Mediocre 242

[Chaseb124]

just got BBS RZ's for mine, but there 15x7 i made the mistake of doing a 195/45 even though the car is lowered is looks really weird, so im going to go up to either a 195/55r15 or a 205/55r15 I like the very mild stretch of the 195 with the wheels i got but im not sure which to go with, never the less love your car and build, keep it up!

[t8fanning]

Finally time for a real update. I drove the car for the first time on MS3Pro today. Straight to the car wash.





It started right up and drove great. I even sprayed the engine bay down. Car started right up no problems after. I'm really happy about that. I'm also really happy that my rear VSS based on the tone ring I made works perfectly. It exactly matches my GPS speedo, and is much more accurate than my stock cable speedo.

I copied the tables from my microsquirt, which is probably why it did so well. It did take a bit of messing around to get it to start. Initially, it would crank but not catch. I switched it from COP to Wasted COP and it started right up, indicating the ignition was 360 degrees out. So I added 360 degrees to my trigger angle, and it started right back up after I changed it back to COP.

Here's a picture of my fuse box and MS placement. I made a box to allow the fuse box to fit under the kick panel. The interior wiring is a little messier than I originally hoped, but oh well. I need to get some more DR-25 and cover all the wires as well as get a DTHD connector for the main power to the fuse box. Everything else is removable, so I'd like to make the fuse box fully removable if I ever need to pull it out.





Here's a dash shot. The switches left to right are driving lights (tied to high beams, switch lights up only when lights are active), launch control activation switch (again switch lights up only when launch control is active), rear demist, traction control (lights up when the ECU is actively adjusting timing for traction, haven't actually used it yet), hazards, and my tuning interface (top USB is for AEM gauge interface, bottom USB is for MS3). I recently got a Stack oil pressure gauge so I could get rid of the stock pressure sender and use a modern sensor. It works great, but is much brighter than the rest of the gauges. I won't do anything to it, just wait until I change the rest of my gauges to Stack. The wiring is already made for the gauges in the future, so I'll have no problem adding them.



I also recently had some new turbo coolant lines made, and I'm really happy with them.





Now I need to turn up the boost, and tune. I need to do both a pump gas boost map and an e85 map. 400 whp shouldn't be too hard to reach on e85. I also need to get tires and adapters for my LM's and then I should be ready for IPD in June. On another note, does anyone know where to get like 2" p clamps? the ones on the firewall aren't quite big enough for my battery cable and wiring bundle.

[Harlard]

Yep. I see it now. Definitely mediocre. Mmmhmmmmm...

[t8fanning]

Went to the drags for the first time in my life. I am kinda disappointed with my results; I was really hoping to get in the 13's, but just couldn't do it. I guess that's what happens when you have 195/60r15 all seasons and live at 5000 feet. First time I ever pull up to the line, I drive right through the water pit because I didn't think you could go around it. I also didn't do any burnouts because I'm on all seasons. I felt real dumb. I did smash on some cobalt SS and big diesels on the drive home which made up for it though.



Trap speeds were pretty good for spinning both tires for the first quarter of the track. I really need some tires.

[cosbySweater]

Practice and you're in the low 12s high 11s

[t8fanning]

That's my goal. With decent tires and a good launch I think that's really doable. Plus I still have lots of untapped power as I haven't tuned it for e85 yet.

[adomz]

That's a cool car!!

[ZVOLV]

Those 60 ft times are really slow. Should be mid 2's on a ok launch. Low 2's would be good. Under 2 would be great.

[t8fanning]

Yeah they are. It's because of my really skinny tires. I had to treat the tree as a stoplight essentially. Even then I spun through third gear. I bet I can get it below 2 with launch control, traction control, and some decent tires.

[linuxman51]

launch control and tires will help. you may also want to play with boost by gear if you can get a VSS input into the pro.

[t8fanning]

Does traction control make that much of a difference? I've got rear VSS from a tone ring on the diff, and I'll have front VSS as soon as I make a bracket to hold an ABS sensor to my non ABS knuckle.

I'll have to try out boost by gear and see how it helps.

