3.3TT What's the truth about downpipe/midpipe performance?

[SKStinger]

Basically, some people say their Stinger felt faster after they replaced their secondaries, but 0-60 and dyno tests suggest that the gains are negligible. Which makes it odd that so many people say they noticed a difference. Even Tonkabob thought there was a difference until he tested it on the track. Throttle response is one of the only things I can think of that would cause people to think their car is faster when it actually isn't. But now you're stating that you didn't see an improvement in throttle response so maybe that's not the case.

On a side note, which pedal tuner did you get and, now that you have it, do you think it is worth it?

I’ll be able to answer that next week as it’s arriving Monday. I bought the Wind Booster 4S when it was one sale for $99 a few weeks back.

 

[xot1]

Basically, some people say their Stinger felt faster after they replaced their secondaries, but 0-60 and dyno tests suggest that the gains are negligible. Which makes it odd that so many people say they noticed a difference. Even Tonkabob thought there was a difference until he tested it on the track. Throttle response is one of the only things I can think of that would cause people to think their car is faster when it actually isn't. But now you're stating that you didn't see an improvement in throttle response so maybe that's not the case.

On a side note, which pedal tuner did you get and, now that you have it, do you think it is worth it?

Secondaries only increase the noise.

 

[Mr. Tech]

I’ll be able to answer that next week as it’s arriving Monday. I bought the Wind Booster 4S when it was one sale for $99 a few weeks back.

Have you had a chance to test out the Wind Booster? I'm curious to know if you think it was worth it.

 

[SKStinger]

Have you had a chance to test out the Wind Booster? I'm curious to know if you think it was worth it.

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, i finally received it last week. Installed it in 5 minutes as all you have to do is reach behind the peddle and unclip the harness and then attach the Windbooster harness.

It's absolutely worth it. It used to annoy me when I wanted that quick burst of acceleration and i'd push the peddle only to have it arrive a second later. That is now entirely gone.

You can fine tune the sensitivity to your liking. I've tried Sport + and Sport so far and i'm currently in Sport 6 and find it just about right in city traffic.

 

[Mr. Tech]

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, i finally received it last week. Installed it in 5 minutes as all you have to do is reach behind the peddle and unclip the harness and then attach the Windbooster harness.

It's absolutely worth it. It used to annoy me when I wanted that quick burst of acceleration and i'd push the peddle only to have it arrive a second later. That is now entirely gone.

You can fine tune the sensitivity to your liking. I've tried Sport + and Sport so far and i'm currently in Sport 6 and find it just about right in city traffic.

Thanks for getting back to me. It seems that every person who has tried one said it's entirely worth it.

Do you notice that your car is downshifting instantly and that's why you're getting the power quickly? Or is it giving you the instant power in the same gear, without immediately downshifting?

Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[SKStinger]

Thanks for getting back to me. It seems that every person who has tried one said it's entirely worth it.

Do you notice that your car is downshifting instantly and that's why you're getting the power quickly? Or is it giving you the instant power in the same gear, without immediately downshifting?

Thanks again for your feedback!

I haven’t really noticed a difference in when it shifts. What I do notice is that even in comfort mode the car is responsive and feels quicker as if it’s in sport mode but doesn’t hold the gears like it normally would in sport.

 

[Mr. Tech]

I haven’t really noticed a difference in when it shifts. What I do notice is that even in comfort mode the car is responsive and feels quicker as if it’s in sport mode but doesn’t hold the gears like it normally would in sport.

Thanks! Just ordered one for myself haha.

 

[Spaceme17]

I haven’t really noticed a difference in when it shifts. What I do notice is that even in comfort mode the car is responsive and feels quicker as if it’s in sport mode but doesn’t hold the gears like it normally would in sport.

Don't want to continue the hijack of this thread but...

You do realize that the only thing that this device is doing is just remapping how much throttle the engine applies for a certain amount of pedal travel? You can achieve the same effect with your foot.

And this would do nothing to cause the trans to shift faster.

As for downpipe Hp/tq benefit, I don't see that there is much if any gains to be had. The 3.3 is a small engine and from taking a look at the exhaust pipes on my car, they are sized very nicely and I doubt there is much if any restriction in them. Each side of the exhaust after the cats near the turbos is at least 2" diameter (maybe 2.25) and this is more than enough.

 

[Mr. Tech]

Don't want to continue the hijack of this thread but...

You do realize that the only thing that this device is doing is just remapping how much throttle the engine applies for a certain amount of pedal travel? You can achieve the same effect with your foot.

And this would do nothing to cause the trans to shift faster.

As for downpipe Hp/tq benefit, I don't see that there is much if any gains to be had. The 3.3 is a small engine and from taking a look at the exhaust pipes on my car, they are sized very nicely and I doubt there is much if any restriction in them. Each side of the exhaust after the cats near the turbos is at least 2" diameter (maybe 2.25) and this is more than enough.

Thanks for the feedback. But I think you misunderstood what I meant by downshifting. What I was asking is, does the wind booster just make you downshift to get the "immediate power" or does it keep you in the same gear and just respond faster when you push the pedal down? I asked that question because I don't want the car to auto-downshift every time I touch the pedal. It sounds like that isn't the case, which I like. I wasn't asking if it makes the transmission physically shift faster

I know the wind booster won't add an ounce of power to the car, but if the pedal responds faster, then it's money well spent for me, personally.

Your consensus on the secondary DP HP/TQ benefit seems to be what most people are saying. Anecdotally, people, even Tonkabob, have said that an upgraded secondary seems to make the car feel fast more consistently. Whereas without the secondary, they feel like the car feels equally as fast on most runs, but occasionally doesn't feel as fast.

Who knows, maybe it has to do with how the efficiency of the stock secondary changes over temperature. After all, metal expands as temp increases so maybe the honeycomb in the stock CAT expands and becomes more restrictive as temperature increases. That would explain why removing the cat feels fast more consistently. All speculation, but at the end of the day, it seems that for people who are specifically focused on racing, money is better spent elsewhere.

I'm still planning on getting secondaries if not just for the slight increase in sound without going ultra-loud with a cat back. Once I get them, I'll take a bunch of JB4 logs and see if there's anything noticeable in timing, shift points, throttle response relative to pedal input, etc.

Originally, I was going to get an FMIC first, but Mishimoto likely isn't going to release theirs until the end of July and my money is starting to burn a hole in my pocket lol. Ark's sale on their secondaries is also pretty tempting right now so I may start there and get the FMIC next month.

 

[SKStinger]

Don't want to continue the hijack of this thread but...

You do realize that the only thing that this device is doing is just remapping how much throttle the engine applies for a certain amount of pedal travel? You can achieve the same effect with your foot.

Yep. And I’ve always been a believer in just push harder with your foot but find the throttle travel on the Stinger excessive. A throttle controller on this car is totally worth it.

 

[PMR818]

A thread after my heart -- been debating buying down and mid pipes from Ultimate Performance (for efficiency and any speed gains, not sound) but after reading this thread it sounds like maybe I should shift my focus to a new intercooler. Currently installed are: Injen intake, HKS sparks, JB4 (map 2 on 91 gas), and Borla exhaust. The dyno we ran once it all was installed added about 40whp. The "before" dyno with all stock parts on my 3.3 RWD Stinger did 290whp (all on 91 and super hot day). Below is a pic of the dyno with the mods except the Borla exhaust.

Not trying to race on the streets for pink slips or anything and who knows when enough power will be enough. All I know is this car is addictive and when I drive it my gut says it's almost there but need a few more tweaks. We all know that's a slippery slope that leads to more than just a few more tweaks

 

[Stiletto]

@PMR818, hard to say if FMIC will net more power than secondary pipes. If anything, I say WMI. Same effect as cooling the charge air without the negative of heat soak.

