"I also received my new intake runners"

Okay. What is up with these? How different are they from what in now on the car? Any pictures?

 

No difference that I know of, just a stock replacement for me to tinker with!

 

i just got another throttle body for the first.. so i got a 71mm monoblade and a 76mm monoblade.... i also noticed that he just started upgrading his bases... i guess i got the first batch of those because the base ports looks cleaner than the older models... how much did those runners cost you....

 

I am not certain what they cost me, I ordered and a payed for them quite a few weeks ago.
Ken is always making improvements to his product, and he is a genuinely good person, I have spent a lot of time with him over the phone. He wants me to keep him up to date with how things go with my build and the new runners once they get worked over.

 

yeah he is a good guy... he said the samething to me... he has the best customer service ever.... i hope he makes some siamesed runners like the slp... if he did that then that would be awesome.... the base already flows like no other tpi base unless ported and welded... i got all the throttlebody issues worked out like we talked about in PMs.. no more sticking and it idles down like its suppose to..

 

That's good to know that your hanging idle issue is resolved.

It would be nice if Ken made a siamese set, that's pretty much what I plan on doing with mine, along with opening the upper plenum and runners to a 1.9.

 

I have had the gears in now for a week or so, I have to say I love this combo with the 3.73!
Not that the 3.23's were that bad, the 3.73 just feel that much better. They work well with this combo, with no real proof but me **** of course. The gears whine more than I like..... should have bought GM gears, but they'll do for now, I am looking for a 9"or 12 bolt for a winter project atm.

Traction continues to be even more of a concern however, its time for some tires!!

I installed my trans temp and MTX-L guage as well. I modified a dual pod from a truck and tucked it under my dash pad. I ghettoed it a little, but will work until i have more time this winter to mess with it.

I stays out of the way for night time driving compared to pillar guages, and thats what I was after.

 

thats good to hear.... i was going to switch to 3.73 gears with my FIRST intake but i thought i would be out of my powerband too quickly so i went with 3.42 gears..... if you like it i might get 3.73 gears when i get my ford nine inch rear someday....

 

Gbayfisher, where are we at on dyno results and have you taken it to the track. I need to be refreshed on where you are at. I am running factory 3.70:1 gears in my nine bolt and they make a little noise but not bad.

 

I think you would be fine, your set up is similar to mine. Don't go out of our way to do it unless your spending the money on a full rear though, 3.42 to 3.73 is close.

The biggest difference.. surprisingly, is when it hits third gear, it pulls very hard, hard enough that even my wife noticed a big change and said it has never felt so strong at that point.




Still waiting on a new dyno day, I have been tuning, and burning through gas and rubber in the meantime.
I am going to contact 88blackz-51 to see if Sept 11 is still on. Hopefully things work out and I can get some new results soon.
I still feel the engine wants more rpms, but it is being held back, I guess the dyno will tell.

With the gears, I dont mind the noise too much, its not a daily driver, but if it was..........

 

Sept 11th is still a go.....

You in?

 

I'am in, weather permitting,...since I dont have an enclosed trailer atm.

I am trying to get a few guys out to Cayuga soon, 4 in so far. Will you be ready to run it soon, and would you be interested?

 

I wish but I have no time, and truth be told the car isnt setup the way I want for the 1320. I am sure it will run in the 11's as it sits, but I want to throw in the gears and the ZF before I take the long drive to the track....

Send me your email address.....

 

I understand.

pm sent

 

September 11th. Good news it is still on. I am very interested in how both cars do. In a way the results from both will affect my car on how I proceed with further mods. The First Intake/383 build on one and the AFR 195 Competition heads on the other.

 

Glad I can assist in some R&D!

I am also really interested in seeing what the 195's max out at. I cant recall, were they ported and flowed?

* edit: they are the comp ports.

 

Man.You got me thinking how long it has been since I was there.

 

Told you you would have liked gears, after seeing your video second gear went on forever lol Glad its turning out good for ya!

 

I'm getting tired of hitting the speed limit before I run out of RPM's in 2nd

 

You need to find a side road, and break the law!

