Mediocre 242

[t8fanning]

Not long hopefully.

[cosbySweater]

Looks great man! Super jealous of those coil overs

[t8fanning]

I adjusted the CAS today and got it idling pretty easy. Tooth #1 angle is 100 degrees, which is what they recommend in the megasquirt manual. Tomorrow, I'll go out with my tuning buddy and do some engine braking to break the engine in.

[blkaplan]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

I'm still pretty attached to this engine. I like that it's a more unique way of making power.

It's MS3Pro.

respect

[Finnish240]

I like this thing because of redblock, black color and that front end. Gonna be perfect when you get those later model bumpers on! You are doing awesome, keep on going!

[t8fanning]

I spent some time breaking in the engine tonight. About 20 minutes of driving to 3500-4500 rpm and then engine braking all the way back down with no boost. After the first 20 minutes, I did the same thing with 5 psi of boost. No one flashed their lights or honked at me, so I think I came out ok. Engine is starting to sound a bit better and pull some more vacuum. I think more boost will definitely help seat those rings. I've got to do another oil change and get an alignment, then I'll take it out again. I wish I could say something about how the JRZs felt, but the alignment is so bad that it was all I could do to keep it going straight. There was also some clicking sound that is probably the brake dust shield rubbing on the disk.

I did notice my oil getting a bit hotter (~105 C) than usual (95-100 C) so I'll keep my eye on that. I also noticed some oil seeping out of the oil fill cap, but I'm not going to worry about that until the rings are fully seated. Other than that, it felt pretty good to be driving it again.

[t8fanning]

I got an alignment and went out to break in the motor more and do some tuning. The motor is feeling pretty strong. I need to fix a boost scaling issue in megasquirt, and then I can up it to 30 psi.

The JRZs feel great. I can't believe how different they are than my old Bilstein setup. Utah uses concrete slabs on the freeway and I would feel every seam. With the JRZs, it's actually smooth. I have them adjusted all the way soft and they give plenty of compliance, but still keep the car planted and tight. They're some of the best money I've spent on the car. I really need to do something about the back though. If I go over a bump, I can feel the difference. Front goes over smooth and nice, and the rear follows and crashes over.

I found a few more things to fix, like a tiny exhaust leak in a weld and oil leaking out of the fill cap, but things are going well. It feels great to drive the car again.

[t8fanning]

When I upgraded to the EFR, I modified my old intercooler piping to fit. It wasn't perfect, and has been bugging me so I made a new one for better fitment and to remove the bypass valve port. It fits much better, and I'm happy with it.





I also swapped brake pads. I had some Hawk 5.0, and they made an unbearable squeaking every stop. Easily the worst sounding pads I've ever heard. So I put in some Porterfield pads. We'll see if they're any good. Either way, upgrading to 17z brakes up front is on my short list of things to do. RX7 brakes really aren't doing it for me.

[Stiggy Pop]

Coming together nicely! I'm with you on the brakes, that's the next place I'm going to spend a little money.

[Tfrasca]

Put me on the list to buy your rx-7 brake set up. I want to try to fit them on a 140.

[Harlard]

They'd probably work.

Tate, I think you may have forgotten your anti squeal paste. Mine only squeak when really hot.

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

Coming together nicely! I'm with you on the brakes, that's the next place I'm going to spend a little money.

Yeah. I gotta do rear suspension first, then brakes. What do you think you'll do for brakes?

Originally Posted by Tfrasca

Put me on the list to buy your rx-7 brake set up. I want to try to fit them on a 140.

You got it.

Originally Posted by Harlard

They'd probably work.

Tate, I think you may have forgotten your anti squeal paste. Mine only squeak when really hot.

I haven't. I've applied it multiple times, and they squealed on every. single. stop. Maybe mine had something nasty on them, but I really didn't like them.

[t8fanning]

I might have a problem with fueling. Fuel pressure is the white curve and is dropping at high boost according to my ebay sensor.



I find that hard to believe as I have a Walbro 450 in the tank. But it might be the stock hard lines under the car. I might get a nicer sensor and see if I'm actually dropping pressure, but if it's not that, I'm not really sure what to check. Any other ideas what I can do to fix the pressure drop?

[Harlard]

Log your voltage at the pump

[gsellstr]

I'm with Harald on the voltage. Fuel demand goes up, current draw goes up. I noticed some change in behavior for the better on my wagon when I ran #10 and a relay for the AEM 320 in the tank. Stock pump was spec'd around 4-5A at max, my AEM is 15A.

