Slow and Steady Peformance Mods and Results

[mchieff]

I thought i read when i first got the car that ~400 was the limit for the drivetrain. I did read everything i could and some of the info around is idea's from when they first became eligible for import so it sounds like i'm wrong.
I'd love to be wrong actually as it turns out it isn't that hard to start getting close to that number as Steve is showing

 

[TME_Steve]

I heard of 800hp for the manual box.... Not 100% sure about the diff strength and there seems to be varying opinion on the autos from "they are ridiculously weak and struggle with stock power" to "they are really strong provided they are maintained properly and have a decent cooler fitted".

I reckon the stock turbos are going to run out of puff at about 370hp. Estimating losses on the dyno I am guessing I had about 340hp-345hp last run, and hopefully about 360 currently, the question is how much more boost the miniature turbos can deliver and whether well thought out hard pipes have much benefit.... The real surprise was the torque benefit of the cooler....

 

[bradc]

The gearbox and transfer case are the same as an EVO 4-6. As long as you don't launch hard or do power shifting they will handle rediculous amounts of power.

The AYC diff can explode with launches at stock power but only if you're really nasty. Driven around a track or normally on the road with less than 400hp they will last for a long time, don't expect them to handle high rpm launches though.

 

[qball]

600 x 300 FMIC went in over the weekend. Gave it a quick tune today and played with boost a little. I only spent an hour or so on it but it feels a tiny bit laggier down low to be honest but the 5-6 degrees more advance and 1 more psi so far felt damn good at high loads! MAF readings have so far gone up by about 8% over previous efforts surprisingly even at 3500RPM and timing changes help without changing airflow so....

Anyone who says changing to a bigger cooler is a waste of time with stock turbos doesn't know what they are talking about. Still a bit of playing around with boost and advance before it goes back on the dyno and I want to mount the cooler a little better and fit a water spray and maybe injection also.

Not far off running out of pulsewidth now either....

That all said I'd really like to have a good look at how well Ivan's kit fits cos the 300 is really a bit high as I didn't want to and haven't cut the radiator support. Does anyone in Sydney have one fitted I could have a look at some time?

I didn't want to hit the support below the bonnet catch with a hammer either but there was no way around that

I'll try to get it on the dyno in the next couple of weeks and give you all some new numbers....

Thats exactly what Merlin told me when tuning my stock car. The missing bigger cooler cost me 5-6 degrees of timing

 

[TME_Steve]

Less timing and less boost available (ie the point where winding the boost up actually achieves something is now higher up the scale)

 

[unclepaulie]

the extra 40mm of height makes that much difference?

 

[TME_Steve]

Without cutting the radiator support mine just pushes down on the bottom of the plastic front bumper, could cut the plastic I guess also. Just thinking if Ivan's kit bolts in perfectly that size would be a better option. I imagine it would make SFA performance difference between the 260 and the 300.

 

[TME_Steve]

OK a bit of an update....

On Thursday morning I had a few hours on the dyno, problem was the first hour was spent checking load/rev points for knock and at 4500RPM 160% load I made a really nice 4inch long split in the bottom radiator hose! Fairly dramatic event seeing 110-115 degree fluid burst out of an engine bay and fill the dyno room with green water droplets.... Even the laptop inside the car got water on it through the windows. I can now vouch for the effectiveness of the air change rate at MRT's dyno room, the steam cleared in seconds! (the water stains will probably be on things for longer) It looks like one of the cheapy hose clamps had cut into the silicon and weakened it (the other end is also cut into). Glad that didn't happen on my way to Coonabarabran shortly after!

With only an hour and a half of dyno time left, I was off to the nearest parts supplier and found a hose that kinda matched with a little bit of cutting from one end. After I got it, I thought what was it from? Answer:Magna V6. Quickly fitted it in and filled it up with fresh fluids and with a half tuned Evo X patiently waiting to get on the dyno I only had time for two quick runs (without a final tune). Anyway the results weren't bad....

First power run on my mid boost level of pretty constant 15psi gave more power EVERYWHERE than my pre intercooler runs with 16.5psi at low rpm with 423Nm of torque and 208.5kW at the hubs.

The second power run on my high boost level of 17-18psi tapering off to 15 by 6000RPM gave 456Nm peak! and over 440Nm between 3300 and 4500RPm before the turbos die and I hit a peak power of 210.9kW. I am thinking that 210-215kW with std pipework and my exhaust is the limit as I get above 205kW from 4500RPM to 6000RPM. Sure is a grunter and with better matched turbos hmmmm....

