HOXXOH

Without the 1%'rs who continuously raise the bar, we'd still be foraging for food in the jungle.

Nyvetteguy007

Did an alignment to the Pfadt street specs and LOVE the results.

FloydSummerOf68

FloydSummerOf68

The booster is definitely not what he's looking for if he's after better speed/acceleration as he stated.

blkbrd69

I am part of Chucks research and development sub 1%.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...-course-t.html

Of course 99% of guys that go to the track are not "Hard Core Racers", especially those with Autos. Those with road course time are even a lower percentage, as there are NO "hardcore" road race A6 Corvettes to my knowledge.

My definition of "hardcore" would be a Road course T1 SCCA or NASA race car minimum. They have full cages, fire suppression systems are on slicks and go to the track on trailers.

I am not hardcore, but I do have a C6 A6 and run some respectable times at Sebring Raceway with NASA and PBOC on the 24 hour road course.

The new wide-band EFILive photo you see in Chucks ad is mine. It allowed us to gather wideband engine data for a very hot weather strong safe road course tune.

A road course tune is a different animal than a street or drag race tune, as you are running the car hard for 2 to 3 hours a weekend vs. 2 minutes a weekend for a drag race tune.

On a road course heat IE cooling and brakes are the Corvette weak link, not power.

The COW Booster with an A6 auto allows you to tune your throttle profile to allow better corner apex and track-out power settings, as the throttle delivered better matches what your brain and foot requests. IE smoother faster lap times.
With a MN6 it allows easier blipping or heal toe shifting, which helps you be smoother at turn-in. IE faster laps and a car that lasts longer.

The A6 tune allows you to use the paddles on a road course without having to be psychic as paddle responsiveness is much better, the rev matching allows smoother braking and turn in.

Joe_G

I am eager to get the COW booster. I have complained since the day I got my car 6+ years ago (with HP Tuners Forum time stamped posts to prove it) that the C6 has sluggish throttle response. I've done some self-tuning to help, and there is a throttle rate table in the new HP Tuners beta that did help some, but my car still has, by my standards, sluggish throttle response.

Which does relate to the track. I do my heel-toe rev matching on the road course and my car is sluggish, causing me to need a heavy push with my heel which is a hassle when I'm braking at the same time. I wish I could just touch the gas with my heel like my c5....it was easy to heel-toe shift.

So in my opinion, the COW Booster has a very real track benefit.

Now with that said, Chuck, are you ever coming back to S. Fla? I need a COW Boost!

JUIC3D

cow booster feels like nitrous? That's a new one

speedraider

I have had Chuck tune my car and would highly recommend him, the great part about chucks tunes are when you add headers or anything else, he re tunes the car for FREE.

jpee

When a poster posts that "Hard Core" racers are using M6 he is most likely correct, however if the racer is "JUST" going to race the 1/4 mile I'll challenge ANY racer with a M6 to lets say 10 races in the 1/4 mile..

I'm an 05 with an (A4)....my point is each transmission has its place in the "TYPE" of race the car is going to do....

IF I were going to "Road Race" or "AutoX" yes I'd want an M6 transmission... however I grew up in the 60's when drag racing was all the rage, Dyno Don Nickelson, Don Gartles, etc....etc... Those day's the Automatic trans wasn't really good for drag racing, and the Manual was used in all types of racing, However........

As time progressed Drag racing changed from a "Heads Up" type of racing such as A/Stock, or B/Stock, or C/Stock (your class was based on advertised HP most cars 99% was stick/manual and all the races were "HEADS UP" ... basically the guy with the most $$$ would win... not ALWAYS but most of the time...

As time went on, the Automatic transmission kept getting better, and aftermarket vendors were making Automatics that were staying together, and were very consistent ....

"That" combined with a rule change (The introduction of "BRACKET RACING" ) made the automatic the transmission of choice in "Drag Racing" Why ????????

Because like I said the guy with the most $$ was always winning, and there were a "LOT" of different type (classes) of cars that NHRA had to come up with some type of = "equalizer" and "Bracket Racing" evolved...

So the guy with a 15 sec. stock Mustang could compete with a 12 sec. Big Block Camaro or Corvette... and we now have bracket racing.. I found out very quickly that my 11 sec. SS Chevelle was getting beat by 15 or 16 sec Mustangs or 6 cyl Nova's....

They and myself had to put a # on our window on what we would run.. and of course if you went quicker than your dial you lost... (this was to prevent sandbagging)

Well I soon learned if I wanted to be competitive in 1/4 mile drag racing I'd need an Automatic.. (A Girlie Car)

My first Automatic was my 1996 Corvette LT1.... I had a 1997 Camaro SS that was a manual 6 speed... I can't tell you how many times I was just about to pass the slower car, and missed 3rd gear AND THE RACE

So I got the 96 Vette...you can look up the records of the Corvette Challenge at Englishtown NJ Every yr I was in the top 10 with sometimes over 100 cars at a race (yes it was a 7 or 8 round race)

So now due to my age, and limited income (read no $$) I have a 2005 (A4) with some minor mods and it runs low 12's (a best of 11.98) but on any given day it will repeat run after run, & I NEVER miss a shift, or I don't have to "slip" the clutch when leaving the start line.. My 60' are all slow 1.88 - 1.93 no matter what condition the track is in...

