Im very close to throwing in the towle and going to the dark side. (N2O, but yes i even had a stang cross my mind!)
ive had my turbo kit on and off so mant times to try to figure this **** out. ive had bum turbos, bad wires, bad this rubbed that wrong this wrong that, to much of this no much of that! Im close. the only solid thing is the motor ESP did for me. it runs like a charm. just this turbo **** in the way is getting to me. plugs is a 6 hour job, 15 minits for the front 6 then 5 hours for the back 2. im melting plugs do to who knows what. im thinking bad injecter Cuz we've tried almost everything ealse, it isnt the tune, i tried mafs wires plugs coils, it is getting old fast. i finaly just left the car in ESP's hands to see what they can find. these guys dont know my turbo kit tho, ive always brought the car to them with it all on or all off so that makes it 100% harder for them. But man they have been so good to me, they havent turned their backs (yet). Ken however is and has been telling me to juice it. He even said he would buy my pistions if i would juice it. these guys know N2O ( hense the 8 second timeslip with an ls1!!!) Im close. i think if someone offered me the right money for it, it would be gone. it would have to go to someone with lots of patiance!
man im close, if i didnt base my car around this thing and i feel the turbos made the car what it is it would be gone!
im just tring to keep it going so i have a different setup rather then another 9 sec N2O car. but man if i sold the kit i know ESP could do me up a nice 346 and put me into the low 9's no problem and it wouldnt cost anymore if i sold the kit.
man i said it befor and i will again im getting close
i just hate to throw away sooooo much time, effort and money. this is wearing thin on me.

 

I got the feeling from time to time too.....

If my setup doesn't work, thats exactly what I'm doing.....

selling the charger and going N20 DP

 

man, it sux when you do everything so good, and right then **** just dont work out. im sooooo frustrated.
i cant hardly even drink a beer.

 

STEP AWAY FROM THE EDGE!!! DONT JUMP!!!

I have felt the same way before....maybe take a few days off from the car and start over, that helped me alot!

Good luck.

 

Thats what im tring to do, i left it with ESP to fiddle with it. i know with some time they WILL figuer it out, but it is just one thing after another after another afteranothe. did i mention after another!!!

 

Another thing is that i thought i would have worked all the bugs out last year with a the **** i delt with, but this year i guess do to trying to make more power it just seems worse and worse!

 

I am rootin' for you bigtime! Your 10 second passes last year kept me going when I was in the middle of my build Brad, along with a few other folks posts.

I would rather run TT's than nitrous any day.

 

I feel ya Brad, I hate looking at my car sitting on the side of the house with a new engine in it and all these problems with all the FI gremlins. My car was running fine on the stock block w/ the ATI and I wanted more power so I built a new LS6 up and haven't got to enjoy a day at the track yet. I have 175 miles on this new engine that I installed in November But the light is at the end of the tunnel for me, I just need to get the tune installed and hopefully I won't have any glitches with the FI set up from here on out. Drivetrain on the other hand, well I won't get into that until it happens lol.
Keep the faith but we all understand where you are at right now, That's why I already have the N2O kit on the car lol.
J

 

Sell it and build a carburated car, as just did. If I could do it over, I would never have turned my nice SS into a race car. What a waist of time and money. The phrase "reinventing the wheel" comes to mind.

 

wow, this is not a thread that a person building a turbo car should read. I am really excited but I do have those worries in the back of my mind. Oh well, I am already half way there... might as well take that leap. This might be a stupid question, but what are the main common problems that you and others run into? What exactly is it that would actually make you (or any other turbo person considering it) change your mind and change your entire set up again? What are some things that you wish someone would have told you before you started with your project?

BTW - Good luck and I hope you get all your problems worked out.

 

turbos > nitrous

After you switch from the twins to juice you are going to regret in a day, i'm NOT shitting you. The first time you go to pull onto an onramp and realize "Wow, I have 1/3 of the torque I had before when the bottle isn't open" you realize why turbos are the superior power adder. Sure, they're a lot more effort than juice to put together, but way worth it in the end.

