I love my J&S Vampire!!!
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 20
Likes: 1
I love my J&S Vampire!!! I know I'm not a GM driver, but this is something that EVERY car can benefit from. And I'm all about helping guys out.
First you can view the install here:
Smokin04's build thread! - Page 17
or on my YouTube channel.
A little news/update...My tuner and I had some time to do some tuning this week. We decided to for-go a dyno (for now) and do some street tuning, and boy what a difference! We also got to break in the J&S Vampire. Let me tell you...that Vampire is an absolute marvel of technological advancement, and I can't recommend it enough to LS1TECH (as well as anyone who cares about their engines) members. The break-down:
We crept up on the target goal of 18 pounds (93 octane of course)...but 18 psi was triggering the Vampire above 5000 rpm. I looked over everything and saw that my boost controller was bringing boost DOWN to 18.4 psi...which means I had a bit too much requested. Also, we had 19 degrees of timing on the big end. So, I turned down the BC to see around 14-15 psi. Made another pull with no changes to the tune or the Vampire. At 14.7 psi, no Vampire lights and the car pulled cleanly to redline (6800 rpm) in every gear. Raised boost to 17ish psi, and made another hit...trace knock on the Vampire. After discussing with my tuner...we decided to knock timing down 2* to 17* up top and re-engage. On 17* I ran 15, 16, 17, and finally 18 psi with no knock on the vampire. Another note, I had the Vampire set at about 25% sensitivity which was the magic spot for my car. I also had it on universal 20*, which you definitely felt on a pull. It was like the car was pulling, pause, pulling, pause, pulling, redline. I actually thought it was my BC pulling boost from it's built-in safety feature. But nope, it was the Vampire pulling 20* across the board. You could see the tach needle almost stop when it was retarding...really neat if you ask me. Once we got the timing dialed in, I put the Vampire back on individual cylinder mode and only 10* retard. So now the car can rip 18 psi on straight 93 octane (with 9.2:1 compression) and no traces of knock...and depending on weather, the Vampire will always let me know when to turn it down a bit. The Vampire is SIMPLY AMAZING! When I think about it...how much damage could have been done in just that short amount of time? 2-3 pulls with load and knock that you couldn't hear...and let me tell you something, if you think you can hear knocking/detonation at WOT on the street under power, you're wrong! You couldn't hear anything but wastegates on my runs which means in just a few pulls, the Vampire kept my engine happy until we sorted the tune out. Even the BEST TUNERS don't know what the car will be happy with on the first pulls. Even my tuner made the comment that he was against it at first, saying that he felt it was a "gimmick product." But after he saw (and felt) it function first hand in the enviornment that these cars all live on, he was quickly converted and highly impressed, as was I. In reality, the Vampire allows a tuner to quickly get an idea of where the knock threshold is and base their targets on a "REAL KNOCK THRESHOLD", not a made up, or industry standard one. Which for customers would equate to less time on the dyno, less time chasing theoretical targets, and overall a smaller bill on the dyno. I feel that the Vampire will absolutely make up for its cost several times throughout it's life on your vehicle. It saved my engine from knock just this past week...that alone is worth the investment for me.
Future considerations: We still have to break out the nitrous as well, but I can safely say that I do NOT worry about running spray AND boost on pump as long as the Vampire is there. I will absolutely get more into the features of the Vampire in the near future. It has a nitrous retard feature built-in and I will break those in as well. Expect a full write-up in a few weeks. I'm not going to change the tune at all, and I'm going to hit the car with 100 shot using just the Vampire to retard the timing while the spray is on...of course all on pump gas.
J&S Electronics SafeGuard Indivdual Cylinder Knock Control
Look and admire...this thing flat out works! It will pay for itself the first time it activates.:rockon:
First you can view the install here:
Smokin04's build thread! - Page 17
or on my YouTube channel.
A little news/update...My tuner and I had some time to do some tuning this week. We decided to for-go a dyno (for now) and do some street tuning, and boy what a difference! We also got to break in the J&S Vampire. Let me tell you...that Vampire is an absolute marvel of technological advancement, and I can't recommend it enough to LS1TECH (as well as anyone who cares about their engines) members. The break-down:
We crept up on the target goal of 18 pounds (93 octane of course)...but 18 psi was triggering the Vampire above 5000 rpm. I looked over everything and saw that my boost controller was bringing boost DOWN to 18.4 psi...which means I had a bit too much requested. Also, we had 19 degrees of timing on the big end. So, I turned down the BC to see around 14-15 psi. Made another pull with no changes to the tune or the Vampire. At 14.7 psi, no Vampire lights and the car pulled cleanly to redline (6800 rpm) in every gear. Raised boost to 17ish psi, and made another hit...trace knock on the Vampire. After discussing with my tuner...we decided to knock timing down 2* to 17* up top and re-engage. On 17* I ran 15, 16, 17, and finally 18 psi with no knock on the vampire. Another note, I had the Vampire set at about 25% sensitivity which was the magic spot for my car. I also had it on universal 20*, which you definitely felt on a pull. It was like the car was pulling, pause, pulling, pause, pulling, redline. I actually thought it was my BC pulling boost from it's built-in safety feature. But nope, it was the Vampire pulling 20* across the board. You could see the tach needle almost stop when it was retarding...really neat if you ask me. Once we got the timing dialed in, I put the Vampire back on individual cylinder mode and only 10* retard. So now the car can rip 18 psi on straight 93 octane (with 9.2:1 compression) and no traces of knock...and depending on weather, the Vampire will always let me know when to turn it down a bit. The Vampire is SIMPLY AMAZING! When I think about it...how much damage could have been done in just that short amount of time? 2-3 pulls with load and knock that you couldn't hear...and let me tell you something, if you think you can hear knocking/detonation at WOT on the street under power, you're wrong! You couldn't hear anything but wastegates on my runs which means in just a few pulls, the Vampire kept my engine happy until we sorted the tune out. Even the BEST TUNERS don't know what the car will be happy with on the first pulls. Even my tuner made the comment that he was against it at first, saying that he felt it was a "gimmick product." But after he saw (and felt) it function first hand in the enviornment that these cars all live on, he was quickly converted and highly impressed, as was I. In reality, the Vampire allows a tuner to quickly get an idea of where the knock threshold is and base their targets on a "REAL KNOCK THRESHOLD", not a made up, or industry standard one. Which for customers would equate to less time on the dyno, less time chasing theoretical targets, and overall a smaller bill on the dyno. I feel that the Vampire will absolutely make up for its cost several times throughout it's life on your vehicle. It saved my engine from knock just this past week...that alone is worth the investment for me.
Future considerations: We still have to break out the nitrous as well, but I can safely say that I do NOT worry about running spray AND boost on pump as long as the Vampire is there. I will absolutely get more into the features of the Vampire in the near future. It has a nitrous retard feature built-in and I will break those in as well. Expect a full write-up in a few weeks. I'm not going to change the tune at all, and I'm going to hit the car with 100 shot using just the Vampire to retard the timing while the spray is on...of course all on pump gas.
J&S Electronics SafeGuard Indivdual Cylinder Knock Control
Look and admire...this thing flat out works! It will pay for itself the first time it activates.:rockon:
