[acammer]

Originally Posted by go_go_gadget88

This is basically what I am getting at as well. The passing point really hits home. I was cruising down the highway and got stuck behind a tractor doing ~65 (which was the limit but I usually run 70-71). We started going up a hill, and with my car in 6th, it literally didn't have the power to maintain speed, and started slowing down.

Not that I can't deal with it, but it was definitely eye opening to just how much these cars DON'T have down low. And this was before the gears, so I am certain it would be better now. But, my 2003 golf has no issues lugging up a hill without a downshift, for comparison sake. It actually feels faster passing without downshifting.


Now, is this an acceptable tradeoff for how much more top end power I have? Absolutely. Am I inclined to make it much worse to get a few more up top? Not really, but I would give up SOME. Hence why I want to see results. I don't have as much money to burn as other members probably do. $1500 is a lot of money to put down for something that may not benefit my driving experience.





Here's the link to the article, and the specs on the motor. Stock heads, unfortunately. I actually got to speak with the writer before the results came out (they were just finishing testing at the time) and after this came out, I knew why he said "don't get in a hurry to swap your stock one out."


https://www.hotrod.com/articles/gian...id-92mm-tb-jpg

That article was a great read - thanks for that. My take-away is damn, the stock LS3 intake is really good. I think they really missed an obvious test in there, they needed a rod-mod and ported stocker to compare to.

I was interested to read you actually can't maintain speed at 65mph with enough of a grade in 10th. Maybe it's the 4.10's making just enough difference in the rpm, but I can pull grades and still accelerate from 65mph in top gear with my car. It's no rocket ship in that condition, but it doesn't struggle. The SS3 is even more cam that what you have there, so it's not that - it's probably mostly the gearing I guess.