J
JohnH
Guest
BUKU PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
www.bukupower.com
Written By: John Helton
Product: Tuned Pipe for Big Block engines (Small Block pipes are also available)
Price: $109.00 all
All I can say is Dave did a great job on these pipes. First lets start with a pic of the product.
Dave goes into great detail on his website with animations and technical info that is very eye pleasing and easy to understand. He took his time to do the website and to make a very good product. In talking to him I learned of the tests that he did on the bench and in the field. The amount of time he took into the pipe and website cannot be overlooked. We did have preproduction instructions with ours (O yes Lifter32 and ]-[0pa]0ng are reviewing the pipes on there RBs and an RB modded STS.30DM). The book you get (10 plus pages) was very nicely written. When Dave says don't do something in them he doesn't just say you will hurt the engine he explains why. The directions were easy to read and didn't make me tired. That's a plus. It was very to the point and not overly technical. Even I understood what to do and not to do.
The pipe has several components and this is all of them broke down.
The packaging may have a different look to it when you get yours and a few less parts. Not to worry just 2 less springs.
The pipe and all components have a nice finish and had very clean edges. There were no burs or cuts in the tooling areas. The inside looked just as clean as the outside. On the Big Block pipe the only part that moves is the cone it's self you do not have the entire inner tube like in the animations.
With the pipe installed on the savage it looks good. it is a smaller pipe and if you use the supplied pipe holder cut the end off and bend a 45 and 90 in it. That's it, worked great. You can use the stock rubber header coupler or the one piece header with retention springs. The only things I didn't like were the placement of the Header retention spring landing holes. Headers have different hole locations and my STS header didn't line up. I used my Hot Bodies header and all is right. The other thing is the wrench. If you put to much pressure on the wrench it will bend. This may be a good thing so you do not damage the pipe.
Testing will be done on my wounded but still running Sure Fire .32R ( the bottom end has been hurt ) and my OS30 VG. Both have 4+ gallons in them and still run like Little champs. The temps here are running mid 80s and we are 150' plus off of sea level. The first tests will be with the Sure Fire to see if it can be reborn on the bottom end.
Test Equipment:
1 abused and loving it Savage X SS
1 Sure Fire .32R
1 OS30VG
30% O'Donnell racing fuel
OS8 glow plug
To start I went with the spring and cone that came in the pipe on the Sure Fire. I tuned the truck and following the instructions tuned the pipe. The Sure Fire responded to the tuning like a champ. It helped pull some of the low end out of the grave and I can actually say it changed the entire power band. I then started to try different springs and cone combinations. This is easy to do because you don't have to pull the pipe to change anything. Just unscrew the cap and off you go. I am surprised at all the setting you have. You can tune for play, short tracks, long tracks any combination. This is a real kick in the pants with the Sure Fire. The JP pipes have nothing on this pipe. Like Dave says it's all three pipes in one. This is no lie or just to make a nice post to help Dave out for handing out a pipe. Anyone who says it doesn't work hasn't run one. I will put up picks and video as soon as possible of both engines. The Sure Fire started quicker, got on pipe quicker at lower temps and just all around screamed. The power band is so wide now that I would say if you have the older Sure Fire put this pipe on it and it will help with the motor falling on it's face on the top end. As for the Sure Fire .32R it just makes it better all around. The learning curve with this pipe isn't that bad and if you follow the directions you will not have a problem. One thing to keep in mind. You will see a rise in temps a little do to the motor working harder. But if you stay where you engine runs the best it will not be an issue.
