Pushing the build... for posterity but not 56k

[sleepydave]

Howdy all,

 

I haven't been around in quite a few years, but with the newest iteration of my LGT I figured maybe it was time to revisit and give myself a place to document my neurotic thought patterns. Long story short, the obxt is gone, the wrx is done, and the rx7 is gone. Enter the lgt, now with a 53lb/min turbo, 1k cc's, and supporting mods.

 

I plan to crank her up a bit, attempt to max out this turbo, and see how stupid I am for doing this on my daily.

 

I have water injected nearly every turbo vehicle I've owned over the last decade and a half, but have yet to introduce methanol. I was a big proponent of radials and pump gas (ie street cars) and still am, so methanol will be no more than 0.06% of my total fueling (40% methanol to account for 15% of total fueling).

 

So thats on the list. Along with a multi stage failsafe setup based off the AEM wideband, r compounds, >2bar of boost, and I'm sure some other things.

 

Car currently is at ~22psi and about 350awhp (320 to 380 depending on ambient and dyno) and a maxed out MAF sensor.

 

Steps that I plan to document :

 

-AEM Failsafe wideband install and methodology

-Water / Methanol injection (simple boost switch @18psi, ~400cc/min, just before the throttle body)

-Water / Methanol injection phase 2 (mechanical, starting @15psi, pre turbo, ~230cc)

-AEM Failsafe logging to Accesstuner (either via fuel temp or via UTC_Pyro's method which is fantastic imho)

-Tuning for higher boost via speed density hybrid mode. So, keeping my maf tune nearly as it is, but a smooth transition to SD at 18psi. Omnipower 3 bar is currently installed as it was plug and play save for some ecu work.

-and general "otherings" with regards to the LGT.

 

We'll start with the basic stuff, like tossing the AEM Failsafe wideband in. I mainly want this to not be a gauge that I watch like a hawk (hence the closable cubby install, failsafe parameters, and hopefully UTC_Pyros failsafe buzzer). So please forgive slight hackings of the cubby.

 

Firstly, we angrily hack away at the cubby top once we remove it. In order to get the 52mm guage in and have the cubby close, I had to go about an 1" past the slope.

 

 

Secondly, I drilled the back of the cubby to accept the boost reference and wiring (I ran the usb cable to connect back through this hole as well.) Again, super not pretty, but not exactly visible. Not that I'm condoning it, just I had minimal tools at my disposal at this point.

 

I took the plug for the clock and cut, soldered, and heatstrunk some connections.

 

Black and yellow wire to ground on gauge, violet wire to gray on gauge for lighting, and green and black wire to positive on gauge.

 

Removed the shifter trim and top rubber plate/foam padding. Cut a good little hole in the quarter sized rubber outcrop, and then ran the wideband wires from underneath the car in through that spot. Got everything all situated, and siliconed over the hole the wire comes through because winter.

 

Brought boost reference in through the passenger side of the firewall.

 

Had a bung welded on the downpipe by Canaan Auto Center (someday I'll learn to weld, always wanted to.)

 

And put everything back together.

 

 

Next up is wiring in the failsafe triggers (DAM to zero, High Detonation Fuel mapping in ATR, WGDC to zero, diverter valve open) and mapping the activation window with AEM...

[sleepydave]

Well, a quick PSA. My dumb ass ordered a 120v mac valve instead of a 12v mac valve. I tried scratching out the "0" but no dice. Damn. So, the diverter valve will have to wait till I figure out how electricty works

 

Firstly, I took two SPDT relays and one 100ohm resistor, and proceeded to look up the ecu pinout diagrams (thanks to Boostin in 2009 and a lot of searching and testing) for RPM (B134 -23), WGDC (B134 - 32), and Test Mode (B137-14).

 

Next I tapped my gauge's power wire (black and green on teh clock harness below the cubby) and added a short length of wire to the end. Making it tee off, so one connection point is the very end of the short wire, and the other is the where the short wire connects to the longer wire. Am I explaining myself well enough?

 

I hope so, because I did the same thing to the aem failsafe trigger wire. So now I had a dual connection for both switched 12v and my ground signal trigger. These will be used to complete the initial circuits on each SPDT relay.

 

Tap the RPM wire for the datalogging on the wideband thusly (green from gauge, fuschia from harness):

 

Take one SPDT relay and the 100ohm resistor (to avoid a DTC when the engine sees no boost control) and wire it up normally closed, thisly (I cut the wire and added two female spades, black and yellow wire on harness but better off counting pins, trust me):

 

Pin 30 to one side of the split WGDC wire (black and yellow), pin 87a to the other.

Solder your resistor from pin 87 to pin 86.

Take a switched 12v source and wire it to pin 86 (so now resistor and spade connector are on this pin.) (green wire)

And connect the ground trigger (blue wire) to pin 85.

Hard to see in teh pic but the bottom most pin just has the resistor from the right hand pin. The bottom most female clip (black and yellow wire) goes to the middle pin and the top most pin(open in this picture) goes to teh other end of that same wire.

 

 

Hard to see, and forgive the electrical tape (i put it on after heatshrink but man it looks like shit) but if you follow above it should work.

 

 

Take the other SPDT relay and wire it up normally open, thatly :

 

Red wire to pin 30 and pin 87 (this is the test mode wire)

Blue failsafe trigger wire to pin 85, and green switched 12v wire to 86.

Pin 87a remains open.

 

 

In the above image, the left pin is one side of the test mode wire, and the right pin is the other. The bottom pin is switched 12v and the top pin is ground. Middle pin is open.

 

I plugged the green test mode connectors in permanently, and wired a switch in that grounds out my failsafe trigger wire to both relays (they are ground activated), so I could still flash maps (now that the relay was controlling the function on demand). I debated mounting the switch but thought it might be too easy for a passenger to accidently hit. So I decided to leave it sort of hanging, and tuck it up under the dash where the original connectors resided.