 

When you start taking stuff apart and pushing it to higher power levels problems can come about... If you are melting plugs maybe you need to go over the wiring and check the injectors. It's easy to stretch wires when working on our cars.

 

I feel for ya man, pretty basic heads/cam/forged bottom + N2o in fairly light, well setup car is easy 9s nowadays. I think about it myself even though I dont have anywhere near the time and money you have in yours. I am pretty close to putting this car back stock and using it as a driver and building another real race car, I could easily do a low 8 second/high 7 second BBC car for the money I dumped in this thing over the last couple years and get my speed fix. Plus I could just put a dry n2o kit on this car with a stock motor/drivetrain and still have a faster driver then 99.99% of the cars I will ever pull up against on the street.

Problem is you get so buried there is no other way to move but forward, resale on these cars is pretty bad, you will be lucky to get 50 cents back on the dollar for the mods and if you dont have the parts to put the car back stock you will be lucky to get KBB trade in for your car from a buyer with 20k of mods on it

Good luck in your decision, I would say just park it for a little bit until the car seems 'new' again and go for it. May as well try to enjoy it and get some use out of what you paid for

 

The problems associated with turning these FI street cars into high performance cars are too numerous to list here. In fact, it would take something of a "book" to record all of them. But let's just address some of the major ones:

1. As compared to SBC and BBC, these cars are so new that the industry is just starting to provide the neccessary support.
2. Perhaps 99% or greater of the cities and town in the US do not have a proven performance shop. How many cities have a shop that can really a tune high performance LS1? Denver has one.
3. There are still only a handful of proven LS1 engine builders. Only a few states have one.
4. If you stay with bolt-ons and ETs in the 11s and above, the emotional and financial pain can be minimized. To run 10s and faster requires major surgery and ruining a fine new street car.
5. By comparison, Reher Morrison will build you an 800 hp carburated SBC for ~$13,000. A N/A LS1 with less power will cost twice that amount.
6. WTF

 

I had n20...then got fi....even with all the problems, I LOVE FI more. It is just more FUN!!!

 

You have to remember to some people (like myself) the 'fun' is building/tuning a car. To others the 'fun' is payng someone else and just driving/racing the car. If you are not able to build/tune the car the fun level tends to drop pretty quick on a FI car if your idea of 'fun' is just driving/racing it..

 

Hang in there, Brad. Give the guys at ESP a little time to play with it before you give up. If things don't work out you know Kenny can build you a nitrous car on pretty short notice. So, one way or another you'll get to race this season.

 

Brad you give up, then im coming for you. DO NOT give in with it. If anything get a big single turbo or change to a SC but dont go nitrous. Its not your style. Take a break from the car and relax a bit. Thats what I do. Soon enough you get the itch to drive it and fix it again.

 

I'm not sure why you have the problems that you do. And believe me, I have no intention of being a dick or anything. Maybe its because you have 100 hp more than me. I don't know. I have 30,000 miles with very little trouble at all.

We have the same tuner. And I think he's pretty good too. I'm an engineer as well as he is, and I can kind of tell if someone is bullshitting me technically. No go knows his field.

So it's not tuning. Do you have someting physically very different with your CAS kit that would foul plugs or make the electronics run wrong?

I'm spoiled because I live 3 miles away from East Side. I still can't believe that luck.

They have to figure something out. It has to be basic.

I wish you luck.

 

I have my 1999 Chevy Tahoe. I have done a built 383 motor with Etec 200 heads, Procharger, aftermarket fuel injection system, fuel system, built transmission all on my own. I know the many frustrations that will plague a buildup. I am almost done with converting it back to being close to stock. Still has the great motor and trans in it. I am going to sell it to fund my Camaro. I just picked a really crappy year to build up. If you are looking for a great tow vehicle, keep an eye out for it.

PSJ is building his truck as well. Wonder how far along he is with it...

Brad, don't bail out on FI. The end result will justify the means, just stick with it. I almost sold my TTi kit, but I am staying my course.