Forgot to mention, another thing I really like about the gear swap is it lets me cruise at a typical 40-50 at a nice rpm in 4th with the TC locked. Before the gears I would be stuck in 3rd/no lock, or i would get too far over the speed limit to get into fourth. This is for our typical secondary road limits where I do most of my cruising.

Here's a quick vid of the change, 2 wot runs, first one i let it short shift into 3rd, second run i held it back until 6k.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jY_svqeelQ

 

Thanks for lighting a flame under my butt!

 

Thats one thing I like about my manual valve body. I have my TCC settings to lockup on top of third even at 30mph, however as soon as I touch the gas, it unlocks and flashes the converter up to stall speed and really jumps! Also cruising in 4th, I can easily make it drop out of lockup and give me a little bit of a "passing gear" without having to downshift to 3rd.

Gotta be careful though, excess locking and unlocking isn't good for the lockup clutch.

 

Agreed. To street tune a car you need to find a back road to get some speed. Its not uncommon for me to hit 115 or so while tuning on my back stretch... Got to get through some gears and if traction is a problem then you need to turn mph in high gear.

 

Thats why I like this set up, much less unlocking in town. Third gear lock is interesting too.

Its fun stuff!

 

I need to find a DIFFERENT back road. I think I've pretty much worn out the back roads around my house. 5 min after I make a WOT run, I see a police cruiser go by.

 

Well too much going on here at the shop.Sure would like to meet in person you guys at some point.Maybe when Lancaster opens in spring.I bring the hand BBQ and the fixings to make a day out of it.

Question I have as a side note is doesn't that gear set have a break-in??.

 

Lol, be careful, don't want you to loose a license now! Maybe you need a dyno day?
Or drive further.


My trans/diff guy says not, drive it as I normally would, so I did.

I may check out Lancater next spring.

 

enough with the sky view, lets get some MPH and dash shots :P

 

Can't, I have no way to mount my camera other than where it is, I wedge the camcorder between the head rest and back rest of the passanger seat! I need to try something different.

 

learn to drive with 1 hand and record with the other :P i would say bad idea if you had torque steer but seeing its rwd you dont, so no excuses! lol

 

sweet im getting mine dynoed as well either in october or novemeber... would be nice to see dyno numbers with the FIRST intake slapped on.. i dont think ive actually seen any real dyno numbers with the FIRST... i'll have a video of my car and post the dyno sheet on here...

 

Guess I will see you there. I sent you an email with the details. No rain in the forecast!

 

I didn't receive the email. Try again.

 

Have fun man.Good luck on your day at the track.I do think your find your track tune is much different than the cruise one.Might want to keep track of both of them so you can go back to them as needed.Looking forward to a update when you get back.

 

Well......

I made it out late to the track on Friday, managed to get 3 runs in.

I am underwhelmed by the this engine so far, feels strong on the street (some days) but fell way short on the track.

I didn't have too much time to play with the tune, but i did change between a conservative and more aggressive timing table, all else stayed the same because my WOT AFR is bang on at 12.5-13:1 right across the pull.
All times were within 2 tenths, so it really made no difference with the timing table change.
I still feel something major holding the engine back at 5k, cant say if its the intake or this pos 165 ecm! Reason is, some days, especially when the engine is not heat soaked, it seems to pull harder through 5k .

My times were:
13.7
2.0: 60ft
104mph

I tried not to launch too hard off the converter or else it would just go up in smoke, I left fairly soft so I can expect 1.8-1.9 60's , still not enough......
I would also expect this combo to trap at a minimum of 110-115.

My heart tells me i should have put my $$ into an ls swap

I still need to put it on the dyno one more time.
I have started the porting of my new runners today, going to open them up to 1.9 and I am still trying to determine whether or not I need to siamese the runners a bit. We'll see what happens!

 

Yep, something is wrong. No idea what, but start going over the engine again from mechanical stuff to electrical

 

"Yep, something is wrong"

I agree with that. You must have and air flow restriction somewhere. Without going back through 11 pages of this post are you still running the factory air intake system.?

