Thanks Brian. I think you're right. I'll swap out the manis, and see if the problem persists. If it does: then I'll proceed to remove mods one at a time until it stops. If the car goes all the way back to stock and still has problems, then I know its time to take it in for warranty service.

I know that's what I should do. I guess I'm just disgusted with it. I'm so busy with work and school, all I want to do is have some fun with the car, not spend my weekends swapping parts and getting mad. Oh well, that's the "fun" of modding!

 

Can anyone tell me if the stock manifold gaskets are reusable? Or should I just use a set of the cork gaskets that I got with my aftermarket manis? I know cork gaskets are not reusable, but the stock metal gaskets look fine...?

 

you can reuse them if they aren't crushed all the way,, i reused mine once i am running 18 lbs of boost. jim

tom2112Can anyone tell me if the stock manifold gaskets are reusable? Or should I just use a set of the cork gaskets that I got with my aftermarket manis? I know cork gaskets are not reusable, but the stock metal gaskets look fine

 

I have to agree with the recent advice. If you broke manifold bolts putting the manifolds on that is the first place to suspect.

Les

 

Any updates Tom?

 

Well gentle readers, I didn't have time to do anything to my car this week. Also with the Midwest SRT Nationals coming up, I didn't want to return it to stock and have it in the shop, missing the event. So I did nothing.

The Midwest SRT Nationals consisted of drag racing, show and dyno. There were four Crossfire SRT-6s there (myself, Rob from NW, Tamadx, and ImportLabSRT). We put on a good showing, even though ImportLabSRT's car wasn't dialed in yet (new bigger turbo) and mine was still misbehaving.

Rob and I did some experimentation. We both hit the track a few times as-is. (That's me with my original throttle body and Rob with his original TB). We got consistant times. I was in the high 12.6 and low 12.7s and Rob hit 12.17 like three times in a row.

Then Rob loaned me his throttle body, and he put on the spare TB that had given me high RPM at idle. And we hit the track again. I did a little better, but I think that was because it afternoon cooled off. I doubt it was the throttle body. Even so, the best I did was a 12.50 @ 113.7. Rob was coaching me for my lauch, and I think I had everything down pat. Though Rob noticed that both my tires don't always spin during my burnouts, so that may be cutting down on my 60' times.

So what did we learn? Well, I think we can rule out the throttle body as the culprit of my P0505 check engine lights.

On the good side, I did win the Street Class of the Drag event. Woooo!!

On the down side, Tamadx almost beat me each time we ran head-to-head. I would take him by .05 seconds or so. Why is that so bad? Well, Tamadx has the original Code3 pulley, a NeedsWings CAI and a tune. That's it! He was also racing on street tires (I can't remember which brand, but NOT ET Streets like me!)

Tamadx's 60' times would be as much as .2 seconds higher than mine, but he would run me down and almost pass me by the end of the quarter! That's just wrong. (No offense Tamadx, mine should be noticeably faster with those manifolds on.)

The dyno part of the event was today. I laid down 353 whp and 353 ft/lbs of torque. Not bad, but (as usual) I expected closer to 370. Or should I say, if it was running right I should've expected 370.

I'll post time slips and a scan of the dyno shortly.

 

Oh yeah, even with Rob's throttle body on my car, I still blew a P0505 check engine light on the way home from the track.

 

Dyno and time slips.

 

Check this out:
My car was number 835. Tamadx's car was car number 819. I ran against him a couple times.

The second time slip was the one that won me the street class. The fourth slip was just me running against Tamadx.

Look how close they were!!

And before Cruzin asks . . . the DA was between 2000 and 2150 all day.

 

That's some great DA, but I seen pictures on the SRT site and you didn't have much of a track to work with. Were any of you running 100 octane race gas? It's too bad you couldn't swap ecu's with Rob. Congrats on the 12.50. Thanks for heading out there and representing.

 

Put the stock manifolds on and watch your times drop. If you do this and it works pm me ill explain.

 

Thanks for the update Tom -

With your times being very consistent using different TB and drivers - it doesn't appear like you have some type of vacumm leak or other install issue.

You've also helped me make a decision on going forward with any future performance mods.

Thanks again for posting all your efforts and results.

 

Huh? How does that work?


I think you may be confused on the driver issue. The only person to run my car down the track has been me. I've been meaning to send it down with Ol Doc or Rob at the wheel, but circumstances just keep getting in the way - like rain on Saturday.


OK, now I'm curious. What did you decide and why?

 

Sorry - I guess I read too much into the below post.

I was considering modifing my manifolds. But for street and road course type of driving - the cost/performance/risk ratio is just not there.

 

OK folks, I put it off and put it off, but I finally decided to remove my intake manifolds and put the stock ones back on - without the spacers as well. I was really dreading doing it, but it turned out to be really easy. I guess it wasn't the task of doing it that I was dreading, it was kinda like admitting defeat.

As I removed the manis and the spacers, I think I found the problem!

 

As you can see from the pics I just posted, the bottom gaskets (between the spacers and the motor) were not seated properly. In fact there was a gap in EACH one!!! Yup, all six intake runs. Each one had a spot where there was a gap in the coverage of the gasket.

That leads me to believe that I was getting some significant boost leak. (Yeah, ya think?!?)

So, with that revelation I decided to put the stock manis back on anyway. Which I did - no problem. I drove it around Saturday and Sunday and today and I haven't had a check engine light yet. (Woo hoo!) So I'm going to drive it again tomorrow and try to capture a couple logs and see what the max boost pressure I'm getting is. Then I'll put the NeedsWings manis back on.

As you may be able to tell from the pictures, the gaskets I used didn't match up exactly (port matched?) with the Code3 6mm phenolic spacers. So I'm going to leave the spacers off and just mount up the manis. Hopefully I can get a good seal and I'll head to the track this weekend and see what's what.

Wish me luck!

 

By the way - thanks to everyone that said "sounds like a boost leak". I'm thinking you were right (Doc, Mimi, Brian, AMX). Keep your fingers crossed!

 

well, the evidence speaks for itself....put those babies back on, and I know you will kick my @ss even more than a half car length...LOL>......now, I am in the mani mood again....with all these boost leaks, and lean running, I was getting skeptical about doing that mod....240, still have those AMG manis????

 

Great idea. I must have missed where you posted using the phenolic spacers. I've never been a fan of that reason. When installing my mani's I only used one cork gasket. Sprayed both sides with spray adhesive and stuck to engine side first. Prior to that I layed them over the mani's and with a black sharpie marked areas that I cut with scissors for a better overall fit. Got each bolt started then tightened in a X pattern and reverse. Drove it for a day then came back and did it again for 3 consecutive days. Brian will tell you 15lbs, but it will be more. I used a hand torx screwdriver handle type and tightened them by hand until tight, then 1/4 turn. Is there a ft.lb. measurement for pickle jar tight? Those gaskets looked horrible, I've taken mine off 3 times and my gaskets still looked new. You should be all good and low 12's here you come.

 

I had a feeling it was the gaskets. Get needswings "leakproof gaskets" he said the stock gaskets leak pretty much anything over normal boost.