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Love my TE SLs but one of the things I don't like is that they don't have an option for a center cap. So I finally got around to cleaning it up and giving it some paint. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
Before After and what a big difference Much Better
Well, after much thought and deliberation I finally pulled the trigger on the Vortech SuperCharger. Its going to take some getting used to for sure, especially the cabin noise. There are some things I should have done that I didn't like chrome out or powder coat my intercooler piping. I just didn't think about it at the time for some reason. I did powder coat the chargepipe and SC housing and like the way they came out. For my build, the most important thing was staying street legal since my state is a stickler on emissions and I think w this setup I should be ok. I will be finding out in a few months. The second most important thing was reliability so I didn't crack the 400whp that I wanted because I stayed with the 3.33 pulley and kept my cats. I think if i go down a size I can get closer but not quite there yet. If anyone has any questions about the components I chose or anything like that feel free to hit me up. I'm no expert but i'll do my best to at least inform you on my build and what I think about the parts I selected and why. My next few mods will likely be clutch upgrade, new bumper, possibly a new hood, powder coat the gallery gasket cover, do something with my strut tower bar as I'm not crazy about the way it looks anymore, and then maybe go back for more horsepower. The best part about this is that when I picked up my son after school for his first ride he had the biggest smile on his face after the first pull and it didn't stop for the next 20 miles we drove around till we got home. Here's a quick pic.
Well, haven't posted on this in a while and have a few min tonight.
Had to repair a leaking Motordyne plenum spacer. Replaced w a Z1 motorsports angled plenum. Also installed the TimRod brace. Must say its a nice looking piece and insurance against flex but it does cause the car to sound like its grinding a bit when I first turn it on. It doesn't bother me much so I'm leaving it on as I consider it an insurance policy.
I couldn't resist so we swapped the 3.33 pulley for a 3.12. Didn't give any benefit as the boost was not improved. Next we tried the slip mod and that didn't help. Lastly we tried an underdrive pulley and that did the trick. Prior to trying all these things the car was tested for leaks and compression and everything was fine. I'm thinking the Z1 lightweight crank pulleys I had installed last year probably held me up here but not sure. Got up to 10lbs boost and 397 whp. I'm happy w that for now. I have to go back and address some items next that need repair like my cracked berk HFC. Probably going to replace w the same unless some recommends someone else. I have inspection coming up.
Next mod for sure is either a chargespeed front bumper or the a new clutch and flywheel. Something felt a little off when I drove it yesterday, like power was hesitating around the 3200RPM mark as I accelerated and then again at the 4200rpm mark. Not sure if its a tuning issue or clutch slipping. Will get that figured out. After that I'll leave the car alone for a bit and then maybe chase some more power in a year or two. For now i'll enjoy it. I have gotten used to the in cabin sound and it has become quite soothing. I love that under boost the car just goes silent and then all of a sudden, the gush of air flows out again when I shift. And then rinse and repeat. I cruised around w my son today for about an hour through some twisties and we both had a big smile on our faces. The car didn't hesitate for power today so not sure if it was a gremlin but i'll figure it out. Oh, and the gas mileage is very bad now.
Get ART CATS! It will definitely improve the sound and tone. Great numbers by the way! Keep us updated!
Thanks man. I replaced w another set of Berks. They served me well in the past. The car actually sounds good and I get lots of compliments. Plus I couldn’t find the ART cats and they are very expensive.
just discovered your build thread. very enjoyable read on your upgrade path. I started off on a similar goal with my car and then went all out track with it. Even then I held on to street legal and even that fell away this year. I like the freedom of the build without emissions concerns. beautiful car!
just discovered your build thread. very enjoyable read on your upgrade path. I started off on a similar goal with my car and then went all out track with it. Even then I held on to street legal and even that fell away this year. I like the freedom of the build without emissions concerns. beautiful car!
Thanks man, I appreciate that. I’m overdue on my inspection so I will find out this month if ai still pass after being supercharged. Fingers crossed.
