Newbie: Cam / ECU / head porting quote - reasonable price?

[momotomo]

Folks,

Recently picked up a '99 5.0, going through the motions of adding a few little personal touches. Had a VY IRS retrofitted to it and a GTS twin 2.5" exhaust setup, next stage is this, just wondering if the price looks reasonable. First time working a car up so wasn't sure what to expect.

Whats going in:

- Autronic ECU
- Cam
- Lifters, Springs, Rockers, Retainers, Locks
- Dyno Tune
- Head port

Consumable + Labour = $8800 total. My asshole puckered a little bit when I read the figure, but if it's reasonable, going to go for it.

Also, is this going to demolish the rest of the driveline with the engine running that gear? It's a Getrag 5sp with a factory LSD behind it.

Cheers in advance!

[momotomo]

Hate to be a dirty ####ing thread bumper but looking to confirm this work next week. Anyone got a ballpark on if it's decent?

Will likely get the clutch done + a better ratio on the diff gear at this stage. Next stage is to run with a harder cam, get the intakes and throttle body done. After that T56 + stroker kit.

[acarmody]

I'm not too well versed in the V8 world but why are you going aftermarket ECU? That will be over $1000 easy, ask your local (or not local) tuners if they can tune your factory ECU.

Let me throw some rough figures here. Cam $500ish. Lifters etc, $1200, since it has rockers too (but why cam and rockers?). Dyno tune $600-$800. Heads $1000-$1500. Pulling engine out and putting gear in $1500ish, assuming not going to rebuild engine.

My opinion is that $8800 is way too much for a cam and head work with tune IMO. For that sort of cash, I would stick a supercharger to the side of the block.

EDIT: There we go, only $6300, http://www.raptorsc.com.au/kits.php?id=31

[momotomo]

Acarmody - actually your figures match their figures, it all sounds pretty much on par.

I'm the one nominating the ECU (Autronic SM4), tied up with some other things I want to do with the car. The rest of the work matches your prices (the Autronic takes ~$2300 of the budget). The head work comes out to $1k, tune at $700, work is $1600 so it's pretty spot on.

Staying N/A out of personal preference, nothing wrong with blowers, just a preference thing. In five years if the novelty's worn off from this rebuild I'll probably consider bolting one on just to get a last-gasp out of it all before it gets parked up.

[Cúl-Báire]

As above, I reckon you are paying way way too much; for that price I'd be wanting a 355ci stroker kit thown in.

1) Find someone that can tune the stock ECU, that will save you about a grand and alot of people have had good success tuning the stock ECU, if you want to upgrade maybe go a Crane Hi6 ignition system with the stock ECU apparently you can squize a few extra ponies out.

2) I wouldn't bother with the porting and polishing of the heads, it's an expencive process for an unmeasureable gain; the VN/VT 5.0 ltr heads flow quite well anways.

To give you an idea of pricing (Estimate only)...

Cam: $750 (it's a roller cam)
Springs, Rockers, Retainers, Rods, etc... $1200
Ignition System: $500 (If you want to go that way)
Misc Seals, Gaskets, Consumables etc... $250
Labour to carry out work: $1200 (Calculated at 16hrs @ $75per hour)
Dyno Tuning: $1250 (This is the high end of the scale)

Total: $5150.00

[soop]

Depends one what he wants out of the car.
A good porting job will make a massive difference. If he's got the money then go for it.
Its nothing to spend $2500 - $3000 on head work.

[momotomo]

Good feedback, thanks for the prices. Most of the work seems to line up with the prices they've indicated (if i take out the ECU + Porting it rounds out around the 5K mark). Basically its 5K for the base hardware / install / dyno run + 2.5 on the ECU and 1K on the porting.

The ECU is staying in purely 'cause I'm keen to have it, will have a think about the porting. Price part for part matches Cul-Baires / acarmody's quotes so far though.

[acarmody]

If you really want the aftermarket ECU than sure its your money, but for the same coin you could have your stroker kit. But I can't see any added benefits to having the aftermarket.

[mooseboost]

One thing to consider when going after market computer is yes you can get it tuned to suit cam, temperature, etc on the day of tuning, but as the weather gets colder or hotter your car will need a lot more fine tuning. This is unavoidable. So this will be and on going expence for a while. If you use Kalmaker (which is a live tuneable delco ECU) this still retains all the factory cold/hot starts etc that they spent hundreds of hours perfecting so timing and main fuel adjustments are the main adjustments needed after cam etc work is preformed. Maybe talk to the workshop that's going to do the work. The other thing with Kalmaker is because its a modified Delco ECU there is not wiring, it just plugs straight in. Check out Kalmakers website.

[delcowizzid]

yeah forget the aftermarket ecu its just a huge waste of money for 0 gain you loose more good points taking out the delco

[wogstyler]

yeah my mate bought a vr ss with a shit load of mods to it and it had a aftermarket ecu. Wen he went to get it tuned the tuner told him to take it out and sell it cause the delco computer is a better unit and he could get more outta the car with kalmaker. My super 6 has been tuned with kalmaker and i dont have a problem at all. Just that a mafless kalmaker tune is $1500. and maf tune is about 1200 i think. cant rememeber its been a while lol

[momotomo]

moose / delco / styler: sweet advice, will hit them up about this. Didn't consider the temp mapping thats on the fac. ecu. I'll hit the shop up about it and see if they can swing it on the existing delco.

[wogstyler]

just amke sure they know wat they are doing with the Kalmaker software!!!!!! I have heard it pretty complicated to use and I have had BAD experience with a tuner that said and thought he knows how to use it but doesnt. My car was a disaster all 3 times i got if off him. Than i found a tuner who knows his stuff and he got it right the first time. So i had to pay for 2 tunes Just do your research before handing over car and cash.