 

[Mr. Tech]

A thread after my heart -- been debating buying down and mid pipes from Ultimate Performance (for efficiency and any speed gains, not sound) but after reading this thread it sounds like maybe I should shift my focus to a new intercooler. Currently installed are: Injen intake, HKS sparks, JB4 (map 2 on 91 gas), and Borla exhaust.

You're running Map 2 with 91 Octane?? I'm using Denso plugs and I can only run Map 2 with 93. I may want to try switching to the HKS plugs to see if that tightens up my timing. It occasionally gets a bit more loose than I'd like. No signs of knock, just loose.

Do you remember which HKS plugs you're using and what you used for a gap? And have you measured your 0-60 time with those mods on your car?

Also, if you're looking at the UP primary and secondary downpipes, that'll definitely net more power than an intercooler, but you'll also fail emissions, get a CEL, and I've heard of people having overboost issues. Not sure what the fix is for the overboost issue. In this thread, I was asking specifically about the secondaries since I still need to pass emissions and don't want to have to swap the primary DP every year for inspection.

 

[PMR818]

Thank you for the info! Yup 91 pump gas. I’ll have mid and downpipes from Ultimate Performance hopefully installed early this week. No idea on the gap as well but I’ll find out this week too. Don’t know 0-60 either...just striking out here

 

[PMR818]

Thank you for the info! Yup 91 pump gas. I’ll have mid and downpipes from Ultimate Performance hopefully installed early this week. No idea on the gap as well but I’ll find out this week too. Don’t know 0-60 either...just striking out here

Oh and here are the sparks (showing different sides of the same box):

 

[Mr. Tech]

Thank you for the info! Yup 91 pump gas. I’ll have mid and downpipes from Ultimate Performance hopefully installed early this week. No idea on the gap as well but I’ll find out this week too. Don’t know 0-60 either...just striking out here

Haha, no worries. And thanks for the pic of the plugs! I may try those out the next time I change my plugs. Good luck with the UP pipes!

 

[Daniel @ K8 Stinger Store]

Also, if you're looking at the UP primary and secondary downpipes, that'll definitely net more power than an intercooler, but you'll also fail emissions, get a CEL, and I've heard of people having overboost issues. Not sure what the fix is for the overboost issue. In this thread, I was asking specifically about the secondaries since I still need to pass emissions and don't want to have to swap the primary DP every year for inspection.

Any overboosting issues seem to be fixed by adding a jb4 and hks plugs. The primary downpipes seem to net the best gain as far as downpipe set ups go and the UP Combo Kit will have no cel issues but smog inspections will vary from state to state.

 

[PMR818]

Any overboosting issues seem to be fixed by adding a jb4 and hks plugs. The primary downpipes seem to net the best gain as far as downpipe set ups go and the UP Combo Kit will have no cel issues but smog inspections will vary from state to state.

Cheated on the K8 store by finding a deal on this board for used pipes recently; but support those guys, especially if you're in the LA area! Got all my other mods from them and likely more in the future (after robbing a few more banks!). They'll explain it all to you too if you're a n00b like me.

 

[Daniel @ K8 Stinger Store]

Cheated on the K8 store by finding a deal on this board for used pipes recently; but support those guys, especially if you're in the LA area! Got all my other mods from them and likely more in the future (after robbing a few more banks!). They'll explain it all to you too if you're a n00b like me.

We cant hate on you for finding a good deal. Just as a reminder, you can also hit us up any time and we will see what we can do to help you out with a little discount at any time. Thank you for your support and we look forward to helping you out again in the future with some new Stinger goodies.

 

[Jake747]

Improved throttle response is what I mostly see advertised. Having my Ark Downpipes with the MBRP exhaust, I can't really say for sure if there a noticeable difference, although I don't have the JB4 installed. Looking to see what others may have on this.



This!

I know this is an old post but I have mbrp and am looking into mid pipes if it gives better sound.
Did the mid pipe get you better sound and some more burbles on decel or did you do mid and cat back at the same time?