I got really fed up with trying to keep it emissions legal and here in CA tuning is difficult. Z1 won't even ship the device here. I haven't touched the engine, either. I finally put on free-flowing cats and a few minor upgrades but kept emissions in mind. last smog check a few months ago required a DMV inspection. I'm guessing my smog shop reported something and didn't tell me. That's disappointing. I had the carb EO sticker.. but that was the tipping point. I just went no-op registration, switched insurance over to comp only, and bought a different car for street use.
so I was watching that V3 carb EO model for a long time and now I think I'll just go with the tuner model. The carb edition adds a piggyback computer so that tuning isn't required. I'm sure you know that. I'm still planning on going FI.
I'll shed some light on this as I work in the industry - they won't because they can't. Any business who does, can face a $10K+ fine from the EPA.
All that's required is a waiver signature. I've done that with competitors. there are just some products that I do not buy from Z1. this is not illegal as you imply. racing is a legal sport in California. race cars are legal in California, on a racetrack. I suspect Z1 just doesn't want to be bothered with the paperwork.
Oh man, I took a gut punch today. My entire build has been around staying street legal. I went to get inspected today and failed. I can't tell you how bad that felt. I went to a private inspection location near me and paid $65 for the inspection. They said I would have no problem and that they only check for the check engine light so I figured great, I'll pass. Well the tech comes out and tells me I failed. I thought he was kidding at first but he was serious. They checked emissions and failed me. The thing is I didn't fail because of smog, I failed because one of the OBD Systems reported as "unsupported". Not because the car actually ran dirty or anything like that as I have cats. But because the "Engine Misfire" category listed as "unsupported". Anyway, the guy told me its a software issue and I have to go back to my tuner. I have since spoken to my Tuning shop and we will be installing a new map on the car and enabling the engine misfire sensor. My tuner said they disabled it because sometimes these cars can throw a P0300 error even if nothing is wrong w the car and that even if it threw it it's probably something I wouldn't notice. He said that happens sometimes w heavily modified cars and so they just disable it. The car has been running like a dream. I can't tell you how nice it is to drive and it sounds incredible too. This one hurts but hopefully this new map will help me pass inspection and then I can go back to my regularly scheduled programming.
On a separate note, since I'm going in to see my tuner i'm also going to get my super charger oil changed at the same time. Hope to have all this resolved in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed.
That sucks, I hate when people turn off **** during tunes without telling you.
Yeah but I ain’t mad at them. NJ is just ridiculous. The car ran clean, they just didn’t like it saying “unsupported” for that one module. If I can’t pass Jersey inspection I’m gonna have to get creative.
Not really a part of the build thread but I did get this for my wife recently. Its a 2024. She is the best thing that ever happened to me and its her (our) dream car so she deserves it. A daily for her daily for her daily.
Did want to post that I passed inspection recently. My tuner enabled my engine misfire sensor and that did the trick. And luckily I haven’t gotten any codes and I have pushed it hard a bit lately so thats a good sign.
I’ll be putting it away for the winter soon but already thinking of next mods. I love driving this car. Its a turtle next to the GTR but I still prefer the Z.
So I’ve been wanting to see if I can squeeze a few more horses out of my 2005 NA application.
i’m thinking of going w a Z1 throttle body and the Z1 headers wrapped. Then I will retune the car. Currently I have An Osiris tune on it and the car has a catback, intake, plenum spacer and hfcs. Last time I dyno’d at RT Tuning I believe I got low 260s whp from it. I’m going to look for my dyno results to confirm.
i was initially aiming for 300 whp but thats going to require some more work. Cams and pistons likely. I was considering the Kinetix velocity manifold but it seems to have mixed reviews. Also considered the plenum V but not sure about that one either. I live in Nj and emissions are strict here. Last time I went for inspection they spent extra time on my car almost looking for a reason to fail it. Luckily I passed but it seems they get stricter each time.
i’ll post up pictures of the before and after on the headers and also my dyno results.
if anyone has any recommendations I’d be happy to hear them. Thanks for reading.
I might do long headers instead of the test pipes at some point if I have a reason to dig in the engine bay. I'd be curious to see how much gain there is from a bigger throttle body.
Last edited by MelissaPeterss; 06-17-2024 at 08:59 AM.
09-06-2022, 10:17 AM
