3.4 build part 2!

[JeremyD]

Glad you will make it ralph - I think I owe you a beer anyway.

[efhughes3]

Hey, it's more than a threesome....I've got my hotel too.

[JeremyD]

OK - so ralph, jeff, ed - first round is on me.

[Carrera3.5L]

Originally Posted by JeremyD

OK - so ralph, jeff, ed - first round is on me.

I have a feeling it is going to be an expensive evening for all of us...

Jeff and Ed will have their motors built, running and tuned by then (right guys?) and we can all bench race. Heck, Jeremy can give us all rides on the beach in his cab and pretend its Paris-Dakar...

Ralph

[Jeff Alton]

Oh, boy, here we go!! I should be tuned and the car should be in the paint shop then.

Ed seems to be moving right along so......... how did your p/c set measure out?

Cheers

[efhughes3]

Originally Posted by Jeff Alton

Ed seems to be moving right along so......... how did your p/c set measure out?

Cheers

My new buddy George @ Olllies confirmed my initial inspection of my pistons being well withing spec. I did have a bit of taper to the cylinders which he expected to see, but is machining a groove into them for an additional seal to safeguard.

I've got mixed emotions in that I'm not going to buy new P's and C's, but I'll take the savings in cost. I am having him drill the heads for twin plugs, however. I figure when I get moved to Cali-91octane-fornia next year, I'm going to want the benefit of having 12 plugs even though I'll be stock compression and displacement. In the meantime, I'll run dummy plugs and stock ignition.

I sure hope my engine is done by then, but with my travel schedule, I miss a lot of opportunity to work on the engine. The plus side is we're going into fall, which means cool evenings to work on the motor a bit when I am home and not have to run my garage A/C all day to keep it habitable out there.

[Carrera3.5L]

Originally Posted by efhughes3

I've got mixed emotions in that I'm not going to buy new P's and C's, but I'll take the savings in cost.

You're going to need that savings for RR3...

I haven't met Jeremy in person yet, but I've witnessed Jeff knocking them back with little difficulty...

Not to totally derail Jeff's thread on his beautiful motor, but have you tried to find some Euro pistons to go into your cylinders? If you are twin-plugging anyway it may be worth the extra expense if you can find them separate from cylinders. Just a thought...I can spend your money on your motor or at the bar, your choice.

Ralph

[efhughes3]

Yep, I've been keeping my eyes open for some Euros, but have only found full sets of P's and C's. I did find one set for about $2500, but figured I'd only go that route if mine didn't spec out.

[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by Carrera3.5L

You're going to need that savings for RR3...

I haven't met Jeremy in person yet, but I've witnessed Jeff knocking them back with little difficulty...


Ralph

Truth be told, I was having a hard time keeping up with Ralph.....

Okay, so now we just need to figure out where we are meeting! I can find Ralph in a crowd but not so sure I could pick Ed or Jeremy out of a crowd of two......

Off to bed to dream about dynos and motor sounds I have not heard in a long long long time... wish me luck tomorrow!

Cheers

[efhughes3]

Good luck on the Dyno! Can't wait to see the results of your tuning.

[Jeff Alton]

Well, I think I had a very entertaining day today! The motor made 385hp! Okay, it didn't and in fact we never even did a run where we looked at power....

Flat deck showed up in the morning and we loaded it on and off to the shop. Here it is sitting in front of the shop awaiting its initial tune....





We hooked up the laptop and Marco went through all the basic parameters to make sure it was good. Turns out some dunba$$ (with the intitials JA) wired the TPS backwards. Once that was sorted out it was time to light the fire.

We started her up and set the initial timing curve and AFR. The I adjusted the throttles so she would idle at 1000rpm. Gave it a high idle (2K) for a short bit and then changed the oil.

Drove, yes I actually drove my car after 2 years and 3 days, up onto the dyno and started to set more parameters into the computer while we did some accel/decel runs to seat the rings.

Here she is up on the dyno....




We then gave it multiple runs up the RPM range under load and decel under load and did some timing checks and monitored the AFR. Marco was hard at work on the laptop while I manned the timing light and the water sprayer which I used from time to time to spray a mist into the cooling fan.

Let it cool down after 20mins of running and repeat the process twice more.

Once we were done it was running really well, especially considering the throttles are not balanced and the tune that is now in it only basic so I can go put some miles on it on the road. (gonna have to put the windshield back in I guess)

Next I took it for the obligatory rip down the road with out plates and no windshield...... Any one know why my shorts were wet when that was over??

The throttle response is unbelievable. It comes off idle and takes a load very well, no hesitation. So far I am pleased with the way it is running and will now get it aligned and put some miles on it.

Flat decked it home and then fired it up again and drove it into the garage where it is sleeping quietly now. The one thing I noticed is that it did not run as well after it had cooled off and I was pulling it into the driveway, so on the next session the "below normal operating temps" tunning will be looked at.

We are planning another day to dial it once there are some miles on it and then we will see how strong it is.

Cheers

[Jeff Alton]

On a side note, so far (cross fingers) it is leak free. Oil temps never went above 195.

Another thing the tuner was amazed at is the intake air temp. He builds and tunes forced induction Japanese cars (2 and 3 rotor mazdaa and a wide variety of nissan and toyotas). The ambient temp was 23 celsius. Intake airtemp never went above 25 celsius. He was amazed!

Cheers

[Shawn 357]

That is great that you were able to fire it up! Looking forward to finding out what this car ends up putting down. Maybe one day we'll have a chance to both run Laguna Seca at the same time ; )
My car is about a month or so from paint.......I should have rebuilt the engine at the same time that I did the body work because it is much harder to have it down now since I drove it for a while.

[Facey]

i spit up some beer when i first read 385, lol... imediatley thinking i put together the wrong engine!!!

glad to hear yours is up and running... the more i seen those wheels the more i like them, kinda a modern mini-lite IMO.

[Facey]

any updates? it must have logged 40 hours on the dyno by now :P

[Jeff Alton]

Putting the winshield back in tomorrow then hooking up the dual AFR meters and then off to umm break it in a little more on the street before heading to the dyno again.

Cheers

[911 tweaks]

sounds great Jeff!

Can you post what kind of a dual AFR set up you will be using? I want to do one myself on a build I am doing.

Great job you are doing!!

Bob

[Jeff Alton]

I am using two LC-1's, a toggle switch, and a small square digital gauge.

Cheers

[911 tweaks]

do you have any pics of your set up?
Why did you choose this way to do this? Is there a way NOT to do this?
Thanks, Bob

[Jeff Alton]

I will have pics when it shows up in the mail!

I went this route because with my current exhaust the two banks do not mix, therefore I wanted to see what both banks were doing. I also did not want to litter the dash with two AFR gauges, so I got the one very small square digital one.

My ECU has a wideband upgrade, but it was more dollars and would only use one sensor.

Here is where I got it, nice friendly folks.

http://www.dynotunenitrous.com/store/scripts/prodlist.asp?idcategory=44

Cheers