Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, I really like the idea that I can get the engine running more efficiently, because efficiency is always a win win situation. Even if power improvement is marginal, Im sure the car will feel much more responsive and will probably get better fuel economy. Sounds like a plan
Grady, Ive followed your comments in a few threads and they are always well thought out and knowledge-filled. You really know what you're talking about when it comes to these cars. I have similar goals for my car, I want it to be rather inexpensive and perfectly streetable while hitting about 300 rwhp with a broad torquey powerband. Your combo is very inspiring because it proves that this is feasable, and your dynograph reveals that. I dont have alot of cash to throw around, so Im trying to plan well in advance. I also want to do all the mods at once so I dont have to repeat anything. Im thinking trickflow street HCI, tuning with the tweecer, upgraded fuel pump and 24# injectors, some kind of cai, retain the stock tb and maf, stock headers, offroad H, flows (I know.. unoriginal.. but I love the sound
) and while Im at it Ill delete the EGR and smog pump (and tune out the EGR with the tweecer) Those mods should give me what Im looking for, and when I save up again I can throw some gears and suspension mods at it, upgrade the maf and tb, maybe change out the headers, and replace whatever has broken
Well ... Thank You
You are kind to say those things
Over time ... I have gotten a good bit of input about my backwards method
of building my combo
Here is my motivation for that reasoning
Please allow me to give a short bit of background for perspective
I have built countless race and street combos with used parts I scrounged
up over the years. Those were high school days and early adult hood so
money was very tight back then. Had a lot of fun and made my share of
mistakes as I fooled around with those old cars of the 60's.
I got back in this hobby with my completely stock 95 GT after being away
for a few years.
First thing I did was 373's
I found a set of E7's and did the self porting thing, back cut valves,
springs, yada ... yada ... yada.
I self ported the stock intake.
A little more power
... but I was VERY dissatisfied
Got some shorties, cat X pipe, home made cai ... STILL dissatisfied
It was at that point ... I had to be honest with myself
What did I really want my little GT to be
I did a lot of research
I quickly saw the OEM stuff was not gonna cut it
Here is the most important part and I'm gonna get a bit personal
I was at a point in life I did not have to compromise with used stuff
or
Combo parts that would not benefit my plans
Sooooo ... For This Combo ...NO COMPROMISES :Word:
Only parts that fit in with MY plans ... and ... NO used parts
I then had a set of heads, intake, headers, and mid pipe that were
gonna have to be abandoned
I had very little money in those heads ...so ... financially ... I was OK
I could sell the headers and mid pipe with not too big of a loss
At that point ... I never looked back at that OEM endeavor with remorse
I basically only lost time and effort ... Hey ... it was kinda fun
I looked at what I wanted to do
and
It all boiled it down to two main objectives
1) NA Street Combo with all emissions and around 350 crank HP
2) Self Tune the Combo
For me ... #1 was not much of a concern
#2 on the other hand
I quickly saw #2 was gonna set me back well over 1 Grand
Hey ... Back in those days ... $200 wide bands were nowhere to be found
So ... When I added it all up together ... I was like
I simply put parts like tb, maf, catback, etc, on the bottom of the
priority list cause all those parts are low gain parts.
btw ... I almost went with ped heads so I could reuse my OEM
rockers as they are a very low gain item ... but .........
After a while ... I reminded myself ............
NO Grady
No compromise with this combo :Word:
I did NOT want ped rockers
... end of discussion :Zip2:
So ... There you have it
I put the money I would have spent on that low gain stuff toward
quality parts such as heads, cam, etc.
Maybe you could look at it like this
I ran out of money before I could replace those parts
Sometimes ... Backwards Thinking ... It can be beneficial
Grady
