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jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,932
13,129
Portland, OR
Yup, the 3500 is reported ~19 mpg avg and goes up from there if you do a delete or have a tuner set for MPG. It's insane to think that a 8K+ lb truck with 370 HP and 800 lb*ft can pull better MPGs than my 5K lb Tacoma with 240 HP/270 lb*ft.
GFF is pushing over 1000hp and can tune his to get 24mpg. Also that dully pulls his monster 40' trailer getting 20. If only I could get a diesel Hilux. :(
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
did you do something ///FCA and buy that alfa?
No, ///Not yet. Still trying to convince the wife to take a three day vacation somewhere so I can get myself a nice reliant automobile for the next two years. At this point I'm still just enjoying the hunt. If I can hang on long enough, one of our biotech milestones will kick in at the same time the car needs new tires, and I can just trade one in for a gently used stinger or goolia after their resale values have crashed.
 

roflbox

roflborx
Jan 23, 2017
3,163
834
Raleigh, NC
No, ///Not yet. Still trying to convince the wife to take a three day vacation somewhere so I can get myself a nice reliant automobile for the next two years. At this point I'm still just enjoying the hunt. If I can hang on long enough, one of our biotech milestones will kick in at the same time the car needs new tires, and I can just trade one in for a gently used stinger or goolia after their resale values have crashed.
a used ///FCA, even more adventerous
:D
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,188
19,155
Canaderp
Going out on a limb and might face the banhammer for suggesting a Dodge, but....

https://www.carmax.com/cars/dodge/charger/rt-scat-pack/2017

Almost 500hp for not much pesos. Can still fit people in the back, warranty, doesn't care about global warming etc.

Personally haven't sat in one, but maybe with the automatic it doesn't have that god awful e-brake located in the footwell like the Challenger.

AND IT COMES IN FREAKIN PURPLE!
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
Honestly, if I was going to buy a car like that, I'd go for the Caddy V-sport. It's an exceptional auto. It's just not time for a 400hp, $30k, used car right now. The alfa makes sense because it has some combination of being new/on lease, warrantied, getting reasonable mpg, and being a good handler. The BMW makes sense because it would be fun to drive, and relatively cheap. I could buy it with available "fun" money, and not dip into real, balanced budget money.

Maybe I should just buy a miata and keep the rav4.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Well this was a pretty shitty install. Elite Engineering E2-X catch can. The "kit" is missing many parts needed to make it work. There are no instructions. No videos. It's just "here's some parts consumer, figure it out!". It does come with two mounting brackets, so you get to figure out "where the hell does this go, do I use this one, or the other one? Who the hell knows? Had to buy a rubber stopper, drill it out, thread an elbow in, buy some spacers, some other plugs, clamps, etc. A few people have tried to be helpful on boards, but things like "remove the U-shaped vacuum tube below the throttle body" don't help...there's nothing below the throttle body (it's mounted on the right side, not below). I can't believe this company can't find someone with one of these so they can document install.


The thing laying out on the towel is the sound-tube. You have to take it out and plug the firewall for this install. That's like a secret though, cuz there are no instructions. I guess this part pipes V8 noise in the cabin or something.

IMG_5362.JPG


There is no U-shaped vacuum tube below the throttle body.

Oh, and the sound-tube hose does not come off the mounting bracket. I tried heat, penetrant, lots of arm-exercises (and I'm just on the cusp of doing V7 boulders, so I'm not weak) and I couldn't get it off. Ended up cutting it off.

Then you have to plug the mount in the firewall, except you can't because the one plug that is maybe large enough has to be used to plug something else.

Oh, here's a part that's missing that you had no idea you needed cuz there are no instructions! Sweet! T50 bolt is bottomed out on the engine block here.

IMG_5363.JPG


This is eventually what it kinda should look like...at least you think it's going to work at this point...but you are wrong.

Oh, there's a spacer I bought at True Value..making it up as I go.

IMG_5365.JPG


Oh, THERE's the vacuum U-tube, on the SIDE of the throttle body, under the corner of the engine cover.

IMG_5366.JPG


The one thing this kit does have is enough hose...not enough clamps, but enough Hos.

