Good luck with that Coop. We all hope it works out soon and that you are back in business and screaming down the streets.

Updates when you can!

 

Well, a bit of good news: The car is now together and running. No test rides yet, it's that early. They just got it finalized later today.

We had issues with (1) intermittant connector, one misconnected connector, and an initialization/immobilizer return for the ECU to UPREV. It's all too confusing to relate, but that's behind us. WHEW! (Many helpful calls with Sam @ GTM, and Rich @ UPREV who both helped the progress.)

I am hoping Jimmy will put a few miles on it tomorrow, and then he wants me to take it, drive it easily for a few days, and then come back and go over anything needed.

Yes, all good things come to those who wait. I'll report back in a day or so after we know more.

Coop

 

Great news. Remember thing start to happen quickly over 3500 rpm (when it's warm and dry). The roads are cold and have salt/sand so I'd expect it to be pretty slick when the boost comes in.

Have fun!!!!

 

^^^ Yeah. The saving grace in this delay is the absolutely miserable road conditions in the past month or so. Leaving it warm in the garage wasn't a bad thing.

I'll drive it tonight. Looking forward to that press at 3500....

Coop

 

The anticipation builds.....

It should be a fun night!

 

Jimmy had driven the car today and was pleased at the performance and shifting, although he didn't press it hard. As we BOTH found out there is little 'press' needed on the pedal to wake it up.

I arrived at 5pm to find his detailer Mark finishing up a full clean & wax. REALLY sharp, and an extra perk I wasn't expecting.

We settled up to both of our satisfaction, and I took him for a short ride. Well, you've all heard the reports from others, and it was as impressive as I was imagining. I also kept it below 1/2 throttle, but that boost starts building and it has a mind of it's own. Me likes.

I was VERY anticipatory of how the 5AT transmission would react with the TransGo kit, and any programming that was done via ECU. Before, the OEM box was sluggish and slow. Nice and comfortable, but not crisp. NOW it's crisp. As Sam informed me early on, D would be comfortable, but DS and manual shifts would pop firm. Perfect! This was really gratifying. Highly recommended.

Wouldn't you know it, but my wife caught the flu today and was home needing to go to bed early. I had to abandon my initial plan of a nice long highway ride and simply take it home after a 15 min jaunt. My 8-yr-old needeed a babysitter.

I'll put some time in on it this weekend, weather dry.

One disappointment: There is a VERY pronounced drone at 2100-2500 RPM in the cab. Loud. Below and above it's fine, but that's a very popular range for everyday driving. This is a full GTM 2.5" exhaust with CAT test pipes. I'll discuss this with Sam.

Beyond this there is still some minor tweeking needed: The idle is anywhere from 700-1000rpm and it's not gotten any logs sent to GTM for diagnosis. (Am I correct on this?) We'll do that soon.

The Shop's dyno is available, but we want to make sure it's right on the road first, before stressing it on the dyno. Especially with the auto, we wanted to be cautious. Fine with me, and we WILL put it on soon enough.

Overall satisfaction is HIGH. More news as it develops. Thanks for paying attention to this delayed build.

Coop

 

Congrats! Great updates. Cant wait for some video!

 

I laid two layers of Dynomat in the trunk from the bumper to the rear seat and shock tower to shock tower. Made a HUGE difference in keeping the exhaust sound outside the car.

Good luck.

 

^ just regular dynamat with the aluminum backing?

 

Yes. With all the plastics/spare/etc material pulled out the trunk looks like NASA put it together.

 

^^^ A great tip. I'd like to see or hear it. Good alternative.

I'm going to try to work a driving vid into this build.

Coop

 

Video please hahha

 

so its not tuned yet? do you plan to tune it on the dyno?

 

It looks like he is planning on tuning it on the dyno, but they wanted to do light road testing first before they do some high stress dyno tuning. I would assume they have done some light tuning to it to fix A/F ratios and whatnot so it's safe to drive around now, just not producing as much power as it should...

 

No, we don't plan on doing much tuning here. John does not own the UPREV software to make changes, but he can log it and we can send the files to Sam for inspection and improvement, if need be.

I talked to Sam and he's pretty confident this is really close. He would know.

We do want to see what it's making and at what boost. I have a Blitz controller and I spotted boost at about .6 bar (no PSI figures). That's what: 8.4lbs of boost? You tell me what I'm making. The trans will suck up some of the power, but it's SOOOOO worth it, for me.

I took it out for about 30 mins this afternoon. It's very confident in it's delivery. The trans is taking me getting used to, as it literally chirps the tire in second at half throttle in DS.

So far, so good. It's still so frikken cold and slippery up here, and mid-day traffic for a short jaunt is an exercise in frustration or illegality. I've put it back in the garage for the while. I took a real quick vid on my own on a clear back road at 1/4 and then 1/2 throttle. I'll try to upload it.

Coop