Mafless part 1

Thanks to Michael Clark for helping fit the Pacemaker last week.

After fitting the exhaust I was logging fuelling and spark. No issues with spark. But I noted O2 was running lean around 2000rpm then from 4000rpm on.

Hmm, so to adjust the maf flow air model, or do things properly and tune the virtual ve polynomials first.

Well it didnt take me long to decide to go straight to mafless. I know I need to remove the maf due to the potential restriction it represents. But stage 1 was to leave it in place and just fail the maf in the ECU.

This basically entails telling the ECU that any response from the maf signals a failure, rather than the default extreme values etc.

Still losing 5kpa air pressure somewhere, but at least now the tune is in place to allow maf removal without issue.

So first logging showed fuelling to be out by 7% over around 3500rpm and much the same at lower RPM.

Fuel variation from VVE

This makes sense that most gains are at the upper RPM range. So next is to check throttle is opening properly under throttle and remove the MAF..

..Yay, mafless, BUT!

kpa still reads off 4kpa! Well I was told that would be the case. But seeing is believing.

So maf can go back in, though now its tuned mafless, maybe it will remain out to allow for future changes.

Geway, a fellow Kiwi, who has a ported LS3 and throttle said he was running 100kpa at WOT with a large cam. Given the MAP sensor is located right behind the throttle Im going to need to look at that. Indicated throttle is only 83% the VXR8 shows 88% so Im now wondering if the throttle is fully opening.

I would not have thought the throttle or intake were a restriction stock. Logic says the throttle is not opening 100% so thats the next port of call.

So in summary now mafless, but no new gains other than from the exhaust and adjusting the base tune to take the exhaust changes into consideration.

Also because I have now thrown a spanner in the airflow model, all future calculated torque numbers will only be relevant to this new baseline. So Ill have to go to Surrey Rolling Road for a proper comparison.

Quick update with results..

So some improvement. Logged 450ftlb today compared to 400ftlb on the original dyno pull. Now Im not losing any timing so thats good.

However I am losing 4 or so kpa still despite the new intake. Thats a bit sad. However as the intake pipe is 90mm and a certain piece of junk is 85mm with a mesh and air blade stuck in the middle of it. I think Ill be fitting this piece of equipment pretty quickly!

I actually have a black piece which in theory should fit exactly where the MAF is at present. That will be going in ASAP to help look into the missing air pressure.

I cant imagine its the intake as they are supposed to flow around 320cfm much the same as the heads. In theory that should be good for around 600fwhp. Stock; the engine is nowhere near that. I suspect Ill gain a couple of kpa from removing the MAF. We will see.

So anyway here is the latest Dyno Log run.

Spark timing was recovered via some gentle ECU tweaks. Thats a 12% torque gain tune only in effect. BHP is also up about 8% over the original pull. But I think there is another few percent of easy gains from sorting out the missing intake air pressure.

Once thats found I might try some 97 octane or even shell 99 as Im running on standard 95 RON at present. I actually had to take about 3 degrees or so out of the midrange as the OEM tune was knocking constantly at cruise believe it or not! 

I guess HSV think that running up against the knock limit and pulling timing constantly is a good idea. Not sure why! Near on 10% gains to be had by avoiding knock and reducing timing! It was the same story with the LS2. I made more power with less timing. Perhaps part of the problem is getting 1*C intake air at load on open roads in Australia!

Forgot to also mention gains were also had from changing fueling a tad. 

A fellow VXR8 owner with ported intake and throttle said he gets near 100kpa with the MAF. So thats very sad. Suggests the issue lies with the intake or throttle. Thats a bit harder to cure. Ill see what happens swapping the MAF out. It might give me one or two kpa. I can then console myself that all is not lost.

Managing data to track progress

So after some messing about with the new air intake I decided it was time to think about tracking changes over time. The Rotofab intake took about 1hr to fit. Note the nice large cone.

Sounds much nicer with a bit of intake roar now. Some may note the crusty MAF hiding out there. I was hoping this model had the newer LS7 blade maf. But its still the old 2005 85mm LS2 type maf. Of course it must eventually die. But I'm going to use the MAF to give me a bit of info first.

Rotofab installed

A piece of straight 4 inch silicon hose has been ordered to sit where the MAF is now. I want to get all the airflow and torque tables right first before removing the MAF though so I will be failing/moving between Speed Density and MAF airflow models to identify any changes in calculated torque values etc. The summary is in Speed Density the tables are not right. This is because the OEM Speed Density values and tables are not right. I guess its easier to get one column in one table right rather than tables like this one right! There are 450 cells in this table and there are 4 tables like this!

E38 VE Polynomial factors

Also make any modification to Speed Density airflow and the tables all need redoing! Thats because they are static and map engine efficiency based on RPM, Intake pressure, temperature etc. This is also why lazy types just tune MAF airflow models. Thats if they arnt even lazier and just tune the PE table like one tune I saw this week!

All the UK tuner tunes I have seen have been guilty of this at least historically anyway. I suspect some of this is driven by the fact that people think they can get a good tune in 1hr for £250! Ask GM how long it takes them to build a tune for a new application. Im certain its months.

Anyway there is a very good forum post on EFILive regarding the engine torque tables which are crucial in managing communications with the TCM.
See here https://forum.efilive.com/showthread.php?18710-Improving-shifts-via-the-ECM

E38 Torque Model Tables

The table above is the one mentioned in the article and allows the engine to calculate torque output based on a number of factors similar in concept to how Speed Density airflows are calculated.

The plan is to visit Mr Wright at Surrey Rolling Road after most mods to get a good view of things. But rather than relying on a trip there every week to guage progress its possible to use EFILive logging to get information which is just as good depending on how accurate airflow models are. (Hence the discussion above about keeping the MAF in place until the Speed Density airflows match the data from the MAF).

So what data can we use? Well basically we can use measured and calculated grams of air per cylinder for a torque proxy and grams of air per second for a bhp proxy.

We can also use calculated torque values from the MAF and/or Speed Density (The topic of the torque table above) This is the main reason to keep the MAF for now. So I can get good torque calculations. Once Speed Density is giving me similar/same values I will retire the MAF.

As a plus EFILive Scan Tool allows me to export the data to CSV and therefore Excel or Access. This should allow me to do conditional evaluations of the data and tell me what spark timing at what RPM and load point gives the best calculated torque value. I was going to do the same thing but with g/cyl to proxy torque, but Jessie Bubb said he uses calculated torque while we were chatting at PRI this year. (He mentioned he even has some sort of Calc PID, Ill try and pry it off him to see how its supposed to work)

So anyway, what does one of these CSV files look like in chart form? Ok this is from the first Dyno day at SRR.

Log generated Dyno Graph (fwhp)

Does it look even remotely like the Dyno chat from SRR in the previous post? Yep. The data set at the bottom is not synced nicely. So cleaning that up would help. Also just querying the data is going to be more helpful and accurate. If I can figure out Microsoft Access I can upload each log as a CSV with different timing values in it and query out the highest calculated torque at each load point vs spark timing. Worse case picking out points and looking through each CSV import in Excel should allow a manual way of doing this.

So that basically is how I will be monitoring and tracking changes of modifications and ensuring spark timing is optimal. If these values increase, power should also increase by the same amount. So I can look at percentage gains to get the relative merits of each change. First up will be to log the Rotofab intake and see what that achieved. Hopefully that will be the next topic in this Blog.

Maloo Baseline and some dyno lessons for me

Thanks to Charley at Surrey Rolling Road I have a baseline.