I think I have won "my fair share of $$" with an AUTOMATIC car.. if I ever decide NOT to drag race I most likely will get a manual car as I LOVE to shift.... But winning is sooooo much easier with an Automatic in "DRAG RACING"

Off my rant for now

Danny Richie

To the original poster.

I was right there with you. I have a wish list of things to do to my C6, and by the time I am done it will quicker in the quarter than a ZR-1, more fun to drive, and still a be a reasonably mild mannered street car.

I can't do everything I want all at once though. It will have to come in stages as time and money permits. So where to start....?

If you go at this like I am then don't waste your money on a dyno tune job. Let's face it, tweaking out the fuel and timing is only going to net you 10 or 15 horsepower at most. And the harder it is leaned out on the top end (to get a really high peak) the greater the chance of some engine damage. Most tuners tune back to a safe peak level. And most of those dyno tunes only tweak the motor for wide open throttle too. You don't drive the car at wide open throttle everywhere you go.

Secondly, what if a month or two from now you decide to add headers. Guess what? Time to go back to the dyno for a re-tune and another $500...

Decide to swap out cams next. Guess what again? Another $500 worth of dyno time to re-tweak the engine again.

None of that made sense to me.

So here is what I started with.

I got a EVILive device from Chuck Cow. I got his engine tune, his trany tune, Cow Booster, and a 160 degree thermostat.

First off my car runs cooler now. With the cooler thermostat and my fans coming on sooner means that when I decide to get on it, the engine is in the lower temperature ranges where it makes more power. Before, it heating up immediately to 197 degrees and then by 200 degrees the computer would start pulling out fuel and timing. So on that alone, I gained horsepower. In fact if I start out with temps in the ranges below 180, I can be on it quite a bit before getting into the 200 plus ranges.

Secondly, the throttle response is no longer a turd. It responds the way I want it to when I want it to. I now have a way range of control over the throttle from off idle to wide open throttle. This is also completely adjustable. So if I tell Chuck to soften the very first hit of the throttle a little (and I did) then he adjusts it.

Before the Cow Booster the throttle response was sluggish and there was a wide range of pedal movement with very little change in how far the throttle plate actually opened. So I'd keep giving it more and more pedal waiting for the car to finally respond to my controls. Then I'd get too much all at once. And a very little amount of pedal pressure change at the end of the pedals range would jump back and forth from about half throttle to full throttle with little control in between. It was horrible.

Now I can easily give it 3/4 pedal movement wanting 3/4 throttle and it really will respond to me with 3/4 throttle.

It also responds quicker. So if I stab it half way to the floor I am not waiting for the computer to decide to slowly open the throttle to where it thinks it needs to be as per my input. Now it responds quickly and immediately to my input.

The Cow Booster also works perfectly with the changes to the transmission.

Before, not only was the throttle sluggish to respond, but the car shifted out too soon and was always in too high of a gear when I decided to wanted to accelerate.

My Dad's 04 Vette had the same problem. On his, we back halved the exhaust, changed out the cam and value springs, and added a pro-charger. It dyno'ed out at 495 horsepower to the rear wheels. Just driving the car around normally, you'd never know it. And if you were driving down the road in it and decide you want to take off, it was like dealing with turbo lag. Give it half throttle and wait for something to happen. Then it would slowly start to build speed. It was just geared to high, the trany wouldn't allow for a quick down shifting with pedal movement, and the car was lugged down all of the time. If you floored it then it finally down shifted, rpm's shot up, it hit boost levels, and screamed. It was like it had an on or off switch. And when it hit with boost it hit so hard that the traction control would hold the car back all the time.

Back to my Vette. After the Chuck Cow tune it is always in the right gear. If I give the car a little throttle it immediately drops a gear and responds with acceleration. Slow down and the trany starts down shifting. Hit the throttle again and the car responds quickly because it is in the right gear and it responds to the throttle input. Shifts are no longer soft and sluggish either. It hits each gear harder, but not too hard. It is like it has had a shift kit added (like back in the old days) and it just shifts much quicker and firmer.

It is like it now has a track setting for everyday driving. It is like the gear ratio has been dropped and it is never lugged down in a high gear. Mine was running circles around my Dad's Vette and his had way more power than mine. Mine was ten times more fun to drive than his. His was like pedaling a ten speed bike up hill in tenth gear all the time compared to mine. Give mine half throttle any time in at any speed and it screams. His would just lug down and slowly move...

