You know not to be a **** bu the 2nd tune we all got was a luxury and sam was not required to do so and none of us could be mad if he didn't. As long as the car is running safe and makin more power he is done the way i see it. You more then likely pissed him off with everything that went down. In other words you and your wife might have burned a very essential bridge on the VQ platform. Like I said not trying to be a **** but your wife went all out on this one and already stated you will not be doing business with him again. So why spend more time(which is money) on you. He fulfilled the order as promised

Some people realy need to grow up and acts like adults for once, With all the carp that happened we still gave 100 % support all the way to the end, while the wife still making new videos and posting recorded conversation. We just chose to take the higher road and fulfill our commitment.

Sam

So far you sent an idle log,light cruise log, and quarter to half throttle mild boost log.it took you a week just to tel me how much boost the car is making . Never sent me a wide open throttle log and you expect me to lean it out .... base on what ??

Grow the **** up

Sam

:ughdance:

Oh snap, Joe Rogan!

You know I can understand why sam is frustrated. He shipped new parts gave them compensation and all and yet there are new videos being posted with them slamming GTM everyone for the mOst part agreed the original parts being messed up but that sam corrected the situation and stood by it. Well after the install and everything sam was still there and new videos were poping up still. So I understand his frustration as him sitting there reading that going what more could I do. Only question is if they bought a tv from the store got home with it and found out it didn't work and the store replaced it would they still do the same **** to them.

Question though. Isn't it illegal to publicize phone conversations if the other party is unaware that it is being recorded? I think it Is but not sure and I know Mel Gibson got all the taps tossed out of court and his wife got in trouble for it. That question is out of curiosity.

Too bad you need to mess up my overall positive thread with your own dilemmas.

All of this is irrelevant to this thread.

For me: Treat Sam and GTM correctly, even with problems, and he will take care of you. I learned this.

Sorry for the sidebar.

Coop

I am sorry sharp u should have known better

I ment to say I know better. Stupid iPhone keypad

First time out - Atco Dragway
 

OK, so as promised, I took some time off from my work to get a few runs in.

As I figured nothing is going to be easy. I learned that the traction on the strip is still no match for two stock rear width street Potenza tires.

This pass was my best and it just breaks loose, bangs off the rev limiter, goes soft, and then recovers....



YouTube - Infiniti G37 - drag strip - 12.34 et @ 117mph

http://www.fototime.com/CE6B6C46E3CB87E/orig.jpg

My next step is to get a set of drag radials and then try. It went 118mph on my last attempt. I used manual shifting. DS did not work well for me.

(There was a fellow with an AMG Mercedes who was running 11.50's @ 122 with RWD and DOT street slicks. My hero! :))

It ain't great, but it's a start. Long day: I left at 3pm, 3.5 hr drive, 3.5 hours to get in (3) passes, and a 2.5 hr drive home, arriving after midnight. I'm bushed.

Coop

Coop awesome run!! keep it up, with a set of shoes in the rear, 11.xx all the way!!

Jim, what was your boost/power dialed at when you were at the track? Also, did you make any changes to your exhaust since the recent install? I remember you mentioning the new exhaust was too loud for your taste so I wondered if you changed it.

No changes to exhaust. It's powerful, if not a bit loud at 2100 RPM. Above and below by 200 rpm and it's golden. That's a sweetheart range though.

Boost was set at 10 lbs.

Coop

Jimmy (TheShopCT owner) watched the vid and, like me, was convinced it simply needs more initial traction now.

We just ordered (2) Enkei 18"x10" rims, and BF Goodrich drag radials (295/35x18). (Stock: 19"x8" and 245x19")

We were told we could not go to a smaller rim, due to the brake caliper clearance.

Overall tire diameter will be reduced by almost an inch, but that's OK: I still had a lot of 4th left. This is a good addition.

I will get the car in to be fitted later this week, but I won't be able to test for another couple of weeks due to work.

Elevens are in my future. I promise.

Coop

So this car is not DD anymore?

I thought you said that this will be you DD but after you ordered your 18" wheels, aah im confused already!! LOL

^^^Yes. But, I understand your confusion.

It IS and will be my daily driver. That I am willing to change rims/tires for the benefit at the track is all I am doing.

Funny, with my Subaru, because it had been done and was capable, I really wanted to make sure the way I drove it on the track was how I ran on the street. I ran street Potenzas. In this case, it's simply needing more traction and competition slicks are what it is going to take. Rear wheel only drive and 470lbs of torque necessitate this.

I will keep my gold rims and Potenzas for now. I do consider that a matching set of Enkei fronts would be a compliment to the 'look'. That may happen, but not right now.

Thanks for allowing me to clarify.

