This is my first post. I have been reading this forum since I bought my ridge in 2006. I wanted more performance and kept waiting and drooling for Comptech or someone to do something. I thought about the sts a couple of years ago after the guy in hawaii did it. Unfortunately, nothing ever came out. I paid off my truck in October, and decided that I was going to do an sts kit. I started doing some homework, and ultimately decided that there was plenty of room under the hood for some serious turbo equipment. I took the plunge in November and I'm almost finished.
My ridge has 86,000 miles and has been my daily driver for 6 years. I work construction and have a boat, so it has seen a lot of abuse. I have done regular oil changes with castrol synthetic, and I did a diff/transaxle lube just a couple of weeks ago. I haven't done the tranny yet, but the fluid is in the garage. Also, my ridge has had a 2" lift since I bought it. I have had no major issues.
I hired a turbo shop with 20 years experience and they have done an awesome job so far. I have a final (I hope) dyno session scheduled in 2 weeks and will try to put down 400 whp.
Here's the skinny. I took out the airbox and plumbing. Took out the battery tray and remote mounted my battery in the trunk. Mounted the turbo and fabbed a 3" exhaust to the rear. We eliminated the third cat, but left the pre-cats out of the heads. We located the cold air inlet to the drivers side wheel well. An intercooler is mounted behind the front grill. We installed new injectors, a tuning system and methanol injection.
I got baseline numbers on a Mustang dyno (4-wheel dyno) of 194 HP and 252 tq at the wheels. That equates to a 23% driveline loss based on a stock 255 hp. With the stock airbox disconnected, we were able to get 209 hp and 270 tq. That speaks to what a good cold air intake can do for you - 15 HP!
I also ran 0-60 and 1/4 mile 3 times to get a baseline. My ridge did 0-60 in 9.82 seconds and the 1/4 in 17.84 @ 83.59. That was my best time. I took my truck to certified scales and weighed in at 4,897 lbs with me and my crap in it.
It has been quite an experience and I've spent plenty of $$$, but it has been worth it! So far, I have put down 329 hp at the wheels with 8 lbs of boost. With the 23% driveline loss figure, that equates to 424 hp at the crank! I can't keep the tires hooked up. I disable the VAS (vehicle stability) because sometimes it kicks in during launch. I haven't gotten back to the track yet, but the Dynomaster app in my phone says 0-60 in 7.41 sec and 1/4 mile in 15.63 @ 96.01 mph. I know it's faster, but the tires just spin for the first 2 seconds. I need to get new rubber.
Based on the shops research, they feel the motor is good for up to 15 lbs of boost in stock form. We are going to tune it for that and see how it goes. So far so good.
By the way, this thing rides like stock. If you don't put your foot in it, you would never know it was in there. I drive my ridge about 80 miles a day for work and it is so much fun. It looks stock and you should see the look on the pony car guys faces when I blast past them with my tires spinning! I can spin the tires at 45 mph!
Thats it for my first post ... got it off my chest. I'll post up again when I get my next tune and a timeslip! :act035:
My ridge has 86,000 miles and has been my daily driver for 6 years. I work construction and have a boat, so it has seen a lot of abuse. I have done regular oil changes with castrol synthetic, and I did a diff/transaxle lube just a couple of weeks ago. I haven't done the tranny yet, but the fluid is in the garage. Also, my ridge has had a 2" lift since I bought it. I have had no major issues.
I hired a turbo shop with 20 years experience and they have done an awesome job so far. I have a final (I hope) dyno session scheduled in 2 weeks and will try to put down 400 whp.
Here's the skinny. I took out the airbox and plumbing. Took out the battery tray and remote mounted my battery in the trunk. Mounted the turbo and fabbed a 3" exhaust to the rear. We eliminated the third cat, but left the pre-cats out of the heads. We located the cold air inlet to the drivers side wheel well. An intercooler is mounted behind the front grill. We installed new injectors, a tuning system and methanol injection.
I got baseline numbers on a Mustang dyno (4-wheel dyno) of 194 HP and 252 tq at the wheels. That equates to a 23% driveline loss based on a stock 255 hp. With the stock airbox disconnected, we were able to get 209 hp and 270 tq. That speaks to what a good cold air intake can do for you - 15 HP!
I also ran 0-60 and 1/4 mile 3 times to get a baseline. My ridge did 0-60 in 9.82 seconds and the 1/4 in 17.84 @ 83.59. That was my best time. I took my truck to certified scales and weighed in at 4,897 lbs with me and my crap in it.
It has been quite an experience and I've spent plenty of $$$, but it has been worth it! So far, I have put down 329 hp at the wheels with 8 lbs of boost. With the 23% driveline loss figure, that equates to 424 hp at the crank! I can't keep the tires hooked up. I disable the VAS (vehicle stability) because sometimes it kicks in during launch. I haven't gotten back to the track yet, but the Dynomaster app in my phone says 0-60 in 7.41 sec and 1/4 mile in 15.63 @ 96.01 mph. I know it's faster, but the tires just spin for the first 2 seconds. I need to get new rubber.
Based on the shops research, they feel the motor is good for up to 15 lbs of boost in stock form. We are going to tune it for that and see how it goes. So far so good.
By the way, this thing rides like stock. If you don't put your foot in it, you would never know it was in there. I drive my ridge about 80 miles a day for work and it is so much fun. It looks stock and you should see the look on the pony car guys faces when I blast past them with my tires spinning! I can spin the tires at 45 mph!
Thats it for my first post ... got it off my chest. I'll post up again when I get my next tune and a timeslip! :act035: