Yea it was a great car for aftermarket. If you are still interested in one I'd get an 04. The first run of the 03 just were horrible for their finish the paint is just not good at all. The 04 were alot better off. I just wish they didnt stop making them. There are only about 11000 total back in 04 produced and who knows how many are left. Only came in 4 colors too. I was actually looking for a Dark Toreador Red one but couldnt find them so I settled for black. The dealership says in order for them to cover a rust warranty it had to be rusted through with a hole so I couldnt even get it fixed. By the time it got bad enough to be covered I was over 100000 miles. Oh well I got rid of it and I wont be living in the north anymore so no salt should be damaging the STR. Maybe in the future I'll buy another one and turn it into a project car.

 

I no longer put dogs in these fights. Marketing is a powerful force, creating individual reality from fantasy and, when spending one's own money, everyone is entitled to their own individual reality....and it's good for the economy.

 

That's very well put. I've always been amazed by a marketeer's ability to sway people into buying off-the-shelf miracle products that promise huge returns for such a small investment. The premise is always 'here's the HP/mileage the factory forgot' and it's a simple process of bolting it on, pouring it in the gas or adding it to the oil.

When challenged, the vendor usually launches into a pre-prepared conspiracy theory, something to do with the OEM and/or the evil government having a secret plot to screw the consumer.

Whether it's good for the economy or not, I suppose it depends on where the snake oil comes from.

 

So wait, my tornado vortex and gas line magnet are going to give me 50mpg?

 

Yes, they are!

Good for the economy because it is better to have people employed at the air filter factories manufacturing and selling fantasies than it is to have them unemployed collecting government benefits. When they earn money they buy used Jaguars, then I get to charge them money to fix them. In turn, I can go out and buy things which employes even more workers who then go out and buy....well, you get the picture.

 

Look, I'm not trying to sell anything. I can only give you the numbers from my six runs. three with stock and three with K&N. I understand you scepticizm. It's hard for me to believe also. I've had K&N filters in all my cars and have never had a result like this before. Ofcourse this is the only car I've owned with a supercharger. All of my reaction times were between .1 and .27 of a second.

 

I'm not sure people doubt you. A dirty OE filter may be the reason. I wouldn't worry.

 

This is a major problem with user forums in general, to many Google Engineers and shade tree mechanics.

 

Not to mention people that believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

 

Hey, give the guy a break dudes. He's probably a very good driver, plus the addition of the K&N filter may have caused the ECU to notice more air and as a result performed an adaptive re-map of fuel and spark within the timed runs.

 

Sorry, that makes no sense beyond abra-cadabra. Physics are physics. The weight of the car is X number of pounds. To make it go 1/4 mile in Y number of seconds requires Z horsepower. Any on-line calculator or desktop equivalent will show that the calculated times match up well with real life for a stock car.

To achieve the difference in times quoted represents a difference of 50-60 HP. The PO's best time was equal to what a typeR can do with a stock filter, in other words his K+N times were no better than stock.

That's why I wondered what was wrong with his stock filter time.

 

I'm not doubting the physics or saying that the K&N was extremely awesome but you can lower ET's with other things besides horsepower so saying he had to have 50-60hp to get the drop in ET's he did doesnt really have to be true. His tires could have been gripping better. The K&N being cleaner may have help his IAT's drop a little. My previous car you could drop 8/10's to almost a whole second with just a tune giving you about 15-20hp and a trans recal therefor causing the car to shift faster. His stock filter could have been dirty enough to throw off the ECU when putting in the K&N made it read correctly. Hell he could of also not had the airbox lid on all the way. Mine wasnt seated right for a week and when I reinstalled it and got it seated correctly I felt a little more power now that I was getting all clean air again. I just think there are alot more variables here then just hp. I do agree that there is no way a K&N is gonna give you 50-60hp.

 

You guys slay me.........google engineer.......I'm actually a jet mechanic in the Air Force and have been for 17 years, so I know my way around tools. I worked F-16 Block 50 GE 129 motors up until 2006 and now I'm on the F-35 P&W F135 motor waiting for the GE F136 motor to come out. I KNOW you can't get 50hp out of a simple filter change but as soon as I put the K&N in the car EVERYTHING seemed to work better. I can't explain it, I can only quote my results..................and I'm done.............

 

As I mentioned earlier, a fresh free flowing filter will cause the ECU to remap for the best, especially when coming from a dirty filter. Three days ago I went from flow-through to chambered mufflers. I literally saw the tach search up and down till it set a new idle after start up. By the way, I also gained back some low end torque too. I believe hollywoodippa lost some tenths.

 

Cool- we have something in common. I worked in engineering, design, reliability and customer support for 31 years at one of the two OEMs you mentioned. I learned how to correlate desktop with dyno with real world performance numbers long before Google existed or Algore invented the interweeb. Glad you enjoy working on stuff I probably had a hand in designing.

 

You went with the Dynomax Super Turbos? How's the sound difference?

 

Woohoo! Let's all whip out the eP****! Good l**d this is starting to get as bad as the Honda Civic board.

 

You seem to be missing the point that an air filter does not make 50-60hp difference. How about suggesting some solid physics/etc reasons?

 

I'll PM ChrisSTR on the switch to Dynomax Super Turbos, but I'll let yas know that she's noticeable louder in/out than the Magnaflows. The reverberation into the interior is annoyingly loud while lazily pulling up hill in higher gears. Need to pop back on the Dynomax glass packed tube pre-mufflers as a means to absorb and resonate. Did gain back some low-end torque though and she sounds real mean, LOL!

 

hollywooddippa

Thanks for posting your install with before and after results. Hope you stay around! This forum has good repair info as well as parts sources. The S Type has been out a long time (10+ years) and most common faults have been fixed.
Not always easy to find the info either!
.
.
.