Coop

In the elevens...!
 

OK, so it's been a while. The car was hung up in the shop for weeks, as an Infiniti tech could not connect with the ECU to diagnose a non-working AC unit.

We brought it back to The Shop and Jimmy tried all his techs to figure out why they could not read (including a call to Sam), but in the end we sent it back to Infiniti AGAIN and asked them to fix the problem under warranty... (this involved a little coercion with the twin turbo under the hood), but the Service Manager assigned a better tech on it and they figured it out in an hour. Operator Error. Sheesh! Cool air again. :cool:

Onto better things...

Last reports had me changing wheels and tires. Yes, I went with the Enkei RPF1's in 18" F/R sizes (to match) and to get more sidewall grip for the rear tires. Looks great!

http://www.fototime.com/3480C48D036E787/orig.jpg

Went to Island Dragway in NJ for their Friday eve street cars only shootout. Good stuff, I literally made eight passes within three hours! Perfect conditions.

I ran a slew of low 12 second passes, but nailed ONE 11.98 @ 120. I got it on vid.



http://www.fototime.com/0CE25E4460A2B63/orig.jpg

I've barely seen any Infiniti's in the elevens, and probably none with an auto, but that's irrelevant. This is what I managed.

Props to Jimmy and his guys at TheShopCT.com for the setup and advice, and of course to the hard working parts and service from GTM.

Thanks for viewing.

Coop

Nice times man props great job:tup:

Time to add yourself to the 1/4 mile time list

Sweet....Reps to you my good man. :tiphat:

Thanks guys!

Where is this list?

Coop

Will it be in Georgia next week? :tup:

Damn nice run man

add here too Drag Racing 1/4 Mile times 0-60 Dyno Fast Cars Muscle Cars - DragTimes.com :)

Some updates I hadn't posted:

I've since sent and had the car returned with a FULL internal upgrade to the auto trans from Level Ten in NJ. They delivered their 'Bulletproof' modifications, and I opted for the torque converter as well. Costly, yes, but so is everything else I've got going on.

So far it's incredibly tight. The torque converter is awesome. Step into it anywhere and it jumps up 1000 RPM's right into the powerband. Boost and power are even more responsive.

All the components inside are heavy duty, and Level Ten has a spotless shop and 35 years of trans and race experience. Great stuff.

Shifts are firm, yet 2nd is still softer than 3-5th. Probably by design, and it also may be a function of software. Pat did not have the software to change the ECU, although he made manual and mechanical changes internally.

Now that I've gotten some miles on the trans with the changed torque converter, I'm in love. WOW!

Anytime you want more power, step into it and the RPM doesn't wait to climb. It jumps up and just starts delivering. My concern was there would be too much 'slippage' on the road. Not so. Only when it's demanded. SO I really can't tell any difference at low throttle and normal driving.

Big, NOTICEABLE improvement. As far as what this is worth for drag times, we are guestimating that this would allow the car to be able to launch with maybe 1.7-1.8 60" times. Save one tenth there and it's almost double at the quarter.

A problem I needed to find a solution for is how to hold the brake and spin the tires at the track. The VDC won't allow this. I was told the brake switch cancels the signal to the throttle. So, cancel the signal to the brake switch... :)

I simply unclipped the brake light switch (In neutral, car running--otherwise you can't start it or get it out of Park.)

Place it in 1st, brake on, and SPIN THE TIRES LIKE MAD! LOL. So the brake light is a holdback trigger.

I've just returned from Radio Shack, with a small momentary switch. I'm going to install it on the dash or console, and hook it inline with the brake light switch and press it when I need to do a burnout (and this would also allow some brake boosting at the line).

Although a toggle would do the same thing, for safety reasons, I'd hate to leave that switch to the off position. It's only disabled while I hold it. I'll have that connected by the weekend.

Going further, props to Sam Zawahara @ GTM. He called ME and we discussed what was going right and what was going wrong with my project. (I'm thinking it's a pretty good selling point to point to a shelf-tuned GTM TT kit with a lowly auto that has gone elevens. )

Upon my wishes, he's agreed to raise the (2) RPM limits in the ECU tune 400 rpm further. Not without reservation, but he agreed.

The car is at The Shop tonight and tuner Johnny Visconti (V-Flash) is going to do the changeover. I don't want to spin it that high, but it sometimes isn't in my control. The trans, even with the shift kit and rebuild has a giant delay from when you signal it, to when it actually shifts. I purchased and installed a set of the Black Betty grounding wires, as others stated it would sharpen this up. They were on a few weeks ago at the track. I could not tell one iota of difference, although my stereo sounds great!

More news as I learn.

Coop

Thanks again Coop, great read and a very impressive build....Reps to you.