This is in line with Oz numbers for a stock standard LS3 Auto, but pretty woeful none the less.

Maloo R8 SV A6 Baseline

Fuelling was consistently about 0.5 AFR out, so if I was braindead I could just add 4% to the commanded PE table and it would be about right.

But I try to avoid braindeath and instead will go the long way round, which should result in more accurate logging as well as better performance and correct tune values in the long run.

Afterall, if the airflow model is wrong from GM, then its going to mean timing values are out, not just fuelling.

Here is the log file from 2 runs on the dyno. See anything interesting?

Dyno runs

So a few things spring to my mind. First; 16.5* of timing seems very low. Sure there was a tick of KR (Knock Retard) but so little its not worth mentioning. Also max timing is only 18* in any case. So I need to check the tune and see what is being commanded.

Second thing I note is that manifold kPa is only 95, earlier in the run it was 99. So thats a definite intake restriction right there. Now considering the SV model has "bi-modal" intake for better airflow, this is particularly woeful. There is pretty much a solid 3-4% lost right there.

Final thing of partial note is long term fuel trims differ between banks. Now looking at the trims over time I can see they are similar but never match, this suggests injectors, engine, exhaust etc differ enough that fuelling needs to vary across banks. Max trims are 4% which is well within the ability of short term trims. So long terms will go as is my practice and short terms will remain. I can use short terms to adjust injectors to give one bank more than the other in closed loop and even adjust the tune to give one side more in open loop too. I did this to slightly richen up cylinder 7 which in the LS series is often slated to run slightly lean. (eg Corvette Foum post)

So with the tune up and the logging tool up at the same time you can enable highlighting. What this does is show you where in the tune you are at that point in the log. From this you can see that below in the graphic the log says I have 18.5* timing, but the tune says I should have 22! 

So where is the missing 3.5!? I did not log all the spark modifiers, but Id suggest that if its not burst knock paying a visit, then its likely to be some torque management playing havoc. Especially as the front wheels were not turning and the ECU/BCM may consider this abuse.

Highlighting logs and tune EFILive

In fact this is quite likely as it threw a few codes to do with the ABS system and a myriad of other things at the time. All of which were reset with a power cycle and scan tool after the dyno.

So there we go a baseline and some lessons for me in where to find more power.

You may ask why GM delivers a vehicle that doesn't achieve full power potential from new.  I would agree, its a bit sad. But then I wouldn't have a hobby! 

A cursory review of Oz forums shows that a common mod in the VF which gains best value is an intake and a tune. Strangely I have an intake (See last couple of posts). I also have EFILive! Popping an exhaust on doesnt seem to be necessary at close to stock power levels. I measured the exhaust and I am pretty sure it sports a 2.5" from the factory. This is far better than the chunderous 2.25" mess that they used to come with and explains why the Oz guys just do intake and tune. Some good results from that are had too.

So my mission will be to address the issues as follows;

1. Gain 4 or so kPa from a new intake (Rotofab Chevy SS 2014 aka VF model)
2. Clean up airflow model so that commanded fuelling equals delivered fuelling
3. Figure out whats taking the timing out and address the cause

What am I expecting to gain? Good question. Id be pleased with 10% which is more than some guys get from fitting a cam! Though of course their baseline was with tune. So that will be my next mission post tune.

The ultimate goal is to deliver more power than a supercharged GTS with a lighter weight and better fuel economy.

On that topic Im surprised that the Maloo drinks far more than the E1 with the LS7 in it. Its reading 17mpg average! Shocking. The E1 says 26, but really its more like 23 due to injector scaling. Still thats almost 50% more. So really my number 4 aim above is to increase fuel efficiency, which by using less fuel under power enrichment as well as freeing up the intake should be a natural consequence.

Time flies

Time flies, it seems like only a few months back I bought the Camaro. Well here we are 3 years later and its sold.

Actually it sold a few months ago to a good keen bloke from up North. It ended up being pretty aggressive. Mainly from the 3600 stall converter. Stab the throttle and you were rewarded with instant wheel spin, this would occur at most road speeds. Except perhaps on the motorway.

Chris the buyer, said it was too violent and aggressive. Id call that "working as designed".

So it was a sad sale. But it had to go to make way for this item.

100% tax deductible commercial vehicle. Which just so happens to have a Corvette LS3 V8 in it. Same basic config as the Camaro, RWD Automatic V8. Its an HSV R8 SV Maloo.

Some fancy features with heads up display etc. I already have a set of Winter tyres as it will be doing loads of miles. It arrived into the county in September, but sadly its now not going to be ready until mid November! A bit frustrating, but at least Im not managing all the to and fro about the place to get it certified and on the road.

So I wonder how long this will remain stock for?

Oh dear, a new camshaft that just coincidentally arrived around the time of the Maloo. Best I keep the two apart for a while. The Maloo has a 3 year warranty, so no point throwing that away too quickly.

Though this part looks a little more mod friendly..

The filter is HUGE, I learnt my lesson with the VXR8 which was that filter area counts as power goes up. Should be no problems with the plans on the table for the Maloo.

So ok, Ill come clean. Current plans are:

1. Rotofab 2014 SS Intake
2. Pacemaker 1-7/8 long tubes with ceramic coating into dual 3" exhaust
3. Comp custom LXL lobe Cam for durability
4. Comp conical valve springs

That will be it at that point, not looking to go too crazy. Though crazy if it does happen may consist of;

1. LS7 Ported intake
2. RHS Small bore LS7 Pro Elite heads 
3. 1.8 ratio Shaft rockers

Not planning on FIsting the engine. Too much aggravation. Solution would be to start afresh and do it properly, not the knock limited bolt on kits most use.

Alternately I can put the engine from the VXR8 into the Maloo. To be honest that's probably the most "sensible" longer term plan.

Diversion

Well its not its not a Holden, but it has the right running gear. LSD solid axle, Torsen diff, LS1 engine, 1999+ model ECU, A4 4L60e (said to be somewhat weak as stock)

The plan is to get the VXR8 to a daily driver state, (ie) Reliable! The cam and the rest of the setup in the Holden is designed to be driveable. ACT T1S Twin Plate works as stock and is very good. The 227/243-113 LSR cam also pulls from idle. The setup is otherwise basically stock with no fancy aftermarket parts to maintain, replace, repair.

That means the Camaro can be a little more leary, though the plan is to also make it nice to drive on a trip etc. So Stevie from PH set me up with a set of old LS1 853 casting heads he had done by a now defunct US firm. The heads got good feedback when they were still around. 62cc Chamber, 227cc intake ports, 2.02" intake, 1.57" exhaust with 297cfm intake.
I also had an LSR 219/227-112 Cam which when I ran the setup through Camquest came out as the number 1 recommendation for performance street use, though I had already purchased it prior on the basis that it would be a good LS1 cam.
Im also in the process of selecting a stall converter to wrap up the system. The CircleD 278mm 3200 stall converter looks the go. Not as beefy or track worthy as their billet stuff, but much better than stock in any case.
http://www.circledspecialties.com/p-6-gm-278mm-hp-4l60e-ls-torque-converter.aspx

The price is right and at around 30Lbs should fit in the suitcase on one of my USA trips.
Ill add the BBK Full length headers and Y pipe to the mix as well as a second hand LS6 Holden intake and it should be a pretty well balanced budget build. The stock 245 tires and 3200 stall should make traction fun if/when required. Stock they put down around 270rwhp with the auto, which is a bit Ill, but Im hoping to get that up to 350rwhp at least. Ill drive down to Surrey Rolling Road http://www.surreyrollingroad.co.uk/ and run the car up with the stock tune, as well as much quick and dirty COS5 efilive tune to get a baseline.

