Shark Werks Goes on US Tour
11-05-2011, 01:53 AM
#35
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Day 3: New Mexico & Arizona
The next stretch took us from Albuquerque to Tempe, Arizona and EVOMS' HQ. There are some super-smooth, curvy and mountainous roads. The colors are something else...
Outside Albuquerque we saw plenty of red rocks:
Nobody at this Laguna complained about our Shark Werks exhaust in Sport mode.
A Navajo village in New Mexico:
There was no drinking and driving but we had to check it out.
On second thought, we decided to park further away to avoid door dings from all the other customers:
This train needs a little blue don't you think?
New Mexico was now behind us:
Finally we reached Arizona. The PCM 3.0 GPS did a great job getting us here. We only had one slip-up where it sent us on a 10 mile loop around Albuquerque to reach a hotel that was a block away (but it was a nice drive).
Look, a map, and only about 1200 miles too late:
A closer look at our route, which happened to be at another exceptional location for relieving oneself of urine (no pictures this time):
We were getting hit by a sand storm so we stopped for fuel and snacks. The local delicacy:
We love dinosaurs, which still live in these parts of the desert.
It's a diplodocus not a brontosaurus!
The baby t-rex is entertained by Dan's blue tape origami:
You can see for miles out here.
About 150 miles away from the Grand Canyon. It's not as grand, but it's just a baby canyon. A few million years from now, you never know.
Damn California tourists (at the Arizona border).
This trading post was out of stock of the RS 4.0 Carbon Fiber intakes.
We try to make you happy, but some wives are not thrilled with Shark Werks.
Tip of the day.
Once again the RS proved it's a great road-trip car. Sand/dust storms have nothing on dynamic cornering lights! They might weigh more than the standard xenons but in low light situations and curvy mountain roads they truly are trick.
The next stretch took us from Albuquerque to Tempe, Arizona and EVOMS' HQ. There are some super-smooth, curvy and mountainous roads. The colors are something else...
Outside Albuquerque we saw plenty of red rocks:
Nobody at this Laguna complained about our Shark Werks exhaust in Sport mode.
A Navajo village in New Mexico:
There was no drinking and driving but we had to check it out.
On second thought, we decided to park further away to avoid door dings from all the other customers:
This train needs a little blue don't you think?
New Mexico was now behind us:
Finally we reached Arizona. The PCM 3.0 GPS did a great job getting us here. We only had one slip-up where it sent us on a 10 mile loop around Albuquerque to reach a hotel that was a block away (but it was a nice drive).
Look, a map, and only about 1200 miles too late:
A closer look at our route, which happened to be at another exceptional location for relieving oneself of urine (no pictures this time):
We were getting hit by a sand storm so we stopped for fuel and snacks. The local delicacy:
We love dinosaurs, which still live in these parts of the desert.
It's a diplodocus not a brontosaurus!
The baby t-rex is entertained by Dan's blue tape origami:
You can see for miles out here.
About 150 miles away from the Grand Canyon. It's not as grand, but it's just a baby canyon. A few million years from now, you never know.
Damn California tourists (at the Arizona border).
This trading post was out of stock of the RS 4.0 Carbon Fiber intakes.
We try to make you happy, but some wives are not thrilled with Shark Werks.
Tip of the day.
Once again the RS proved it's a great road-trip car. Sand/dust storms have nothing on dynamic cornering lights! They might weigh more than the standard xenons but in low light situations and curvy mountain roads they truly are trick.
11-05-2011, 01:55 AM
#36
Burning Brakes
11-06-2011, 07:01 AM
#37
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Day Four: Tuning in Arizona
Today our journey ground to a halt in Tempe, Arizona. It rained heavily during the night but there was still a lot of driving to be done. Only this time; all in the aid of tuning on the Evolution Motorsports AWD Mustang Dyno. The 3.8 GT3RS motor in this car is deceptively strong. She baselined at a very solid 424whp (when converted comes out at around Porsche's claimed 450hp) and 301tq although with some changes we were able to get a few more ponies and torx and then some.
Sport Chrono check, Valentine 1 check, Big Bull horns check. Let's get started:
Once again we've been upgraded in the horn department. Not everything is bigger in Texas. This round goes to AZ.
There was no danger of being peppered with rocks and other debris on the dyno so off came our wrap. She looks good underneath:
Strapping her on to the dyno. EVOMS John to James, "Keep doin' what you're doing. You're doing a great job..."
Measuring the Lambda's- EGTs, AFRs etc:
Reading out the factory file:
Looks like there's a line to get on this dyno. A Grand Am race car?
