ESC tune review (2009 OEM+ setup)
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Racer
Joined: Dec 2001
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From: Shakedown Street,Buffalo N.Y.
ESC tune review (2009 OEM+ setup)
Hey guys,
My father and I went down for our 20th carlisle show (been going since before I could even drive). Great time as always, and we had my dad's 2009 Z51/6 speed.
The car was in perfect running condition before the tune- only 20,000 miles and very well kept. Only modification is the LS7 Z06 manifolds/3" cats and H pipe leading into original NPP mufflers, and the OEM Z06 air filter (or was it the ls9 one? I can't remember lol). I refer to it as an OEM+ setup.
There was nothing wrong with how the car drove, but if it was running 10/10, it now feels like 12/10!
In no order, her are some observations:
* Idle- the car never felt to idle poorly- but it felt like it had a little chop- like you would feel with a hotter cam. I know the LS3 cam is real similar to the 2002-04 Ls6 cam (the biggest cam GM ever put into a small block at that point) but you wouldn't expect it to have a bumpy idle. Well now it idles perfectly smooth.
* Skip shift gone- self explanatory
*Throttle- the response, modulation and more linear feel is fantastic. Very refined, not at all choppy, no 'on/off switch' feel. Among the best aspects.
* Fans- the car never really ran warm, but you can hear the fans come on sooner, and at different fan speeds and loads.
* Leaner af mix. The car has cats (the 3" high flow units from the LS7) but occasionally I would notice a rich exhaust smell. Inaddtion, letting off the gas with the car in gear to slow down would produce some exhaust pops- unburnt fuel in the hot exhaust- this is greatly reduced.
* POWER. Holy **** this car moves. Anywhere from 1500 to redline the car pulls like a freight train. Part throttle, WOT, it just never runs out of steam. I know there's a lot of guys with crazy setups... and stock C7 Z06s but I can't fathom needing or even wanting more power. I can't wait to track this car, but I am really worried that the stock sized breaks won't be enough for this car at watkins glen, even with street tires. 13.3" fronts and those little rear breaks that look like something off a motorcycle worry me (hell my 2006 330i has 13.7" front and 13.2" rear OEM and with track pads and good fluid I've never had an issue but it doesn't reach the straight speeds that a corvette can), but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
At any rate, Doug at ESC was a great guy to chat with and the car just funds amazing. Anyone looking to have work done in the northeast should check him out.
I hope this post helps anyone on the fence of getting a stock/stockish car tuned.
Heres a few pics tearing up the carlisle auto x directly after Doug massaged the vette friday am.... I posted the fastest time of our little group lol... I really enjoyed auto crossing this car- throttle steer is fun! I had the car aligned/lowered on the factory bolts earlier this year with an aggressive street/HPDE setup with -1.75 neg camber front-1.25 rear and more aggressive toe settings.
My father and I went down for our 20th carlisle show (been going since before I could even drive). Great time as always, and we had my dad's 2009 Z51/6 speed.
The car was in perfect running condition before the tune- only 20,000 miles and very well kept. Only modification is the LS7 Z06 manifolds/3" cats and H pipe leading into original NPP mufflers, and the OEM Z06 air filter (or was it the ls9 one? I can't remember lol). I refer to it as an OEM+ setup.
There was nothing wrong with how the car drove, but if it was running 10/10, it now feels like 12/10!
In no order, her are some observations:
* Idle- the car never felt to idle poorly- but it felt like it had a little chop- like you would feel with a hotter cam. I know the LS3 cam is real similar to the 2002-04 Ls6 cam (the biggest cam GM ever put into a small block at that point) but you wouldn't expect it to have a bumpy idle. Well now it idles perfectly smooth.
* Skip shift gone- self explanatory
*Throttle- the response, modulation and more linear feel is fantastic. Very refined, not at all choppy, no 'on/off switch' feel. Among the best aspects.
* Fans- the car never really ran warm, but you can hear the fans come on sooner, and at different fan speeds and loads.
* Leaner af mix. The car has cats (the 3" high flow units from the LS7) but occasionally I would notice a rich exhaust smell. Inaddtion, letting off the gas with the car in gear to slow down would produce some exhaust pops- unburnt fuel in the hot exhaust- this is greatly reduced.
* POWER. Holy **** this car moves. Anywhere from 1500 to redline the car pulls like a freight train. Part throttle, WOT, it just never runs out of steam. I know there's a lot of guys with crazy setups... and stock C7 Z06s but I can't fathom needing or even wanting more power. I can't wait to track this car, but I am really worried that the stock sized breaks won't be enough for this car at watkins glen, even with street tires. 13.3" fronts and those little rear breaks that look like something off a motorcycle worry me (hell my 2006 330i has 13.7" front and 13.2" rear OEM and with track pads and good fluid I've never had an issue but it doesn't reach the straight speeds that a corvette can), but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
At any rate, Doug at ESC was a great guy to chat with and the car just funds amazing. Anyone looking to have work done in the northeast should check him out.
I hope this post helps anyone on the fence of getting a stock/stockish car tuned.
Heres a few pics tearing up the carlisle auto x directly after Doug massaged the vette friday am.... I posted the fastest time of our little group lol... I really enjoyed auto crossing this car- throttle steer is fun! I had the car aligned/lowered on the factory bolts earlier this year with an aggressive street/HPDE setup with -1.75 neg camber front-1.25 rear and more aggressive toe settings.
Last edited by t.renz791; Aug 30, 2015 at 09:53 PM.
