Disapointing Mods or setups

I know everyone has ran across that one mod that you install and are completely disappointed in it, or maybe even a whole setup. It seems to happen at least once to everyone I know. I thought it would be interesting to share since all we seem to post on forums is what works, so how about a thread of what dont work.


Ive had a couple. My first would have to be when I got true duals put on my old Firebird Formula. I put in Pacesetter headers and decided to go with duals instead of getting a Y pipe to connect to my Flowmaster Catback. When surfing LS1tech (this was long before LTXtech) the Moroso spiral flows were all the rage. I bought two of them and had my exhaust guy weld me some duals dumped. Well, I told him to give me the best ground clearence he could, and boy he did. I had better clearence than I do now with my off road Y pipe. He welded one muffler about a foot off the drivers side collector and the other directly on the passenger side. Then he ran the two pipes down the side in the stock location and turned down at the axle. No crossover. It was LOUD. I liked it at first, but when I let my buddy drive it down the road I noticed it sounded like an old worn out truck. I then ordered some 1 chamber flowmasters to replace the spiral flows. They were a lot better when cruising and werent as loud. They were a lot raspier up top though.

I was scared away from duals for a while from that experience but I think Im going to try them again soon. I want to actually run a crossover and place the mufflers towards the back of the system. I think not an X or H and the muffler placement were 90% of my problem. I also would like to run a full sized muffler, or maybe Borla Stingers.



My latest let down has to be my Alpine Stereo I installed. Its slow and I just dont like it. I could have saved 50 bucks and bought a Pioneer. Ive always bought Alpine stuff and liked it but this one just isnt that great, plus the volume knob keeps falling off. Oh, and the ONLY adapter I could find was a freaking wood grain faced one. So I have an fbody with wood grain trim around the radio. lol. Ive been planning on pulling it out and painting the face of it white to match my shift knob.

I honestly can't think of a mod I've done that's been a disappointment. I've had some failed builds and what not, but never done a mod that disappointed me that I can think of.

Posted from my Rezound

For me it was getting a new transmission built with a tranny brake. My car is just as fast off of the foot brake. $450 down the drain, but it is nice to launch with your finger so I guess it isn't too bad. I just thought it would pick up a lot.

well i guess mine isnt really a mod but it still isnt what i wanted. i wanted to get my engine rebuilt along with my transmission, i ended up having to use my money elsewhere and only had enough to buy a used engine :( oh well i guess. better luck next time.

I want to say my exhaust...I bought bbk Shorty ceramics for the time being because of certain circumstances and now I wish I had just dropped Long tubes and mocked up my own pipes.

I just would of done my 383 a little different. I thought I knew it all or had it all figured out. If I knew then what I knew now my motor/nitrous setup would of been different. Probably make a good bit more power.

Glad to hear everyone's let downs don't seem too serious.
On another note, I hope my cam swap doesn't end up a disappointment since I'm not running the generic lt1 cookie cutter stuff.
I was half way expecting to hear from someone who undercammed or overcammed their engine, or didn't get the right stall.

In my first 94 lt1 camaro i put a b&i 2500 stall in with my built trans...biggest mistake i did with that car! B&I is just a local shop itd footbrake right at 2500 but didnt help my 60' much if any! Every car ive owned since then has had a 3200+ and love them! My car i have now is getting a 4000 and a th400!

Hotchkis STB. The model I got is a real nice, durable unit. However, you have to remove it to get to the damn oil fill and it made zero difference in the car's handling. Perfect waste of over $220 + shipping.

On my TBSS (recent forged motor/cam/stall/etc install as of last April), the worst thing I got for that was a Badlanz cutout. Broke right away, sent it back, broke again. Another perfect waste of money. Went with a QTP and haven't looked back since.

TB Air foil didnt add a 100 horses like I thought it would......

putting the distributor behind the water pump wasn't as effective as i thought

Underdrive pullies.

160* stat ... all it really did was kill my heater for winter. yeah it keeps it cool in the summer but a heater would be nice right about now

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Originally Posted by zooguy

160* stat ... all it really did was kill my heater for winter. yeah it keeps it cool in the summer but a heater would be nice right about now

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I forgot about how I don't have heat in the car when it's below 50*.

Nitto drags for what I Payed I could have had a real tire never again .

I really didnt mod my 94 Formula much when i had it. I replaced the stock 2.73 gears... With 2.73 gears. lol! Should have went with 3.42's or 3.73's.

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Originally Posted by zooguy

160* stat ... all it really did was kill my heater for winter. yeah it keeps it cool in the summer but a heater would be nice right about now

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That's weird. My car with a 160 degree thermostat has great heat.

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Originally Posted by IronOutlaw:216530

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Originally Posted by zooguy

160* stat ... all it really did was kill my heater for winter. yeah it keeps it cool in the summer but a heater would be nice right about now

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That's weird. My car with a 160 degree thermostat has great heat.

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Likewise.

