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6MT Sedan done! Pics and questions about possible tune
After years of casually looking for a graphite 6mt sedan, I picked a 2012 with 54k in January. It was a bit neglected and had air ride on it but other than that, stock and very clean. During the past few months I did a ton of maintenance, restoration, and light mods.
I started out with removing the air ride (what a pain in the A$$) and sourcing stock suspension parts to get it back together. I put on swift springs, eibach bars, replaced a blown endlink, and had a proper alignment done along with powder coating the wheels and putting on 15mm spacers and new General G-Max AS-05 tires. Im very happy with the outcome of the suspension and drive. Feels comfortable, handles incredible, and sits just right. The tires are incredible for all seasons at around $130. They are ultra high performance all season and they live up to the performance part. I race ST4/TT4 so i understand tires, brakes, and grip very well. These are as good as the Indy 500's I would have used however I wanted something I can drive when it was 20 or 30 out without cracking. The dry and wet grip is astonishing.
Next I throw on some Stoptech Street 308 pads. Everyone says you have to run 309's but I've used them before and they dust so much. Thats not what I wanted. I put the 308's to the test on Sat on my back roads I rip all my street cars on and they performed fantastic. Anyone that says you need anything more for the STREET and I stress the street part, has no real driving experience or understanding about brake and available tire grip relationships.
From the bumpers sitting on the ground with the air bags, the steering rack and rear axles were smoked so I replaced those. Changed the belts, oil, trans, diff, brake, clutch fluids, and coolant.
Installed a used RC2 intake with new filters.
The front lip was cracked and there were a few large scratches on the driver side doors so I had all that resprayed.
Changed the interior lights to LED, replaced the HID bulbs and fog lights to brighter white bulbs along with the reverse lights.
So there she is. Exactly my vision. A stock looking enthusiast performance car that I can put my baby seats in, fly under the radar and rip when the opportunity presents itself. So, to touch on that... I have noticed the throttle response is crap. Now my question is about tunes/flashes. I see hypertech units for 250 or so. Is this worth anything? I see a lot of mixed reviews. I understand there is not a lot of power to be had on a stock motor but throttle response and drivability improvements are my main goal. I wouldn't mind a few extra horses if they were on the table.
Or do I just pay the 650 and get Uprev and have a Z1 tune? How much benefit will uprev have over something like the hypertech?
Looks stunning, I am doing the OEM+ look as well. I've been stock piling parts as well and will shortly start putting everything together. I recommending doing the Midnight Edition grille, it looks great on this color.
I was thinking of doing Impul springs to keep the alignment in check, did everything align to spec with the Eibachs? What % tint did you get done?
Clean ride, it looks really good, congrats. 6MT FTW.
Don't waste your time with Hypertech. I'd go EcuTek. I have UpRev because I have an '08 and the ECU ROM size is too small. Z1, SOHO Motorsports, and AdminTuning are all good options. Depending on your location one might be better than the other or you can do an e-tune. I went with SOHO because of their super easy e-tune that they offer and I like the work, feedback, and products they offer. Nik (owner) was great with the tuning process and helping me get everything dialed in. Wish list is their top mount single turbo kit. Mind you a tune will run you around $900-$1k depending on the tuner. I'd personally wait to do some bolt-ons and then get the tune. You can still open the car up more with better intakes and free flowing exhaust that's not too loud for the kiddos. still As far as the tune goes, I highly recommend it. More power, better throttle response, flame/popcorn map, rolling anti-lag, launch control. I had more power available all throughout the RPM band so normal driving was improved as well.
FWIW the next time SOHO has a sale on their re-tune and 69mm intake combo, I will probably be going with that. They did it back for Black Friday and it was a damn good deal for $649.99. Intakes are priced normally at $469.99 and re-tune is $350. I've thought about 3" intakes but I'd be looking at over $1k for the a set with the options I want (velocity stack, bigger filters) and re-tune. I might see a bit more power up top with the 3" intakes but the extra money isn't worth it IMO.
Looks stunning, I am doing the OEM+ look as well. I've been stock piling parts as well and will shortly start putting everything together. I recommending doing the Midnight Edition grille, it looks great on this color.
I was thinking of doing Impul springs to keep the alignment in check, did everything align to spec with the Eibachs? What % tint did you get done?
