Well as I mentioned earlier late summer is going to bring a small round of engine mods to the game. I had debated re-gearing as I have two small bonuses coming over this paycheck and the next......but I'll wait a while yet as I also want to start getting all of the supporting mods in place before the long block ***** itself in the future. I figuredI could build the bottom end now and live with it as it is,or I can slowly build the top end, and when the bottom goes I will have to buy a long block built to my specs. I prefer the former honestly, but the lady would never accept me spending 4 k on an engine then dumping another couple into it. If I do the top slowly she'll never know, and she can agree to mechanical failures needing fixed in the future
That said here is part delivery #1of a few. As I go I may seem to be ovesizing thigs a bit, but it will all make sense next year
and even more the year after
Starting at the mouth of the pony I felt the need to help her stretch her lips and breath a bit better. I had considered adding a BBK Cold Air Intake, but the design of the 5.0 airbox pretty much covered the aitrflow needs and kept it cool. I have seen dyno testing that suggests the air box is sufficient up to 600 HP and completely eliminates fan wash as well as outside turbulance you find with fenderwell intake kits. There is a flaw though it needed some trimming to suck more air, but already had the K&N panel in there.
The Mass air was the next restriction. The stock unit is a nice big housing with an itty bitty passage way as can be seen below..... I forget what the actual size is, but it's tiny.
Here I decided on adding the C&L 76 mm unit calibrated for my stock injectors. I chose the 76 over the 73 that would have been more fitting for the current apllication to accomodate future plans. The reason for going with the C&L is because calibrating for new injectors is as simple as installing a 25 dollar sample tube upgrade which requires about 5 minutes labor
In additioon I also replaced the inlet elbow with the C&L True flow kit. As I examined it vs the stock part I realized that this is realistically just a cosmetic upgrade as the rubber one would have likely deflected heat better, and maintained the same internal diameter. It was also a ***** to make fit in there, requiring a bit of reworking of the MAF bracket to make it all line up smoothly. With the aluminum pipe resting on the strut tower it also transmits the engine vibration to the chassis and body more than it did with the rubber tube. Oh well I shall leave it for now and see how it works out once things get shifted around a bit in there.
I really did not expect to feel or hear any difference in the car as this is just the beginning of supporting mods, not any kind of power adding piece. I am pleased though that she is generally more responsive with a bit quicker throttle response. I would not say that I really gained much of power in the band, but it is hard to tell through you're butt, rather than a chassis dyno. I am happy with the little extra throttle response, and as far as sound she is for some reason a lot more grumbly. When I first started her after install I thought that maybe I had nocked a vacuum line off. Then after checking I went and sat between the tail pipes to listen for a missfire. She was running a lot smoother than normal. Likely due to replacing the IAC and cleaning the MAF sensor elements. And though grumbly there was no miss to be detected.
Hmm almost sounds like the difference in my truck going from the stock box to the K&N FIPK only louder with two extra cylinders.
I suppose that is all for now, and I should go bump my timing a little to test out this here new timing light. Stay tuned I'll have another box delivered in a day or four.......
Hehe Maximum Motorsports sent my girl a new toy. 
