GPI - Great again!

[dentnshell]

Took the car up to GPI for a Tune updated after the LSA Conversion this summer.

first of all let me say that Andy at ADM was awesome, he runs a great shop and I would take my car back to him in a heartbeat. He did a conversion on my car that already had a GPI SS1 VVT cam installed. This is not the best CAM for FI. Once done the drivability of the car was spot on. It was great.
But....
I knew that Ryan at GPI could improve upon the results. Mostly because GPI completely embraces the idea of VVT.

I am stuck with 91 Octane in my area therefore my numbers are slightly lower than i would like.
After the cam GPI put me at 457 RWHP on a 60 degree day a year ago

Andy dynoed the car 9 months later and put the car at about 425... After the conversion the car did 569 RWHP this summer on ADM's Dynojet, temps were above 90 degrees.
GPI 4 months later temps were about 40 degrees and GPI's stingy dyno placed me at 549....

Ryan put back in some of the VVT tables added some fuel at the top end and it is apparent the VVT allowed the car to keep some power both HP and TORQE at the 4000 to 6000 RPM range, which is great because that is where the butt dyno really feels it!
The car finished the day at 578.8... that is a 29 HP jump and if you look at the graph you can see the 20 to 30 HP increase beginning at 4500 rpm and maintaining that to the end of the run!
This to me shows the power that VVT can have.

Ryan is a more aggressive tuner especially if you consider the RPM's he allows the car to go to! But the tuning is spot on and I feel confident in the reliability of the car.


Let me say that the GPI team was great again... Ryan was busy porting heads on a new 6th Gen. Aaron was working on a SS1 cam a "customer" installed in a truck that they brought to GPI to diagnose an issue.
These guys like all of the good shops are car guys. They are not great business men... they are not setting at a desk running a website to make money... They are busy working on cars. While my wife and I were there, we were their most important customer, and as always were welcomed into the shop... There is nothing to hide. While we were there I know Aaron was busy diagnosing a customer installed cam that had a no start issue, then as we were about to leave was taking a phone call from a guy looking to buy parts and get a quote... "Tire kicking" I know this is the nature of the business... This may be seen as a GPI weakness to many forum members, I personally am happy that these guys spend more time with a wrench in their hands than they do on a phone or behind a keyboard! For that reason... I am more than happy to wait my turn for a quote or advice from GPI.

I now have to save up and find a good reason to make the 4 plus hour drive back to GPI... Time to start researching my 91 octane issue.... Maybe my car will soon develop a "Meth addiction"

[Rob Russell]

Great read! I've heard tremendous things about Ryan and the whole GPI company itself. I'm pondering on getting the ss1 vvt cam as well, but probably having the guys at GPI put together a cam/heads package for me. And if I ever get around to it, I would have no problem driving the car 9 hours north from Houston to have the guy's work on it.

Those are great numbers! Do you have any other mods, and is your tq converter stock?


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[dentnshell]

Stock converter. The SS1 was great. We have done a few things to the car since the start. The SS1 cam by far gets the most attention.

If I were to do another car on a budget things I have seen the most performance out of
CAM
Rear Differential ( better locker ) the Posi-mod on a Cammed car would be sufficient.
Solid subframe bushings.

I had GPI do the intake rail mod when we did the cam, of course it is gone now. There is no doubt that FI will get you more bang for your buck than a CAM alone. It all depends on what you want.
Last year when we did the CAM. we drove in for a 7:30 am appointment. They hooked us up with a rental car and we drove out the next morning about 9:30 am after the dyno tune... Ryan did the street tune the night before.

A car from North Carolina was loading up to leave the morning we got there. If you want to keep VVT, book the trip!

It is hard to beat the SS1 for a NA Daily Driver. The SS1 did push a little at a stoplight, but it is my wife's daily driver. The SS2 would need a Converter, it produces more power but most of that power is at the top end... The SS1 provides more power under the curve when you look at the total RPM range.... It all depends on what you are going to do with the car. After the SS1 / Intake Rail mode / Z28 CAI / Stainless Power 1 7/8 w HF cats / NPP exhaust, she maintained 18.2 mpg as a daily driver with 457 HP 425 ft-lbs. If you have 93 octane available you would be able to put some more timing in the car and I would say you could get another 10hp easily. Heads wold get you an additional 12 or so. (Just guessing ) Call and talk to Ryan or Aaron. Make sure and leave a message, because odds are they are in the shop working....
If you are going to do a converter they have no problem doing a custom grind to put you right were you want... It is really no extra money. Something between a 1 and a 2 with a converter and a 3.91 with posi-mod would be alot of fun! And a head turner.