I tapped the ground wire (dark blue) from the light for the glovebox and ran it down to the floor, and the light blue are my trigger wires. This switch simply grounds them both.

 

 

Test your failsafe and be sure all relays are clicking and working.

 

I opened up ATR and removed anywhere from 5-7% from the target AFRs of the entire load range for 2000rpm and up's High Detonation fueling.

 

Drive around a bit and set your failsafe windows thusly (if you set anything in vacuum to less than as lean as possible, your failsafe will trigger on decel):

 

So to recap, upon afr's going outside of my set window (Boost vs AFR with RPM reference for datalogs), the following happens :

-test connectors are essentially connected, bringing DAM to zero, and fuel to high detonation maps.

-diverter valve depressurizes intake tract (to be completed)

-grimmspeed ebcs is brought to wastegate pressure

 

The reason for the diverter valve portion is because I am running 18lbs on wastegate, and the reasoning for having both that and the ebcs system is to hopefully avoid overspinning the turbo. Which if I just ran the diverter dump at 2bar, could potentially be an issue. I am also toying with reworking my ignition maps to be lower base timing and higher dynamic timing, thus adding even more of a timing cushion when the DAM goes to zero. (thanks again UTC_Pyro!)

 

MINI UPDATE:

After much deliberation, I decided to put the money from the diverter valve solenoid towards the eventual goal of a dual port iwg and a four port boost solenoid setup. That way I can run a tiny wg spring, yet still really crank her up. I don't even remember 4 ports being a thing, so I guess Ive been away too long haha.

 

Also, first stage of water injection arrives tomorrow, so I'll have pictures and maybe even a video of some pulls post install before the end of the week.

[sleepydave]

Howdy all,

 

I'll have more pics by the end of the weekend. But I did get the water/meth injection installed and street tuned. She still needs some wire tucking, general cleanup, and a couple odds and ends.

 

Kit is Coolingmist stage 1 diesel kit (got a great deal on it, and honestly was treated like crap by Aquamist via e-mail so I decided against them). Simple boost switch, non progressive. Jet is a cm7 and mounted just below the diverter valve (there is thought behind this). Shifts will get a blast of cold air diverted right back in front of the turbo, honestly it may be in my head but it seems to actually do a little good. And until I get the mechanical pre turbo injection setup, I am really liking the results.

 

Here is a picture of where I drilled and tapped my torque solutions tmic. Literally on the bottom coming up, right below the diverter valve mount. This was also a fairly thin area which made the whole thing rather nice.

 

Drilled with an 11/32" bit, and tapped to 1/8" npt. Screwed in like a champ.

 

 

 

Initially I was running a 1/8" barbed lawn mower fuel filter. This little fella here : https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/wcsstore/CVWEB/staticproductimage//N3582B/large/6180059_dwk_dw757_pri_larg.jpg

 

Although she fit on the 1/4" od tube quite well, it became apparent that she was impeding flow just based on the spray pattern. So back to Home Depot to grab a couple gasketed screens, some 1/2" MIP to 1/4" pushlocks, and a 1/2" double ended FIP straight pipe. Some trimming of the gaskets and gas rated teflon tape and we were well on our way. There is also room in the center for another filter medium. My only concern at this point with this little gizmo, is that it has some more volume in it than necessary, and I'm unsure if she bleeds completely. However, flow is much improved at the nozzle. I'll have pics of this up asap.

 

Also, fyi, I am running my feed siphon style to the pump. So my pump is mounted against the aluminum bumper support and the washer tank (had to pop off the guard piece for the washer pump in order to have just enough space.) I removed the metal bracket with rubber feet from the pump, and I am using the screws for it as added security if the hose clamp loosens a little. Other than that, she is currently just mounted with a single hose clamp around the body that threads through the bumper support.

I also have a 3" rubber coupler and 1" rubber bumpers if she decides to get rattly but so far I can't hear a thing when shes on over the engine/wind noise. I drilled a 1/4" hole into the neck of the washer bottle and fed my feed line through it. If you go this route vs the bottom the tank, be sure you can see your line hitting the bottom of the tank and not curving back up, and also be sure to manually siphon this line before plumbing. Unfortunately the pump is not peristaltic so this step must be done.

 

 

 

Ran some wire loom and silicone wrap to protect the lines and wires. Tapped into the fusebox wires underneath the triangular portion for ground and positive of the relay. Pump ground is run to the battery negative post, and the pump positive and solenoid positive through a normally open relay to the battery positive with the relay triggered via the boost switch. Solenoid ground is wired under the fusebox as well. Will have pictures asap.

 

Gained a cool 21whp according to a vdyno comparison (low correction, smoothing of 3, same road, noted ambient differences, base run is within 3whp of the dynapack she was tuned on.) of before and after water/meth and street tuning (total afrs stayed within .1 on both runs, timing was bumped a mere 2 degrees, and boost was within 1.1lbs at greatest difference at ~4250rpm, identical at peak) :

 

All this was not without issue though, as I promptly have been maxing out my maf consistently on any pull to redline. P0103. SD can't get dialed soon enough, because I selfishly want to break the 400awhp mark on my daily driver. Although I need about 480awhp to make the same power to weight ratio as my fc3s did. But the legacy is now officially the highest horsepower car I've ever built.

 

PS, whoever thought of using a bike pump to test and set the pressure switch is a bloody genius. Mine is set to come on at 14psi.

[sleepydave]

Well, I seem to have hit a slight wall power wise. Having trouble getting past the 385whp mark on vdyno (same road every time, same direction, etc). My boost response seems to be a little erratic too, so Ive been tuning the following tables :

-WGDC high and low

-Turbo Dynamics

-Target Boost

-changed solenoid frequency to 28hz per Grimmspeed recommendations

-dialing in the VE map for over 4.75v Maf or >23psi

-at this point OL fueling map is fairly set

-added another degree of timing to the top end of my dynamic advance map

-doing some minor maf tuning, my switching to SD wasn't as smooth AFR wise as I'd hoped, needs some added massaging.

