FINALLLY HCI DONE!!!!

[CivicEater]

I finally finished my HCI today (the trickflow 350/370 package).......I am confilcted with critisism and enjoyment. The project took 3 weeks and over 3,000. I am partially pissed about how much I spent now im in debt. I HATE the sound of the car at idle now....it sounds very choppy whcih I know is normal for a cammed car but the rpms are pretty consistant (within 100). the car has gotten a few more chips than I would have liked with all the too and from my garage to tow truck to shop 3 times. Alos Im not used to the car being this loud. I also have to give it gas when I start it so it doesnt die. after that tho it idles fine. When you go from a stop you need more gas than usual to stay afloat. I also feel like I gained nothing under 3k....above 3 k pulls alot harder though (smile).....Overall I expected more gain than what I feel by the SOTP meter....I am sure I need some more tuning (chip which I cant afford now) to get the best effect. so as you can see I am having a few problems I dont like and I didnt really gain what I thought I would but I am glad its over with and lesson learned......I might have to save for a bottle instead of a blower so I dont feel like I put as much (Money, time energy, stress on car) into the next "go fast" project. my mechanic buddy drove it with me and said he thought I was putting 270 torque to the groud (he is an import guy and he hates domestics) and I hought that was really low.........any guesses? 1/4 mile or hp/tq guesses welcome for I fear I wont be able to go the track anytime soo. I also raced a 97 Cobra with 3 passengers and a set of 19inch solid chrome rims (solid as in they were not 5 spokes they were nearly solid) and he swears he wasnt runnnig bottle or blower and he took me by 2 cars.......I cant even crack 3rd....mabye my driving ablities mabye god just doesnt like me today
Any guesses as to solution to problems or to hp/tq/1/4 mile?

 

[swingline]

Take it to a dyno and get a chip burned. Should run like butta.

 

[yellow1995Cobra]

Glad to here its finally done!

1105 would be the person to talk to about how the car is acting now, as he has the same h/c/i besides the intake.

I would be pretty worried if its THAT down on power.. Hows your timing, FP, and all that easy stuff? Plugs? That doesnt surprise me that you didnt pick up power below 3k.. As i feel those heads are meant for a larger motor, or something that boosts real low (kennebell).

The idle thing is normal, your lucky it doesnt stall constantly like mine did when i had the gt40 crate. A custom burned chip may be in order to solve those problems and see where your at power wise, plus tune it to the max. It will make a huge difference.

 

[95snoozer]

wow, your story made me shake my head in disbelief and roll my eyes 6 times

buy an hour on the dyno and tune it yourself. and stop complaining the mods are there, you just arent finished with headswap until you tune it.

yeah and didnt you know cammed cars lose bottom end? compared to the stock cam truck heads and intake that ford put on our cars stock.

your heads flow way more than stock OF COURSE its gonna be louder... more air going through the motor. you are going to HATE it when you spray, or are blown, because thats just more air and its gonna get even LOUDER

your friend says it feels liek 270... thast F****G rediculous. yes it should easily be 275-295 ... but no way he can feel a hp number like that especially when the cars weight varies so much.

the computer will learn the idle better after a week of driving... if it doesnt get much better, adjust your idle and the TPS

whats next? are you gonna whine about getting laid?

 

[Zero Signal]

Yeah get it tuned and it will probably be a whole new animal. Your computer hates you right now.

 

[swingline]

Snoozer I don't see any need to be a jackass. He was just asking some common questions associated with a H/C/I swap. If anything he was disappointed because of how it ran and just wanted to know how to fix it.

 

[stang_gt_1994]

Good job with the swap. What mods did this Cobra have, any bolt-ons. I say this because I raced a stock one when I had underdrives and a OR H pipe and I had him by a car till 80 MPH then he started creeping up to my side at 85, then put a little lead on me at 90-95. If he had gears then they are alittle better down low, but still a high end performer. You should have took him no problem.

 

[Rootus]

Never judge your combo immediately after installing it. Mine didn't run right for a week or two, as I worked out a few little bugs and got it tuned better. Also remember that your SOTP meter is not nearly as accurate as you think it is (for example, I found an '03 Cobra to be much slower *feeling* than my car when I test drove a stock one... but we know that's not really the case). OTOH, if you lost to a stock 97 Cobra you're definitely down on power. You really should get a chip or tuner, the GT calibration blows chunks on modded 94/95's.

