I have a powdercoated valve cover and was wondering if it might be hurting me at the track? It hold more heat in and I have been running slower times than stock. When I had only an injen intake my car ran 16.3 The other performance mods that I have sense then are the B&M Shift+ and polly trans bushings. I also have lowered the car on CA #1 springs, progress rear bar, and dc strut bar.

Currently the car is running consistently around 16.7 on a good day I might be able to squeeze a 16.5 out of it but nothing more. I know that the B&M alone shaves around .2 to .3 off my time cuz I have tested it at the track several times. So in theory I should be running close to 16 flat. I guess what I am getting at what do you think is causing the car to run slower. Could it be the powdercoated valve cover? Would a polished one help to dissipate the heat better?

 

No, your valve cover really can't effect that. It just doesn't have the heat insulating ability. And even if it did, it would be negligible.

 

PC'ing a valve cover will have such a negligible impact, you would never notice. did you knock something around when you installed it? any CEL's? what condition are your tires in?

 

More importantly....what is the air temperature and humidity level when you run? Headwind Vs tailwind will have a bigger effect on tenths too! gotta look at all the factors....

 

.2 of a second is a lot of time, youd have to be holding in MASSIVE amounts of heat, its more likely that that youve got subpar fuel or simply the weather changed.

 

I have noticed that the engine runs a little warmer. The temp climbs a lot faster than it did stock and I have ran a bypass switch to the fans so that I can turn them on at any point to try and help keep things cool but there are not CELs. I do have 17's and the tires are softer than stock. If I'm not mistaken I ran these same rims and tires when i ran a 16.3 but the tires are getting worn out that they will probably need to be replaced next summer. I have gone during all season and the weather doesn't seem to play a big difference on my times. I originally thought that might be the cause but after going on friday when it was nice and cool out 63* it ran the same as when it was 80 or 90 out with high humidity. I also thought the weight of gas might have been the issue but on friday I ran it when I was almost on E and no change.

 

Sounds like its more likely to be your B&M then the camshaft cover.

 

I have turned off the B&M while at the track and it will run 17's then so the B&M is not hurting the times. The only time it hurts the time is if its off or on stage 2. Stage 2 is to harsh and causes the tires to slip while shifting.

 

The valve cover has nothing to do with anything.

This is the 3rd or 4th thread i've seen on the topic, people need to do a little research. Powdercoating, painting, polishing, whatever, is not making enough of a difference in heat retention to affect anything on these cars, especially not the valve cover.

 

There's another factor -- if your 17" tires have a larger circumference then your 15s/16s did that will slow you a tad too. Larger diameter tires act like highway gears -- better for MPG but not acceleration.

 

The overall circumference is off a little. They are a tad bit smaller than the stock ones. The speedo is off by like 3mph at 70mph. It will say im going like 73 but actually I am going 70. I think I'll try swapping out the tires next time and see if it makes any difference.

 

Well, if thats the case, they should be helping, unless they are much heavier than stock. Wheel weight makes a big difference on the launch and accel of a less powerful car. Adding 2-3lbs to each wheel doesn't sound like much, but it is.

 

I would have to agree on saying that it is more than likely your rims and tires slowing you down. I've seen a lot of cars run slower with bigger aftermarket rims even if they have a smaller circumfrence reason being is they tend to be heavier than stock and use a little not really a lot more torque to spin them. Try putting the stockers back on and see if that does the trick for ya. I'm running consistent 16.5's on stock rims and tires that are bald with no mods done to the car what so ever even have the stock air filter.