New Roe dyno numbers

[JohnnyBravo]

1998 GTS... Roe 10 lb blower, water/****, B&B headers, Roe high flow cats, 1.7 rockers, K&N's, smooth tubes. 92 octane pump gas.

I took the car to Joe Donovan at Performance by Joe in St. Louis last weekend. Before I get to the good stuff, I want to tell you what kind of guy Joe is.

First off, he scouted all the hotels in close proximity to his shop for us so we'd have a place to stay for the weekend while we were there. We got in late Friday night, so we just left the car on the trailer and crased at our hotel. Called Joe on Saturday morning and met him on the way to his shop. We unload the car and he gets right to work installing the T&D 1.7 roller rockers for me and basically giving me a lesson in tuning, matching the right parts to the car, what works and what doesn't, which items are good bang for the buck and which aren't, etc. We talked a lot about racing, his boy's baseball and soccer and everything you would talk to one of your absolute best friends about.

He offered to give us his personal truck to go sight seeing in St. Louis all day while he was tuning the car. We opted to at least hang out for a little while. After the rockers are installed, Joe hears a funny noise from the motor. We quickly discovered that my idler pulley/tensioner had committed suicide. I'm sure glad I didn't try to drive the car there because it might have left me on the side of the highway. Joe calls everyone he can think of to try to get a replacement part, but to no avail. We opt to go to the dyno to see if the car will hold up with the pulley being loose.

He rolled the car in and made a baseline pull which yielded 551 rwhp/595 rwtq.

He was able to get one decent baseline pull, but after that, the belt was slipping so badly that it wouldn't hold boost or keep a consistent tune. It HAD to have a new pulley/tensioner. There was no way around it. I figured I just just wasted the entire drive up there for my tuning session because he simply couldn't tune the car at all. Then the unthinkable happens........

Joe offers to keep the car and send us on our way in our truck. He said he'd order a new idler pulley/tensioner on Monday, get it installed and get it back to the dyno to tune it. Then, he continues, he will put the car back on our trailer and deliever it to my door personally! Are you guys getting this? He's going to fix my car, finish tuning it, put it back on my trailer and bring it from St. Louis back to my home in KC so my time there isn't wasted!

I couldn't have been more thrilled. He and his wife even got a sitter so we could all go out to dinner on Saturday night. My girl ended up not feeling so well, so we didn't make it. But Joe Donovan is the epitome of an excellent host. We finished doing all the touristy stuff on Sunday and came back to KC.

I just got the call from Joe today that the pulley/tensioner has been installed, the car is tuned, he ordered the parts I needed for my leaking rear main seal (which we will put on when we change the clutch in a month or so) AND he's going to fix my pesky passenger door for me and bring the car back to me on Sunday.

I couldn't wait to hear the numbers. His dyno is notorious for being low, and my car still has the cats on it, but here are the new "Donovan tuned" numbers......











610 rwhp and 665 rwtq. All on 92 octane pump swill.

I am pleased as punch! I couldn't be happier. I am just dying to get back behind the wheel of my new and improved snake.

If anyone in the midwest is looking for professional installation and tuning, Joe Donovan is the man. Great guy, very very knowledgable, great customer service and exceptional tuning abilities.

I look forward to having him do my next round of upgrades. Below you can see the results of Joe's tuning.

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[RX VIPER]

Awesome story. and Joe is THE MAN. We're so lucky to have him here in our club. Our hp/tq #'s are pretty similar.

 

[plumcrazy]

haven't heard anything but GOOD about joe. glad you're happy with it.

 

[JohnnyBravo]

I'm sure I'll be happy with it. I would assume that you can feel 50 rwhp and 70 lb ft of torque in the butt dyno.

We've already discussed the next round of major/minor mods for the car. Head work, port matching the blower and the lower intake, a new clutch, a wideband O2 sensor tied into the VEC2 for logging, some better brake pads, etc.

Can't wait to get it back tomorrow.

