SW 3.9 First impressions
#63
07-08-2010 | 03:33 PM
Just came back from a 950 mile road trip over some of my favorite northern California/ southern Oregon roads and just turned 6,000 miles on the 3.9, so thought I would give everyone a short update. The motor is still smooth as silk and I have experienced no problems of any sort, other then an increased tire bill and some serious brake wear! I just recently took the car to James for a “check-up” and he gave the brake system a nice flush and some fresh race fluid which made a huge difference and brought everything back to life. One amazing factoid is that this motor has yet to use any oil! I have changed the oil twice now and will do so again this week. I asked James about this and he told me that Kermit doesn’t use oil either. Must be the LW pistons!!
The motor just keeps getting stronger and stronger, I really noticed it at around 3000 miles and on this drive I had a chance to really wring it out in 3rd and 4th gear which I don’t often do around here locally as I run out of road. Until you get a chance to drive one of these you can’t really appreciate how these motors pull all the way to 8800!!
One more thing; I find myself leaving the car in third gear on many of the corners I used to down shift to second to make better use of the added trq. I did install a new set of MPSC’s about 400 miles before this trip so I had plenty of grip and it made for a very fair comparison as to how the car preformed on my last trip over these roads as a stock 3.6. This is a trip I make several times over the summer and have done in many different cars but always in the summer months and never in the winter. When the car was a 3.6 I averaged right around 15 MPG some times high 14’s or low 15’s but always consistent. I was rather surprised when I looked at the trip computer today when I got home and saw that I averaged 16.1 for the entire round trip. I think I can contribute this to the fact I can use a higher gear in a lot of the twister section with the added trq and HP. (hopefully it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact I’m getting older and I’m losing a 1/10 or 2!)
The car is a real pleasure to drive and I am looking forward to many more of these trips. I actually have another scheduled in about two weeks!! I did kill a fair amount of bugs today!!
The motor just keeps getting stronger and stronger, I really noticed it at around 3000 miles and on this drive I had a chance to really wring it out in 3rd and 4th gear which I don’t often do around here locally as I run out of road. Until you get a chance to drive one of these you can’t really appreciate how these motors pull all the way to 8800!!
One more thing; I find myself leaving the car in third gear on many of the corners I used to down shift to second to make better use of the added trq. I did install a new set of MPSC’s about 400 miles before this trip so I had plenty of grip and it made for a very fair comparison as to how the car preformed on my last trip over these roads as a stock 3.6. This is a trip I make several times over the summer and have done in many different cars but always in the summer months and never in the winter. When the car was a 3.6 I averaged right around 15 MPG some times high 14’s or low 15’s but always consistent. I was rather surprised when I looked at the trip computer today when I got home and saw that I averaged 16.1 for the entire round trip. I think I can contribute this to the fact I can use a higher gear in a lot of the twister section with the added trq and HP. (hopefully it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact I’m getting older and I’m losing a 1/10 or 2!)
The car is a real pleasure to drive and I am looking forward to many more of these trips. I actually have another scheduled in about two weeks!! I did kill a fair amount of bugs today!!
Yes you put miles on and drive fast doing it but never having changed brakes or fluid? Well done indeed! I suspect it was P.L. that boiled the fluid ehglad to see you didnt sell it and your still enjoying your 3.9. i thought going to ps2's with all that power would be a disaster and one experiment that wouldnt last long. i have a set on my modded black series and the rears are screaming for grip when i pull out of any parking lot and im barely on the gas
#65
07-08-2010 | 04:25 PM
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[quote=sharkster;2901999]Thanks for the update sir! As always we feel so lucky that you have "The Right Stuff" and are our official Chuck Yeager:P Seriously though you are so nice on that car. The brakes, the clutch, the trans... if only we all treated things that well Yes you put miles on and drive fast doing it but never having changed brakes or fluid? Well done indeed! I suspect it was P.L. that boiled the fluid eh
Original fluid but have changed pads! Yeah, it was PL & Pete! PL says that every tenth counts on the track and late braking is the best way to convert those tenths into seconds!!
