My Cessation Thread, Getting Out of the Car Game
01-27-2007, 03:25 PM
#1
My Cessation Thread, Getting Out of the Car Game A few people have asked me about my experiences with demodding my car, so I decided to make a thread describing the life of my car and what I learned. Hopefully this will help some of you guys make decisions about the future of your car. Keep in mind, this car is my daily driver!
I purchased the car used back in March of 2003 with Flowmaster exhaust and a B&M shifter. I loved the car, it was fun to drive, very fast, etc… After about a month, the car didn’t give me the rush it used to, I guess I just got used to the power. So, unfortunately, that’s when the modding bug bit me. I think the first mod I did was an intake lid. I got the Whisper one from a member on here. It didn’t fit very well, so right off the bat I wasn’t happy with the aftermarket. I also got some Taylor ‘409’ spark plug wires which IMO were well worth it, that is until they broke on the next spark plug change.
At this point, I began to realize the downsides of my car, such as the random noises, squeaks, clunks, etc… I was VERY unhappy with this, but eventually got used to it I suppose. Next I think I did all of the free mods, which were easy to do and they don’t really have any downsides, I’d recommend them. I then got a cutout installed in the I-pipe under the rear passenger side seat. I had a local exhaust shop weld it in and I installed a McCord electric plate. This was probably one of the best mods I’ve done.
A week later I did my first major mod, which was a cam swap. I installed a TR224 because that was the biggest cam I could go with and still pass emissions. I also put in all of the other goodies such as a timing chain, oil pump, springs, pushrods, etc… The install took five days to finish. It would have taken three if I had all of the correct tools available. I wasn’t happy with gains of the cam. Seems like for $1000 you should get a little more power. Of course since I now had a cam, I had to get some headers. I went with MAC mids so they couldn’t be seen from under the car, since I am in CA, even though they are still illegal. The headers definitely gave some additional power, I was very happy with them. At this time, the true dual craze was taking off, so I figured what the hell, and got true duals installed with my MAC mids. The duals consisted of Dynomax bullet mufflers before the X-pipe, and Moroso spiral flow mufflers after, dumped at the axle. I wasn’t impressed with the sound at all. The drone while cruising was terrible, and the vibrations were gratuitous. The ground clearance was pretty bad as well. The duals were definitely not worth their price tag. A couple months later I went with Magnaflow 4x9 mufflers instead of the Moroso mufflers. It sounded much better, but the ground clearance was always terrible.
Soon enough, I got the car tuned. The car only made 355rwhp or so. Also, my gas mileage took a huge hit. It went from around 24mpg to 16-17mpg. Even with the tune, the gas mileage was terrible. Shortly after, I went with a ported TB and an ASP pulley, both were good mods, I recommend them.
Now it came time for the smog test. Since my duals didn’t have any cats, I had to figure something out. I had a connection that would overlook the visual, so I just needed an exhaust system that had cats. Thus I went with Pacesetter LT’s and a custom dual cutout AND catted y-pipe. The Pacesetters were VERY nice headers, the install was perfect, and they looked awesome. I had a local exhaust shop fab up the y-pipe for me and it tuned out really nice. Having dual cutouts right after the headers was so much fun. Also, the ground clearance was much better than the duals. I also put the Flowmaster back on to have a somewhat quiet car. This set-up passed the sniffer test with flying colors. This exhaust system was worth every penny. You can see pics of it in my sig on page 4.
At this point, it was time for my next big mod, a Procharger D1SC kit. Instead of buying an entire kit, I bought all of the parts from random places and pieced it together, saving about $2000 over a new kit in the end. Unfortunately, this kit was just one big fight for several months. The belt slip was unbelievable with the 6-rib system. I couldn’t shell out the money for the 8-rib so I was pretty much screwed. I got the MMS pulley but that didn’t help at all. I got the car dynoed and tuned it only made 402rwhp and 408rwtq, about 100 short of what it should have been making. The gas mileage went down even more, as gas prices went up, bad news. I eventually figured out that there was a leak in one of the intercoolers. I was so fed up with this kit that I removed it and sold it, now I was back to my cammed NA motor.