The car already has a 3" cat back Borla exhaust. It really needs a dual 2.5, but I think the dual 2.5 into 3" BBK Y Pipe without cat should be fine. Im expecting some pretty good gains from each of the mods. I also have a 25% underdrive ATI Pulley to go on. Maybe 370rwhp is possible. We shall see.

The BBK exhaust is a pretty good price about $360 USD for full length headers, y-pipe and install kit. http://www.bbkperformance.com/products/98-02-ls1-f-body-long-tube-exhaust-headers-and-25inch-y-pipe.html Ill post the next VXR8 dyno results up, Im definately expecting to exceed 500rwhp by quite a margin.

The Camaro will follow as parts arrive etc. But hopefully get some baseline results in the next month or two, with final results Q1 2012 in time for the Olympics ;)

Phoenix

Well, after putting down 500rwhp I went through a series of issues with clutches resulting in a number of trailers and repairs down to bad workmanship.
That being said the company sorted out the problems, but not without financial pain to myself from lost, time and disrupted holidays, rental cars etc.

So after that being put right the next problem was a lifter that took a dump, roller seized taking out the cam and bearings along the way. A massive bill later (would have been cheaper to buy a US short block) and its back to working albeit somewhat knock limited. That being said Id rather it be a little on the high compression side than low as you can always pull timing a tad. So after some messing around and about 17-18* on the dyno it pulled 499.5RWHP. There should be well over 20rwhp more there with a bit more timing.

So another read of the good old "power squeeze" article by David Vizard.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/enginemasters/articles/hardcore/0311em_power_squeeze/index.html

Ill drop engine temps, run cooler plugs and use v-power (99 Octane) currently it was tuned on Sainsburys 97 octane fuel. So with all that I hope to add 2-3 more degrees and free up perhaps 10-20bhp we shall see.

Dyno Day (Part 3)

Finally after a good few months of tuning and an initial untuned 452rwhp dyno Ive arrived at the target. 500rwhp.

There was 96kpa of pressure at WOT and I was running 95 octane.
Im hoping to touch 520rwhp with some more airflow and 98 octane. There should be 3 or 4kpa more pressure to be found somewhere.

Next step is to port the throttlebody and check for restriction at full throttle. I will also move onto 97 octane fuel and retune.

Finally some more minor alterations for cold start and the tune will be complete. I hope to put away all my modification tools and just drive the car.

There are no future plans at this stage, although some thoughts around larger camshafts and possibly a migration of engines between an LS2 or LS3 C6 exists in the back of my mind. But that will have to wait for an economic turn around.

Mystery package

Right in the middle of an economic maelstrom the package below has arrived. Its at Mr Monkfish's establishment waiting a final check over prior to installation.


Spec is a Race Engine Developments Darton dry sleeved LS2 block with Callies and Mahle rotating assembly. Top end is OEM GM LS7, so nothing too exotic. Goal is reliable power with a wide torque curve and daily drivability naturally aspirated.

Replacement engine.

Well with the stock engine looking a bit feeble, its time to revisit the replacement.
Things seem to be coming along nicely. A 2 piece timing cover will be used to allow quick and easy cam swaps. The idea being that some experimentation can be done to find a good emissions freindly cam with good power.

Hopefully the next post will be of the new engine on these shores, though I have a holiday right at the middle of things!

Dyno day (part 2)

Well, it was off to the dyno last week. Not a bad result, I made over 20rwhp more than the next NA LS2 setup, plus they had exhaust done too! Mine was OTRCAI, 1.8 Rockers and Tune with the stock exhaust. Im pretty sure the stock exhaust isnt a restriction at this stage, though going forward it will be. These numbers are of course RWHP. Flywheel numbers are pointless, so I wont use them :)

Also of note was that the top 2 NA engines were running mafless/speed density tunes and came out a good 10bhp more than the next in line. Im not sure why this is too many variables. However suffice to say SD tuning is certainly not going to lose you power and is my preferred method due to its ability to use highly optimised cold air intakes.
To be honest, other than taking timing OUT and messing with commanded fueling a little, not much has been done to the tune. The rockers and CAI required some extra air to be placed into the E38 factors and constants via the "virtual ve" table of efilive, thats where most of the extra power came from. I think had I messed around with WOT PE and Timing values on the dyno I might have picked a little more up, but it feels pretty good as is.

I did get some knock still possibly accounting for the little dip in torque around 2500rpm. This is normally a small peak much like the one at 5000rpm.

Next stop will be the replacement "LS2" darton engine.

Roller rockers.. the return

A previous attempt at installing these rockers ended with the engine running totally crap. I fathomed that as I hadnt installed the shims the valves were being held off their seats. This is dispite me trying to check preload. I noted that other guys had installed with shims, so a few weeks later I tried again, this time with the shims.


I was lazy today and didnt take a picture, this is another earlier model holden with the same Yella Terra 1.8:1 rockers. I left the stock springs in for now as the stock cam will remain and stock RPM limit.
I had the rockers left over from a previous transaction so as they say "waste not, want not".

In pulling off the plug leads one disintegrated, not good. I tried to get another from the local Vauxhall dealer but "Is that the 2L turbo" response to my request for a VXR8 plug lead wasnt promising.. it didnt get any better, so I tripped off to Halfords and bought an 8mm Coil Lead and reconnected the old connections to it. It seems to work fine, so hopefully that will hold until I get a proper replacement.

Anyway after reading some other posts on the installation, like this one (where the pic above comes from) http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=83194 I suspected I might need to relieve the rocker cover. A fireup to check clearances validated this as there was a bit of knocking going on under the covers.

Basically there is a baffle underneath the covers which is rivetted on, some of these pins/rivets are too long and catch the rockers. They need grinding down flatter. I used a dremel.
In addition a couple of the coil pack bolt bosses were being nicked by the rocker tips. Again some dremel action on the bosses sorted that out.

So finally with no knocking and things all quiet again I went for a drive, all was well and it seemed that there was a little more power. But I will log airflow and fueling and see if that is the case or not.

Also as a side note an owner with a supercharged vxr8 posted 440fwhp, or 385rwhp. (ie) Hardly anything gained, 25bhp! total rubbish. Cam only would beat that easy! I dont think any UK tuner does a proper supercharged setup, Ill attend the next dyno day and see what else turns up :)

Bolt on mod number 1 for the VE HSV

Well here is the results of what started off as a minor mod.
I ended up having to take the whole front off. Also a small piece of radiator surrounded needed to be sawn off as the VE has a solid little "roll" cage around the E38 EU which is located under the fusebox on the left in the picture below. This got in the way.

Ive also made note of where you need to remove bolts and clips to get the front off. The main bits are at the outer edges, you can only get to them by removing the black clips inside the front of the guards. You then use a straight handled 10mm socket to unscrew them from underneath. The long part under the headlights, just pulls forward and unclips. With 2 bolts and 2 more clips located in the middle top of the bumper by the bonnet catch.

Actually I pulled the bonnet catch apart too because I thought Id broken it. I think it just needed to be moved up a little. It worked fine.

Anyway, I got the Russo OTRCAI installed. Im missing the 2 wire IAT sensor, so just temporarily cabletied the old MAF into the inner guard and ran 2 wires to the IAT circuit on it. Hopefully the IAT sensor from Chris at Russo arrives before too long and I can get it sitting in the intake, just in front of the throttle body.

