Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation (Updated Dyno & Track Results)

I received my ponydown stage II kit on Thursday October 5, 2006. Jeff and I worked everything out and he really put alot of effort into making things right. I ordered the kit based on feedback from this site and I so far I am happy with the product that I received. I would rate the kit as follows:

1. Customer Service - 9.5; Jeff has this part of the game down and is there to answer questions during the installation of the kit and really works hard to make sure that you get everything that you ordered.

2. Delivery - 8; I rate this at an eight because it took longer than originally quoted to receive my kit. At 14 weeks, it was not too bad but it was over twice as long as I was quoted. If I would have been kept updated I wouldn't have been as worried but I do realize that Jeff is running a one man operation.

3. Weld Quality - 8; This is based on a visual inspection only. There was a little bit of splatter in a few places. All in all the weld seams were straight and concentric and look like they will hold up. I know people have talked about show car quality work but for the price I paid and the benefits I expect, this turbo kit will leave those show cars in the dust at the track and on the street.

4. Overall Fit and Finish - 8; This kit goes together fairly easily but I had a few problems that cost me some time and I went ahead and corrected them myself. They are documented below. It looks impressive once you get it put together in the engine bay. I would like to see a little more durable coating on the pipes but maybe it will hold up after it sees a few heat cycles.

On to the pictures--- the kit shows up in three boxes like this:

 

Work Day One

I spent Friday going through the kit and making sure that everything that I needed was included and that everything survived the shipping phase. On Saturday, I test fit the headers and realized that I had a problem. Jeff uses a universal oval port flange that works on almost everything except the tricflow heads that I have. In the picture below you can see where the tops of the header flange hit a ridge right below the valve covers on my heads. A couple of hours with a grinder solved this problem.

In the second picture you can see the tops of the flanges sticking above the header gasket. This is what needed to be removed.

The third picture shows the tops of two of the flanges completed and the other two needing to be done.

 

Work Day One (Cont.)

After I got the tops of all eight ports ground down, I was able to test fit the headers and determined that one of the holes for the number three exhaust port was not drilled correctly. It was about a quarter of a hole off. Time to do some more work.

The first picture shows the misalignment and the second picture shows how much the hole was slotted to compensate. I hope these pictures make sense.

The third picture compares the ponydown flanges to the flanges on my AFM/Bassani headers. I wish that I had these flanges but I'm sure that it would have increased the price.

 

Work Day Two

After taking the necessary steps to make the headers fit properly and repainting the areas that were subjected to the grinder, it was time to install the headers and put the motor between the frame rails.

Picture one shows the motor on the engine stand with the headers installed. The next couple of pictures show the clearance between the frame rails. It's a tight fit and I have temporarily removed my a/c for now.

This kit will work with the a/c but it requries a little more work. Right now I am interested in getting everything installed on the car and later I may go back and install the a/c system around the turbo kit.

The last picture shows how day two ended. The turbo was temporarily mounted with the VS Racing blanket, the march alternator bracket and 3G alternator is fitted and the crossover pipe was loosely installed.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Nice to see the kit going on the car. You have gotten some work done I see. I can't wait to see some more pics and see how the car runs when finished.

 

Work Day Three (Monday October 9th)

For work day three, I really wanted to see the intercooler installed and I was able to make it happen. I also mocked up and test fitted most of the hot side piping as well as the cold side pipng.

Picture one shows the front view of the car.

The other two pictures show the intercooler as viewed from the engine compartment along with the cold side discharge piping routed to the intercooler.

You can see another reason for removing the a/c at this time. There isn't much room between the radiator and the intercooler for the condenser due to the way that I have the intercooler mounted. In order to move the intercooler forward I would have to trim the bumper cover, etc and make some modifications to the intercooler mounting brackets. That will happen later.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Thanks Jeff and thanks for offering support when I had questions on some of this stuff. The car will definately go to the dyno and the dragstrip when it is complete. So I'll have some real world numbers to post up after it is all said and done.

 

Workday Four (Sunday October 15th)

I didn't get much time during the week or on Saturday and I discovered Saturday night that I had a clearance issue under the driver's side header. It was hitting the sway bar mount. I called Jeff and he told me that some cars have this problem. So I brought the air grinder out and it took a little time since I had to blindly work under the header. After some work I felt like the clearance would be enough.

