Lots of reading and scanning this week. I noticed that Engine Coolant Temperature wasnt being measured in the default PID's, it would stay at -40C. Weird, no codes where thrown so I guessed it must have been ok. In addition it was shown ok using the bidirectional controls for idle. I noticed it was set at priority 3, so bumped it up to 1 and low and behold it came to life and now works ok in the scanner. Cool.
My LTFT's were all +10 in the higher ranges, so certainly room for improvement there. Im tempted by an EFILIVE custom OS as it allows dual spark maps and octane/spark scaling dynamically in SpeedDensity (MAFLESS) mode. Only issue is that the OS doesn't support any calibrations from PCM's before 2001. So I downloaded from this excellent Holden Pcm site a stock 2003 Manual R8 Clubsport PCM OS image and Calibrations. After firing up the stock 2000 tune and the 2003 one to compare I noticed not much had changed. There was some alterations higher in the RPM range to the Volumetric Efficiency (VE) table, but nothing stellar, certainly not compared to the GTS tune. There are numbers well over 100 in there. All looked well with the main action required to copy the fuel injector flow rate table over. The 2003 model injectors appear to flow around 10% more. I think from memory 2000 are 26lb/hr and the later years 28lb/hr or there abouts. I guess Ill need to keep an eye on duty cycles, which coincidentally were also not reading accurately. I might have to fiddle about with the scanner to get them reading ok. Again no DTC codes are thrown and the car drives ok so I guess its down to the scanner PID settings.
It was then with a little trepidation that I fired up the tuner and ran a test flash. Some nice warnings about isolating the Class-2 network from the PCM, which I duly accepted and the test worked fine. I ran it again and it went in fine, a power cycle of at least 15sec and then everything fired up 100% no codes or anything, a drive around the block and all is well. I couldnt say I noticed any more power unlike the cleaner air filter, but it seemed a little "fuller" at lower revs, less peaky. I can now mess around the the PCM and know that my tuning can be transferred to the later PCM. Its kind of tempting now to throw a 285KW HSV tune in, which should definately give a little more power, but that will just delay the proper tuning process. Next step Speed Density mode and VE table tuning. Winter is approaching so I need to get my Wideband in while I still can. Being in London the only place to do this is on the driveway!
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
The end of the begining
Is this really the end of the beginning? I hope it is, rather than the beginning of the end.
Ok enough metaphysical claptrap.
First drive since the clean up today. Noticed a decent spot of rust bubbling around what appears to be a crossmember bolt midway down the enginebay, its not come through the paint yet, but she is a cruncher. So I think Ill hack it open and douse it in anti rust/corrosion treatment. Hopefully its not gone right through and its just a surface issue.
With that in mind I booked the 'Orange Pig' (Tiger Gold R8) into Before-n-After in Newbury about 1hr west of here. He is fully booked till late December though. Basically coats the inside and outside of the whole car in a protective coating of Waxoyl and gives a 5 year anti corrosion guarantee. Not bad.
So back to the main theme which is performance modifications and analysis.
I managed some good times today, 5.82, 6.08 and 6.20, quite an improvement on last time.
I have to put most of this down to cleaning the air filter which previously was pretty much like having the engine breathe through a cow-pat.
Also the cold air intake has a large diameter pipe from the airbox going to the shielding which sits over the radiator this was disconnected and basically performing no function. I hooked this back up as well so I guess this will now let quite a bit more cold air into the engine.
EFILIVE was nice enough to replace the parcel which NZ Post now says they have no trace of being posted. A replacement was sent via DHL yesterday and I got a call today to say it was here and the nice VAT man wants £100 off me! Aside from that little pain I am now able to commence tuning from this weekend. Ive done all the free mods I can, its onto the costly stuff now. By all accounts I should expect up to 50KW/65BHP from a tune. Though Im sure it will have to be pretty good to get me that much. Ill be taking it in steps.
