Finished 99 GT 3S-GTE Swap from Dr. Tweak UPDATE W/PICS AND VID Page 3, Titled "The Thing That Should Not Be" Options

[Fastbird]

"The Thing That Should Not Be"

This was a swap that should have never happened, and suddenly in April, a decision was made and the rest is history. Anyway,

Swap is DONE! Sadly, we didn't get to dyno tune it today due to a slight glitch, but it's running at pretty much 100%. Here's what was done:

JDM Gen II 3S-GTE w/ECU
eBay Downpipe
Custom 3" Exhaust system from ST Performance (all stainless, pieced together mandrel bends, Magnaflow muffler and resonator)
ATS Racing TB Inlet Pipe
ATS Racing GM Knock Sensor kit
GReddy Electronic Boost Controller
Perfect Power SMT-6 Piggyback
HKS BOV
Whalbro 255 LPH High Pressure pump (whines like a mofo!! )
Autometer Nexus Gauges in a Lotek Pod (unfortunately, Autometer forgot to include a power cable in the controller box, so they're not working yet).

I left the exhaust setup choice up to Dr. Tweak, and he did us right. My wife and I both popped a huge grin when we first heard the car. Sounds completely AWESOME.

We turned up the boost to 15 PSI, car seems to run really well. Down low is nothing to write home about, but at about 3000 RPM the boost comes on HARD and she pulls like a mofo on the top end.

Given that there wasn't a dyno tune, how much power and torque do you think I'm putting to the wheels??

Dr. Tweak, a review.

Dr. Tweak has been nothing but outstanding during this whole endeavour. His customer service is certainly top notch and he's done an outstanding job with the swap. He was having issues with getting the SMT-6 wired in last night and ended up staying at the shop until 3:30 in the morning and only got two hours sleep before coming back in to get everything polished up. If that's not a testament to his dedication I don't know what it. EVERYTHING works on the car, from the A/C back. Nothing but perfection. Everything was installed where and how I asked, cleanly done. He even installed a couple of "feeder wires" through the firewall in the event we decide to install anything in the future that needs wiring through the firewall.

Money wise, his estimation was almost spot on. Due to a couple of unforseen events I had to pay some out of pocket, but nothing terrible and certainly an understandable deal. I consider what we got to be well worth the money, and for anyone even contemplating paying someone the swap, I would highly recommend getting ahold of Dr. Tweak. He will go out of his way to make sure that you, the end consumer, is happy. A TRUE professional.

Feedback on dyno numbers please people. I'd love to have an idea of where we're at.

Lastly, videos to come. Took a couple today and will download and edit them into one vid when we get home tomorrow (parked in the middle of North Carolina for tonight).

This post has been edited by Fastbird: Jul 23, 2006 - 6:35 PM

[Fastbird]

Ok guys, here's my take.

Dynojet's are the industry standard for numbers, plain and simple. However, they're a no-load style dyno and use a standard 3000 lb drum (on the 248C at least). The inability to add or release tension while making a run to simulate real world road conditions (weight, frontal area for the drag coefficient of the specific vehicle) means that the numbers are relatively inaccurate.

Dyno's like the Mustang and Dyno Dynamics are actually MORE accurate if everything is calibrated correctly, which isn't hard to do. Yes they can be fudged, but the people you find doing that are the ones who are dyno racing for huge numbers as a marketing tool or bragging rights. Spend enough time around dyno shops and tuning facilities and you'll start to see how the numbers really stack up. On average, you can add about 3-5% HP and 10% TQ when transferring Mustang/Dyno Dynamics numbers to a Dynojet. I have seen this conversion repeated with fairly good accuracy quite a few times.

*Edit 2* I'm going to throw a couple more points in here concerning dyno's. You're going to have variations from dyno to dyno of the same sort, so comparing dynojet to dynojet results isn't going to be an accurate thing either. I know someone mentioned seeing nothing but higher numbers coming off of Mustang and Dyno Dynamics when compared to a dynojet, but you have to take in to account conditions, calibrations, SAE or STD power on the dynojet readout, ect. This is why dyno racing is crappy in it's own right, because there are too many variables to accurately compare numbers. Dyno's are nothing more than a great tuning tool. That's some of the best advice I've ever gotten. Admittedly, it's fun to compare numbers and see good results on the dyno, but the adage that track times don't lie holds true. anyway.......

The guys at ST Performance had theirs set up correctly for conditions and the Celica, I watched them do it. Time to let the cat out of the bag, we've already dyno tuned the car.

First pull, untuned, stock boost, made 210 HP (never looked at the tq).

Turned up the boost to 15 PSI, first pull there with no tuning netted 240 HP. Doc and I were both like "woah, that's awesome."

After tuning, final numbers were 248.9 HP @ 5600 RPM and 255 Lb/Ft of torque at something like 4500 RPM (dyno sheet is in the car). Those are real world numbers and the car backs them up on the road like you wouldn't believe (just ask my wife who was driving our 345 RWHP 93 TRans Am and did a 5th gear pull against the Celi in 5th also -- the Trans Am was out of it's powerband and she shut down early, but not before getting walked on by a car length or so). This was with IAT's in the 160 range (needs a more dense intercooler core) in 97* temps with about 35% humidity. Colder weather output would have been better. My dyno sheet I had printed showed 247.3 because it was the last pull of the day we made and the car was heat soaking pretty bad.

I may take it to a dynojet once we get cooler weather, I may not. *Edit* Actually, I think I will do it eventually as I want to make some changes to the tune and re-verify a couple of things, so I'll definitely get the run file so we can overlay everything for fun. I like that idea guys. */Edit* I happen to prefer the numbers that Dyno Dynamics or Mustang dyno's give as they're more accurate given correct calibration. On a dynojet on the same day this car would most likely have been well into the 250's on HP and 260-275 TQ. See why I say it torque steers like a mofo?!?!? Dr. Tweak and I were both stunned with the results to say the least. I'm half tempted to show up at the Philly meet on Saturday just to get some impressions of the swapped guys there (I.E. driving impressions) but probably won't make it just due to my schedule that day.

I'll be posting some dyno vids in this thread (a really cool one of the chart being made real time on a pull) as well as charts of the following: HP and TQ, HP and AFR, HP and Boost, for referencing purposes.

So, for now, we didn't break that 250 mark like we had hoped, but 248.9 is pretty dang close, and the 255 TQ is pretty dang impressive. I happen to think that the OUTSTANDING custom 3" exhaust by ST Performance had a huge impact on how things ended up. Thanks to them for the outstanding work (and ordering a set of S-Tech springs for us too, can't wait for those) and huge thanks to Dr. Tweak for all the work and effort, as it's paid off well. My wife (who primarily will drive the car) loves is, and I think you all already know that I'm getting a kick out of it.

This post has been edited by Fastbird: Jul 21, 2006 - 12:23 AM