 

Going to keep toying and see what I can do, but always open to critique and suggestions!

 

New boost target map :

 

I also upped my pump pressure on the injection to 180psi. Hit a max boost of 28.4psi in 4th gear, which is the most Ive ever hit in this car on this turbo. Max boost cut to wastegate pressure, you guessed it, 28.4psi at that time. Zero knock however, which is always welcomed.

 

New maxes are as follows :

 

And here's a portion of one of today's 49 datalogs. Whooo, sundays!

 

I don't think mechanical pre turbo injection will be done before winter as I need to save some money for tires, but it's first on the list for spring.

 

Next item on the docket is giving UTC_Pyro's AEM failsafe logging adapted a go. Ordering parts this week. That should help me better dial things in, as overlapping two logs of differing sample rates is a bit of a headache.

 

Also am working on baffling an ebay catch can unit to help alleviate some of the track blow by. Not necessary, however I always use them on any setup where power is the goal. Cheap ebay can + brass stubout + silicone + ss mesh. I'm of the school of thought that regardless of conditions, the crankcase and heads can always benefit from being under vacuum. Therefore, I'll be running both head vents and pcv vent to the can, and then back to the intake. Blocking off the pcv to intake manifold connection. This is open to change, but that's just where my head currently is.

 

Here's some more pics of the injection install as promised :

 

A quick shot of the solenoid, artfully mounted using zip ties on the ac line, loomed and ready to rock :

 

An out of focus shot of the wire runs and plumbing (more loom). It's a little not so pretty, but it's slowly getting there.

 

When in need of a through hole, a hot soldering iron makes a fairly good hole punch. This is for my pump and solenoid positive leads (tied together pre relay). Wiring this up through a relay vs off an acc wire proved a notable increase in nozzle spray. This is the wire that goes from the relay to the battery directly.

 

Here's the fusebox cover off. I was a bit hesitant to trim the wires any further than I already had, just to allow the relay to be removed from the recess without issues. The only wire that needs to be disconnected from the relay is the one that leads to battery positive shown above. The only wires currently being utilized from the fuse box underside are the acc switch to power the pump power relay, and the solenoid ground to ground.

 

My fuse, protected from all elements... by... stuff... Need to make an encasement with some o rings and plastic sheeting.

 

 

My $8 and change Home Depot meth filter. Still working on finding another fine micron screen to use in the center.

But for now it's 2x 1/4" push to connect 1/2" MIP fittings, taped and screwed into a 1/2 FIP coupling. I took two 5/8" hose washers with screens, trimmed the rubber grommet with a razor and inserted them, one into each push to connect fitting. This leaves space in the coupling for another better filter element. However, for now, it will allow me to put my feed line on the bottom of the tank instead of running siphon style (which appeared to not be as consistent as I'd like as far as keeping air out of the system.). When I was running the lawn mower fuel filter, I had to have the hose itself submerged. Now that is no longer the case.

[sleepydave]

Well it has been quite the interesting couple of days.

 

First a quick PSA. Do not tune around mechanical issues, fix them instead. It ends up saving loads of time and energy.

 

So when I last left you, I was fighting some nasty erratic boost issues and a lack of the ability to raise boost consistently. I finally got a "clean" pull in and saw a hp loss but a fat torque bump (-5whp, +39wtq). Something did not add up.

 

Crank to 100% wgdc (slowly), no increase in boost except for spikes.

 

My usually cool to the touch end tank (since injection) was fairly warm. Huh. I mean its about friggin 90F and super humid, but it was 85 the day before and cool to the touch at lower boost. Either I have a >23psi boost leak or I'm blowing the iwg open. Either way, I'm overworking my poor turbo to hit targets she shouldn't have an issue hitting.

 

Boost leak test came back negatory Batman.

 

IWG seemed fairly well tensioned. I mean, 18psi of spring in her, so I didn't think she'd be blowing open at sub 2bar but she is a bit long in the tooth.

Let's give her a couple twists of the clevis and see. Reattaching took some serious effort.

 

However, my first pass after the tightening confirmed that was indeed the issue. And not only that, I think it's the reason why boost was coming on a little slow to boot. All across the board she felt more powerful.

Nice, maybe I can finally break 400, I'm thinking to myself. All the while, I keep adding a little timing, and subtracting a little fuel, and adding a little boost.

 

Yeap, that did it. Completely satisfied with 413whp 392wtq. But I'm thinking it might be a fluke and it's getting late. However, I'm excited, so I quickly overlay that with my base injection run.

 

Yeah, that looks better all over the map, literally. Time for bed, 4th gear pull on the highway equals zero knock and :

 

Ok it's a new day. Let's go do some pulls after work and dial this sucker in. I have a feeling the fluke was going to be just bragging numbers. First pull, 392whp and 399wtq. Second pull, 395whp, 402wtq. Yeah, still happy but definitely a fluke. Let's turn boost down a lb and add a little more timing and a touch less gasoline. And you know what, I'm going to bump my meth blend up from the 30% I have been running to 40%.

 

First pull, 412whp and 422wtq. Oh hell yes. She'll be going on the rollers soon to confirm officially, but no matter how you slice it, that's a hell of a delta over pre meth, post meth, and my "fluke" run.

Here's that pull overlaid with the "fluke:"

 

And here's the delta from pre water meth to post water meth. Yeah, that's a slick little 61whp and a freaking 82wtq gain with nearly 5psi, 60/40 water meth, and tuning (7* timing advance and -15.5% gasoline) for those counting. Oh yeah, and 70%idc.

