Not trying to start flames either, but a lot of people on here like to think you have to spend big bucks because someone says they don't work.
POWER LOSS W/ HEADERS? HELP PLEASE
- Thread starter sbc.cobra
- Start date
i appreciate everyone's feedback...i should have left the brand name of the headers off b/c i don't think it's the headers at all. i keep telling him there's something else wrong, but a lot of the Lightning guys that were there were convincing him it was a backpressure issue. they know a helluva lot more about engines than i do, but a 70-80 hp/tq backpressure issue? that's a little high IMO.
Fiveohaden, to answer your question, it was not a Mustang Dyno.
here is another question....is anyone out there running headers w/ a 2.93 pulley (no lower pulley). i would be curious to see your #'s. please list your other mods as well so we can compare to his. if you don't want to list them, you can send me a PM if you don't mind. the closest mods so far are SoCalBlk03, but the #'s are much higher than my buddies car. the only difference i can see is the 2.80 pulley. same chip and everything else. thanks again.
Fiveohaden, to answer your question, it was not a Mustang Dyno.
here is another question....is anyone out there running headers w/ a 2.93 pulley (no lower pulley). i would be curious to see your #'s. please list your other mods as well so we can compare to his. if you don't want to list them, you can send me a PM if you don't mind. the closest mods so far are SoCalBlk03, but the #'s are much higher than my buddies car. the only difference i can see is the 2.80 pulley. same chip and everything else. thanks again.
Something is definitely going wrong. Could be a lot of things really.
That's typical Lightning owner mentality. Not saying this is *bad*, because I'm a former 3 time Lightning owner myself, but it's just from them being used to not have any gains whatsoever from doing high flow cats and catback. Those truck's factory exhaust kicks ass, and the ONLY way you normally gain ANY power on them is by doing the full exhaust, which consists of Long Tubes.
The Cobras are totally different animals, and they love to have their exhaust opened up to be nearly as free as possible. I would do a compression test on your friend's motor, and possibly a leak down test. This should help to solve the issue. If neither prove to be a problem, I would def. look at the tune again. I see he's running Autologic and is in TX. Did Houston Performance do the tunes?
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It would be nice to see the curves, both HP and Torque, including A/F.
JT
JT
i'll see if i can get the dyno sheets from him. he's on the other side of town, but i'll check. funny thing is, his dyno curve and A/F looked perfectly normal (about 20 different people looked at it and were scratching their heads). the #'s were just low. we even took out the spark plugs between dyno's to see if something was wrong and they were fine.
BNASPLT, HP did not do the tune. Sal (from Power Surger Performance) flew down from NJ (the HALO guys flew him down to do some tunes) and tuned everyone's car.
Hmmm, Sal is a great tuner, and nothing against him, but I'd like to see if another tuner could squeeze more power out for him.
There is always the possibility that the vehicle could have been in loop mode. I've seen this happen a many a times on Lightnings and Mustangs after computer resets and/or chip changes.
what is "loop mode"? the power loss problem existed before the chip went in. the chip bumped it up a little, but not the 70-80 hp/tq everyone was anticipating.
BBK catted H-pipe.
With my N/A '98 I lost 3 mph and 2 tenths with BBK's Longtubes and their matching catted H-pipe. When I swapped it for their off road pipe problem solved. I imagine on a forced induction car the problem would be even worse. I don't believe the cats BBK uses flow very well.
With my N/A '98 I lost 3 mph and 2 tenths with BBK's Longtubes and their matching catted H-pipe. When I swapped it for their off road pipe problem solved. I imagine on a forced induction car the problem would be even worse. I don't believe the cats BBK uses flow very well.
Re: BBK catted H-pipe.
I had to have my '96 Cobra tuned in order to bring my afr's in line after the BBK LT's and off roads. I made just a tidge over 300 rwhp with them, underdrives, and a chip. Ran a 13.02 @ 108.17 on street tires and the factory 3.27 rear gears. I should've done 4.10s or 4.30s and I'd have been running 12.6's :-\ Oh well...
I had to have my '96 Cobra tuned in order to bring my afr's in line after the BBK LT's and off roads. I made just a tidge over 300 rwhp with them, underdrives, and a chip. Ran a 13.02 @ 108.17 on street tires and the factory 3.27 rear gears. I should've done 4.10s or 4.30s and I'd have been running 12.6's :-\ Oh well...
let's assume that his compression is ok and there is no leaks...then what?
the gain was minimal, i think it was about 20 hp and 20 tq (give or take a few).
sal was under the impression that it was a backpressure issue as well, but wasn't positive (at least he didn't try to make something up that was incorrect). what's wrong w/ Sal? this was my first dealing w/ him and he seems to be pretty well respected in the Lightning community...am i missing something?
Nothing is wrong with Sal. I'm actually glad that he was able to get more power for your friend. So your friend made 410, or 430 when it was all said and done? I'm confused as to your original post at the beginning of this thread.
before the chip he made 410ish....after the chip and tune he made 430ish...did i post something different? if so, sorry, this is the correct #'s.
It's not that you stated something wrong, just how it was said, actually ;-)
See, I was under the impression that he only made 410/410 WITH the new tune! I see that he's making 430/430 now, though. K, better sounding, but still somewhat a lil low. I really don't see that it's a backpressure issue, though.
What was his afr's before/after the new tuning? Can you possibly get his dynograph and post it for us? Thanks!
yeah i need the before and after graphs...i'll see what i can do. his A/F was really lean before the chip, but that's expected b/c he had a pulley. i'll try to get something posted tomorrow w/ the graphs.
i'm getting the dyno sheets tomorrow or the next day and will upload them then. hopefully they will shed some light on the subject. should have before and after (the chip) graphs.
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