cams, EVO III, hardpipes, etc..car feels slow why? Options

[NOMIEZVR4]

Ok guys, here is the situation. The car is a 91 AWD. Has 150k on the body. While doing an oil change we found metal shavings in the oil, so we decided on a new motor. The old motor was giving us hell with knock, we figured out why..

So anyways, fast forward to a new 6 bolt motor. Here are the specs...

180 compression across the board
2g Pistons
1g Rods
Crower cams
No balance shafts
New bearings, seals, etc...
New Knock Sensor

The new motor is good. It was assembled by a machine shop in NJ where we picked it up from. Had 10K miles on it. Broken in softly, oil changes during the first 50 and 500 miles, never overheated, etc...Everything was legit.

So, here are the mods on the car.

EVOIII 16G
MBC @10lbs of boost
Hardpipes(UICP, Intake, J-Pipe)
2g Manifold
ACT 2600
3" Turboback


The injectors are stock 450's and the fuel pump is stock as well. Car starts up and drives well. It has also been tested for boost leaks as well. Everything checks out OK. The ECU was also swapped for another one just in case the capacitors were bad, no difference. Timing is about 7-8 degrees. It is a little advanced, but thats why I set the boost to 10lbs. Full boost hits at about 3600rpm's. 93 octane is always used.

1st gear pulls hard, like the car should for the mods that it has, but shift into 2nd, and it just takes forever for the car to hit redline. It feels like the timing is being cut, though thats not what the logger shows. Its not slow by anymeans, but just for reference, my 90 FWD with an mbc and 2.5dp and pressbent exhaust pulls on this car from a roll. It shouldn't. Im running 13-14lbs, BTW.

He has cams, better exhaust, higher compression, bigger turbo, and even when he put the boost to 14lbs, he still couldn't pull on me. Just driving both cars, its clearly evident that his car lacks power once we are out of 1st.

I have an s-afc sitting around waiting to be installed as well as a walbro 190. But im not so sure that they will completely solve the problem. Once I get past this nuissance, I would like to get a 2g mas, 680cc injectors, front mount and dyno tune. What do you guys think?? Thanks for the time.

Nomie