 

And for those playing along at home, here is my base and advance maps, along with my boost targets for the 412whp run. For those of you really paying attention, yes I have some slight timing compensation happening in SD. And yes I was really conservative on the 22psi tune.

 

 

 

Catch can is built but I didn't take any pictures. Pretty basic stuff though, stainless steel scubbing pads (wedged 4 into her), steel stick attached a copper stubout that I hacksawed to fit. 5/8" connections all around, and a cheap $12 ebay red aluminum catch can. Just need to mount her and pop her in line between pcv and pre turbo. PCV is getting removed, as is the line to the manifold. Bring it suckers. My crankcase still sees vacuum at all times. The PCV setup in here is pretty much just to let the intake manifold ingest directly at idle. I could see no other function, and since I don't want that function, we can do the job without it. Hoping to get her installed tomorrow, and have an oil change to do.

 

Still on the evergrowing parts docket, maintenance! And some electronics building to be able to log the damn failsafe wideband. Downpipe to catback gasket, turbo to downpipe gasket, and uppipe to turbo gasket. My power steering pump sure seems loud lately, and I have a small rack leak that I am not looking forward to tackling. I'd like to get some Moore blast plates installed, and who knows what else. But I am currently quite happy with the power level. Although like I mentioned earlier, we can do better than vdyno and I'll get some real dyno pulls asap. And maybe even a street pull or two if I can figure out how to film them safely. But for now, I'm just happy to be able to keep the laptop at home for once, and my accessport disconnected and pouched up. Can't wait to get the stock wheels back on, even with the snows for now, but 555r's all around come next summer I hope. But we shall see, we always shall see...

[Jaybird2013]

subscribed

 

Few questions off the top of my head Dave:

 

what turbo are you running? Stock Block? Stock 5MT? what Clutch?

 

Love to see the ingenuity man , and you obviously know what you are doing.

 

I'm very interested in learning about meth injection ( pump 93 will only get you so far right? ) , which seems to be the only viable option for me going forward, sans going built block, brotated ,or even just a bigger stock location Turbo...just not interested in going those routes.

 

I'm not holding my Breath for Cobb supporting our platform with FF either, besides E85 is not readily available where I'm located in CT anyways.

 

Not sure if I would want to take on installing a kit on my own ( zero experience with electrical wiring), but I like the idea of further cooling the IAT and netting 20% gains with a properly setup kit with all the failsafes.

 

Do you plan on running a tank or running off the washer reservoir ? not sure where the ideal location would be.

 

What all would be needed kit wise? AEM seems like a solid choice, and after researching a little This is what I came up with

 

AEM meth kit V2:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-kits/aem-30-3300-aem-water-methanol-injection-kit-v2-up-to-35psi-w-1-gallon-tank

 

monitoring system:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-kits/aem-30-3300-aem-water-methanol-injection-kit-v2-up-to-35psi-w-1-gallon-tank

 

inline filter:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-components/aem-30-3003-aem-water-methanol-injection-inline-filter

 

 

Thanks for the time, and keep up the good work!

 

Jason

[sleepydave]

subscribed

 

Few questions off the top of my head Dave:

 

what turbo are you running? Stock Block? Stock 5MT? what Clutch?

 

Love to see the ingenuity man , and you obviously know what you are doing.

 

I'm very interested in learning about meth injection ( pump 93 will only get you so far right? ) , which seems to be the only viable option for me going forward, sans going built block, brotated ,or even just a bigger stock location Turbo...just not interested in going those routes.

 

I'm not holding my Breath for Cobb supporting our platform with FF either, besides E85 is not readily available where I'm located in CT anyways.

 

Not sure if I would want to take on installing a kit on my own ( zero experience with electrical wiring), but I like the idea of further cooling the IAT and netting 20% gains with a properly setup kit with all the failsafes.

 

Do you plan on running a tank or running off the washer reservoir ? not sure where the ideal location would be.

 

What all would be needed kit wise? AEM seems like a solid choice, and after researching a little This is what I came up with

 

AEM meth kit V2:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-kits/aem-30-3300-aem-water-methanol-injection-kit-v2-up-to-35psi-w-1-gallon-tank

 

monitoring system:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-kits/aem-30-3300-aem-water-methanol-injection-kit-v2-up-to-35psi-w-1-gallon-tank

 

inline filter:

 

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/part/water-and-meth-injection-components/aem-30-3003-aem-water-methanol-injection-inline-filter

 

 

Thanks for the time, and keep up the good work!

 

Jason

 

Happy to answer them.

 

Running an ebay 3076r knockoff stock location. Found a used turbine housing and had a it machined to fit the wheel. I'm sure it's not a super efficient setup, but she does the trick. Internally gated, but I really need to either get some crazy springs in there (like 28psi worth), or go twin port and 4 port ebcs, or just weld the damn flapper.

 

I had a Simpsons "towel rack moment" today.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/vw38oyi.jpg

 

 

So I think the wastegate is still a slight issue albeit more uncommon since the pretensioning. That not happening this pull and 60F temps today, she was loving life. Look at that power carry out at the same boost levels, I have to be blowing that gate open still on the other runs I feel. Same road as all my other pulls. Even sae corrected, timing is an amazing thing. Maybe I need to be even less conservative, but she is my daily. And I did have one knock event during that exact pull, but will be dialing her out.

 

Block is coated pistons, but not forged. Forged rods though.

 

Stock 5MT, in desperate need of blast plates. Until then I am babying my shifts like all hell. Huge boost loss in between gears and terrible respool. SB10-HDSS act clutch.

 

I've been water injecting for years, but I must say my eyes are wide open to methanol blends now. If only we had e85 in the northeast. I feel like when towns get Tesla charging stations (ie West Lebanon, NH) they should also get an e85 pump. It's all about balance.