IMG_5367.JPG


and then you get here and you are supposed to connect the last exit-port with the one-way valve to the air-bridge fitting. With what, duct tape? There's no parts though, no instructions, it's just haha, F-you consumer! The air-bridge elbow even has a clamp on it that I've never seen before and you have to destroy it to get it off. But you are thinking, well, do I try to take it off? Do I need it? What if it breaks? WTF?

IMG_5368.JPG


This is like someone giving you a Boost+ hub for your 135QR bike.

The clamp:

IMG_5370.JPG


Turned out the best way was to remove the elbow (but who would have known? Not me, freaking making it up as I go here). Got a 1" plug at the hardware store, drilled it out with a 3/8" drill, then threaded a supplied elbow into it. I guess this is right? Who the hell knows?

IMG_5376.JPG
 
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stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
^

why bother with all that fuckery......nothing elite about it.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,225
20,003
Sleazattle
A catch can is a good idea if your engine was designed by a middle school shop class or if you like to spend time and money on stuff from the back of Boy's Life magazine.


X-ray glasses! Cool.
 

Jeremy R

<b>x</b>
Nov 15, 2001
9,698
1,053
behind you with a snap pop
The alltrack engine is simply a detuned version of the GTI engine. Same block with a shorter crank, smaller turbo and doesn't have the fancy variable profile exhaust cam. It is also tuned to run on 87 octane instead of 91. With a shorter crank and fewer parts it is probably more reliable. A tune simply allows for similar boost pressures as the GTI engine and will require higher octane gas. With the smaller turbo you just get the torque earlier and it dies off earlier in the RPM range.

Oh yeah, a little update on this. You were not kidding about it being detuned. I missed the power from my GTI, so I decided to get my Alltrack tuned a week ago. I went with Unitronic stage 1+ which just means they tune it specifically for 93 octane. So, with just an Ecu tune, I picked up 84hp and 94lb of torque. It of course totally transformed the car, but the thing that surprised me the most was how smooth and strong it feels now. The engine actually feels less stressed than it did before. It does not have that crazy strong mid range hit that many tuned cars have from increasing the boost so much. The boost on my tune is barely increased at all, and Unitronic gets the power through timing etc.... There is no way you could get much of an increase though unless it came detuned to start with. Oh well, it moves now!
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
The boost on my tune is barely increased at all, and Unitronic gets the power through timing etc.... There is no way you could get much of an increase though unless it came detuned to start with. Oh well, it moves now!
This doesn't add up IMO. You get more power from ramming more fuel and air into the cylinder or more compression (same thing).

And yes, most turbo cars will get a good "boost" in boost with a tune, usually at least a few PSI, which will build significantly more power.

My WRX was real jerky stock when you hit the boost range, some weird ECU issue with the fuel, but put a cobb tune on it and it was smooth as butter.

Typically, when you do these tunes, you'll hit more boost earlier, usually with a higher peak. It'll taper off faster than stock too, but the great thing about turbo engines is you can usually get a significant improvement with just a tune or just a tune+exhaust.
 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,861
4,157
Copenhagen, Denmark
Oh yeah, a little update on this. You were not kidding about it being detuned. I missed the power from my GTI, so I decided to get my Alltrack tuned a week ago. I went with Unitronic stage 1+ which just means they tune it specifically for 93 octane. So, with just an Ecu tune, I picked up 84hp and 94lb of torque. It of course totally transformed the car, but the thing that surprised me the most was how smooth and strong it feels now. The engine actually feels less stressed than it did before. It does not have that crazy strong mid range hit that many tuned cars have from increasing the boost so much. The boost on my tune is barely increased at all, and Unitronic gets the power through timing etc.... There is no way you could get much of an increase though unless it came detuned to start with. Oh well, it moves now!
I really hate the intentional detuning by car companies where tons of power is nothing but a software update away but I guess if you can get the car cheaper and then do it yourself its not a bad thing. 84hp and 94 of torque is really significant.
 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,861
4,157
Copenhagen, Denmark
Agree I think they only look good in top spec versions. The rest look really cheap.