Anyway, maybe a bit more to be had with more time but 211kW at the hubs is not bad for Pad filter, supplementary CAI (which is probably useless), decent EBC, full exhaust (with a pretty restrictive rear muffler - triple flow) 600 x 300 intercooler, Evo X BOV and ECU tune. Maybe 215 is do-able but that would be it, the tune isn't that far off.... Using my previous conversions this takes it to 265ishkW and 575Nm....

Yes it feels quick. Especially from 3-4.5k but it could do with a bit of a tune.

I'll tune it a bit more on the road and get it back there as soon as I can find the time.

Then it will be custom hotside pipework, water sprays, maybe meth injection then unless I go E85 starting to run out of options before bigger turbos....

 

[bradc]

Sounds good, and you're getting good results

 

[Slinz]

Nice one! Good results for the mods list. I guess you'll soon be running out of stuff to do, and be looking for a couple of turbos

 

[TME_Steve]

Yeah a pair of roller bearing garrets would be nice but at that point I am thinking internals would be worth playing with also which is starting to get lots of $$$....

Coming up soon list:

Get around to scanning the last dyno graphs - Ha!

Get the boost mapping and ignition tune spot on

Try my straight through rear muffler instead of the triple flow

Water Spray

Another Dyno run as these changes can be turned on and off or swapped on and off on the dyno

Turbo to intercooler pipe work (clean up that y piece especially)

Intercooler to engine pipework

Intake y-piece to front turbo pipework

 

[TME_Steve]

This is the last run at 16.5psi tapering to 14ish pre intercooler vs now runing at 15 all the way (except for the deliberate high gate pressure spike when it comes on boost, can afford the spike on this map)

This is the last run at 16.5psi tapering to 14ish pre intercooler vs now runing at 17-18 tapering to 15psi (note no gate pressure spike as the boost is already at it's limit on this map)

This is the first run I did when I got the car and it did a 13.7 quarter compared to now....

 

[king_panther]

Was that your car spotted the other day at MRT then?

 

[TME_Steve]

Wow it's been nearly a year since I updated this, since this time I've done a bit to the car but not much engine wise.... It now has coil on plug (thanks to Naughtika's efforts) and the car has been flashed about a million times (I really am starting to wonder how many times an ecu can be flashed it must be a lot) and the fuel and ignition maps etc are well and truly sorted. I now use a dyno that is much closer to me which ruins my consistency ideas but I did a run on it as the mods were on the 211kW run above for a new base line. It doesn't make significantly more power than before (5kW at most) as I've been concentrating on other things of late.

Anyway today I put a grimspeed 3 port solenoid in, controlled by the factory ecu. It runs much more stably than the factory bleed solenoid does. After a couple of runs to get a feel for whether I was looking for the 30% duty cycle range or the 70% duty cycle range the second run of trying to get 17-18psi at low rpm and tapering to 14psi by 4500RPM looked like this (Ignore the 7.35AFR I didn't have the wideband connected to the logger).

A few more goes had it looking like this,

which is pretty much where I was aiming for. So anyone who wants their boost controlled across the RPM range with less boost on cold engines and less boost on knock detection can now do this. We have been able to control boost with the factory ECU for some time now but many cars (something like 50%) have had a slight plumbing change which has rendered the factory controller useless, not anymore, buy one of these for around $100 and you have as good (and in some ways better) control as any EBC can offer. The only downside is that until someone gets around to writing code to allow switching boost maps with an input to the ECU, unless you can flash the car to change your boost settings you have to stick with the one boost map.

My car:
'99 Manual Facelift Type S in Trigger
Interior: Factory recaros, retrimmed momo wheel, retrimmed handbrake lever and boot, momo gear lever, mmcs, factory carbon trim, short shifter, usual stereo stuff, dynamat in the doors, extra sound deadening in the boot floor (can be removed).
Plans: somehow integrate aftermarket GPS into the dash, clean it and new car mats

Exterior: Evo9 MR Forged BBS alloys, clark rubber front lip, debadged except for VR-4 logo's, front windows tinted to match factory glass, removed mesh from the front bar, FMIC sprayed gunmetal grey. Sometimes the appearance gets significantly modified with the addition of roof racks and a pod.
Plans: A transformance sticker (but they don't exist yet), clark rubber sideskirts, twin exhausts if I can make a canon fit around the AYC pump, maybe an evo bonnet but I'm going off the idea, bit of blanking around the intercooler behind the bar to cover up a few pipes....

