Performance parts for n/a dsm's

[myfirstTALON]

Is That Right A Header For $185

 

[Thunderskull]

Yep, I just bought one. You have to use a downpipe for a turbo car with it though. That's an extra $115 or you could scavenge one from a junkyard.

 

[Daedalus]

Just noticed that the header is on the featured products!!!!

WOO HOO!!!

All of those turbo guys are probably doing a double take!

It just makes me so ...... proud

I just wanted to post these larger pictures so everyone could see how sexy they really are.

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[Thunderskull]

Yeah, that is pretty sweet. I forgot to ask them if they have a bung for the o2 sensor. I don't see one in the pics. I'm assuming they're going to weld that on before they ship it?

I'm so happy that I bought the header/downpipe. It's not a bad combo for $300. It's more expensive then pacesetter, but cheaper than an Archer. It's even cheaper if you can scavenge a turbo downpipe from someplace.

 

[Damn 2nd Gear]

get some dyno #s for that and the gm maf please!!!!

 

[Thunderskull]

get some dyno #s for that and the gm maf please!!!!

I'm going to. I'm as curious as anybody else about what it's going to do. I should have the parts early next week. They're going on the car the first weekend of August. I'm getting the car painted at that time, so the dyno run probably won't happen until August 24th. I'll be able to tell you though whether or not I notice any gains by the seat of my pants once I get it installed with some basic tuning. I'm probably going to drop in an HKS 272 intake cam before the dyno run though. Hopefully, the translator will let me even out the idle.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Thunderskull]

Here's the email I just got from the guys over at Punishment Racing:

"Ok Your headeer is done and I will be shipping your
order out monday. I apologize for the delay, I had to
wait for some new style bends to get here, this way
there was fewer pieces to weld together, giving it a
much cleaner look. With the new bends your header came
out awesome, it looks much better than the picture's on dsmtuners, and I will using pics of it on the site and for future advertising.

Anyway sorry for the rambling, I'm just stoked on how
it turned out.

TC"


I'm all excited now. I'll let you guys know next weekend how everything goes together, and what my initial impressions are. Dyno numbers will be coming the week of August 20th.

 

[Mike1992]

Thunderskull - I wanna see pics when ya get it What size downpipe are you going with?

 

[Thunderskull]

I'm gong with the 2.5 inch downpipe. I will be taking pics during the install so everybody will get to see it.

 

[Daedalus]

SWEEEEEET Thunderskull!!! You best get some massive photos for me to drool over!!!

And be sure to post up a full review!

 

[Thunderskull]

Ok, I'll be receiving the parts from Punishment on the 9th of August. So, next weekend I'll be able to post a full review with pics, etc.... I'll be doing a few fuel mods at the same time. I'm going to install a fuel pump from a turbo charged vehicle, and I already have a afpr. I'm going to see how far I can go with that.

 

[Mike Marnik]

Its gonna be awsome having this site ull do great now that its easier to find stuff for the n/a ima stick to it ill be ordering your headers soon as i get money. the stage idea Daedalus mentiond sounds real good id go for that and maybe something to do with a head or bigger throttle body would be great

 

[Thunderskull]

Ok, the header and DSM Translator arrived today along with some minor parts. The filter and downpipe are on the way but got held up in Illinois for some reason. I expect them here by the weekend. The GM MAF and turbo fuel pump are on the way also. I expect them here this week. Here's pics of what came today. It looks like I just have to hardwire the wires from the translator to my MAF plug. They gave very detailed instructions as to which color wires attach to which color wires. The installation appears to be a complete no brainer.

 

[Thunderskull]

Ok, I received the downpipe and air filter. Here's a pic.

 

[Daedalus]

Thats sweet man! The downpipe looks nice and shiny! I was happy to see that there was a bung for the 02 sensor. I am wondering if modification to the sensor is neccesary ( aking it longer) or if it sits in the same position. Can't wait to see your full review!

Did you ever think of installing the header first and doing driving impressions and doing the MAFT second and then doing impressions of that so we can see the differences made by the individual parts?

 

[Thunderskull]

I don't know yet as far as the O2 sensor goes. I imagine that the wire will need to be longer. I'll make sure to take note of that during the install. Oh, and the GM MAF just showed up. All I need is the fuel pump and I'm good to go.

 

[Ralli///Art GS]

Hey quick word of advice on the o2 sensor. If you have to extend the wires do it on the harness that's on the car, not the O2 sensor. That way if you have to replace the sensor you don't need to redo the wiring again. I had to do that on my Borla header, it needed to be extended about 4 feet since the bung is below and behind the oil pan.

