3dog

iTrader: (1)

Well as some of you know I recently had a torqueconverter installed to go along with my 3.76 LSD.

I live just south of Seattle Washington and it rains almost every day at this time of year. So the streets, except for the rare sunny afternoon, are usually wet and slick.

I've learned that if I get on it from a standing start the rear end comes loose very fast. So I have been careful and wait until I'm rolling along or on some dry roads before I hit it hard. I have had a few power around a corner thrills but these have been rare so far. The TC puts out so much torque the back end has a real tendency to swing around.

Today I was going up about a 15 degree incline with a 15mph curve and decided to power around it with the VSC off. Big mistake! The rear swung around and I was going sideways uphill. I counter steered and got it kind of straightened out and started heading towards a pole with a sign on it. Fortunately I stopped just before the sign. The right wheel ended up just off the road in some grass, and the rear end was blocking the right lane. I thought for a moment I was going to cream that pole and my car. Well the Camry behind me was nice and waited while I backed up and I got out of there. I was so embarrassed. I wanted to just go hide. So I turned off on a side street at the next intersection.

I could do this stuff when I just had the LSD. But this torqueconverter kicks out some serious power. I hope I don't have any more incidents like this one. It was enough to make me think about taking the TC off. (for about 30 seconds) I hope as we get into a drier season with longer warmer days I can figure out out to power around these curves. If not I might have to rein in my driving on curves.

Oh yeah my miles per gallon seems to have dropped as I hammer it every chance I get. This car is so much quicker now. It is a real thrill to get stuffed back into the seat as I hang on as tight as I can to the steering wheel. I can hardly wait for summer.



Ivan
3dog

lex400pshR

Nice dude!
Now imagine those people who say they want 500whp.... Imagine a gear kick down on that...lol
U have to be extra careful with more power!

LasVegasGS

Since you have the TC is your check engine light on?? Also since you have the LSD are the miles on your Nav jacked.. Man if those 2 things didnt have those to side effects I would so be all over them.

aloha08isf

iTrader: (2)

well forget about being embarrased man...at least you and no one got injured....and yeah the VSC is there for a reason

3dog

iTrader: (1)

I have the 400. The check engine light only comes on on the 430.

I don't have Nav. I think the miles are taken from a wheel sensor so it should not effect the Nav.

I would highly recommend the 3.76 LSD. It is so much faster than stock and is just a kick in the @ss to power around corners.

Yeah thats me I've been drooling over the 0-60 times on the new Corvette.
I would love to feel that much acceleration from launch.
I'm sure 500hp would be even harder to handle on wet roads than what I've got right now.
More HP means you can get into more problems quicker.
The setup I've got is apparently all I can handle at this point, and I was not doing that so well yesterday.
I'm really hoping that if I take it easier on the wet streets and maybe leave the VSC on that I won't have any more problems.
Come on summer!




Ivan
3dog

Woogie

yeah it gets pretty bad in seattle. sometimes you can barely see anything in front of you on 167 becuase its raining so hard.

TLW

you got any braces or any other suspension mods ??

nice writeup btw

morris

iTrader: (2)

I had a similar expereience with my car, but I didnt stop short of the pole.

But any how I thnk the car has less of a tendency to oversteer now that I have the staggered wheels on. 285 in the rear. Still cant say for sure because I'm to chicken to really get loose in the corners.
But powering through turns the car seems to slide rather than whip around.

chuckb

Nice Ivan You need to take that badboy to the track and see if you can break into the 13s. Traction at the track is also much better because the track is sticky with all the rubber laid down on it. You could probably launch without much spin.

BTW- I bet that gold emblem made your wifes car run better too, huh Has she driven yours now w/TC & LSD in?

Hameed

I am such a chicken I leave my VSC on ALL the time. I would only take it off under very rare circumstances. The TC/LSD combo begs to be driven hard and the VSC is a nice compliment to that when you "lose" that rear end.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I've only ever heard of one GS400 owner have a check light with the TC, and there's several GS430 owners who have TC and no check engine light so I'm not sure it's as widespread a problem as maybe it seems.

