opinions on these mods

[cottonpicker14]

Hi
Need some input and opinions
I bought my TTA and was all stock and fairly low mileage. Of course when I bought it, I swore I would not modify it, but that didnt last long. I dont want to change much and the changes I want to make will be basiclly bolt ons so that I can easily revert back to stock if or when I sell it. Again, it was totally stock with no mods.
Now, this is what I have done so far

1. RJC powerplate
2. 30 lb injectors (changed because the one of the stock 28lb ones went bad)
3. adjustable FPR
4. Walpro and hotwire kit
5. Scanmaster
6. new dist wires

The car is going to be driven on the street only, no racing but want to get the most performance as possible. I was using racegas 100, and was able to run 19 psi, but I dont want to use race gas anymore, to much of a pain to get.

My thoughts of upgrades are.
1. Alky kit
2. TA49 turbo, so that I can keep the stock look and use the stock heat sheild
3. bigger injectors (not sure what size)
4. K&N filter.

I even bought a used Up pipe for the alky kit so that I dont have to drill into the original one.

As far as exhaust, I dont want to gut the cat or change the muffler. My thoughts are to have a test pipe made so that I can easily replace the cat someday if needed.

Based on the above, are there any opinions that I may be going in the wrong direction or maybe some suggestions as to whether the above upgrades are right or wrong ?

Lastly, if the above is OK, any ideas as to what the car would run in a 1/4 mile ?

 

[72firebird]

I think I would go with like a TE45 and like 50lbs injectors. You'll probably want some subframe connectors too to help stiffen it up. It'll help get rid of squeeks and rattles and help it come off the line straight without twisting. Expect to have the transmission rebuilt/built sometime soon after the turbo. Depending on your area there are lots of good builders around the country so you might want to start checking into that before you HAVE to.

Besides for that I think your mods look like you're on the right track. With some good tires and a good tune you should be low 12s to mid 11s depending on what turbo you do with.

 

[Grumpy]

alky kit and a chip to match. test pipe and LEAVE it the hell alone play with the car and you can run 11s with the stock junk ... alky would be somewhere in the low 12's if not 11s ... KISS keep it simple and stupid ... :biggrin:

 

[cottonpicker14]

Grumpy, I will take your advice and go with Alky and Erics chip and test pipe. Are yoiu saying to even leave the stock airbox or should I go with the K&N filter.

 

[Grumpy]

K&N ya need to ... :biggrin:

 

[Razor]

I'd probably consider one of those new GT3255 turbo's.. you dont want to change converter.. set of MSD50's injectors, Erics chip, alky kit.. and learn to tune tune tune...

Ohh set of drag radials. Nitto's.

 

[postal]

I like translator plus set ups because you don't have to learn how to tune..tune ..tune...

You just got to turn the dials until the scanmaster gives you the right readings and you're done. If you have in the cockpit boost control the Alky, boost, and fuel can be tuned out in about 10 to 15 minutes total.

TA49's are great little stock appearing turbos. I like TE44's better but if you're dead set on 100% stock look then thats what you want. I don't know much about the new GT turbos there are people out there who have ran faster with them and there are people who have run slower when they switched to one. Based on your desciption of not wanting to mess with too much stuff I would think a TA49 would be an excellent stock appearing choice. That said a newer model with GT wheels for the same HP and boost levels could warrant some serious consideration.

Subframe connectors are a nice option because they stiffen up the chasis. That helps make the car a better all around performance machine AND helps keep you from warping the body.

A shift kit in the trans and a GOOD tranny cooler. I don't know if its just me and my friends but we all have had almost no luck at all with stock trannies even in fairly mild cars. Soft shifts are soft because the clutches slip. This is ok at best for low power levels but as the power goes up you know have more slippage and more power applied and the clutches or what ever gets fried in there goes out in a hurry. Shift kits help eliminate this problem so they're a good investment, because full tranny builds are big money. A really good tranny cooler is a good envestment. I don't remember the numbers exactly but something like every 20 degrees cooler the tranny runs will double the life of it. Like I said that may not be exact but its something like that.