I cant say Ive noticed more power, I think the old one was pretty good anyway. The idea is colder air rather than more air. I was logging 99kpa at WOT with the old intake so I dont think it was too restrictive. Mind you the heads and cam are stock so they probably didnt want much more than that either.

Im working on a difilippo exhaust, which hopefully will be on its way very soon. Though I have a short throw shifter waiting for me to fit, so that will probably be next.

A stroker is also on the way.. Which if you had read all my previous posts, you would know that that event was a near certainty.

A bit later on...

Well its done, I now own build number 1 of the HSV VXR8 UK spec R8 Clubsport.
Im glad I had the first off the production line, though I didnt find out until I was checking things out in more detail after the purchase.

Interestingly it seems to have been the press hack and the gearbox was very sad, noisy, loose and hard to shift into some gears. Anyway a few visits to Picadors near Southampton and a new gearbox was fitted. Its Nickel silver the same as below.

As was suggested below the plan is for more power, but in an efficient manner. Given superchargers can eat 150bhp just through mechanical losses due to the pump, let alone increased intake temps etc I decided to stay Naturally Aspirated. The BSFC (fuel used per bhp) is around 30% more than a naturally aspirated engine. Sure total output is increased, but you sure pay for it.

Therefore I have started collecting the required components. Of course efilive will work fine and Ive sucked out the tune and done some logging and minor bits and pieces. But its basically the stock tune at present. Which actually works quite well. Id suggest guys with earlier LS2 maps check out the spark timing for the E Series R8 as it seems pretty good to me, roughly around 2* additional timing across the range.

Anyway the list of mods will be something like this;

• GMM Rip Shifter (In hand)
• Russo OTRCAI (In hand)
• DiFilippo 1-7/8 into dual 3" stainless exhaust + 700cfm cats (In progress)
• Darton 427 Sleeved LS2 block with LS7 top end (In progress)
• LS7 Clutch, or possibly twin disk Ram clutch or equiv (Still researching)

Expected output will be around 650fwhp or say 520rwhp.. but who knows as yet.

Pics of the Russo being fitted will probably be next up.

Sold! and treachery

Well the R8 is sold. Its always the way, come to the end of a project and its time to start another one. Im not sure why that is. I think I wanted something with a newer setup.
Anyway the bloke who bought it loves it, so thats good. I was going to buy a Jaguar XJR but after driving one decided it could not happen. A new E Series HSV was my destiny!

Prices in the UK are still too high and Ill let Mr Depreciation work his wonders. Until then a replacement needed to be found. Unfortunately in the UK large RWD Sedans are hard to come by unless you like Merc's and BMW's with mega miles on them. I did some trawling around and found a 68,000km Fairmont EL and a 90,000km Falcon Forte AU, both Aussie imports. The Fairmont was £1000 and the Forte £2000. I would have preferred the AU with its more modern equipment and styling, but chose the cheaper option. Mainly because my ebay bid won!


A nice 0550AM start and 12 hours later after a train from London to Scotland I was back in London. The car runs well aside from needing wheel balancing and a couple of rust bubbles dealt with. I will be driving it to Spain and back from London, so hopefully all will be well. Yes I know its a Ford :)

Hopefully my next post will be to show off my new VE HSV R8 aka VXR8 Vauxhall. An almost immediate upgrade with a 427 is planned. Hopefully the old LS2 will fetch enough to pay for the new engine. Fingers crossed.

Track action

Well 2nd day to the track on street tyres saw a 2 sec 60' and 13.2 quarter. One run had a 109mph trap speed, but lots of wheel spin.

Im hoping to get into the 12's. I think there is some slack in the suspension since my last lot of new bushings got fitted. I think Ill be back to the shop to get the front done and sort the backend out.

A new 2009 Camaro is on the cards, the money is changed into US$ and in the bank. Also a possible Holden SS VE Manual trans with the L98 engine similar to the new LS3 corvette but with 6L. But probably nothing for a year or two. So the old R8 must soldier on!

Dyno day. (The end is nigh)

Just about out of things to do now. Rechecked timing and added a little up high resulting in the dyno sheet below. Around 290rwkw, which compares pretty well with Oz numbers with similar spec's. Apparently US Dyno's read higher, so I need to compare with Oz results.

Anyway timing in the low and midrange was still pretty good, fueling on the dyno differed from the street. Now Ill just be driving the beast and trying not to think about getting a magnacharger or anything like that.

My heart is on the new VE Holden so Ill be saving and waiting for depreciation to work its magic until I can afford one.

Just a reminder anyone after Innovate Wideband products or EFILive tuning tools etc please get in touch as I hold rights to resell both brands in Europe. I try to keep prices cost competitive with the US and have stock on hand.

Plus you get to ask me as many questions as you like for free :)

Out of time

The car is running well at present, one broken driveshaft later..
Well I think the mech made a mistake when fitting the clutch and forgot some nuts. But all was resolved in an excellent fashion and things are back on the road.

The car definately pulls harder. Air is 0.96g/cyl. If I can crack 1.0 Ill be pleased. Its all down to the dyno. Peak torque is around 4800rpm. No more mods for me. Drive for a couple of years then either a VE Holden or a 2009 Camaro will be had.

Im still messing about with idle as under some circumstances it can stall mainly doing 3 point turns in carparks when warm. Hot and cold are fine. So Ive moved a few tables around. Follower, base idle speed etc.

Dyno within the next few weeks is the plan. More info then.

All is quiet..

The car is getting the new parts fitted. Including the LS7 clutch, larger diameter primary headers in a 4 into 1 configuration, plus some general messing about with suspension and brakes.

On completion I will have everything fitted to suit the setup. Well maybe better mufflers would be good, but things should pretty well be in balance. Much better to have done it over time, than all at once. It would have been a bank breaking exercise.

I read a collegue in Oz with similar setup recently replaced his 1-5/8 header setup for a 1-3/4 set and gained around 4% airflow, so if I can do the same as that Ill be well pleased and should be well on the way to 1.0g/cyl of air and at or over 400rwhp. If I can match or exceed 405rwhp I would have beaten a stock LS7 C6. I was 55rwhp off that pre fast90 and dyno tune. So I dont think its too far out of reach. All the numbers were from the same dyno to hopefully make comparing apples to apples, though day to day variation may account for a bit.

More updates once I get the car back.

More air please

Well the fast has definitely turned out to be an excellent investment.

I logged a 0.95g/cyl with no other changes. So things are definately on the move.
I need to return to the dyno and do a bit of timing changes.

Im hoping I can beat a stock VXR500. A couple of recent posts and dyno charts showed the VXR500 with hood down putting 359rwhp out. Hood up was closer to 400rwhp.

Ideally Ill break the 400 anyway, we will see.

Home straight

Nothing much to report at present.
Ive ordered an LS7 clutch setup from SDPC, basically LS7 disk and pressure plate with an LS2 flywheel. Add a pilot bushing and new slave to the mix and for $600 you have a stout setup that can handle over 500bhp.

The Fast90 is going well. Looks like an additional 5% VE at higer RPM, going by VE changes in efilive it seems that low rpm flow might be slightly affected, but only just off idle. Midrange is unchanged or slightly better. Max g/cyl of air has increased from 0.86 to 0.90 and that was well under 100% TPS so its definately made a good bit of difference.