With the money I got from the kit, I bought a sleeved LS1 block from a member on the board, along with a set of pistons and rods. I got a very good deal on these parts(thanks Jason!). I figured I’d build a nice NA 427 that would be streetable and would make good power. I bought the block in August of 2005 and it sat in the garage with my car until June of 2006. In that period, I did tons of research on building engines and decided that I would build it myself. I also looked through hundreds of combinations of heads, cams, etc and basically planned out the whole engine. I decided to go with an LS7 top end on it, which worked out really well. I took the engine to a local reputable engine builder to have them balance the bottom end, clearance the bearings, and gap the rings. I did all of the assembly. Richard at WCCH helped me decide on cam that would best compliment the LS7 heads. We decided on a 230/248 on a 112 LSA. This cam would not be smoggable, I figured I would just swap the stock cam back in when the time came. I built the engine in the summer of 2006 and installed it myself in the garage with an engine hoist. I installed it from the bottom which wasn’t too difficult. Upon first start up, the engine barely ran. It wouldn’t rev past about 1000 RPM’s, the tach didn’t work, and it was smoking profusely. After replacing various sensors trying to trouble shoot the problem, I finally figured out that the reluctor wheel was installed incorrectly. I figured this out by comparing pictures of the crankshaft before and after assembly. Turns out that the “professional” engine shop had installed the reluctor wheel BACKWARDS. They had to remove it to install heavy metal into the crank, and put it back on incorrectly, ******* retards. With the reluctor wheel like this, the engine was only running on four cylinders. So… I had to remove the engine once again, tear it down and get the crank out and take it back to them. They fixed their mistake and apologized, that’s it. I will never do business with them again.
Anyways, I built the engine, again, got it installed, again, and it ran very well. However, it was burning oil like no other, about 1 quart every 200 miles!!! Turns out the rings were washed down with gasoline when the reluctor wheel was installed correctly. Unfortunately, I had to have the car for transportation, so there was nothing I could do. I didn’t have time to rebuild it. I got a quick base tune put on the car to make it driveable. I put about 1600 miles on the motor, in which time the oil consumption went down quite a bit, but it was still unacceptable. The engine was also very powerful, it was fun when you got on it, however, the streetability SUCKED. The car would buck, stumble, miss, stall, etc… Also, the gas mileage was very poor, down into the single digits in the city. With gas prices in high two-dollar range, this was intolerable.
It was at this time I decided to make the ultimate decision. I decided that I would put my car back to stock. I really missed how well the car drove when it was stock. No worries about gas mileage, things breaking, smog tests, etc… I still had my stock shortblock in my garage, so I pulled out the 427 and rebuilt my stock shortblock and put it back in. I got a 100% stock tune put on the PCM. I bought many stock parts from members on here. I even put the stock clutch and shifter back in, after getting the flywheel resurfaced. I decided to leave the aftermarket suspension parts on because of their appearance benefits. The engine is stock except for an LG lid, K&N filter, ASP pulley, and MSD wires. I think these are good mods that are worth their price. I also got Magnaflow cat-back put on to change things up a bit. The other mods are in my sig.
I’ll start by saying that I LOVE the way the car drives now. I actually enjoy driving it, and I don’t have to worry about gas prices, smog, etc… I do not regret going back to stock at all, best decision I’ve ever made with my car. I have learned many lessons throughout the years of dealing my car and the aftermarket. Here are some of them:
1)Be smart and sensible when modding your daily driver!
2)Don’t half-*** your mods. Do it right, or don’t do it at all.
3)Plan your modifications wisely. Have a goal a stick to it.
4)Don’t trust the professionals to build your engine correctly, everyone makes mistakes. Double check their work.
5)Modding late model cars in California isn’t worth it.
It’s taken me four years and tens of thousands of dollars to learn these lessons. I’m hoping you guys can take in what I’ve wrote here and apply it so you don’t make the same mistakes as I have. I certainly have gained a ton of knowledge about cars, engines, suspensions, and what not by going through this, but I would not have done any of it if I had known that I was just going to end up at the beginning. I am going to be selling the car in the summer for a truck. Something a little more reliable and useful. With the money I got from selling the aftermarket parts, I bough a 2006 YFZ450. This will be my new hobby for awhile as it doesn’t really have any restrictions, and it’s somewhat cheaper.
Thanks for reading!
