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#61
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Quote:
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#62
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My car is currently at Underground Racing and they say:
Those are not at all the correct plugs or even acceptable plugs to use in that application PERIOD. We have installed and use many of these Striker Heads from JM and they have worked perfect with NO tuning issues. For those of you who are wondering about using the plugs Kenny had installed in his STRIKER heads here is something to consider. Intake ports, combustion chambers, piston tops, and spark plugs are all designed together as a system to ensure good combustion. If one of the elements of the systems is changed, then the combustion system cannot function properly. In this case, installing a 3/4" reach plug in a combustion chamber designed to use a 1" plug leaves the spark plug electrode gap sitting in the spark plug hole, whereas the combustion chamber has been designed to have the spark plug electrodes protruding into the chamber. A hole is not a good place to initiate combustion, so the initial flame propagation (if the plug is able to light the mixture at all) will be sluggish. Sluggish burn rates will have the effect of retarding the combustion phasing relative to the piston motion, and increase the variability in combustion from cycle to cycle. Increased combustion variability will manifest itself in a vehicle as an engine that idles rough, perhaps has trouble starting, and doesn't make as much power as it would otherwise be capable of making. To summarize, a spark plug with shorter reach than the cylinder head is designed for will leave the spark plug gap in a hole, combustion quality will suffer greatly, and the engine will run poorly. The easiest solution here is to simply install the correct spark plug and reap the combustion benefits. Refer to the pictures to observe what I am talking about. I would *NOT* put the correct plugs in this car and try to drive it on it's present tune. Please see pictures below as one shows the 3/4 plug that is in Kenny's Striker Heads and the other pictures show the CORRECT plug that is supposed to be in Kenny's heads! -------------------- Underground Racing |
#63
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This is the port matching job Larry charged me $800.00 to do and as the pictures show... Pictures shows it all on the restriction that the air traveling through the lower intake runner encountered as it tried to pass through the head.
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#64
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The 2 3/8" Roe pulley is 12 pounds, then that's what Macedo put on mine and the David Weaver pulley which spins it much faster than the 21,000 RPM absolute upper limit for the Roe supercharger and it cost me $850.00 to get my Roe supercharger fixed. The 10 pound Roe pulley is the maximum that should be used with the David Weaver Pulley. No wonder the bearings in my Roe supercharger were going out. A 12# Roe pulley + Weaver pulley is over 22k rpms at 6,000 engine RPM.
This is intelligent as deliberately putting the wrong reach short spark plugs in my engine. |
#65
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The way you are documenting everything will help you keep the facts straight later on.
I wonder how Larrys shop became so trusted/respected if he is doing work like this? |
#66
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Underground Racing is still finding things grounded which is preventing them from getting a good tune on my car. AEM says repeatedly to make sure all extra grounds are removed or the AEM engine management system will not work right. This is just one reason why Larry Macedo could not get my car tuned right. There are some much bigger ones that I will be posting soon.
"I wonder how Larrys shop became so trusted/respected if he is doing work like this?" I'm wondering, too. |
#67
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This was originally posted at another site in referrence to another Viper (SALEEN2RUN is Kevin of Underground Racing) my comment in bold red below the letter - my emphasis in the letter in bold and bold underlined and red.
From: MacedoMS To: SALEEN2RUN Hey dude, I know his car had a VEC2 installed for some time. That being said, the VEC2 requires several additional grounds to operate correctly which will cause the AEM to freak out if left installed. Hope I helped... Best regards, Larry Macedo Macedo Motorsports, LLC 407-246-6511- office 407-970-3463- cell "No Limit High Performance" Macedo Motorsports - High Performance products & service for your Viper, Porsche, Corvette, Ferrari, Hummer, Hemi Ram & more!!! Then why did my Viper still have the additional grounds on it after you installed the AEM, Larry? Does grounding using the AEM help the wrong reach spark plugs you put in my Viper somehow? Enquiring minds want to know. |
#68
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My car is finished at UR. Kevin and his crew have been a pleasure to work with as they waded through fixing the mess I received from Larry Macedo. My speedometer has a minor flicker that they are looking into as a possible ground issue or maybe some errant duct tape from my $3500 fuel system. I'm finally getting the car I wanted from a professional shop who knows how to build a high performance Viper, tune it, and not disparage their own customers in the process to cover up their own poor shop practices.
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#69
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Glad to hear the good news!!!
Now how about some dyno etc. numbers? |
#70
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It's about time you got what you paid for!