Also some minor suspension mods are planned to adjust the camber on the rear and hopefully deal with rear axle tramp.

Strokers are definately out the door until the engine dies of natural death.

Fun with the Fast90

End of year breaks are nice. Especially when unseasonal weather is about. Usually its snowy and horrible. However this year its been quite fair. Yesterday was 13* and sunny, so I checked the forecast and hauled my tools out to the front of the house to start the Fast90 install.
As Id replaced the injectors before I thought that it would only take a few hours. Id done some reading and the swap and instructions that came with the manifold made it look easy..

Id done some blending of the internal edges and filled some gaps with epoxy, then sanded it all flat and smooth. Nothing major, just a cleanup.

Of course nothing quite goes to plan. Disassembly was easy as you can see below I still have the original LS1 coolant lines under the intake.

There are a few tricky connectors at the rear, but the Holden has reasonable clearance there. You can also lift the manifold forward a little to get better access to the MAP and brake booster line. I did a little cleanup around the intake ports to remove grime too.

Next I needed to remove the coolant lines and replace them with late model plugs and cross over. You can see faintly the rear engine mount on the left, this was to be a pain in the arse.

You also need to remove the clips on the knock sensor wires. I also took off the tape as it was thick and hard, pretty much the same size as the clips. Then replace the valley cover bolts with the button head ones like the pic above. This all helps get the manifold down snug as the floor is lower than stock.

Right time to fit the fast. Cool. Well no, not cool. The problem is that the Fast is longer than the stock manifold and the power steering tank is in the way, worse the rear engine lifting tab is also in the way. It was swearing time. What to do. Well a quick dash inside and a search on www.ls1gto.com showed me I was not alone. It looked like the rear lift tab had to come off and I needed to space the power steering tank forward. Some guys re-welded their tank mount. But there was no way I was going to be able to get that sorted out over the holiday weekend. So spacers it was. Some cut hands and blood later the rear tab was removed. As expected the last bolt was very hard to get at and getting any heft on it required forcing the open end of the spanner to cut into my hand. Nice.

So rear lifting tab removed, spacers on the front one with the tank mount on it and we are half way there.


The next problem was that the coolant cross over was too high and prevented the intake sitting down nicely on the heads. Out with the hammer and a few blows with the rubber handle had it sitting down enough. Of course violence is not without risk and the pipe got some hairline cracks for its trouble. I mixed up some loctite metal weld and gummed it over the cracks. Fingers crossed on that. (Im planning on an LS7 clutch soon so will get a new cross over with the clutch just in case the current one leaks)

Here is a closeup of the spacers on the front to allow the fuel purge to connect. I just got some M10 bolts from the hardware store and some M12 extra wide nuts to act as the spacers.

All that remained was final assembly and to replace the radiator coolant. You don't need to empty all the coolant out, just enough to empty the fill tank and drop the level below the heads so the cross over pipes don't leak.

All done finished. My over the radiator intake required trimming as well again due to the extra length. Also I think the NW90 is slightly larger in diameter so getting the intake on was tough work. I didnt push it right on as there were some cracking noises starting at that point. Perhaps I will need to dremel out the inside diameter a touch so it slips on better. However it has a sharp raised edge which should stop it slipping off, plus the hose clip.


So how does it drive? Well as Im running speed density I will have to relog and adjust VE to compensate so my initial drive showed power much the same. Throttle response as expected with a 90mm throttle was much improved. Im not sure if Im getting clutch slip or loss of rear tyre grip as usually when it brakes traction I get severe axle tramp. More info to follow on the VE gains from the intake.

Oh idle was very close without needing to alter anything over the stock throttle body and intake. Also Ive not yet noticed any issues with leaks which others have had with this intake.

However I think the following things are good to do to minimise the risk of leaks with the Fast.

1. Get as much stuff off the valley cover as you can, tape, clips etc (as well as the mandatory coolant pipes)
2. Use new intake gaskets. The Fast ones looked a little thicker than the stock ones on the LS6 intake. But that might just be age.
3. Make sure if you pull the halves apart you seal them back up well. I used some extra silicon sealant at the joints.
   

More bloody stuff to learn

An interesting past couple of days.

Especially the 2hrs of dyno time which I learnt a lot on. Like my "street" timing sucked. Anywhere from 10-0* out. Varying all over the place. The bottom half is now tuned but soft tyres and overheading dyno's put paid to a full tune. Driving it now I can definately notice an improved bottom end. So am looking forward to doing the whole map.

Im going to fit my Fast90/90 though as it takes so long to tune I might as well put all my mods on and get AFR correct then do timing on the dyno. I was only 65rwhp off a 7L Z06 corvette this time, hopefully with the fast and full tuning that will come down to under 50.

Anyway Id always wondered why you want IAC counts low when intalling cam's opening throttle stops and drilling the blade. Daniel at Chipmaster came up with the goods again. Makes perfect sence. Basically keeping them low, say 40 means if we move them to 4 counts to 44 we have made a 10% change. Whereas at 100 counts a move of 4 is only 4%. That means its easier for the PCM to control the idle when the counts are lower. I guess it depends on cam size and how much it needs to move. I think Id use RAF tuning to get idle sorted and see if its still controllable. If not get the drill out.

My Wideband wasn't reading properly recently. Looked dead, so thats bad. Im going to have to try and sort that out. So tuning will be delayed until I sort out the wideband and get the Fast intake installed. Hopefully this can be done over Christmas.

Post SEMA madness

Well thats SEMA done. Spent loads of time standing and talking to everyone on the efilive stand. Learnt loads from Jessie (wait4me) plus from Ross and Paul about Duramax diesels, finer points of the software etc.

There were far too many shinny things like the new LSx GM Iron block etc.

Anyway back in the UK all is well, its winter and the car is idle in the drive. I have a few plans now.

Basically I got a power run and was only 80bhp off two brand new Z06's so while thats good, its not good enough. The power run was marred by the dyno operator flooring the engine at 800RPM, 100% throttle in 4th. Ive never tuned it there, so 4* of timing was pulled across most of the range. Im sure that dropped me well down the scale.

I have also purchased second hand a set of 1-3/4 4 into 1 headers with 3" collector to replace my current set. The aim is for a full dual 3" exhaust.

I'm going to get my emissions level checked to figure out if Ill need cats, then Im going to get it dyno tuned fully across the entire spark map. If I can unlock more power then perhaps I dont need to take the plunge and BUY A 416 CUBE STROKER!
However the likelihood of coming that much closer to a Z06 is pretty small. I suspect that a new engine is going to be required.

Im also now the proud owner of a Nick Williams 90mm throttle and Fast90 intake which I collected at SEMA. So with exhaust, proper dyno tune and the intake setup. I'm thinking Ill be getting a lot closer to the Z06!

My current quandary is do I get new heads and intake or keep my current ones (Which will be restrictive on the larger engine). Im pretty sure I already know the answer to that.. It just means my Fast90 will now need to be sold off along with the heads and rest of the engine.

Anyone in the UK want a nice stout LS1?

However before going to crazy Im going to dyno tune and fit the 3" exhaust and re-evaluate things. Coincidentally this might just well nicely fall into when Patriot performance get their new CNC L92 heads done. Im also hoping its when the US dollar falls further, hopefully past the $2:£1 mark.

SDPC has the 416cube L92 stroker at $4495, not bad at all!

Tuning has stalled somewhat with all my traveling. However after talking to Jessie I'm going to play with my idle a little more. I think I can make it smoother.