 

Youre wise to not hold your breath for Cobb. We still don't even have custom sensor logging on the LGT's

 

Installing your own kit is a damn near literal piece of cake. It goes down easy. I wouldn't be worried with the wiring aspect. If you can wire in a switch for anything you'll be golden. It's just a positive and negative for the pump, a positive and negative for the solenoid, and wiring it through the hobbs switch in my case.

 

I do not believe in progressive injection unless your total injection (water, methanol, or otherwise) is over 1250cc's. My old rule of thumb was half your displacement for water injection. Just make sure your spark is up to the task.

 

My wideband failsafe is my meth failsafe. That's it. Not extra failsafes added just for the meth, although I probably should hook up a low level sensor at like just below half tank to keep me from being stupid. er. Even water injection alone, afr failsafes are king imho.

 

I'm just running off the washer tank, because space is a premium and I do not want to have anything in the cabin. Unless you go with a nitrous style blowdown tube. And even then, that's a long line for delivery that I personally like to keep minimized. I am running topmount though, so I imagine you have more space than I do haha.

 

Location is never ideal imho. Coming from a beer background, your rise is equally important to your actual line length when it comes to line pressures. So if you can find a spot that is almost equal to your injection site height, and has room to put a pump slightly below the bottommost liquid point (in at least some fashion, even if you mount upside down (going by the brand sticker) and have the pickup just 1/2" below)m and keeps your lines short, youd be in teh best shape. But honestly, I wouldn't lose sleep over location.

 

What would be needed kit wise? Surprisingly little compared to what most would have you believe.

-pump (obviously important when overcoming relatively high charge pressures)

-solenoid (not needed as you could go check valve, but I like the idea of a solenoid especially since i have no lights or switches for my injection)

-a properly calculated jet

-a pressure switch

-lines and fittings

-a reservoir (can be found for sub $30 and over a gallon at any junkyard, or use your wiper reservoir, or use just about anything that wont melt from a meth blend )

-potentially some other odds and ends (wire connectors, screws, etc) depending on how you go about it.

 

 

That's it. Some folks say its hard to tune when you aren't doing progressive, I call bullshit. It's even easier because you have a known variable imho. You can ramp timing or fueling or both and get what feels progressive.

 

Honestly before I found my coolingmist kit for less than I could pass up, I was ready to go to KT Performance. Diesel coolingmist kit for $270 shipped.

https://ktperformance.net/i-6683801-coolingmist-water-meth-injection-kit-stage-1-deluxe-diesel.html

 

I got to that point by rigorously scrounging parts via manufacturer and my DIY kit came to within $40 of the CM kit. You could buy a cheaper pump, Aquatec will not sell them directly anymore unless you buy a lot of them, and save a few bucks on a cheaper solenoid. But honestly, it's so close I had given up on my DIY route if I wanted the same pump as any other kit and a decent nozzle.

 

Thanks for checking in man! Always happy to chat about this kind of stuff, and almost thought noone was even looking haha.

 

Oddly enough I was just eyeballing your thread late last night! Ok, I think I've rambled sufficiently haha.

 

-David

[sleepydave]

Ok, so over the course of the last couple days, the following was done and the following popped up.

 

-oil change

-modified catch can install and pcv removal

-fuel dampener check

-plug check

-coil swap

-massive timing retard

-misfire #4

-maf cleaning

 

So, firstly, tackled the oil change and pcv removal/catch can install.

 

Here's a lovely not fully mounted shot or two :

 

 

Note the black silicone tape due to the severe cheapness of the gasket which leaked like a sieve. Still worth the $11 shipped and now actually will hold a vacuum/pressure.

 

 

I believe I went over this above, but the mod was very simple.

-Order cheap ebay catch can, done.

-Buy at Home Depot, jb weld steel stick, stainless scubbers, and a 6" stub out.

-hacksaw stubout diagonally, leaving it as long as possible without touching the front wall of the can assembly.

-the stubout will be steel sticked to the inside one of the two hose barbs (be sure to do this with the fitting in the in the top of the can and with the top removed), allow to cure and dry.

-stuff 4-6 scrubbers into the can, I used 3 on teh bottom and 2 wedged against the front, allowing my stubout to fit (albeit quite tightly, thank god the steel stick is cured)

-close up the assembly, do your best to seat the cheap gasket, laugh insanely when you realize said cheap gasket is leaky as **** despite being seated. glob the only adhesive you have available that isn't steel stick, in my case, weather stripping adhesive from 3m. Coat the gasket seam and wrap a couple layers of silicone tape around hopefully seal. Blow in one fitting on the can and cover the other. If no leaks, congrats, I waited until I had zip tied it in place before doing this. Laugh at dave.

-make sure you have at least 4ft of 5/8" rubber hose and a 5/8" joiner (male to male, unsure what it is called offhand)

-remove pcv valve assembly. cap and zip tie intake port. DO NOT remove vent hose from intake, because its kind of a bitch.

-cut hose to size

-attach one hose to where the pcv tee assembly used to reside. Hose clamp.

-attach the other end of that to your stubout attached fitting on the can. Hose clamp.

-attach other hose from unmodified barb to a 5/8" joiner which going into the old intake hose, thus saving you from clawing at the inlet like a madman. Hose clamps.

And scene. Don't forget to check this and drain as needed. Or build a drainback feature, or a valve and drop hose assembly to make life easier. I still need to do that.

(pcv valve not removed yet but hose mounted to top so I could measure and cut to size, this picture is more to pointlessly show the barb union. Union, I bet it's called a ******* union.

 

 

Go for a drive, proceed to curse and curse and curse as you see -2 to -12 knock. Begin troubleshooting. 5 degrees global retard seems to cure it. Great. Curse repeatedly yet again when you get a p0304 code, praying to the ringland deities.