Dave

 

[Rootus]

Good job with the swap. What mods did this Cobra have, any bolt-ons. I say this because I raced a stock one when I had underdrives and a OR H pipe and I had him by a car till 80 MPH then he started creeping up to my side at 85, then put a little lead on me at 90-95. If he had gears then they are alittle better down low, but still a high end performer. You should have took him no problem.

I second that opinion. When I had my 98 Cobra, my buddy's stock 95 GT would hang with me until almost 60 mph, and then I'd run away as the Cobra finally started to breathe. With my current setup, I walk all over him from a stop to any speed he cares to race to .

Dave

 

[mytight95]

lol

man this place sometimes.

 

[VibrantRedGT]

I agree with Dave here. My initial test drive after doing the heads and cam was basically the same as yours. Most people thoughts after installing heads, cam and intake is like bolting on a blower. It's just not the case. I didn't think my car was any faster but with time it began to get stronger. I went to the track and my times dropped by a half second. The power will come to you. Now it's about tuning and driving.

 

[1105]

Your post is too long and dont feel like reading it right now You got my AIM name, any questions about tuning it feel free to ask me.. I finally got my car to idle and it pulls like a raped ape up to 6200rpm Hopefully going to the track this friday to get some new times.

 

[CivicEater]

The cobras owner is always always alwyas talking smack....I dont know what he has in there but I hear no whine or blow off,....I told him that I would race if he was off the bottle and he said "I will put my bottle in ur POS and still win"....<see the cockiness.....it makes me wonder what he has........we raced twice once from 60 to 100...thats when he took me by two cars.....and from 30 to 74 ...I left him like he was standing still, but I think he had a delayed reaction.

 

[1105]

Felt bad.. just read it :lol

Have you checked your timing yet? Be sure that its set correctly! My car runs best at 16 degrees. If thats good, what about your fuel? Are you getting enough? Did you upgrade to 24# injectors or keep stock? If you kept stock, you will have to get a FPR (Kirban) and up the fuel pressure to 50psi. That alone made my car feel a lot more powerful.

Can you hear any rockers tapping? If so then they aren't adjusted right and will have to be redone... Just pray it isnt that! A slight tap is normal, my car has the same thing, but if its loud you probably have a rocker loose. Did you install the timing chain gears right? I couldnt get my car to idle worth chit when I first did the swap... On the TB there will be a grey rubber cap, pull that off and there will be an allen screw under it. Not sure if you have to tighten or loosen it, but one way will raise the idle. Bump that up to about ~1200rpm for about a month then lower it back down. That solved my stalling problem until the computer got time to learn the new setup.

Any vaccume leaks? That would be the 2nd think I'd check for after the timing. You might have your timing off by one tooth? and that is whats causing your car to run bad.

 

[67stang390]

Tweecer.

 

[95snoozer]

Snoozer I don't see any need to be a jackass. He was just asking some common questions associated with a H/C/I swap. If anything he was disappointed because of how it ran and just wanted to know how to fix it.

excuse me, but I cant see anyone complaing about the car being louder and the lovely sound of a cam, and its common sense the low end will fall off especially with the bigger runners of the twisted wedge and any cam other than stock.

 

[mto502]

As 1105 stated 16 degrees was the magic number for me as well. I don't have the TFS heads but the rest of my setup is the same. My heads are also ported. I definitely noted a seat of the pants feeling after first taking out the car after the swap but then again my car was a real dog when it was stock and only dyno'd 160 rwhp !

I also found I had mild idle issues but once I gave the MAF sensor a twist and the stock computer time to relearn it smoothened out and ran better. I don't have a tweecer or custom chip as of yet but the car runs fine. I'm dyno'ing 280 rwhp and 317 torque but that was prior to pullies. That's with catylitics, smog pump and A/C. 3000 rpm is the definite magic number for seat of the pants feeling. It kicks in right there.

I'm still running on the stock FPR as well, so maybe a FPR will give me a few more ponies. I'll do that the same time as the custom cam .

 

[swingline]

excuse me, but I cant see anyone complaing about the car being louder and the lovely sound of a cam, and its common sense the low end will fall off especially with the bigger runners of the twisted wedge and any cam other than stock.

Common sense? Maybe. He obviously didn't know about it though. He was just asking some questions. I sure you've never asked a "dumb" question right?

 

[Rootus]

excuse me, but I cant see anyone complaing about the car being louder and the lovely sound of a cam.

I thought that was pretty funny too, I've never heard anyone *complain* about the lope. There's a first for everything .

Dave

 

[smokediver27]

Gotta agree with swingline, he didnt make his post to be riduculed, he made it to learn.