No longer mom's grocery getter(1991 244)

klr142 said:

I'm not sure what you mean about the balljoint getting in the way?

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Your shields are gone so you're fine.

Cool. Yeah I had to do a little finagling to get the balljoint started on the control arm but it worked out ok without needing to loosen anything else up.

I actually only did one side tonight, and didn't adjust/correct the toe until after driving on the highway a bit... Lol. I left the swaybar loose so as to not put too much strain on the endlinks. And man, that was a lot of turns on the tie rod end to get it to straighten back out! I should've counted it...

Tomorrow I'll pick up an 11/32" drill bit and do the other side, then put the tie rods in the middle holes and adjust the toe until my steering wheel is straight again. I guess the doing one side first will help get the alignment relatively well set...

One other cool thing these spacers allow is running extended lower control arms for a wider ****** and more negative camber. People doing that usually run out of tie rod adjustment to accommodate, but since these spacers put the tie rod further in, the whole shebang can be pushed out further without any special parts. Maybe I'll slot the LCA someday.

Both sides in. I ground out the holes to approximately the same size as the larger one and ground off a mm or so from the outside curved part and the thing went in easy peasy. If I had done that on the other side(or maybe the other side just fits tighter in general on my car) to begin with I would've finished in less than 2 hours easy...

I played with things so the steering wheel is straight, but it definitely doesn't feel right. When it was up in the air things were MAD toe'd in with the tie rods in the middle hole. After putting it all together I found out my already once replaced inner steering rod on the passenger side has a hair of play in it. It's only a hair, but it's exaggerated at the wheel. My rack's still numb/slow on center, I really should just replace it. The steering doesn't really feel any heavier, but the steering/tires chatter when stopped and turning back and forth. I could also feel the chattering/tire slipping when acting like I was autoxing, but I think that may have something to do with the toe being off.

We'll see what the alignment does and comes out to, the car had about a degree of negative camber on both sides before.

Update.

I love the roll correction spacers for the greatly improved stability overall! The rear stays much more planted and the car doesn't roll over onto the outside front wheel anymore, nearly as much. Feels like it should for having stiffer springs and sways on it. The inside rear sticks to the ground a lot longer, anyone with an open diff should DEFINITELY install one of these for more traction coming out of corners. Everyone should, anyway!

The steering is definitely a little heavier, but nothing to write home or complain about. Well worth it. This is on the middle setting.

A downside, that may be due to my one inner steering rod having a hair of play in it, or maybe because I had to "clearance" the spacers so much to get them to fit, is that the wheels just aren't pointed the same direction when turning sharp. Past about half a turn you can feel the tires starting to fight each other, and when parking the car really doesn't want to roll and the tires skip across the ground... Really lame, actually. The toe was set to .1(degrees) in on both sides if I remember correctly. Can't remember off the top of my head right now, but well within factory spec of .05-.20? It almost feels like the alignment is off though, I get a hair of pulling to the right under braking, but that could be one of many things.



On another note, more engine related note... The H cam is back in, the engine and exhaust are quieter, smoother, low end power is up, top end power is similar but maybe down, don't know don't care. Idle didn't improve as much as I thought it would, but it's definitely better(still at 1000rpm).

Secondly... LH tuning is getting easier and easier! One of the guys on ECUproject.com(ipdown) has made a program that allows you to read/adjust some of the things in the ECU chips like the main fuel map, idle speed at different temperatures, and other misc. stuff that's not fully developed. The chip I have in my car right now is one I based off of a stock chip but modified to copy a blend of adjusted stuff from other chips I've run in the past. So far I'm liking it a lot, but it does still have the lean low rpm bog to some extent that I've always suffered with every 951 based chip I've run. There'll be a new program out within the next month that will give much more control and info about what everything does and should make it that much more like a fully programmable ECU. Super cool.

Also, with that ECU chip in I am also able to run my more advanced ignition chip that I was having detonation problems with previously... Granted, temps are cool right now, but it's definitely allowing more timing without detonating at quick WOT from cruise applications.

Wow good stuff man!

Im excited about the lh2.4 stuff you are talking about. And i personally cant wait until i can afford some type of roll correction quick steer fix.

good stuff man, keep us updated.

Yeah the LH 2.4 stuff is sweet. my car is running better than ever with the help of the ecuproject people (Ipdown, blabla and others). They have done a lot to make it possible. idles like stock with 630 cc injectors and 016 amm etc..

Have you talked to PSI to see if they can tune and make a custom chip for your car? They do pretty good work...

Well, my idle definitely isn't like stock, but the car definitely drives better... Haha, what cam are you using JW? There's a lot more to tune yet, but I don't want to keep bugging people to make adjustments for me. I'm looking forward to finding out what this new version of LH editor is going to be like.

Jered, even without the quick steer I'd love to have the roll correction. The quick steer is just another nice bonus that comes with it . Now if only the tires pointed in the same direction more often...

