Hey, hey hey! Look at what showed up today!

 

What the hell are you doing posting? Put that sucker on!


Just make sure you close that butterfly valve before pulling the VIAS out. It'll try to dig into the UIM if you don't.

 

OH YEAH....Rochester is joining the club!

 

OK, OK... The plate is on the UIM now. Getting the valve out wasn't the biggest problem. It was getting at the 2nd bolt on the 2-bolt wire bracket by the VIAS. I finally figured out that you just need to bend the assembly back in order to get the ratchet in.

Anyway, it's on the car. The VIAS and the vacuum tank are deleted. And I have caps on both solenoid leads, as well as the upper IM lead. The car starts and runs fine. Ironically, I won't be able to drive it until later tonight. In the meantime, it sure looks pretty.



You can see the NWP Torque link in this one:

 

Well make sure you post your impressions after you get to drive it tonight! I wanna hear...

 

Interesting you mention that, how do you like it? I take it you have it on for Daily driving?

 

Yep, on for daily driving. It's only been a week, and I'm still processing the changes introduced by this engine brace. The change in overall acoustics is, um, unusual. The added NVH is sometimes non-existent, and sometimes in your face.

What is a constant are the benefits during aggressive acceleration. Shifting is faster and more precise. Power is transferred between gears so much better. Hard to explain what that means... suffice it to say the Torque Link is an awesome mod, depending entirely on your personal values in a car.

So far, it's working for me.

 

I just put the Block Plate on the other day, and its great when WOT, top end feels stronger.

Other than that not really noticeable, except one WOT pull felt like 3rd gear was dragging in the 2-3k range.

Looking into the torque link brace, haven't decided if its worth it yet.

 

I'm going to wait a few days to let things settle in, before trying to articulate an opinion.

I know... it's no big deal. It's not like half of the 5.5 and 6th gen crowd hasn't already done this. But since I started this thread almost a year ago, this is kind of like closure for me on the issue.

 

Not to mention it sure looks purdy in there,sounds like it is really working out well for you. I wonder if the benefits would be as notable on an auto though, but I sure like to hear that you can notice/feel the power transfer is much stronger to the wheels.

 

Ah yeah. I didn't notice this was your thread. Wow, you sure took your time gettin your BOP

 

8 months is a long time to dik around purchase of a simple mod. I’ll admit that’s a long time, even for me. In my defense, winter was fast approaching, I had other critical mods (brakes & suspension), and NWP was back-ordered for 2 months. But it’s done now, and…

…it’s a keeper.

Like I said a few posts ago, installation was really simple. That is, once you figure out there are two retaining bolts (not just one) on the large, black wiring harness “box”. And the way to access the back bolt is to simply bend the whole box on the bracket away from the engine. It bends back in place, so no big deal. Once the VIAS was out, I was pleased to see the valve in pristine condition. Same for the inside elbow on the UIM. Go figure.

There’s much said on the Forum, and in this thread, about how the VIAS-delete will reduce low-end torque and HP, so I was expecting some compromise in that area. However, in my case, I felt absolutely no loss what-so-ever. Zero. Nada. In the low end from idle to 3K, and from gentle acceleration to WOT, the car pulls exactly as it did before the mod. I don’t know why. My only explanation is to point you to my sig and let you draw your own conclusions. (Spacers? SRI? Crank Pulley? Torque Link and ES mount bushings? 6MT? Hmm, probably “all the above”.)

With the VIAS gone, so goes that sudden slam of acceleration at WOT. You know what I mean -- when the VIAS opens back up and you get that turbo-like kick. Well, I never liked that behavior. To me, it always felt like this big hesitation before doing what I asked the car to do. Anyway, no more VIAS means no more hesitation. The power curve is so much more smooth and steady. For me, and the way I want my car to run, this is a very good thing.

As to the upper end… both first and second gear have a pleasant, noticeable gain in WOT between 4K and under 6K. Once you’re in third, not so much. Fourth, fifth, (sixth? haha), not at all. And if you’re winding 6K in the upper gears, you’re a madman anyway.

What kind of gain? Is it a wet-your-pants, OMG!!! kind of thing? Um, no. Not at all. Absolutely dial back your expectations that removing the VIAS is like removing some kind of power limiter. That’s dumb. You get a little bit of power in the high-end, and no recognizable low-end loss… as long as you have the mods to compensate. It’s not Liquid Schwartz. Not by a long shot.

If you do this on a stock 3.5, I’m quite sure the results would differ. Just as I’m sure the perceptions would differ between a 6MT and an AT.

But like I said up front: it’s a keeper.

 

Just installed mine yesterday and was out for a test drive and a blue maxima on my side trying to get the go on me and just smashed to test it out seen him on my bumper let my foot off the gas and let him pull by me since I was going the wrong way but couldn't resist. So very well worth the 60 dollars that raised face looks Sic!!

 

 

I have the BOP on my car now.. Not sure I notice any diff. But I mainly did it because I wanted to turf my problematic POS VIAS system. No more issues with that now.