I used swift springs. I think it was like 1.7 front and 2.2 rear
I used swift springs. I think it was like 1.7 front and 2.2 rear
Ah I was thinking Eibach springs and not sways. I will most likely settle for something less aggressive and upgrade to 19" wheels as refinishing mine + adding spacers will probably not be the most cost effective.
So there she is. Exactly my vision. A stock looking enthusiast performance car that I can put my baby seats in, fly under the radar and rip when the opportunity presents itself.
Nice post, nice car. Can really appreciate having a vision and seeing it through (although my own wasn’t as grand). And also, share a very similar “design philosophy” as you; make the car look and feel as though it was a sportier trim that was offered from the factory.
wish you well in wrapping up the project and enjoying the car. And couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t shameless plug sport coupe 19” wheels as a consideration, think they’d do great on your car
Thanks for the suggestions. I actually really like the gunmetal duck feet and the grill doesnt bother me. The black is nicer but I dont care enough to buy it.
Nice ride looks like KAD color. These cars dont like short ram intakes much so if you could open the radiator support and put some sort of hose/air channeling to feed these would help. If you race race ST4/TT4 then you know the importance of fresh air and heatsoak which these intakes tend to do however I feel like it's because the channel hole is now blocked by the design of the filter. It hits the front of the filter and has to go around the front to enter through the sides so a wider feed would produce significant gains.
As far as the tunes go yes and no.
These cars have really sensitive catalytic converters that tend to let go and when they do they start burning rich. Something that a tune will exacerbate however you can also tune for this if it happens.
The other is that these cars are extremely muffled, hence why they gain so much from exhaust upgrades however will increase noise and the fact that these cars are so purely under insulated will get to you at one point.
You can expect about 40whp from a tune and bolt ons which to many is more than enough. My recommendation is that you link up with someone from the forum/fb group and test prior as it can be an expensive route as you have discovered.
I bought this car with those same intentions however the more I research the more I want to stay away from becoming a Trumpet (typical full exhaust sounds from modded Vqs).
If you decide to tune you will get what you pay for which in these cars I think is the best bang for the buck in comparison to the rest of the other upgrades.
Appreciate the suggestions. Yea on my race car you can see the scoop in the headlight that has brake ducting right to the filter, I get it. However for a free intake that I just needed to buy filters for I cant complain too much. I will investigate ducting some air up there if its not too challenging. It's a street car so Im not gonna stress about it too much but if I can do it in an hour I will. Also I went with uprev with Z1. I just want more kick and response and I think thats fair. No interest in exhaust. I have a bunch of toys and this is the only one thats not loud. The problem is my kids rooms are right about my garage and Im always juggling cars to take one out but I cant start any of them when the kids are sleeping just because the structure of the house amplifies the sound so much up there. My street s2000 is supercharged so its loud, the Z06 knocks pictures off walls inside, the race car I wear ear plugs in. This is staying stock lol and I will be able to drive it when I want
How do you like the sway bars, did they make a big difference? I have a set of Hotchkis waiting to be installed.
Looking forward to your review of the tune.
The car was on air ride before so I can't say about before but I know these lean a lot. It's on rails now. I'm shocked at how good it handles and couldn't be happier with the setup
Sweet simple OEM look. From what others have said, a tune will probably give you that little umph that you're looking for around the neighborhood and grocery run. I don't think that hypertec is worth it. Just go with UP-REV like most have and do a tune to get the most out of the stock engine. Z1, Moncef, Saul nights, etc etc are all good choices. 18's look small on the sedan, bump it up to 19s and you'll love her more! Sweet z06 n s2000 btw!
Waiting for uprev to show up from Z1. Everyone keeps saying that about the wheels. IDK I like the duct feet to be honest and I coated them and put new tires on so Im done. But, I am happy with the look and size of them..
Make sure to inform prior that you will be keeping the stock cats as they'll need to adjust for not backfires/crackle/pop tunes that seem to be in style now. They will kill the cats and you'll enter the struggle most do when that happens. HFC dont even come close and neither do TPs as far as noise reduction.
Make sure to inform prior that you will be keeping the stock cats as they'll need to adjust for not backfires/crackle/pop tunes that seem to be in style now. They will kill the cats and you'll enter the struggle most do when that happens. HFC dont even come close and neither do TPs as far as noise reduction.
04-06-2020, 04:16 PM
