B4Ctom1

Here is a TPIS miniram that sold on ebay for ~$1k with throttle-body, rails, regulator, harness, 30# injectors, all sensors, and even DFI included.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=130433848597

This one went for $610
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=140464711183

I am not really shopping for one, but at one time I was curious so I created a saved search on google that emails me if any results turn up. I actually created the search a long time ago, but only recently did it statrt to turn up very many results. about one every couple weeks. The terms I used were "tpis miniram".

CamaroIROC88350

iTrader: (1)

That's alot of money compared to the Stealth Ram with the complete kit and polished too!

B4Ctom1

I agree

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I'm not a huge fan of either intake, I found the miniram kind of hard to tune at idle.

But with that said, the miniram has more potential than an HSR by far. The failure point of the HSR is the transition from the plenum to the stacks. On a light naturally aspirated motor it's probably fine. I wouldn't try one on a 600hp supercharged combo.

I think even Orr went singleplane when he built his 9 second twin turbo car. Just food for thought.

-- Joe

CamaroIROC88350

iTrader: (1)

What kind of power over the HSR do you think the Miniram would make? Considering all other things are stock for stock? Down the road I may buy me a Miniram and see what's up with it.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

I had distribution issues with teh HSR on my n/a / nitrous motor and didnt trust that for a turbo setup. Single plane is by far a better option and as cheap as an HSR kit. 411 bucks with rails, just need to do a regulator/lines/intake elbow for lsx TB.

1K for an intake plus TB/Rails/Injectors is a screaming deal tho. Thats amazing.
I never knew why miniram was so high priced for what it is.... Lt1 intake thats cast and machined up. And 300 dollar+ fuel rails? I just never saw that as justified and why I never got one. Same with superram for the longest time.

CamaroIROC88350

iTrader: (1)

I had a question about your set-up with the rear end gear. It says 2:73 10 bolt. I wanted to know if that is holding up well because with your twin turbo I'd think that would push it hard at times?

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Stock 4th gen 10 bolt rear with 2.73 gear. Holding fine so far but I leave the line somewhat soft...1.5-1.6 60 foots now. It has seen 1.49 60 foot and its held fine. I've been 1.41 on the nitrous car on a 3.42 rear. Countless 1.5's on that rear with the nitrous motor and turbo motor before it cracked a worm gear. I have good luck with 10 bolts.


I'm not sure the HSR is that far behind the miniram but I know the box stock 1205 miniram can support near 500whp since thats the highest I've seen. I made 400whp with a mild 383 combo but i'd bet it was capable of more. I like the HSR's straight tunnel ram runners and large plenum, but the transition from plenum to runner could be improved. I ported my intake and rounded off the runner tops where it meets the plenum...hoping to smooth out flow.
Problem with each intake is the front set of runners are closer to the TB and air doesnt like to make 90 deg turns so you can have distribution issues. On my 383 HSR however, my rear cylinders were blacked with carbon but the front were noticeably lighter in color. Not sure if that was nitrous nozzle not able to feed the fronts and stacking up fuel in the rear or if it was a part throttle issue.

I drove that car a month with no spraying before I tore it down. Leads me to believe the distribution was idle/part throttle. No data to back that up tho.

Miniram I heard had the opposite effect.

CamaroIROC88350

iTrader: (1)

My friend who is a TPI guy is running a 1989 Formula with a 383 stroker & the HSR intake. He has 4:11's in the rear but his exhaust is choked! Real bad. But he has a 6 speed in that bad boy too. He took me on a trip one day and it does nothing but burn through the 1st 2 gears because there's so much wheel spin. Him and I both said that car is putting down easy 400lbs. of torque and at least 350whp. Probably more and once he gets the darn exhaust fixed it'll be alot better.

InjectorsPlus

iTrader: (1)

You're not kidding about that

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

If you look at the LT1 ECU, they have an injector offset table. The miniram is very much like the LT1. GM figured because the intake doesn't flow evenly, they need to pulse the injectors slightly different front to rear.

This is not possible with a batch fire ECU that most thirdgen guys run, and even the aftermarket SFI stuff needs both a cam and crank sensor to know which cylinder you are on. (although a modified distributor can tell you both).

I ran a blower on the miniram for a summer and that just exaggerates the issue.

-- Joe

MotorMouth

Crane Cams had the article of the EFI Showdown on their website. It's now gone I can't find it anywhere. TPiS miniram was the best at making HP in the upper RPM's but it was less than 10. It showed the lower the runners the more HP and it moved some of the HP to the upper RPM's. The biggest draw to the miniram is the EGR no other aftermarket setup has it that I can find. I have to have it and like the fact they think about the people like me so we can upgrade too.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I actually think quite differently. I hate that companies spend time trying to make parts compliant with emissions standards, that they end up screwing the parts in other ways. If you're gonna build a race car, build a race car.