Dad liked mine so much we did the whole Chuck Cow tune and booster on his too. Now his is fun to drive. And he had a dyno tune from a race shop when the mods were all done.

The real thing that sold me on Chuck's service to begin with was that I paid him one time for the tune service and that's it. If I change something on the car I can data log it, and send him the file. He reads it and re-tunes the car. I can send him data logs anytime and he can see how my car is running. If I swap out exhaust, intake filter systems, cam shafts, or anything, I just send Chuck the file and he re-tunes the car. All of this was included in the purchase of the initial service.

Now much of the tune file system has gone in stages. Meaning I data log my Vette or my Dad's, e-mail the file, and Chuck makes adjustments. He e-mails the new tune file to me. We then up-load it to the car. Then we get a little more aggressive with it (not full throttle), and log it again. Send in the file... Chuck checks it, makes new adjustments, and we do it again... We have been kind of sneaking up on full throttle, and data logging it along the way to first make sure all is good before going full throttle. So it can take a little bit of time. But the engine is tweaked to be optimal in all rpm ranges and not just wide open throttle.

And while I have fun messing with and learning the whole EFILive device and software, my 70 year old Dad would never get it or want to. But after driving mine, he had to have it. So now I am handling his. So you need to be fairly computer savvy to really run with this thing.

Bottom line though is my car runs cooler, and makes a little more power when I want it because it is running cooler. But more importantly it is WAY more fun to drive. And no additional horsepower would have given me what Chuck's tune and booster gave me. And I know that from experience. Dad's 04, with mods, had nearly 150 more horsepower to the rear wheels than my 06, and mine was much more responsive, quicker off the line, and a LOT more fun to drive.

I recommend Chuck's work. It has been money well spent.

pamperedcar1

Well said

INTRUBL

Chuck has been taking care of my car for years, runs great .

wjnjr

As I understand it, the Cow Booster product is a reprogramming of the drive by wire throttle system. With it installed, a given amt. of gas pedal movement produces more movement of the throttle butterfly than before. So the car feels livelier. But the Cow Booster produces no measurable difference in WOT performance because it produces no measurable difference in HP or TQ @ WOT.

So it may not be what the OP is looking for if he wants mods that produce real increases in HP and TQ.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on this...

Danny Richie

Yes and no.

I found a chart on the Cow Booster.



The grey line is a direct cable linkage. If our Vettes had this they would be real hard to control especially for an amateur driver.

So GM really over softened the control to keep the cars our of the ditches on first hit of the throttle. But look what they did with the controls. See the purple line. This is with traction control off. You get nothing over a wide pedal range then a huge onrush of throttle. From 78% pedal travel to 89% pedal travel you go from 50% throttle to 100% throttle. That is not very controllable.

The Cow Booster gives you more control over the whole range.

So your statement...

Is true, but ONLY at the beginning of the throttle curve. At the end of the pedal range it moves the throttle less than the stock setting giving you a wider range of control where the engine is making the most power.

And you are correct in that it does not increase torque or horsepower. But it does allow the throttle to move more quickly and the car to respond more quickly.

For me, if I bought another new Vette, it would be the first thing that I would change.

Another couple of posters said something regarding a concern for voiding a factory warranty due to a none factory tune. FYI, I can reload my factory tune back into the car in less than 5 minutes.

JUIC3D

That chart is misleading. Look at the "linear" cable throttle grey line.

It should be 1:1 if there is nothing to interfere. 20% should be 20%, 50% should be 50% etc, but it's not.

HOXXOH

You'd have the same difficulty with control on a carb car (especially multiple carbs) if you opened all the throttle plates at the same time. And that's precisely why progressive linkage and vacuum operated secondaries existed. With the exception of single throat and two-barrel carbs, Detroit never made a direct 1 to 1 pedal to butterfly connection on carbed cars.

Maybe I drive different than most others, because once I feel the need to go beyond a 50% throttle blade opening, I'm already a millisecond from being 100%. If you're cruising at 175 MPH on 80% and wanted to bump it up to 176 MPH, I suppose it could be a control problem.

Joe_G

I think most if not all throttle linkages have a ratio. Maybe a Model T doesn't. Throttles all turn 90 degrees, but the gas pedal moves in a linear fashion. Thus there is a linkage ratio.

Anyway, misleading or not, I wish my C6 pedal had more action near the top of the pedal...you have to push the pedal too far to get a rev which makes heel and toe downshifting difficult.

JUIC3D

I don't have trouble with heel/toe Joe...

Maybe it's your high heels?

Joe_G

No need to heel/toe when drag racing sonny....

You only use that on the road course!

JUIC3D

Sonny huh..

Alright, listen up old man--there's plenty of reason to use heel/toe outside of the road course. How do you think I make it to PBIR so quickly??