Next planned updates will be to report back on emissions tuning and realtime dyno tuning.

Running..

Mr Road Runner is now installed and working fine. Flashes are immediate and its much less work to make changes. Now if only I wasn't so busy during the week I could get to the dyno.

On another tack, this little magic device arrived a few days ago. Ready for some beta testing action.
Its working pretty well and looks very professional. Not much more to be said at this stage as its on the beta program and under NDR etc. However Im off to look for some LS2 and LS7's to see how the scanning goes.

The car is going pretty well now. Power feels good. Im sure Ill pick some more up on the dyno, but its running pretty well for now. I turned Idle Learning back on as minor changes in the tune would throw idle out sometimes. With the idle learn on its very well behaved. So I think it will stay on.

So once the dyno tune is done I think Ill almost be out of things to tune. No new engines on the immediate horizon for me. Though I might get tempted with the new HSV VE range which may well arrive here in 2007!

Road Runner, the installation

Yesterday my RoadRunner realtime PCM arrived. This little item allows realtime changes to any PCM table that efilive supports. I wasn't able to order the license until the device arrived as I needed the ID and possibly the serial number.

So Ive installed it, but with no license. I now have a disabled car in the driveway! Hopefully the license isn't too far away.

Anyway, on with the install.

For this you will need a 7mm socket and about 20min time. This is on Holdens, other vehicles might take more time.

• First disconnect the battery.
• Then remove the radiator overflow tank. You can do this by pulling it up off its mount and then away from the side towards the engine. its held on in 2 places but just pulls off.
• Then pull the heat shield straight up, it will slide off the PCM surround.
• Next unclip the PCM top cover. There is a tab to the front of the car, if you pull the tab out and then pull up the cover will hinge open from front to back and come away.
• Dig out your 7mm socket and undo the 2 PCM connectors, at this point you might want to consider installing a wire for the Valet mode as well.
• The PCM surround has 2 tabs on the sides which prevent the PCM from lifting straight up. Rather than forcing the sides out to get the PCM out, I cut a small bit off the end so that the PCM comes in and out easier. Decide which option you want to use to get it out. It just lifts straight up once the tabs are dealt with in any case.
• Install is the reverse of removal.

Out with the old. (Note the valet switch which is normally hidden under the radiator fill tank. You can use this to specify max RPM and road speed)



In with the new


Route the USB cable through this hole in the firewall, it drops down neatly at the top left of the passenger foot well.


Once installed I connected my laptop, but could not flash the unit as it reported it as locked. I presume this is because I need to license the device. So now hopefully just a short wait until that arrives and I should be good to go.

Fueling thoughts

Not much to report at present.

Just messing with commanded fuel ratios.
This graph is interesting and shows max economy at 15.4:1 AFR. Right where I normally run for light load.

As I usually run quite lean I have been trying semi closed loop out. It seems much more responsive. I'm not sure if this is due to bank to bank variation or due to the slightly reduced power from the leaner mix. However after over 33,000 log frames tracking bank to bank fueling the average from both banks is identical. Pre heads, cam and SVO 30's I had around 2-3% variance. So perhaps the injectors were a bit out of whack stock.


I will try near to stoich for a while as I like to responsiveness off idle off the richer mix. I will also reassess using the alpha-n fueling for low throttle and map points as it also seems much nicer response wise.

Ive also ordered a Road Runner pcm. This will allow me to make on the fly changes to the pcm even while driving. This is so I can minimise Dyno time. Basically no need to shutdown and flash updates. Should be cool. It will also help to dial in idle issues as you can make adjustments as the engine is running.

By the way, Ive logged 0.87g/cyl recently. Im still hoping to break the 0.90g/cyl level with some more tuning.

Ok after some testing running close to stoich is much better for power.
I logged O2 mv and the following diagram shows the results in Open Loop. Basically the O2 voltage switches as though its fueled in Closed Loop. This is at idle so only a couple of cells. But hopefully I can get the same affect over the rest of the range. Who needs O2 sensors and a MAF!

Exhaust upgrade, the installation

Well today was pipe replacement time. Noise is much the same at idle, though gets fairly loud as rpm increases, no drone though. Im not sure how restrictive the current resonators and muffler is but things have changed for the better anyway.
Basically I had to pull timing at 2000rpm but now I can put it all back in. This may indicate that the smaller exhaust was optimising things around 2000rpm, whereas now its up at 4000rpm. The car definately seems to rev freer and my logging with the wideband has indicated at high map points that up to 5% more fuel is required. I need to fill in the map to get a good idea, but lower map points look much the same, its just the higher ones which need more fuel.
My timing table is out now, so I have started again with a combination table of a stock hsv gts and my previous table. It will take a good few sessions of logging and adjusting to get an idea of where things are now, however I did a WOT pull to 6300 and am still only making 0.82g/cyl or 300g/sec of air. By way of contrast the stock MAF max's out at 511g/sec intake KPa was 99 from a barometric of 101, so intake looks good.

Other than a full replacement exhaust and a Fast90/90 setup, which will both cost megabucks, Im done with the mods. Did a 0-60 to test today, but zero traction in 1st. So will try again another time. Still not thinking about a 402 stroker!

The search for the missing millions.

Well Ive been still thinking about where my percieved power loss is. In theory I should have gone from around 240rwkw to around 300rwkw from heads and cam change. Thats like 100bhp increase. However to me it only felt like maybe half that.

I reread this article here and set off to Simpson Race Exhausts in Berkshire. I had previously noted a smaller section of pipe going from the headers into the cats. They were excellent, do great work at a reasonable price and were very helpful.

Well Im booked in there next week for the bypass pipes. Looking at this pic below from popular hotrodding, noted in the link above. I can calculate my current bhp per cfm at 1.44 (500fwhp) Shocking, as its right off the left hand side of the page! Perhaps somewhere around 70% of Max. Stock it would have been around 1.6 (430fwhp) so thats bad enough, but maybe only 10% down 30% is not acceptable.
So without getting too excited I believe I can say Im definately going to pick a good bit of power up with the exhaust upgrade. It should also definately allow a little more timing, or at least reduce the propensity to knock.

On a more serious topic, Ive been starting to have unclean thoughts about 402 and/or 382 strokers, bad and evil thoughts. I think if I get another 50bhp from the exhaust I should be fine keeping these evil ideas away for a while.

Not much

I can report that H0105 is all thats required to sort out Speedo issues noted in my previous post. I Logged a 80Km drive which clocked up only 50Miles on the Odometer.

Ive gone back to stock injectors offsets due to running to rich on low map zero throttle points. In an attempt to kill the richness off I set DFCO to go hardcore on me. Anything under 2% throttle at all map and rpm points. Works ok, but just when it disconnects hitting idle or low RPM to prevent zero fuel stalling you get a jerk. I dont mind too much, but I might readjust this nearer to stock.

I tested Alpha-n fueling, it worked nicely. Very responsive, but AFR didnt track commanded very accurately, it was close. However the feeling it gave was nice and responsive, so I will likely continue with testing.

