Greetings guys,
Here'* my situation: I'm looking to purchase a 98 firebird t-top from a friend that dumped alot of money in it converting it to a turbo setup. A list of modifications can be found here http://<a href="http://www-personal..../Mods.html</a> . The problem the car has had since all the conversions have been made is that once the car gets warm, anything over 50% throttle cuts off all power to the engine. I could have my foot all the way to the floor or barely 5% throttle and the car will only hold the current speed. My knowledge of his current PCM setup is limited (he has HP tuners and has made some modifications based on reccomendations from another guy with a turbo v-6 camaro). The only thing I know of is that it takes me two hands to move turbo wastegate open and closed. Lastly, I'm looking for reccomendations of any shop or person that can maybe help me diagnose what problems the car has. I had planned on calling Intense since they seem to be the 3800 professionals. Is it likely that through dyno testing/engine inspection they could find the problem? If I bounced around a bit or anyone needs more information let me know, I can probably answer most questions in a day or so.

I would look into fueling issues. Kinda sounds like the PCM is looking for a 2 stage pump, and when it commands the 2nd stage-no more power.

Looking at the mod list, also check the coils as they heat up. We've had members who have had some issues with the Accel coils.

I made an appointment with Tim King at Intense Racing for 9/19 to have the car dyno tuned. He seems to think it'* a PCM issue. Pending theres no mechanical flaws (most likely there are) I'll post my results/findings afterwards.

Well, to make a long story short, after 12 hours of having half the intense shop troubleshooting the problem, we finally found the most RIDICULOUS solution ever. It appears the accordian style tube connecting the air filter to the turbo inlet was getting warm and getting sucked shut under 10+ psi of boost. Solution: take the air intake off and all the problems were solved. Now onto the worst news: after 7 runs on the dyno, the engine blew. The car topped out at around 270whp and 315 ft*lbs of torque. We were suscpsicous of why the car was dynoing so low. The car is still at the intense shop, and apparently Tim is going to take a look at it tomorrow to see what went wrong. Theyre suspecting the engine wasn't put together right, and something was holding back the cars power, which in the end blew the engine. More to come tomorrow of Tim can get the engine broke down.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that! It should be interesting to see what Tim finds.

Sorry to hear about the engine. On the Tim getting it down..that isn't a problem. It'* rumored that they make him take coffee breaks to slow him down. You will soon know what broke. Hopefully the fix isn't too bad and if you need parts, Ed Morad is just up the road. His company is one of the finest parts companies I've ever dealt with.

Our initial guess is the engine was tight due to incorrect build (bad tolerences in the bearings or something) which caused the car to dyno light and finally seize. I think the only reason why it didn't go earlier was because of the power being held back by lack of air when the hose clamped shut. Unfortunately with this being an F-Body and us going racing at Norwalk today we probably won't get a chance to get into it until early next week.

I talked to Tim today and he said it looks like he'* not going to be able to get the engine out until next week (damn, figures I miss the September deal). I have my fingers crossed it'* nothing major, and I can get the engine rebuilt to it'* original specs, this time by people that know what they're doing not the previous mechanic that had his hands on the car.

As many people know I cannot preach enough how every Intense member went way above and beyond what I expected. I've never dealt with a shop that was soo passionate about what they do. Special thanks go out to Dyno Brian who stuck with me the whole day after the engine blew

I hope to be back down there as soon as possible when the engine is rebuilt. Hopefully pending my money situation I'll be back on that dyno dropping much higher numbers!

EDIT: For reference, I think the highest numbers I saw was 250whp and around 315w tq. Brian can correct me on this.

Well it turns out the engine broke a valve (see http://www.3800pro.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16660 ), The engine was ruined, so after some deliberation I ordered a L32 block from Intense, along with their Stage 3 heads, and Stage 3 turbo cam. Now we'll see if this bad boy doesn't put a lil more power down (and hold up a tad better on the dyno!)