Btw Volvo offered Polestar tuning to my new Volvo with a whopping 10HP more - what a joke.
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,628
5,441
Going out on a limb and might face the banhammer for suggesting a Dodge, but....

https://www.carmax.com/cars/dodge/charger/rt-scat-pack/2017

Almost 500hp for not much pesos. Can still fit people in the back, warranty, doesn't care about global warming etc.

Personally haven't sat in one, but maybe with the automatic it doesn't have that god awful e-brake located in the footwell like the Challenger.

AND IT COMES IN FREAKIN PURPLE!
Scat is poop, yeah? Why would you want a poop pack on your car?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
stinger leases are coming down. that's a nice car. Very plain but that's OK too.

The Alfas are ugly, and they are small. And they drive like a four year old who found a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,514
7,058
Colorado
Agree I think they only look good in top spec versions. The rest look really cheap.

Btw Volvo offered Polestar tuning to my new Volvo with a whopping 10HP more - what a joke.
You bought the SUV... What about the tq levels?
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,932
13,129
Portland, OR
stinger leases are coming down. that's a nice car. Very plain but that's OK too.

The Alfas are ugly, and they are small. And they drive like a four year old who found a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans

Crazy as it sounds, the Stinger looks legit.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Crazy as it sounds, the Stinger looks legit.
Initial reviews kind of confused me, the reviewers were very luke-warm and saying that the BMW 3s and others were significantly better, which given how watered down the current F30 chassis is, made the Stinger seem like a real turd. The 2nd round of reviews and everything since is seems to be hugely in favor of it. I love the general concept. As far as utility my 4-series gran coupe was very nice with the hatch and I think every sedan should come with that, no question. The Stinger is larger, but for that kind of car I don't think that's a big issue.
 
...

The clamp:

View attachment 129387...

Turned out the best way was to remove the elbow (but who would have known? Not me, freaking making it up as I go here). Got a 1" plug at the hardware store, drilled it out with a 3/8" drill, then threaded a supplied elbow into it. I guess this is right? Who the hell knows?

View attachment 129388
Pretty standard PEX clamp...
 

Jeremy R

<b>x</b>
Nov 15, 2001
9,698
1,053
behind you with a snap pop
This doesn't add up IMO. You get more power from ramming more fuel and air into the cylinder or more compression (same thing).

And yes, most turbo cars will get a good "boost" in boost with a tune, usually at least a few PSI, which will build significantly more power.

My WRX was real jerky stock when you hit the boost range, some weird ECU issue with the fuel, but put a cobb tune on it and it was smooth as butter.

Typically, when you do these tunes, you'll hit more boost earlier, usually with a higher peak. It'll taper off faster than stock too, but the great thing about turbo engines is you can usually get a significant improvement with just a tune or just a tune+exhaust.
Yeah, it is different. I think the increase in boost is only a couple psi higher than stock. And the other tuning companies are a lot higher.
The boost does come on earlier, but it is a smooth linear power band, and it holds it all the way to redline. It is way smoother than stock, and drives better in all situations.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,932
13,129
Portland, OR
Initial reviews kind of confused me, the reviewers were very luke-warm and saying that the BMW 3s and others were significantly better, which given how watered down the current F30 chassis is, made the Stinger seem like a real turd. The 2nd round of reviews and everything since is seems to be hugely in favor of it. I love the general concept. As far as utility my 4-series gran coupe was very nice with the hatch and I think every sedan should come with that, no question. The Stinger is larger, but for that kind of car I don't think that's a big issue.
The same reaction was had with the Hyundai Genesis, I think. When all you make are econoshitboxes, a real "sport" sedan is taken with a grain of salt. But considering how far both companies have come via shitbox intros is amazing.

The Genesis coupe is down right bad ass for the price. Is it Lexus quality? Not yet, but Lexus was a polished Camary to start with, too.
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
40,494
9,525
Yeah, it is different. I think the increase in boost is only a couple psi higher than stock. And the other tuning companies are a lot higher.
The boost does come on earlier, but it is a smooth linear power band, and it holds it all the way to redline. It is way smoother than stock, and drives better in all situations.
the only things that matter....

is it faster: yes

does it have more torque: yes

is throttle response better: yes
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
The same reaction was had with the Hyundai Genesis, I think. When all you make are econoshitboxes, a real "sport" sedan is taken with a grain of salt. But considering how far both companies have come via shitbox intros is amazing.

