dr_sharp Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Thought I'd start updating this thread as I've actually forgotten about it. Have had numerous issues in the process of getting this thing tuned. Nothing has been majorly wrong to where it has cost me obscene amounts of money, just annoyances along the way. I can't even remember everything and I probably should have kept it journaled here for my own benefit. Let's see. I already mentioned the tranny mount. We suspected an issue with the actuator, but now I'm betting there was nothing wrong with it. However, In the process, I decided to switch to an EWG setup instead of changing the actuator. I went with the coated grimmspeed 44mm ewg uppipe mated to the tial 44mm gate. That was fun to do. The first uppipe sent to me didn't mate to the turbo. That's right, it didn't fit. I took it to the local subie speed shop to verify I wasn't a dumbass and sure enough, it would not mate to the turbine housings they ha laying around there, either. Luckily, they had a coated GS pipe waiting to be installed on another car that I just grabbed from them. I contacted the vendor and grimmspeed acknowledged that this has happened a few times and sent me another pipe, no questions asked. They sent along with that a shipping return label for the faulty pipe. Apparently, when it was tapped for the studs, a couple holes were just a few degrees off so the studs went in cockeyed. This was very hard to pick out with the naked eye. Anyway, grimmspeed sent a coated pipe when I originally bought it uncoated because I explained to them that I had to reimburse the speed shop for the one I grabbed from them. On a side not, I'm using Cobb's new iwg bracket to keep the iwg sealed. Nice piece and very easy to install and adjust. As I was working on switching to ewg, I noticed that my passenger side fmic pipe was dented pretty bad from bottoming out too many times, I guess. I contacted Bryan (itsme) for a replacement and he sent one promptly for a meager fee. When it arrived, I replaced it and I found the source of many of the problems we've been having with this thing. http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/joeleodee/IMAG0374.jpg Yeah, that's going to cause some problems! We think it started as a pinhole leak that was not noticeable and progressed to this state over time. This thing built boost horribly and hit a brick wall in the 15-16 psi range with wgdc above 80%. After this, I got it back to the tuner and he had to rescale the maf and injectors along with adjustments for open and closed loop. I recently got the car back from him and it is a different machine altogether. He has not added boost nor tuned for power, yet, but it runs amazing at only 13-14 psi peak. There is no more surging under light load and the throttle response is.....responsive. Whoda thunk? It will hit peak boost by about 3900 rpm whereas before it wouldn't hit peak until about 5100 rpm. I'm betting once this thing is turned up and fine tuned for power, it will hit at least a couple hundred rpm earlier which is not bad for a big turbo like this. It is a different car completely without that big gash in the pipe. As it sits now, the other day I popped a p0172 'too rich' code. I cleaned the maf and reset only have it pop again a couple days later. Then I took the air filter out to clean, reset it and it hasn't shown again. However, I took a couple logs and noticed that now it is running dangerously lean and causing it to knock. My tuner thinks there is some vacuum leak somewhere. I haven't been able to find a vacuum leak from the usual suspects, but who knows. He's supposed to get it back next week to take a look. In the meantime, can anyone comment on other possible issues? I just thought that now that the air filter is clean, it's getting more air and not enough fuel to compensate since nothing else changed. I'll post some before and after logs. Why did you post that picture!?!? Now I'm going to be paranoid about those pipes forever! To be honest, thats the first I've seen/heard of the racerx actually cracking/breaking. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 To be honest, I doubt it had anything to do with the pipe. Brunt force trauma too many times probably caused the weld to fatigue, but who knows. I will say that the pipe possibly had a pin hole leak from the get go at that weld. Before my tuner got my car, he always said it squealed in boost. We could never hit peak boost on the stock vf40 until about 3800rpm whereas it should have been there by 3k or less. Doesn't squeal anymore, though. I can post a shot of the big dent in that pipe if you like. Now I'm trying to seal up an exhaust leak. I'm pretty sure it's at the dp to mid pipe union. I doubled the gasket and that quieted the ticking for a while, but it's back. Time for permatex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted October 7, 2012 Author Share Posted October 7, 2012 After a week of driving, my car threw the p0172 rich code again. Before, I was hearing a ticking sound from what sounded like the middle to the rear of the car. The noise was more pronounced in higher gears so I thought it was an exhaust leak after the cat. I applied permatex to the dp gasket and mufflers and it quieted down a little, but it's still there. Could a preturbo leak cause a rich condition? Also, is it possible that the flex section in