Thread: time to make some decisions

so ive decided against putting on my ssic. i feel that making a little money from it and not ever having to worry about a pump dying to keeping fluid in it and having it all work together is my best option at the moment.

HOWEVER, i do still have a 3.2 pulley that i would like to run. on the 3.4 that i am currently running i barely have any knock, maybe 1.5* that comes up around the top of second. when i toss the 3.2 on it goes up to 3-4*, which i dont like so i took it off. mind you, I AM UNTUNED. a friend of mine threw a dhp 1.5 bin on my car when i got done with all of the work a long time ago. i just have a few codes deleted for the egr and random misfire due to my having a TEP cam at one point (this cam was MEAN!).

what are some things that i can add to my setup to allow me to run this pulley? ive been contemplating running a little meth/alky/water. does anyone have any ideas on which system and setup would be best for me? i also think that it would be easy enough for me to find a set of used heads, have them ported and cleared for a decent cam, and rebuilt. im not buying vendor heads, way too expensive when i can take them to a speed shop and save myself $1000. in all honesty, the stage 3 heads out there are really light porting in the real world of cars. but for now, i just want something to help me with my setup as is (no heads, no cams).

suggestions?

im not a very avid believer in nitrous. i dont want to run it in any case. besides, i dont want to refill the bottle.

im really leaning towards just a light mist into the throttle body to cool the charge, but im not sure if thats what i want to do either. i would like to run whatever pulley i can with around 18* of timing. as it is right now with about 14* when its hot and 16* when its cold, the car feels doggy.

i have a wideband and a happy knob ready to go in whenever i get the chance. i wouldnt get a tune from a shop either. id end up driving north a little bit to a local guy and just drive around with him for a while.

this looks like a pretty sweet setup:

Water Injection - Alcohol & Methanol - Stop Knock - 150 PSI Stage 2 Digital Progressively Controlled Kit (Powered by CubeCart)

maybe someone who uses alky can come in?

I have been doing a bit of research myself on alcohol injection and the data looks promising. As far as im aware it significantly lowers intake air as well as boosts the octane of your fuel. The up side its like running an intercooler and high octane fuel. The downside is that it is not constantly running like either of the two. I got a system from a friend and havent installed it yet so i have no first hand experience unfortunately.

If you plan on running the 3.2 pulley on the street then the alochol is not the way to go. If you plan on running it on the track and the 3.4 on the street then it is a great idea.

First and foremost you should really tune your vehicle. It could help you decide which step you need to take next if any. Other cheep ideas would be a cai or fwi or colder spark plugs.

ive got all the small supporting mods already as well as all of the exhaust and valvetrain mods up to a cam. ive had my car apart far enough to work on every part a few times.

the only options i have left are: ported heads, cam, intercooler, or alky/meth/water injection.

i already have an ssic setup at home, i just dont know if i really want to put it on.

when i get everything done i wanted to get a tune with all of the PE and other crap done, but i can take care of fueling and timing with my afc and happy knob. those are the important things to be able to control anyway.

what nozzle do you suggest i get, an M3? M4?

have you ever tried to run straight water on your setup?

if i was going to go this route, i was going to run a 50/50 of water and alcohol. so basically windshield washer fluid.

I personally think its a good idea you're selling the SS IC. IMO, if your getting an IC get a Full Sized and when you do that get a GM Pump and have a realible setup. I've had my set up near 3 years now mostly being a DD and I never had one single problem yet. If you buy a cheap ass pump, expect problems. The GM or Bosch pumps cost $100+ but are realible and very efficent. The SS IC comes with a Flojet and they can be unrealible, i've seen many fail. Spend the money on a GOOD FMHE and a GOOD Pump and you'll have no problems.

Otherwise do alky, with a good tune it can net you some gains. IMO, way better than just an SS IC can offer...

well, my problem with the ssic is that i just straight up dont want to install it. ive been looking in other directions as far as cars go and im not sure i want to take my car much farther than it is now. this is why a full size intercooler wont be my next option either.

if i had the money to do it i would buy the cheapest set of heads i could find and then take them to a local shop and have them work the heads. i would then run a smaller cam that has a ton of low end and then run some higher ratio rockers as well.

although it is a dream of mine to run an IS3, id much rather have a cammed v8. that would also eliminate the worst part about these cars, FWD.

no doubt. i agree with every part of that statement. looks like alky here i come.

when you have an alky kit, do you have to run it all the time on the car? or can you just switch it off when you don't want it? Also, how much of the alcohol/water mix do you go through with this, does it need to be filled very often?

Originally Posted by 2000GTP

when you have an alky kit, do you have to run it all the time on the car? or can you just switch it off when you don't want it? Also, how much of the alcohol/water mix do you go through with this, does it need to be filled very often?

Alky kits have an on/off switch so they are not on all of the time. The brands i know of even have a variable flow switch [or whatever it may be called], it controls the amount of the mix you are using. You can even get different size nozzles for more/less flow. With that being said its made obvious that the frequency to refill it depends on how much you use it.