So... It's been a week. A long, awesome, tire smoke and g-force filled week. I'm tired, happy, and my gas card has skid marks. Life is good.

For those that haven't been paying attention: Last Friday night I picked up my car from Weistec with a full Stage II Kit and the built transmission. First thing I did (despite Steve suggesting I take it easy)? Picked up a friend, drove to a secluded spot in Irvine, turned off traction control, and romped on the gas. Result? Lots of acrid white smoke and a truly epic burnout that went all the way through fourth gear. Yeah, no more brakestands for this kid.

But that was to be expected. What I didn't expect is how incredibly docile the car is when I'm just puttering along. Except for the blower whine (which I focking love) there's nothing to give away what lurks beneath... I posted some unusual highway mileage and got called out on it, but I've been cross checking the mileage computer at each fill up, and the numbers are pretty darn close. On the highway my mileage has gone up close to 10%. Street driving it's gone down, but not as much as I would have expected. I'm still in double digits.

Some of you saw the canyon runs from last Sunday, some didn't. Those that didn't missed out. Despite what some say, we weren't going nearly all out in the canyons. There were two passengers and lots of other road users to be aware of. But when there was a chance to open it up, the camera car (another 63) faded off the back right quick.

On the highway, this thing actually scares me. It pulls like a beast and always flashes the traction light on the 3-4 up shift under full load. It's nuts, and this is with 315 rears! I am getting a strange vibration at higher speeds and heavy throttle load that seems to be coming from the driveshaft. I think the power could be distorting the rubber coupler flanges... I dunno for sure. It's just crazy.

The exhaust was already plenty loud, and with the supercharger whine added in it's just bananas. I love watching people in other cars heads spin when I punch it.

Anyway, the car needs a better intake to take advantage of the blower. We dynoed it at MD Automotive in Westminster and it put down 608whp at around 4000rpm then went flat to redline, probably because it was suffocating. The previous highest numbers I had was 474whp on the Evosport DynoJet. It also put down 585wtq at 2500-ish rpm! I don't know the exact rpm for either peak because I snapped a picture over Steve's shoulder while he was looking at the time base graph, and I can't quite correlate the time numbers to the rpm because I don't know what rpm the bottom of the graph is. I'm making new intakes and dynoing the car at Church Automotive later this week, and I'll post proper graphs then.

I forgot to mention the transmission upgrade because it's so easy to forget when you're driving. It just works. No slipping, no smoking, no nothing. It hits harder in every gear under load, but that feeling still gets lost in all the extra power. Very cool. They said it would more noticeably engage each gear when decelerating, but that hasnt been my experience so far. It's still really smooth. In all honesty I wasn't planning on getting the upgrade right away, but the stock tranny failed the first time they dyno'd it after installing the kit so I kinda had to. It's pretty much mandatory with the Stage II blower.

Also, the Stage II kit ups the Stage I kit with a full 8 rib drive system, larger injectors, reconfigured pulley diameters for higher boost, and new engine maps. It's only for cars with headers and exhaust.

Lastly, in the interest of full disclosure, I did get a small discount on my kit in exchange for letting them do development work on my car, but I still could have bought a nice new Prius for what I've spent on the Dragon with them. As most of you know I love new toys and this is the best one yet. It adds a visceral element the car never had before, and I'm hooked on the power.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and for the TL;DR crowd: It works. Scary fast. Good times.

Josh

 

Fracking awesome! I hope to see the car in it's new guise.

 

I hope to see your car one day still

 

Dunno if I should sell my car and do ED delivery for a new one or F it, keep the car and upgrade to stage two like this... Sounds fantastic and a blast to drive..

Is this your DD tho?

 

Not only is it my DD, it's my only car if you don't count the 2/3 of a 69 Mustang I have in my shop, LOL. I use it to commute, to get supplies for work, and for fun.

It would hard to pass up the option for Euro Delivery, but I don't trade cars very often (I try to put at least 100k miles on each one I own) and its hella fun transforming cars over their lifetime.

Josh

 

Awesome review as always Josh!!
Would love to see this monster do some 60-130 runs.

 

A Vegas road trip might just have to be made sooner than later...

Thanks, man! It's definitely in the short term plans, but I want to make the intakes first.

And I need to borrow a v-box... So there's that.

Josh

 

 

THAT'S IT.....THAT'S IT.....i can't take it anymore ! i really want my car back now !

i got the exact same setup as you Josh . i actually think my car got to Weistec right before yours was finished , or close to it . i talked to Steve and i think he is going to debut the Stage II kit when mine gets done . i think he said he is going to use your car and my car for the promo of it .

 

Or a trip down to Mexico with DLSJ, Tightie or maybe even PencilGeek.

 

Are you originally from NorCal? lol

 

Hey Josh,
I still hate you!!!!!!!!!

You are killing me!! I am sure that thing is a beast and having it all the time makes it just that much more fun!!

I am like you, mod them madly until you are done. Usually three to five years and then move on to a new project. However, this one may stay at home this time.

 

Haha! I saw your car when it arrived there. Good stuff. I really have to find those pictures for you now. You can not have enough tire with your current setup.

I did some runs with Drew this past Saturday. He's putting down 644whp (he wouldn't tell me the torque numbers, so I know they're big), and I had a passenger, so he took me handily. But round three should be interesting...

Yep. 10 years in the bay will do that to you. You?

Funny how you and I are always on the same page with this stuff. And yes, I get to drive it every day, all the focking time. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, brah! LOL. You'll probably always be faster, but for the 10 seconds at a time you get to slay it, I get 10 hours a week of gonzo play time.

Josh

 

Awesome writeup! Maybe one day when you have more time, you can do a more complete analysis (thoughts) on your impression of stage 1 and 2... the good and the bad. Would definitely give people like myself an idea of what embarking on a project like this will entail.

Also, I think its great that you use the beast for everything. My C63 is my DD as well... we spend at least 3 hrs a day together lol. IMO you gotta use it to the fullest and that includes absolutely everything you need a vehicle for. That is probably why I like the C63 so much, it has the performance when you want to let rip but is still a very practical car when you need to make a Walmart run

Drive on!

 

thank you sir...it will definately be the next mod

 

Damm.....DLSJ is putting down some serious numbers. The thing about Drew, is that is online persona is cool and not douche-like.

 

Nice!! Really looking forward to the modded intake and Vbox run.

 

Pretty much my whole life.

 

Would love to see some runs with Drew as well. 2 F/I monsters going at it.

 

Awesome write up. Congrats on taking the dragon to the next level.

 

I almost forgot one of the best non-power related parts of the kit:

The burbly, poppy exhaust note on overrun.

I had asked Steve if there was a way to make it burble and pop even more when I lift, and he really came through. When I back out of the throttle at mid/low RPM (2000-3500) it just grumbles and snaps and even backfires a tiny bit. OMFG I love that. The sound is somewhere between a rough running muscle car and a Harley. I'll have to have someone follow me to get a recording of it, it's so badass...

Also - 10 days and 1400 miles.

Josh

 

Nice write up homie!

I was lucky enough to check this car out on sunday in person. Car looks AND sounds/goes like a BEAST. Absolutely nuts...

I'm keepin my *** away from you!

 

nice! are you sure its the exhaust that makes people look at you or this pic and asking them "Does this necklace make me look fat?"

 

Man, I gotta hear what the exhaust sounds like!

 

How would Weinstein be able to affect the cracklings of the exhaust? Just curious?