Hello guys.

Just did my buddy's 2004 Mustang 4.6l. He has it all modified out. He should be posting to this thread when he gets a chance.
What's good about this is that he is very into his car and knows everything about it. He pays attention to his computer readings, responsiveness, and all that.
When he does his readings, he'll post the graph's or whatever he has here.

My story to say is: I did the groove with the medium bit because I didn't want to cut through and mess up his pretty chrome finish with JB quik. He put it back together and went into the OBD and set the idle lower. (When figuring out where to put the groove, planned to use the business card spacer, but seeing how he could tune the car.. meaning change the position of the throttle through his doo-hickie computer. I went with folding the business card in half and having it stuck between the idle set screw and body)
Everything went good. As my buddy took off it was obvious that he was not expecting the car go break loose and try to throw him into my neighbor's yard. My brother and I are still laughing about it. My buddy knows how to drive; his car kicking out from him and heading towards the sidewalk... is just plain funny. I do think that if most other people were behind the wheel, there would have been a crash.
When he came back, he said that he 'was not expecting that jump from 1st-2nd'
Basically, all is good and I think he's pretty damn impressed.
I'll be waiting for his posts on here. I might have to remind him though.

Heathen

HeathenDM's Buddy here. The report for the 20 minute drive home can be summed up best in 16 year old girly text speak "OMG!!!!." 200 to 300 rpm drops in 1st through 3rd to maintain Pre-groove speeds. 400 to 550 rpm drops to maintain Pre-groove freeway speeds. Given my present rear end is a 3.73 set the mpg savings could be serious. I typically get 11.5 to 12 mpg at 75mph at 3400 rpm on the way home I was at 2900rpm + / - 50 and right on 75 mph. Mathematically I think great mpg gains could be expected. BUT, practically I don't know if it will happen.

I'm glad Heathen and his bro got a good laugh but you have to put that in perspective. The car is modded out and the last Dyno tune (Pre-new exhaust, ignition set, injector upgrade) she came in at 380hp (temp / alt adjusted) at the wheels. I have been driving thirty years in various mid to high end 1/4 mile cars. I have been driving this one for seven years and, until tonight, have never been out of control ( at the edge sure, but never over). So when I shifted to second with a bit of angle on the wheel for show, and the rear end broke loose and slid 20 degrees further out than it typically would at WOT - I was an instant believer. The low end acceleration increase can't be ignored even when the only Dyno is the seat of your pants. Through the OBD II Tuner and laptop I keep baseline and comparison numbers for all mods. Because I can accelerate more quickly now I might, well, most likely wiil, consume my high end fuel savings enjoying my low end fun.

After a few tune tweaks, because my ECU is having a hell of a time trying to figure out what is going on with the A/F ratio; and, after the novelty of my new found low end power has mellowed, I will try to post the before and after numbers and graphs.

Finally, so there is no confusion, this is not a stock 4.6 mod motor. There are no internal changes yet but as the pics show engine mods include a BBK CAI with Big Mouth MAF, Accufab TB, C&L Plenum, X-Treme Tech COPS, larger FIs, Steeda UDPs and a Borla Street / Strip exhaust (High flow Cats can be swapped for straight pipes in ten minutes) blowing through Magna Flow mufflers.

I am certain that I will be able to work to bugs out of this mod (just as I have had to to make all the rest work best together) so this shouldn't be premature. Huge thank you to HeathenDM for turning me on to this concept and doing the mod work and big thanks and my highest respect to gadget man not only for thinking it up anddeveloping it but most of all sharing it instead of focusing on the bottom line. Nice to know there are still people out there who maintain the humanity in being human. Best of luck with your tour.

sounds great but one thing you didnt check the exhaust temps and water temp is lower. this is worth an extra peek so check it out a litte groove makes a big difference. Dan gadgetman mo.

Hey Heathen's Buddy,

Great testimony! Thank you for all the info and the great post. Looking forward to mpg gain report! Can this really be this fun?

Still enjoying my noticably increased power (can break tires loose shifting into third now, kinda fun) more data, more learning, but still tweaking and dialing in. Have not been through an entire known fuel amount so still no MPG data. But, it was looking good (122 miles on odo at half tank where it used to be 100 to 104. Not very precise I know but . . .

After finally tracking down a vac leak in Right bank pcv return line I was able to get the idle in drive and neutral steady, solid and predictable. Then driving home two days ago everything goes south. Think Antartic South! Motor will barely idle and when it did it was either choking and gasping at 520 - 600 RPM OR would "idle" at 2500 and then accelerate as high as I would alow it to before cutting the motor or loading it in gear. Pop goes the hood and after a little looking I find the left bank PCV valve return hose had popped completely off. In the days leading up to this I had noticed a little bit more Vac noise but, wrote it off to the recent tuning and fuel management tweaks making the motor sound different than usual. However I also noticed that I only got about 30 miles for a quarter tank of gas. A Serious MPG loss. So, put it all back together - now with a nice little zip tie to keep the return hose on the valve. Reset all the tables and most recent best working tune and it's running fine.

BUT, an interesting thing I also noticed was that the car seemed to have even more low end power and a longer power band when the PCV valve wasn't pushing hot, oily crankcase fumes back into the intake. If you read my first post you probably picked up on the street/ strip nature of the car. If not, I get out to the quarter as often as possible so, as an OFF ROAD ONLY issue, can anyone tell me if I seal the PCV intakes on the intake and fabricate a hose and oil seperator / collector to keep the nasty off the track can I expect power gains? Also, what effect would that have on MPG?

I will get those MPG numbers on the current emissions compliant set up as soon as burn through the 16 I put in today. Hopefully that will be quite a while. . . The whole point right?

Hi
To take care of your pcv line discharge I recomend using what is called a condensator, the web site is www.condensator.com/. This will collect all the junk coming through in a jar and let the gas or fumes go to intake to be burned. I have been using a unit for about 7 years and like it.

Thanks Aaron