-- Joe

MotorMouth

If an engine can produce more HP with the emission control equipment on it then that is a good thing for a street car. When I see a car that has all the things needed for a street legal car, still looks good and it's fast. I have more respect for the builder than I do for someone who takes the easy way out and chops it up.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

That is totally understandable, some guys are into a few bolt on parts then hitting the car shows.

I do complete builds, ground up, so the best parts within the budget, SFI gear to pass tech, etc. Still street legal in the sense that it can be registered, has working lights, etc.

An aftermarket intake like a miniram, HSR, singleplane shouldn't be made under the constraints of emissions legality. They are race parts.

For guys wanting to be emissions legal, companies like SLP and edelbrock make high flow intake components (runners, base, throttle body) that are carb approved. Us race guys wouldn't wouldn't tuch that stuff, and in the same token we don't want the aftermarket messing up our race parts with nonsense like EGR.


-- Joe

jmd

iTrader: (4)

EGR isn't relevant at full throttle.

Cars that are street legal (50 state) shouldn't be restricted to LTR port EFI intakes just because it takes five figures+ to get an E.O. established.

Two holes at the base of the plenum of an Edelbrock 3701 doesn't "mess up" that intake compared to a 2101.

MotorMouth

You state it's a race part and then state it's not which is it in your opinion? A street legal car needs more than lights in most places.

As far as a full blown race car I'd go another direction than EFI. It's a lot cheaper and easier to tune.

B4Ctom1

To me street legal is anything you can get away with for years and years without issue. For example I left a restrictive state that snoops under your hood, in your gun locker, up your a$$.. for a state where I could register a C5-R if I wanted just by giving it my own VIN if it doesn't have one already.

VincentZ28

iTrader: (2)

I think my car is a good candidate to be street legal. Just passed California smog on 10/22/10. What do you guys think?

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I broke my motor in with a carb, but as far as tuning I have zero interest in jet changes, float levels, and all that nonsense. I like being able to tell it what to do via keyboard.

As far as EGR's go, all they do is leave a layer of soot and carbon in your intake, runners, valves, etc.

I'm not an advocate of the EPA screwing people, but at the same time i don't want to pay twice as much for a part just because the mfg had to make it emissions friendly.

Back to the miniram, I understand an EGR kit is available for those who need to pass some sort of visual inspection. I realize it won't fly in CA without the carb EO number.



-- Joe

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Same here. Moved out of a liberal democrat controlled state and moved to cow country. More guns, more land, less hassle.

I also went a little older on the current car too. When you put a 550-600hp motor in a 60s or 70s car nobody raises a brow, but when you do it to something made in the 80s or 90s people start asking questions. Not worth the hassle

-- Joe

B4Ctom1

So very true.

Thank god they have basically already made 2 generations newer just since 3rdgens. That is a lot of water under the bridge people's eyebrows are already falling on these *gulp* classics?

B4Ctom1

another on ebay today
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=220687689116

355tpipickup

iTrader: (5)

That ones from a car on the corvetteforum.com he has been tryin to sell that sts type turbo setup for a long while now over there.

B4Ctom1

wow how weird, I didn't even look at his other items. Did that thing do very well?

355tpipickup

iTrader: (5)

yea i think like 600hp on his setup on low boost

B4Ctom1

I know in a world of 1200hp cars that doesn't seem like much, but for something you built yourself I wouldn't knock it. I would feel a little better if I had heard he ran that number with a junkyard diesel turbo instead of a turbonetics turbo.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

If you go on Nastyz28, the 2nd gen guys are running cheap chinese turbos and putting down 800-900hp all day.

-- Joe

B4Ctom1

I would love to see any car running a chinese turbo that can even move under its own power for more than a month. I have seen a bunch running MasterPower turbos, but those are hardly chinese.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Head over to nastyz28. These guys have been running $300 turbos for years without failure.

You know, sometimes parts suck, but really most of the failures you read about on the forums are because guys decide one morning they are master builders and get in over their head. Next thing you know, there is a 40 post thread about how some companies part sucked because this guys motor blew up.

There are some designs that do suck, like the EGR system on my powerstroke turbo diesel, but generally speaking it's usually the wrencher.

-- Joe

B4Ctom1

I still have my doubts of their existence. I think you might be mistaken and these might be non-chinese or diesel turbos.

I wouldn't doubt they are from ebay, because there are many turbos on ebay. I have a thread of my own right here where a tgo member dissected one of those chinese turbos finding no real bearings in it. I have also seen pics of them with the compressor halves glued together.

I have followed threads on other forums where people were warned about them, chose to proceed anyways, and then in an attempt to save face pretended for weeks or months that the turbos worked only to be outed later by eyewitness.

