X-Charger X-Treme driving impressions
04-11-2010, 10:28 AM
#1
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 634
X-Charger X-Treme driving impressions
Well, got the car back this(Saturday actually) afternoon. And no, I didn't kill myself, haha.
Dave had told me not to get on the throttle all at once so I pretty much followed his advice while we test drove the car. Going by my non-calibrated butt dyno, the car picked up a decent amount of torque, and pulled a lot stronger on the top end than it did with just the HiPo X.
Not sure if Dave thought I was nutty, or maybe he just imagined it... but there's a long quiet road near the airport. It's got a 45 speed limit and certain unnamed individuals have been known to take Cobras and Mustangs out there for an occasional romp.
Anyway, after driving the X-treme for a while, I can say... just hypothetically... that if my car somehow ever got a Toyota style stuck throttle pedal... it probably would pull X-tremely hard, fly though 1st gear in a blink, run up past 90 shortly after, and still want more.
It's really good that I didn't do anything illegal like that. If I did, I'd have to shut it down really quickly, check for cops, and do that another couple more times.
It's also good that are no side streets streets or driveways along that road, because there's no telling what might have happened if I did get a stuck throttle pedal...
So to my non-calibrated butt, going from the X to the X-treme feels like almost half again the improvement I got going from stock to the X. Now don't start pulling out your calculators... I'm not talking about 50% vs. 30% vs. 27.8%. I'm just saying that the X-treme is well worth doing if you want a decent jump in performance from your X.
Throttle response is much improved throughout the range. On an automatic car, you're used to the X pushing you back in the seat on downshifts... with the X-treme, it kicks you back. And there's none of that slight lag you get just before it picks up.
So I'm going to have to learn how to drive my car again...
Like I said, I pretty much followed Dave's advice about the throttle... well "pretty much" is not the same as "exactly".
I'm sure you've all seen the videos of a few different Terminators getting all squirrely on the street and crashing. And there's that one of the woman crashing the red Cobra.
I used to think, wtf is up with people that can't drive straight. Well, let's just say that I'm not allowed to laugh at those people anymore. I'm only slightly less stupid than them.
Lucky that I eased off the throttle when I did, otherwise I could have been the star of one of those videos. Car stopped... car just starting to roll... jump on the throttle... car starts to do the booty dance all over the street. Not that I zigzagged across the other lanes, but that would have been me if I stayed in it.
The kit needs to come with a big sticker for the dash saying, "Don't get on the throttle all at once, dumbass!"
So I don't know how much boost I'm getting with this setup just yet. With the X, I've jumped on it, looked at the gauge and said, 'oh, about 10.5 psi". With the X-treme, it gets going so quick that I'm really not interested in taking my eyes off the road. Maybe I just need a while to get used to it.
Truthfully, I'm not so sure I want to try the TVS setup. Not kidding.
I have a hand me down laptop that I'll load with the SCT software to do some data logging. Need to merge some partitions and re-image the drive first.
Dave had told me not to get on the throttle all at once so I pretty much followed his advice while we test drove the car. Going by my non-calibrated butt dyno, the car picked up a decent amount of torque, and pulled a lot stronger on the top end than it did with just the HiPo X.
Not sure if Dave thought I was nutty, or maybe he just imagined it... but there's a long quiet road near the airport. It's got a 45 speed limit and certain unnamed individuals have been known to take Cobras and Mustangs out there for an occasional romp.
Anyway, after driving the X-treme for a while, I can say... just hypothetically... that if my car somehow ever got a Toyota style stuck throttle pedal... it probably would pull X-tremely hard, fly though 1st gear in a blink, run up past 90 shortly after, and still want more.
It's really good that I didn't do anything illegal like that. If I did, I'd have to shut it down really quickly, check for cops, and do that another couple more times.
It's also good that are no side streets streets or driveways along that road, because there's no telling what might have happened if I did get a stuck throttle pedal...
So to my non-calibrated butt, going from the X to the X-treme feels like almost half again the improvement I got going from stock to the X. Now don't start pulling out your calculators... I'm not talking about 50% vs. 30% vs. 27.8%. I'm just saying that the X-treme is well worth doing if you want a decent jump in performance from your X.
Throttle response is much improved throughout the range. On an automatic car, you're used to the X pushing you back in the seat on downshifts... with the X-treme, it kicks you back. And there's none of that slight lag you get just before it picks up.
So I'm going to have to learn how to drive my car again...
Like I said, I pretty much followed Dave's advice about the throttle... well "pretty much" is not the same as "exactly".
I'm sure you've all seen the videos of a few different Terminators getting all squirrely on the street and crashing. And there's that one of the woman crashing the red Cobra.
I used to think, wtf is up with people that can't drive straight. Well, let's just say that I'm not allowed to laugh at those people anymore. I'm only slightly less stupid than them.
Lucky that I eased off the throttle when I did, otherwise I could have been the star of one of those videos. Car stopped... car just starting to roll... jump on the throttle... car starts to do the booty dance all over the street. Not that I zigzagged across the other lanes, but that would have been me if I stayed in it.
The kit needs to come with a big sticker for the dash saying, "Don't get on the throttle all at once, dumbass!"
So I don't know how much boost I'm getting with this setup just yet. With the X, I've jumped on it, looked at the gauge and said, 'oh, about 10.5 psi". With the X-treme, it gets going so quick that I'm really not interested in taking my eyes off the road. Maybe I just need a while to get used to it.
Truthfully, I'm not so sure I want to try the TVS setup. Not kidding.
I have a hand me down laptop that I'll load with the SCT software to do some data logging. Need to merge some partitions and re-image the drive first.
04-11-2010, 11:56 AM
#7
3rd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 634
Oh, and CARB exempted and CA smog legal.
I won't have to put everything back to stock, or do any under the table pay to play stuff
Check this out
Even 0% CO, haha.
The engine light fail was due to the fresh loaded tune and drive cycle.
I won't have to put everything back to stock, or do any under the table pay to play stuff
Check this out
Even 0% CO, haha.
The engine light fail was due to the fresh loaded tune and drive cycle.
Last edited by Mr. Ugly; 04-11-2010 at 11:59 AM.
04-11-2010, 09:36 PM
#10