The more I think about it I would probably look into that tranny stuff before I would even mess with the turbo and stuff.

Good luck with your project, it looks to me like you got a nice plan of matching mods to do that should give you a real nice combo for a driver.

HTH: Jason
p.s: For real mild cars I like the Duttweiller neck mod on the stock IC.

 

[Grumpy]

I hate the translators ... why change it if the stocker works fine ??? again KISS and don't cut up a TTA intercooler !!!

 

[postal]

I hate the translators ... why change it if the stocker works fine ??? again KISS

Translator and extender chip combo is the ultimate KISS item. If you run anyones non extender chip you are running off of the chip burners "guess" for your fueling. This applies to wether you are running a translator or not, you have to have an extenderchip to get out of this senerio. The Translator / extender chip combo allows airflow levels above 350 or so HP range to be accurately measured and the knobs allow the airflow measurement to be tweaked to match your fueling system and motor.

Jason

 

[Grumpy]

oh sorry I didn't know that stock junk doesn't work ... we have a mess of low 11 sec cars with them .. guess we better just put them away till they all buy translators NOT the original post was a basically stock car ...

 

[Razor]

I like translator plus set ups because you don't have to learn how to tune..tune ..tune...

Coming from the guy winning the Golden Jack stand award

I'm 100% with Grumpy.
He's who I listened too when I first got my TTA... still listen to him now :biggrin: :wink:

Eric's programmable chip allows you to tune tune tune.. cuase once you break it.. there's nothing to tune :redface:

 

[postal]

Coming from the guy winning the Golden Jack stand award

You know my nephew died and I put my TTA on hold for awhile, so back off that one. That ones getting old. I'm building my TTA to be the car I want and I need no ones approveal on that.

I made only a couple passes at the nats a couple of years ago with street tires. I then made 3 full passes on slicks:

1 pass at the nats
1 pass locally then got rained on

first pass next time out I went 11.30 with a high mileage long block and a few bolt ons. I also made some decent runs later that day at only 23# and ran 11.6. Then winter hit and I went back and adressed problem areas. The next year I went out 3 times. The first two times out I was plagued with stuttering probs but still run mid 11's the first time. I got rid of most of the popping and went 1/8th mile racing and turned 1/8th mile times that where well on pace for low 11 sec runs and still had some popping. Found out that my fuel system was crapping out so my car sat until fall and came back out with a completely new fuel system; injectors, chip, big external pump and fuel lines. I ran 11.16 and 11.17 back to back hot lapping. Enter winter again addressed a few things burnt the midnight oil for weeks to get this thing ready for BG and all I got to show for it was two crappy passes and the new trans made me pop my head gasket.

Whats all that getting at...

My car ran just about as hard or harder than anyone's with similar number of upgrades. When you look into the relatively small amount of passes I made, the fact that I hardly ever went back with the same set up because I was always messing with stuff (because thats what I like to do), and the decent times I ran every time I would like to think that it had something to do with the fact that my car was tuned out pretty decent.

The T-plus and extender chip was always so EASY to tune out that my friends started to take notice and they started switching to them. We have all had good luck with that set up.

Some of you guys run Eric Marshall chips or another chip burner's and you've had good luck with them. You then recommend your chip burner to other people. I'm doing no different other than passing on my experiences bth good and bad and try to supply an explanation of why I felt the way I did about something.

When you run a stock MAF sensor it is maxed out around 300 to 350 hp. When you run above that power level you are no longer measuring the amount of air going into the motor. The fueling for the motor then becomes a guess. When you switch to a translator set up AND an extender chip the fueling is no longer a guess because you can now accurately measure the airflow into a much higher HP level. Because of this the same extender chip that works good at 350 HP will still work good for you when you're over 500 hp.