 

Pull #4 plug, looks pretty legit, albeit with a slightly large gap. Clean, regap, reinsert.

 

 

Swap coilpacks on #4 and #1. Double check pulsation dampener.

 

Get ready to swap injectors, and then notice an air pocket in your methanol line.

 

Huh. Looks like my old filter and siphon feed setup were not bleeding correctly as I feared when I installed the makeshift filter. Leading to some random pump cavitation.

 

Proceed to endlessly hit dead end after dead end when trying to make find an 1/8" inline filter.

 

Debate between buying a 1/4" ID fuel filter that looks like it actually filters, or a screen in a metal tube with line opening big enough to fit your 1/4" OD line in. Decide to buy silicone regardless.

 

Run pump with jumper wire after putting the disconnected jet line into a washer container to drain the reservoir. Notice how random and awkward the cavitation was with that setup and curse your own name.

 

Drill and tap bottom of washer tank for one of the push to connect fittings from the kit that I hadn't used yet. Screw in fitting and be amazed at the lack of leak.

 

Decided to buy the 1/4" lawnmower fuel filter that looked like it actually filtered. Cut two lengths of 1/4" id vacuum hose. Attach one to each end of the fuel filter and zip tie. Make a cut in your pump feed line (now considerably shorter than before), and each end into the corresponding end of the fuel filter's 1/4" vacuum hose. Zip tie. Silicone the joints. Allow to cure.

 

 

Test system, be greatful when system visibly bleeds correctly.

 

Go for test drive. Still see knock but misfire code does not return. Kick dirt wildly while muttering on the side of the road. Pull assloads of timing, cry because you know you are most likely falling below the 400/400 mark you wanted to remain above.

 

 

Debate whether or not a 20*F temperature drop should warrant dropping nearly 5 degrees of timing. Hope people will debate it here and save me some searching. Be especially confused when the factory IAT timing compensations show a timing advance at lower temps and a retard at higher temps. Say **** it, and drop timing on teh cold side of the map by just over a few degrees.

 

Go to bread.

[sleepydave]

With how early it gets dark out here, I have not been able to get many pictures lately.

 

But here's the story regardless.

 

So after my slight freakout the other night, I am "fairly" certain it was just crud at the bottom of the gas tank from doing pulls with sub 1/4 tank. However, i am speculating, as usual.

 

Since we've last chatted, in an effort to get back to where I was before my mini meltdown, I have :

 

-swapped and cleaned #2 and #4 injectors. Fun fact, our filter basket/screens on teh sidefeeds don't come off without total destruction. Or at least, that's all I managed (thank god I had a stock injector or 4 to toy with before going after the 1k's!) Soaked them in seafoam to clean and opened them a few hundred times each with pintles submerged. Yes I know, it wasn't doing a lot, but I was kind of desperate for answers after the other night. Sidenote, swapping and cleaning the injectors provided me zero answers. This time.

 

And just in case anyone else is wondering, you can seemingly swap injectors without all new orings. But I have them regardless, I just have yet to use them.

 

-replumbed the water/meth setup using a metal bushing to keep the injector a little more recessed. testing out Devil's Own's theory that giving the spray a chance to atomize more completely before it gets mutilated by incoming boost air has benefits. Unsure of how true this is, but seems to make sense in theory I guess. You know what, I'm not even sure it does the more i think about it. Because the air would be hitting more atomized spray, but the spray itself would have less pressure at that point as opposed to no recess. It may be a wash... But science!!

 

-tightened up lots of things, all around.

 

-broke a few hose clamps and stripped two tbolt clamps from going too tight, also it appears I have lost the threads in one of my turbo housing through holes for the tmic mounting. No worries, nothing a stud and a couple nuts can't fix, pardon the terrible phrasing.

 

-redid my battery grounds, and added a 2ga ground to the block in addition to the wire going to teh bracket on the bellhousing, and the one to the drivers fender.

 

-did a lot of testing and tuning. ended up going back to my earlier fueling maps, which ran a bit rich, but kept her happy with more advance. turns out, at least according to vdyno, that I make more power running richer and a little more timing, as opposed to leaner and a little less timing.

New best (sae corrected for temp and humidity but running .95cf as all my runs, same road, etc) :

 

 

-have dabbled in all manner of false knock (and running a lightweight flywheel). From metallic bridge connections on one of my usual pull spots, to huge low load knocks, to a piece of metal on the banging around on my knock sensor that I have no idea what it even is, much less how it got there.

 

-realized I didn't have a tight enough connection on my crankcase to catch can line, but only after losing my cool when I saw smoke and had to pull over. Get under the car, and see oil dripping down from my turbo oil drain and acvs oil feed. Brakleen and some shop towels to the rescue, and the shop towel actually helped me locate the source with how it wicked up.

 

If you've made it this far in reading my misadventures, congrats! You deserve a terrible video of 3rd and 4th gear pulls filmed with my shifting hand on private roads.

 

Still have some work to do on the afrs as they dip before steadying (tail end of a rich MAF curve combined with SD hybrid switching), but that reminds me, the best news I have in this post, I have booked an hour of dyno time at VT Dyno / VEMS for Thursday (or possibly Monday if I have it off and can make that work, but scheduled for Thursday).

 

Slow and loud, but I kind of have a thing for her.

3rd gear :

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsEXCmKl9ZY]IMG_1922.TRIM.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

4th gear :

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm80Lm2IyNs]IMG_1924.TRIM.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

[sleepydave]

Welp, at 414whp@31psi, the cylinder pressure just became too much. Zero knock.

 

 

So I'm rebuilding with JE pistons and a hx40w 60mm (68lbs/min) :

 

 

 

I sold my 3076 knockoff to a buddy, and will have his turbo and some other items up for sale in the very near future. Just have to clean everything up and get pictures. An unheated garage is not very conducive to such activities. It's bad enough I have to rebuild haha.

