Update on the project and status of the car!
So far the car has about 7500 miles on it and some things have reared there evilness. As a result, the car is getting some upgrades and other updates. First of all the some things I wish I would have done from day one but elected not to. Change the wheel bolt pattern. I've had a constant steering/wheel vibration since the car was finished. I've had the wheels/tires checked twice on a road force reaction balance machine. The techs cannot seem to find anything wrong with them. Not sure exactly what is going on as the wheel bearings are new. The entire front end is new so I am at a loss for where the vibration is coming. Possible issues are bad new wheel bearing, bad tire (techs missed) who knows. Anyway I'm going to do a hub swap to the 5 x 4.5 pattern. This will open up the plethora of wheel options. This will require me to obviously update bearings and hubs so maybe that will correct any issue there hopefully.
I also have an addcco 1.5" front sway bar on the car. While the handling and anti-roll it provides is great I cannot stand the ride. So I will be swapping that back to stock. (I have a sway bar for sale if anyone else would like to try it. PM me.)
We also noticed finally after 7500 miles that the rear tires were getting chewed to death. It appears that either something has come loose and the alignment has changed dramatically or it wasn't done properly the first time. I have the original report and everything is within spec so who knows. I plan on using Rod's alignment guy as he is very familiar with these cars and I want this done right once and for all. I do not need to chew up another set of rear tires. I'd like to waste them doing burn outs. :shock:
Anyone who has been next to the car on the highway or in a tunnel or ridden in the car knows the exhaust is ridiculously loud and raspy. I've even changed resonators trying to tone down the drone. I think honestly that the 3" long tube collectors are just too big. If I had it to do over again I'd stick with 2.5". I'm not changing the headers so I am going to redo the exhaust again :roll:. I am going to use a magna flow true X-CORE dual in dual out muff for a resonator. The muff's will be as big and long as I can manage in the back. Hopefully, this will quiet down the drone and make riding it in manageable.
I am also going to completely rely on methanol injection for inlet temperature cooling. There is a thought that I am loosing approximately ~3psi or so through my inter-cooler. Which BTW is not as efficient as hoped. This will free up an enormous amount of space up front for radiator and AC condenser air. This will also allow me to shift my radiator about 5 inches to the drivers side of the car. Which will then allow me to remove the procharger inlet hat. Procharger believes that this is a constriction on my ability to pull air in to make boost as the hat was designed to work with a much smaller unit only producing 6psi. I will then be able to run a straight 4" pipe into the unit without any bends. All of this alone should help produce and additional ~3-5 psi. Hopefully this is where the 40-50hp has been hiding? Who knows it is an SC right?
The other on-going issue with the car is the belt tensioner. It was really designed for a 6 rib belt. I have been using it with an 8 rib belt and it really isn't up for the job. I am going to adapt either the SC stock supercharger tensioner or the AC delete tensioner. Hopefully, this will aid in belt slippage problems and produce and overall better system.
Finally, on the way home from Carlisle the supercharger pulley bolt backed out on me and let the pulley wobble. We will have to machine a new pulley but I think that needs an upgraded hat washer to prevent that happening in the future.
Hopefully, these things can get accomplished over the next new weeks and I can get the car back on the road again.
Upgrades are:
1. Optima batter and purdy hold down tray.
2. Some bling (come to the shootout to see
)
3. Hub swap and New wheels obviously.
4. Meth injection as stated.
5. New exhaust.
5. Updated inlet tubing.
6. Moving trans cooler and lines.
7. Pulley tensioner.
8. Proper pulley hat washer.