Theta

Well, today was the day! This was the first real outing for the car in 5 months, and it did not disappoint. I called up my father to have him go out on the first run with me - that way I could share the experience or at least get some sympathy when a rod shot through the hood...

I took it up to an empty (and brand new) long, flat concrete parking lot and let 'er rip.

Sweet. Jesus.

In Sport mode with all assists on, I was chirping 4th gear ffs. 1st is worthless other than getting moving from a standstill. 2nd is over very quickly, and 3rd is the sweet spot. That's a rocket pull...

There's no hiding the blower sound, though. The air venting through the BOV when off the boost is incredibly loud. Like 'street-sweeper' loud. It's not gear noise obviously, just huge amounts of air flowing. Say you're cruising at 2000rpm with little throttle demand, it's just whooshing away. It could possibly become annoying after a while. Perhaps a stronger spring would lessen that. However, if you're into that, this BOV is exactly what you're looking for. It's still not quite as loud as the Procharger Big Red, but that's kind of the undeniable champion of loud (as I'm sure they will agree with).

I'm a little pissed off at my HPT MVPI Pro for screwing up my internal logging, so I have nothing from 25 minutes of testing today.

After the parking lot testing, got out of there and headed for the gas station. Popped the hood since I was smelling hot rubber, and I wanted to check hoses, wires, etc. Before I even put the nozzle in, I had (not kidding) 5 people around my car all going wild. Two of them noticed the blower, so that was cool. That happened back when it was new, too, but I guess these cars can still pull the people in even 6 months later. And headers + blower helps the sound.

Took it from there to the highway (65mph limit so it moves a little faster), and got used to the acceleration at 60, 70, etc. It just pulls like crazy when it's already at speed. Massive passing power.

Brakes are absolutely fine, no issues with emergency stops, no leaking, etc. Got ABS to kick in by using a dip to set it up, no sign of mush, etc.

Car is just a completely different animal. IATs were steady and stayed low throughout the drive, but it was only 82 degrees outside.

I need to get the logging to work next time for sure, because that's one of the reasons I went out today. No idea what happened - it began logging just fine, made sure to start/stop it, and it never found the log. Bummer...

Last thing I need to figure out is my boost gauge - I have a theory on that, but I'll start a new thread for it since it deals with the PCV valve fix, as well.

Anyway, that's my report from the day. I had the awful feeling in the back of my mind that something was going to go terribly wrong, but instead, everything performed perfectly and it was a blast. Can't wait to be driving this thing on a regular basis!

Theta

Also, sorry, no video - we almost didn't even get this run in. Worked all through the night wiring (what a mess that was), getting panels done, etc. and then most of the day getting everything road-ready, etc.

Here's a pic of it after coming back in for the evening and getting plugged in.

yonson

Congrats!

About your HPT logging, before you started doing the stand alone logging did you connect to your interface with your laptop and send your config to it from the VCM logging software? If you don't do this it will show to start logging then after a few seconds or so the err light will come on and you won't get anything...

Theta

Yep - that's what made it even more of a slap in the face. I even watched the silly SWF how-to to make sure I didn't screw it up.

The config loaded on there is the correct one with the AFR analog added (did that today). Decided to run another after I got home and saw it didn't log, same operation, same everything, logged that one just fine... Ugh.

K B Vettin

Congrats, I'm glad you got to her out and text the blower. I'll ask because it's on my mind, what's next?

slief

Congrats! I've been checking back daily waiting in anticipation for this update! I am glad it went well! I can only imagine the transformation. I wish you were closer so I could check it out. Congrats again! Are you going to take it out some more today to try to get some logging done?

Theta

Methanol is up next, and I'll document that one too.

Motohead279

Next time you are driving next to a bus stop that is full of people, put in in auto rev match and downshift right next to them.

Meth is going on mine in the next few weeks also.

yonson

I still prefer the old fashion rev match. But the automated system does work quite well, too well when you accidentally hit the paddle and it puts it in rev match while you are on the dyno and after a pull when you push the clutch in and the rev's stay at ~5400 RPM instead of dropping...

C7pimp

Lol, turn it off on the dyno!!!

C7pimp

I've ridden in a 650whp ZR1 (Pulley, tune) and I know what you mean. Holy **** that car is scary fast.

fsuforever

I have been a union pipe welder & a non union pipewelder for a living for 22 yrs & I have had an Ecs kit on my c5 for the last 10 years ,the charger bearing ,had rebuilt last year, before any welds cracked or leaked, on my kit) the pressure on these kits are not much ,I weld on high pressure steam lines that run 2,200 psi,I'm sure Ecs puts a leak down on all kits going out the door, I would! I've seen ugly welds hold & pretty welds crack, * & vice versa ,put it on your car & enjoy the newfound power if u don't have a radiator upgrade & spal fans ,I would highly reccomend adding these to your to do list, in the summer temps can get brutal & u will benefit having these items on your car,good luck with it!

j14152

That screen is probably there to extinguish a potential backfire. My VW GTI Turbo had a screen in that location too. For many years some aircraft and other carburetors had a screen in front of the carburetor to absorb the heat of a backfire.

Theta

Interesting idea - hadn't heard of that before.

I had to joke with Doug based on his aviation background. Nothing like a bird strike.

Motohead279

Yes it's probably a backfire screen. 4 stroke motorcycles have the same around their filter.

Theta

Quick update on this - I was going to install the Alky methanol system and document that here, as well.... But, reason has prevailed, and I'm having Vengeance do the rest of my modding since I've run out of time (and I trust them to do a good job). We'll see how close to 800whp we can get with everything they're doing to it. Should be fun!

If there's one thing I learned from this project, it's time value. It was a fun winter project, but now with the weather being so nice, it would kill me to have had it go on for so long.

Now that the kits (all of them, which are quite numerous now) are all caught up / in-stock everywhere, and all the parts are finalized, I could see these being done in a weekend with the proper tools, etc. But, that was part of the fun of the journey - gave me something to look forward to when there was a foot of snow on the ground.

Just wanted to give an update here on what was going on.

runutzzzzz

Translation:

Nice weather is here and you don't want to take 3 weeks to install the Meth kit...

Theta

Nah, Ron will tell you that I was really hesitant to have them do it, but it seems that across the board, most vendors will tell you that it's a difficult install.

That, and there are no firm directions yet.

Also, they're doing the IAT breakout and ZR1 3-bar, etc.

Motohead279

Matt at Florida Speed and Power installed my Meth kit last week... the car runs incredible. They did an awesome job with the install and tune.

Theta

Matt's been a big help with several things along the way - glad to hear you got all squared away on the install & tune @ FSP!