Winning the war against KR

I thought I would take a moment to share by personal battle with KR.

Like most 95-99 rivi owners, I was intrigued with the idea of swapping pulleys to increase performance. My brother has a heavily modified GTP, and shared some of his knowledge with me. Also, I scoured this site, as well as the other relevant sites. I read up on the vendor sites as well.

First on my attack list was the gutting the airbox, and slapping in a K&N, followed by a 3 inch downpipe, and a gift of V Force mufflers, that were just too loud on the GTP. Next came the 104 plugs, the PRJ wires (just because) and the 180 Tstat. I felt ready to try a pulley, and bolted on the zzp system with a 3.5. I thought I was a well-prepared soldier, knowing the KR war could go on, but I was launching a good offensive.

I scanned, and realized I had completely underestimated the enemy. I saw as much as 5KR under heavy load.. Damn. I also realized I had committed a tactical error- in my haste, I had forgotten the advice of the many generals I had consulted - I forgot to scan before I started adding mods.

Perhaps i was trying to take too much territory at once,,,I backed off to a 3.6 pulley. Surely that would do the trick, right? Nope. I scanned again and still saw up to 4KR. So pissed.

I started looking at my options. Like I said, I have a bro with a heavily modded 3.8, and I know what trick heads and cam and headers can do. But that wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted something more subtle.

Despite the mixed reviews, I ordered a stainless powerlog from ZZP. Would this be the final artillery piece needed for my offensive?

I plugged in the scanner and went for a ride, and ...Victory! KR was finally defeated. I think the highest we saw was a split second of .6 KR. I might try removing the resonator and see if it helps at all.

So, if you are reading this, and considering your own war against the forces that plague our beloved rivieras, heed my advice. No two of these cars react in the same exact way to mods. There are so many variables to be considered - even the differences in the build of the engine at the factory can skew your projected results. You may lose a battle before you win the war.

Having owned two of these cars now, I can say the mods, even on the milder side of things like mine, really make a difference. And opening up the throttle on a nice sunny day is a great feeling. Good luck!

One warning against the zzp powerlog... I read on another site that someone who tunes extensively found that the zzp powerlog flows so well that it can cause an unevenness between banks. I don't tune myslef but so its a bit hazy to me but he said that he had to compensate by adding more fuel to that bank to keep it from running lean. I would recommend that, if you have the tools and the skills, you port the rear exhaust manifold to help bring both banks to even flow. As it stands now you may have went from the rear outflowing the front, to the front outflowing the rear. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with the riv!

If this is the case, it's easy enough to tune with HPT or DHP software (adjusting IFR on front or rear banks would do it). On the other hand, by the time you buy a power log, tuning software, and a laptop, might as well install headers. On the 'other' other hand, if you're going to bother installing headers, the mod bug will bite again - more mods will follow. Tuning is essential at that point. It's a Catch 22.

Very true! And if you're going to bother getting headers you might as well tune for them as well! Lol its a vicious cycle