[Duder]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

Does traction control make that much of a difference? I've got rear VSS from a tone ring on the diff, and I'll have front VSS as soon as I make a bracket to hold an ABS sensor to my non ABS knuckle.

I'll have to try out boost by gear and see how it helps.

It won't make much of a difference if you can't break traction off the line with whatever new sticky tires you decide on. If you can easily break traction, then a properly tuned TCS will help keep the tires right at the limit of adhesion. You would want to tune it yourself and allow some slip, but I think you could obtain the best theoretical launch with traction control, since it can react much faster than the typical human brain/right foot system.

The car is looking good!

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by Duder

It won't make much of a difference if you can't break traction off the line with whatever new sticky tires you decide on.

The car is looking good!

That's true. I guess I'll have to get some tires and see.

Thanks!

[linuxman51]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

Does traction control make that much of a difference? I've got rear VSS from a tone ring on the diff, and I'll have front VSS as soon as I make a bracket to hold an ABS sensor to my non ABS knuckle.

I'll have to try out boost by gear and see how it helps.

traction control can only do so much, but you can set it up to allow a certain amount of slip. it's not going to be a world changer if you don't have the tires for the task, as I've discovered in the v8 wagon

[t8fanning]

I had an annoying oil leak at the oil filter sandwich plate banjo bolts. I've replace the banjo bolts, crush washers, and even replaced the sandwich plate with a spare I had lying around, but the leak persisted. Finally, yesterday I faced the banjo mounting bosses on the mill and replaced the crush washers. If this doesn't work, I'm going to use AN fittings and new hoses.

[t8fanning]

Bad picture I know.

But finally I can listen to something other than the radio. I'm really happy with this head unit. Cheap, compact, clean and the orange doesn't really clash imo. Bluetooth is great.

I also made a new rear passenger brake hard line because my stock one was leaking from the flare at the caliper somehow.

[Uncleknucklez]

Originally Posted by t8fanning

Bad picture I know.

But finally I can listen to something other than the radio. I'm really happy with this head unit. Cheap, compact, clean and the orange doesn't really clash imo. Bluetooth is great.

I also made a new rear passenger brake hard line because my stock one was leaking from the flare at the caliper somehow.

I like that head unit, manufacturer?

[t8fanning]

It's a Continental tr7412ub-or. VDO makes the same one, but backlit in blue rather than orange. This one has bluetooth, radio, USB and and aux input.

[t8fanning]

Good news and bad news.

Good news is that I now have a front wheel VSS signal for traction control. Thanks Karl for the sensor mount idea. Here are some pictures. Welds aren't great looking but they hold the sensor fine.









Bad news is I'm pretty sure my clutch is slipping. I went to test traction control by doing a burnout and didn't spin the tires but definitely was burning something. The datalog also supports my theory.



Note VSS 1 (rear wheels) and VSS2 (front wheel) match almost exactly and are low for the RPM and gear. Additionally MS is calculating that I downshifted based on my RPM and speed but I only upshifted.

After the attempted burnout when I went WOT in 2nd or 3rd I would hear the same slipping sound and experience the same lack of power that was present during the attempted burnout. When I got home I looked at my clutch cable to see if the throw out bearing was rubbing the plate fingers with the pedal released. It definitely was, so I adjusted the cable to move the throw out bearing off the fingers. Testing again produced the same results.

Anything else I could do to try and improve the situation? I currently have a Yoshifab clutch and PP rated to 350 ftlbs but on the stock flat flywheel. I think I'm going to try and get a fancy Yoshifab flywheel and clutch before IPD.

[Tuff240]

Originally Posted by cosbySweater

Practice and you're in the low 12s high 11s

Going to take more than practice to get there.

[blkaplan]

nice head unit

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by blkaplan

nice head unit

Thanks. I like the functionality and the looks, but the mismatched orange lighting with the stock green is mildly annoying.

[cosbySweater]

Originally Posted by Tuff240

Going to take more than practice to get there.

If he gets traction he should get there easily. Before the t5 shatters hopefully!

[t8fanning]

Originally Posted by cosbySweater

Before the t5 shatters hopefully!

The T5 will never shatter. Fingers crossed.

[Harlard]

If it shatters a GeForce would be sweet as chocolate balls.