Also, the LSD, gearing, or TC stall speed have NOTHING to do with the accuracy of the navigation. That's based off wheel sensors. If you go to a rim/tire combo larger than stock size then you're nav will read slow, but THAT IS FIXABLE TOO through the service menu. I have 19s with a fat tire setup and adjusted my nav and it's dead on.

So be all over them! They're great mods.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

3dog - be careful there Ivan! I wouldn't turn off VSC, there's really no need as it will only kick in with your mods if you're really losin' it.

SCV8

Sounds like a fun setup; I'm sure you'll get used to it.

I used to be able and just set my tranny switch in "economy" mode on my older SC4 to keep the tires from rotating in the wet here in Seattle, but after some mods I now have to be a little more aware.
Just curious, but I wonder if/how the transmission gearing is different between the SC/GS?
The SC4 came with a 3.92 rear gearset, some change to 4.27 Supra lsd, where the GS cars are just as fast, if not faster using much taller rear gears(?).

What torque convertor did you use in your GS?

3dog

iTrader: (1)

Daizen Sways, JIC MAGIC FLT2A coilovers (set really stiff), TRD Front Strutt Tower Bar, Toms Front and Rear Lower Braces, Toms Upper Rear Brace and Toms 6 Link kit. 17 inch wheels are holding me back but I can't do anything about that for the time being.

Thanks it took a couple of weeks before I felt like I understood what was going on. Obviously I still have a lot to learn.

I've got a spot underneath the I-5 freeway where it stays dry and I can stop and then just hammer it. Gives me enough dry road to get up to about 50 mph before I come out from under the bridge. Not much traffic at 0530 in the morning. I figured out that I could get some good launch practice there, just a couple of days ago.. It has the added bonus of sounding really *****en loud as it echos my Greddy Evo Exhaust! So I stop and roll down the two front windows and let her rip. Oh my god, that roar and hanging onto the steering wheel while being jammed back into the seat I almost need to clean myself up after that.



I might just do that this summer. I've got a boss who takes his BMW M3 out there. I don't know about launch with no spin with these 17 inch wheels. So far I sort of hold back a little until its just rolling then jamm that throttle down. Seems to work okay.

By the way he took me for a ride in his M3 the other day. It was nice but he never just hammered it from a dead stop and that transmission was way to complicated for my little pea sized brain.
He said he had been to the track recently and been running 135mph. Well the rubber was all rubbed off on the edge of his tires. Sounds expensive to me.




She loves the Gold Emblem, it made her very happy.

She has driven my car with the 3.76 LSD and she enjoys that. She also thinks my coilovers are to stiff . I think if you are going to drive fast you need to be able to control the car. Her car still has the stock shocks and springs. Which I feel give the car a feeling like you are in a boat going over waves and you don't know where you are going to end up. But she does have all the other braces except the one in the trunk. Someday I'll talk her into a set of Tein CS Coilovers.

Her comment when I pleaded with her to let me get the TC was why would you want to go any faster. She did not particularly like my "for the thrill of it" answer.

No so far she has not driven it and in fact has not even ridden in it since the TC install. She is going to drive it Wed morning as I need to take her car in to get the passenger side rear view mirror fixed along with change the serpentine belt. As soon as that is done I will go down to where she works and switch cars and spend the rest of the day hammering it and wasting a lot of gas!



You know I've been fooling around with this VSC thing and I think the car launchs faster with it turned off, I could be wrong. Anyone else got any opinion on whether it it faster, slower or the same with it on or off?

The other day when I lost it I was hoping the rear end would drift around really slick so thats why I had the VSC off. Streets were still a little wet and that turned into a big mistake. I just hate that thing kicking in and cutting power and whatever else it does, but with this TC maybe I need to leave it on.



Hey everybody thanks for all the comments and suggestions.



Ivan
3dog

morris

iTrader: (2)

For a straight line launch I would leave the VSC off, theh problem is when you launchy you will get a little bit of wheel spin but the VSC cuts power for way to long resulting in a slower overall launch.