[Hank Scorpio]

The factory lines are pretty small, the 850's are even worse. I did AN6 (maybe 8, it's been a few years) from the tank forward on the t5r and went from 13-14:1 to 12:1 under boost. Might be worth looking at.You can push the fuel thru but volume really helps.

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Hank Scorpio

The factory lines are pretty small, the 850's are even worse. I did AN6 (maybe 8, it's been a few years) from the tank forward on the t5r and went from 13-14:1 to 12:1 under boost. Might be worth looking at.You can push the fuel thru but volume really helps.

That's in my plans eventually. The only stock fuel lines I still have are the hard lines under the car. I'll eventually upgrade those to 3/8" so my whole supply is the same ID. I won't mess with the return, as there's no real reason.

In any case, the problem is fixed.



A couple messages to Erik and he knew instantly what the problem was. The Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator wasn't sealing properly, and bleeding off pressure. I remember reading a thread about it here once, but it didn't even cross my mind until Erik brought it up. When I pulled it apart, it didn't look terrible, but it did seem a bit uneven. So I countersunk the hole a bit and the problem seems to be gone. I did a few 30 psi pulls and didn't hit my fuel pressure safety shutdown. I'll test more tonight when I do some more tuning.





I knew it wasn't the fuel pump or wiring. It's got 10 (or 12 I can't remember) AWG tefzel wire all the way back from the fuse. I went through all that when I still had the DW300. But I'm glad it wasn't the fuel line diameter, I don't really want to deal with that yet.

[Tfrasca]

Yup, I did the same thing on mine.

[Duder]

Nice job on all the progress recently, and solving the fueling issue.

We use those Porterhouse pads on the E36 Lemons car; they have been awesome. We literally get about 3 to 4 races out of one set of pads now (after replacing the dumb BMW rubber caliper bushings with bronze). I believe it's the R4 or R4-E pad that we use. Which compound did you go with?

Re: roughness from rear suspension over bumps: what are your front & rear spring rates / wheel rates? Old rule of thumb is to make your rear ride frequency about 1.15 to 1.20x front frequency, to account for the time delay of the wheelbase with the vehicle traveling over a bump at speed. Obviously that will only be optimized for one particular speed and wheelbase.

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Duder

We use those Porterhouse pads on the E36 Lemons car; they have been awesome. We literally get about 3 to 4 races out of one set of pads now (after replacing the dumb BMW rubber caliper bushings with bronze). I believe it's the R4 or R4-E pad that we use. Which compound did you go with?

Re: roughness from rear suspension over bumps: what are your front & rear spring rates / wheel rates? Old rule of thumb is to make your rear ride frequency about 1.15 to 1.20x front frequency, to account for the time delay of the wheelbase with the vehicle traveling over a bump at speed. Obviously that will only be optimized for one particular speed and wheelbase.

I went with the R4s pads. It's apparently supposed to be a bit more street/track day oriented rather than a full race pad. I've been pretty happy with them so far, but I need more drive time before I can really develop an opinion. I'm just happy they're quiet.

My front springs are 350 lb/in and my rears are currently 175 lb/in. I expect to bring the rear up to 225 lb/in or so, but that may change once I do some math. Thanks for the frequency recommendation. I'll have to take that into consideration when I spec out coilovers for the rear. I really need to get an accurate weight measurement first. I think my school has a scale setup I can borrow for a day.

[t8fanning]

I did some more tuning with my buddy tonight to get ready for the drags this weekend. I think I have a boost leak or we're maxing out the 7064. No matter what the wastegate duty is, the turbo struggles to make the 305 kpa target. It gets closest in 4th gear, but doesn't really make it and then starts to taper off. I don't think I have a boost leak, but I'll check. The car feels pretty fast, probably somewhere around 400 whp, which makes sense if the turbo is maxed out. The 7064 "has potential for 560 hp" at the crank. Factor in drivetrain loss, generous power ratings from BW, and elevation, and it would probably match pretty well with my output. So if anyone wants a 7064 with a non wastegate 1.04 housing let me know and I'll give you a deal so I can upgrade to a 7670.

Sorry for the bad image quality. To get it looking good it has to be way too big. Here's the link to the original image: https://i.imgur.com/npnWZd3.png?1

[Lord_Athlon]

Damn Tate.

[Stiggy Pop]

no.mercy.

[Tfrasca]

I have a dumb question: why use kpa instead of psi?

[Harlard]

Originally Posted by Tfrasca

I have a dumb question: why use kpa instead of psi?

It's easier to tune under vac and boost. Also, most other tuners use it, so it makes it easier to communicate when seeking advice and troubleshooting.