In Search Of: PTGT stock fmic for upgrade

Engine and Transmission

Old and Busted:

New and Updated:

DCR, Darrell Cox Racing, did some tests and found that the 2.4 engine flowed too much oil into the top end at high rpm's, thus causing more resistance to the cams. To battle this, they developed an oil modifier that fits into one of the oil squirters to restrict flow to the head. When I took it for a drive, I didn't notice any power increases, but it did seem smoother... so there's that.

I formerly had an AGP wastegate installed on my car, but with the extremely firm spring, part throttle boost and my gas mileage finally gave me a change of heart. After hearing such good things about Forward Motion, I purchased a FM wastegate. It's an adjustable wastegate so I can adjust it how I want. There is less spike than the AGP, which helps traction; it can hold boost more linearly than the AGP, and I run it on the stock lines to help with my gas mileage and part throttle boost. (You will need to modify the rear intake manifold bracket to accommodate the larger can.)

Adam at Prototype Power has made 5 versions of his VAK upper-charge pipe. I purchased the most recent one dubbed the VAK v. 5... makes sense. It's made from aluminum, provides a slightly straighter shot, and fits great! Throttle response is crisper due to the old silicone peice inflating with boost, and it looks good in there!

Since the cutting of the muffler did very little but improve the exhaust note on my car, I finally put together the money and found Hector at Exhuast Depot. We installed a Maxxfab O2 housing, the catted Maxxfab 3" downpipe (stainless), and Hector fabricated a full 3", mandrel bent, rear exit exhaust for me. It looks great, and performs even better. There is a slight drone just above 3000 rpm but whatever... it's fast as hell!

Wheel hop on front wheel drive cars is common, and dangerous to your set-up. I didn't want to go, at first anyway, to full solid mounts because I had heard of vibrations, so installed the Prothane Race Motor Mount Inserts. These took care of most the hopping, but at the top of 1st and 2nd it would still hop. There was a group buy on BWoody's Solid Motor Mounts with free shipping and any color at no charge... so here they are!! No more wheel hop, slight vibration with the a/c on, and they look awesome!

The stock intercooler piping isn't all that great - actually it sucks. PTPerformance makes a replacement charge pipe that runs from the turbo to the intercooler, and AMX makes the final peice that connects it all. The advantage here is the PTP pipe removes the bottle-neck in the upper portion, and the AMX hard pipe replaces a flimsy silicone connector.Both are great peices (the AMX pipe had to be cut a few inches to allow it to fit properly) and include 4 ply silicone connectors and t-clamps.

I installed a 180* thermostat as well (NAPA 153). This won't necessarily do anything for noticable performance, but keeping the engine a bit cooler is never a bad thing. I also added a high pressure radiator cap to help with the boiling point.

PTGT enthusiasts have been waiting for a throttle body to come out for well over a year now. Darrell Cox Racing stepped up to the plate and collected cores, bored them out and sold them for a very reasonable amount (core return is on a honor system!).

The stock 5 speed TB for PTGT's is a tapered 46mm, the automatics are 52mm, but DCR bored them out to a full 55mm and with a matching butterfly. There is no rpm hang-ups, and the result is improved throttle response through the low to upper-midrange.

Here is the comparison picture (DCR's 55mm on left/OEM 46mm on right):

I got a few goodies for Christmas and among them was one of PTPerformance's Check Valves. This acts as a second, stronger PCV valve to hold boost in the intake manifold better, and should be installed after the catch can.

After hearing so much about Jim, AMX on PT Crew, I ordered the Turbo-To-AirBox pipe. This pipe is a full 3", and doesn't have any silencers like the stock pipe does. I can now hear the turbo spool much better, and it spools much quicker!

I liked the polished aluminum the pipes come in, but didn't want it to stand out in the bay (trying to go stealth don'tcha know), so I sent it to West Tennessee Powdercoating and David hooked me up with a great job and really fast turn around. It looks amazing!

If you understand the SRT-4 engine, you've probably heard of the pcv valve issue: it spits oil easily. For the SRT-4s this means that the throttle body and intercooler are gummed up with oil, and for PTGTs this means the intake manifold will have oil flowing down into the cylinders. While this isn't a HUGE problem, it's something I wanted avoid, so I did the $30 catch can mod - courtesy of Craftsman! (ps - the sticker has been taken off since this pic)

Mopar's Stage 1 provides an enhanced boost schedule, better WOT shifting, more fuel, and removes that pesky overboost code along with ignoring a few sensors (good thing). For the 2003 models, you have to replace the PCM and the fuel injectors (upgraded to 577 cc/min). For manuals, i would recommend going straight to the DiabloSport Predator if you're going to do your own tuning.

However, DO BE AWARE that you should to get different spark plugs and wires at the same time. With the enhanced boost, the wide gap of the oem plugs will tend to blow out on occasion, and the stock wires are simply crap. I installed a set of NGK "6" Iridium plugs on my car, which are one range colder set at a gap of .028", and MSD SuperConductors.

Since I had to have the intake manifold off to install the valve cover, I bought the newer composite (plastic) intake manifold Chrysler put on the new 2006 models from Haynes Speed Shop. The manifold was responsible for a 8 hp difference in model years - I can't say one way or another, since I did this mod with others, but I can attest that WOT are much nicer! One of the best bang-for-your-dollar pieces out there for the PTGT crowd.

I also installed a Mopar Electric Blue Valve Cover while I was under there anyway!

You can call me a ricer - whatever, but I installed the Mopar BOV Conversion plate. As the name suggests, it turns the stock recirculating valve, into a true blow-off valve. While a lot of people believe it leaks like a strainer (prime the system before you do a boost-leak check), it's not bad for stock. It blows-off easy due to its location on the turbo housing. I will eventually be getting an external unit, but this does fine, and I think it sounds cool - no real perfomance gains with this however.

One of the first modifications I did to my car after I purchased it, was to put on the Hurst Short Shifter that my father from PT Boutique gave to me as a gift (thanks!!). It does shorten the throw noticeably. It took a few days of driving with the shift-boot off and an allen wrench in the passenger seat to adjust the bump stops correctly, but it is very mechanical and smooth.

Hurst also included an upgraded set of shift-base bushings. They lift the housing up a bit, which is nice to have with the shorter arm, but they also stiffen up the entire unit, and put a SRT shift boot on it to make it look better.

Of course no short shifter is complete without upgrading the crappy, soft rubber shift linkage bushings. I bought a set of blue Booger shift bushings for the shifter and transmission side. As of 2/24, my selector rod end at the base of my shifter broke - AGAIN. So with that in mind, I purchased a set of spherical rod ends to put on the shifter side and create a truly solid shifter! It is so sweet...

UPDATED 9/11/7: Well, it's been a while, since I moved to NJ and all, but I made it back to the track finally. A few new friends and I travled to Englishtown Raceway Park to take care of it. I was lined up with an LS1 Trans Am, then a Mustang GT, then a supercharged Mustang. I had a great launch my first run but I had, what I thought to be, a fried clutch. After talking with some friends, I decided to baby it on my second run to test it, and it was fine, so I only got one real run. I had a good launch but was still nervous about the car so I'm sure my shifts could have been better. I wasn't totally happy with my time but I beat my previous times... 14.44 @ 98.7. (As long as I have the driver mod done properly, there's no reason I shouldn't be high 13's this spring ;)

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