Diversions

My Speedo has been dead for a month or so. No speed reading, no odometer and no trip computer. A post on ls1.com.au and thanks to motomk I had a wiring diagram and some disassembly instructions. Cool.
I knew the VSS sensor was working as efilive was logging road speed fine, so the problem was somewhere after the pcm. I also knew the speedo needle did work, because going into diagnostic mode the needle would wind up to 80 no problem. From the wiring diagrams I could see that the road speed signal also went to the cruise control system just prior to hitting the instrument display. Ok, so I tested the cruise control and guess what. It worked. I now knew the issue was between there and the speedo.
It was then that I recalled someone posting up an issue with UK spec HSV's basically an aftermarket device was fitted to convert the signal to miles from kilometers and it had problems.
A quick search on pistonheads.com and good old Steve had posted up some info from his VTSS. He had removed the device and resoldered it.
Now I knew what I must do.
Armed with this information I set about pulling the dash apart. First problem, no stereo removal keys. No problem, just bend the stereo bracket to clear the console!

All disassembled and instruments removed. Now where is that evil device!
Aha, here it is.

Now going into here is a red and black wire. Steve assumed power and ground. Id agree as it comes from a different section of wiring, likely needed to power satans spawn. Out of the device came an orange and green wires. Now thanks to motomk, I knew the wire from the PCM for the speedo was Violet/White, I could see that Violet/Red was cut and rejoined with a short piece of blue wire, no junction just cut. I can only assume the pleb who's job it was to fit these things cut the wrong wire first and had to fix it. So anyway I could see Violet/White was spliced to green which went into the device and orange was spliced into Violet/White up to the instrument connector. Up to this point my intention was to solder up the device to fix any dodgy dry joints and reassemble. However why not just remove it alltogether!? I knew I could use PCM table H0105 to correct the speed signal coming from the PCM, so Id save messing about, increase reliability and gain about a billionth of a second over the 1/4 mile due to the weight reduction, so I thought Id leave it out.

Here is what Satan's spawn looks like up close and personal. The capacitor next to the incoming wires was broken loose and just wobbled around. If you wanted to fix it, then this would be the repair you needed to do.

So I just reconnected the Violet/White wire together and taped the whole lot back up. Job done.

Take it for a test drive. Now reading Km, but not for long. By the way, I dont recommend test driving with just the instruments and not plugging in the power windows, indicators etc when its 28*C outside, it gets kind of hot.
The only thing Im not sure of is how the Odometer will read if I just rely on changing the PCM output signal. Im hoping that given its only one wire that was being messed with and it seemed to handle the odometer as well as trip computer and speed needle, then I will be fine. Worse case Ill have to pull out the dash again and wire Satan's spawn back in place. Ill update in a few days to report what the deal is.

On a more PCM based note. Im now running EFILive custom OS5. It works fine and takes OS3 calibrations. Basically it extends OS3 by adding switchable timing and fueling for NOS applications. You could also use it to pull timing based on a switch for fuel octane variances.

It also supports Alpha-n fueling which is purely determined by Throttle and RPM, no other inputs such as MAF or MAP etc are used. Its really designed for hellish cams that wont hold or give a vacuum or stable airflow reading. (I wish that was me!)

So Ill be likely making some comments on that in the future given thats now my PCM OS d'jour. So its goodbye to OS3 and hello to OS5.

More idle thoughts

It seems that the question of a smooth idle comes up more than almost any other question when tuning. Especially with aftermarket camshafts etc.
I guess when cruising in closed loop with the MAF just about anything will work. This is due to how closed loop feedback from the O2 sensors and the Mass AirFlow meter work. It really takes the guesswork out of tuning. No doubt exactly why GM use it.
Well throw a cam in there and when starting cold the car will be in open loop and at low rpm speed density airflow calculations come into play.
That sorts out those with good tunes from those that just do the easy stuff.

Anyway following on from those thoughts, Ive done a load of changes recently which threw my tune out. Just spent the morning dialing it back in. Now its nice again. (For the next day anyway)

Take a look at this first image, it shows the idle hunting up and down, spark, vacuum, rpm and if it was shown, IAC counts basically wavering to and fro. If it gets bad enough it will stall. Sometimes the oscilations will increase and get worse. Often when AC is turned on or the Radiator fans startup.


So all in all, it idles, but its horrible. Ok so how do we normally fix this? First we go back to basics and make sure that the engine is getting enough air at idle, or at least getting what it wants. To do this we log both short and long term idle corrections to airflow. These corrections are made by the PCM to try and get a stable idle. In efilive they are known as calculated pid's as they are summed and made into a single value for easy logging. So we make a map with ECT vs the RAFIG pid (Only this is needed for M6 cars, Auto's use RAFPN as well) as the car heats up it will log a map of adjustments required to the Desired Airflow table. Once warmed up, we shutdown and update this table. If you cant get your car to idle initally, you might need to start logging to figure out which way its going and just guess to get it to run long enough to map the adjustments.

So once the airflow is updated. Its worth going into the bidirectional controls utility to see if adjusting the spark and fuel mix would help the idle. In my case fuel was ok (set to 15:1 at idle) but spark was now quite a bit out. Dropping it from around 38 degrees to 28 degree's sorted out a lot of the hunting. Im assuming the new injectors and injector offset tables I have been messing with caused some of this. So easy done, all fixed. Now back to a smooth idle. I just made sure my high octane table and base spark tables were close in the idle and off idle areas, so that transitions were smooth between both tables and all is well. The resulant logs are shown below. Notice RPM is now almost dead flat and there is some slight adjustment to spark by the PCM to hold it there.

So there we go. A short run down on tuning idle for anyone who is having issues in this area.

Radiant

Well today was a mixed bag of events, a badly secured clip that held the IAT sensor in the intake came off and meant that the sensor dropped on the drive belt stripping a few cords off it and causing it to drop off. All this about 70 miles outside of London. I didnt have any tools so ended up with the recovery guy putting what was left of the belt back on.
I couldnt find the metal clip which had secured the IAT inside the air intake so thought Id just check where it went.. Yep, it was lodged at the back of the manifold near cylinders 7 & 8. The guy hooked it out with a magnet and all was well.

Suffice to say metal clips arnt going back in there. The rubber gromit the intake had come with was a bad fit so I need to sort something reliable out.

So that cancelled my trip as I didnt want to get stranded in Wales and have to leave my car there if I couldnt get a replacement belt, so back home I went. I managed to get a new belt and fitted that right away.

At this point things got better as I decided that I would then fit my new injectors and thermostat.

I didnt have a fuel rail removal tool, which is pretty essential to get them off so just followed some info on www.ls1howto.com, pulling the fuel pump relay cranking the engine to dump the line pressure then removing it. Suffice to say even though there was no pressure there is still a lot of fuel in there and you will get it everywhere, so make sure you have a rag.

Pulling the old injectors out of the manifold is easy, but they are well stuck in the fuel rail. All of them took a bit of effort to pull out and left their rubber seals in the rail. Once removed the new ones went in nicely with a little bit of petrolium jelly. Here is a pick from halfway though.

Note the IAT and MAF sensor connectors are now tied away with tape too after the earlier mornings troubles!

Next was the 160*F thermostat. All in, both jobs only took a couple of hours. I set the fans to come on around 80*C and the high speed fans around 87*C. To celebrate I also pushed timing up 3% across the board.

So a flash of the changes, including rescaling the injectors with RedHardSupra's injector table and I was away. Immediately I noticed VE was up to 10% out. Cool I thought, it did need more timing. I added around 5%, but then remembered some comments on Injector Offset. Basically the larger injectors are lazier at low duty so need more time to open etc. Joe who posts on efilive had posted some new tables which had worked well for him so I have used that as a starting point and will do some more logging and check to make sure that all that extra fuel is required. Hopefully it is and the consequence is more power. Knock is not appreciably increased over what it was before, that is, a tick now and again but no sustained knock under load. Only really there on throttle tip in.