About the ECU stuff, it is definitely super bad ass. It'll never be as fine tuned as a fully programmable setup because the hardware is so much older and there's no cam sensor(at this point), but it'll be a lot better than stock. Keep an eye on that website for new stuffs!

I also forgot to mention that I installed a used Denso 100A alternator from Simon. It required opening up the main power eyelet, but otherwise fit(it's super close to the block right now) after tinkering with the original wiring harness to get the oil pressure switch's wiring to come out farther.

More notes I wrote when I swapped in the latest chip:
Also swapped in a stock 951 bin that I modified for higher idle and leaner than stock at higher rpm, less WOT enrichment and a smoothed map with more fuel at higher loads in lower rpm. Car still does lean bogging on quick throttle applications at rpms lower than 2500rpm or so - still waiting for it to finish learning to see where AFRs are at WOT and high rpm. Wideband is also intermittently on the fritz, sometimes doesn't read properly(0-9 instead of 11-19, and not in any sort of order).

The ECU chip should be fully learned by this time, or at least close to it(I haven't been at high rpm much, been trying to get over 20mpg instead... :grr. I'll have to dig out my wideband from under the dash and see what it says sometime.

Another thing that I might do if I stay LH is get an Ostrich 2.0 emulator from www.moates.com that will allow me to plug into the chip socket of the EZK/ECU and just run bins off of the emulator. No burning required and I can trace where the car is running on the maps... I think Simon's going to get one, but I may as well/instead. We'll see. I'm looking forward to seeing the new editing program and what it has to offer.

I have not talked to PSI, but I highly doubt they're well versed in LH2.4 anyway. I'd much rather have control over it myself and I have access to a tuner if I don't think I'm able to get everything out of it. There's lots to be learned still and I want to play with it myself. I feel I'd be able to get a decent tune out of it with proper control over everything and some dyno time, which I also should have some access to.

For roll correction i am tempted to go grab some strut housings off a car in the junkyard, cut the bottom off and weld it onto the bottoms of my struts.

Jerd said:

For roll correction i am tempted to go grab some strut housings off a car in the junkyard, cut the bottom off and weld it onto the bottoms of my struts.

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Ooooh, you may be on to something there.

klr142 said:

Well, my idle definitely isn't like stock, but the car definitely drives better... Haha, what cam are you using JW? There's a lot more to tune yet, but I don't want to keep bugging people to make adjustments for me. I'm looking forward to finding out what this new version of LH editor is going to be like.

...

About the ECU stuff, it is definitely super bad ass. It'll never be as fine tuned as a fully programmable setup because the hardware is so much older and there's no cam sensor(at this point), but it'll be a lot better than stock. Keep an eye on that website for new stuffs!

....

Another thing that I might do if I stay LH is get an Ostrich 2.0 emulator from www.moates.com that will allow me to plug into the chip socket of the EZK/ECU and just run bins off of the emulator. No burning required and I can trace where the car is running on the maps... I think Simon's going to get one, but I may as well/instead. We'll see. I'm looking forward to seeing the new editing program and what it has to offer.

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About the hardware, at 12 MHz the white label boxes are faster than MS1 and slower than MS2. I can't really compare the hardware but i think it should be possible to get things very close to optimal.

I am using the V cam, i don't know how it compares to the more aggressive cams K/H but it gives good results with my setup. It would be really nice to finetune the ignition side of things since that is often overlooked with changing cams/compression/airflow.
It is indeed nice to be able to make the adjustments yourself. Last year I got a 'top853' programmer for my birthday. The Ostrich emu is very nice yeah, i have borrowed one now. The map tracing is great yeah.

I'm very curious about the new software too!

I've had the Ostrich for less than a week and I couldn't be more in love. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean!

I've played with tweaked stock maps for the 951, 935 and 561! I've run my car on all of them, and have even toyed with turning the Lamdba correction off so the car just holds exactly the tune I'm giving it. I've made a map based off the 935 bin that is like perfect AFRs at WOT and great during cruise and idle as well, but it's not super smooth for whatever reason(played with injector constants which may have other effects on other things...).

Last weekend, before playing with chips, etc., the car didn't pass DEQ!!! LAME! I think it may have been a combination of the cat being cold(idling for too long, there was a long line), the cat being smaller and higher flowing than the previous one, the cam being lopier than I remember at idle(I think there might be an issue with my cylinder head, but it's only pure speculation), the custom tune and having an 82 deg. thermostat in place of the 87 deg. one. I totally was not expecting it to fail though. Then again, I've been averaging 19-20mpg for the past few months... Damn cold weather and shorter trips and heavy right foot...

So, I made a factory based 951 bin with the idle speed turned up, the WOT enrichment turned off(makes it too rich at high rpm), leaned out the high load/high rpm area a bit and smoothed out/filled in the high load/low rpm area that was utter crap from the factory. The car's been running GREAT on that bin for the past two days, good power everywhere that it should while still being efficient at lower rpm. Not really going super lean as easily as it would at high loads and low rpm like before either. Stoked!