Stage one tuning will be to do a lot of scanning and see what is going on, see if I have any knock and take a look at whats going on with the sensors etc. So far the Check engine light hasnt resurfaced so maybe a few long runs has sorted that out. Next will be the VE table and to get rid of all trace of 'Abuse Mode' or 'Torque Management' as it is euphamistically known.
Ok enough metaphysical claptrap.
First drive since the clean up today. Noticed a decent spot of rust bubbling around what appears to be a crossmember bolt midway down the enginebay, its not come through the paint yet, but she is a cruncher. So I think Ill hack it open and douse it in anti rust/corrosion treatment. Hopefully its not gone right through and its just a surface issue.
With that in mind I booked the 'Orange Pig' (Tiger Gold R8) into Before-n-After in Newbury about 1hr west of here. He is fully booked till late December though. Basically coats the inside and outside of the whole car in a protective coating of Waxoyl and gives a 5 year anti corrosion guarantee. Not bad.
So back to the main theme which is performance modifications and analysis.
I managed some good times today, 5.82, 6.08 and 6.20, quite an improvement on last time.
I have to put most of this down to cleaning the air filter which previously was pretty much like having the engine breathe through a cow-pat.
Also the cold air intake has a large diameter pipe from the airbox going to the shielding which sits over the radiator this was disconnected and basically performing no function. I hooked this back up as well so I guess this will now let quite a bit more cold air into the engine.
EFILIVE was nice enough to replace the parcel which NZ Post now says they have no trace of being posted. A replacement was sent via DHL yesterday and I got a call today to say it was here and the nice VAT man wants £100 off me! Aside from that little pain I am now able to commence tuning from this weekend. Ive done all the free mods I can, its onto the costly stuff now. By all accounts I should expect up to 50KW/65BHP from a tune. Though Im sure it will have to be pretty good to get me that much. Ill be taking it in steps.
Stage one tuning will be to do a lot of scanning and see what is going on, see if I have any knock and take a look at whats going on with the sensors etc. So far the Check engine light hasnt resurfaced so maybe a few long runs has sorted that out. Next will be the VE table and to get rid of all trace of 'Abuse Mode' or 'Torque Management' as it is euphamistically known.
Monday, October 24, 2005
First mods
After the lackluster 0-60 times I wasnt surprised to find the air filter corrugations literally filled with dirt. I doubted the K&N had even been looked at in its life. Stock it should be good for 6.2 sec 0-60's. The screws holding the filterbox lid down were rusted through and i had to drill one out to get it off!
Much washing with the hose and rinsing later and it was in much better shape. A more thorough clean is in order when I get some K&N filter oil to recondition it after cleaning.
Oh dear so much for full service history! The main dealer who sold it obviously wasnt interested in anything like preventative maintenance. I suspect the oil was never checked since the last service which was around 5,000 miles ago. The oil level still seems fine after 500 miles. Ill monitor for a little longer, though a full oil change is now planned, and due, especially based on the shocking state of the air filter.
I Contacted EFILIVE to chase the tuning software, I have the LC-1 now, though getting the O2 sensors out of the exhaust may prove impossible as they look well rusted in there. Could be an interesting sequence of events..
The throttle body bypass was quite simple, I plugged the output tube into the input tube bypassing the throttle, didnt need any kit or anything. Also set the airbox up properly as it was all loose and wont have allowed much cold air in. The engine cover is also now removed to help prevent trapping in heat .
So another run of Mr GTech and we will see if the clean up has made any difference. If there is any change its likely to been mainly related to the air cleaner, it was totally clogged!
Much washing with the hose and rinsing later and it was in much better shape. A more thorough clean is in order when I get some K&N filter oil to recondition it after cleaning.
Oh dear so much for full service history! The main dealer who sold it obviously wasnt interested in anything like preventative maintenance. I suspect the oil was never checked since the last service which was around 5,000 miles ago. The oil level still seems fine after 500 miles. Ill monitor for a little longer, though a full oil change is now planned, and due, especially based on the shocking state of the air filter.