My o2 readings on any pass or street runs I ever made where I didn't have any ignition or fuel problems would be rock steady. This means that I would have the correct amount of fuel from the start of the run to the end every time. Wether I had my car at a medium or high boost level. I have also had very good luck with this set up on pump gas and alky combos. Its a very easy system to tune especially when teamed with a scanmaster.

When I hurt my motor is was due to severly over reving it, because my new trans wouldn't shift. When this happened I was no longer using the T-plus set up. I had switched to a BS3 wide band o2 fuel management set up.

Eric's programmable chip allows you to tune tune tune.. cuase once you break it.. there's nothing to tune

Talking to some people are like talking to brick walls. You have to tune tune tune because you're dealing with guesses. If you run the right set up your tune tune tune session takes about 10 minutes.

HTH: Jason

 

[Razor]

Eric's chip, alky kit, set of 50's.. there is no tuning required. Its plug-n-play. Wanna bet$$ :wink:

I give you grief not becuase of your Nephews car, But we told you back in BG after the car blew the HG's to just go and do them.. would of only been 150 bucks and labor.. you were like thats money down the drain.. I want to do something else.. blah blah blah.. situations happened.. now the car hasnt run in close to two years. And everything has turned into a NASA project.

Your Nephews buildup has nothing to do with the TTA. Or the reason you decided to can it.

Simple=stock stuff.. add switches/knobs/variables.. you get into trouble. Always will. Your HG's blew cuase you got into trouble..

Look at JDSGNX..he put the 10.99 post.. that car still has the oem shortblock in it.. and its been through approx 4-5 set of head gaskets.. still racing.. last set were done Nov'04 rite at the track. No biggie.. a tq wrench, oil change, and a little elbow grease.

And you say "Talking to some people are like talking to brick walls" ..

 

[Razor]

When you run a stock MAF sensor it is maxed out around 300 to 350 hp. When you run above that power level you are no longer measuring the amount of air going into the motor. The fueling for the motor then becomes a guess. When you switch to a translator set up AND an extender chip the fueling is no longer a guess because you can now accurately measure the airflow into a much higher HP level. Because of this the same extender chip that works good at 350 HP will still work good for you when you're over 500 hp.

I went over 126 mph in the 1/4 on a stock GM MAF in my TTA. I ran 11.40 on a stock TTA IC unmodded with screens..

There is a word "Hogwash". :wink:

 

[Grumpy]

ummmm I DRIVE all my cars on the street and RACE them most guy's here are not in the 11s and really don't care about that . they want thier stocker to run great with simple mods . Stock MAFs have had excellant results since the cars came out !! to me add ALKY and have some fun with the car .. ohhh I hate project cars .. not my bag but I still have my Stage2 thing goin to .. waste of $$$ as far as I am concerned ok again back to the original post DRIVE your car and enjoy it !! Life's to short not to

 

[cottonpicker14]

I am the one who started the tread. Based on my searching and reading numerous postings of this site and the limited knowledge I have, I rely heavily on Grumpys and Razors advise.
I plan on doing or have done the simple mods, razors alky kit, scanmaster, knock and boost/vac gauges mounted on a pillar pod, 30 lb green injectors, K&N, test pipe, Erics chip, hotwire kit, Walpro, adjust FPR, Powerplate and a dump with an DMH electric cutout and of course having it tuned by a friend who has several Turbo T's. Not sure if a tranny cooler is needed or not.
Not sure what it will run in the 1/4 but I really dont care, I just want to be able to do the simple mods, mash the gas and enjoy the power without headaches of making major changes and revert back to stock if I ever want to.
Thanks again for the imputs and replies.

 

[DR BOOST]

the translator plus setup allows you to switch to a more relaible ls1 maf. it also makes fueling and timing adjustments as simple as clicking a dial. im not sure how eric marshall's chip works but i was very impressed with the features on the translator plus and extender chip.

i think the t-plus is the best setup until the high tens