So only exahust upgrade to go, some final tuning and off to the dyno. Also time for a few gtech runs I think.

Refinement

Got my 160* 'stat today and SVO's
Also playing about with Base Spark and High Octane tables. I think Im getting a little jerkyness due to low throttle positions swapping between both tables. Especially when hardly touching throttle. I have made both tables a little closer in value to see how that goes. Its possible its DFCO messing with things too, though often the RPM value appears below the DFCO enable point.

So a long trip tomorrow, then sunday, thermostat installation day. I think Ill take the spark plugs out too and clear off the corners as recommended by Vizard. Im hoping to be able to push spark up by around 10% across the board. We will see. I have 21 at WOT and 19.5 at Peak Torque which is very similar to my stock tune, so I guess thats not too bad. KR is almost non existent. As I think I mentioned earlier these heads will need less timing anyway. So maybe 22-24 deg is optimal.

I need to sort out the exhaust gaskets as Im getting some cat bypass pipes done up and they need the gasket to make the flanges up. I think Ill go 2.5->3.5->2.5 so that the 3.5 section acts as a resonator and terminates the collector length. Otherwise it will be 2.5 from the headers way back to the current resonators, which from my reading appears too far. Though Ill have to measure up to be sure.

So the current series of mods is coming to an end. Soon it will be time to go and see whats up on the Dyno.

Exhausting

After removing most restrictions with the new heads, cam, intake system etc I have now turned my sights on the exhaust system.

I spend some time with a tape measure and clamp measuring the diameter of the various parts of the exhaust system.

Well its not too good. The cat back looks ok, 2.5". The headers are ok, ending up in try-y configuration with a 2.5" exit. The problem then is the 2" pipe into the cats with the O2 sensor in there too! Thats less than 3.14" sq area compared to the rest at 4.9" sq for the 2.5" section. It will even be less due to the O2 sensor in there. Now if I knew what I was doing with calculating exahust flow Id be able to verify that the exahust is a restriction. Though I have read another Vizard article which states dual 2.5" exahust will support up to 500bhp without restriction. So based on my hope to be at around that level at the flywheel the exhaust is going to be a restriction with its 2" bit, so out it goes.

My options are to replace the cat system with a bypass pipe for "off road use". This will allow me to replace it for "road use" and emissions testing. Hopefully I dont forget to replace it and just leave the offroad pipes on :)

As per usual good old Mr Vizard has an excellent article on exhaust selection and design here.

From what I understand the main summary is that exhaust tuning can produce up to 500% increase in cylinder scavanging over what the usual induction stroke of the 4 stroke cycle produces. Primary header length is not as important as collector length, and wise placement of open chamber or resonator boxes helps to terminate the effective collector length. A good rule of thumb is 2.2cfm of exhaust flow per engine bhp. So a 500bhp engine requires 1000cfm of exhaust. In addition a 1"sq pipe flows around 115cfm. So from this I can see my 2"sq pipe will only flow around 350cfm, or a total of 700cfm (2 pipes) a 50% increase in exahust flow is required to remove the current restriction! And worse because both 2" pipes have an O2 sensor blocking half of it off!

So anyway looking at options now, which include replacement headers as well. I think this is going to have to be the end of the purchasing mission. Finances have taken a hammering recently so hopefully there will be no mechanical restrictions, or at least only minor ones. (Like not having a Fast90/90 setup!) Still waiting for the thermostat and injectors. Im pretty sure the 30lb SVO's will be ok as Im not at 100% duty with the 28's yet. Unless the replacement exhaust makes this change a lot then I should be fine. RedHotSupra has recommended 42lb injectors as they will fit more nicely at the 80% level. In retrospect this is likely to be correct. However the 30lb ones should be ok, but will sit at a higher level.

Still aiming at 400rwhp

Yay my first planned mod has finally arrived

Super cool awsome. My otrcai has arrived. Can you notice it in this photo?

It was made white for me by efi dynamics in Melbourne Oz. Thanks to Les also from ls1-australia for organising it for me. I chose white so it reflected the heat as much as possible. I might even put some silver reflective tape on the bottom. Might help it resist heat soak a little. Should be worth an extra 50bhp, what do you think!? Ok well maybe 0.1bhp anyway.

I had to take a sliver off the neck so it fitted back far enough for the bonnet to close. Nice and snug, so its not going anywhere. Did a test drive up the road. Definately makes more power. Some good sideways action at the round about to check and back home. I have a reasonable drive coming up thursday and an even longer one at the weekend so Ill get some good logging done.

Well new injectors 30lb Ford SVO's (yes I said Ford) are shipped. They should give me plenty of head room and are accepted as a good choice for heads and cam vehicles that need a little more injector capacity. Stock 26lb ones are only good for stock engines. The later 28.8lb ones are ok with mild cam only. But I logged a 92% duty the other day and that was still under 6000rpm so definately need more. The Ford ones rate around 36lb on the GM pumps due to higher pressure, this should be good for around 650bhp based on my understanding of BSFC, which admitedly is probably pretty shocking.

BSFC as I understand is the engines ability to turn fuel into power. A more efficient engine will get more power from each lb of fuel. Forced induction engines are good, as are some high compression NA engines. Take a look here for Mr Wikipedia's take on the matter.

Ok so now I shouldnt be intake restricted any more. Thermostat will help keep engine and combustion temps under control so I can get a little more timing.

I did a traction limited 0-100 of 5.6sec the other night. Not so brilliant. But that was my first go. I will run a few more times and practice my launch etc. I think I might be able to get it to very low 5's and will some luck and probably more tuning even under 5!

Also today I messed with a number of tuning tables in order to arrest my reverse full lock low speed stall. It appears totally fixed now. Cool. I might celebrate by dropping idle down a little to 780 from 800 and see how it goes. It will idle at 700 rpm, but is a little tetchy about doing so. I think 780 might be good enough.

I thought so

A day spent on and under the car again today.
Some new NGK-BKR6E-11 plugs, well cheap I think about £12 all up shipped to my door. They are shorter than the stock Autolite plugs so will create less compression and run cooler. I pushed timing 0.5 degree up to celebrate and no KR was logged so things are heading the right way. Cold air intake and Thermostat to come.

I also ported my throttle body today. Here is the pic, a little blurry, but there you go.
An excellent writeup here on how to do this. I cancelled the BBK one I ordered, everyone says there is no point upgrading unless you go for a Fast90/90 setup.


Also here is a pic of the old plugs I pulled out. Ive done some spark plug research and Im guessing they looked a little lean/hot. But within acceptable limits. Take a look here for an excellent link on spark plug reading. New plugs are gasketed, which is the recommended plug for the darts. So plugs are now as they should be. The old ones have been consigned to the spares basket.

I also found a small exhaust leak, which was the likely reason my girlfriend was complaining the car was making her sick, "worse than before". And there I was thinking it was my driving all along, or the increased power and whiplash etc.

So good progress, slight increase in power and hopefully more to come with the remaining parts.

If you havnt done so already PORT YOUR THROTTLE BODY! Its easy and rewarding.

Last fuel fill the distance remaining read 420 Miles, which is pretty good, same as prior to heads and cam upgrade. So there you go a nice small port high flowing head with good compression and a mid-ish size cam can get you good street manners, more speed/power and retained economy.

Just a little by the way. The Dart heads have about 0.100 less valve clearance over stock heads. So notching pistons is more likely with the Darts. The valve springs are good to 0.620 but the drop wont support that with out compatible pistons.