 

hahahahaha!....poor guy

 

I hate to admit it, but I've had mine sitting in the garage for 6 months now and haven't installed it yet. I sort of bought it on impulse and when winter hit, I thought later. Spring came around and I thought probabaly not a good idea with no other mods. I guess I should just try it and find out.

 

I think I'll eventually order a block plate too. But I'd really miss this. The sound of that valve popping open is a very effective tool for getting slower moving cars out of your way.

 

Yeah, that was a classic Org moment. Right on the heels of a sober review.

Here's a thought that occured to me this morning while looking at the VIAS valve sitting on my desk: simply unscrew the valve plate from the rotating post. Done.

Free VIAS-delete. No block plate. Stock look.

 

While that will remove the power dip/hump caused by VIAS activation, it will likely not make the block plate's peak power. It's half the solution, but free.

 

You know, I'm guessing it's more like a 90% solution, rather than just half. And I arrived at that number by the most educated means possible... pulling it out of my dookie.

Here's some NWP swag. Free the Whales!

 

I don't think so. I'm quite sure that the reason for the gain is because of the removal of the restrictive plate that houses the butterfly valve.

 

Just deleting/disabling the valve will hurt performance. I've dynoed this and didn't see any gains, just the loss at low end. The BP actually shows gains due to it removing mat'l from inside the IM.


I dynoed this back to back, with just deleting the valve.



Torque loss:




The BP has shown dyno GAINS past 6k ... so yeah.

 

Looking at the whole thing, you're right in that the total area of the opening is made much larger by removing the entire valve body.

Good point, Mr. Spock. Damn your infernal logic.

OK, guys, that debunks the idea of simply removing the valve plate.

Glad you said something, otherwise someone someday... you know.

 

That's what you get for pullin' stuff outa your dookie.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. I felt no low end loss just poking around town and the engine just feels more linear. Also, it did seem to push the shift point at WOT a little higher in the RPM range.

 

What the... where's mine?

 

Thanks, Rhyno. "The engine feels more linear" -- well said. I like that.

And that does seems the consensus opinion for MT cars, that the WOT shift points nudge upward without the VIAS.

My favorite thing lately, (and probably 90% because of the Torque Link), is the way I can shift my MT from 2nd to 3rd without any power dip, all without aggressive shifting. Just normal behavior. The STS mod certainly comes into play, too, but what's going on now is so-o-o new. 2nd to 3rd is glass smooth now... it's amazing. And the third gear crunch...? What 3rd gear crunch? The shifter assembly bushings from ES, combined with the torque link, have made that crunch go bye-bye.

You should see the NWP Bomber Jacket he sent me for my birthday.

 

All I got was a keychain bottle opener with NWP logo and 3 of his decals fine with me. I'm interested in the torque link but I don't know just how beneficial it'd be with my slushbox.

 

You got a keychain? Why didn't I get a keychain. What the...?

 

I'll trade the keychain for the shirt. lol.

 

No. My shirt. Hands off.

I'm wearing it at Maxus, going full geek. Aaron said the design is new, so no one else has one yet.

 

Psshht! Let's see ya open a beer with a t-shirt! I'm gonna bring my keychain to maxus and rub it in your face...figuratively of course.

 

I have an auto, and I love the torque link. You can feel the auto seems to shift easier with this mod. If you've ever seen a Maxima on a dyno you know how much the engine moves around in there. Anything to prevent engine movement whether auto or manual is a big plus.

 

Thanks for the input, man. I think I'll add to this to my "to-do-list." Not anytime too soon though. As of late, I've been putting a fair amount of $$ and time into my car.

 

Does the torque link reduce wheelspin?

 

My guess is "no" to wheel-spin, "yes" to wheel-hop. However, I have neither... knock on wood. No spin because of the tires I'm using on Northeast roads. No hop (anymore) because of the torque mount bushings and (now) the torque link connector. Naturally, the drive wheel will spin if I want it to, but never unintentionally.

Haven't seen you around in a bit.

 

Weather got good, got real busy. Glad my son moved back down here and has been helping me out. Little lull the past couple days, right back at it tomorrow.

 

sorry to be a noob, i tried searching, didnt work out well. i wanted to get this but a question is; would it delete the code p1800? i have that code on my car right now and i wanted to know if it'll get rid of it forever or something? thanks in advance

 

I believe that code is caused by one of two reasons: the VIAS valve is stuck, or the VIAS solenoid is failing.

If a stuck valve can cause a P1800, then deleting the VIAS deletes the problem. If the VIAS solenoid is failing, then you replace the solenoid; (who's sole purpose in life, once the VIAS is gone, is to avoid a CEL.)

Either way, delete the VIAS because is a good mod (as long as you have intake and exhaust mods as well), then clear the codes and see what happens. (And honestly, I don't know if a stuck VIAS valve can cause the code or not, but it's worth a shot if you're going to delete it anyway.)



And if ever you take your engine cover off again, it looks so much better without all that crap hanging on to the UIM, don't you think? In this picture, the UIM vacuum lead is capped, the vacuum tank is gone, the solenoid is capped and tucked out of the way, zip-tied to the wiring harness.