the gs xpipe have blown out? What else should I suspect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 I am switching tuning strategies and I'm going to learn this myself. I've got a friend who can help initially get me going (qikslvr) and I'll learn the fine tuning as things progress. I've ran into some mechanical issues down the line that I rectified forthwith, yet my car still drives with a half finished tune. I've already been doing a lot of my own research and I'd like advice as to some good online resources for a self tuner. As always, I do appreciate any assistance here that you could offer. I'll be back hopefully with updates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Users seabass07 Posted November 24, 2012 Mega Users Share Posted November 24, 2012 Advice? Look for any tuning related threads started by NSFW and LittleBlueGT on this forum and on romraider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 That seems to be what I'm finding as reliable resources for tuning these cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 I'm trying to understand my LV. I'm questioning my AF learning A. While logging, the AF correction #1 will bounce right around the -1 range to +5 range at idle. However, my 0-5g/s learning is +14.4. I'm working on getting my fueling and timing set before I turn this thing up and I may be a bit ocd about getting these details right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Users seabass07 Posted November 28, 2012 Mega Users Share Posted November 28, 2012 AF learning A is idle learning. I got tired of watching it violently swing back and forth, so I changed the first AF range to 0-10g/s. You'll find different views on this issue. Have you cleaned your maf sensor recently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Maf has been cleaned just a few weeks back. And yes, as I said, I monitored this at idle, but still see maxed out learning in that range even though corrections are more reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Users seabass07 Posted November 28, 2012 Mega Users Share Posted November 28, 2012 IMO, if the rest of the AF learning cells are ok in LV, then don't worry about it. The 0-5g/s cell is a range, most of which is not hit often. What were the g/s while you were monitoring it at idle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 4.5 range, give or take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 I'm back using Cobb StreetTuner software to work on tuning this thing now. This issue has me perplexed. I adjusted some cells in the idle range and got the immediate trims to stabilize rather tightly. I reset with those values and started the car up. After the reset, trims were well into the + range, but within a few minutes, those trims stabilized back down. However, in the meantime, the learned trim had steadily crept up and maxed out. After idling for 10+ minutes of reasonable fuel trims, the learned value didn't drop at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Users seabass07 Posted November 29, 2012 Mega Users Share Posted November 29, 2012 Mine would swing from -10 to +10 in a day of logging, so I stopped giving a fck about it and changed it so I didn't have to look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 Well, since I started tuning this thing myself (with the assistance of qikslvr), I've been adjusting values from the previous tuners work. Today, I decided to go back to my stage 2 tune after the injectors went in since the maf and injector scaling were set. I made a few necessary changes to account for the mods since the stg2. Learning is mostly under control now. I've got some ignition and fueling tables I'm going to start with and hopefully soon we can finally turn this thing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 Btw, I'm back completely to using my v1 AP with streettuner software. I was actually close to selling it, but it's really a superior tuning software setup I'm running. I can use the live tuning feature to make changes on the fly, and instead of using the AP to apply changes in the base map (which can take a good 15-20 minutes), I can just make those changes in ecuflash since the cobb v1 doesn't lock that out. That's a pretty quick reflash. Furthermore, romraider is not locked out either. Basically, the best of all worlds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Took the car out for some tuning today. A few trends I found. I turned up the mbc until I saw about 17lbs. Boost dropped way off so I increased wgdc after 4500 and that helped. I could probably increase it more in the lower ranges to help spool as well. I noticed I had a lean spike to about 12:1 afr in the 5500-6500 rpm range. My fueling tables call for about 10.5-11 right now so I'll have to adjust some scaling in those load ranges. The good news is that during every run, no knock whatsoever. I started timing out as very conservative. I was going to make some adjustments, but then I smelled a burning. Popped the hood and smoke coming from the underside of the turbo. Uh oh. I limped it home sadly expecting the worst. Propped the car up on jack stands and green sludge littered the ewg, dp, dump tube, and............the cv boot. Yes, the cv boot decided to give up the ghost while I was out doing some tuning. I was fearing that I blew some seal in the turbo or something, but thankfully, it