Northeast Ohio s550's

[Grafanton]

I went to Big 3 Racing this morning and took Rick for a test drive.
His opinion was everything was normal, and the noises were simply from the components I bought. He also said that the noise was predominantly from the aluminum flywheel, which is why his shop will not sell an aluminum flywheel. He said I would hate it until I either went back to stock or steel.
It was strangely comforting to find out that there is nothing wrong, except for the products I choose to install. I drove home suddenly and essentially happy with my car. Totally placebo effect. It even seemed to shift better.
The bad news is there is only one steel flywheel for sale for the ecoboost at the moment, from Spec. He said I would probably prefer the Spec unit to the stock or the aluminum flywheel, but again, they won't sell them as they had one bad experience with a Spec clutch. I really like all the guys from Big 3 Racing. I will be going back for any future upgrades I might decide to make that aren't engine related. They seemed to have an absolutely bottomless well of knowledge about going fast. They were also straight up with me that upgrading the Ecoboost was not in their wheel house.
Going forward, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Getting the MT-82 in and out of the S550 is NOT fun and replacing the flywheel is not something I'm eager to do any time soon, even if I was interested in throwing good money after bad.
Part of me says I should just go beat the living snot out of it and hope it breaks, that way I won't feel as bad when I have to replace it. Nothing worse than throwing away perfectly good parts just because you don't like them.

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[Grafanton]

I will not be able to hold the gathering at this time... Maybe later in the summer.

Dude, your offer was incredibly generous. Not so sure I would have been as welcoming to a bunch of strangers to my home.

I'd still really like to get together with everyone from the forum sometime in May, but maybe someplace a little more neutral.

I'm really bad at planning things like this, but if someone tells me when and where...I'll be there.

 

[Grafanton]

I had an Evo IX MR that I turned into a full bolt on track/street car. It was my DD, so in hindsight, this was not a good decision. AMS GT30R turbo kit, intercooler, AEM engine management, FP4 Cams, 1000cc injectors, etc etc. The turbo was laggy as shit. It pulled HARD once it spooled (500WHP), but man the lag was annoying. Much worse than stock. I got caught way too many times in the no-go zone, which was a rarity when stock. On the suspension side I added a bunch of shit that while making the car handle like it was a goddamn go kart, made it so harsh it was unbearable. All of these things also made the car less reliable. I was constantly fighting gremlins. In the end I sold it to a kid that blew it up in about 6 months. I ended up buying a new Evo X, which I kept close to stock. That car became annoying as a DD too. So I sold that and bought a Honda Fit to daily, which I've had for the last 4 years (a record for me). I love that car, lol.

Interesting. It seems that "track car" and "daily driver" are mutually exclusive terms. Whoda thunk it?

At my track day last weekend, I got thoroughly pasted on track by a Honda Fit. Sorta humbling. Although it was completely tricked out for the track.

 

[Gilby]

I went to Big 3 Racing this morning and took Rick for a test drive.
His opinion was everything was normal, and the noises were simply from the components I bought. He also said that the noise was predominantly from the aluminum flywheel, which is why his shop will not sell an aluminum flywheel. He said I would hate it until I either went back to stock or steel.
It was strangely comforting to find out that there is nothing wrong, except for the products I choose to install. I drove home suddenly and essentially happy with my car. Totally placebo effect. It even seemed to shift better.
The bad news is there is only one steel flywheel for sale for the ecoboost at the moment, from Spec. He said I would probably prefer the Spec unit to the stock or the aluminum flywheel, but again, they won't sell them as they had one bad experience with a Spec clutch. I really like all the guys from Big 3 Racing. I will be going back for any future upgrades I might decide to make that aren't engine related. They seemed to have an absolutely bottomless well of knowledge about going fast. They were also straight up with me that upgrading the Ecoboost was not in their wheel house.
Going forward, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Getting the MT-82 in and out of the S550 is NOT fun and replacing the flywheel is not something I'm eager to do any time soon, even if I was interested in throwing good money after bad.
Part of me says I should just go beat the living snot out of it and hope it breaks, that way I won't feel as bad when I have to replace it. Nothing worse than throwing away perfectly good parts just because you don't like them.

Glad Rick steered you in the right direction, they are some good guys.

 

[Grafanton]

They were having a dyno day today. I've never actually seen a dyno pull in person before. Really wanted to find out what my car would do, but had other plans.

Next time.

 

[Gilby]

They were having a dyno day today. I've never actually seen a dyno pull in person before. Really wanted to find out what my car would do, but had other plans.

Next time.

They are having one over Memorial Day as well. I might go to the show depending on what's going on that day.

 

[BDMACH1]

They are having one over Memorial Day as well. I might go to the show depending on what's going on that day.

You can bring it to my shop where I work at, and we can strap it down and get you some baseline numbers..

 

[Gilby]

You can bring it to my shop where I work at, and we can strap it down and get you some baseline numbers..

What shop is that? Mustang dyno or dynojet?

 

[BDMACH1]

What shop is that? Mustang dyno or dynojet?

It's at World Class Finish. We have a DynoJet 224XLC with DynoJets latest hardware/software. I just had Eric's GT350 on it a few weeks ago.

 

[Gilby]

I'd be interested to see what mine makes to the rear wheel. How much?

 

[Ryan P]

Does anyone know of a good performance oriented alignment shop? I've had terrible luck at the usual places like NTB, Goodyear, etc. I'm going to need someone that won't have a problem working with camber plates.....

 

[Gilby]

There is a place in Tallmadge that is supposed to be good. If you want I can see what the name of the place is. I don't personally have experience with them, I had a place in Wooster do mine but I think that guy retired.

 

[Ryan P]

Yeah, a name would be great. Much appreciated.

 

[BDMACH1]

Here ya go..

The Alignment Shop
468 West Avenue
Tallmadge, Ohio 44278

Phone: 330-633-4696

Ask for John and tell him Bob@World Class Finish sent you..

 

[Grafanton]

http://www.whitewheel.com/
These guys are mentioned often in my area. I've used them to increase the camber on the front of my EB. I discussed the possibility of installing camber plates with them, but haven't done it yet. They have a bit of an old school approach to customer service, but once you get your car in the door, there is obvious attention to detail and craftsmanship to see.

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