Ez-
I am curious...why didn't you have Mikey @ Rapid Motorsports do your combo? I drove from Cleveland,Ohio to have him do an ARE H/C combo and it runs really well. I ran 116mph sliding through 3 gears and almost smacking the wall! I know my SS can run a mid-11 and its stock full weight. There are has to be some form of a solution for this situation. If all else fails go back to Rapid. Mikey will do you right, I hear his new H/C set-ups really run and I am sure he can build you a motor too. I can't believe that a stroker motor doesn't come with a warranty...especially when the builders recommend changing components.

 

Mikey did my original H/c setup. The car made 400/387, and ran a best of 11.8 @ 118 on that setup. That was about 2 years ago now on the install, and the 11s were hit towards the end of last year. I wont sugar coat it -- I really was not pleased with the gain from my ARE heads, I really thought the combo should do more. I had already replaced so many parts i thought if Im going to pay more money, lets get more out of it. Thus the above situation (and the whole upgrade the crank idea as well). Mikey is a standup guy though, and ARE was having some problems at the time, but that is what damian was referring to above when he said he had heard that I had some crappy luck in the past too. Hopefully soon all my collective bad track experiences will be just a fading distant memory. I just want a fast car devoid of major problems, is that too much to ask???

 

Mike K. is right Erik,JOE PRINCE SHOULD PAY the rest.To not even call u or come on here and take responsibility for Eriks or George's car is really low and shows people that u cant trust certain individuals not matter how they might appear.

JD didnt have to warranty this for u since he didnt build the motor but this shows u what kind of guy he is now

JD I APPLAUD U FOR HELPING ERIK OUT!!!!

And FWIW guys....
I've know Joe Dutkiewcz for almost 20yrs and u wont find a more standup guy,He takes real pride in providing people with quality workmanship and getting things handled professionally..

JD

 

To get some really good ETs from a 6 speed you REALLY have to be able to shift well. Actually that goes for any manual trans car. Look at 5.0s....I have known A LOT of guys who have had 5.0s with minimal bolt-ons and run mid-high 14s...then a GREAT drivers runs the same car and turns a 13.8-14.0 or quicker. 11.8 isn't bad at all for a full weight SS. When we see these posts from members with H/C cars turning really low 11s...its because they are shifting their asses off Sure ARE had some issues with Nick(that was just before I got mine done). My car seems to be ok! I certainly can't compare my combo to a new Rapid, Cartek, MTI, ARE, LPE, or LG H/C setup(there are other shops I can't think of by the way). Tuner shops learn more and more from R&D and they continuosly learn from every package they do. Look at the power the vendors are getting from their stage 2 H/C set-ups now; many are getting power levels that those same shops were getting from 382 all bores and/or strokers with only ported heads and cam. I mean damn..when I got my H/C done it dynoed 415ish RWHP and 390ish torque through a 12 bolt and 4.10s at full weight and 315s w/17x11 ZR1 rims. Most shops are getting that power or pretty close with just cam and headers. I think if you would have gotten your shifting down pat and had a true LS1 edit...wideband, you would have ran 11.5 @ 120ish or really close.
Partnerships can be bad or good, depends on the integrity of each partner. I really think JD should have done a bit more research of JPR and likewise. I have heard A LOT of good things about JPR. Even when you first got JPRs 388 motor installed you did nothing but rave about how much better it was then your ARE package, but I do remember seeing a post about complaining about smoke too. I am sure there is more to each story then whats told too. Ranting here on the net can be a powerful statement, only because the customers that these shops are getting, traditionally go to that shop because of word of mouth. If this forum isn't word of mouth, I don't know what is. Look at LGs G5X2 set-up. If they didn't get on here and talk it up, and members who got it talked about it....you can bet they wouldn't have sold as many as they did. Same goes for MTIs famous 422. I have one last thing to say about the LS1 performance vendor/shops:

These shops can dyno race each other from now to times end, it doesn't mean squat! In my opinion all the shops are very good and they all will have a problem car at one time or another thats a fact. They all learn from each other. You can't tell me that when one shop comes out with a killer head port set-up...these other shops aren't buying a set (via personal purchase) to find out what the other shop is doing to make the power, I don't believe that it's NOT happening. That is the nature of the R&D business. Thats why car manufacturers have a competitors car also. I work in a BMW dealership and there are a several times a year when BMW CORPORATE comes here with a Lexus and tell us how the new BMWs stack up against it. This kind of stuff happens all the time in the automotive industry. So in my opinion MTI isn't any better then say LG when it comes to an engine or H/C set-up as long as they are match up well. You can't take a set-up from LPE thats mild mannered and say it sucks compared to a combo from ARE thats ***** to walls racing! I would say if you take a 382 stroker from MTI and compare it to say a 382 from Cartek...with the same cam specs and same head design: Ls1 or Ls6, they should perform equally in the same car(with the same tuning and everything). NOW WHAT YOU REALLY HAVE TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION IS: HOW IS THAT COMPANY YOU SELECTED TO GIVE YOUR $$$$ TO, GOING TO BACK UP THEIR WORK? That is what makes a company rise above the rest. How they take care of their customers is whats important. Every shop has problem cars, but how they handle those problems make them or breaks them. When you have a performance car and you drive it aggressively...things break, they do! Look at NHRA top fuel...those cars cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and they break all the time, some break before they even get to the staging lights. Mechanical things breaks its that simple. Suer I can have Billy-Bob build me a 382 in his backyard garage with mailorder parts and it might run like hell too, but when it does break or leak, Billy-Bob sure the hell ain't gonna fix it for free, but MTI, ARE, Rapid, Cartek, LG..among some other shops WILL fix it for free as long as you followed their instructions and are still within their warranty parameters. This is what sets these companies apart from the rest. I thought JPR was included in the high-quality list of LS1 shops, but we shall see!

Seeing problems like these make the 2003-2004 Cobras look better and better everyday.

 

Based on this, and some emails that I have received, we are now going to lock this thread since the parties involved have a solution. We look forward to seeing this combo rip up the 1320 and kick some butt - ADMIN