Curious question that i hope Jeff M can answer. I am going to buy carl's TGP soon but i fear his engine will need to be rebuilt. the question is when i get it rebuilt the guys at the shop im going to are going to replace all. will that change anything involving the tg160 chip he has in the car. also carl tells me there is a special wastegate on the car. can this be swapped out for a normal TGP wastegate.
you gotta understand im importing this car into canada so i need to make parts finding easier and also i dont want to create any future headaches for myself.
Hi! I'm re-building mine as well. I have 66k mi on this car. This chip is for engine management. Make sure thermos and chip match. I have Jeff's xover and a rebuilt/restored Turbo, KN intake, new rad, the works. Also detailing frame and all components to like new condition during assembly. I will then install the Topgun 160 chip after some road time. Good luck and lots of patience, Rob
yeah see the shop i want to go to is super good. they're owned by SLP. you know the guys that make the camaro ss. there shop is here in montreal. these guys want to put in dropped forged pistons balance everything i want them to put in the lifters with the lil wheels on em. i think thats what they are. anyway. i just want to know if i start replacing parts like that (pistons, lifters, balancing) will that change anything setup wise in the computer that will require me to have extensive mods done to the chip.
Been running my ass off, not getting any sleep but that is the way it has been for a while, by this Fall I think I will fall down and take a week long nap :shock: . Your questions on engine sound like it could get into a long and detailed learning curve to support, but will do the best I can here. Don?t waste money on forged pistons, stock without detonation will be just great even with another 100 hp thrown in there, long as you have stock then the compression ratio will be correct for the chip too. Same with rods, stock without detonation will be great! Crank is hardened, good one keep it, and there has been some confusion on this, there are a few ways to be hardened and the way the TGP 981 cast crank got done was with a Nitrided treatment, or Tuff-Trided as some call it, and of course nice rolled fillets. Balanced, if you have spare cash, not a critical thing to have done, stock was not that poor as the items above were hand selected out of the bin when making our engine so better than stock already. Stick with stock cam, nothing wrong with it at all, sure there is better but the computer will not take too kindly to it, and there are plenty of Turbo Regal/GN guys running 11s and 10 with stock cams, blocks, crank. Roller lifters are costly to mod in, not impossible or huge bucks but for the little gain in less frictional losses, you could spend the money elsewhere. I would, set you up with my Ultra Flow heads but if you are dealing with SLP that changes everything, I know too much of their ways in stealing the hard design work and dollars other companies and individuals have invested in their products only to have SLP cloning the parts and putting their name on it, and their way overboard high prices!!! They have the same shit-don?t-stink mentality as their bed fellows GM, and I know enough GM engineers to compare, its sickening at times, and I am a GM man but getting more embarrassed to admit it (Aztec sales are going up, Cadillac CT-WTF is that ugly or am I blind!!, just to name a few). Now, not to be one-sided and bash GM and SLP, I will say that SLP makes some high quality stuff, and their work is very select and detailed so, you will pay some money but they will do a good job for you. Make sure they check the lifter bores, they can get elongated and will need to be sleeved to fix the problem, cheaper than getting another block and sleeving will be stronger than the cast iron block!
That should be about it for the engine. As for your wastegate and the previous owners, I talk to hundreds of TGP owners and in great detail with topics like yours, or even longer with troubleshooting and the learning curve for the owner that goes with it so I will not remember every little detail on an owner?s TGP I have not talked about in a while. So not sure what this different wastegate is you have, so be more specific, does it look like stock, have a rod that is not threaded, has one vacuum line attached to it that faces the front of the engine area??? Has both upper and lower vacuum lines attached to the black solenoid on the front of the upper intake? Long as you have a good boost gauge and check the boost level so that it only shows a max of around 10 to 12 psi then it should be setup fine to work, best I can tell from here.
Jeff M
jeff you are the man thanks. you prolly saved me almost a grand in stuff. just one last thing bout the wastegate though. if it has a different wastegate than the ones you designed the chip for (no matter which one) can i swap it out for one that was designed to go with the chip? (if that didnt make sense dont worry i do that sometimes.
oh and one more thing jeff if i did want those heads what would you charge me in canadian dollars for them and how does the process work? also what would you charge me for a x-over in canadian dollars.
like i said your the man :headbang: