I dumped a LOT of money into my old Buick Regal (supercharger kit, cam, fuel injectors, PCM programming software/hardware, torque converter, 2 transmissions, 1 engine, pushrods, etc.). I definitely learned a about cars and what makes them go vroom. I made a few good friends in the process. I also managed to blow up my transmission twice and then grenade a piston...so that was the end of modding that vehicle. I couldn't afford to fix it all when the engine let loose, so I sold off my aftermarket parts to buy a new longblock.
In the process of having my car down for a couple of weeks, I decided the responsible thing to do was get a second vehicle that I wouldn't want to modify. The Buick made a bit over 300hp at the wheels, so, naturally, getting a LS1 Camaro was the sensible thing to do...they make more power and the power curve is much wider. So that's exactly what I did. I picked up a Black 2000 Camaro Z28 for cheapish and managed to wrap it around a power pole before my 30 day tags had expired. I replaced that with a Black 2001 Camaro SS a short time later.
Now, the idea was that I would have a "powerful" car so I wouldn't have the itch to modify it. Well, that lasted maybe a year. Diving headfirst into doing some engine work is a great way to make a car powerful enough that it starts breaking everything else, unless you do the right supporting modifications first. In the case of these cars, the normal order was to replace the rear end/differential, transmission, and then start in on the engine. Since I was still paying off my Buick bill, I skipped that route and went with suspension mods at first. I put on a pair of Sam Strano's sway bars and a set of Koni single adjustible shocks. That made all the difference in the world...that car handled amazingly well. That lasted for a while and then I had the itch again so I gutted the interior of the car, wrapped the entire thing in Dynamat Xtreme, and put in a pretty substantial stereo (which I still miss). That was great for a while again and then I got a great deal on some chromed Z06 wheels, so, next thing I know I've done wheels, tinted all of the taillights/sidemarkers, customized the front bumper, replaced all of the badging on the car with mirror polished stainless steel, etc...
Then, shortly before paying the Camaro off, the AC died. It also was to the point where it needed a clutch. The Buick needed AC work as well. It also had a number of other "quirks". Looking at a 5k+ repair bill for both vehicles, I traded them both in for my current car. I picked up a Millennium Yellow 2004 Corvette Z06.
Damn that is a nice car. It has a fair amount of power. It drives like its on rails. The fit and feel of it are just head and shoulders ahead of everything else that I had driven to that point. I had test driven a C6 before buying the C5Z06. It was definitely a nice car. The interior finish was better. The one that I test drove had an LS3 in it, so it had a bit more pep, but I just didnt like the driving experience as much. It felt like a bigger car because you feel like youre a 5 year old sitting at the big kids table.
This one had it all...great power, great handling, respectable sound system (not great, but sound equipment is heavy, defeating the purpose of driving a lightweight sportscar)...so after a few cosmetic items (lettering fillins for the front and rear bumpers, a partition divider, etc), I called the car "done".
...until I found a used (500 miles) Vararam intake and air bridge set up for dirt cheap. Cheap enough that I could sell off the Blackwing intake that came on the car and only be out $50 (never mind the fact that the Blackwing is still sitting in a box at my apartment because the Vararam fits so "well" that I wasnt sure if I was going to keep it).
The Vararam installation was a bit of a pain in the ass. The fit was borderline unacceptable, but I managed to get it in there with only the minimum of cussing and busted knuckles. It had a noticeable improvement in power, especially when driving at highway speeds. The downside (another one anyway), is that I started to get a lean condition check engine light pretty consistently. I had read that this was a possibility before purchasing it. At first I thought that a few driving cycles would make it go away, but that didn't happen. I pulled out the bridge, maf and couplers checked it over, but I had performed the installation correctly. I put everything back in the car and tightened the band clamps down pretty tight. I doublechecked those 2 days later and they were still good.
I had found a procedure for making the computer relearn the expected air flow online one day, so I went through that and it was good for 2 days before the check engine light came back. Then I bought one of the MAF honeycombs from Halltech, which supposedly addresses this, but it was great for a couple of days before the SES light went off again. I knew that I really needed to tune it. I didn't want to shell out the money for it, but I knew that tuning was the "right" answer for my problem....
No comments:
Post a Comment