I Contacted EFILIVE to chase the tuning software, I have the LC-1 now, though getting the O2 sensors out of the exhaust may prove impossible as they look well rusted in there. Could be an interesting sequence of events..
The throttle body bypass was quite simple, I plugged the output tube into the input tube bypassing the throttle, didnt need any kit or anything. Also set the airbox up properly as it was all loose and wont have allowed much cold air in. The engine cover is also now removed to help prevent trapping in heat .
So another run of Mr GTech and we will see if the clean up has made any difference. If there is any change its likely to been mainly related to the air cleaner, it was totally clogged!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Baseline
Well on collecting the LC-1 today, I managed to do a few 0-60 runs with the g-tech.
2 x 6.52sec runs and a single 6.70sec run. The plan will be to do 3 runs and drop the worst one. So lets call the first baseline run an average of 6.52 sec.
Next mod will be to bypass the TB and remove the engine cover. I saw a dyno showing basically 6 bhp and 7 ft/lb gain from the TB mod. We will see.
A fellow pistonhead has an old O2 sensor for me so Ill post him a fiver to send it back to me.
Im not sure what a stock R8 is meant to do, but the Wanali or whatever tyres at full road pressure probably dont help, nor will the traction control, which I forgot to turn off. Never mind, as long as I do all the rest the same it should at least give a "relative" idea of performance.
Chasing EFILIVE for their scanner as its just gone 10 days. Hopefully its not far away.
2 x 6.52sec runs and a single 6.70sec run. The plan will be to do 3 runs and drop the worst one. So lets call the first baseline run an average of 6.52 sec.
Next mod will be to bypass the TB and remove the engine cover. I saw a dyno showing basically 6 bhp and 7 ft/lb gain from the TB mod. We will see.
A fellow pistonhead has an old O2 sensor for me so Ill post him a fiver to send it back to me.
Im not sure what a stock R8 is meant to do, but the Wanali or whatever tyres at full road pressure probably dont help, nor will the traction control, which I forgot to turn off. Never mind, as long as I do all the rest the same it should at least give a "relative" idea of performance.
Chasing EFILIVE for their scanner as its just gone 10 days. Hopefully its not far away.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Some mileage
Well this week saw me off to Durham and York from my base in the South East. Over 1000 Miles, Looks like I might have to update my annual insurance miles. I managed to get some good runs on the way back the car drives fairly well.
The oil light turned out to be the oil level as suspected. I threw 2L in and will monitor useage over time. I know its common for LS1's use oil so we will see how bad it is, so far so good.
The plan this weekend is to lose the large plastic engine cover and do the throttle body bypass mod as well as look into the 2nd hole mod for the cold air box. Some searching for a vacuum or hose connector pipe will be required to find something that fits.
2nd gear whines somewhat, so Ill do some research. My old 6speed Camaro was a little crunchy and noisy too and that lasted over 3 years till I sold it, so Im not too worried.
Spoke to Steve at Moving Parts they have a great idea, basically for us UK based sods they provide a US delivery address then bulk ship stuff to the UK and do all the customs paperwork etc. Steve said as long as the stuff was over 10Kg it would be worth talking to him and even engines via air were fine. Im still chewing over my list of parts and deciding what I should get if anything. Still waiting for EFILIVE to show, the LC-1 is at the couriers. So Ill collect that on Saturday. Picked that up from a German company, so saves on paying VAT on US sourced items! So far the most sensible idea seems to be a Crane 216/224 Cam. Vinci Performance in the US like them and sell a wide range for 1.8 Rockers.
Failing any sense or at least following a nice month of overtime and travel allowances a set of AFR205 heads (Part #1510) could be on the cards, the only problem with that is where to stop seeing as the intake and everything else needs to come off it seems a good idea to replace the intake manifold and throttle body as well. Means that should the engine blow, Im good to go with a 402 short block!