The Genesis coupe is down right bad ass for the price. Is it Lexus quality? Not yet, but Lexus was a polished Camary to start with, too.
I think part of it is due to highly biased reviewers tough.

I see people talk about their BMW 3 series on boards as if the interior is CNCed from one solid chunk of aluminum, then inlaid with diamonds and goat-leather. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that there's miles of plastic and they don't hold other cars to the same standard. Although there used to be some pretty big differences, and if you by a cheap econobox hyundai or whatever it will be all plastic, at the 30-40K level there isn't this huge disparity anymore between a BMW and "everything else".

I think the same holds true in many other areas. Even when something is better, some people have a hard time accepting change.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
Yeah, it is different. I think the increase in boost is only a couple psi higher than stock. And the other tuning companies are a lot higher.
The boost does come on earlier, but it is a smooth linear power band, and it holds it all the way to redline. It is way smoother than stock, and drives better in all situations.
Couple PSI is significant. When my Subaru went to something like 14 stock, going up to 17 was a huge increase. Also, the bigger your displacement, the bigger the power increase with a given PSI boost (like 2psi for instance).
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,932
13,129
Portland, OR
I think the same holds true in many other areas. Even when something is better, some people have a hard time accepting change.
Corvette owners are the worst. A lot of older, retired (often white), who love thier car or generation of and anything other than stock is obscene. Then they brag about who drives LESS! :rofl:

"Bought 10 years ago with 12k miles, has 15k now." :panic:
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
@Sandwich have you test driven a Stinger? Good looking car and fun design. My company does not allow Kia as a company car.
yep, I drove both a 2.0 and 3.3, both in AWD bottom end spec versions. The 3.3 is a monster. Incredibly fast. The torque curve is remarkable, as there basically is none. It's just a flat line. The 2.0 is a nice car- it would be a great commuter. It's still quick but it's not jaw dropping. The car is very practical though, big rear seats and the hatch is "better" than a trunk. "better" in that there's a little more space, but the floor is so high....not a ton more volume.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
yep, I drove both a 2.0 and 3.3, both in AWD bottom end spec versions. The 3.3 is a monster. Incredibly fast. The torque curve is remarkable, as there basically is none. It's just a flat line. The 2.0 is a nice car- it would be a great commuter. It's still quick but it's not jaw dropping. The car is very practical though, big rear seats and the hatch is "better" than a trunk. "better" in that there's a little more space, but the floor is so high....not a ton more volume.
The 4 GC actually has less cargo volume than the 3, but it's just so much more usable with the hatch. You can just plop in your Evoc bag flat with no problems.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,932
13,129
Portland, OR
The Lexus ES was, sure, but the LS has never shared a USDM Toyota platform.
So a Cressida? :rofl:

A friend of mine traded his 5 series for the first year LS, that was a damn nice car and Lexus bent over backwards to keep him happy. They would come to the office and take his car, change the oil, wash and wax, bring it back with a full tank of gas. Crazy service.
 

JustMtnB44

Monkey
Sep 13, 2006
840
113
Pittsburgh, PA
I think it's time to move on from my Golf R, it's just a bit too small (short) inside and I'm over the 6MT. But otherwise it's a great car.

I'm debating between a new Alltrack with DSG and a piggyback module or tune, or a couple year old used F31 BMW 328i wagon as they are about the same price, and both about what I could sell my R for.
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,185
13,441
directly above the center of the earth
Ha I'm used to my 2000 C280. peppy but not that fast. I had the camper off the F350 Brodozer Dually with the 400Hp 6.7L diesel last weekend. Crap that hauls ass when empty. I accidentally spun the tires out of a stop and was at 80 miles an hour less than half way down the freeway on ramp. Not that I want to be speeding in a vehicle that weighs 8500 pounds should anything go wrong or i need to stop quickly