wasn't that. On a side note, I loaded some runs onto Virtual Dyno. At only 17lbs and extremely conservative timing, the last run showed just over 300whp and boost tapering all the way down to 12psi at redline. As I was adjusting, the VD is a great tool to confirm that certain changes are yielding increased power. First step is fixing this torn cv boot then back to the drawing board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 Moving right along and making progress on the tune. I found out that with hybrid boost control, wgdc needs to be set to 100% for WOT only and WG post compensation needs to be set to 100. Basically, I've been wasting time and gas adjusting WGDC when finally a local tuner made me aware of my misunderstanding. The results are staggering. This turbo is hitting peak boost by 4000rpm and slowly and smoothly tapering down about 4psi to redline. That's a whole 500 rpm sooner than it was before adding the external wastegate and hybrid boost control setup. In looking at other dyno plots of this turbo, 4500 is where it usually hits peak. Pretty impressive. I have the mbc turned down to 18 psi as I dial it in. I'm noticing that I get a little lean in the higher rpm ranges. Adjusting my maf scaling in those ranges is getting that under control. The maf scaling I've been using is still from my stock turbo so now I'm hitting voltage ranges that the stocker never saw. Once I get that under control, I think I can safely begin to turn up the boost little by little and then the timing. All in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby2.5 Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Btw, I'm back completely to using my v1 AP with streettuner software. I was actually close to selling it, but it's really a superior tuning software setup I'm running. I can use the live tuning feature to make changes on the fly, and instead of using the AP to apply changes in the base map (which can take a good 15-20 minutes), I can just make those changes in ecuflash since the cobb v1 doesn't lock that out. That's a pretty quick reflash. Furthermore, romraider is not locked out either. Basically, the best of all worlds. Joel you can get Access Tuner race for free and use your AP, the ATR software allows changes on the fly. Its basically the newer version of street tuner http://www.accessecu.com/register/cobbv.php You may already know this just thought I would post it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted April 28, 2013 Author Share Posted April 28, 2013 Thanks, but you know the ATR software is only compatible with the V2 AP so I'd have to spend the money to upgrade to that if I wanted to use the free software. Eventually, i will upgrade, but not now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby2.5 Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I thought for some reason you had a V2 as wellbut was just using the V1 cause you had street tuner. Just ignore me LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 I'll be making the switch to e85 today and subsequently tuning for it. We'll see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby2.5 Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Good luck. I just put a brand new STI 6 speed in mine yesterday. Old one I bought used was whining like crazy in 6th so sold it and bought new Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted May 27, 2013 Author Share Posted May 27, 2013 I heard you were having trouble with your 6 speed and looking for a replacement. That's a bummer that the other one gave out. Glad it's all taken care of now. Let me know when you're up in this area. I'd like to hang out and compare notes. Made the switch to e85 successfully. Maf scaling will need a few adjustments here and there but right out of the gate, it idled almost perfectly and no longer surges back and forth. As well, on low load cruising, if anyone has been following this thread, you'll know that I never shook the surging in that scenario. E85 took care of that problem. Car drives terrifically, now. Much more daily driver friendly. As far as power goes, it's definitely got more. Engine load is up by about .35 and at 5kRPM (I haven't taken it above that), power is up by about 30whp according to VD compared to a similar log the other day on 93 at the same RPM. I haven't touched timing or boost as I'm still running about 19-19.5 peak. This has a lot of potential so check back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spec.B Dream Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 Fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeleodee Posted June 16, 2013 Author Share Posted June 16, 2013 Little update. Switching to an AVO FMIC. Just waiting for it to arrive. The way the Racer X piping hangs below the bumper will not play nicely when I lower the suspension soon. Still plugging away slowly on my tune. Took some logs last night and my stupid LC1 kept cutting off at WOT. Might be time for an upgrade. Then after the first pull, something popped loose because it started running rich at WOT deep in boost. I'll take a look this afternoon, but below is a dyno graph just to 5500rpm. 20PSI peak. I plan on adding a little more timing, a couple PSI of boost and leaning the AFRs to probably 11.5 since I'm running E85. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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