im in

Thx for the input. Can't do the proto remotely as they have to tune the conversion map. Plus they have an in house dyno for working it up and take it to a certified dyno to get publishable results.

I'm betting that once you get the exh freed up, intake will be the choke point and you'll get a lot out of a better system.

Here's a tour of the shop from SG.
http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php?t=17259

Damn, those are my kind of guys. They really seem to know their stuff. I like seeing clean and organized shops. Means they care about their work. Keep us posted.

Yup. Good crowd. Two Mech E's and one EE. One of them went to USNA and is from a Navy fam. My kind of peeps. (I'm a grad/survivor.) Hopefully they'll see the interest here and tell me to drop my truck when I pickup my ragtop. (I miss her so) Unless a 4R from that area steps up... nudge, nudge.

Even in the proto testing, could you keep us appraised of what a stock 3vze puts down to the wheels? I'm very curious on that end...

I've given up on the 3.0. I'm just going to upgrade. I'm tired of this motor.

Hey... if they go for it, I'll share all stats and updates. For the Solara they're giving me Dyno graphics, soft copy install docs, and various stock readings they took during development.
I don't suppose we have a 3.0 dyno in the forum. Should be a bit tough. I've never seen 3rd gear lock up. But maybe that's just my trans.
anyway... waiting on word from the shop. They have a week to make up their mind if they want me to bring the truck or fly out for the pickup. If not for YotaTech there'd be no chance. This site rocks!

3rd gear will lock up with OD off.

Here's the ruling from the shop. They like the look of the interest but they are swamped at the moment. So they wouldn't be able to touch the 3.0 until August. Since I don't want to leave my truck there that long we're putting in on hold until they find a local donor for this summer. If they don't find someone then they'll tap me and we'll set it up for the fall.

I asked him for a ballpark for pricing and he looked up some stuff. Full kit with aluminum intake, powder coated, new MAF sensor, all harnesses for hookup, and MAF Customizer chip... should be in the range of $500-$700. Major factors ruling price are complexity of the pipe (ours should be simple) and the MAF sensor runs about $100 on it's own. It also gets cheaper if no heat shield is required.

I know that's more than expected but maybe we can get them to axe the pretty pipe part. Seeing the custom Mods in here, I don't think most of you are going for cosmetics in the engine. Just performance. The pipe is a huge cost since they sub out the mandril bending and powder coating. Any thoughts?

Definitely NOT in it for the bling factor. They can make it out of hardened plastic like the stock piece, if they want.

Ed

I second getting rid of the bling. Yeah, I like stuff to look good to a certain extent, but I want the functionality and the performance to be there a lot more than the bling. Looking forward to the finished product. Keep us posted on it.

exactly - im making my intake pipe absolutely flawless, but that's my baby. I wouldnt pay for it to be done because of the sheer cost. No paying for bling bling...

This mod (along with headers/exhaust) sounds like a slight alternative to doing a motor swap. Money-wise, if it made a decent HP improvement then $500-700 sounds reasonable. Far as the bling pipe goes...just ditch the powder coating and leave it plain aluminum.
*staying tuned till August*

Would 20-30 HP to the wheels be "decent"? From what I read, a MAF improvement should get in that neighborhood. Also, I'm thinking you're not locked in to the 3.0 with a product from them. If you someday go 3.4, it should transfer fine with a little tuning of the conversion map.
I'm glad there's so much agreement on the "drop the bling" theory. I love this forum!

less bling
less money
more power!

That sums it up very nicely livelarg

Whats is required of the donor? I live 10 minutes from Beltsville so I might be interested, if they promise not to blow up my truck.

I PMed axon. That may get things going quicker. When I pickup the car, I'll discuss with the shop options to live up to the "livelarg" credo. I mean, really... it's air we're moving. As long as it won't melt, we're good. And they'll have more market with a lower price point because not as many folks want to put lots of $$$ into a 10-15 yr old engine. (Like whoever traded in the '95 I bought.)
(subtext: not all 4R owners are YotaTech material.)

Talked with D2TC yesterday and will wait til Monday and give the shop a shout.

I hope you are willing to be the guinea pig for this and also be able to do it soon. I hate waiting for stuff. Probably why I never had any presents to open up on Christmas for the first 27 years of my life. Maybe my 28th Christmas, this coming one, will be different. I wouldn't bet on it though.