Very nice! I pulled the brake fuse by the kick panel to do a proper burnout. Any idea what the torque converter stall speed is set to?

Night at the track....
 

This was a stressful day to get there. The drive to lower Jersey from CT can be as short as 2.5 hours. Thursday afternoon rush hour: 5 hours. Only day available for me.

I wanted to turn around and head back at the three hour mark. I got a burger at a drive up and scratched my front rim on the f#$%ing curb. Sitting in traffic for two hours. AAARRGGGhhhhhhh.......

Once there, it wasn't too crowded and I got in (5) runs: 11.90, 11.72, aborted pass (Overreving caused limp), 11.75, and 11.77.

I had guys coming down from the stands to check out the fast Infiniti. Said it was the smoothest fast car on the track. As well as the best looking. :)

I'm learning iMovie. This was fun:



http://www.fototime.com/9590C9D2C93C681/orig.jpg

I'm about done with the track for now. I'm driving it efficiently, and I can't see much more improvement unless I push the boost up. And with stock pistons, I am already REALLY at the edge right now. That would be costly.

It was a gratifying drive home: Made it in 2.5 hours. :D Karma came back around.

Thanks for watching.

Coop

Great times....

Last April:
http://www.fototime.com/49187AAA4545975/orig.jpg

Yesterday:
http://www.fototime.com/8FD2B6EFE35030C/orig.jpg

We'd made a few changes (Exhaust, Tune/tuner, Boost controller) from our initial build. Went to the track twice in Dec. since the above times were posted in June, and ran 11.74. Came away satisfied, but not real pleased.

Truth is, the stooopid HKS EVC-S controller manual is indecipherable and led them to stop 'tuning' because it was boosting off the charts. I did some searching, found out how poorly translated the default settings were, and we changed them. (The distributor was clueless.)

I asked to return to the dyno to verify. Now, John Visconti (V-Tune) made numerous changes to the map and was able to achieve these numbers with relatively safe AFR's (Relative is a keyword. AFR's aren't the only thing to be cautious about at this level.) 12-13 lbs boost. 93oct (w/10% ethanol here in the NE)

Also glad to see the ARK Grip exhaust is WELL up to the job, and quieter. They tell me they tried to run it in 3rd and it poured smoke off the tires--low reading. Just too much!

Anyway, what you see is a pull in full-out KILL mode--suitable for a track run in April or March. 11.5's here I come....

Fortunately the EVC-S has a second programmable mode, and that lower number is how it came into the shop, and how I'm driving it around.

Yup: Stock block. :bowrofl: :eek: Haters gonna hate! Drove away after a lot of abuse, and it was purring like a stocker. These are good engines!

We'll be ready in March for a track day at the strip.

Coop

Coop,

How much HP do you think you were at when you ran the 11.74? Also what type of wheel tire set up are you running for daily/track?

Thanks

Constantine

Probably around 500 on this scale.

I now have (2) pairs of wheels and tires for the car. 295x18's for the rear using BFG Drag Radials, and the equivalent BFG 295x18 Summer Sport tires on now. I don't even drive in the rain, much less snow.

Coop

looks good Coop!

Nice bump in power Coop, good to see that your car is doing well :D

Nice hp numbers, how much torque?

I have two charts. The other with the torque: 540 peak @ 3850 rpm. 495 @ peak hp (591).

It's got some authority.

Coop

Coop, that number is fantastic! This ALMOST makes me want to build my motor and have fun again. I'm excited to see you break your own ET record here soon!

I've gotten my car back from Level Ten in NJ. After a season of abuse and testing it started to unwind. Now: It's better than ever.

I posted a lengthy photo thread about them. Link to it here:

Level Ten Performance Transmissions

We've scheduled a rented track day at Atco NJ on Mar 5th. (Weather providing). All customers from The Shop CT and anyone else who's inclined.

(Jimmy, the owner, has a GTR making 800+whp. He's already gone 9.9 et, and he's looking for sub 9.50's now!)

My car is running well. We'll see.

Coop

HOLY CRAP! That's a beautiful graph. Can I frame it?

Your graph is great because my 6 PSI pulls were done on Dyno Dynamics as well (400 whp), but it's only a 91 octane tune from Sam. I'd love to inch closer to 500 whp on Dyno Dynamics, but I doubt I can raise it to 10 PSI on this 91 octane tune. [shrugs]

With your EVC, were you able to optimize boost levels for each gear?

^^^ No, on the EVC-S. It has a lot of settings, but not per gear or delayed.

Thanks. Good luck on yours! :)

Coop

Would love to see the revised TQ curve if you can post it. Numbers are very impressive. Congrats.