Thinking of spinning the vortech blower to 15 psi.
Joined: Apr 2007
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Hehe my engine is 12.5:1 but I'm thinking maybe if I can up the boost and run a max of 13 psi with the blv. Therefore upping my midrange as moddiction was saying. Btw the shiftboot was a breeze! Looks awesome thanks 
Don't get me wrong the car feels awesome but I just think there is a flat spot from 4000-6000rpm that could use abit of extra boost. In terms of safety my tuner recommended e85 and a conservative tune, there was an extra 20-25 rwkw that we could have squeezed out but to be safe left it as is.
Don't get me wrong the car feels awesome but I just think there is a flat spot from 4000-6000rpm that could use abit of extra boost. In terms of safety my tuner recommended e85 and a conservative tune, there was an extra 20-25 rwkw that we could have squeezed out but to be safe left it as is.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,308
Likes: 1
I got the car back a few hours ago from having the BLV installed. A whole lotta sh_t apparently went down in the engine bay that I did not expect. I'm in a hurry tonight, so I'll post pics of the destruction tomorrow for your amusement. Get your LOL's and ROFL's and LMAO's and OMFG's ready, folks, because it's a big damn mess.
In the meantime, here's a teaser. This is the BLV welded to the aftercooler. Note that they didn't use the provided weld bung/adapter, which is threaded so that the BLV could be removed if I didn't want to use it. They just welded the BLV itself directly onto the aftercooler. They did a great job painting it afterward so it looks nice in its permanent home. But I've never had a BLV before, so I don't know if they work or how well they work... And now I don't have any recourse if I get to the dyno on Monday and find out it doesn't do what I hoped it would.
Then they unplugged the idle relief valve (forget its proper name, sorry) from the intake so it could vent to atmosphere, and zip tied it to some other stuff nearby.
This is an interesting idea. The owner of the shop pointed out that if you recirculate the hot air coming out of the blower when the throttle is closed (idling, coasting etc.), then you're feeding hot air into the compressor. And each time it goes around it gets hotter and hotter, eventually heat soaking the aftercooler. And filling the system with hot air that won't make much power, so when you hit the gas you're not immediately getting all the power you should. And apparently causing the compressor to chatter as it keeps moving the hot air around.
He's right about the sound; the compressor is noticeably quieter when the car is idling now. And you sure get to know the valve is working because you hear it every time it releases when you get off the gas. The idea of the hot air seems to make some sense, so I might leave it venting to atmosphere. I'll probably add another hose and plumb it under the fender with a small air filter to muffle the sound of the air releasing, and to keep it away from the elements. Thoughts?
All of this is NOTHING compared to what happened next. Stay tuned... More tomorrow.
In the meantime, here's a teaser. This is the BLV welded to the aftercooler. Note that they didn't use the provided weld bung/adapter, which is threaded so that the BLV could be removed if I didn't want to use it. They just welded the BLV itself directly onto the aftercooler. They did a great job painting it afterward so it looks nice in its permanent home. But I've never had a BLV before, so I don't know if they work or how well they work... And now I don't have any recourse if I get to the dyno on Monday and find out it doesn't do what I hoped it would.
Then they unplugged the idle relief valve (forget its proper name, sorry) from the intake so it could vent to atmosphere, and zip tied it to some other stuff nearby.
This is an interesting idea. The owner of the shop pointed out that if you recirculate the hot air coming out of the blower when the throttle is closed (idling, coasting etc.), then you're feeding hot air into the compressor. And each time it goes around it gets hotter and hotter, eventually heat soaking the aftercooler. And filling the system with hot air that won't make much power, so when you hit the gas you're not immediately getting all the power you should. And apparently causing the compressor to chatter as it keeps moving the hot air around.
He's right about the sound; the compressor is noticeably quieter when the car is idling now. And you sure get to know the valve is working because you hear it every time it releases when you get off the gas. The idea of the hot air seems to make some sense, so I might leave it venting to atmosphere. I'll probably add another hose and plumb it under the fender with a small air filter to muffle the sound of the air releasing, and to keep it away from the elements. Thoughts?
All of this is NOTHING compared to what happened next. Stay tuned... More tomorrow.
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,347
Likes: 1
From: Pittsburgh, PA
This is an interesting idea. The owner of the shop pointed out that if you recirculate the hot air coming out of the blower when the throttle is closed (idling, coasting etc.), then you're feeding hot air into the compressor. And each time it goes around it gets hotter and hotter, eventually heat soaking the aftercooler. And filling the system with hot air that won't make much power, so when you hit the gas you're not immediately getting all the power you should. And apparently causing the compressor to chatter as it keeps moving the hot air around.
He's right about the sound; the compressor is noticeably quieter when the car is idling now. And you sure get to know the valve is working because you hear it every time it releases when you get off the gas. The idea of the hot air seems to make some sense, so I might leave it venting to atmosphere. I'll probably add another hose and plumb it under the fender with a small air filter to muffle the sound of the air releasing, and to keep it away from the elements. Thoughts?
All of this is NOTHING compared to what happened next. Stay tuned... More tomorrow.
He's right about the sound; the compressor is noticeably quieter when the car is idling now. And you sure get to know the valve is working because you hear it every time it releases when you get off the gas. The idea of the hot air seems to make some sense, so I might leave it venting to atmosphere. I'll probably add another hose and plumb it under the fender with a small air filter to muffle the sound of the air releasing, and to keep it away from the elements. Thoughts?
All of this is NOTHING compared to what happened next. Stay tuned... More tomorrow.
Registered User
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,308
Likes: 1
Great idea to log IAT's. As soon as I figure out how to do that with the Greddy EMU, I'll do so..