I'm about to swap an 87 deg. thermostat in, advance the cam a tooth to make up for the shaved head/thin headgasket and see if it'll pass today. If not, hmm...

The next bin I'm going to do will be a continuation on ^that^ one, but with the WOT enrichment turned on for some lower rpm enrichment when I'm asking full caboodle from it. I will also be leaning out the warm up/cold start enrichment a bit, as it's too much right now and causing the car to idle as if it's missing on one cylinder(probably in the 9:1/10:1 AFRs). Another cool trick that I'll be doing to that map is turning the enrichment back on at high temps to try and help prevent detonation and keep the engine cooler! I thought that was a good idea. I don't know if the engine ever gets that hot(100C), but under load on hotter days I'm sure it uses that box on the map at least a few times, bouncing between it and the lower temp box. Should be good and altogether make it more efficient and safer.

Having fun! The car is SUPER dirty though, I really need to get it cleaned up for XXX that's coming up soon!


TL;DR: I got the Ostrich 2.0 emulator and have been having tons of fun with it tuning my car. Runs better than ever. Also failed DEQ before I messed with it, going to try a warmer T-stat and some other stuff to see if I can get through...

Man i need to get the Ostrich. Have you played with the ignition at all?

When tuning fuel stuff can you make it richer in some places and leaner in others? And you mentioned cold start enrichment. My car has run very rich since i disabled my cold start injector.

NICE Kyle, good to see so many improvements in so little time

Jerd said:

When tuning fuel stuff can you make it richer in some places and leaner in others? And you mentioned cold start enrichment. My car has run very rich since i disabled my cold start injector.

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Yeah of course you can alter where it should be rich and where lean

my car has always started crappy with a few of the tuning chips I used, even with stock everything. So nice to be able to make things work like stock (or better than stock ) with the parts that are easily available. Now the starting and warmup is much better too. I tried some things and with the help of a good bin i got from a member here my car got much better throttle response (faster accell enrichment). pulls hard.

Why'd you disable your cold start injector? What kind of disabled? That doesn't make any sense, lol.

I haven't played with ignition yet, I need to sort out the ECU how I want it and then get Simon to burn a chip with that tune on it, then I can plug the Ostrich into the EZK and play with that. I will need to, too, because with the current chip in the EZK I get detonation under extended loads and in cruise when the engine warms up. Hence, the 82 deg. thermostat in it right now... Then again, the ECU's tune seems to have an effect on when it wants to detonate too, because on some of the maps I've run it has detonated even now with the 82* t-stat and other times it is just fine in the same situation. Fun fun!

If you have the Ostrich when I see you next I'd be happy to help tweak things for you and help show you around it.

JW240 said:

my car got much better throttle response (faster accell enrichment). pulls hard.

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I'm sure it uses more fuel, but I need to find out what controls that and tweak it... Some of the time that I get detonation is when I romp on it... Any idea what was tweaked in that bin?

klr142 said:

I'm sure it uses more fuel, but I need to find out what controls that and tweak it... Some of the time that I get detonation is when I romp on it... Any idea what was tweaked in that bin?

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I'll take a look! Not sure which map it is to be honest, still enough to learn on the LH front for me

klr142 said:

Why'd you disable your cold start injector? What kind of disabled? That doesn't make any sense, lol.

I haven't played with ignition yet, I need to sort out the ECU how I want it and then get Simon to burn a chip with that tune on it, then I can plug the Ostrich into the EZK and play with that. I will need to, too, because with the current chip in the EZK I get detonation under extended loads and in cruise when the engine warms up. Hence, the 82 deg. thermostat in it right now... Then again, the ECU's tune seems to have an effect on when it wants to detonate too, because on some of the maps I've run it has detonated even now with the 82* t-stat and other times it is just fine in the same situation. Fun fun!

If you have the Ostrich when I see you next I'd be happy to help tweak things for you and help show you around it.

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The fuel line leaked so i welded the rail shut. I think i left the injector plugged in but it does not spray fuel. Because of this my car has been running pretty damn rich on cold starts.

So, I just failed worse than I did last week. Then I realized that I've gone just over 5000mi on this oil change(good full synthetic), and that most of that has been in cold weather with lots of fuel always being dumped in. I'm going to do a 3k interval in the winter and a 5k interval in the summer methinks... So, this week I'll change the oil, tweak the map some more for fun as I described above, advance the cam a hair more and put a few gallons of e85 in the tank to seal the deal. Should pass with flying colors then, I assume. The car just acts like the cam is too agressive, and I don't remember that being the case. It idles like the RSI NA cam and the ENEM K13 cam did, basically. Aka, super cool with the stock idle speed.

Jerd said:

The fuel line leaked so i welded the rail shut. I think i left the injector plugged in but it does not spray fuel. Because of this my car has been running pretty damn rich on cold starts.

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Odd. I still don't see how it would effect cold start-up. I don't think the car even uses that injector, but I may be wrong.