Dont think twice and spend the money man. I got the kit the day it was released!!

 

Mine goes in tomorrow. I'll let you know how it feels assuming I make it home!

I checked all of the boost hose clamps to make sure they are tight. I talked to the tech that is doing the install and he was grateful for much of the gotcha's I provided from this forum. It's a great resource.

 

hey Bart, I went to union grove sat. afternoon.
to preface this, my car is an '09 & auto trans. last fall i raced it stock & it ran a 15.1.
i was hoping for a 14.7 after the upgrade.
OH MY GOSH, the car ran a 14.1 at 98 mph!!!
i blew away most of the imports there with a station wagon!!

 

So how did it do on Saturday?

 

That's a pretty good number to run w/ an auto. You were pretty much knocking on the 13 sec. door!

Later
Allex

 

No kidding!

Edit: Tee hee hee...

I got mine installed today at Gold Rush Chevrolet in Auburn. Mine is a 5 spd and I've never driven an auto hard enough to get a feel for it under boost but here is what I have noticed so far:

I couldn't really get on it too much since it was raining but I was able to get into boost enough to notice that the programming lowers the throttle position where it gives substantial boost. Before, you would get a little at about 50% and then a lot at 80%+. Now you get a little at around 30-40% and a lot by 50-60% tops. So part of the sense of "more responsive" isn't the kit, it's the change in the boost management vs throttle position. You still have that safety zone that lets you drive sanely but it ends far earlier on the pedal. I have to retrain my left foot.

However, when you hit that 60% throttle it a pretty substantial kick. I saw 20-21 PSI in third before I had to quickly back off and because the wheels were just spinning in the rain. I didn't even both to try in first and second.

I live in the mountains at 3000 feet and drive between the valley and home. Going up the twisties (45-50 mph), I don't bother lugging the engine in fifth - I drop to fourth and just cruise up the climb. The Stage 1 didn't change that. It's still best to drop to fourth with the Stage 1. You can roll into the boost a little in fifth but I don't like doing that. I still dropped to fourth to keep the RPM's up. I don't want to pound the lower end unnecessarily. That's fine by me. I prefer to have that "sane zone" (unlike my Turbo Regal that would wait a second or two at light throttle to spool up and send you sideways.) This is still very refined.

So far (and in wet weather) I definitely notice it. Definitely. Oh yeah, definitely!

It was the first one for the dealer and the tech appreciated the information everyone has posted here on the gotcha's of the installation. I paid $250 for the install in total. The biggest challenge they had was getting GM to stop sending them the BCM programming. They had to hang up, call again and got someone that knew what they needed and they got the Stage 1 OS quickly. After that, the tech said the lower map harness was so short he had to unwind a fair amount to get enough wire to even work with.

Thanks again to the site for all of the great information!

 

**** i wonder what i can run

 

No need to try to convince yourself, get it done and be very happy you did it!

Later
Allex

 

must have been the must maligned wire splice problem on our upgrade. the boost is back, and what a nice feeling the extra poop gives you. with the labor and tax (and full list price on the upgrade) it was 801 , but bang for the buck, worth every penny. just pay the money, let the dealer do it and warranty it for the full 100,000 mi.. the change in response from off idle on up to redline...... :-)