Now, sorry for the thread-jack.. But I'm sure this will entertain everyone. When I went to have the BLV welded on, I also asked if the shop could remove some metal on the rail running past the radiator because I wanted to try to fit some silicone tubing beside the radiator. I was hoping to route the SOS intake forward, around the radiator, and put the filter just in front of the radiator. Kinda like the cheesy ducting that comes with the Greddy kit, but 3.5" to match the SC intake. With enough cutting and banging I figured it might be possible, though the tube might be slightly squeezed.
The owner of the shop said that what he usually does is cut away the metal to enlarge the hole behind the headlight, and run a duct down there to place the filter below the headlight. I'd seen other kits (like InlinePro charge piping) use this space, so it seemed possible. But I'd already bought the silicone tubing and liked my idea more. Unfortunately, I didn't say "No" out loud. I'm usually really careful about clearly stating exactly what I want done, but my 16-year-old dog is dying and I was thinking about whether I'd have to put him to sleep this week. So I wasn't paying proper attention to the conversation. My fault that the owner felt I had agreed to his suggestion.
So, I went back the next day to drop the car off and had completely forgotten we had discussed this. Again, my mistake. I somehow gave myself the idea that I was only getting the BLV welded on. I picked the car up a day later, and instead of doing what I wanted or what I thought he had suggested, they had built a cold air box around the SOS filter. Any of the three options would have been fine in terms of functionality to get cold air to the SC, but the whole point of this story is the way they went about doing it.
Here's what I've found so far:
- They cut away part of the wheel well and welded in a metal box that intrudes toward the wheel. The tire doesn't seem to rub when turning, but I haven't really tested it yet with heavy cornering loads.
- They cut into one of the wiring harnesses and cut through two wires, then crimped them back together.
- The cut line is jagged and random. It looks totally incomplete.
- They spray painted part of the engine bay black when they were painting the piece they welded in.
- The welds aren't aesthetically pleasing.
- The cold air box looks cheaply made.
- The cold air box is not full height, so there's a 4" - 5" gap above the walls. So, it's a "mostly cold air" box.
- Oh, and the driver's side marker light is broken and hanging out of the fender. That could have happened before I dropped the car off, but I kinda doubt it.
You can see where the spray painted area stops down toward the bottom left corner of this pic.
Here's a different angle. You can see where they cut away the wheel well and welded in the wedge shaped box. You can also see where they spray painted some of the engine bay black on my Silverstone car. The jagged / unfinished cut is pretty obvious.
So... Aside from being horrified at how this looks and worried that I won't be able to corner hard now, I'm not really sure what the point was. There's plenty of material they could have removed farther forward to let more air in to that space without cutting into the wheel well. I'm also wondering what else might have happened that I haven't noticed yet. Ugh. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to paint most of it silver again. My car just depreciated $1,000 before my eyes...
Now, sorry for the thread-jack.. But I'm sure this will entertain everyone. When I went to have the BLV welded on, I also asked if the shop could remove some metal on the rail running past the radiator because I wanted to try to fit some silicone tubing beside the radiator. I was hoping to route the SOS intake forward, around the radiator, and put the filter just in front of the radiator. Kinda like the cheesy ducting that comes with the Greddy kit, but 3.5" to match the SC intake. With enough cutting and banging I figured it might be possible, though the tube might be slightly squeezed.
The owner of the shop said that what he usually does is cut away the metal to enlarge the hole behind the headlight, and run a duct down there to place the filter below the headlight. I'd seen other kits (like InlinePro charge piping) use this space, so it seemed possible. But I'd already bought the silicone tubing and liked my idea more. Unfortunately, I didn't say "No" out loud. I'm usually really careful about clearly stating exactly what I want done, but my 16-year-old dog is dying and I was thinking about whether I'd have to put him to sleep this week. So I wasn't paying proper attention to the conversation. My fault that the owner felt I had agreed to his suggestion.
So, I went back the next day to drop the car off and had completely forgotten we had discussed this. Again, my mistake. I somehow gave myself the idea that I was only getting the BLV welded on. I picked the car up a day later, and instead of doing what I wanted or what I thought he had suggested, they had built a cold air box around the SOS filter. Any of the three options would have been fine in terms of functionality to get cold air to the SC, but the whole point of this story is the way they went about doing it.
Here's what I've found so far:
- They cut away part of the wheel well and welded in a metal box that intrudes toward the wheel. The tire doesn't seem to rub when turning, but I haven't really tested it yet with heavy cornering loads.
- They cut into one of the wiring harnesses and cut through two wires, then crimped them back together.
- The cut line is jagged and random. It looks totally incomplete.
- They spray painted part of the engine bay black when they were painting the piece they welded in.
- The welds aren't aesthetically pleasing.
- The cold air box looks cheaply made.
- The cold air box is not full height, so there's a 4" - 5" gap above the walls. So, it's a "mostly cold air" box.
- Oh, and the driver's side marker light is broken and hanging out of the fender. That could have happened before I dropped the car off, but I kinda doubt it.
You can see where the spray painted area stops down toward the bottom left corner of this pic.
Here's a different angle. You can see where they cut away the wheel well and welded in the wedge shaped box. You can also see where they spray painted some of the engine bay black on my Silverstone car. The jagged / unfinished cut is pretty obvious.
So... Aside from being horrified at how this looks and worried that I won't be able to corner hard now, I'm not really sure what the point was. There's plenty of material they could have removed farther forward to let more air in to that space without cutting into the wheel well. I'm also wondering what else might have happened that I haven't noticed yet. Ugh. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to paint most of it silver again. My car just depreciated $1,000 before my eyes...