With the OS.30VG my jaw hit the floor. Using the heavy spring and large cone the speed increase was there but more so the kick in the pants the engine had when working the throttle. It used to be if I hit the throttle the truck would just flip. You had to roll into it. Not now, if I blip the throttle the truck will flip over or do a sky wheelie. But, if I hammer the gas the truck launches smooth as can be. The wheels stay about 2 to 3 inches off the ground in 1st and 2nd gear. Sometime it will hold it into third. Then the truck will sit down on the front wheels and down the road it goes. Had nice wheel to wheel endo mishap (stupid truck) and the pipe did take a very hard blow on the road. All I saw were a few scratches on it and my Nova head. Not going to be able to buff that out. I love the power band and I don't want to try any more combinations. It drives so well but I must. I might even find one that I like better. The truck was so responsive to the throttle commands and at least for me it had a little more in it if I tuned for a higher temp. The OS.30 used to get on pipe at about 212 to 215 F. The truck with the Buku pipe got on pipe and was strong at 180 F. As the temps came up it got better and better. I actually hit 270 F at one point but the engine wasn't over leaned. I still had smoke and there was no bogging or popping from the engine. I backed off a hair to get back to 230F and I am happy with that temp and performance.
These are some action pics. It is very hard to show what the truck is doing with stills. But nice 2nd gear wheelies are a part of it.
The pipe is so awesome in the entire rpm band with the OS30 and the now very hurt SF.32. Not to worry no crank damage and this is after 6 Gal. of fuel in it.
I can already say this with a fact. My twin will be running two of these pipes. That is in stone. This is my rating for the pipe.
Tuning: 9
Maintenance: 10
Value: 10
Directions: 8
Quality: 9
Durability: 9
Performance: 10
Hits
1) One pipe to replace all your pipes that you have laid down money for.
2) As just stated one pipe that has great over all performance you don't need to spend money on a bunch of different pipes which aren't cheap.
3) Easy to tune and perform maintenance on.
4) A number of accessories to help with your type of engine.
Misses
1) Directions as we do not have the final cut of them to look at.
2) So many tuning options you could have a tuning overload ( you could spend all day trying different combos and not play )
3) This isn't a miss but an idea. With the directions maybe add a log book. There are so many options with this pipe you might want to write it down. I need to do this!
4) need more holes for header springs.
Videos and action pics to come.
www.bukupower.com
Written By: John Helton
Product: Tuned Pipe for Big Block engines (Small Block pipes are also available)
Price: $109.00 all
All I can say is Dave did a great job on these pipes. First lets start with a pic of the product.
Dave goes into great detail on his website with animations and technical info that is very eye pleasing and easy to understand. He took his time to do the website and to make a very good product. In talking to him I learned of the tests that he did on the bench and in the field. The amount of time he took into the pipe and website cannot be overlooked. We did have preproduction instructions with ours (O yes Lifter32 and ]-[0pa]0ng are reviewing the pipes on there RBs and an RB modded STS.30DM). The book you get (10 plus pages) was very nicely written. When Dave says don't do something in them he doesn't just say you will hurt the engine he explains why. The directions were easy to read and didn't make me tired. That's a plus. It was very to the point and not overly technical. Even I understood what to do and not to do.
The pipe has several components and this is all of them broke down.
The packaging may have a different look to it when you get yours and a few less parts. Not to worry just 2 less springs.
The pipe and all components have a nice finish and had very clean edges. There were no burs or cuts in the tooling areas. The inside looked just as clean as the outside. On the Big Block pipe the only part that moves is the cone it's self you do not have the entire inner tube like in the animations.
With the pipe installed on the savage it looks good. it is a smaller pipe and if you use the supplied pipe holder cut the end off and bend a 45 and 90 in it. That's it, worked great. You can use the stock rubber header coupler or the one piece header with retention springs. The only things I didn't like were the placement of the Header retention spring landing holes. Headers have different hole locations and my STS header didn't line up. I used my Hot Bodies header and all is right. The other thing is the wrench. If you put to much pressure on the wrench it will bend. This may be a good thing so you do not damage the pipe.
Testing will be done on my wounded but still running Sure Fire .32R ( the bottom end has been hurt ) and my OS30 VG. Both have 4+ gallons in them and still run like Little champs. The temps here are running mid 80s and we are 150' plus off of sea level. The first tests will be with the Sure Fire to see if it can be reborn on the bottom end.