Go out and enjoy that machine. |
#71
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I didn't get a lot of sleep again last night.
Found out yesterday my Viper Tech will not help me get my Viper completed by UGR by calling them or me and report where he remembers putting any grounds on my car's electrical system. I found out from a public post by Wendy Macedo. My Viper Tech, Bobby, was the main person who steered me into going with Macedo to do work on my car... __________________________________________________ ________ Wendy Macedo's post at another site - Yesterday, 10:45 AM #1519 DoubleTrouble Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 54 Rep Power: 0 Attn SUN RA KAT: Bobby will NOT be calling UGR to help them with the problems they are having with your car. Thanks for leaving the message on his voicemail! |
#72
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Quote:
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#73
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http://www.undergroundracing.com/video/video.htm
My car is ready for me to pick up at Underground Racing in a week. In the end Larry Macedo gave me a car with an extremely botched up engine and an extremely botched up tune. His dyno figures were refuted by 3 independent dynos as being around 100 rwHP LESS than what he claimed and also with a very bad a/f ratio. Practically everything he did had to be done over to make it right. Please see my other thread for some of the details, with more details and photos to be posted soon. |
#74
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The EAKMOBILE is back home!
What a wonderful experience it was dealing with Underground Racing. The pride of workmanship and dedication to excellence sets the standard for all other tuners. Kevin, KC, Mike, and Scott - the great people at Underground Racing - are like family to my wife and myself now. |
#75
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Glad to hear you got your car and it is the way it is suppose to be!
Enjoy that beast. |
#76
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I just read this thread for the first time in it's entirety, and I find myself speechless. not trying to make excuses for larry whatever his name but your shop is only as good as the techs it employ's. speaking from a shop owners standpoint, larry should have overseen this build rather than just collecting the check and allowing whomever to do those so called upgrades and repairs again just my opinion
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#77
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With catalytic converters on (the way it runs on the street & strip) -
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#78
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Giving me the blues
Reading older posts like this could be disparring for anyone wanting to farm out work on any Mopar!!
Give me Mopar books-parts-tools Going going GONE!!! |
#79
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Some photos -
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#80
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A few more photos -
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#81
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Nice engine pics, Kenny!
Pic #9 makes your engine bay look like it's 10 feet long! |
#82
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Larry & Wendy Macedo - Please Read This -
Quote: Originally Posted by flyeaglesfly Better yet M2, why not just give him his money back that he paid you for everything!! None of what you did to the car was right. That would be the best thing you could do and the whole situation would be over. Right now you just look like a crook. I would have to agree - if Larry Macedo spent a few more minutes on each aspect of my build with Macedo Motorsports (M2) to do a good job - probably no more than several hours total for the entire build - I would be enjoying my Macedo built Viper right now and posting what a good job he did. But...Larry did not...and now I am posting what a great job Underground Racing does because doing a mearly good job is not good enough for Underground Racing - only an excellent job will do. How much time do the Macedos spend preparing for litigation - hours, days, weeks, months - that they could put into building cars right the first time? I would consider M2 giving me my money back what I paid them for everything - the $28,000, and eat the $2,500+ damages my car had to the interior and other parts while at Macedo Motorsports plus the $750 transportation charge to have my car sent to Underground Racing because Macedo delivered an undrivable car to me - and drop any pending litigation against them so they could spend the time needed to actually do good work on their customer's cars. If Simms/Macedo or DoubleTrouble/Wendy reads this and agrees that paying me back my $28,000 is cheaper than litigation and a judgement and wants to end this they are free to do so. I want to see this over with once and for all, but if you do not repond wisely, I will read this thread - http://www.viperalley.com/forum/vip...016-record.html - again and see what you tried to do to my friend Kevin of Underground Racing and won't extend this offer. |
#83
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Kenny - Congrats on getting your car back. I hope you get things worked out or some compensation in the end.
So basically, what is the cheapest and most reliable way to get into the 1000hp club with a viper? And, are the hardtops preferred over the verts due to chassis strength? Can you do 800-1000hp with a vert safely?
__________________
Chairman of the "Board" - MoparChat.com The place that MOPAR enthusiasts call home! |
#84
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The secret to big power is the heads - the Jeff Morys Striker heads are easily the best heads out there - but at $6,500 for a set they are about $2,000 more than a good port and polished standard Viper head by Jeff Morys or Greg Good or a few others who can do amazing things with a stock Viper head. Underground Racing of Charlotte North Carolina completely went through the incredibly bad engine build of Macedo Motorsports and had to replace almost everything Larry Macedo did. Underground built up my block to be good to go for 1,700 rwHP in case I would want to go to twin turbos sometime in the future since doing it right would cost no more than just building it for 1,000 rwHP. Building my engine right and making everything else Larry Macedo did wrong right made the engine very easy to tune. Everything would have been done in less than 3 months from start to finish, but I had some health problems and told Underground to slow the build since I wouldn't be able to drive it until I recovered.