Indeed Andy Lee's EVOMSit tuned bitchin' Camaro
Work, work, work and plenty of files got created:
It's rude to point except when you have just added an addition 20hp to a 2011 GT3RS:
How much timing do you want? The factory file already calls for 30 degrees!
There you go in stock form, with our SharkWerks exhaust (6whp) and with the Software and Tuning (16whp). Peak horsepower numbers went from 424whp to 440whp and 301tq to 314tq. Very nice gains indeed and as you can tell from the dyno below the curve around 7000-8000rpms has been smoothened. What you can't tell from the dyno is the much improved throttle mapping and responsiveness. Revs much freer. Left-foot braking has also been coded into our 91 octane performance file.
Street driving, testing and logging:
OK now there's four of us here but only two seats. Which one of you is flying home on the remaining journey?
A prickly Cactus. We're still in Arizona but the car runs flawlessly:
On the road again and some 300 miles later at the Arizona / California border. We were hungry and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We came, we saw but we left hungry.
Our t-shirts don't look half-bad from the rear...
Tomorrow we're doing the final stretch from Palm Springs to the Bay Area...
Today our journey ground to a halt in Tempe, Arizona. It rained heavily during the night but there was still a lot of driving to be done. Only this time; all in the aid of tuning on the Evolution Motorsports AWD Mustang Dyno. The 3.8 GT3RS motor in this car is deceptively strong. She baselined at a very solid 424whp (when converted comes out at around Porsche's claimed 450hp) and 301tq although with some changes we were able to get a few more ponies and torx and then some.
Sport Chrono check, Valentine 1 check, Big Bull horns check. Let's get started:
Once again we've been upgraded in the horn department. Not everything is bigger in Texas. This round goes to AZ.
There was no danger of being peppered with rocks and other debris on the dyno so off came our wrap. She looks good underneath:
Strapping her on to the dyno. EVOMS John to James, "Keep doin' what you're doing. You're doing a great job..."
Measuring the Lambda's- EGTs, AFRs etc:
Reading out the factory file:
Looks like there's a line to get on this dyno. A Grand Am race car?
Indeed Andy Lee's EVOMSit tuned bitchin' Camaro
Work, work, work and plenty of files got created:
It's rude to point except when you have just added an addition 20hp to a 2011 GT3RS:
How much timing do you want? The factory file already calls for 30 degrees!
There you go in stock form, with our SharkWerks exhaust (6whp) and with the Software and Tuning (16whp). Peak horsepower numbers went from 424whp to 440whp and 301tq to 314tq. Very nice gains indeed and as you can tell from the dyno below the curve around 7000-8000rpms has been smoothened. What you can't tell from the dyno is the much improved throttle mapping and responsiveness. Revs much freer. Left-foot braking has also been coded into our 91 octane performance file.
Street driving, testing and logging:
OK now there's four of us here but only two seats. Which one of you is flying home on the remaining journey?
A prickly Cactus. We're still in Arizona but the car runs flawlessly:
On the road again and some 300 miles later at the Arizona / California border. We were hungry and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We came, we saw but we left hungry.
Our t-shirts don't look half-bad from the rear...
Tomorrow we're doing the final stretch from Palm Springs to the Bay Area...
Last edited by sharkster; 11-06-2011 at 02:56 PM.
11-07-2011, 02:56 PM
#38
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Day 5 California
The additional power and responsiveness after the serious work was completed at EVOMS was put to good use- in the rain. Nothing like a welcome home rain shower upon entering California. Who says a GT3RS on Pilot Sport Cups doesn't work well in the rain?
One thing is for sure California has its fair share of good roads and beautiful scenery too:
Once we got to LA I had trouble finding a good welcome sign but I figured a Panamera Turbo would suffice and show that Hollywood was near by...
Before getting to the grapevine we couldn't resist a bit of Roller Coaster action:
We didn't start the fire:
Toilet break. Was it "The Bomb" burrito from last night?
Another hour another beautiful mountain. James can't help but look in awe:
James is a fit lad and any chance he gets to stretch he does just that:
His iphone getting a work-out as well:
This right here along the I-5 freeway probably isn't the nicest site of our journey. It's pretty much the smelliest too:
Almost home now...
What a trip, what a country, what a car! I still cannot think of a more fun way to break-in one of these Metzger GT3 engines. The entire package was comfortable, reliable and just downright fun to drive across a good portion of America. We even managed to get our Stage 1 Performance (Exhaust and EVOMSit) kit completed along the way so it wasn't all "play".