Test Equipment:
1 abused and loving it Savage X SS
1 Sure Fire .32R
1 OS30VG
30% O'Donnell racing fuel
OS8 glow plug
To start I went with the spring and cone that came in the pipe on the Sure Fire. I tuned the truck and following the instructions tuned the pipe. The Sure Fire responded to the tuning like a champ. It helped pull some of the low end out of the grave and I can actually say it changed the entire power band. I then started to try different springs and cone combinations. This is easy to do because you don't have to pull the pipe to change anything. Just unscrew the cap and off you go. I am surprised at all the setting you have. You can tune for play, short tracks, long tracks any combination. This is a real kick in the pants with the Sure Fire. The JP pipes have nothing on this pipe. Like Dave says it's all three pipes in one. This is no lie or just to make a nice post to help Dave out for handing out a pipe. Anyone who says it doesn't work hasn't run one. I will put up picks and video as soon as possible of both engines. The Sure Fire started quicker, got on pipe quicker at lower temps and just all around screamed. The power band is so wide now that I would say if you have the older Sure Fire put this pipe on it and it will help with the motor falling on it's face on the top end. As for the Sure Fire .32R it just makes it better all around. The learning curve with this pipe isn't that bad and if you follow the directions you will not have a problem. One thing to keep in mind. You will see a rise in temps a little do to the motor working harder. But if you stay where you engine runs the best it will not be an issue.
With the OS.30VG my jaw hit the floor. Using the heavy spring and large cone the speed increase was there but more so the kick in the pants the engine had when working the throttle. It used to be if I hit the throttle the truck would just flip. You had to roll into it. Not now, if I blip the throttle the truck will flip over or do a sky wheelie. But, if I hammer the gas the truck launches smooth as can be. The wheels stay about 2 to 3 inches off the ground in 1st and 2nd gear. Sometime it will hold it into third. Then the truck will sit down on the front wheels and down the road it goes. Had nice wheel to wheel endo mishap (stupid truck) and the pipe did take a very hard blow on the road. All I saw were a few scratches on it and my Nova head. Not going to be able to buff that out. I love the power band and I don't want to try any more combinations. It drives so well but I must. I might even find one that I like better. The truck was so responsive to the throttle commands and at least for me it had a little more in it if I tuned for a higher temp. The OS.30 used to get on pipe at about 212 to 215 F. The truck with the Buku pipe got on pipe and was strong at 180 F. As the temps came up it got better and better. I actually hit 270 F at one point but the engine wasn't over leaned. I still had smoke and there was no bogging or popping from the engine. I backed off a hair to get back to 230F and I am happy with that temp and performance.
These are some action pics. It is very hard to show what the truck is doing with stills. But nice 2nd gear wheelies are a part of it.
The pipe is so awesome in the entire rpm band with the OS30 and the now very hurt SF.32. Not to worry no crank damage and this is after 6 Gal. of fuel in it.
I can already say this with a fact. My twin will be running two of these pipes. That is in stone. This is my rating for the pipe.
Tuning: 9
Maintenance: 10
Value: 10
Directions: 8
Quality: 9
Durability: 9
Performance: 10
Hits
1) One pipe to replace all your pipes that you have laid down money for.
2) As just stated one pipe that has great over all performance you don't need to spend money on a bunch of different pipes which aren't cheap.
3) Easy to tune and perform maintenance on.
4) A number of accessories to help with your type of engine.
Misses
1) Directions as we do not have the final cut of them to look at.
2) So many tuning options you could have a tuning overload ( you could spend all day trying different combos and not play )
3) This isn't a miss but an idea. With the directions maybe add a log book. There are so many options with this pipe you might want to write it down. I need to do this!
4) need more holes for header springs.
Videos and action pics to come.
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