Suspension: Brand new (well about 5k ago) factory lower control arms & castor arms, urethane bushed upper control arms, Selby swaybars set softest at the front and stiffest at the rear (could still do with more rear stiffness, it kinda four wheel drifts rather than getting the tail out like a similarly modded EVO 9 does), whiteline drop links, gussetted rear lower control arm swaybar brackets (tore the factory ones) factory struts. Rear strut brace.
Plans: Bilstein coilovers possibly revalved if need be with custom springs, probably about 6kg/mm front and 4kg/mm rear, underbody front and rear braces. now thiking 6/5....

Brakes: Evo8 (I think) calipers, DBA 5000 two piece slotted front rotors (you would not believe how much lighter than 4000 series these are), DBA Street or 4000 series slotted rotors rear (Not sure), Ferodo DS2500 pads all round but on the road I run Hawk HPS pads on the outside of the front rotors (stops the squeal), Endless RF 650 brake fluid. Braided lines.
Plans: Not much, maybe a braced master cylinder but it's not a priority.

Engine: Full 3" exhaust with 2.5" frontpipes (windsor exhaust system) with a triple flow rear muffler for road use, straight through muffler is still here and one day I might put it back on to see if it goes any better with it (might be a kw or 2, that'd be it I think), 600 x 300 x 76 FMIC from Ebay (outperforms almost every other intercooler I see on these), PFL hotside pipe so the intercooler bolts up and no I did not cut the impact bar, factory pipework, EVO X BOV, E-Boost 2 EBC (most of the time), Ralliart panel filter, Walbro 255lph fuel pump, 3sx fuel loop between the fuel rails additional intake to the bottom of the factory airbox, coil on plug (Naughtika's), Denso IK22 plugs gapped to 0.8mm, flashed (many many times) 7202 ECU with Kenneth's ROM mods so extended fuel and ignition maps, launch control with antilag, NLTS is coded in but no clutch switch yet. I wasn't sure where to put it but it also has a power steering cooler, it happend while changiong intercoolers so in here is where it's going.
Plans in order: Custom hard pipe everywhere from replacing the intake to the plastic pipe that connects to the throttle body, blanking plates to divert the air through the intercooler, water spray, water/meth injection, twin stainless exhaust right through maybe with Varex canons, E85 tune (that's a recent decision), then maybe a turbo upgrade, not sure what yet but either TD04 x 2, something else x 2 (could be anything but probably not Garrett) or something big x 1, If I break it by then maybe a new engine with forged bits but thats hopefully not required.

Drivetrain: Custom full face organic clutch with heavey duty pressure plates from Penrith Brake and Clutch (I don't launch and I hate buttons), std manual gear box, std AYC diff (hasn't broken yet but I have a spare).
Plans: SAYC rear diff and seeing as it can be done maybe ACD, I'd love a different set of ratios, with longer 1st, 2nd and 5th but that's not likely to ever happen.

 

[M0R81U5]

Very comprehensive Steve, nice work.

Every conversation I have with you, I walk away either scratching my head or with a new bit of useful info

I want to see you do an E85 tune BTW

 

[unclepaulie]

nice work steve. boost seems much flatter!

hook me up with a transformance sticker lol

 

[wendnarb]

E85? I'm interested! Haha. What Size injectors would you be looking at putting in or not sure yet.

When are your exhaust plans for? I would prob be interested in swapping my varex cannon for the old system you replace + cash your way, if you are.

 

[TME_Steve]

Thanks Mick and Paul, another member asked me about E85 and I'd always been thinking about it but I now think I really should do this on my car....

As for injectors you need approximately 55% more flow to make the same power with E85, so probably 750cc, 650cc is really less than 10% more flow than stock and 550cc is less than stock for that fuel, so if there wasn't a turbo upgrade in the pipeline I'd probably go 650, but there is always the possibility of that so 750 would be safer which should be enough for about 500hp, we'll see.... Hmmm you have a varex cannon Ben? What size is it? Exhaust will be one of the last things I do before E85 so it's a while off, in a perfect world it would be 6 months away, in reality who knows....

 

[MackTheKnife]

Nice list of mods Steve.

Jus reading your suspension mods, you have the swaybars soft front and hard rear and are getting more of a four wheel drift scenario than power slide. Going to 6kg per mm/5kg per mm or even 6kg per mm/6kg per mm instead of 6kg per mm/4kg per mm with your custom springs should give you more arse out slidey action and help with stiffening the rear up.

Also interested to see how you go on E85 as it'll be a mod i'll consider once E85 is more widespread. Read an interesting write up on a Volvo forum of all places: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=73061

 

[unclepaulie]

e85 will be awesome if we can get it to work, but the entire fuel system might need to be redone.

i remember reading a build thread of a RB26/30DET powered R33 gtst, it had essentially two fuel systems and a computer so he could switch between PULP and E85. expensive but top of the line system.