The cheapest way may not be the most reliable way - I don't know anything other than I highly advise anyone who wants the best customer service and engine build and tuning to go to Underground Racing for the build and tune. I do know the more expensive way - Larry Macedo @ $125/hr did not mean anything as far as quality of customer service nor the engine build nor the tune. I think Underground charges $90/hr and is good as Macedo Motorsports is bad - total opposites, at least in my case. Either the coupes or the convertibles can easily handing massive upgrades to power, but the convertibles will need a hard top put on (1992-2002) or the top raised (2003-on up) to run at the track. Vipers are built a whole lot stronger than Vettes. Contact Kevin Horweth of Underground Racing @ 704-361-3443 or Saleen2run@aol.com for more information and tell them I sent you. |
#85
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My Underground Racing tuned Viper runs better and better - it's simply amazing that a Viper as powerfull as mine can run so nice on the street - almost like a stock Viper the way it drives and yet when asked to run like a race car does so and loves doing so.
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#86
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Glad everything is running great, you deserve it!
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#87
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Thank you Underground Racing! ( http://www.undergroundracing.com/ )
I've been really enjoying going Vipering these last few weeks in between late winter snow storms with various friends as passengers. aaaaaaaah - my cat, Spark Plug typed the series of "a" and I added the "h" at the end. She likes to help me at the computer. The friends usually ask why they need to go to the restroom before they can go for a ride. Then they hear my Viper start right up and they think they know why at that point. The exhaust noise and the shaking from the Underground Racing spec cam causes them to break out into gigantic smiles. I point out that the idle speed is 1,000 RPM. Then after seat belts are fastened we back down the driveway and onto the street...they can't believe how smooth the car runs and how gentle it drives. I tell them we have to warm all the fluids to operating temperature and driving the speed limit around 2,000 RPM is how I do it. They keep expecting some scary acceleration to happen but we drive along so smooth and gentle shifting without any hint of whiplash through the gears. Then several miles out in the country I do a light part throttle acceleration up to 3,000 RPM with shifting quickly now that the transmission has its fluids warm. They turn white and their eyes go wide open - they don't even crack a smile until I tell them "It's OK, I won't be doing anything that scares me." A few miles later the transmission fluid is fully warm and shifts very easily. We then gently get on a "private closed course" and accelerate moderately until we get part way through 2nd gear and then I go to 2/3 throttle and a quick shift into 3rd gear and nail it by rolling quickly into the throttle. They turn white with fear as they are slammed back into the seat. Then I let off the throttle and they realize how strong the acceleration really was. They are no longer in mortal fear, but they can't smile yet. Once again I tell them "It's OK, I won't be doing anything that scares me." (My heart is racing at this point and we haven't even gone to 5,000 RPM yet.) I drive at the speed limit in 5th and 6th gear for a while and tell them I got 19.5 MPG driving back to Ohio from Charlotte, North Carolina driving like this, except a little faster to keep up with the rest of the traffic. Again my car drives so smoothly even at part throttle acceleration in 6th gear pulling with authority from idle (50 MPH) to a more normal speed. Then we turn around and I break the mood by accelerating somewhat faster than moderately...1st...2nd...3rd...4th... ...and then back to legal speeds as we leave the "private closed course". Thank you Kevin & KC for building my dream car better than I ever imagined it would be! My heart is racing and I feel exhilarated and so is my passenger. I tell them my wife used to say that my driving didn't scare her unless I told her how fast we were going, but now she asks me not to scare her when we go out together. Yeah, it's that good. BTW - I didn't scare myself and there is still a lot more power left to explore safely in the near future - I never set off my shift light and I have it set at 5,200 RPM. |
#88
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Congrats, Ken!
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#89
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http://www.undergroundracing.com/ now has a video of my Viper on their dyno - Click Videos on the main page and go to 1000 rwhp SUPERCHARGED DYNO (bottom on list) & turn up your speakers! In real life it was so loud the video camera couldn't handle all the sound and it distorts a little. If you look close you can see a flash from my camera from the side...
BTW - My Viper still runs great and the driver is getting better at driving it, too. |
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