 

[mntngts99]

My 1999 GTS... Roe 10 lb blower, water/****, Cat-Back, K&N's, smooth tubes. 92 octane pump gas. Made 634 rwhp and 691 rwtq . I was also led to believe that my #'s were low. Now I'm even more confused

 

[JohnnyBravo]

My 1999 GTS... Roe 10 lb blower, water/****, Cat-Back, K&N's, smooth tubes. 92 octane pump gas. Made 634 rwhp and 691 rwtq . I was also led to believe that my #'s were low. Now I'm even more confused

I think your numbers sound exactly right. I'm guessing that if I put my car on my dyno here in town, the numbers will be more like 630/685.

In any event, based on what I've seen, a Roe car with basic mods and 8-10 lbs of boost should be in the 610-640 range. I haven't seen many blower only cars (without heads or cams) over 640 rwhp. I know Sean Roe personally tuned a car in his shop with an 8 lb blower, water/****, headers, no cats, etc and made 601/658. You've got to figure he knows what he's doing with his own system and his own software, etc. So it would be hard to say that 601 seems "low". It just was what it was.

I figure my numbers are right in the ballpark. Yours seem so, too. I bet if I ditched the cats and strapped it down to the dyno here in town, I'd be much closer to 630-640. If we had 93 octane instead of 92 octane I could probably get a tad more out of it. There are lots of variables.

Every car is going to be a little different and so is every dyno. If you're in the 610+ range, I think that's all that matters.

Your car seems pretty strong for what's done to it. I wouldn't worry. I like to look at dyno charts more to see what I've gained than to see some peak number. My trap speeds at the track will tell me just about everything else I need to know.

 

[mntngts99]

Thanks for the feed back. What trap speed are you hoping for and what elevation do you run at ?

 

[JohnnyBravo]

Thanks for the feed back. What trap speed are you hoping for and what elevation do you run at ?

I am hoping for somewhere around 128 mph.

I think our elevation here in Kansas City, Missouri is around 750-800 ft.

 

[Early93Viper]

DAM GOOD NUMBERS MARK!

 

[JUCD VPR]

JOE is THE MAN. He did all my work and he's a great guy to do business with. If Joe would only pave his driveway so my car wouldnt get dusty when going to see him haha
PBJ is AWESOME

 

[DEADEYE]

My car is at Roe now. I just made a base line pull on the 8 lb pully with Corsa catback, no cats, and smooth tubes. It put down 596 rwhp on 93 octane with 3:73 gears and no headers. Dave told me the car seems to be strong though. I'm upgrading to 12 lbs, water/ **** and belanger headers. I'll post the results.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Deadeye,
You may want to get rid of the 3.73's unless you have Kumhos. Also, if you run the 1/4 miles understand you'll need to shift into 5th before the end of the track. If you are going with Belangers, you might want to remove the "pickle" for better performance. They slow the exhaust flow at high RPMs.

 

[Shelby3]

Deadeye,
You may want to get rid of the 3.73's unless you have Kumhos. Also, if you run the 1/4 miles understand you'll need to shift into 5th before the end of the track. If you are going with Belangers, you might want to remove the "pickle" for better performance. They slow the exhaust flow at high RPMs.

Has the Belanger pickle plucking been established with dyno results as the thing to do?

 

[99 R/T 10]

I believe SVS did a back to back dyno run and gained 40+ at the wheels. The tread is over at the Alley with the dyno sheets

 

[Shelby3]

I believe SVS did a back to back dyno run and gained 40+ at the wheels. The tread is over at the Alley with the dyno sheets

Did you pluck yours?

 

[DEADEYE]

I just called Roe and the headers are already on the car so it's too late for the header issue for now . As for the 3:73's, I'd like to get rid of them but I want to go with a taller wheel eventually. It might end up working out in my favor in the end to keep that ratio if I go with a 20" wheel. I don't really care about !/4 mile performance. I really want a highway monster.

Sean is supposed to tune the car this evening so I may know the numbers by tomorrow morning.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I believe SVS did a back to back dyno run and gained 40+ at the wheels. The tread is over at the Alley with the dyno sheets

Did you pluck yours?

I have TNT headers, so not an issue with mine.

 

[Shelby3]

I believe SVS did a back to back dyno run and gained 40+ at the wheels. The tread is over at the Alley with the dyno sheets

Did you pluck yours?

I have TNT headers, so not an issue with mine.

I heard the TNT's ran about 20 rwhp behind the Belangers with the pickles.