Im going to wait until I get to grips with EFILIVE and can do a reasonable MAFLESS tune first, then at least if I change anything I can get the car running well afterwards. It looks like a fellow Pistonheads member may be able to provide me with a suitable old connector to wire my LC-1 up to the PCM as well as the EFILIVE scanner. This reminds me. An Over The Radiator Cold Air Intake (OTRCAI) looks like a very good idea, they ram cold air into the intake giving excellent results. I might try my hand at some fibreglass sculpting and save a bit of cash.
After the 1000 Miles, I thought it would be good to see if the indicated 20L/100Km was accurate as this is shocking! So I reset the mileage and now have the figure of 10.33L/100Km (27.65mpg), still not brilliant but not bad considering there was some city driving in there. Ill check out the air filter over the weekend as well and make sure its nice and clean, the screws on the filter housing have just about rusted out and look like nobody has opened it in years. Apparently its a K&N so a clean and re-oil may be in order Im pretty sure I have some oil left over from the Camaro.
The basic plan now is to monitor everything to make sure its all sound and no major expenses are required of a higher priority than a new camshaft or whatever takes my fancy next.
I also plan to use my G-Tech meter to measure 0-60 times and the indicated BHP. Apparently these are quite accurate, but Ill just use them as a relative measure of whats going on. I guess I should "baseline" the car before doing any mods including the throttlebody bypass, so that will be a plan for the weekend too.
The oil light turned out to be the oil level as suspected. I threw 2L in and will monitor useage over time. I know its common for LS1's use oil so we will see how bad it is, so far so good.
The plan this weekend is to lose the large plastic engine cover and do the throttle body bypass mod as well as look into the 2nd hole mod for the cold air box. Some searching for a vacuum or hose connector pipe will be required to find something that fits.
2nd gear whines somewhat, so Ill do some research. My old 6speed Camaro was a little crunchy and noisy too and that lasted over 3 years till I sold it, so Im not too worried.
Spoke to Steve at Moving Parts they have a great idea, basically for us UK based sods they provide a US delivery address then bulk ship stuff to the UK and do all the customs paperwork etc. Steve said as long as the stuff was over 10Kg it would be worth talking to him and even engines via air were fine. Im still chewing over my list of parts and deciding what I should get if anything. Still waiting for EFILIVE to show, the LC-1 is at the couriers. So Ill collect that on Saturday. Picked that up from a German company, so saves on paying VAT on US sourced items! So far the most sensible idea seems to be a Crane 216/224 Cam. Vinci Performance in the US like them and sell a wide range for 1.8 Rockers.
Failing any sense or at least following a nice month of overtime and travel allowances a set of AFR205 heads (Part #1510) could be on the cards, the only problem with that is where to stop seeing as the intake and everything else needs to come off it seems a good idea to replace the intake manifold and throttle body as well. Means that should the engine blow, Im good to go with a 402 short block!
Im going to wait until I get to grips with EFILIVE and can do a reasonable MAFLESS tune first, then at least if I change anything I can get the car running well afterwards. It looks like a fellow Pistonheads member may be able to provide me with a suitable old connector to wire my LC-1 up to the PCM as well as the EFILIVE scanner. This reminds me. An Over The Radiator Cold Air Intake (OTRCAI) looks like a very good idea, they ram cold air into the intake giving excellent results. I might try my hand at some fibreglass sculpting and save a bit of cash.
After the 1000 Miles, I thought it would be good to see if the indicated 20L/100Km was accurate as this is shocking! So I reset the mileage and now have the figure of 10.33L/100Km (27.65mpg), still not brilliant but not bad considering there was some city driving in there. Ill check out the air filter over the weekend as well and make sure its nice and clean, the screws on the filter housing have just about rusted out and look like nobody has opened it in years. Apparently its a K&N so a clean and re-oil may be in order Im pretty sure I have some oil left over from the Camaro.