I purchased the car used back in March of 2003 with Flowmaster exhaust and a B&M shifter. I loved the car, it was fun to drive, very fast, etc… After about a month, the car didn’t give me the rush it used to, I guess I just got used to the power. So, unfortunately, that’s when the modding bug bit me. I think the first mod I did was an intake lid. I got the Whisper one from a member on here. It didn’t fit very well, so right off the bat I wasn’t happy with the aftermarket. I also got some Taylor ‘409’ spark plug wires which IMO were well worth it, that is until they broke on the next spark plug change.
At this point, I began to realize the downsides of my car, such as the random noises, squeaks, clunks, etc… I was VERY unhappy with this, but eventually got used to it I suppose. Next I think I did all of the free mods, which were easy to do and they don’t really have any downsides, I’d recommend them. I then got a cutout installed in the I-pipe under the rear passenger side seat. I had a local exhaust shop weld it in and I installed a McCord electric plate. This was probably one of the best mods I’ve done.
A week later I did my first major mod, which was a cam swap. I installed a TR224 because that was the biggest cam I could go with and still pass emissions. I also put in all of the other goodies such as a timing chain, oil pump, springs, pushrods, etc… The install took five days to finish. It would have taken three if I had all of the correct tools available. I wasn’t happy with gains of the cam. Seems like for $1000 you should get a little more power. Of course since I now had a cam, I had to get some headers. I went with MAC mids so they couldn’t be seen from under the car, since I am in CA, even though they are still illegal. The headers definitely gave some additional power, I was very happy with them. At this time, the true dual craze was taking off, so I figured what the hell, and got true duals installed with my MAC mids. The duals consisted of Dynomax bullet mufflers before the X-pipe, and Moroso spiral flow mufflers after, dumped at the axle. I wasn’t impressed with the sound at all. The drone while cruising was terrible, and the vibrations were gratuitous. The ground clearance was pretty bad as well. The duals were definitely not worth their price tag. A couple months later I went with Magnaflow 4x9 mufflers instead of the Moroso mufflers. It sounded much better, but the ground clearance was always terrible.
Soon enough, I got the car tuned. The car only made 355rwhp or so. Also, my gas mileage took a huge hit. It went from around 24mpg to 16-17mpg. Even with the tune, the gas mileage was terrible. Shortly after, I went with a ported TB and an ASP pulley, both were good mods, I recommend them.
Now it came time for the smog test. Since my duals didn’t have any cats, I had to figure something out. I had a connection that would overlook the visual, so I just needed an exhaust system that had cats. Thus I went with Pacesetter LT’s and a custom dual cutout AND catted y-pipe. The Pacesetters were VERY nice headers, the install was perfect, and they looked awesome. I had a local exhaust shop fab up the y-pipe for me and it tuned out really nice. Having dual cutouts right after the headers was so much fun. Also, the ground clearance was much better than the duals. I also put the Flowmaster back on to have a somewhat quiet car. This set-up passed the sniffer test with flying colors. This exhaust system was worth every penny. You can see pics of it in my sig on page 4.
At this point, it was time for my next big mod, a Procharger D1SC kit. Instead of buying an entire kit, I bought all of the parts from random places and pieced it together, saving about $2000 over a new kit in the end. Unfortunately, this kit was just one big fight for several months. The belt slip was unbelievable with the 6-rib system. I couldn’t shell out the money for the 8-rib so I was pretty much screwed. I got the MMS pulley but that didn’t help at all. I got the car dynoed and tuned it only made 402rwhp and 408rwtq, about 100 short of what it should have been making. The gas mileage went down even more, as gas prices went up, bad news. I eventually figured out that there was a leak in one of the intercoolers. I was so fed up with this kit that I removed it and sold it, now I was back to my cammed NA motor.