The first picture shows how much material I removed and the second picture gives you an idea of how close the header is after some grinding. It should be enough but I won't know until after I install the transmission.

 

Work Day Five (Monday Oct. 16th)

On Sunday, I had also reinstalled the turbo with the air filter attached. I saw some pictures posted on here that showed the air filter smashed a little due to the tight fit. I figured it was because the air filter was installed after the tubo was mounted. I tried installing the turbo with the air filter attached and ended up with a slightly smashed air filter. This would work but I didn't like the way that it looked. I decided to see what I could due to gain some clearance and ended up taking the air grinder to the sheet metal behind the passenger side headlight. There is a bracket that the air bag sensor attaches to and it can be unbolted instead of actually cutting it off.

The first picture shows before the cutting and the second picture shows what it looks like after cutting and a little hammer work. I like to leave a little material and then bend it back with the hammer because I feel that the bend maintains some strength.

The last picture shows the turbo permanently mounted with the oil feed line and drain line attached. The air filter is attached and both the turbine housing and compressor housing are correctly clocked. The cold side piping is installed up to the mass air meter and the downpipe is loosely mounted. I feel like I am getting somewhere now.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Lookin great, good detail in the write-up What's the rest of your setup?

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

306 c.i., stock block, crank, & rods, 8.5:1 DSS forged pistons, balanced rotating assembly, ARP wave-loc rod bolts, main girdle, ARP head studs.

Trick Flow twisted wedge heads, Trick Flow R intake, Small Lunati cam.

60# injectors, 3" Pro Tube mass air, 255 lph intank, SCT custom tune by Triangle Speed Shop.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Nice to see some pics.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Very nice write up!

 

Work Day Six (Sunday Oct. 22nd)

Over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd I began to install the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate etc. By Sunday, I installed the transmission and determined that I still had not removed enough off of the gusset for the sway bar mount. You have to remove over 75% of the front gusset plate and shape it from a triangle into an l shape. I was tired after working on this with the front of the engine elevated as high as possible and didn't take any pics of the finished product. If you have to do this just try to remove as much as possible.

 

Work Day Seven (Thursday Oct. 26th)

As shown in the pictures below, I have installed the fuel rails and distrbutor and set the upper intake in place to see how it fits in relation to everything else. I then began installing the spark plugs and routing the wires away from potential heat. The wires are being routed in anticipation of performing the final install on the downpipe and exhaust. The second picture shows the downpipe and O2 sensors installed. I dimpled the strut tower near the O2 sensor just to be sure that it wouldn't hit. I am going to install the rest of the braided line to the fuel rails after the downpipe is in place.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation

Looks good !!

 

More Progress and Work Day Eight (Friday Oct 27th)

I was also able to get the exhaust routed and installed late Thursday night. You can see that the downpipe is very close to the k-member. Actually the v-band is sitting on top of the k-member. The pipe won't move at all so I am hoping that there aren't any rattles. On Friday night I finished installing the braided fuel lines, fuel regulator, and y-block. I took one picture showing the feed to the drivers side rail. I had to put it here because the distributor was in the way.

 

Work Day Nine (Sunday Oct 29th)

Things are getting close now I was able to get the radiator installed, all of the cold side piping, intake, etc. I put in the transmission fluid, coolant, and oil. The car should be cranked in the next couple of days.

 

Work Day Ten (Monday Oct. 30th)

Well I finished everything that needed to be done and cranked the car. I set the timing and fuel pressure and went for a test drive. The picture below shows the engine compartment after the initial road test. I drove the car to work on Tuesday and today. The car feels really strong and I am seeing 12 psi on the gauge using a 9# wastegate spring and no type of boost controller. With .81 A/R housing I am seeing full boost at around 3500 rpm.

On Friday I have an appointment for the car to be tuned by Triangle Speed Shop in Orange, TX. I'll post the results soon. It has definately been worth the work.

 

Re: Ponydown Stage II kit Feedback & Installation (Updated)

Looks really good, nice job. After seeing all those pics of your engine bay, it would be nice to have a couple pics of your whole hot rod.