Hi all,

Incase you weren't aware, Cartuning Performance (owned/operated by Kevin) has been in the process of developing a turbo kit for the LS4 cars (GXP and Monte/Imp SS) since early in the year and we are finally at the end of the road and ready to go.

I just want to clarify my role in this whole thing, I do not work for Cartuning, I don't get paid for turbo kit sales or anything like that. Kevin used my car to build the prototype and test the kit and we now have the production kit on my car so any questions about pricing/availability will need to be sent to Kevin at kevin@cartuning.ca but if you want to talk about the kit and the parts and how it drives etc. please feel free to ask me.

**EDIT, HERE ARE THE PICS, DETAILS BELOW**

Please note that this is not the exact kit that you would get when you buy it from Cartuning. I don't have any ceramic coating on the pipes, and the intake tubing for the inlet to the turbo will not be yellow and black....lol Even though this is the "production" kit because I am the test car I don't have the fancy stuff you will get with the kit.









Video is of it reving with cutout closed, then open. See guys THE KIT IS REAL!! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQZH3nPOAyo

Kit Details:

-Intercooled kit with Turbonetics T66 turbo at 10psi
-42lbs injectors
-LT1 MAF
-2.5" downpipe with high flow cat, includes a electric cutout placed before the cat
-All pipes ceramic coated
-160 degree T-stat
-Fuel Pump re-wire
-Water injection kit
-Shift kit
-Locar Tranny Dip Stick
-Special Surprise for PCM programming

It comes as a COMPLETE kit, ready to bolt on with all the bells and whistles.

Drivability:

Only one word can describe this....INSANE. The car is amazing, the turbo really wakes up the car. Even though stock, the car isn't too slow, with the turbo kit on it makes the world of a difference. I drove the car stock for 3 months after the prototype was on the car and let me say that it sucked, the car should have come with this from GM. While driving 60mph I just step on the gas and she peels the tires. While cruising if I punch it in second it peels second, and peels after shifting into third as well. The power is insane. Not to mention how amazing the car now sounds with the cutout open!! wow! Because it's a higher compression V8 you really do not notice lag from the turbo, I drove a V6 Grand Prix with the same turbo and it was really laggy. One thing though is that the torque steer is crazy, when you step on the gas you need to be holding on with 2 hands because she goes a bit crazy.

It's very hard to describe in words, I would be happy to give someone a ride in the car so they can help describe it for everyone. During the last weekend of September I am taking a road trip, from Toronto through Detroit to Cedar Point, OH then from Cedar Point to Syracuse, NY then back to Toronto if anyone is on my way through I would be happy to take you for a spin.

Looks:

The kit looks amazing, the routing of the pipes and quality of the fit and finish is amazing. Not to mention the nice polished T66 turbo right there!! Kevin will be taking some good pictures of the kit a little later on.

Numbers:

We are heading to the Dyno within the week to see what she puts down, we had 385whp and 388ft. lbs from the prototype kit at 8psi no alky so we are hoping for some really good numbers with the production kit at 10psi with alky.

Also I will be heading to the track within the next few weeks, I will be running the car in street trim, stock tires, stock everything. We will not hit a super low ET because of the traction issues with the stock tires, but we expect a very significant MPH which will show the true potential of the kit.

Conclusion:

With this turbo kit on the GXP, I am driving a BEAST of a machine, I usually change cars every 6 months to a year because I get bored but honestly there is nothing out there that can compete that I can think of. Compared to other V6 Grand Prix's this car has the looks, the handling, the brakes and the insane power, I had a 98 GTP with heads, cartuning turbo kit and dynotech tranny, 18's and suspension upgrades running 18psi of boost and this blows that away hands down.The Turbo GXP runs in the same league as a Turbo V6 with heads, cam, manifolds etc. etc. etc. where there is almost no more you can get out of the car. So remember, this is a bolted on turbo kit only, there is SO much more potential in the car once you add rockers or a cam, better flowing heads, 7L block, you know, lots of options lol. Wait till you see what happens when Cartuning releases a new rear manifold for the kit (Stock one is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY bad for flow to the turbo). It made a huge difference on the V6 kit with a new rear manifold, I would say the rear manifold on the GXP is 500% worse for flow so the difference will be night and day.

Who wants to be #2 turbo LS4?

Questions?

Jay

 

What about your tranny?

