Hey guys, haven't posted on here for a while, just wanted to give an update on my SN95 project and share my experience with Kevin @ Wicked Motorsports.
Short story of the car- Besides the obvious mods, it has a '04 Explorer PI aluminum longblock, built rear end with 4.10s, Texas Drivetrain built T56 with GM overdrive ratios, and a M112 using the Tork Tech kit. I changed the fuel lines from the inner fender up to regular Summit brand pushlock fittings and Fore rails and a Fore boost referenced regulator.
When I initially installed the blower a few years ago I had a mail order tune sent to me to accommodate for the 60lb injectors, MAF, etc; but the car would not run long enough to diagnose any issues. I tried another mail order tune and same thing, the car was pig rich and would load up and stall before I could look into it. I ended up towing it down to Kevin's old shop at Sansone and he diagnosed it with a major vacuum leak under the blower and got me squared away, making 365/395 corrected #s on 7.5lbs of boost, and 375/395 on a race tune that Kevin made me with 2* more timing. This was with the old transmission, a Hanlon built T45.
Fast forward to April, I had a few issues with the car and a vibration from adjustable upper control arms I put in while I was drag racing it a few years back. I tried dialing in the pinion angle multiple times but never got the vibration completely perfect. To dial in the angle the cars suspension has to be loaded, this is nearly impossible without a drive on lift. Jacking it up and putting the tires on blocks isn't 100% accurate as the suspension tends to bind due to the poly bushings. Between the annoying shake on the highway and a few other issues, I barely drove the car the past two years. I would look forward to driving it in the spring and then would get tired of it and more or less let it sit for the majority of the season.
Anyway, I dropped the car off at Kevin's new place (which is a gorgeous shop btw) for a retune with a 3.10 pulley, a pinion angle dial in to eliminate my vibration issue, and Steeda XL SFCs. I've seen Kevin's welds before and they always come out amazing, plus he keeps the Steedas in stock which made life much easier rather than paying shipping and loading them in the car.
With the stock pulley and the new trans, the car made 353/367.
Then with the 3.10 pulley it made 383/410 on roughly 11.4psi on a 90* day.
The car feels much better and much more responsive with the new tune. The subframes stiffened the ride and handling up quite a bit which is nice. Also the vibration ended up being a bad pinion bearing which Kevin took care of and dialed in the angle, no more vibration. Kevin also found a few other issues with my ignition system, we ended up swapping back to the factory coil packs and wires. I was a little nervous about this mostly from a looks standpoint, but Kevin made some nice brackets and hid the wires as much as possible. A few other issues were found like my Aeromotive fuel rail gauge was a little off in comparison to a stand alone gauge, etc.
Needless to say I'm on my 4th tank of gas in about a month of having the car back (only driving it on nice weekends) and enjoying it much more than ever :coolman: I'm pretty sure I've driven it more this month of having it back then I have for the past two years combined.
Anyway, on to the pics:
On the dyno-
Love that torque curve-
Subframes-
Excuse the iPhone pics
On the L.I. Sound, about an hour and a half from my house. I never would've made this trip with the vibration.
Short story of the car- Besides the obvious mods, it has a '04 Explorer PI aluminum longblock, built rear end with 4.10s, Texas Drivetrain built T56 with GM overdrive ratios, and a M112 using the Tork Tech kit. I changed the fuel lines from the inner fender up to regular Summit brand pushlock fittings and Fore rails and a Fore boost referenced regulator.
When I initially installed the blower a few years ago I had a mail order tune sent to me to accommodate for the 60lb injectors, MAF, etc; but the car would not run long enough to diagnose any issues. I tried another mail order tune and same thing, the car was pig rich and would load up and stall before I could look into it. I ended up towing it down to Kevin's old shop at Sansone and he diagnosed it with a major vacuum leak under the blower and got me squared away, making 365/395 corrected #s on 7.5lbs of boost, and 375/395 on a race tune that Kevin made me with 2* more timing. This was with the old transmission, a Hanlon built T45.
Fast forward to April, I had a few issues with the car and a vibration from adjustable upper control arms I put in while I was drag racing it a few years back. I tried dialing in the pinion angle multiple times but never got the vibration completely perfect. To dial in the angle the cars suspension has to be loaded, this is nearly impossible without a drive on lift. Jacking it up and putting the tires on blocks isn't 100% accurate as the suspension tends to bind due to the poly bushings. Between the annoying shake on the highway and a few other issues, I barely drove the car the past two years. I would look forward to driving it in the spring and then would get tired of it and more or less let it sit for the majority of the season.
Anyway, I dropped the car off at Kevin's new place (which is a gorgeous shop btw) for a retune with a 3.10 pulley, a pinion angle dial in to eliminate my vibration issue, and Steeda XL SFCs. I've seen Kevin's welds before and they always come out amazing, plus he keeps the Steedas in stock which made life much easier rather than paying shipping and loading them in the car.
With the stock pulley and the new trans, the car made 353/367.
Then with the 3.10 pulley it made 383/410 on roughly 11.4psi on a 90* day.
The car feels much better and much more responsive with the new tune. The subframes stiffened the ride and handling up quite a bit which is nice. Also the vibration ended up being a bad pinion bearing which Kevin took care of and dialed in the angle, no more vibration. Kevin also found a few other issues with my ignition system, we ended up swapping back to the factory coil packs and wires. I was a little nervous about this mostly from a looks standpoint, but Kevin made some nice brackets and hid the wires as much as possible. A few other issues were found like my Aeromotive fuel rail gauge was a little off in comparison to a stand alone gauge, etc.
Needless to say I'm on my 4th tank of gas in about a month of having the car back (only driving it on nice weekends) and enjoying it much more than ever :coolman: I'm pretty sure I've driven it more this month of having it back then I have for the past two years combined.
Anyway, on to the pics:
On the dyno-
Love that torque curve-
Subframes-
Excuse the iPhone pics
On the L.I. Sound, about an hour and a half from my house. I never would've made this trip with the vibration.
