Write-Up: XP Cam & Valvetrain Install

So far running great. Having all my gears funtional again is nice. Shift kit works well. Coupler in the supercharger not being bad is also very nice. With the cam, exhaust, and 3.2" pulley, I'm seeing 10psi of steady boost from 12psi or so before the cam so it's doing something right. I've been driving my mother's 08 Toyota Rav v6 for the last week and a half so it could just be relative conditioning but it seems like the cam has made the car louder overall.

There's a very good chance I'll be going to the track tomorrow so we'll see what happens. I'm thinking I should be able to beat my previous best of 14.9 even though my current tires aren't as good. I'm going somewhere with my family this evening so I'm going to try to get my FWI built tonight so I can run with it tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to be feeding it some very hot air. It's supposed to be 82 and sunny tomorrow.

Random Idea - Is there a reason why I wouldn't want to header wrap my crossover pipe as I did my front manifold? I think the part I'd be actually wraping is more or less a heat sheild for it... No?

OMFG.....thats awesome!!!!! Congrats Turtle!!!! That thing sound great!! Post some numbers!!!

Sounds really nice man! Good job with everything!

Are you running 3" pipe on the entire length of the exhaust?

Wrapping the crossover makes sense to me. Should help with under-hood temps, noise, and also keeping the exhaust gases moving quickly after the front manifold.

I say you're running a low 14 with this set-up. Good luck!

wrapping the crossover shields heat and noise. I noticed a big difference in both (unscientifically)

did it go KABOOM? or what?

Byron's computer that printed out the time slips apparently wasn't working yesterday. They just printed the times out in full size sheets of paper and tacking them to the tower. It was also race bike day and my friend and i only got to run 3 times total. I got 14.778, 14.8xx, and 14.790 respectively. Needless to say I am a bit disappointed. I guess I should be greatful that nothing went wrong considering I just did a whole bunch of motor and trans modding myself that I've never done before. I beat my previous best of 14.9 which was with a 3.4" and FWI basically, oh and better tires.

I need to figure out what's going on. Everything seems to operate smoothely. The shifts were a little wierd.

One thing's for sure, I badly need some tuning! At the very least to get the shifts changed and get rid of some codes..

You need to call Paul at PRJ. He's not too far away from you and could probably hammer out your issues over a weekend.

that XP sounds very good

turtleman wrote:

One thing's for sure, I badly need some tuning! At the very least to get the shifts changed and get rid of some codes..

oh geez WHO NEEDS tuning your only gonna knock like .2 off your quarter mile with a properly tuned car DURR

You probably had a bit of kr etc and could use a good tune. It's amazing what a real tune will do for a car.

Don't be let down either, heat and humidty play a large factor on our cars.
Hot summer day I ran 14.1, cool fall night 13.1

A few more final pictures even though its a pretty inferior camera

The header wrapped PEM


Rebuilt FWI done

You shaved the back of the alt right? How much room do you have? That might give you a little KR if you can't fit a piece of paper in there.

BillBoost37 wrote:

You shaved the back of the alt right? How much room do you have? That might give you a little KR if you can't fit a piece of paper in there.

what does it mean to shave the back of the alternator?

98riviera98 wrote:

BillBoost37 wrote:

You shaved the back of the alt right? How much room do you have? That might give you a little KR if you can't fit a piece of paper in there.

what does it mean to shave the back of the alternator?

It means you drive a bonneville

The stock 96-99 alternator bracket on the Bonneville has the alternator in a place where it'll hit the casing if you try and put on a Gen V. A little shaving of the metal etc takes care of the issue.

I believe the Riv has the same alt and bracket.

Quote :

I believe the Riv has the same alt and bracket.

Yes it does.

Got around to header-wrapping the crossover. I was quite generous with the wrap. I very much considered ripping off the heat shield and just pounding the wrap on but I decided against it. Of course I spent some time cleaning the thing up first before I wrapped it, especially since I used the silca sealer which probably doesn't adhear very well to rusty flange surfaces. Currently, I've got about an hour left of baking and it will basically be ready to go back into the turtle. The above picture is after I cleaned it up.

whoa! What kind of header wrap is that? It looks like a polished stock heat shield.

Derek,...it's pre wrap.

turtleman wrote:

The above picture is after I cleaned it up.

installed

definitelly looks a lot fatter if nothing else. I did notice that a little while after baking, the outside surface of it was room temperature but the inner pipe and flanges would burn my fingers. That can't be bad.

how is she running?