With the money I got from the kit, I bought a sleeved LS1 block from a member on the board, along with a set of pistons and rods. I got a very good deal on these parts(thanks Jason!). I figured I’d build a nice NA 427 that would be streetable and would make good power. I bought the block in August of 2005 and it sat in the garage with my car until June of 2006. In that period, I did tons of research on building engines and decided that I would build it myself. I also looked through hundreds of combinations of heads, cams, etc and basically planned out the whole engine. I decided to go with an LS7 top end on it, which worked out really well. I took the engine to a local reputable engine builder to have them balance the bottom end, clearance the bearings, and gap the rings. I did all of the assembly. Richard at WCCH helped me decide on cam that would best compliment the LS7 heads. We decided on a 230/248 on a 112 LSA. This cam would not be smoggable, I figured I would just swap the stock cam back in when the time came. I built the engine in the summer of 2006 and installed it myself in the garage with an engine hoist. I installed it from the bottom which wasn’t too difficult. Upon first start up, the engine barely ran. It wouldn’t rev past about 1000 RPM’s, the tach didn’t work, and it was smoking profusely. After replacing various sensors trying to trouble shoot the problem, I finally figured out that the reluctor wheel was installed incorrectly. I figured this out by comparing pictures of the crankshaft before and after assembly. Turns out that the “professional” engine shop had installed the reluctor wheel BACKWARDS. They had to remove it to install heavy metal into the crank, and put it back on incorrectly, ******* retards. With the reluctor wheel like this, the engine was only running on four cylinders. So… I had to remove the engine once again, tear it down and get the crank out and take it back to them. They fixed their mistake and apologized, that’s it. I will never do business with them again.
Anyways, I built the engine, again, got it installed, again, and it ran very well. However, it was burning oil like no other, about 1 quart every 200 miles!!! Turns out the rings were washed down with gasoline when the reluctor wheel was installed correctly. Unfortunately, I had to have the car for transportation, so there was nothing I could do. I didn’t have time to rebuild it. I got a quick base tune put on the car to make it driveable. I put about 1600 miles on the motor, in which time the oil consumption went down quite a bit, but it was still unacceptable. The engine was also very powerful, it was fun when you got on it, however, the streetability SUCKED. The car would buck, stumble, miss, stall, etc… Also, the gas mileage was very poor, down into the single digits in the city. With gas prices in high two-dollar range, this was intolerable.
It was at this time I decided to make the ultimate decision. I decided that I would put my car back to stock. I really missed how well the car drove when it was stock. No worries about gas mileage, things breaking, smog tests, etc… I still had my stock shortblock in my garage, so I pulled out the 427 and rebuilt my stock shortblock and put it back in. I got a 100% stock tune put on the PCM. I bought many stock parts from members on here. I even put the stock clutch and shifter back in, after getting the flywheel resurfaced. I decided to leave the aftermarket suspension parts on because of their appearance benefits. The engine is stock except for an LG lid, K&N filter, ASP pulley, and MSD wires. I think these are good mods that are worth their price. I also got Magnaflow cat-back put on to change things up a bit. The other mods are in my sig.
I’ll start by saying that I LOVE the way the car drives now. I actually enjoy driving it, and I don’t have to worry about gas prices, smog, etc… I do not regret going back to stock at all, best decision I’ve ever made with my car. I have learned many lessons throughout the years of dealing my car and the aftermarket. Here are some of them:
1)Be smart and sensible when modding your daily driver!
2)Don’t half-*** your mods. Do it right, or don’t do it at all.
3)Plan your modifications wisely. Have a goal a stick to it.
4)Don’t trust the professionals to build your engine correctly, everyone makes mistakes. Double check their work.
5)Modding late model cars in California isn’t worth it.
It’s taken me four years and tens of thousands of dollars to learn these lessons. I’m hoping you guys can take in what I’ve wrote here and apply it so you don’t make the same mistakes as I have. I certainly have gained a ton of knowledge about cars, engines, suspensions, and what not by going through this, but I would not have done any of it if I had known that I was just going to end up at the beginning. I am going to be selling the car in the summer for a truck. Something a little more reliable and useful. With the money I got from selling the aftermarket parts, I bough a 2006 YFZ450. This will be my new hobby for awhile as it doesn’t really have any restrictions, and it’s somewhat cheaper.
Thanks for reading!
01-27-2007, 04:03 PM
#4
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Nice write up, damn nice looking car.I tried the bike scene for a while, i eventually came back to my ls1 addiction. Hopefully things work out for you. And yes California does blow when it come to car modding 
01-27-2007, 09:49 PM
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Thanks for the write up. Sometimes power can get the best of us and we want more, but like you said, it does come at price. Thanks again for the reality check.
