The new VE SS's respond extremely well to modifications...reportedly the L98's (basically an L76 with intake manifold changes and a few other minor changes) respond better to mods than the LS2s.

This comes down to the fact that the cylinder heads flow extremely well for a stock motor.

GM Motorsport (Eastern states workshop) have done a range of mods to their VE SS sedan.

Stock, it ran a 13.40 @ 103mph.

high-flow airbox, short shifter and reflash, 12.90 @ 109mph (stock exhaust!)

Add exhaust, CAI, plus a set of slicks and 3.7 diff gears, 11.80 @ 118mph. At this point, a HD clutch was added as the stock one was suffering.

Adding a camshaft (no head swap required as the stock heads flow really well), got them an 11.18 @ 124mph!!

I'd imagine a bigger cam and possibly some further head work would net them a 10 second pass on the stock bottom end and transmission.

Tune was tweaked along the way of course, but hows that for basic mods? They pick up 30kw at the wheels just from airbox and reflash, with stock exhaust. Add CAI and exhaust, another 40kw at the wheels.

My dad just picked up his VE SS-V ute, its awesome fun and has piles of power/torque. I'm trying to talk him into a reflash and CAI, with stock exhaust. Will make a quick beast with hopefully better fuel economy than standard due to the optimised tune