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Originally Posted by zooguy

160* stat ... all it really did was kill my heater for winter. yeah it keeps it cool in the summer but a heater would be nice right about now

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Thats weird, because in the summer it keeps my car at 180 or less... and in the winter, my heat is AWESOME!

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Originally Posted by IronOutlaw

That's weird. My car with a 160 degree thermostat has great heat.

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Lol, I started my statement the same way!!!

I think in terms of mods the biggest disappointment for me was trying to find someone to dyno tune my car only to find out no one does it and having to get a mail order. Not really a big deal but disappointing. I also bought LT headers that were really poor fitment not sure if the issue was with the headers or my car to be honest.

Overall though not really a mod issue but the one thing that irks me more then any thing is how other people i know are able to push there stock applications much much further than we are. I would love to have added forced induction to my camaro but the total cost of doing it is just insane. so instead i just tinker and shoot for a 12 second car.

Several people do LTX tuning, you just have to do some traveling....

also Strut Tower Brace ... i dont think it did anything but it makes a good hand hold for working under the hood

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Originally Posted by popo8

Several people do LTX tuning, you just have to do some traveling....

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I should have been more specific. I meant to say Locally. I Live in upstate NY and haven't found any one with out driving at least 3 or 4 hours which i wouldn't mind if my set up was as i wanted it but since im still working on piecing it together it would be a huge wast of time and money.
popo who did you use and how was your experience with them.

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Originally Posted by AdamG

I should have been more specific. I meant to say Locally. I Live in upstate NY and haven't found any one with out driving at least 3 or 4 hours which i wouldn't mind if my set up was as i wanted it but since im still working on piecing it together it would be a huge wast of time and money.
popo who did you use and how was your experience with them.

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I can definately agree with that! That was the problem i ran into also with my Formula. Without making a road trip out of it, theres absolutely nobody in upstate NY for tuning LTX stuff. I have a local shop right here in Rochester (new era performance) that does LSX stuff though. That made it a whole lot easier for me. Same thing with the late model Ford stuff here. Im interested in 03/04 cobras, but nobody will touch them around here.

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Originally Posted by AdamG

I should have been more specific. I meant to say Locally. I Live in upstate NY and haven't found any one with out driving at least 3 or 4 hours which i wouldn't mind if my set up was as i wanted it but since im still working on piecing it together it would be a huge wast of time and money.
popo who did you use and how was your experience with them.

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Well Ive been using MOEHorsePower (Moe is a member on here) however my tunes through him have been mail order. i also have two semi local dyno tuners whom I also used, but even though they have LTX tuning stuff, they are more of mustang people.

My intention was to have moe tune as a surrogate on the telephone with one of my locals once we had the car on the rollers.... sooooo when the time was upon us, My car broke...

So once the top end is done, it will be mail ordered again, and gotten close to tune for the specs of my motor...... then once Im sure the car is 100% and just needs fine tuning, Ill work out whatever it takes to fly Moe up and have him tune it hands on.......

Moe does amazing things for sure

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Originally Posted by Camaro_94

I can definately agree with that! That was the problem i ran into also with my Formula. Without making a road trip out of it, theres absolutely nobody in upstate NY for tuning LTX stuff. I have a local shop right here in Rochester (new era performance) that does LSX stuff though. That made it a whole lot easier for me. Same thing with the late model Ford stuff here. Im interested in 03/04 cobras, but nobody will touch them around here.

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My friend Paul does LTx tuning. He's located in Buffalo.

You are not entirely correct about Mike not being able to tune LT1 cars. I'm sure if you purchased tunercat or LT1edit and brought your car to Mike, he would easily be able to tune it. The software is similar to what he works with daily. A lot of the tables will be the same. An engine is an air pump whether it is an LTx os LSx. He doesn't own the correct software so he would need a copy to do the tune.

Buffalo is almost 5 hours from me. I asked another guy if I bought the software if he would do it he said no. I live two minutes from redline performance and asked the if he did lt1 od1 tuning and he told me no he was kinda a dick about it to which i have heard from a lot of people.

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Originally Posted by AdamG

Buffalo is almost 5 hours from me. I asked another guy if I bought the software if he would do it he said no. I live two minutes from redline performance and asked the if he did lt1 od1 tuning and he told me no he was kinda a dick about it to which i have heard from a lot of people.

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Well that just sucks. If I were a tuner I would like to see other tuning software that is available out there to expand my own personal knowledge base. Maybe that guy figured it would be a hassle to try to figure it out.

I know people who have towed their vehicles 6-8 hours just for a good tune. You gotta pay to play.

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Originally Posted by popo8

Lol, I started my statement the same way!!!

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MY HEAT SUCKS AND IS NON EXISTANT WITH A 160 DEGREE THEERASTAT BUT I ALSO HAVE MY FANS SET TO COME ON A 173 DEGEES BUT IN THE WINTER THE CAR NEVERS SEES OVER 170 SO I FREEZE MY ASS OFF