01-28-2007, 09:00 PM
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I'm EXACTLY with you. I guess I've been used to the quality and R&D that goes into BMW mod vendors. Virtually everything I have added to my WS6 Vert is/has gone back to stock, except for the exhaust system.
I've tried buying the best stuff and still issues. This includes Bilsteins F-Body Suspension Kit, Crane 1.8 Golds, Spohn Torque Arm, and on. Many of the problems have also been vendor related (poor skills and very low attention to detail).
These cars are like enrolling your grandmother into a kickboxing class. It's not a matter of "IF" something will break. It's a matter of "WHEN". Now that I understand that (thousands $ later), I have stopped seeing the caratherapist!
I've tried buying the best stuff and still issues. This includes Bilsteins F-Body Suspension Kit, Crane 1.8 Golds, Spohn Torque Arm, and on. Many of the problems have also been vendor related (poor skills and very low attention to detail).
These cars are like enrolling your grandmother into a kickboxing class. It's not a matter of "IF" something will break. It's a matter of "WHEN". Now that I understand that (thousands $ later), I have stopped seeing the caratherapist!
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02-03-2007, 08:23 PM
#8
You and I were building our 427's @ the same time. I looked up your history posts and came across this. I was curious to see how you came out on your 427. I am sorry to see the oil burning issue didn't work out for ya. I can 100% relate to what your sayin about some of the vendors. Building my motor was a nightmare. I was cought up in the whole FFHP nightmare and then after that I had my shortblock assembled and rebalanced and when I got the shortblock back there were a bunch of filings in the oil passages not including the material that was left around the sleeves 
Luckily I caught that stuff. So basically like you I had to have my shortblock built twice. That's not counting all the crap I had to deal with on receiving the wrong parts or not receiving them when promised etc. If I had advice to offer it would be to do as much of your own work as you possibly can and double check everything, and even then that is not going to insure everything is going to go as it should. This advise applies to tuning also. When you get a tune you should @ least to able to read it and see what you have.
Best of Luck Bro
Luckily I caught that stuff. So basically like you I had to have my shortblock built twice. That's not counting all the crap I had to deal with on receiving the wrong parts or not receiving them when promised etc. If I had advice to offer it would be to do as much of your own work as you possibly can and double check everything, and even then that is not going to insure everything is going to go as it should. This advise applies to tuning also. When you get a tune you should @ least to able to read it and see what you have. Best of Luck Bro
Last edited by BlkHwk; 02-04-2007 at 06:02 PM.
J/K 
02-03-2007, 08:39 PM
#10
I know kinda how you feel, my car is my DD and I drive 20 miles to work every day. The stall doesn't help with that and my main issue is that its loud and the gas mileage leaves some to be desired. I love the power though, I think my best bet is to work on getting a T-56 and going that route, better MPG for me, and my car doesn't have a crazy setup, I still avg. about 17 MPG if I'm easy (50/50 city/hwy) so I think with a M6 it'll be alot better and more fun. I know what you mean about a stock car too, my friends SS is very lightly modded, a tune, shifter, and a cutout, and I love it.
02-03-2007, 10:32 PM
#11
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Issues with mods are the main reason why I’ve kept my Camaro at bolt-on level. A big part of the reason why I sold my WS6 was due to lack of contentment with the finished product after all the mods were done. I had big issues with the first transmission build that turned into a costly error, I spent a fortune trying different exhaust systems till I could get the sound I wanted without giving up too much power, and the worst part was the tuning. I spent a lot of money on having a shop tune it, which wasn’t ever to my liking after many re-tunes, so I had to buy my own software and learn to do it myself. Even then, I got it better but not good enough. LS1 Edit was still in the early days back then, and tuning for “stock-like” driveability was still pretty rough around the edges. I was never able to get that car running and driving as perfect as a stock car would once the bigger mods started going on.
Another big part of my problem was trying to make the car fill two different roles. I wanted a heavily modded race car, but also a show quality street cruiser. I felt guilty about racing the car because I didn’t want to take chances damaging it, plus I didn’t want to tear it apart and mod it to the point of being a max effort race car because I wanted a mostly street car as well. On the other hand, it seemed unnecessary to deal with the hassles of those driveability-robbing mods if I wasn’t going to be racing the car much at all.
