bignoog

So I've had my tC since brand new in 06. At just under 10k miles I dive into a flooded intersection and hydro locked the motor. While they were putting in the new motor I went ahead and added the full NST pulley set. My current engine mods are as follows.
NST pulley set
Injen short ram CAI
Megan header
Megan S-pipe
Skunk2 exhaust
And if it matters Royal Purple oil since break in
Also I have changed the spark plugs recently.
Car currently has around 137k miles and had never had problems or issues AT ALL!

Granted these are all your basic bolt on mods, I have a couple of questions and concerns.

1) I've noticed that my car seems to feel "sluggish" most of the time. It also seems to be running "rich". I say that because I've started to notice some soot on my rear bumper. My brother said when I get on the gas that it puts out a decent amount of smoke. I have a slight exhaust leak from the had gasket. It has caused a tick in the motor that I'm hoping is coming from the leak and not a sticking lifter. Would this cause it to run rich?

2) My header and S-pipe SUCK. I know that lol. I'm ready to change that up to a 4-2-1 Will that get rid of all my rasp? My exhaust sounds HORRIBLE as is now. I love my Skunk2 and don't want to change it.

3) where do I go from here? What kind of tuning can I do? Where would I even go to do something like that? I know that trd sparks had some kind of Device that plugs in the computer port. What will this do for me and will it help my situation?

Ok other than that my car is just as great as the day I drive it off the lot. I don't care about adding horses I just want it to run more efficient. My gas milage has gone done by 50-75 miles a tank over the last couple of years. That could be from heavier rims and the monster stereo that is in the trunk, but I don't know.

Ace83

iTrader: (6)

heavy rims and system does slow down the car much, with the power mods you have i doubt it would compensate.. soot on your bumper is due to catless exhaust, doesnt mean you are running rich.. running rich usually throws a code after some miles

bignoog

THANK YOU! I'm hoping that I can get things running a bit better.

BlackKnight

Are you thinking of getting a piggy back to tune with? If you do get one step colder plugs and tune with only premium. I noticed a difference in acceleration with 1 step colder plugs and the idle seemed improved, keep in mind I do push my car continuously.

bignoog

Holy crap I posted this a year ago LOL.

Ok so here is an update.

For starters I ditched the 19's and I'm now stanced on 17x8.5 +20 up front and 17x10 +15 in the rear. MAJOR difference from the 19's. This really helped my car out a ton! I guess because I ditched a ton of weight LOL.

I changed the gasket on the header but the "ticking" did not go away although it did quiet down a ton. I guess it's a lifter sticking after all. I don't know exactly how I'm going to fix it but I've got some suggestions from some people that involve running a more thin oil and some seafoam to try and free it up.

I added a second resonator, glass pack, to the Skunk2 and it helped A TON. Still some rasp at high rev of course but it's a pretty night and day difference. I'm still thinking about changing headers to a 4-2-1 but I wanted to try this first because it was more cost effective.

I did add a piggy back Uni-Chip that was programmed for all my mods. I run it on the premium gas setting and wow did it make a massive difference. The car feels great. It runs better than it ever has and it really cleaned up my performance. I feel strong increases through the entire power band and it now has no problem setting you back in the seat. I'm going to be doing the spark plug swap that was suggested above and see if it makes a difference.

I'll try and be more active on the updates but I rarely log in here anymore LOl

TotalChaos

Nice! Sounds like your car is running great! What type of rims you have now? Weight does make a difference especially at the wheels. Your lighter wheels probably helped a little with braking and cornering too! It sounds like the Unichip made a decent difference once installed. I always debate getting it but now I am waiting on the Dezod catted header to come in. You should look into this header if you wanted to ditch your old header. People have raved about how awesome it is!

bignoog

I'll have to look into it for sure. I'll have to talk to my guy and see if he is going to have to reprogram the Unichip if I change header

Spicy_McHaggiz

iTrader: (1)

Save yourself money and stop using Royal Purple. It's overrated and breaks down before most good synthetic oils.