I have held and opened a two of these turbos myself. They are nice facsimiles or models of turbos. The scariest parts were the casting lines on the compressor impeller or voids in the casting of the impeller. To their credit, the cast iron exhaust housing seems sound. Some of the guys on turbo mustangs have even taken the exhaust housings off of them and used them on real turbos.

It has been a while since I looked into them, like almost 10 years. I read a interview with the head guy of either precision or turbonetics where his comments seemed to give me the impression that maybe the chinese were starting to get their act together on turbos now. So maybe everything I know about chinese turbos and manifolds is outdated now.

Lastly, I cannot search for any posts on that site as it says my gmail has been banned so I can't even register without figuring out a way around it or figuring out why.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Nope. A friend of mine buys them bulk and sells them locally as well at his speed shop. Made in China, work just fine.


Lot has happened in 10 years.

Lot of people dump on stuff from China. You know what though, my American vehicles built by UNION LABOR are the ones with all the problems. I think anything 10 years old chinese is probably junk, and anything made in the last 10 years in the US is probably worse junk! I'm buying another dump truck this weekend, think I'll get one built in the early 90s..

But back to topic. Minirams, and intakes in general are getting cheap. Procomp is making intakes now. I have one of their billet distributors and it's spot on. I still think I'd pass on their heads since AFR is so cheap now, but a lot of things are getting cheaper.. Which they should. Really, a hunk of aluminum is not worth $1500.


I recently picked up a Holley MPFI singleplane intake, 1,000 CFM throttle body, fuel rails + reg, 24# injectors, fuel pump (inline), wiring harness and ecm for $450 to my DOOR. That's cheaper than a good holley carb!

-- Joe

B4Ctom1

anything efi yet?

I agree on the $1500 piece of aluminum, I mean seriously, its not even billet. What is this.. 1990?

Oooh tell me more..

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Yes. Singleplane EFI intakes, throttle bodies, fuel rail kits. The basic intake bare is like $215. Intake with throttle body typically advertised for $499 on ebay. Fuel rail kit is like $75.

When I finish building the new barn, I'll put it on the 412 and take some pictures. Basic Holley 9901-101 intake I've ran in the past on a few combos.

-- Joe

B4Ctom1

awesome on the pro efi intake

I really hate the port protrusion on that holley intake, it drives me crazy. I sold mine for that reason. I bought an accel cheap on ebay with rails and 4bbl TB.

junkcltr

iTrader: (1)

I don't know how many times I have read about the LT1 & MiniRam intake having fuel problems and how they are singled out. Fact is any front fed intake has the problem (any LTR / TPI, LT1, miniram, superram, etc). GM over fueled the TPI intake at WOT.....think fuel distribution problem.
A good top fed single plane is the way to go if worried about it. If going with batch fired & front fed then over-fuel it.

junkcltr

iTrader: (1)

That is a really good deal. Very rare but they do happen.

B4Ctom1

this one for $800 plus shipping (throttle body $100 more) does not seem like as good of a deal http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=220693989224

MotorMouth

For almost complete TPiS system with a 58mm TB for $900 is a real good deal. That same setup retail is $1654.95 it seems like a deal.

B4Ctom1

What kind of air lid is that? Where it attaches to the bellows looks different. I have read for years that the stock air for too is restrictive. Unfortunately I don't know of other air lid options like the 4th gens have.

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

I ran mid 11's on motor at 118-119mph and made 400whp thru stock TPI lid with air filters cut out the bottom and ducting attached below to the grille for ram air effect. Thats thru the 3" stock MAF but descreened. I dont know how restrictive they are but I didnt really pick up much going to 3.5" MAF and CAI piping.

B4Ctom1

This is good to know.

Birdstheword

you do your own tunning ?

B4Ctom1

Im starting to see a lot of these too. I hate working on them, sold mine. I am not even sure they are still in production. I mean, I don't know for sure, and don't want to start rumors, and I know you can still buy them new, but I am curious that I think they are not actually making them now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=290508830309

355tpipickup

iTrader: (5)

No they dont make the SR anymore. They stoped making them years ago. thats why its harder and harder to find them! I have two at the moment and about to put one of them up for sale!

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Try the corvette forum. There is still a few guys over there that like SR's.

I've seen them go dirt cheap on here.

-- Joe

topteam54

iTrader: (4)

This one I just picked up yesterday from the owner . I will be selling my polished one/or this one very soon, open to offers http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...t=IMG_0965.jpg Smog legal 355 put down 393rwhp/414rwtq

B4Ctom1

no miniram's now but another Accel Super Ram
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LINGE...-/140498089358

F-Body Demon

iTrader: (1)

I think there is a guy selling a miniram here in the classifieds... :cough cough:

B4Ctom1

Always check our classifieds first!