To top it off, I’m a very picky person; a perfectionist really. So when I sold it, I promised myself that when I got the next car I wasn’t going to try and accomplish two goals with one car ever again. I’ll have one for perfect weather weekends/cars shows/cruise nights, and one for the track. That way, I don’t have to worry about stuff like driveability and trying to maintain perfect cosmetic condition for a race car. Two cars; two separate goals. Now that I have the street cruiser squared away, I’ll be working on getting a race car in the semi-near future.
Another big part of my problem was trying to make the car fill two different roles. I wanted a heavily modded race car, but also a show quality street cruiser. I felt guilty about racing the car because I didn’t want to take chances damaging it, plus I didn’t want to tear it apart and mod it to the point of being a max effort race car because I wanted a mostly street car as well. On the other hand, it seemed unnecessary to deal with the hassles of those driveability-robbing mods if I wasn’t going to be racing the car much at all.
To top it off, I’m a very picky person; a perfectionist really. So when I sold it, I promised myself that when I got the next car I wasn’t going to try and accomplish two goals with one car ever again. I’ll have one for perfect weather weekends/cars shows/cruise nights, and one for the track. That way, I don’t have to worry about stuff like driveability and trying to maintain perfect cosmetic condition for a race car. Two cars; two separate goals. Now that I have the street cruiser squared away, I’ll be working on getting a race car in the semi-near future.
02-04-2007, 12:30 PM
#12
Looks like I'm going to be the first one to go against the grain here. I've had two different LS1 cars since May of 2003. My first one was an 01 TA, a4. I cammed it, put a stall, all the supporting bolt-ons, and a dry N2O kit on it. I was nothing but satisfied with the drivibilty, performance, and fun factor it provided me. The only downside I found was speed limits and that street racing was illegal.
The next chapter for me in LS1s started in Jan of 2005 when I got rid of that car to buy my current WS6. I had always wanted a 6 speed, and was ready to let all my work with the other car start over with this one.
The black car was bone stock with 25k on it when I purchased it. As soon as I got it home I installed my SLP lid that I had removed from my previous car. The car stayed stock for a few months til summer came, then I added LTs, ory, catback, ported the TB and installed the dry kit that was waiting for me from the old car. The following spring I installed a Textraila clutch and had the car tuned. By the end of the summer I had installed 4.10s and a heads/cam setup, along with swapping my exhaust to true duals.
I have had nothing but pleasures from my car besides the normal things like an O2 sensor or something very minor. It drives as close to stock as you could ask for considering it lays down 446/411 on motor, and with the flip of a switch those numbers rocket to ~550/~615. I can drive it anywhere I want and get 25+ mpg on the highway, and playing with it around town I still get better mileage than my daily driver 2000 Z-71. I wouldn't think twice about driving my car on vacation to Florida or somewhere, it drives that good, even in traffic.
I'm sorry some of you guys feel that a modded car is such a trade off. In my experiences with both an A4 and an M6, they have been nothing short of amazing. There's no way I would chose to have my car stock over how it is now. I think it all comes down to researching every single aspect of your goals, making sure you choose parts that match well and compliment eachother, and installing them in the correct order. Good luck to those who are trying something new.
The next chapter for me in LS1s started in Jan of 2005 when I got rid of that car to buy my current WS6. I had always wanted a 6 speed, and was ready to let all my work with the other car start over with this one.
The black car was bone stock with 25k on it when I purchased it. As soon as I got it home I installed my SLP lid that I had removed from my previous car. The car stayed stock for a few months til summer came, then I added LTs, ory, catback, ported the TB and installed the dry kit that was waiting for me from the old car. The following spring I installed a Textraila clutch and had the car tuned. By the end of the summer I had installed 4.10s and a heads/cam setup, along with swapping my exhaust to true duals.
I have had nothing but pleasures from my car besides the normal things like an O2 sensor or something very minor. It drives as close to stock as you could ask for considering it lays down 446/411 on motor, and with the flip of a switch those numbers rocket to ~550/~615. I can drive it anywhere I want and get 25+ mpg on the highway, and playing with it around town I still get better mileage than my daily driver 2000 Z-71. I wouldn't think twice about driving my car on vacation to Florida or somewhere, it drives that good, even in traffic.