Yes you put miles on and drive fast doing it but never having changed brakes or fluid? Well done indeed! I suspect it was P.L. that boiled the fluid ehOriginal fluid but have changed pads! Yeah, it was PL & Pete! PL says that every tenth counts on the track and late braking is the best way to convert those tenths into seconds!!
#66
07-14-2010 | 10:35 AM
Snowboarder... might be time for you to test drive soon:P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnQM4vSLMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnQM4vSLMU
#67
07-14-2010 | 09:29 PM
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Snowboarder... might be time for you to test drive soon:P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnQM4vSLMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnQM4vSLMU
Got the car show going on this weekend at the art center if you are interested! We could log some miles on the northern loop.
#68
07-14-2010 | 10:01 PM
Poor James
#70
07-14-2010 | 10:33 PM
Speaking of Beale.. just heard from the producer at Speed TV that July 22nd is the firm date and premier night for their new show. The first night will sport two episodes with one of them being about our 3.9:P
Last edited by sharkster; 07-15-2010 at 10:19 AM.
#71
07-15-2010 | 06:40 AM
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Hehe no that's actually an older cousin (360) that we were doing the ECUs on
Speaking of Beale.. just heard from the producer at Speed TV that June 22nd is the firm date and premier night for their new show. The first night will sport two episodes with one of them being about our 3.9:P
Speaking of Beale.. just heard from the producer at Speed TV that June 22nd is the firm date and premier night for their new show. The first night will sport two episodes with one of them being about our 3.9:P
I will set the DVR! Don't want to miss this one!
#74
07-15-2010 | 05:08 PM
Sorry I'm not with it today:P
Correct and here's the release:
http://sharkwerks.com/porsche/magazi...d-channel.html
#75
10-01-2010 | 02:38 PM
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Another update on the SW 3.9. I was driving past Infineon on my home when I decided to stop and top off with some 100 octane race fuel. Hehe, what a difference that 9 octane makes with the 3.9!! Once the ecu recognized that it was processing 100 octane the fun started. Of course I had to take the long way home over my favorite stretch of coastal roads. This was wed. and the temperature was 102 degrees when I hit the highest elevation of the drive. The oil temp never surpassed 240 and coolant stayed steady at 175 and was doing a lot of high RPM, low speed 2nd and 3rd gear driving. However at this point things were getting a little slippery so I stopped to check the air pressure before continuing as my very favorite section was coming up, a lot of second gear tight stuff so I wanted as much grip as possible. The rears were up to 44 PSI and the fronts were up to 41 so I dropped them both by 9 PSI and continued on. This settled things down nicely and between the lowered PSI and the fact that the ambient air temperature was dropping as I ventured closer to the coast it was a safe and stable ride the remainder of the way. That is until I came to some road work, ditch cleaning, about 8 miles from the coast, and had a 10 minute wait. As soon as the tires started to cool the TPS started giving it’s warning about low tire pressure! All in all the trip was a real pleasure and the 100 octane will be sourly missed once I run out.
I now have just over 8,000 miles on the 3.9 conversion and the only downside I have observed is the increased tire wear and maybe a decrease in MPG when driving hard, which in my case is pretty much all the time and I seem to be using up a lot more brakes!. I still love the 3.9 and hope to enjoy many more trouble free miles with more stops for 100 octane; I just wish I had a little closer source as it takes about 4-5 gallons to get to the fun part!! I no longer buy the Corsa systems, strictly MPSC’s for me, I feel they are the best bang for the buck for me and my style of driving I just have to take a tenth or two off on damp mornings!
I now have just over 8,000 miles on the 3.9 conversion and the only downside I have observed is the increased tire wear and maybe a decrease in MPG when driving hard, which in my case is pretty much all the time and I seem to be using up a lot more brakes!. I still love the 3.9 and hope to enjoy many more trouble free miles with more stops for 100 octane; I just wish I had a little closer source as it takes about 4-5 gallons to get to the fun part!! I no longer buy the Corsa systems, strictly MPSC’s for me, I feel they are the best bang for the buck for me and my style of driving I just have to take a tenth or two off on damp mornings!