guess i can share....lol
Well i guess it all started when i decided to resign the 86 T-type to weekend duty and needed something more docile for dinner dates out and whatnot... got an 04 CTS and was promptly rear ended and got an 03 Regal GS
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Took it to the local 1/8 mile track for some baselines and could hardly get the car out of the 9.8/9.9's @69mph. guess its ok for stock but...bleh!
Decided to jump in both feet first and went straight to replacing the stock manifolds for a set of headers...but WHOs... ZZP, Wbodystore, 3800performance, INTENSE, etc. And suddenly saw the Ebay OBX-R headers... oooooo SHINY! lol. Did a Google search on them and found the site... my first warning should have been the sites logo at the top of the page... "$hit is Good!"
. ooook lets try youtube and read some other import and domestic car forums about them. Forums uncovered a not too encouraging trend in the fitment and customer support for the headers of all makes. More imports than domestics...go fig
. How bad could it be for only $200? Theyre Pacesetter clones and theyre so....SHINY and "new in the box" eeeeee!
They arrive and sure enough.....SHINY!!! But upon closer inspection INSIDE the tubing where the primaries meet and converge to one pipe....SLAG on top of slag, b..but theyre so....Shiny... Youtubed "OBX" and sure enough another unhappy trend was exposed under the hoods of all these OBX owners...the SHINY wasnt so...shiny anymore. Blue/purple/tarnish was the common theme. So went to pep boys and got the nice VHT ceramic 2600 Degree Black stuff in a can and took my shiny stainless headers into the back yard and Painted every nook and cranny til it was nice and coated. Next day took them to my mechanic with the car and a roll of header wrap for the crossover pipe under the throttle body for what little good that will do. A few hours later i get this phone call from a very tired sounding mechanic saying he cant get it to line up right where the crossover meets the front to the back. Seems the imports werent far off afterall. My poor mechanic had to cut the crossover in HALF to reclock it to get it to fit. guess the headerwrap was a good idea afterall lol. After that the fitment went fine...REAL fine! The original pacesetters come with clamps at the Y connection to seal them nicely...no such thing with these knockoffs because they figured it'd line up and fit so well that the seal requires no clamps! Well in the first few moments of the headers new life...it was true! Arrived to pick up the car and the sound reminded me of the very first moment i heard the T-type at the dealership. quiet rumble..unassuming. Then was told to take it for a test drive :biggrin:. I put the car in reverse to leave the shop, but theres a slight incline and give it quick tap of gas to move....bad idea for 125k motor mounts as the engine rocks and undoes the perfect seal under the car! now theres the sound of a bird fluttering under my hood...a LEAK!
. little did i realize the fluttering was only the begining. ok track time!
This time took the car to a 1/4 track for any improvements. Did a decent 2.1 60ft. pulling a 14.75 @92mph....hmmmm lets look at the 1/8mile times...9.4 @73mph. heeey from 9.9s @69 to 9.4s @73's ..not bad for my first mod. But what the run also reveiled was that the engine SLAMMED metal to metal into its cradle or soft rubber mountings at the top of the track when i let off the gas. That cant be good! Poly mounts next!
Well...red ZZP poly uppers (just so u know they turn PINK later!) and dogbones AND lower mount later i snuck in a ZZP modular pulley swap to 3.3 since i already had a few supporting mods added while my mechanic was busy....NGK TR6's, 180 t-stat, K&N filter, and complete header swap with 3 inch downpipe and catless set up. I still have on the resonator and stock muffler...i like how QUIET it is! ....track time!
Arrived a little late to the same 1/4 track so i let the car semi-cool off by only 20-30 minutes and lined it up against a magnum RT hemi.
. even with the car still hot it runs a 14.38 @95 :redface: 1/8 was 9.24 @75mph... not a Big improvement but i'm on to something and really ticked off the HEMI! Now I put in a ZZP pcm 1.0 and new Toyo proxes TQ 255/50/16 drag radials! track time!
went to the local 1/8 track and did my very first GS burn out
pulled a 2.03 60ft and an 8.80 @78.8! killing a nice 06+GTO AND a NEW 2010/11? 5.0 mustang with a supercharger!!! he "missed a gear" lol. NOW we're getting somewhere and going to the 1/4mile track tonight and hoping to have better numbers esp since its gonna be 47 degrees today!
Hoping for mid 13's .. if not i think my tranny has been slipping somewhere lol. sorry for the rant.