Hey Guys,

I have started this post because of my own expierence with making mistakes with the Evo. I hope that this will be a thread where others can give their expierence with the wrong mods that they done that affected the car in a negative way. In the process I hope we learn from each others mistakes.

But first my background I am avid performace enthusiast who has alot of time with spent with turbo charged cars. I previously owned an VW Gti 1.8T modified. I've been with the whole German car scene most of my life until I drove the Evo and everything else went out the window. When I bought my Evo back in March 24' 04 I immediatley started modifying it. I looked around and talked to some of the vendors that are listed this site to see what I should do with the car. Some of them said get the A_M intake. Figuering that they have more expierence with a turbochared Japanese car I took their advice and got the intake. Little did they tell me that adding this intake will trick my MAF sensor into running lean. So now Im driving around with an Evo that has lost bottom end torque. I talked to another vendor whose idea for my car was to pump out 450hp @ the wheel... That's nice and all but all I want is in the low 300hp range. So he recomended a Turboback w/ a cat delete to "really make the intake work ...plus you'll get 30 hp increase @ the wheel." he says. So talking to this Guru I went ahead in desperation and got theTurbo back exhuast. Little did he tell me that that there is a valve flap in the stock exhuast system that opens up at high rpms and closes at low rpms. This system provides valuable back pressure to ensure proper boost levels. So now I was driving around in an Evo with no low end torque and 16 psi of max boost @ 4000 Rpms.

Thank God all This was rectified when I called Big Al from Dynoflash. I told him my problems and in shocking amasement to me he asked me WHAT MY GOALS, FOR MY CAR WAS!!! No one else bothered or gave a crap to ask me that and as business owner that impresed me most about Big Al. Everyone one else was trying to move products Al went out of his way to help me, even drove out with his own car to have my car fixed. MY car is 95% better now thanks to Big Al from DynoFlash...I say 95% because from here on out my car will be tuned and my money will be spent going with a full blown Dynoflash stage upgrade.

So I hope this has at least helped you that if you do get an intake or exhuast get your car tuned for it.


Thankx Big Al.

 

Hi,

I'm moving this over to the dyno flash forum so Al can chime in if he would like. Thanks.

Speedlimit..

 

congrats on moving from VW, i am a previous owner as well- 2000 VR6T. Of all the mistakes you can make on a car, its listening to people that want to steer you into a direction that you're wallet is not ready to go into that is the worst. you have to drive you're car everyday, so its not worth it to put you're primary mode of transportation into the hands of certain tuners that are just out to make a buck while shuffling off their garbage.

Another noteworthy 'word to the wise' is to NEVER LET ANYONE work on your car without you there. NEVER LET ANYONE drive your car. NEVER let it out of your sight... I got my EVO because a good friend of mine who happened to be a certified VW/Audi mechanic blew my motor while 'out for a tuning session'. It wouldnt be so bad, but after he blew my motor, he left town leaving my car in a shop with an angry landlord, and a phone number with a VERY angry and broke wife-ex-wife holding two kids who could care less about my problems. 10 months later, $8K broker, here i am with my EVO.

All i am saying is that you should fully understand the people working on your car, and the products you choose to use.

Al is a very confidend guy, and his product really speaks the language of the enthusiast- fast for cheap WITHOUT compromising the integrity of the powerplant. His guarantee is pretty much the best you can get.

Good luck with your quest for more.

 

Hey, Surge

Thanx for sharing and the advice. Your right man too many Tuners just willing to push their trash without giving a rip about the customer. Getting my car Dynoflashed June 6th with fuel pump and boostcontrol put on with my allready installed inake, downpipe, cat delete and exhaust. Cant wait to see the Majic that Als bout to do!!!! Any one else have any tuning horror stories.

Viji

 

What "valve flap" is this that you are talking about?

 

The Valve flap? The Best way to describe it is like an EXUP valve on a Yamaha race bike (R-1) It opens up at high rpms to get more air flow. Lot manufactuers use these valves on their cars. I think The 2000 Maxima was one of the 1st "mass production cars to use them but that valve was in their mufflers.

 

Maxima didn't have the flap vavle, but the Infinity I35 did which bump up the hp by 5 up to 227

 

The main issue for me on the stock muffler is the weight

You can take a crazy amount of weight off the car with just an axel back muffler

 

And an even crazier amount with a Buschur 3" turboback, that system's LIGHT and with the Magnaflow, it's not too crazy loud.

 

The 2001 Maxima Anniversary edition has an adjustable backpressure muffler. I know because I have one and it says so on the window sticker. It is the only SE maxima that does not have a chrome exhaust tip. It supposedly is what is responisble for the 5 hp bump in HP that the Anniversary Edition car has. All other 2001 Maximas are rated at 222, the Aniversary Edition is rated at 227 HP.

Sorry, off topic, but had to set the record straight. Same type of system that the Evo has.

Brian

 

Where is that valve located in the stock exhaust, because when I took mine off I didn't see anything like that. And yes, that stock muffler is crazy heavy.

 

The valve is located inside the muffler.

In fact, when Al first swapped out the stocker for the Pruven axle-back, he noted that he lost boost pressure. But, even with the lower boost pressure, he still gained HP, even more so when the boost was raised back to stock levels.

Also, for all out power, there really isn't any such thing as "valuable back pressure". Back pressure may be useful for part throttle, but not WOT.

 

Great post and good to hear Big Al came through for you.

 

I'll have to go look that thing over closer tonight when I get home, I must have totally missed that valve. What does it look like, and where in the muffler is it located so I know what I'm looking for. I'm just curious about it. I was under the impression that the best exhaust for a turbo car is one with the least amount of restrictions. Why would they put that in there?

 

Increased spool up and low end response

Removing the stock muffler in many cases actually results in lower boost - UNTIL you install a boost controller to compensate