JasonA Posted December 29, 2004 Report Share Posted December 29, 2004 Will I notice a difference in my 0-60 time and Qtr. mile time???? I'm looking to buy one but don't want to waste my money on something that won't do anything for me. Please get back as soon as possible i'm trying to work out a deal and I need to know what if it's worth the money.............. It probably won't improve performance much. Only so much you can do with spark and timing on a naturally-aspirated engine. The most noticeable difference will be the deletion of the speed limiter probably. Ask the guy why he's selling it. Perhaps because it didn't work well on his car? Only a guess. For your 90 bucks, you'll see more of a benefit from a set of Dynomax mufflers... Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac-etc Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Regarding the chips, you should search through bbobynski's posts (my advice, all of us should read all of them). In one, he pointed out that the 300hp northstar is a small displacement engine at aproximately 280 cu in. Other than a few in the 260 cu in range, that is about as small as they go (speaking of american "iron" that is). And its making more than a hundred hp per 100 cu inches already. The point is that this engine is as efficient and powerful as they can make it. A "performance" chip change things a bit, but there isn't much that isn't already designed in and I have not read of anyone who measured or even felt that they were making much of an improvement. If anyone has the time to find the post that Guru made along these lines then I for one would be ever appreciative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Here is one that summarizes it good: The factory cal has the correct spark and fuel for best power. The EGR is turned off at full throttle as is the AC compressor for max performance. You aren't going to get any better 0-60 acceleration with a "chip" in the Northstar..... 0-60 is tough to improve since you have a fairly heavy car and a relatively small engine (280 cubic inches).... Even if you could unleash a lot more power it would likely not help the 0-60 times much at all as the acceleration is controlled more by the torque than the HP of the engine....and making more torque is going to be very hard to do. In any case there is not any power left "on the table" with the production cal in the PCM....you get the max power the engine will make with the factory cal. Just make sure you have the best possible gas in it when you really want the best acceleration as the knock control will retard the spark if the fuel octane rating is not good which will cost power....but a chip will not fix this....good gas fixes this. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 NICE! So the bottom line is, the engine is optimized. I like this statement, In any case there is not any power left "on the table" How about this, we tear out the interior to lighten the car including the seats, console, spare, carpet, stereo, spearkers, fake conv top, and take everything down to metal... WILL THAT HELP?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dloch Posted December 31, 2004 Report Share Posted December 31, 2004 Want to improve the 0-60 time?? Change the converter.... Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an01sts Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Ranger: Inverting the air cleaner lid did increase performance throughout the rpm range. It let more air into the engine. The thing is that when you let more air in the engine, it lets more gas in the engine. (That's why I yacked with Guru about the clean/dirty air filter because I looked at it from both sides: I understand that cut the air back cuts back on gas consumption. The thing is where is the sweet spot--something that is hard to find documentation on.) Whatever that gizmo in the air box, I agree that it's there because it is cooled by air flow. I love the air intake debate: Again, we see it does nothing, does a lot, or decreases. The one that seems as the best answer is that of jadcock. It isn't that it decreases performance; rather, it shifts the peak of the power curve into a higher rpm band. For general street racing, you don't want to move the peak of the power band up in a higher rpm band. With the reply that it didn't change a thing: I have been doing a reading marathon on n/s performance upgrades. Based on what I have read, the general consensus is that the open element eats enough hot air that the higher air temperature negates the additional flow, meaning more noise, more gas, but no more performance. I also heard that without an exaust upgrade, a change in the air box won't make a difference. I don't have dyno tests or times to prove otherwise, but I do have 60k of street racing the car with the stock box, and 6k of street street racing with a modified stock air box. The modified air box gives some additional power. I view it as signifigant because it's a free modification. I did a similar air box modification as I belive one of you posters have posted, and I'm pleased with the results. http://caddyinfo.netgetgoing.com/dyno/auroraair.htm The thing I did differently was with the air tube under the air box. I have seen numerous comments about cutting a hole in the air tube. The problem with cutting a hole in the air tube is that the tube restricts the air box, as shown in the picture of the bottom of the air box and the mouth of the tube. (No matter how much you cut away from the tube, the neck still restricts the amount of air.) I simply removed the tube and sealed the bottom of the air box to the frame with strip caulk, ensuring 100% cold air pickup. I has also read about cutting a hole in the splash pan, but doing so spells disaster! It's not a case of if water gets in, but WHEN water gets in, your engine is almost garunteed a big gulp of water. Also, there is no reason to cut a hole in a the splash pan. If you understand the way the car is constructed, the area where the air tube lies provides more cold air then the engine can ingest; as a result, there is no gain by cutting a hole in the splash pan. One interesting thing about cutting a hole in the splash pan is that it may create an exaust port for the fresh air that enters from the grill area. In other words, a hole in the splash pan could--technically--create enough draft, whereby the air box may have to work harder to ingest air. My biggest concern with any alteration to the air tube was even the remote possibility of water ingestion. Because I had the front fender well, lower splash pan, and upper/under-the-hood splash pan off, I could evaluate the area. If this area picked up even a trace of water, it would have telltail dirt. I'm fairly secure with my best guesses, but I perfer factual documentation, especailly with something like this. I was fortunate enough to have a day with a day-long torrential rain. If anyone is fimilaiar with the comparision, this was like it rains in Texas. Driving the car at 55 65 through standing water for over 50 miles, I tested the vheicle, and the inside of the air box was bone dry. I'm too fussy about things being done right: This documented test was done in the most extreme water conditions that can be dealt. If there were a drop of mositure on the air filter, the modification wouldn't have been considred a satisfactory modification. I don't know about the design of other cars, but the ones that share the 01 STS design, the only way one would even start to worry about the car ingesting water would be to traverse standing water 5 or 6 inches deep. Even that probally wouldn't pose a problem at low speeds, but if the water is that deep, I aint gonna drive through it. I have also heard people say that it's merely a noise maker. If you have the splash pan off or have a hole cut in the pan, it's a noise maker. With the pan/fender well in place, there is virtually no noise increase, something that regular readers know that I'm not interested in anything that creates noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an01sts Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 I don't know how to hang multiple photos, so I have to do one at a time. These are before and after of the air box mod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
an01sts Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 After. One thing I want to mention is that it seems that the mod has cut into my mileage just a hair. I guess more air means more gas-huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yenko Posted January 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 So do you see any real signifigant increase in power? And how did you know what you were doing. It looks great.......... IMPORT CRUSHER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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