OK, had the cam gears installed yesterday by Achtuning in Redmond, WA. Didnt have a chance to really open it up beyond a couple of freeway on-ramps and light city traffic. Anyways, this is what I've noticed and I wanted Shiv's input to see if this is the norm for stage 1 (cam gears, full t-back exhaust, xede) with a map (stage 1, 93 octane) pre-loaded by Brett.
- boost comes in at a slightly higher RPM
- the spool-up is more gradual (not the sudden BAM !)
- a tad louder under the hood
- boost guage showing peaks of about 1.55-1.6(metric)
- that relay with the xede ticks everytime you step on the gas aggressively.
Anyone with Stage 1 notice this ? Will further tuning by Shiv himself improve on both power and keep the same drivability ?
When are you making an appearance up here in the great Northwest Shiv ?

 

OK this is the thing the perceived midrange torque hump is still there its just not near as peaky(perceived fastness) instead the curve flattens (like we want it to) very nicely. The car needs to be driven it ripps through the gears and is an amazing transformation. The solenoid will click on boost thats normal. Your boost looks pretty good if you want take out .5 psi at the 1.6 bar peak using x map. You need more seat time to truly appreciate the change. I have seen it all too often in turbo car upgrades were the person mistakenly thought the dropped in a chevy SB after a round of mods thinking they could stomp the gas at any RPM and lite em up- this car pulls in the latter half of the band in fact all turbo SD motors do

 

Hi there,
The ticking from the solenoid is normal. We've currently trying a little trick (drilling a tiny hole in the relay and filling it up with epoxy) which seems to work so far. As for boost, it shouldn't spool up any later than stock. In fact, it should spool up a little early. It may feel a little less like an off/on switch since the XEDE doesn't control boost in the same silly way the factory ECU does. In fact, that clicking you hear is the factory ECU controlling the dummy relay in the XEDE harness in the same way it would drive the factory boost control solenoid (which is now being driven directly by the XEDE).

As for boost, you might want to bring it down to 1.4-1.5bar. I suspect the chilly weather up there is making you overboost. Follow the instructions that was posted up in this forum and it should only like you a few minutes to do so. Let me know if you have any questions...

Cheers,
shiv

PS. I'm sure to be coming up there within the next 2-3 months. I enjoyed my last visit..

PSS. Damn, MP5 beat me to it

 

On a sidenote... can you post detailed cam-gear install instructions on the website ? The sheet sent with the parts was not enough to properly swap the cam gears.

 

Also I was looking at the stage 1 but would like to know if I could run a different turbo back without any problems?

 

jman,

Have you noticed any more noise at idle? I had the cam gears installed by BM Tranny on Saturday, before my tuning session with Shiv. My car made 310 whp on the Dynojet. All the Stage 1 cars made between 310 - 320 whp. I noticed a new ticking noise over the last few days. I've only heard it after driving for 30 minutes+, or sitting in traffic. It must have something to do with the engine temp. It's a slight ticking or tapping sound that can only be heard from inside the car at idle. Sounds like it's coming from under the dash or close to the firewall. At first, I was freaked out thinking my cam gears weren't installed correctly. The idle rpms are definitely lower since Shiv's tuning. With the factory downpipe, I would hear a similar rattle, but I assumed it was the downpipe heat shields. It doesn't change with the clutch pedal, so it's not the throwout bearing.

Any ideas?

 

I had the inside of the top cover shaved off a little bit with a drummel tool. it was rubbing the belt, creating this ticking/slapping noise.

 

The guys at BM Tranny did shave the inside of the cover. It wasn't making any noise after the install. Another car was very noisy after the cam gear install, so they removed the cover and shaved the inside.

I think I'll remove the cover to check things out. Maybe the clearance is so tight that the higher temps are causing some rubbing. Puckadog's gears rubbed even after trimming the cover, but he was using Skunk2 gears. I'm sure the clearances are tight, but I can't hear any noise when I open the hood.

I need to put the car up on ramps. I thought the bolt holding the DP to the transfer case might have loosened up. That was a tough one to tighten.

 

it might be the Xede's really for the factory boost controler.

Tick tick tick under boost.

Eric

 

The only time the relay on the XEDE harness board should tick is just after start-up where the ECU does a little "self-check" to make sure that the solenoid is still there and during (and sometimes a second after) running under boost. If you're hearing ticking at idle, you probrably have an exhaust rattle somewhere. Just go through the system and make sure that everything is tight. A rattle should be fairly easy to find from outside the car also.

As for idle rpm, this should remain constant. That is, it should not change from stock since it is controlled via a closed-loop idle control system which "zeros in" on a certain idle speed (or slightly higher when coolant temps are low). Neither camgears or the turbo-back exhaust should make the engine idle lower or higher.

My 2c
shiv