 

[Thunderskull]

Okay, I couldn't wait and installed the GM MAF and the translator last night. It is the 2.01 version so it is the latest version of the translator. The installation was fairly easy. The instructions from punishment were sufficient to hook up the translator to the stock MAF plug wired. I hooked up the tach wire from the translator to pin 2 on the CAS. It comes with the connector's needed to splice into the tach wire, though it doesn't come with the connector's for the other wires.

When you install the translator, you will have 1 wire from the stock MAF wiring (a red/black one) left over that does not connect to the translator. Just tape it off as there is noway to connect it and you don't need it. There is also a purple wire from the translator left over that is an aux wire that can be used to activate an auxilary fuel curve that you might use when running NOS.

The translator came to me set up for a 3 inch MAF and set to be turned with the air sensor input as opposed to rpms. Also, the base set to 3 which I believe is 15% lean. When you get everything hooked up, you might need to figure a way to support your intake pipe. I took some heavy gauge wire and tied it in place to keep it from bouncing around until I could fabricate something better. You'll be in better luck if you use the stock aircan which I didn't. I also need some wire loom and I need to drill a mounting point for the translator box. I have the box stuffed under a large bundle of wires. It's secure, but it's also very ghetto.

Ok, I did some seat of the pants/airfuel gauge tuning as I need a new logger cable. So, keep in mind that I am not tuning according to fuel trims, and I am running a bit rich as a result. Before you get started, don't forget to clear the ecu. I left the base setting at 3. I noticed it was lean at idle and idling rough so I raised the idle setting to 2 and it cleared that up. I put the mid and wot knobs to 1. I let one of my tenants block my garage, so I couldn't see how to ran till this morning.

All I can say is WOW! First, the car pulls like a raped ape compared to before. Secondly, it rides much smoother and the throttle response is excellent. I had a slight miss at idle which is now gone and it would vibrate bad at idle (which I thought was due to the solid motor mounts) which it doesn't do anymore. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if I put it on the dyno and saw that I got a 10 horsepower increase. It pulls that well now, and it didn't change the powerband. Keep in mind, this without real fuel tuning. Like I said, I'm running a bit rich right now. This was a good buy, and I recommend it to any 1st gen n/a DSM owner. Including the GM MAF it cost me just a bit over $300 for the setup. I can't wait till I get my new logger cable, and I can tune it properly. I just can't stop saying WOW!

 

[Damn 2nd Gear]

that damn big pic messsed up the post. but finally som results, kinda

that 10 hp your feeling is the 5-10 you might have normally gotten on another car with intake. since on most other cars thee filter and factory airbox are the restrictions our sensor is the restiction. im wondering why it took so long for a n/a guy to make something like this work when turbo guys figured it quite a while ago.

im still wondering abot the header. being that the collecter is so close to the manifold as opposed to merging under the car id like to see th effect that has on the powerband.

were all still waiting on dyno charts tho im sure if they had some these things would fly off the shelfs.




also is it me or is that NOT a mandrel bend in that downpipe?!?

 

[Thunderskull]

I agree about the intake. Without that sensor in the way it makes a huge difference. It's also nice to be able to do fuel tuning on top of that. Yeah, it's not as pretty as an AFC, but you can also tune based on engine load as opposed to using the karhman air flow data. I think the reason why folks weren't doing it with the n/a cars is the whole turbo culture within the dsm community. It's created a myth that some of the mods the turbo guys use aren't appropriate for us n/a folks even though they've never been tried. I think we're beginning to discover that this isn't the case.

The header and downpipe are going on the car this weekend. I'll post results once that is done. As for the dyno numbers, I'm taking it down the last week in August, maybe the first week in September. It's a matter of getting the dollars together for it.

And, no that downpipe doesn't look like it's mandrel bent.

 

[Thunderskull]

Here's a picture of GM MAF and translator installed in the car.

I warn you, it's fairly ghetto rigged.

 

[Mike1992]

Interesting

 

[na90dsm]

what year maf did you use. what chevy is it off of

 

[Thunderskull]

Sorry, I couldn't tell ya. Works like a dream though.

 

[Ralli///Art GS]

I notice most people on here that have a non turbo are really amature when it comes to automotive performance and what works and what doesn't. Take half of the posts on the "overkill on the CAI" thread for example, it's a god damn tube with a filter, how hard can it be? I think most people with a NT concider a filter and muffler a modded motor.... The turbo crew have more potential when it comes to making affordable power, so people who are into tuning and want lots of power will go with a turbo. I put all my money into suspension, and i can certainly stick with any turbo through the twisties, so it all depends on what you want the car for. I just think there are only a select few of us in the NT community that posses a depth of knowledge that stems past a filter and muffler, that's why it took so long for more advanced tuning and parts to come about. all IMHO.