Let's talk mods

[chow]

I'd just like to bring up this thread with all of you. In ALL honesty, consider all the times you had buyers remorse, actually realized you fell victim to the placebo effect, how have all your mods benefited you or your car? BTW this is for a 3.5 MT A/C

For instance, I bought my car in 2008. Drove it for 5000km and threw on an INJEN intake and gReddy exhaust. The power difference? Hrm.. I don't really know. I should have gained somewhere around "30hp" according to advertisements, but that would make no sense to me as they really don't do all that much. Anyways, the reason I THINK they gave me extra power is because it made the car sound MEAN, VQ mean. I don't regret these purchases at all, My car is sex to the ears.

More mods came, short shifter from RL -great product, the only one actually, that made a noticeable difference.

Now for the more iffy mods. The RL Y-Pipe made the car sound even more mean, again, I considered this mod a sound mod even though dynos show that an 11-13hp/tq power increase . Call me insensitive, but I didnt feel a difference. Maybe I need a HUGE turbo and an increase of 30% HP/TQ to feel the difference.

Now, the latest purchase, the BD tuner GT. I have to say that this product is super iffy. It's the smallest thing I've ever seen in my life. It gives me the most problems, albeit i had a lot of fun watching the graphs move when I first got it. After 6-8 months with the product im beginning to question its uses. 1) When I tune from premium down to normal- I really don't feel a difference. On top of that, the numbers on the graphs dont change either! It seems like its programmed to be the same either way. I'd love to rip my intake out and then check A/F ratios. 2) THE DAMN THING GIVES ME THIS STUPID ERROR everytime I go to change premium tune to any other sort of tune! It downloads the program to my car, then at 90% it gives me this error and says it fails.. It then restarts itself. This made me start questioning if hte product does anything at all. I've updated my BD tuner to the latest version, yet it still crashes everytime I update anything. I don't even know if my cars on premium tune, last I knw, it was. But after it crashing so often, I can't tell.

Anyways, let me know how all of you feel about your mods and give us a realistic HP increase you've felt with the car.

[johnnir3volution]

hmmmmm.. If you dont feel any diffeence in the mods then try taking all of them off. Once you have returned to stock and it feels the same then i suggest selling the parts to make some money back. But if you do feel a big diference then this answeres all your doubts.
With the BD GT tuner, try calling the tech from bullydog and have them install the program to your device. I did that 2 days ago when i received my Triple BD GT tuner and the installation was smooth like butter.

[CoupeVQ35CVT]

Ditto. I have a catback and RL y-pipe, but mine's a 3.5 CVT. I also have what I think are better tires, Falken 512s which I would assume would help with a better launch. I actually went up against a bone stock 3.5 cvt last month or so from a roll and a stop, and guess what? My car seemed the same from a stop, and from a roll slightly SLOWER until I hit past 80+ mph at which point I started to gain on the other coupe. Even then it doesn't make sense, as the engine was at a constant 5700-6000 rpm being it is CVT, so the whole "upper power band" thing wouldn't apply here as it would a traditional transmission where you go through the rpm range with every shift, and maybe then I could say the mods increased my "top end" performance.

Aside from this visual perception, I can say with most certainty, that I do NOT FEEL any difference, as the total gain if it is even 15-20 whp, is still less than 10% of the stock 230-240 whp, barely much noticeable.

Like you, I consider them sound mods at this point, and am glad I spent the least amount I could on these (ebay catback, and RL -Ypipe cost me a grand total of $700 installed or so).. Sure I may be quicker than a stock coupe, but it's a very slight difference, nothing obvious, unless you get a turbo.

[Ranga14]

Probably the best comparison video is the one CoupeVQ35CVT and I made here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBtzHJvWmE

That was before I was boosted and him having just the cat back and stock tires.

[nig1]

I just get mods for aesthetics so I'm happy.