The additional power and responsiveness after the serious work was completed at EVOMS was put to good use- in the rain. Nothing like a welcome home rain shower upon entering California. Who says a GT3RS on Pilot Sport Cups doesn't work well in the rain?
One thing is for sure California has its fair share of good roads and beautiful scenery too:
Once we got to LA I had trouble finding a good welcome sign but I figured a Panamera Turbo would suffice and show that Hollywood was near by...
Before getting to the grapevine we couldn't resist a bit of Roller Coaster action:
We didn't start the fire:
Toilet break. Was it "The Bomb" burrito from last night?
Another hour another beautiful mountain. James can't help but look in awe:
James is a fit lad and any chance he gets to stretch he does just that:
His iphone getting a work-out as well:
This right here along the I-5 freeway probably isn't the nicest site of our journey. It's pretty much the smelliest too:
Almost home now...
What a trip, what a country, what a car! I still cannot think of a more fun way to break-in one of these Metzger GT3 engines. The entire package was comfortable, reliable and just downright fun to drive across a good portion of America. We even managed to get our Stage 1 Performance (Exhaust and EVOMSit) kit completed along the way so it wasn't all "play".
11-11-2011, 07:29 PM
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11-14-2011, 04:20 PM
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Welcome home gents! What a great journey, thanks for sharing. Just got back last night, we were in Palm Desert all week for a conference. I was on lookout for that beautiful blue but never saw ya!
11-15-2011, 07:36 PM
#43
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Now that we're back home it's time to start playing around with her some more. Weight savings on these MK2 RS' is pretty tough, ours came with the lightweight battery, PCCB's, the Titanium center exhaust and tips. Installing our exhaust and tips gave us better sound and about 7 pounds off the rear (not willing to do the track exhaust just yet!). The stock wheels are extremely hard to knock weight off compared to the heavier MK1 stock wheels but we're going to give it a shot (and look good doing it) with some new shoes courtesy of the folks at HRE (thanks for the color match and turnaround as always!).
First off here's our stock rear wheel coming in at 30.2 pounds:
Now our 19 inch rear replacement P43S Monoblok Center Lock rear tipping the scales at 25.78 pounds (4.42 pounds per side):
Back-side has holes machined out for weight savings and so do the spokes on these orange-slice version of their wheels:
Back to the stock one at 23.96 pounds:
The front HRE replacement comes in at 22.22 pounds (1.7 pounds per side lighter)
And now mounted on (with a slightly more aggressive offset):
What we have here is a set of HRE's forged wheels that give our car a neat but subtle change vs the stock wheels and saves a few pounds (12.24 pounds total) in the process:
11-23-2011, 05:26 PM
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Next up was to tackle a few of the cushier suspension joints/links and bushings. We did this not only for a more direct feel with less movement but to get more adjustment to dial in the alignment.
The factory upper and lower arms:
Off come the stock rear upper links (notice the neoprene/softer bushings):
On go the RSS rear adjustable links, the neoprene bushings have been replaced with steel monoballs, resulting in more direct handling feel and less movement among suspension components.:
Next up is the toe-steer upgrade. The inner, neoprene bushing is also replaced with a steel monoball, which reduces dynamic changes in rear toe and further tightens up the car's handling.
And finally the entire lower control arm is replaced with the RSS Tarmac series. The arms come with adjustable thrust arm bushings and spherical monoball ends:
The aftermath of stock parts collected:
And now being aligned:
We also removed the stock titanium tips:
And replaced with our own black stainless steel 88mm larger diameter RS tips for a more aggressive appearance (the weight is within 1/2 pound of the stock tips):
Stage 1 is now complete and indeed this is how we set up 9/10 MK2 997GT3's or GT3RS' that drive in. Time to enjoy her:
The factory upper and lower arms:
Off come the stock rear upper links (notice the neoprene/softer bushings):
On go the RSS rear adjustable links, the neoprene bushings have been replaced with steel monoballs, resulting in more direct handling feel and less movement among suspension components.:
Next up is the toe-steer upgrade. The inner, neoprene bushing is also replaced with a steel monoball, which reduces dynamic changes in rear toe and further tightens up the car's handling.
And finally the entire lower control arm is replaced with the RSS Tarmac series. The arms come with adjustable thrust arm bushings and spherical monoball ends:
The aftermath of stock parts collected:
And now being aligned:
We also removed the stock titanium tips:
And replaced with our own black stainless steel 88mm larger diameter RS tips for a more aggressive appearance (the weight is within 1/2 pound of the stock tips):
Stage 1 is now complete and indeed this is how we set up 9/10 MK2 997GT3's or GT3RS' that drive in. Time to enjoy her:
