31 Oct Halloween Randoms
It’s not really a Halloween-themed entry, but we did want to acknowledge the holiday that Marzano hates for no real reason whatsoever.
Half of the randoms today involve the dyno. Over the last day or two, the dyno room has been action packed; from before-and-after runs to baselines, we’ve been keeping the dyno straps pulled tight and the ear protection on (some of the time). The first car to hit the dyno yesterday was this E46 3-series. First, we ran a baseline with the motor all stock. Without removing it from the dyno, we removed the OEM intake and replaced it with the customer-supplied K&N intake. From there, we ran it one more time to gauge a rough power gain. Surprisingly, it picked up between 5 and 8 rwhp on average, which is not too shabby for just an intake.
Next up, we had an E90 335i come to our shop last night for a bit of upgrading. Following an installation of some lowering springs, we strapped ‘er to the dyno and took a baseline for the next part install.
And what would that parts install be, you ask? Why, it’s the JB4 plug-and-play tuning device from our friends at Burger Motorsports. It’s a pretty ingenious device, really; all you do is plug it into the car’s harness (following the instructions, you renegades), and it has a number of maps that you can select based on the level of your supporting modifications. From there, all you really need to do is turn the car on and go. So, after installing the JB4 setup, the 335 gained about 60 rwhp. Once again, pretty damn good numbers coming from a single part.
Finally, we have one more contender on the dyno for a baseline. The Cleanest Engine of the Week award winner, a Mercedes SL600, has strapped itself onto our Dyno Dynamics rig for a couple runs while we prepare a build sheet for the owner, based on what we think would get him some serious power and help him stand apart from the OEM crowd. If he decides to go forward with adding to the power, you can damn well bet that we’ll be covering it with a close, watchful eye.
Over in the service bay, this vintage 911 looks like it has a motor in it. A 993 motor, to be exact.
Yes, as we said, the motor found its new home inside Tim’s old 911. With an extra 150 hp on tap over the original motor, and with a curb weight much lower than a 993, this should be a serious pocket rocket once it’s done. Sadly, it’s not done just yet. While we wait for the ECU to arrive, we’re going about hooking up all the shiny new oil lines, rerouting other lines to make sure everything has proper clearance, and hooking up all the assorted pieces of the car that couldn’t be done until we got the motor in. We’ll still need to work on a custom exhaust solution, as well, but things are moving quickly now that the motor’s in, so we should have more for you soon.
Finally, in other random news, we finally received the clamp we wanted for Perry’s 190. We figured Vibrant’s name deserves to be shown off whenever the hood is up (as a good bit of metal, fittings and clamps come from them), so we extended the turbo’s intake velocity stack just a little bit to make room for this clamp.
Have a Happy Halloween, and don’t forget — never try to poison a Bit-O-Honey before handing it out; pick a candy that kids actually WANT to eat.
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