[johnnir3volution]

Probably the best comparison video is the one CoupeVQ35CVT and I made here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBtzHJvWmE

That was before I was boosted and him having just the cat back and stock tires.

So you had, AEM intake, Y pipe, & nismo catback vs eBay catback.
Looks like it does make a hell of a difference from The vid

[Ranga14]

Plus Stillen Pulley and BD Tuner. Almost every bolt on at the time.

[DJ_B_Easy]

I still cant believe that people dont feel anything off of the Y Pipe...

I installed my K&N intake and RL Y Pipe on the same day, at the same time. Meaning 8:00 AM bone stock, 12:00 noon intake plus Y, no drive in between that time. I could not believe the difference I felt. Not even necessarily more power or "butt dyno" orgasm. Just how effortlessly the engine was achieving speed and keeping it. Going up hill for instance was a big noticeable difference for me and the best example I can give. My AC used to struggle on some hills in my area, now it coasts up them with no problem. Yeah the sound is there and its meanER, but that isnt going to make me feel a difference in how may car is performing. I dont know, did I get the Holy Grail of Y Pipes? I wish everyone had the same experience I have had, makes me feel bad for Racingline getting all of this bad press when I couldnt be happier with the result.

Weird...

[johnnir3volution]

Plus Stillen Pulley and BD Tuner. Almost every bolt on at the time.

Hey David, I've been thinking about getting the stillen pulley. Did you feel any difference?

[BamaCoupe]

This is why I plan to only go with the cosmetic mods; at least with cosmetics you get noticeable results. I learned my lesson with a Diamond/Star with the 420a; I installed an Apexi cat-back, Greddy header, AEM intake and I had the head port matched / port and polished when I had to replace my head gasket (dang OEM head gasket on a 420a is like note book paper). But with all that I felt no difference; yes I did one mod at a time rather then all at once so that's maybe why I couldn't tell a difference. All I know is that the car was one of the slowest cars I've owned when I got it; it was still a very slow car when I sold it, even my wife's stock 3.0 CL was head and shoulder faster then my car. Even though it is several thousands of dollars the best mod for your money is boosting; I sent about $2,500 with (what I could tell) no results, but with that $2,500 back and about another $2,000 I could have boosted and had something. As for sound (this is what I'm thinking about doing) you can always take off the primary cat., gut it, then put it back on. I would think you would hear a difference, and with the stock resonator and muffler on I wouldn't think it would be raspy or too loud, but I could be wrong.

[QR25DE]

OP: I think you are expecting too much from bolt ons honestly. As for you BD Tuner, it's broken or it can't read your ECU. Get it fixed so it makes a difference.

Really all I can say. The mods you have do increase HP and TQ, however, you're not going to get anywhere near 30WHP from exhaust and intake. Typically changing these things improves intake and exhaust flow which yields a smoother power band and quicker response.

You're already making enough HP with the 3.5L, if you want it any faster you'll have to go FI.

Mods I did before turbo:

1. Intake.
2. Bully Dog Tuner (Power Pup).

I know I have a 2.5L so it's a bit of a different beast, but the same things apply. With these mods it certainly was a bit quicker.

I didn't see the point in adding anything more N/A so I went FI. Once I had the turbo on with stock exhaust, I put on the Greddy Cat Back system (Elite) and noticed a huge gain after 3000rpm. The stock exhaust system on the 2.5L and 3.5L is restrictive, you can tell just by looking at it. Not rocket science.

[fenderpicks]

Im sorry for being a noob but what exactly does a Bully Dog Tuner do for u..?

[BamaCoupe]

Im sorry for being a noob but what exactly does a Bully Dog Tuner do for u..?

It's a Tuner; I'm guessing timing, gear ratio, Air/Fuel and I'm sure other things can be adjust with the tuner.

[QR25DE]

Bully Dog Tuner does not adjust gear ratios...

