[s-cars] Driving Impressions-Dahkine long...

[CaptMagu at aol.com]

s-heads

Well, here I am again at 37,000 ft winging my way to Boston for a short 
layover. Several events over the last few days have caused to me to reflect on this 
wonderful car I drive. First of all I had the rear section of my Stromung 
replaced with 3.5" components. You may have seen the pics that I shared but if 
you didn't, the shop that Mike Pederson shared with me did a beautiful job. Yes, 
the noise level increased about 10% but that's the neatest 10% I've dealt 
with in a while. Most of the sound level increase occurs during hard driving. The 
idle level is increased only slightly. I really wish that Mike or anyone 
could have recommended this earlier. 

Second of all, I had the opportunity to drive Will Griffin's beautiful and 
tastefully modded S6 Avant back to back with my car. In some spirited driving I 
found it to be really fast and the ride just right for an Avant. I did take a 
couple of hard corners and the Happersized Rear Sway Bar(HRSB) was exemplerary 
in holding the car very flat. We ended up with me doing all the driving so 
that our little comparison would have some consistency. As I headed out in my 
car, Will remarked that my car felt and sounded like a race car. My suspension 
is noticeably stiffer and as I got on it a little the exhaust sound is 
definately nastier. We also got some of that great BPV chiffing as I went through the 
gears. One of my neighbors who was out for a walk was startled as I mildly 
accelerated towards him. That BPV chiff is much louder out the front of my car 
because of the Ram Air Intake System(RAIS) pointing forward. Man this car is 
fast. It just pulls like there's no tomorrow. I did one very hard braking 
maneuver and I could see Will squirming in his seat. Those front and rear Big Reds 
are simply awesome.

Thirdly, I had a great drive to work today. I was able to do a couple of safe 
WOT runs plus there was just the joy in feeling this car in every day driving 
conditions. No stumbling and no hesitations. The new exhaust pieces really 
opened things up. The butt dyno says at least 10 hp and another 100 rpm lower on 
the boost threshold. I also got an unexpected benefit in a cooler running 
platform. My engine temps were one tick mark cooler with the same outside air 
temp. That was with an outside air temp of 100 degrees F. That gives a density 
altitude approaching 10,000 ft. Wow, how cool is that, pun 
intended? It just brought a smile to my face that stayed with me even as I 
type this out some 6 hours later. I always look for an end parking spot and I 
can never leave that car without several longing 
looks back at it.

The tubular exhaust manifold, GT 35R ball bearing turbo, 3.5 downpipe and 
exhaust are just going to make things sweeter. One of the things I have learned 
over the years modding this car is that anything we can do to free up the 
intake tract, charge air delivery, and exhaust will pay significant dividends. I 
was advising another lister recently and reminded him of the Autospeed.com 
"Negative Boost" articles of s-car fame. They continue to be a great read with 
objective and quantatative data to support its findings. Do a Google search using 
Negative Boost. You might find some inexpensive performance.

Hap, sharin dahkine in Evahboost, Maguire