 

I think all mechanicals are good, I could do a comp test, but I am pretty confident that everything from the crank to rockers are perfect. I get no valve float to at least 6600, no oil issues, every plug I have pulled has a good burn pattern ( to the best of my knowledge) my problem has to be from from the intake to air filter, or in the tune. my afr is good, so i am getting enough fuel for the air it takes in.

One can ever be certain, so I will go back to the start and pull all plugs again, and go from there.

All intake piping is 4 inch from TB to 3 inch, all in silicone tubing, filter is a cylindrical K&N open element.

I almost max out my maf table, but not quite, so I do agree that I am not getting enough air flow. We know my heads can pull the air, i don;t think the air tubing is much of an issue, that would lead me to the main intake, I may have an issue with the FIRST>

I do know my vacuum gauge drops to zero as soon as I crack the throttle, so I think I am good from TB to filter?

I will go out tomorrow with no tubing in place, I will try to connect my MAF straight to my intake tubing.

 

Whats the timing at at WOT?

 

What's your operating temp at? I've kinda noticed mine pulls harder when cold too. Mine stays right at 180* and I don't think my current radiator could pull it to 160*, but I might try.

I've never maxed my MAF either, but I've also never logged above 6000. Tires and gears are gonna kill my track time, but I'm convinced she's got more in her than what I've felt.

I'm thinking of going SD soon.

But then again the seasons almost over, and I've got plenty of plans for the car this winter. I'll prolly be back with an SD setup in the spring, as well as a big set of headers and 4" exhaust. Maybe even a 4 barrel throttle body... But the main goal for the winter is a rust free undercarriage, which is gonna take some effort.

 

Wot timing is 34 on one tune, 28 on the other. I have noticed zero difference between the two tunes, so I tend to leave it on the 28* tune.

 

I sent you an email. Maybe its time for a miniram man......

No need for an LSx at this point imo.

 

Just to be sure on the mechanicals-you could leak it down hot.

 

The car likes 160-185, can't get it to 185 at the track however. I was running it at around 200*, which is not bad i guess. On the street, at any speed will bring my temps down to 185 easily, with stock rad and fans. I do need bigger fans however, and than i may be able to cool it down at idle speeds.

I really do hate the 165 ecm, its a pos, I can barely get a decent data log in half the time.
I am going EBL or later model gm ecm this winter.

 

I suppose it can happen, most likely cold than hot I think?

 

Do you have one of those stamped steel timing covers with the timing pointer on an ajustable one?, I've seen those cheap covers off by 3-5*, even one of by 10*. When I put my cam and heads on and degree it, I found to stock damper off my 1*, so I used a timing tape.

Funny though something dont sound right, my 350 with cam, heads, exhuast, intake and injectors, two weeks ago ran 13.64 at 103 at sea leave, 3.23 and stock converter on street tires.

 

"so I tend to leave it on the 28* tune."

My motor did not like 34* of timing at all. It lost 20 horsepower. We put it at 30* and all seems well. Next time on the dyno we will try 28* and see what happens. Especially during peak torque in 4400 to 5200 cells.

"I would also expect this combo to trap at a minimum of 110-115"

I would to. Now to find out why not and optimise your car. Are you running a single catalytic converter?

 

I have thought of that myself, my timing marks are on the balancer I think. The builder left it at TDC 0* for me. If they mess that up, I dont know what to say! They are one of the best builders around.

You just never know, I am starting there tomorrow.

Dual Cats, and 3inch all the way back to magnflow.

28-30 is also where mine likes it.

 

If its suppose to trap 110-115mph, you are down 75-100hp....thats something very serious. Are you sure its running on all 8 cylinders?
Not maxing out the MAF is also a bad sign...this motor should easily max out a stock MAF at 255 g/s

Didnt this motor see an engine dyno with a carb intake and make over 500hp? Or was that someone elses?

 

yea his car dynoed 513hp and 500tq... i dont think the FIRST would bring it down that much i think its a tuning issue like mine was before i got it all sorted out..... i was hoping he would be high 11's with his combo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGxdLjAhH3A