So more to come...
The shop will also install a set Magnaflow resonators I bought hopefully on Friday.
The 2,000 RPM drone from the ROUSH off-roads is still bugging me!!! So I just ordered two Magnaflows:
http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...=main&id=10865
Its basically the Pypes M80, but the Magnaflow version. I chose Magnaflow because I was pretty much subliminally sold with all the Magnaflow advertising on the Speed Channel and Discovery with all the car builder shops and SEMA... lol I figured it had to be better quality than Pypes.
Anyway, what I am basically doing is combining ROUSH Extreme axle pipes to ROUSH off-road mufflers. I have read in other forums where installing Pypes M80s before the axle (like in the extremes) will eliminate or greatly reduce the drone the ROUSH off-roads/Borla Stingers produce. If only this came to me when I first purchased my ROUSH Extreme exhaust...or the stupid dealership would have never welded the damn kit. sigh Yes, I'm still mad!!! lol
Let's see what this yields. With the new transmission, I am constantly at the 2,000 RPM sweet spot...DRONE-O-RAMA!!! sigh
The car is disappointing...
Finalized the tunes and this is where I'm at:
RWHP: 595
RWTQ: 572
This is at 14-16 PSI and 15 degree timing. They won't push it any further due to the fuel that is available in my area; 92 octane (tuned for 91).
I am highly disappointed with JDM Engineering!!
I clearly stated my goals, 700rwhp and I was told it would be possible, more realistically 675rwhp.
Once all is said and done, motor built, paid, and delivered. JDM states their cars don't leave their shop with more than 650rwhp running pump gas.
OK, I settle with 650rwhp and my car actually dynoed at 647rwhp and 614rwtq. Then boost is too high at peak 19-20PSI.
I am told to lower boost to 14-16 PSI range.
Car dynoed at the numbers above, JDM Engineering now tells me 600rwhp is the max they are willing to go. I am welcomed to increase the power, but not to call them when the engine blows. sigh
So I spent $17,000 on an engine that is only capable of making 600rwhp on pump gas. 100rwhp less than my goal. If I would have known that from the start, I would have ordered a stock crate motor from Ford and called it a day.
I would have saved ten of thousands!!! As this build is north of $46,000. And all I have to show for it is 600rwhp.
!@#$%^&*()_ I could have bought a 2013 GT500 and made +700rwhp on pump gas.
Yes I am furious!!!!
I can make my goal HP if I run race fuel or E85. Race fuel is too expensive and not readily available and E85 is not readily available either.
Moral of the story...no matter how much you spend, you will be limited to 600rwhp with pump gas.
So... Some more updates.
In order to try to hit my horsepower goals. I thought about methanol/water injection as a way to increase octane and cool off IAT (intake air temps).
My ideal goal at this time would be to regain the power and torque I had with the original 2.8" Phase 3 pulley; 650HP/620TQ roughly.
Surprisingly the horsepower difference is not much:
After some research from my tuner Lito, he realized I am running the Tremec T-56 Magnum XL Wide Ratio transmission with the original stock 3.55 gears.
After plugging in some numbers on a spreadsheet and calculating gear ratios, RPM vs speed, etc revealed that I am over-driving the car!!!
Lito figured out that even with 3.90 or 4.10 gears, I would still be taller than the stock TR3650!!
A few more calculations revealed that 4.10 gears would increase torque to roughly 95 ft/lbs in each gear...a lot more than I would get with a meth/water injection system.
He also said it would be like driving a brand new car (totally different).
So, I have an appointment at The Mustang Shop on Monday to swap out the 3.55 gears with 4.10s.
I should get back the original 2.8" Phase 3 pulley feeling back and then some!!!
We believe this mod will satisfy my pull cravings!!
More to come!!
Due to having to ditch the ROUSH Extreme exhaust because it was WAY TOO LOUD with my new setup, I went back to the ROUSH Off-Road mufflers.
The sound greatly reduced and the tone was definitely deeper but mellower...
Driving with the Off-Roads was a different story though... The 2,000 RPM drone was massively unbearable!! It was so brutal it made your brain hurt!!
I tried Dynamatting the whole trunk, which helped take the edge off...but the drone was still quite loud.
I did some research and read about some owners installing a second pair of mufflers right before the axle. Kind of like a ROUSH Extreme exhaust with Off-Road mufflers.
So, I ordered a pair of Magnaflow 4" round mufflers; here are the results!!
I noticed a much deeper rumble...but quieter exhaust.
It definitely makes it seem like you are driving with a stock exhaust in the car... At WOT you will hear the exhaust (off-roads) but you will hear all the engine noises too. I hear the TVS whine if that tells you anything. And that's a quiet supercharger. LOL
Here are some pictures of the installation:
As you can see, the shop was not able to install them close to the rear axle because they (mufflers) are 20" long.
One thing I didn't know is that the ends of the mufflers/resonators are expanded to fit over 2.5" pipes; at least that's what the shop told me. Since they couldn't install them close to the axles due to a bend in the over axle pipes, they chose to install them right after the mid-pipe.
Actually the mufflers/resonators inlet slip onto the mid-pipe and get clamped with the stock clamps. The shop then welded the other end (outlet) of the muffler/resonators to the axle over pipes. I am not sure how much they cut off the pipes since both ends of the muffler/resonator have approximately 3" of pipe which the 2.5" axle over pipes slip into.
Update, looking at Magnaflow's website/specs, seems like the inlet/outlet is 2.25" which would lead me to believe the muffler/resonator actually slips into the factory 2.5" pipes and not the other way around like the shop told me.
