All of the fastest DSMs are RWD except for John Shepard's AWD (7.70 @191MPH)

EDIT HHR SS Upgrade Content - But I'm thrilled with the extra kick in the pants I get from my GMPP Stage 1 upgrade

 

This thread seems to have strayed from the original topic, but I guess if everyone is enjoying it, then it's all good.

 

Not standard in any SS. You haver to order the package and have a 5 speed.

 

Just my opinion. I can feel the upgrade in mine. First gear is toned down, a good thing, mashing it was just a little too much wheel spin. I was getting 23 psi until the cooler weather. Over the winter I could only come up with 17-19 psi. I am now getting back up to almost 23 again. Is there any truth to the "learning" of the computer? I of course hear in Ohio over the winter was careful in the way I drove. It seems to me the more you run it, the more it wants to be ran. Am I goofy or what? Never mind that, many tell me I am.

 

The upgrade is good for a DD. Not too much boost at lower throttle positions, but get into it, and the fun really begins. I'm normally on 2 wheels with 3 cylinders when it gets above 50 and it's not raining, but the SS has changed that.......some.

 

Gotta thank you Mowgli for the link on the DSM's [read: Eagle Talons]. After watching a few vids, I went back in time to when I had a1990 AWD Eagle Talon, and even pulled out some old pics. of the "Beast" from back in the day.
being a hard core car guy, abeit a older one [68 years young], and owning some pretty neat cars over the years, when the AWD Eagle Talon came out, drove on, bought same.
A month or so later, at Laguna Sega raceway, ran into a old friend that happened to work for Tommy and Bobby Archer [Archer Bros. Racing], that were racing AWD Eagle Talons and Jeeps at the time. Having just divorced,sold our house, things got silly after that. after taking a ride in one of their project cars[full blown race car w/ one off ground effects package] I ended up throwing my wallet against the wall, and ending up with a 420 HP race car disguised as a DD, complete with roll cage, to SCCA specs. [except the motor, which pull out much more than SCCA allowed.
The "Beast" would spank most cars that could be driven on the street at the time[due to major hook up with the AWD], and would run low elevens, on street tires, with A/C on.
In 95, due to a little beer induced, exuberance, ran the "Beast" off the road, and ending up about 200 yards in a farmers corn field, wadded up.
After seeing the vids, I realized "damn, I miss that car". It was a rocket sled. Even faster than my ole 1975 Datsun P.U.[which was a turboed 21 lbs boost, Dastun industrial[read fork lift motor] four banger.
Thanks for the memories!
P.S. Makes me wish the SS was AWD. Then we could go fast.
O.K. guys, you can turn the volume down now...i'm done

 

Glad your here to tell the story moonsign, A lot of wicked rides end up in fields, unintentually. Better a field than the alternative though.

 

I totally agree with you on this. I feel the exact same when I had my upgrade done on my 5-speed SS.
After reading all the hype about how much more power it has after the upgrade, I was a little bummed out. It does feel like it has a little more power but nothing crazy.

 

Keep in mind that this is a FACTORY tune/upgrade that we're discussing after all. Dollar to HP wise, it does it's job quite well for just messing with parameters and recalibrations on the factory ECU, and keeps the car warrantied-which is huge for some of us. It also opens the window to further gains from aftermarket products (exhausts, DP's, bigger turbos, etc) later on down the line due to the 3BAR sensors. The main thing holding power down to certain levels besides the safe factory tune is the size of the stock turbo. If you're looking for a track monster then yes, the Trifecta/HPtuner/Superchips(??) camps will undoubtedly chime in and say their tune is GOD for the SS. Nothing against either camp as they've done the homework to extract even more power for us gearheads and that's highly appreciated, but it gets tiring to read the fanboys pop up and bash the other. Keep in mind that in order to get some serious tire (and tranny) shredding HP out of the SS we'll need a bigger turbo, intercooler, and piping, not to mention the needed aggressive tune to extract that power efficiently! If you want 400-450hp, hell let's go for broke and say you want 500 reliable hp out of your SS ... you'll need some serious forged internals, possibly some P&P work to the head, the "big snail" (a la GT30r or other big turbo of your choice) and prepare to start fixing parts as they break. Again the GM turbo upgrade (though the name's misleading, I agree) is a good dollar to hp investment if you want to keep the warranty. If warranties don't matter to you then go all out and let us know once you hit 10's. As for me, I'll be happy hitting 14's in my automatic DD.

Later
Allex

 

I noticed today that rolling on in first gear at about 3/4 throttle felt really strong. I got to an isolated area and from a 10 mph roll went wide open on the throttle and it didn't seem quite as strong. At a 10 mph roll at 3/4 throttle it spins the tires thru 1st gear. At wide open throttl from a 10 mph roll only spins the tires a chirp or two. With and without traction control. I suppose this is ECU programmed protection for the engine. I thought the upgrade did away with torque limiting. I doubt that I could get the dealer to take a look at it. Everything else is flawless.