Hello all. Been a while since I popped in here but I thought I would come by and post up some experiences with a product I was made aware of recently.
I recently had a big modification day for my Grand Prix. Oil analysis had been showing a very slight coolant leak which was coming from the lower intake manifold (common issue on the supercharged engines). So I decided that if I was going to have to go that far into the engine (you have to remove the supercharger and well obvously the intake manifol among other things) I was going to do whatever modifications I could while I was in there.
1. Ported Lower Intake Manifold
2. Aluminum Manifold Gaskets (good to about 17 psi of boost, oem ones were plastic and good to only about 11 - 12 psi)
3. Modular Pulley System for the supercharger. I can now swap out pullies and change sizes in about 5 minutes as long as the belt size will work with the pulley size. The OEM pulley is a pressed on and is a lot of work to get off (Mustang SVT guys will know where Im coming from)
4. New Injector O rings.
5. SLP Intake (getting ready for a ram air hood at some point hopefully)
6. New valve cover gaskets
7. Painted Valve covers
8. New beefed up left and right axle shafts.
There was more, I just cant recall it all right now, we did a lot of work to it. I couldnt get a ported supercharger in time, so I'll have to do that at a later date.
We get all that done and button back together (I think it worth noting, we did all that work and had not one missing or extra bolt or nut, we tracked every piece meticulously and cleaned everything even more so). The car fires up on the very first try.
Everything seems good and so we take it out for a test drive. I get on a stretch of road and just punched the crap out of it. The thing raps up, takes off and falls flat on its face, just like it lost every bit of power and it scared the crap out of me.
We get back and figure that since I dropped from a 3.8" pulley to a 3.4" pulley that perhaps my belt was slipping. The Grand Prix has seperate belts for the accessories and the supercharger. I brought an oversized tensioner pulley hoping that would be enough. Get that installed and take it back out.
I get to the same stretch of road and punch it again. And the mofo just takes off like a bat out of hades, then we find issue number two. The thing winds out now so fast that I am over running the shift points and hitting the fuel cut off. My shift points are set at 6000 rpm. So I try another test and this time lift before I hit the shift point in first gear so it will shift to second and then get back on it. I do that and we run into a belt slip problem again, not major and you could probably feather it a bit and drive through it, but its not a fun thing when it happens.
So we get back and we check the supercharger belt. The tensioner is good, so we determine that I may need to get a new belt and perhaps one that is shorter. But the guy I was working with said I should try a product called CRC belt dressing first and see if that takes care of it.
Its getting late so I decide I will do this at a later point and we focus more on the shift points. I have to hook up to the computer with the tuning software and adjust the shift points down. My shift points are set at 6000 rpm, but because of the time lag between the time the computer sees the cut off rpm and actuall commands the shift, you have to set the shift point rpm a couple hundred rpm below what you actuall want in the computer. I was set for 5800 in the computer, so we lowered them to 5600. The car was winding up so fast the computer couldnt command the shift fast enough and I would hit the fuel cut off.
I finally get the CRC belt dressing and get that sprayed on the belt. Immediately you can see that this is going to be a huge help. It makes the belt more tacky, therefore grips better. I get not only the supercharger belt but the accessory belt sprayed down. I take the car out and all I can say is WOW!!!. The belt dressing has completely taken care of the belt slip and with the new shift points I can ride it all the way through first gear with no problems.
The CRC belt dressing also seems to aid in de-glazing the belt too. You know, that sheen that you get on the smooth side of the belt. I had always though when you start to see that, it was time to get a new belt and had no problem with that but now for about $3 or so, I can see getting a great more use out of the belts. Furthermore, with the tackiness that the dressing gives, you shouldnt have to worry about the belt ever slipping.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
Yeah! Its got a supercharger
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
My Car Is The Only Whinner I Like
Sorry for such a long post, I didnt realize I typed that much but I wanted to let you guys know what was going on and about the product too, LOL.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
Yeah! Its got a supercharger
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
My Car Is The Only Whinner I Like
SyntheticShield wrote: Sorry for such a long post, I didnt realize I typed that much but I wanted to let you guys know what was going on and about the product too, LOL.
Good one. I'd forgotten about belt dressing and it's such a simple fix. Coming in to winter and having the Focus sitting for fairly long periods these days the dressing will be a fix for the usual squeals. Thanks
____________________
A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams...John Barrymore
Yeah, I think it could be a real sleeper product. I would be curious if it would help timing belts last longer. Alas the Grand Prix is a good ole pushrod chain driven so I can find out on it, but the Focus is belt driving on the timing, so maybe someone can give it a long term test.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
Yeah! Its got a supercharger
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
My Car Is The Only Whinner I Like