The basic plan now is to monitor everything to make sure its all sound and no major expenses are required of a higher priority than a new camshaft or whatever takes my fancy next.
I also plan to use my G-Tech meter to measure 0-60 times and the indicated BHP. Apparently these are quite accurate, but Ill just use them as a relative measure of whats going on. I guess I should "baseline" the car before doing any mods including the throttlebody bypass, so that will be a plan for the weekend too.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The begining..
Well its done. My lengthy deliberation over a UK based Holden derrived rear wheel driven vehicle is complete. I collected a Tiger Gold 2000 Model Year HSV Clubsport R8 on the 8th October 2005.
After being tempted many times with various 04 Monaro's I decided that I would save a few quid and get a few included "goodies" and go with an HSV.
Around a hundred of these were imported under the GTS and GTS-R nomenclature from 99. Recent UK SVA vehicle import rules have quashed any more without costly testing.
A Monaro would have been 2 doors, while it has the Holden "Calais" level of specification and the GTS or rather, HSV Clubsport R8 has the lower "Exec" level the R8 has a few more benefits.
So far Ive spent £60 on a wheel alignment. Aircond can wait till next summer. Rear demister will be more important with winter approaching.
However the best part is the EFILIVE v7.3 FlashScan kit winging its way over.
This will be used to remap the PCM and will prove useful in determining the real reason for the intermittent Check Engine Light.
Ive done a lot of reading and intend to start of with the narrow band tuning using the LTRIM learnt adjustments to make itterative adjustments to the VE table. Good info for tuning is available on loads of sites like;
www.efilve.com
www.ls1tech.com
www.ls1-australia.com
www.ls1.com.au
Plus loads of others. An LC-1 Innovative Wideband O2 sensor is on the cards based on how I go with EFILIVE.
Anyway the car drives ok, has some el cheapo tyres but they still have tread so will do the trick for now.
Possible future mods are;
After being tempted many times with various 04 Monaro's I decided that I would save a few quid and get a few included "goodies" and go with an HSV.
Around a hundred of these were imported under the GTS and GTS-R nomenclature from 99. Recent UK SVA vehicle import rules have quashed any more without costly testing.
A Monaro would have been 2 doors, while it has the Holden "Calais" level of specification and the GTS or rather, HSV Clubsport R8 has the lower "Exec" level the R8 has a few more benefits.
- Uprated suspension
- Uprated brakes
- Lower ratio 3.73:1 final drive
- 4 Doors
- 1.8 Billet rockers
- Uprated MAF (Initial thought to be 85mm, turned out to be Stock 75mm munched by Granatelli to flow more albiet without matching MAF calibrations in the PCM)
- 1-5/8 Headers in Tri-y configuration. 4-2-1.
- 2.55" Dual exhaust with 200 cell cats
- Failed rear window heater
- Failed AirCond (This was brought to the sellers attention and supposidly fixed.. NOT)
- Occasional check engine light (Apparently this is the o2 sensors which dont like UK temperatures, this doesnt sound right to me. But more on this later)
So far Ive spent £60 on a wheel alignment. Aircond can wait till next summer. Rear demister will be more important with winter approaching.
However the best part is the EFILIVE v7.3 FlashScan kit winging its way over.
This will be used to remap the PCM and will prove useful in determining the real reason for the intermittent Check Engine Light.
Ive done a lot of reading and intend to start of with the narrow band tuning using the LTRIM learnt adjustments to make itterative adjustments to the VE table. Good info for tuning is available on loads of sites like;
www.efilve.com
www.ls1tech.com
www.ls1-australia.com
www.ls1.com.au
Plus loads of others. An LC-1 Innovative Wideband O2 sensor is on the cards based on how I go with EFILIVE.
Anyway the car drives ok, has some el cheapo tyres but they still have tread so will do the trick for now.
Possible future mods are;
- Cam
- Heads
- Intake Manifold
- MAFless tune
- RIP Shifter
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