 

-Stock LGT vf-40, wonderfully tight condition, extremely minimal shaft play

-Stock LGT TMIC, no leaks, great for someone running more moderate goals than I.

-Torque Solutions 4" TMIC (painted black) and Misimoto silicone throttle body elbow (only for sale if I can't get it to work with the holset.)

-EJ255 case halves bored out to 100mm. Will need a hone, but can be reused for 100mm pistons. I got a screaming deal on 99.75s so I picked up a junkyard case to use them in.

-CTB30WRX, more info at https://www.forgedperformance.com/store/product.php?productid=21647, in excellent condition, literally no shaft play, comes with turbosmart IWG 75 with 14lb spring.

-red perrin inlet tube

-spt intake and 10K mile maf (includes shielding and an extra coupler with a 45* pipe for CAI into the fenderwell.

-a set of tgv motors

-dw1000cc's, selling so I can bump to 1300cc. Sidefeed, about 30K on them and worked wonderfully for me.

-dw65c, selling so I can bump up to walboro 450, also about 30k, and has given no hiccups

 

And I think that's it for the moment, I may sell my old rims as well as some other items. Going rotated was an unexpected expense at this point. I'll make a proper FS thread when I take pictures, but wanted to just let everyone know whats going to be available shortly.

 

Hope all is well,

David

[stocklgt]

Interested to see how it turns out.

I run 1300cc on a stock location gtx3076r EWG with meth also. Interested to see what numbers I can expect after break in. I went with a stage 2 tuff block from IAG. Already 6 speed so Im not too worried about the tranny. Hoping for around 450 but Im guessing closer to the 400 mark at about 27lbs.

Looking forward to your new build! good luck with everything.

[sleepydave]

Howdy all,

I'll have more pictures soon, but for the sake of documenting, the build now looks as follows :

-bc1600 valve springs

-ferrea 6000 exhaust valves

-manley h beams with 3/8" arp bolts

-arp head studs

-aeromotive fpr

-hardwiring for fuel pump (currently on dw65c and boost activated boost-a-pump)

-fmic

-holset hx40w 60mm

-3" fabbed catless downpipe

-spt catback

-catch can setup (ill go a little more in depth when i get to that point)

-je pistons 99.75 with .003" ptw (measured with torque plates)

-je rings at .018" top and 0.02" bottom (measured without torque plates)

-athena cooper ring headgasket

-king std rod and std main bearings

-11mm shimmed oil pump (2 shims)

-killer b windage tray and oil pickup

-act hdss

-gm iat

-coolingmist water/meth (80/20) at ~400cc/min

-switched rolling antilag

-diy deleted tgvs

-ap 2.0 full speed density

-4" intake

-cosmo coilpacks

-whiteline rear sway bar

-group n motor and trans mounts

-relocated abs module, power steering reservoir, upper coolant reservoir, and overflow tank

-many emissions deletes

-3 bar MAP sensor (debating upgrading to 4 bar, but we will see what 28-32psi can do first)

-hybrid boost control setup (grimspeed ebcs + homemade manual), with spring adjusted holset IWG actuator and custom bracket/trimming)

-aem wideband failsafe

-custom failsafe relays

-no bov (fight me)

-dw1000cc side feeds

-thermal blanketed components, electronics, downpipe, and turbo

 

and I think thats it. after she is up and running, ive got some minor exterior mods planned as well as some fabbed interior work (to hell with sourcing edm shifter surrounds, ill just make one) and some more fuel work. oh and most likely a 6speed because the goal is just under 520awhp on pump 93 and meth with stock cams. We will see how close we get and how long the 5sp holds!

[sleepydave]

I may have gone a little insane. Because bulldozer turbo...

 

 

Fire ringed (wrung?), rotated turbo mounted, valvesprings in, valves in, long block reassembled, manley rods in, machine work done, tgv's diy deleted, and nearly ready for install! Just need like five frickin buckets because subaru has the single worst valve adjustment design in the history of man. I miss my rotary.

 

Goals this week include cleaning of ocv's, acvs gears, turbo coolant block off, oil warmer delete and coolant block off, get the damn ginormous snap ring back on the compressor (need to buy a larger set of channel locks, I think I exploded my thumb when it sprung back on me), get my pcv setup completed, figure out how in the **** I'm going to plumb to the intercooler (may need to go with just chemical intercooling for a bit if I can't figure it out asap), adjust my valves, get my stripped valve cover bolts replaced, pulleys on, time the motor, and I'm sure I'm forgetting things...

 

[sleepydave]

Minor updates and no pictures... boooo.

 

-buckets should be in by the end of the week

-hoping to get the motor in this Sunday

-tmic is 100% out of the question, so i bought some cheap piping and will start fmic setup unfortunately. oh well.

-starting to get worried about hood and abs clearance, but wont really know until she goes in.

-turbo coolant lines are jumpered

-oil warmer is deleted and coolant lines jumpered.

-snap ring is back on the turbo, thumb is still numb haha

-found out my cheap 4" elbow i bought to mate my 3" exhaust to the hx40 has a slightly different flange. going to see if I cant get a matching flange welded onto the holset backplate. Barring that, Ill be going with a .70-.82ar housing and 38mm ewg. Also something I wanted to avoid. Fun fact, ar vs cm2 estimations are way off. Or at least the ones Ive seen are. My 16cm2 housing was measured by the local diesel shop using a clay plug. It works out to just under a .84ar.

-cannot wait to get this sucker up and running!

[Shipman]

I never understand your build thread title. I must be missing something. It legit confuses me every time I see it.

[sleepydave]

I mean, other than a dated 56k warning, I figured it was fairly generic, haha.

[sleepydave]

I hope there is a special kind of hell for those that brought about shimess valve bucket valve adjustments.

