[KingLT1]

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

Good points as always. I’m going to try to get everything put back together and try to sneak in another test and tune before the weather sets in. Agree totally that I need to get that 60’ down. I was already starting to see some benefits to the traction situation by ramping in the timing more smoothly just in the few runs I got, so I’m looking forward to dialing that in.

One thing I’ve never done is yank the front sway bar. Is that worth the time to do?

Removing the front sway bar will allow the front end to travel more. So yeah, it should help for sure.

[Joshinator99]

Well the AMP billet thermostat housing showed up along with the LS-style 160 degree thermostat so I bolted that in. So while I’m hoping the blower belt never breaks again, at least it won’t rupture the cooling system next time it does… Speaking of cooling system, I figured after 4 years I’d replace the coolant reservoir along with the upper coolant hoses too.

[6spdhyperblue]

Whats the tire height on your skinnies?

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by 6spdhyperblue

Whats the tire height on your skinnies?

You have to use 28” tall fronts or else they’ll be too short to pair up with 305/45/17 rears.

[Joshinator99]

Time for a mid-winter update! It was time to face the facts, 17” drag radials weren’t going to get me the 60’ times I needed to get into the 8’s. So with a little prodding from KingLT1, I ordered up the BMR 15” rear conversion brake setup. Since the credit card was still in my hands and all warmed up, I ordered up a pair of 15” Forgestar D5 beadlocks and MT ET Street R in 325/50/15 to go with it. What’s a few more grand at this point…

[Joshinator99]

BMR 15” rear conversion brake kit arrived today.

[Joshinator99]

OK...yet one more mid winter update. I'm done messing with the old 2.9 Whipple...even with Kong doing a nice port job on it, I'm not getting the airflow or efficiency I want. So, I just pulled the trigger on the new Whipple 3.0, powder coated in white to match my interior again (of course)! Looking forward to even more airflow and low MATs.

[KingLT1]

Very nice!!

[Joshinator99]

So the 15” rear brake conversion is done! At one point I began to wonder if BMR sent me the wrong kit…turns out the same kit gets sold to a bunch of GM platforms and you have to figure it out on your own. You end up taking about an inch off the bottom of the brake dust shields because you’ll never get the caliper mounting bolts to line up if you don’t. Then, the mounting bolts they sent and tell you to use are way too long (and hit the rotor!). I reused the OEM bolts and it looks perfect.

I was surprised at how minor the differences were between this BMR/Carlyle/Wilwood setup vs the OEM SS rear brakes! The new rotor is *almost* as big as the OEM rotor. It looks like the new calipers (also 4 piston) are a good bit lower profile. But these are really solid brakes and I’m sure they’d be fine on a road course in a pinch (I keep telling myself I might do that someday even though I won’t ) . The rotors were beefy and appear to be great quality too.

Now just waiting for my new beadlocks so I can try this new setup out! Well, that, and warm weather.

[Joshinator99]

So, for the first time in months, my car is finally off jackstands! I swear GM used 5000 fasteners to assemble the front nose of this car… Finished Whipple 3.0 install doesn’t really look too different than the Whipple 2.9 but there were a good amount of changes this year. Just gotta rewire the new IC pump, reinstall the Antigravity battery, fill up the IC system and fire it up…! Hopefully by the weekend she’s under her own power for the first time since late 2022…!

[6spdhyperblue]

Nice are you planning on running it to see where it’s at?

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by 6spdhyperblue

Nice are you planning on running it to see where it’s at?

Absolutely! I won’t have my new 15” beadlocks in time for my first track day, but I’m hoping I can sneak into a private track rental on Friday 4/28 at Lebanon Valley Dragway. I know I’ll be fuel limited this year but hope to crack into the 8’s if all goes well.

[Joshinator99]

So the new Whipple 3.0 is all buttoned up and ready to rock! Back to Performance Dyno in Loudon NH for dyno time and tune touch up. Final results are 1059 WHP and 944 WTQ! Gained 104 WHP using the same pulley combo as the old 2.9 blower no less.

Now I just need the 15” beadlocks I ordered back in February to arrive, get a few of the other guys from work together, and get out to the track for some test and tune time.

[Joshinator99]

So while waiting for my new 15” beadlocks to arrive for the rear of my car, I figured I should probably get more serious about the lug nuts. Back when I bought my drag pack a few years ago, the wheel vendor included *FREE LUG NUTS*. with any purchase. Since I was buying drag wheels, and they wrote it in ALL CAPS, I assumed they were legitimate drag racing quality lug nuts. NOPE. They sent along these lame-o Chinese specials but out of sheer laziness, I ran them anyway. Not only are they cheesy, but them being close ended is generally not something track tech inspectors will let fly.

I know that I really should do extended wheel studs but figured I’d at least get some open ended lug nuts so that the track inspector has one less thing to crab at me about in the meantime… So I ordered up some titanium ones in hopes of them being corrosion proof and maybe a little lighter. So I decided to weigh up what I’ve been running.

On the street I run my OEM 1LE wheels with 315/30/20 Toyo R888R tires. The OEM lug nuts checked in at a porky 71.4 grams each. Next up were my drag pack cheapo lug nuts, which are a good bit smaller than OEM to fit in the Forgestar D5 drag wheel. They checked in at exactly 40.0 grams each. Lastly, the new titanium lug nuts came in at a nice and light weight of 22.9 grams each!

So, final tally:
OEM lug nuts: 71.4 g x 20 lug nuts = 3.14 pounds
Cheapo drag pack lug nuts: 40.0 g x 20 lug nuts = 1.76 pounds
Titanium drag pack lug nuts: 22.9 g x 20 lug nuts = 1.01 pounds

So there you have it! $200 to save a pound, maybe 2…