Well, everything is done. My brother picked up his car and was extatic. First words that came out of his mouth was "You bastards tricked me!''. The install came out very clean. One think that did not get done was the porting of the o2 housing or exhaust side of the turbo. I think the shop owner needed more money for doing the work. But thats not his fault, thats mine for not figuring more $$$ in the equation.
As far as how the car drives, exellent! Virtually no lag at all, no boost spike, no funny noises, no stumbling, and it drives I think better than stock. First thing I noticed was the smooth but aggressive acceleration. Second was that the shifter felt like butter. Stock the evos shifter felt alittle notchy at WOT, but now its smooth as silk to shift. Only mod that we got that could have made the shifter feel so smooth was the engine dampener (highly recommended). What kind of surprised me was that the exhaust was not as quiet as I thought it would be. Low and bassy is the only way I can describe it. Still sounds good, but for people who say that the RSR exmag is almost as quiet as stock, I think they are exaggerating a bit. Boost has been set at 19psi by the shop owner stating that he felt comfortable leaving it there. Most likely in the future my brother will turn it up 1 or 2 psi. Wonder if he will feel a difference? Anyways the car felt like we just gave it a 60hp infusion. I think it was money well spent.
I think he will complete the motor mods for now with a fuel pump, some kind of tune, and maybe a maf hardpipe (dejon tool). AMS is sort of near by and I heard the have a new all wheel drive dyno. Not sure what a flash on there dyno will cost. We already know what a mail order tune will cost. Overall I am glad he is happy and is ready to mod some more. What doesn't make this situation so nice is that I have to mod my GTO more just to keep up. And I know for a fact that my wife is not so giving.

 

Well, regardless of any gains you're feeling from the butt dyno, you won't feel the REAL gains until you get a tune. AMS is not a flash tuner, so that won't help. You need a fuel pump and a flash to really make use of all these mods, and once you do, then you will REALLY feel the fruits of your labor. Btw, 19psi is stock boost for an 03/04. I'm not sure what shop you used, but from everything I've read, they don't seem too knowledgeable about Evos, despite what they claim. I could be wrong, but I can't imagine doing all these mods on an Evo and setting the boost below 20psi. 21psi is pretty standard...

Btw, overall, pretty good combination of mods you chose. The upper pipes were frivolous, but the rest was right in line with what I suggest. The mix-matched expensive exhaust parts could have been replaced with a much cheaper exhaust so as to leave extra cash for a mail-in flash ($199), which would have provided double the power gains (50-60whp instead of 20-30whp), but you live and learn I guess.

 

I think they are more used to dealing with 03-04 evos, but the install was nice. I don't feel bad about the hard upper i/c pipe. It was painted black to give the car a stock looking engine bay. Come on Warrtalon its not a completly useless mod. Kind of gives it that Ralliart look. With the exhaust I have to differ with you, I believe gone are the days of shiney coffee cans. Don't think they are cool anymore. I know we haven't been on the dyno yet or did a stock run, but I really feel like there is about 50hp in these mods. I'm just telling you about how the car feels, thats all. If there is another 20 or 30 to be had $199 will be worth it.

 

Hey i heard the weapon R is not soo good. it wears out and has to keep being readjusted or something like that. Instead spend the money on a fuel pump since it is something he will want later and there is only one choice (walbro) so cant go wrong there.

 

Put a dampener on your car and you will know what I mean.

 

It is pretty useless, unless you consider getting the Ralliart look to be useful? Some people do consider that a reason to buy a mod, and I try to remember that, but I only purchase power mods that provide additional power, especially when they cost a few hundred dollars (same as a mail-in Dynoflash that provides 20+ whp/wtq).

What do you mean by the shiney coffee can thing? Gone are the days? I don't care what an exhaust looks like. I only care how it fits, how much power it provides, and how much it costs. The Ex-Mag catback itself costs as much as my entire exhaust (if not more), but I can guarantee it doesn't provide more power. If I didn't have to pay for it myself, I'd gladly accept a Ex-Mag, but if I was trying to make a list of mods to most efficiently make use of a limited amount of money, it would not be on my list.

I know that you got a good butt dyno increase, but there's no way to feel 50whp, and those mods didn't give 50whp without tuning, especially when the boost was not raised above stock. Even at 21psi, it's unlikely that you'd gain 50whp untuned. For example, I'm currently only 60whp over stock with a catless TBE, mbc set at 22psi, and a full custom street tune. We often think we feel more than we actually do, then the dyno or drag strip reminds us we don't know as much as we think we know...

 

No, he was referring to the WEapon R being a bad piece. They all broke, and Weapon R had to completely remodel it, then refund or replace every one they sold. If you got the newly-revised version, then it should be fine, but it's definitely not something most Evo owners do early like this. I don't have one and will be going with the Forge (Powerflex) motor mount, which is preferable and far cheaper (again).

 

[QUOTE= We often think we feel more than we actually do, then the dyno or drag strip reminds us we don't know as much as we think we know...[/QUOTE]

Couldnt have been said any better. It's easy though to listen to people who u think know more then you. Im sure your car feels faster but 60 hp is definitly a stretch. Good luck with ur car either way!

 

Fine Warrtalon, you feel that the car did not gain that much HP thats ok. You obviously know more about how much hp certain mods give an evo. Maybe I am wrong about the 50hp thing. But I do know this, the car is fairly quiet, looks stock, accelerates hard, drives nice, and the owner is thrilled. Thats all that matters to me.
I felt we had to spend alittle more money to get the look, power, and sound we wanted. Sorry it did not meet to your standards completely. Only looking to impress the owner.

 

i think his car will take ur gto now, if not even whenit was stock.

 

I thought you did a good job. I was just letting you know ways to make it even better. I'm sure the owner is happy, but I'm also sure he would have been happy with another 30whp on the same money spent, too, right? That's all...

 

There is no denying that the car is probably faster now, and if u wanted it to be quieter and look stock still, then it is completely understandable. As long as ur customer is happy, good stuff!

 

Actually we did race a few times in different ways (from a roll, from a light, and higher speeds). I will admit from a stop I will have no chance on the street. At the strip, maybe a different story. From a slow roll and higher speeds I felt like I got the best of him. I wasn't completly stock at the time and he was. I have installed a few more mods since then, but I may have some trouble with the way his car feels now. Would I get my but whooped if he beats me, NO!

 

Check the AMS forums. They are flashing cars now on thier AWD dyno for $400.

 

Hey Lite Speed you sure did surprise him, he called me right away and he was as giddy as a school girl, you know how he gets, anyways i drove the car and the car pulls strong all the way to redline, a big improvement over stock, and as far as Warrtalon goes, don't worry about him his is very critical towards everybody, now u better anty up on your goat. I will also be lookin to buy a IX from u when my lease is up. See ya guys later!!