Rapid Motorsports saved my car
03-30-2008, 07:52 PM
#1
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Rapid Motorsports saved my car This is long, but here is my story...
I bought my motor from a local shop and LS1tech sponsor. I told him my goals and he picked out the combo. My buddy and I completed the install in my garage. I contacted Rapid for a mail order tune just to get the car started and break the motor in, while planning to take my car to Rapid for the final dyno tune. I mailed my PCM in and had it back in 2 days!
Talk about quick turnaround. I put the PCM in and we tried to start it. The motor just cranked over and over without firing. So we did all the troubleshooting and called the sponsor. We had spark, air, and fuel. The sponsor did not build the short block, but he did install the cam, heads, valvetrain, intake, elec. water pump, front and rear covers. My buddy and I did a compression test and found zero compression. After arguing with the shop owner on multiple times, he begrudgingly agreed to come check it out. Also, the shop owner told me in a very sarcastic tone to have Mikey fix it since he's tuning it. Long story short, the push rods were too long and hanging the valves open. He brought a shorter length with him (only one push rod), installed it, checked it by hand (no adjustable push rod length checker), and said that the length he brought would work. Well, the car started and we broke it in, let it cool over night, and changed the oil the next day. I took it up to Mikey to get tuned on the dyno. I wasn't sure what kind of power it would make since I never had anything other than a light bolt-on car. It ended up putting down 440 rwhp / 397 rwtq. I thought it might make a little more power than that based on what I've read on here, but I was more interested on seeing what it would run at the track. What concerned Mike and I most was the amount of valve float it had. I was not satisfied with the service or attention to detail from the local shop, nor did I trust the shop after the pushrod issue, so I decided to take it to Rapid to get it fixed. This shop did offer to diagnose the problem, but I just didn't trust them to fix it right. I had an oil leak that was also bugging me, so i asked him to look at that also. When I took my car up there (about 75 miles), I got out of the car and smelled burning oil. Well, I was shocked when Mike told me that he found out why the car was leaking oil. The rear main seal was installed backwards!!! The oil was being thrown onto the header by the flexplate. This was a serious fire hazard caused by a careless mistake. With the valvetrain, Mike went with stock rocker arms and called me from the dyno. New numbers were 468 rwhp / 408 rwtq. A big increase, but the valves still floated. We made a big decision to sell my heads and rocker arms and go with the new 235 cc Trickflows with Yella Terra Ultralight rockers. New and final numbers..... 496 rwhp / 431 rwtq!!! Track times coming soon. Attached is the graph of the initial and final dyno pulls.
I'd like to thank Mike at Rapid Motorsports for making my car what I wanted it to be. Some shops just think they're that good, while others actually are. Thanks Mike!
I bought my motor from a local shop and LS1tech sponsor. I told him my goals and he picked out the combo. My buddy and I completed the install in my garage. I contacted Rapid for a mail order tune just to get the car started and break the motor in, while planning to take my car to Rapid for the final dyno tune. I mailed my PCM in and had it back in 2 days!
Talk about quick turnaround. I put the PCM in and we tried to start it. The motor just cranked over and over without firing. So we did all the troubleshooting and called the sponsor. We had spark, air, and fuel. The sponsor did not build the short block, but he did install the cam, heads, valvetrain, intake, elec. water pump, front and rear covers. My buddy and I did a compression test and found zero compression. After arguing with the shop owner on multiple times, he begrudgingly agreed to come check it out. Also, the shop owner told me in a very sarcastic tone to have Mikey fix it since he's tuning it. Long story short, the push rods were too long and hanging the valves open. He brought a shorter length with him (only one push rod), installed it, checked it by hand (no adjustable push rod length checker), and said that the length he brought would work. Well, the car started and we broke it in, let it cool over night, and changed the oil the next day. I took it up to Mikey to get tuned on the dyno. I wasn't sure what kind of power it would make since I never had anything other than a light bolt-on car. It ended up putting down 440 rwhp / 397 rwtq. I thought it might make a little more power than that based on what I've read on here, but I was more interested on seeing what it would run at the track. What concerned Mike and I most was the amount of valve float it had. I was not satisfied with the service or attention to detail from the local shop, nor did I trust the shop after the pushrod issue, so I decided to take it to Rapid to get it fixed. This shop did offer to diagnose the problem, but I just didn't trust them to fix it right. I had an oil leak that was also bugging me, so i asked him to look at that also. When I took my car up there (about 75 miles), I got out of the car and smelled burning oil. Well, I was shocked when Mike told me that he found out why the car was leaking oil. The rear main seal was installed backwards!!! The oil was being thrown onto the header by the flexplate. This was a serious fire hazard caused by a careless mistake. With the valvetrain, Mike went with stock rocker arms and called me from the dyno. New numbers were 468 rwhp / 408 rwtq. A big increase, but the valves still floated. We made a big decision to sell my heads and rocker arms and go with the new 235 cc Trickflows with Yella Terra Ultralight rockers. New and final numbers..... 496 rwhp / 431 rwtq!!! Track times coming soon. Attached is the graph of the initial and final dyno pulls.
I'd like to thank Mike at Rapid Motorsports for making my car what I wanted it to be. Some shops just think they're that good, while others actually are. Thanks Mike!
03-30-2008, 08:40 PM
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What does rapid tune with? I would like to find a good tuner that uses HPTuners and doesnt lock it. I have HPT just dont feel like putting in the time to learn it.
03-30-2008, 09:02 PM
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Great numbers man, you must have been pumped. And you are right mikey actually does run a good shop, lets his work speak for itself, great guy.
Last edited by Mike@HSW; 03-30-2008 at 09:19 PM.
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03-31-2008, 04:14 PM
#11
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Hell yeah, I was very siked. Mikey makes you feel like you are his only customer and makes sure his work is perfect. Customer service at it's best. He went out of his way to help me with this situation and I'm grateful.
03-31-2008, 04:32 PM
#12
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ha j/k mike you the man! 
And when do I get a ride? lol 