dbtk2 Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 So last night I just got my TSTE put back together. I had the radiator out of it because the core fell apart and I had to get it rebuilt. While I had the radiator out, I pulled off the IC and did the AC Condensor mod (the best free mod ever I might add) and while I did that I also repaired (duct taped it) one of the hoses coming off the turbo that had a hole in it. Someone had taped it up with something before, but whatever they used didn't do a very good job because I could see right through it. So my turbo was pushing air through a hole in a hose...I was loosing boost! Stupid thing. So anyways, I got the car all put back together and it drove nice around the block when I tested it out last night. This morning I left to go to school, picked up my friend, and man did the power just pour on. We were driving to school, I stopped at a stop sign, brake torqued to 2000 and just nailed the gas as hard as I could. The car spun the tires all the way through the intersection, leaving nice black marks on the road, and by the time we were halfway across the intersection smoke was pouring off the tires. All this with the stock chip!!! So anyways, I left my foot to the floor and once I hit about 25mph the car just died...it was a familiar thing for me...it was the fuel cut...uh oh, too much boost. I had drilled a hole in my stock boost controller to raise the boost up (which worked fine when it was leaking boost and was warm out) but now since it wasn't leaking boost and it was 17*F out, it was getting too much. All the way to school (about 8 miles, 2 lane road with 55mph speed limit) everytime I tried to go WOT it would go for about 1 second and then hit the fuel cut. When I pulled onto the street leading to the school parking lot, a lady that lives in the house just before the entrance to the parking lot was getting her mail. I was going about 15mph and just as the front of the car was right where she was standing, I went WOT and both tires just screamed and left some juicy black marks on the road...the lady looked so scared (really just suprised I guess), it was really hilarious. The car has crazy torque for having the stock chip and all of the supposed programmed turbo lag it has. So then, leaving school about 3 and a half hours later (I go to a vocational school for half the day) on my way to my Autotech class I could go WOT without hitting a fuel cut because it had warmed up quite a bit. (it was like 30*F out by this time) The car was much faster now. So I pulled up to a stoplight next to a newer blazer. Messing around I revved the engine, and he revved back (I was LOL at this point). I put the shifter in 1st gear, and when I saw that the other direction had gone yellow, I brake torqued to about 2200. The light went green, I mashed the gas, and tires break loose, spin for a second, then smoke, then wheel hop, then it finally grips and takes off. The higher the revs got, the more the car pulled. I was like DAMN this car is pulling hard, and damn this first gear is really long. Then bang, bang, bang. Oh shit, rev limter. It helps to shift out of 1st gear. This whole time the blazer was taking off normal from the light....maybe the guy got a clue when he heard the turbo spool for my brake torque. So anyways, after I got home from school I had to go to work about an hour later. So I am pulling out of my subdivision and there is a bit of traffic so I pull out and go WOT once I hit about 25mph, then when it shifted into 2nd it banged into gear the tires chirped. I was like, DAMN, I didn't know the car was making that much power. Maybe it was just a fluke, but I was pretty happy with myself, chirping the tires into 2nd with a 14 year old, FWD V6 automatic. I was definately suprised. I wanna do it again. I know its not good for the tranny, but its pretty cool when your tires chirp at 40mph. It makes the car seem powerful. Anyways, just thought I would post this. It is a completely different car now...all because of the AC Condensor fin mod, and repaired hole in a hose. All I know is the car has a LOT more torque then it had on Thursday when I pulled the radiator out of the car. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 good fix.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandprix104 Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 what exactly is this ac mod? i tired searching for it but didnt find anything. anyone got a link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gp90se Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 IC mod: Step 1: have an IC Step 2: pull the fins from the AC condencer fins in front of the IC Step 3: drive -Jeff I dunno if thats an offical writeup, but ya get the jist of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Shawn, just curious as to what size tires you're running? Is the stock TSTE tire size 225/60/16? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patgizz Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 i doubt whatever mod you did did any good - it was fixing the hole in your hose so you didnt lose boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted February 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Shawn, just curious as to what size tires you're running? Is the stock TSTE tire size 225/60/16? No, actually they are 215/60/16's.