The tuner will do the following:

- Engine Timing Advance/Retard +/- 2 Degrees.
- 3 Tune Levels (just run premium tune with 91+ octane).
- It has other functions as well, such as a gauge monitoring system (based off of OBD2).

Fully firmware update-able and you can flash right back to stock as it saves a dump of your stock ROM.

To see the benefits you should have at least an intake. If you do not notice much improvement, other things can contribute to it, such as:

- Extra weight in the car (this includes larger heavier rims, stuff in the trunk and passengers).
- Crappy gas.

The whole system is a "closed" system, so you get what is programmed into the tuner and that's pretty much it. It's kind of like a piggy back system but not in the same token.

If you want full control over your tuning you will have to switch to something like UpRev which I run to adjust everything.

[AlexM.]

Are these fake ECU chips? http://www.gfchips.com/ I saw an ad for them on here so its making me question myself. If I saw these anywhere else I wouldn't even think twice.

[QR25DE]

Are these fake ECU chips? http://www.gfchips.com/ I saw an ad for them on here so its making me question myself. If I saw these anywhere else I wouldn't even think twice.

Fake. They modify your MAF/MAP voltage. So your car thinks it is seeing colder air when it's not. This sometimes will get you a couple horses but it's really bad for your car.

Stay the hell away from them.

In no way do you want your car to read 14.7 AFR on load, even on N/A cars. It should be 14.7 at idle, that's it. For NA you can dip down to around 12.5 (richer) at full throttle. On a boosted car you want around 11.5 AFR.

[AlexM.]

Thanks thanks

[BamaCoupe]

Bully Dog Tuner does not adjust gear ratios...

The tuner will do the following:

- Engine Timing Advance/Retard +/- 2 Degrees.
- 3 Tune Levels (just run premium tune with 91+ octane).
- It has other functions as well, such as a gauge monitoring system (based off of OBD2).

Fully firmware update-able and you can flash right back to stock as it saves a dump of your stock ROM.

To see the benefits you should have at least an intake. If you do not notice much improvement, other things can contribute to it, such as:

- Extra weight in the car (this includes larger heavier rims, stuff in the trunk and passengers).
- Crappy gas.

The whole system is a "closed" system, so you get what is programmed into the tuner and that's pretty much it. It's kind of like a piggy back system but not in the same token.

If you want full control over your tuning you will have to switch to something like UpRev which I run to adjust everything.

Yah I was taking a guess at what it all does; I kind of was scratching my head on the gear ratio, so thanks for the correction.

[Ranga14]

Probably the best comparison video is the one CoupeVQ35CVT and I made here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBtzHJvWmE

That was before I was boosted and him having just the cat back and stock tires.

Is it just the way the video looks or were you guys traveling down a hill?

Yeah, we were a little, this is a better comparison at highway speeds;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVNocgOm1AA

Hey David, I've been thinking about getting the stillen pulley. Did you feel any difference?

Yeah, a little bit, it's the one mod that I still have after boosting. It mainly reduces drive train loss due to the stock pulley weighing a ton, but the 2.5 pulley is different than the one for the 3.5. Not real sure on the difference for it.

[QR25DE]

While I agree with you on it being worthless, it's about as harmful to your car as a Bullydog Tuner.

Not to be the bearer of bad new but it's certainly more harmful than the BullyDog Tuner.

The BD Tuner operates by actually flashing the ECU/PCM with updated fuel tables and so forth. The "GFCHIP", for example lets take a Dodge Neon, hooked into the IAT sensor via... 2 wires.. This just simply "tricks" your ECU to read colder air when it's not. This IS harmful to your motor because the ECU runs the table for a colder temperature when it's not that colder temperature out and does the following:

1. Puts in too much fuel.
2. Changes the timing.

The causes the following:

1. Detonation, especially on 87 octane.

Which causes the following:

2. Heat and engine knock.

The GF Chip is no different than any other "ebay" chip. They just branded it and marked up the price with fancy logos and claim they support all cars.