BTW, its extremely hard to find quality shops these day. This time I went to a Custom Speed Shop where they build wicked classics like a twin turbo '57 Chevy, 700rwhp Ford Lightning, and the other day they had a $350K Panoz. So you would think their work would be flawless AA quality.
Well, let me tell you NOPE!!! Once again, just like when I had the Extremes installed by the Ford dealer, my tips were out the ***!!! Meaning my tips protruded pass the bumper!!! That's not how ROUSH designed them to be!!!! And I argued with the shop about this... I told them leave the tips alone they are perfectly centered and flush with the rear valence. Well, when I pulled into the parking lot, the first thing I noticed were my tips!!! Left side was lower then the right and they stuck out and looked like ***!!!!
How is it that a hobby mechanic like myself is able to perform quality work where things are measured, even, and perfectly symmetrical? And a shop that works on $100K cars, that has been doing it for 15-20 yrs can't do what I do in my home garage with simple hand tools!!!!????
If I knew this from the start, I would have not taken it to a shop and done it myself; the only reason I let the shop do is because I thought they needed to be welded and the car was already there getting the JDM tune finalized... I just would have used clamps on both ends of the Magnaflows. The only warning is that the way the shop installed mine and due to the size of the Magnaflows, they had to tack weld both mufflers/resonators together to prevent the possibilities of rattling since they are so close to each other. I personally don't think they would have rattled. But I understand why the shop did it.
Overall, this mod is amazing in terms that it eliminated the drone!!! I even had a cell phone conversation where the other person could not hear my exhaust while cruising at 2,000 RPM. lol
I'm still getting used to it. I have mixed feeling as its really quiet inside and with the combination of the car being less powerful and can't get over a feeling of disappointment...quiet and slow... sigh
Totally makes me feel like I'm driving a done stock car... LOL
A two week update:
The exhaust seems louder now...its actually me getting used to the new exhaust levels. I really like the interior exhaust sound!! Its no longer obnoxiously loud and there is much less if any interior resonance. The verdict is still out whether the exterior loudness of the exhaust has decreased. Seems like it to me.
But I will add the exhaust tone is much much deeper...like subsonic!!! LOL
Its not LOUD, but if you walk passed the rear of the car, it makes things vibrate...pant legs, boxes, plastic bags, etc...
While driving through underground parking lots and even regular parking lots, alarms go off...but my exhaust is not loud...its the deep bass/vibrations that set it off. LOL
All you hear in parking garages is the deep tone vibrations bouncing off all the walls. lol
I wish the exhaust was a little louder, with loud comes a higher pitch. My exhaust no longer has any pitch at all...its all low bass... lol
BTW, I went to Race Wars two weekends ago and got my butt handed to me by a ZL-1 Camaro!!!
To my defense, the Camaro had drag tires as I just had summer tires. I was not able to get traction until 4th gear. And that was at part throttle!!!! Although I have to say that once I hit 4th gear I started to instantly catch up on his rear...but by then race was over... sigh
My tuner Lito said "You wanted torque, there you go..." LMAO!!!
Needless to say... I need to find a couple of ROUSH Forged 18s and slap some drag radials on them for these types of events.
Some suspension tweaks are also underway to increase rear wheel traction.
EPIC FAIL
I went to Race Wars in Royal City, WA. I went with the mind set to check it out and only spectate.
Well, we got there and it was slow...meaning not many people were there and cars were just hot lapping. So, I decided to run the car.
This is where the epic fail comes in... sigh
I had no traction at part throttle what so ever!!! I spun all the way through 3rd gear short shifting. Once I got into 4th, the car took off and pull amazingly hard!! I could see myself catching up to the ZL-1 really quick...but by then race was over...
BTW, the Camaro had some kind of drag tires...they had two small grooves on the outer edges, other than that they were solid chunk rubber. lol
I only ran the car twice... There was absolutely no traction what so ever off the line; feathering it, part throttle, nothing... The best I could do was wait to get through the first 3 gears, then go all out, but by then the race was over...
So I called it quits. Didn't want to beat the car pointlessly.
I was IMing with Lito my tuner and telling him of my traction issues. He wanted some data logs to see how the car handled the heat. He said, "you wanted torque. there you go." LOL
Whats sad is that ZL-1 Camaro was part of a 3 car stable; ZR-1 Covette and CTS-V Cadillac.
I was in line/staging lanes and some older guy comes to my car and asks me if I was running anyone. I said nope. He asked me if I was willing to race a Camaro, I said sure, why not. lol
Once I saw the car, I knew I was getting my *** handed to me. lol
These cars belong to a shop and they come out to Race Wars year after year...there are plenty of videos on You Tube featuring their runs.
To make myself feel better, I saw how fast I was pulling on him once I got traction, I know my car is way faster. lol That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
But there goes my "street cred".... LMAO
(a la Fast and Furious)
I need to find a set of 18x10s (ideally same as mine - forged ROUSH) and slap some drag radials on there just for events like this.
) build that many of us think about. The parts you selected were second to none. I am like going ape shit reading each caption for every picture.....simply WOW. Thanks for mentioning the $46k number.....that brings it into reality and yes foregoing the build and just buying a 13 GT500 should be a consideration. I know if it was me, I would probably go that route simply because the shipping charges alone would add 25% to the cost (the joy of living on Maui). I cant imagine running your car at the drags with street tires. My 425 HP is nothing but spin without DRs. Looking forward to your new ETs and redemption with that Camaro.