 

Waiting on two buckets. Got most of my fmic piping routed though, along with the core mounted. managed to fit my upper reservoir in the stock location somehow.

 

Will have price breakdowns upon completion as well. Doing your own labor pays off in spades.

 

Forged rebuild (Manley Rods, Je Pistons, valves, valvesprings, machine work, etc) = $1450ish

FMIC = $147

Rotated setup with turbo = $570ish

 

And have not progressed nearly as much as I would have liked to, haha.

[stocklgt]

I hope there is a special kind of hell for those that brought about shimess valve bucket valve adjustments.

 

Waiting on two buckets. Got most of my fmic piping routed though, along with the core mounted. managed to fit my upper reservoir in the stock location somehow.

 

Will have price breakdowns upon completion as well. Doing your own labor pays off in spades.

 

Forged rebuild (Manley Rods, Je Pistons, valves, valvesprings, machine work, etc) = $1450ish

FMIC = $147

Rotated setup with turbo = $570ish

 

And have not progressed nearly as much as I would have liked to, haha.

 

That's cheap! The benefits of doing it yourself. GL with it!

[sleepydave]

Well, Im sore and tired, but she is in. Just freaking barely. Ive got a lot of work ahead of me including : hood clearancing, abs clearancing , actuator fabbing, and ac line clearancing; and much more. But those are problems for tomorrow Dave...

 

Sidenote, images fixed.

[stocklgt]

How is the spool gonna be with that turbo??

[sleepydave]

How is the spool gonna be with that turbo??

 

I will definitely post logs when shes up. Hard telling not knowing as the ej isn't exactly an engine known for efficiency (see all the folks running 75+ lb/min at 2.5bar to hit 550awhp).

 

that said, Im hoping for mid 20s by low to mid 4K and full boost (32psi) by mid to high 4k. Heads are built to turn 8k save for cams. So Ill be relying on pressure to get me there.

 

Folks say I should be looking to the 3582r for comparable spools. Also I have some turbine housing freedom here. I have a blocked of port for an ewg, and can grab a more standarized housing for a few bucks. But we shall see what the 16cm does first. Because curious.

[stocklgt]

I was running a stock location GTX3076R and the spool wasn't terrible. I have cams on my build with stock B25 heads. Went with this new BCP X500+ bc i didn't want to go rotated. Spool is a bit disappointing, but I'm having issues with the cam advancing. Hope to see around 450+ with E85. 3582 is a totally different ball game though. I have meth too, but not using it bc i really dont trust it without a failsafe. A bit concerned abt running E wo a flex fuel kit either, but Im going to wait until summer blend comes out again and go from there. Is that HX40 a 7 blade? If so thats like a 70lb a minute turbo, not 60...I have seen a few in 12CM housings but they are super rare.

[sleepydave]

Nice! Yeah Im coming from a little smaller than that. Im hoping the larger inlet will help with spool comparatively, but boost should come on like a train I hope!

 

Im just using the aem failsafe gauge as a meth failsafe. Afrs get out of specced range and it puts me in limp nicely. Caught my system when it was low and running under pressure, as well as when my fuse burst for the pump.

 

Im also curious to get my knocksense up and running. The volvo guys love it, Im just looking for an audible knock detector. I have a buzzer going in with an led. I could potentially (wiring is not my strongest suit mind you) wire a relay to trip the same set of failsafes I use for the wideband failsafe (its a ground trigger setup) by using the led as the trigger. Hopefully I can get the sensitivity right given my motor is slightly noisier than stock.

 

I can definitely understand the concern about ethanol without sensing percentages. I just wish we even had access to it out here. I know last I checked even surrounding states werent carrying it yet.

 

Yeap! 7 blade 68lb/min! There a few people (turbolab, turbo tims, your local machine shop) making more traditional housings either in house or with minimal machining.

 

I'll be happy if my 5sp just lives through the final tune

[stocklgt]

Nice! Yeah Im coming from a little smaller than that. Im hoping the larger inlet will help with spool comparatively, but boost should come on like a train I hope!

 

Im just using the aem failsafe gauge as a meth failsafe. Afrs get out of specced range and it puts me in limp nicely. Caught my system when it was low and running under pressure, as well as when my fuse burst for the pump.

 

Im also curious to get my knocksense up and running. The volvo guys love it, Im just looking for an audible knock detector. I have a buzzer going in with an led. I could potentially (wiring is not my strongest suit mind you) wire a relay to trip the same set of failsafes I use for the wideband failsafe (its a ground trigger setup) by using the led as the trigger. Hopefully I can get the sensitivity right given my motor is slightly noisier than stock.

 

I can definitely understand the concern about ethanol without sensing percentages. I just wish we even had access to it out here. I know last I checked even surrounding states werent carrying it yet.

 

Yeap! 7 blade 68lb/min! There a few people (turbolab, turbo tims, your local machine shop) making more traditional housings either in house or with minimal machining.

 

I'll be happy if my 5sp just lives through the final tune

 

Strongly recommend blast plates if you don't already have them yet. I never installed mine bc I ended up selling my 3rd lgt and finding a 4th one with a 6 speed out of an STi, but have only heard good things about them. Not bulletproof mind you, but I also never had a problem with my stock 5spd holding ~350 for 3 years in the 1st lgt I had years ago. That said you have to drop the trans to install them properly anyway, so unless you are installing a new clutch its just as much time to do it as a new clutch.

[xt2005bonbon]

I have not followed everything OP. But are you using the stock ECU or an aftermarket one? Cause if you are using the stock one, then you could use the btssm app. Whenever the stock knock sensor detects knock, the app can beep at you. And it will record additional info related to that knock. fyi.

 

see here:http://www.btssm.com/

and here: http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4912026&postcount=1

 

Also, just curious... why didn't you go closed deck?