[jc615]

Made the drive up to gpi after installing my ss4 and some other parts. Good group of guys and took care of me. Would go back

[Rob Russell]

Absolutely. I'll definitely keep that in mind. I rarely go to the track, maybe once a blue moon. But I would definitely love to have an absolute street bully.

I've already got kooks 1 7/8 w/ HF's, k&n cai, a FM Force II axle back, and a tune from Hotshot here locally. I just need a little more. My goal is to have a 475-500rwhp car and I'd be content with the whole car to where I wouldn't want to bother with FI (all though it is fun).

And I am going to stay VVT. A lot of guys do the ls3 conversion, but I've heard great things about the VVT motor. As far as the cam goes, I'll probably stick with the SS1 VVT just because I don't really want to change the converter. If anything, I would put a 2800 max.

Another upgrade probably will be the rear end. I'm kind of stuck on what gears to go with though. I've heard leave the 3.91's for the 1LE; 3.73 was good and bad; the 3.27 set up it comes out the factory with was perfect and similar to a 4.56 gear on a truck. So I really don't know which direction to lean.


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[hammdo]

I too kept VVT and did install the SS1 -- while not a FI cam, it has nice manners for sure -- and I do road race it -- FUN!

GPI is awesome as well as ADM. We are so lucky to have these kinds of shops available to us.

Glad you got it dialed in -- Its fun for sure! Congrats!

-Don

[Rob Russell]

Originally Posted by hammdo

I too kept VVT and did install the SS1 -- while not a FI cam, it has nice manners for sure -- and I do road race it -- FUN!

GPI is awesome as well as ADM. We are so lucky to have these kinds of shops available to us.

Glad you got it dialed in -- Its fun for sure! Congrats!

-Don

Have you put your car on a dyno? And did you leave your tq converter in as well?


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[hammdo]

Yep, 590+ RWHP on 6 PSI boost, stock ZL1 injectors, pulley, stock converter. I did the GPI Cam/ported head package along with the ADM LSA Kit.

Runs awesome and is a ton of fun on a road course. Just did some updates to the suspension so I'll be heading to NCM next year to see how those do...

I have 15k miles on this setup. It's been a winner for me. Just what I was looking for when the LSA deal from ADM came up 2 years ago...

The cam/LSA install on my build thread starts I believe page 3 goes to about 20. So much more than that is on there...

-Don

[Rob Russell]

Originally Posted by hammdo

Yep, 590+ RWHP on 6 PSI boost, stock ZL1 injectors, pulley, stock converter. I did the GPI Cam/ported head package along with the ADM LSA Kit.

Runs awesome and is a ton of fun on a road course. Just did some updates to the suspension so I'll be heading to NCM next year to see how those do...

I have 15k miles on this setup. It's been a winner for me. Just what I was looking for when the LSA deal from ADM came up 2 years ago...

The cam/LSA install on my build thread starts I believe page 3 goes to about 20. So much more than that is on there...

-Don

sounds awesome! Congrats on the build. I'm definitely going to be going to the guys at GPI for a quality heads/cam package once I get enough benjamins!


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[Gunmetal Speedster]

Those are great numbers! Good write up!

[hammdo]

If you intend to do any FI, really consider the LSA kit, these cars love them -- as you can tell ;o)

EVEN the VVT versions ;o)

-Don

[hammdo]

Originally Posted by Gunmetal Speedster

Those are great numbers! Good write up!

Thanks!

Yeah, hard to complain with those numbers -- and I didn't pulley down either! I have room to go, but, for the Road Course, 700-800 RWHP is nice, but the driver mod is WAY more important ;o).

I was lucky to have Andy Pilgrim (http://www.andypilgrim.com/) take mine out and give me feedback on what I needed to do (NCM had an event that I was lucky to attend) -- it was absolutely FUN to have him drive my car -- NCM Motorsports park is just unbelievable -- super place to go...

-Don

[Hulk]

Looking at getting them to do a mail order tune from them for my bolt on stuff. Roto Fab, headers, and Solo exhaust. I just have to put them on and figure out how to use my EFI live to download what they need.