LT4 Firehawk is one of the rarest cars ever produced in the history of the f-body and if not already, will definitely be a collectible in years to come.

The general idea of the LT4 SS and Firehawk, was to take an LT4 engine, balance and blueprint it and then install it in an SS/Firehawk with every option that was available from SLP.  This car would then be rated with 330HP to match the rating of the 96 LT4 Corvettes and dyno tested at SLP to verify the HP rating on each car.  To address concerns regarding the car being able to handle the additional HP and Torque of the LT4 motor, these cars could only be ordered in a hardtop with the six speed manual transmission.  So you will never see a factory LT4 t-top, convertible or automatic equipped car.  Now on to the specifications for the 97 LT4 Firehawk:

1997 Firehawk Specifications

Base Firehawk Package:

• Lightweight Composite Hood with Functional Forced Air Induction

• 17x9 cast aluminum painted wheels

• P275/40ZR17 Firestone Firehawk tires

• Firehawk Decals

• Free Flow Dual Exhaust with Resonators and Twin Tips

• front sway bar: 32mm

• front shocks: deCarbon 46mm (stock f-body)

• front springs: 360 lb/in (f-body 1LE)

• rear shocks: deCarbon 36mm (stock f-body)

• rear springs: 130-180 lb/in (f-body 1LE)

• rear sway bar: 19mm (stock f-body)

LT4 Firehawk Package:

• 330HP Balanced and Blueprinted 5.7 Liter LT4 Engine

• 330HP Decals

• Free Flow Dual Exhaust with Resonators and Twin Tips

• Stainless Steel Exhaust Manifolds

• 17x9" Cast Aluminum Chrome Wheels

• Lightweight Flywheel

• High Performance Pressure Plate

• Lightweight Driveshaft

• High Strength Ring and Pinion Gear Set

• Hurst Six Speed Short Throw Shifter

• Engine Oil Cooler

• Torsen Limited Slip Differential with AAM Cast Aluminum Cover

• Synthetic Lubricants Package

• Premium front floor mats with embroidered Firehawk logo

• Level II Bilstein Suspension:

  • 32mm Front Sway Bar

  • front shocks: Bilstein B46-2071 46mm (Rebound 397, Compression 130 versus standard Bilstein HD Rebound 297, Compression 159)

  • front springs: Eibach 300-450 lb/in (stock springs: 292 lb/in)

  • rear shocks: Bilstein B46-1914 46mm (same as standard Bilstein HD)

  • rear springs: Eibach 115-185 lb/in (stock springs: 114 lb/in)

  • stiffer rear lower control arm bushings

  As you can see from the Level II suspension specs, SLP did made some major changes from stock to optimize the handling of the car.  Many people buy standard Bilstein HD shocks and use them with aftermarket springs, but what they don't realize is that standard Bilstein HDs are designed to work best with stock spring rates.  SLP increased the rebound by 25% on the front shocks to better handle the increased spring rates of the their custom Eibach springs.    What is also very interesting is that by lowering the compression on the front shock versus the regular Bilstein HDs, they were also able to improve the ride over even a stock f-body's ride.