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2003 DE Dynojet results - chasing HP with bolt-ons
Hello all,
Just wanted to share my DynoJet results for folks to reference.
Results: 249whp / 236 ft-lbs @ 65 degrees F and 8% humidity. I switched between 3 different UpRev maps via cruise control.
Having115k miles, the results were satisfactory as I am not one who expects much HP gain out of bolt-ons, which were already on the car (except test-pipes) when I bought it. Based on some fuel system changes, I believe it had a supercharger on it prior to my ownership. The car has an UpRev tune, however I do not know if it was re-tuned when the supercharger was removed. The idle is jumpy between 900-1200 rpm and I am not sure if this is related to it not being re-tuned. I will be getting an admin tune at the Dyno in June. Prior to then, I will be removing the test pipes and reinstalling the cats as the rasp/drone drives me absolutely bonkers. I did buy headers awhile ago, but I can't justify the installation cost ($900) for what I assume will be a minimal to no HP gain....unless someone can prove a decent HP gain by installing headers.
Car info:
2003 VQDE Track w/ MT 115k miles
plenum spacer
Cold Air Induction
ARK Grip titanium cat back exhaust
Berk resonated test pipes
JWT clutch and lightweight flywheel
New coils and plugs
New valve covers
Every car is different, but hopefully this information can be useful to someone. Are bolt-ons worth the money? I really can't answer that since I don't have a stock Dyno run on this car to compare and it depends how much expendable money you have to chase small HP gains.
I will post new Dyno results after the admin tune and removal of test pipes.
I'm team headers, but only ones I would get are the Tomei or Nismo, screw anything else. However I did install my own headers, the difference in sound and feel alone is worth it IMO. You have relatively low power for the mods so maybe the tune is off. What kind of mods does the fuel system have?
I'm team headers, but only ones I would get are the Tomei or Nismo, screw anything else. However I did install my own headers, the difference in sound and feel alone is worth it IMO. You have relatively low power for the mods so maybe the tune is off. What kind of mods does the fuel system have?
My mechanic made the assumption based on fuel lines near the pump. It has this on (see below) and had a fuel pressure gauge there as well. It is just a guess since I don't know the history. I actually emailed UpRev today to see if they keep a record of the tunes and possibly knowing if it had a supercharger.
I can speak for the headers. I have the Z1 headers on my 05 DE. I make 262 whp and 254tq w intake, catback, headers, 75mm tb, berk hfc, gutted intake manifold, and an uprev tune.
first of all, extracting any kind of power on these cars is hard. For the money I paid for the headers and installation I would say not worth it unless you have money to spare. I’m told if I had art pipes or test pipes that i’d get a lot more out of my mods but I need to stay legal. I’m still going to chase more power out of my NA build. That said, I don’t think its worth it.
Interesting, doesn't look like the typical setup. Do you have a external FPR anywhere? Most people put the gauges in the engine bay too.
I have not seen an external FPR anywhere, although I haven't looked into it. Another thing is the way fuel lines come out of the pump area. The main cover will not close due to lines coming out of it. I found all this out when I went to change the entire fuel pump mechanism because my fuel gauge will never go below half a tank, even when near empty. So I figured the float was stuck or bad. I held off on replacing anything in hopes I can figure out what was going on. I suppose I could check the fuel pump itself or injectors as I assume these would have been upgraded if there was boost.
There are 2 senders as well.
Dynos are kinda subjective, elevation, conditions, etc.. but nitrous IS a bolt on (an easy one at that) lol.
I always wonder why small mods or stock put out the same hp sometimes. Very few beat my old car at the dyno day and I only had intake, exhaust and spacer, nothing special
There was a video but it was in a local forum, I'll have to see if it's archived somewhere and dig it up. This was well over 12 years ago. For reference I had a Stillen intake, MD spacer and Fujitsubo exhaust, I agree with you that the factory was very well setup, as long as you stay with the factory layout there seams to be a better result unless you tune for a different layout. All of my stuff followed the factory layout and I dynoed at 254whp, which beat a car that had FBO with headers. Most of the guys that showed up were on pop chargers, might be a coincidence.
Thing I like most about this thread is the honesty of the verified results. Power/TQ all backed up with empirical evidence (dyno sheet). Not some inflated "I did a CAI and catback and put down 350 ponies to the wheels" garbage. And all of the data about the car, the mods, etc. All there. Hope future new people here learn from this exercise. Good job.
OP - this is good information. I agree, hopefully someone will read this before making a moronic first post about how they're going to break the 300whp barrier with bolt-ons and a thousand dollar budget.
Just for reference, I have attached my dyno sheet in case it helps anyone else out. I was just under 270 at the wheels on my '05 with just over 100K miles on it back in 2018. I don't remember the temperature and humidity. It was in April, so maybe mid-70s? I'm in NC and it seems the humidity never drops below 65%. Like you, I'm on stock headers and but I'm not running test pipes. The headers did not seem the trouble, but who knows - maybe I'll get bored one day. I could squeeze a few more with TPs, but I would like to stay street legal (aside from the added emissions).
Relevant supporting modifications:
JWT Conical Air Filter
Generic Velocity stack
AdminTuning 3.5" intake
NWP Engineering 75mm Throttle Body
Z1 angled (5/16"-1/2") plenum spacer
Berk HFCs
Motordyne Shockwave TDX2
No dice the forum is non existent right now, maybe I'll dyno my car before the build. Just for science, we could see what my car could do with the following mods:
Injen intake
NWP TB
Kinetix Velocity
Okada coils
Tomei headers
Berk HFC
HKS twin
Tunned remotely by Moncef.