(which is the stock STE size, 225/60/16's are the stock GTP tire size) So yeah, they are a little narrow, but still, stock it could only chirp them. i doubt whatever mod you did did any good - it was fixing the hole in your hose so you didnt lose boost. I'm sure that was a little part of it, but allowing 10X more air to flow to the intercooler HAS to make an improvement. The hole in the hose wasn't even too big, big enough to matter, but not big enough to make a huge difference. I would say probably 1/4" in diameter. When only running about 8.5psi boost, not much is lost through a 1/4" hole. I think if you saw the before and after pictures of this mod, you would understand why the difference is so much. BTW, here is the write-up for the mod: http://home.att.net/~aldridgec/TGP/Engine/intercooler_mod.htm Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareGMFan Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Heh....and you were saying the TGPs would never amount to jack compared to the '97 & up GTPs. I told you half the problem was that these cars were much older and needed to be put back into properly running order for starters, plus there aren't a whole lot of them out there modded. Wait till you get the chip!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted February 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Heh....and you were saying the TGPs would never amount to jack compared to the '97 & up GTPs. I told you half the problem was that these cars were much older and needed to be put back into properly running order for starters, plus there aren't a whole lot of them out there modded. Wait till you get the chip!! The '97+ GTP's are still much nicer cars with much more potential IMO, but that doesn't mean TGP's aren't nice or quick. I can't wait until I get the chip. I know the difference it made in the other TGP was HUGE, so I can only imagine what it will do to the STE. This cars gonna be FAST with a chip, unfortunately it may be a few months before I will be able to afford one. But when I can afford it....DAMN is the car gonna move. I think I'll be imbarrassing a few stock GTPs, thats for sure. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomFE3 Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 its pretty cool when your tires chirp at 40mph. wait till you get in a REAL car, when you drop the clutch at 60 and break the tires loose an have your rear end drifting back and forth and smoke rollin out because the tires are spinnin so fast, but your still only goin 60.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 The hole in the hose wasn't even too big, big enough to matter, but not big enough to make a huge difference. I would say probably 1/4" in diameter. holy fucking crap 1/4" is A BIG HOLE!!! that is not a pinhole! i'm kinda suprised you didn't hear a boost leak. joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 wait till you get in a REAL car, when you drop the clutch at 60 and break the tires loose an have your rear end drifting back and forth and smoke rollin out because the tires are spinnin so fast, but your still only goin 60.... i would like to see your Camaro run against a TGP. joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 The '97+ GTP's are still much nicer cars with much more potential IMO, but that doesn't mean TGP's aren't nice or quick. i think anything with a turbocharger will have more potential than the same engine with a supercharger. directly comparing a 3.1 Turbo to a supercharged 3800 isn't quite fair not only is the 3800 bigger, but it obviously has a bigger aftermarket also. joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutsup1996 Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I do agree that 1/4" hole is pretty big, much more will leak from that than expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1kicker Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 If you want to do burn outs at 60 mph, get a ZR-1. And the L67 is easy to mod with a smaller pulley. But the TGP is cheaper and more rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkorinko Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 wait till you get in a REAL car, when you drop the clutch at 60 and break the tires loose an have your rear end drifting back and forth and smoke rollin out because the tires are spinnin so fast, but your still only goin 60.... i would like to see your Camaro run against a TGP. joshua Im Game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I do agree that 1/4" hole is pretty big, much more will leak from that than expected. Yes, but the leak really didn't matter because I have 3 boost controllers for the car that are all modified. In cold weather, I use one that just leaks a little vacuum, then when it gets a little warmer I use one that leaks more vacuum, and then in warm weather I use one that leaks a LOT of vacuum. So I run the one that gives me the most boost without hitting the fuel cut, so basically the hole didn't matter, because I just turned the boost up to negate it. Its just that when I fixed the hole, I had to go to my boost controller that leaks the least vacuum until it gets warmer. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TurboSedan Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 well at least your turbo doesn't have to work as hard now to get the boost you want. joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted February 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 well at least your turbo doesn't have to work as hard now to get the boost you want.joshua Thats what I'm thinking, I'd like to keep this turbo in good shape for as long as possible. Plus maybe the air isn't as hot because it isn't trying to produce as much boost. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1kicker Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 I just did the AC fins mod today. It took maybe 2 1/2 hours total with some breaks. I didn't really notice a difference but I did have passengers. So I'll be able to tell tomorrow. But still cool to be able to do a free mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.