 

The Tranny is holding up good for now. I beat on the car all the time I have at least 10000miles of driving hard with the turbo.

However, it would be foolish to think that tranny upgrades aren't in my future. But for me I am happy with that because of the much better performance with the upgraded tranny.

All it needs is a 300m input shaft, new chain and heavy Duty clutch packs and maybe a tranny cooler and it's good to go so it's really not that bad. I will most likely do the tranny before it leaves me on the side of the road I will be getting the tranny cooler installed shortly then the rest.

Also for the tranny, it all depends on how you drive the car, or most of the driving is in 1st/2nd peeling tires all the time and hard shifts then it's much harder on the input shaft. For me I am mostly on the HWY so in 2nd/3rd/4th from 60-130mph.

 

About time we get an update! Thanks for the news. Need videos!!!

 

That kit in my view would be useless without some headers. Be taking away so much of the breathing from the turbo. Also why would the downpipe be 2.5 inches? The Hogan downpipe is 3 inch in diameter? And from stuff I have read on the 3800 crowd without a doubt the tranny, trans axles would have to be upgraded. Car would be a good roll on car not from a dig unless you upgraded all of those parts.

 

I guess if you call 385whp useless. But I agree that mods would only make the turbo wake up even more.

 

Thanks for the update, and keep us posted!
Now lets see if somebody can make us a rear wheel drive kit

 

Lol wanna race?

There's people that can pick apart anything so you can think that the 2.5" downpipe isn't big enough or that the stock mani's suck etc etc etc, but here's the bottom line, the numbers don't lie. over 400whp is not useless for sure and over 400whp means that the kit works.

 

what 1/4 mile time should be expected and can this be an everyday driver

 

That is freakin' great, but call me a realist. If you get no traction on the punch in 2nd then that means 1st is worthless also. So now were taking away 2 of our very limited gears in the car? Is there a way to control when the boost comes on so say you get 5 PSI until you hit say 4600 RPMs. I'm new to the turbo world as I've been stuck into the M90 powered 3800 world for almost 9 years. But if we could limit the boost until higher RPMs wouldn't that be more beneficial then say 420+ WHP that we can't use because of zero traction. If you can come up with a way to get the power to the pavement then yes it's great but if not then it's unnessary stress on the engine and tranny.
Tate

 

Damn, I wish I had the money sitting around for one. I'll have to start putting in some more OT at work.

 

One way is to learn to control your throttle. You're only gonna get the full boost if you're flooring it. If that is not enough, some new tires and suspension work should help. NOS is another option if you don't like the constant boost.

 

yeah just pust some NOS on mine two weeks ago. you could go that route instead of the turbo. seems real quick with a 100 shot. only hit it twice. once on a back street to test it out and the other against a srt8 magnum

 

Sounds great GXP JAY....looking forward to updates!

 

Not picking it apart, I think it's great to get more aftermarktet parts for our car. But running that turbo with stock exhaust manifolds DOES steal alot of power, 2.5 inch down pipe compared to a 3 inch restrict's more flow also. And there is no way in hell 400whp is hitting the ground. If it did our car's would trap easy 115mph and low 12's quarter mile. Let's see how long you honk on your car until the tranny/trans axles go? And with the compression in our car's I would not go over 6psi without upgrading alot more. I know lot's of guys running turbo's all different size turbo's and motor's and almost all of them have had head gaskets etc burst.

 

it sounds great.. but
or some video pictures are worth a thousand words... i got to see this. you should take some video of your road trip.. or just some video of the thing in the driveway revving it.. i want to hear how this kit sounds too.

 

I agree i think 10 psi is to much for this LS4 until i see some more long term results i'm sticking with NOS+Window switch :\

 

I disagree, an aluminum headed 10:1 engine can take 10 psig with intercooling and a proper tune. People are afraid of higher compression and boost, but if done right, it can work very, very well.


edit for spelling

 

Our cars run what 10:1 ? Running 10psi of boost I can guarantee that you are going to start blowing out seals/gaskets/etcetera. There is a reason that if you build a street motor meant to have forced air you generall want to stick under 9:1, i would say try and stay under 8.5:1. Sure, you don't make as much power. . .but longevity is definately there. Just my .02

 

I know a guy who does forced induction on boats and its the same principle he says a turbo will definitely blow threw piston rings