I'm sorry some of you guys feel that a modded car is such a trade off. In my experiences with both an A4 and an M6, they have been nothing short of amazing. There's no way I would chose to have my car stock over how it is now. I think it all comes down to researching every single aspect of your goals, making sure you choose parts that match well and compliment eachother, and installing them in the correct order. Good luck to those who are trying something new.
02-04-2007, 12:42 PM
#13
Originally Posted by BriancWS6
I think it all comes down to researching every single aspect of your goals, making sure you choose parts that match well and compliment eachother, and installing them in the correct order. Good luck to those who are trying something new.
The only thing I would like to change on mine is how loud it is, I drove my friends car, same stall etc. and it was so much more fun to drive because the exhaust wasn't letting me know exactly what RPM I was at!
02-04-2007, 12:47 PM
#14
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Originally Posted by BriancWS6
I think it all comes down to researching every single aspect of your goals, making sure you choose parts that match well and compliment eachother, and installing them in the correct order.
My problem was two-fold:
1) I'm a perfectionist. It's damn near impossibile to mod a car heavily and still keep it running as perfect as stock. What some people consider "as perfect as stock" isn't usually good enough for me.
2) Tuning has come a LOOOOOONG way. Back in early '02 when I was putting my setup together, LS1 Edit was still new on the scene, options were limited, and tuners were still learning how to really get H/C cars to start/run/drive like stock. These days I think I'd be a lot happier with what custom tuning could do for me in terms of driveability. But back then, it just wasn't enough.
Either way, I've already made up my mind that I'm going to have a separate car for racing. It just seems easier to do it that way, rather than making compromises so one car can do a little of everything, rather than focusing on one primary goal.
02-04-2007, 12:51 PM
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I think the main problem for people is that they want too much power in a DAILY-DRIVER. When my car was driven every day, I limited myself to small bolt-ons (lid, pulley, MACs and FTRA along with mild suspension stuff) and a little 100shot for an occasional rush. Now that my car is a garage queen, I first went with a big H/C/N set-up (along with bigger headers, injectors, TB etc) and now its current forged, stroker, nitrous engine.
Don't kid yourself. 400rwhp N/A on stock cubes is about the limit for a DD unless you are a masochist. F/I, big cubes and spray are different story, but I would still reccomend a daily beater...especially if you have lousy weather.
I do miss the go-anywhere aspect of my bolt-on/spray arrangement, but now when I wheel out I am smiling the WHOLE time and not caring if something breaks...
Don't kid yourself. 400rwhp N/A on stock cubes is about the limit for a DD unless you are a masochist. F/I, big cubes and spray are different story, but I would still reccomend a daily beater...especially if you have lousy weather.
I do miss the go-anywhere aspect of my bolt-on/spray arrangement, but now when I wheel out I am smiling the WHOLE time and not caring if something breaks...
02-04-2007, 12:54 PM
#16
RPM, yeah, I can see where if you had a setup when tuners werent as good as they are now could be frustrating. I think the idea of a ***** out track car and a street car is pretty cool. I just made mine capable of doing both, just not super radical on the track side , but still a head turner on the street end. It's only a 9in and some tires away from some super low 11 sec passes on motor, and deep 10s on a lil juice.
02-04-2007, 12:58 PM
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That's a real good write up Ferocity02.
I have no regrets on my modding. Sure I've gone through countless exhaust systems and have put parts on only to take them a few a few months later. I really like the power level and I'm always confident that It'll make it through long road trips. I don't exactly have a 427 or anything. My car is cammed, headers, lowered, wide tires. There's always problems in the beginning, but I work out the problems and then love the car. I drive it about 400-500 miles a week with no problems. Research is probably the most important thing here and you have to have a final goal.
I have no regrets on my modding. Sure I've gone through countless exhaust systems and have put parts on only to take them a few a few months later. I really like the power level and I'm always confident that It'll make it through long road trips. I don't exactly have a 427 or anything. My car is cammed, headers, lowered, wide tires. There's always problems in the beginning, but I work out the problems and then love the car. I drive it about 400-500 miles a week with no problems. Research is probably the most important thing here and you have to have a final goal.
