Well I am steppin up in the world. My Z is gonna be for sale in search of a 6spd SS or WS6. Its gonna be a turbo car and I am really leaning towards an STS kit. I want the upgraded kit with the the T67 i think it is not real sure just starting out lookin at turbos. I am only going to need around 10 to max 15 psi. I have started to hear things about hydro locking the motor because of the rear mount design. Any and all information would be a huge help. I would love to hear everyones opinion and factual information to help make my descision. Thanks to all...

 

I've only ever heard of one person hydro-locking the STS and that was a truck and I think it was in pretty deep water? As far as sucking up a little water, it happens... But not just to STS, also the ATI guys, and those with low mounted CAI kits on NA engines :shrug:

 

I'm about to get a PTK kit, but I wouldn't think STS would still be selling their kits if people were having lots of problems with them.

 

there have been maybe 5-6 people that have posted about getting locked up, and several that say their cars run like **** in the rain because it ucks a little bit of water in even with the filter sleeve.

 

as far as driving in the rain I drive in the rain driven in the snow and never had a problem yet with water the only way you could suck up enough water to hydrolock your motor would be if you dorve through standing water or put it in a lake lol.they are making a sheild so this will never be an issue again.also I never used my sock and still never had a problem.

 

last week i idled my way through over 1 foot of standing water, you could see the muddy water line on my car and filter. I had no sock. Some water did get in the piping but was easily fixed. I hate flash floods! 1 inch of rain in 30 mins = 2 feet of water everywhere

 

I did about 30 mins of heavy rain driving and it started sucking up water and trapping it in the sock. Car started to sputter so I yanked the sock and the water just gushed out. It was all good after it dried out, tho.

What's this about a shield they're making???

 

Calling BS on that one. If 5-6 people have locked up their motors then STS would know about it. There was one guy that locked his motor in one of these posts but he didn't even have an STS kit.

The STS Fbody kit now includes a guard that surrounds the filter to block the water from directly hitting the filter. The filters are also shorter now using a reversed cone design. The Drychargers work but the water repellant needs to be recharged a couple times a year.

Unless you like driving in reverse at 40 MPH or driving through 14 inches of water then you should be good.

If you have a STS kit then they will sell you the shield and K&N at cost ($46). STS will have pics of their guards and snorkel kits online at ststurbo.com by the end of the day today.

I guess STS just doesn't want people to worry about it anymore so they are going overboard on including this stuff. All the truck kits now will include an air filter relocation kit that lets you put the filter way up inside the bed and fender.

My STS kit has been awesome by the way. Driving 80 miles a day through snow, slush, and rain I haven't had any problems.

 

Lots of folks say that they're great..... my question is, what kind of ETs are you seeing?

 

You cant just slap it on and expect to go 10's.... you got to have the car set up for it.

 

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-induction/332601-hydrolocked-sts.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-induction/259712-strange-miss-under-boost-sts-kit.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-induction/229490-drilling-tiny-hole-fmic.html


here are just a few examples i pulled in a 10 second search. the fact of the mater is that if you live in an area with rain (it rains in FL every day, evening shower type deal) you're going to have potentially major problems with this kit. saying that the problem is nonexistant is ignorant, obviously sts wouldnt need to 'fix' the water problem if it wasnt there.


bottom line: driving in rain with this kit is a bad idea (unless this shield really works) and if you need to daily drive your car, IMO, it isnt for you.

 

None of those are hydrolocked cars, search harder

In that first thread you posted, there *is* a guy that comes in later and mentions his car is hydrolocked, but he was naturally aspirated at the time. What you are finding on those searches is a little water getting sucked up and screwing with the MAF. The same thing happens with the ATI and naturally aspirated cars running a low slung cold air induction kit. It's hardly an STS exclusive problem.

That said, I agree that if you are in a high precipitation area that you should do a lot of research into the various kits to find one that is the most condusive to your environment, especially if it's a daily driver like you said

 

i never said it was only an STS problem

although, with the filter in the position that it is in, it will have water shot at it almost constantly via the tires. Atleast with the ATI kit you have the rad. support to block most of the water. the main issue, IMO, isnt driving through deep water, as this is obviously going to cause problems in any setup, but normal driving in the rain shouldnt lead to a messed up maf, and you shouldnt have to drain all your pipes after every shower.

and like I said, I just did a quick search. I'm at work and need to get atleast some work done if you want me to to do a good search I will when i get home

 

Exactly.

 

thats my point, it rains every day, sometimes several inches in only an hour or two, so the sts is not the kit for me. I realize everyone have different requirements, but from my standpoint this was the factor that made me decide against the kit. so, I agree

 

It hasn't been a problem but it can be a "perceived" problem so STS is just helping to solve people's concerns. My friend's car went rich running just a WS6 hood and a Volant intake in the rain.

Track times depend on many other things other then just pure power. Super Chevy is doing a 4-part article on a 98 car that is running high 11s with the basic STS kit. Generaly STS 5 PSI kits are good for a 1 second drop in the 1/4 for cars.

 

Here is a link that shows the new STS shield and snorkle,:scroll down

 

Welll you can see in my sig... I have the STS kit with all the bells and toys... Just dont think that the 3995.00 price will be all of your investment. That is the price of the turbo... but everything that is needed in support of a turbo or S/C or any power adder adds up.

As for the ET's... I will have mine posted next weekend.

My vote is Jewel!

 

But the thread is about the STS and I just wanted to point out that if rain is a factor for a decision on FI kits, then a lot of research needs to be done because wet MAF's can happen with quite a few of the choices. As for normal driving in normal rain, I haven't had a problem. Just have to take care to stay out of boost (which honestly is common sense IMO since boosting on slick roads is a recipe for disaster). I have had the wet MAF issue once, but that was thanks to a flash flood dropping 5+ inches of rain in a night. It happens :shrug:

I did a lot of research prior to ordering my kit (On this site and most of the other F-Body/LS1 forums), and only ever ran across one isolated incident of a hydrolocked STS equipped vehicle, and the owner admits to driving through a large body of standing water (this was a truck, so I imagine the puddle was a pretty decent size). When I started seeing threads like the one you posted with the wet MAF issues, I researched other options for FI. I found that there's a danger of wet MAF with quite a few of them... So for me it came down to six of one, half a dozen of another. I've been 100% satisfied with my STS, even though this season in MD has been a lot wetter than normal. We went from dry summers with local gov't rationing water useage to this year where we see decent rain at least once a week... Aside from that downpour I mentioned above, I've had no problems with my daily driver Granted, this isn't Florida though and we don't have a hurricane season so I can definitely see where apprehension can be a factor for those cars in locales like that.

 

thats pretty much what I think aswell. I guess I was mistaken on the 'locked up' part, but it seems as though there are alot of people trying to deal with the wet maf issue. As for me, I decided to go with a traditional mount setup b0ecause I know I wont have any 'spray' water shooting up at my filter, and I dont plan on driving through a lake So like I said, IMO, the STS kit (without this new shield, we'll have to wait and see how that works) isnt a great kit for areas with a large amount of rain (FL). also, summer isnt that bad down here. It does rain every day at about 4, but unless it's a hurricane it'll rain anywhere from 10 mins to 2 hours. During the winter it rains more consistantly, for like days (and some freak summer storms do that too.)