Dana 36

Picked up a Dana 36 differential last night for Keira and I have to admit I'm a little excited to get this thing installed. Now the 36 isn't the super tough 44 model that I wanted and its actually the same one already in the car but this one comes with a 3.07 gear compared to my 2.5x currently installed. This is the exact gear I wanted for my intake setup and should provide me a good acceleration boost, lets just hope it lasts once my build is complete. I didn't pay much for the diff and it came with a pair of wheel bearings that makes this a super deal, plus I meet Norm, cool elderly man with some awesome old school ford hot-rods. Now lets hope the snow melts and the garage warms up so I can get some work done!

Dana 36 with 3.07 gear

Saw this Mclaren MP4-12C on my travels in Manhattan. Snow covered and rusting brakes.

New Year, New Plans

After a few less then eventful years tuning its time to get back into things, well hopefully. Work's taken over my life causing me to spend plenty of time away from home, and with the girlfriend and I looking at homes my schedule isn't looking anymore free.

First plan of action was consolidating my projects which meant Megan(silvia) had to go. Sold the car to two brothers in burlington so hopefully they fix her up and enjoy.

Minutes before she was officially sold

Second was I decided that the G35 wasn't the car I wanted and have now placed it up on the sales block.

Ready for Sale

 All that's left now is Keira(c4 vette). Nothing has changed since 2012 but I've already begun work. I've cleaned up the casting edges on the Edlebrock lower manifold, preparing it for installation. Just need to purchase an adjustable fuel regulator then I may begin tare down. I'm contemplating picking up some aluminum L98 heads and roller rockers to complement the build. But we'll see if I can find them for the right price.

Ports cleaned on the Edlebrock lower manifold

The Build and the Goals for 2013

Keira - Corvette
I have idiotically become attached to this car as its not the most attractive, reliable, or practical of cars but like a bastard child that has all the potential in the world, I will strive to prove the world wrong and that Keira is a fully capable performance machine, and that I'm a fully capable builder.

-Current 1/4 mile time is approx 13.5 and I would love to take a second off that. With the purchase of the G35 I no longer feel the need to keep the AC system. So step one is AC removal and AC delete pulley. I'd expect gains to be minimal but some reduced weight of 30lbs on the front half of the car is a plus. I'll baseline the car at this point but I'd expect a 13.5 quarter still. 
-Next mod will be an a later model ecu upgrade and possibly a chip for it but I'd personally like to have a completely stock chip. I would like to see a small improvement from the new ecu adapting better to the mods for an improvement of 13.48 in the quarter.
-Next mod I'd like to perform is removal of the cats, mufflers and a straight exhaust coming out of the center of the car with conical exhaust tips and possibly with resonators. I'd like to see an improvement in the quarter to 13.46 as the piping right now is very restrictive with the "S" shaped bends for both exhaust outlets
-After the exhaust is done I'll build an aluminum axle back double diffuser to complement the new exhaust. I'm hoping this helps reduce drag and drop the times to 13.45
-Once the exhaust is all done next is installing the SuperRam intake with edelbrock manifold with possibly larger injectors and a tune to support the mods. I expect big things from this mod and want to see 4 tenths off my time. This should keep my low end reasonable yet give me the horsepower I'm lacking to really make this car pull. My concern is the restrictive heads as the iron '85 L98 heads suck and at this point will 100% become the bottle next in this setup. Quarter mile times should be 13s flat.
-Following the intake install I'd expect the Dana 36 diff to be on the verge of exploding and the big gears will no longer be the best with the change to the SuperRam so a Dana 44 would be in the works and likely would come with a smaller gear ratio that would greatly improve acceleration. At this point I expect to be running 12.8's or better at the very least. If I get aluminum heads I want to see 12.0 to 12.5 and then I'll be done power wise and the following year the car will get very much time attack oriented.



$100 AC delete
$450 ECU upgrade (spent $100 on the ecu, tuning gear totaled $250 so far)
$400 New exhaust
$250 Diffuser
$600 SuperRam
$1000 Danna 44

-Tuning Stuff

G35
Well I'm very content with the car as a daily and the only things being done is the high flow cats which should give it a better sound and get the LSD diff rebuilt and installed. Once thats done I'll see what It can do at the track and I'll be pleased with anything near 14.5 in the quarter. I may lap the car if I can find time if the corvette isn't on the road. I need to finish my lap timer and ignition lock for both the G35 and corvette so I can start recording times at the track. I may also plasti dip the wheels and the front grill just to give it a bit of a different look.

$500 Berks high flow cats
$---- Rebuild LSD
$---- Plasti dip wheels and grill

New Best 1/4 mile

Installed some new parts on Keira so it was time to see the difference. I installed a TPI air foil which I didn't expect anything from and March under drive pulleys which made the engine feel a lot more responsive with better mid range.

I didn't improve as much as expected but consider my run had an average 60' and not the best trap speed with shitty gas, a 13.602 is a definite sign of improvement.

 

This car has some serious rubber!

And I started mocking up flares on Megan

New Best Time

Supposedly the L98 c4 is plagued with false knocks so at some point GM produced a replacement Knock Module that was less sensitive. Through some cross referencing online I found a new knock module for $30 from rockauto. Install took 30 seconds and then I decided to perform a very scientific test known as "seat-of-the-pants." In all honesty I thought it made the car worse. However my car consistently managed 100mph trap speeds at the track with shitty launches. Temps were slightly cooler then my other runs but its safe to say it didn't hurt the performance of the car.

My first launch being my only good one and best to date resulted in a new best time 13.675. Woot!

 

This car is awesome!!!! The aero body looked extremely well designed, nicely tight and compact too. Center lock wheels FTW. However I don't understand why this guy just sat in the pits tightening the odd bolts here and there and not even attempting to drive the car.

These guys just spent the evening hiding but there was plenty of nice cars on the track to provide apple action.

New 1/4 Mile Time

Set a new best 1/4 mile time this past Friday and new best mph. 13.8s and on a separate run a top speed of 101mph . New mods were light weight battery (-27lbs) and Z51 front lip.

FYI car in the left lane was a Jeep SRT8... damn!

At the end of this week I'm going to order a number of parts that most people probably wouldn't consider a performance mod. Hopefully we get some good results!

Z51 Front Lip Install

The Z51 Front Lip finally arrived the other day to my delight. The difference between the Z51 and base model is the Z51 is about an inch longer. The one received doesn't look like an OEM piece but certainly looks to be a better replacement. Consisting of thicker plastic, better defined holes and exceptional fit-n-finish.
Install is a minor pain in the ass with removal of the vacuum reservoir required. I painted the piece directing air to the rad as well.

Before

 

Comparison

After

How she sits now.