Recent track experience

Nigel

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Joined
Jun 16, 2001
I posted this in the general section and did not get any comment so maybe someone may have input here.​
Picked up a very stock 87 T Nov 2011. Noteworthy parts when I picked it up were hotwired Walbro 307, adj reg, 37 lb/hr Delphi inj., stock exhaust with muffler replaced, scanmaster.​
Work I’ve done to the car: valve springs, timing chain, rear seal(engine still seeps oil from multiple locations), dut neck, gutted cat, motor mounts, tranny mount, exhaust dumps (one on each pipe prior to turn out/up to go above the axel), replaced passenger side upper a-arm bushings, brake accumulator.​
Equipment I’ve added, MAF T Pro(using as translator awesome), Extender pro chip(awesome), LT1 MAF, high boost solenoid, LC-1, boost gauge, 235/60-15 MT ET streets, CK shift kit, Razor Alky, 3 gallon tank in the trunk.​
Best Street tire performance​
2.041​
8.4@83.79​
13.12@104.28​
Best MT ET street performance​
1.749​
8.005@84.73​
12.66@104.68​
I have been very patient and have driven the car getting a handle on the MAF T and the alky. Boost control on the stock turbo has taken some time to dial in at higher boost. I’m too old to go screamin around on the highway, so I’m careful how I tune on the highway. I will typically use on ramps to record runs, and rarely exceed 80 or so. Once I was happy brought to the track, only took two years. I will say I have been very busy for a long time, but glad to finally have gotten it out.​
Currently running 23 psi in 1-2 and 24.5 degrees advance, 22 psi in 3 and 22.5 degrees advance. Most of my runs have been no knock or less than 0.5. I have had two runs where I saw 1.7 or so retard around the 1-2 shift or just after. Next upgrade, power logger. Currently running 10.8:1 A/F ratio. I have tuned with the tuner pro and scanmaster, but I am sure the power logger will make it much easier. Alky ontrol is set on 7.​
I am going to richin the fuel mixture up a little, was thinking of doing that with the gas not the alky at first? Looking to max out on timing and dial in the fuel, any input on the timing limits? I think I have read through most of the tuning info on the board, just looking for fine tuning in put.​
The TurboBob gear makes tuning very fun. I plan to tinker some more with the current setup, not sure what I may do next. The car drives perfect on the street, and I have it tuned for zero knock during normal driving with the occasional WOT blast.​
Suggestions welcome, but I am not going to be changing any major parts (planning anyway) except for a transmission upgrade hopefully this winter. The 1-2 shift is soft.​
Engine compartment picture attached for reference.​
 

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Nice, good work.dial in fuel first via regulator/chip, then the alcohol. Bet you could get a 12.0 out of it with some tuning.
 
Thanks for the feedback, will try to get gasoline right, then eek up timing. First time using good tires, so I have some possible 60 ft improvement too. The MTs had 28 psi, all stock suspension otherwise. Hope to make the track a few more times his season.
 
Yeah im not sure how much timing you can run, someon with more experience could chime in on that one. I would put a walbro 340 and some bigger injectors on it because 37s and a 307 are most likely starting to try pretty hard to sustain efficiency. What kind of chip are you runnjng?
 
I'm running the extender pro for the MAFT Pro, very powerful tuning tool. Takes a little getting used to, and I am using as a translator, not ready to play speed density yet. It also has closed loop boost control, WOT wideband tracking, and a host of other features. I agree, a fuel pump replacement should be done, on the maintenance list for the winter. If at some point I do any upgrades to the engine I would definately step up the injector. I am estimating I am 80-85% DC right now, powerlogger would show for sure. The wideband shows nice steady A/F ratio for the current tune.
 
nigel,the car should pickup all across the ticket with more boost especially with the alky,try lowering the timing and increase boost,then when you have hit your comfort level add timing in only 1st gear to drop the 60ft even further.1.5,1.6 60ft times can be had with the stock turbo.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I am going to try to make the local test and tune this Wednesday, will post an update. The only challenge I have with boost is the stock turbo does not want to hold the boost steady across the rpm range, as the RPMs increase boost falls off. So i'll push it up to were I can maintain a constant pressure. I'll see if I can get another pound or two after pulling a bit of timing.
 
If you really want to push it seal the gate shut 28-30psi you should see.make sure you have plenty of fuel.
 
A little more aggressive than I want to do at this point, but between the actuator and the closed loop boost control I'll see if I can get 25psi or so.

On another note, I pulled the plugs and as expected the rear cylinders are getting more alky. Some variation in the four fronts, but generally a light gray, flat in color. The rear two are dark and shiny, a little darker than a new plug, but almost look clean. Another issue to work on, I may try a power plate, but anybody have other solutions that have worked?
 
Turn down the alcohol volume.

If you use the alcohol to suppress knock, you wont have any distribution issues. If you simply crank the controls up thinking more is better.. then results will vary. Car will be fastest when run on the edge of knocking.
 
Razor, thanks. I will turn back to 6. I am also going to try the power plate. My plan is to try a couple of blasts on the street to make sure I am not knocking at all then back to the track. I will have results next wednesday assuming good weather and no other snags. This will be a good test to see if the power plate can make a difference. I will also experiment with boost, timing, and fuel. Not sure how far I can get in one night since I get only about 4 runs before it's bed time.
 
I am still working it, have had a couple of frustrating trips to the track.

I put the alky back on 6 per Razor’s recommendation, and that has helped. Power plate results inconclusive just because I have not gotten a good string of runs yet, but I am getting less knock retard, I want to get a few more runs in before I say for sure. At current settings I was getting between .5 to 1 degree somewhat randomly. Now, almost no knock, still have a lot of fine tuning to do. I did not mention before and goes without saying, but one of the best bang for the buck mods is the alky control.

I went to the track Wednesday, hot and humid, made two runs, then came the rain. I initially did not uncap the exhaust, wanted a comparison, was all set to make third run uncapped, didn’t get the chance.

With the heat, the car was lazy, spool up sucked. 12.99@103.28, 1.9 60ft. 1 degree of retard at 40 mph otherwise a clean run.

I went back Saturday, tough to get a lot of runs, only got two. Started with the exhaust uncapped this time. I also used the extender pro spool up feature. In the six runs previous with the ET streets, could not break them loose. The spool up feature works, broke them loose first run 13.63@104.9, 2.48 60ft, .9 degrees retard@54 mph, otherwise a clean run. I have to start working on the launch and more traction. Weather was cooler also, not sure exact temp around 60.

Second run, I over compensated and launched like a pussy. Had an odd occurrence of the MAFT pulling boost, have a question in to TurboBob on that. Boost settled in at roughly 19 psi. 12.99@103.28, 1.99 60ft. Zero knock.

Between the hot and cold weather a fairly big swing in A/F. On the hot day, the car ran 10.5:1 and was pulling fuel. On Saturday when cooler, right around 11:1 and adding some fuel, had target set for 10.9:1. The alky will always regulate on boost, so I may try to compensate for temperature in the MAFT, I want to be slow a careful adjusting fuel, will take a long time to dial this in I think.

I have got to start being more methodical on tuning and launching if I want to get better. I also have to get a power logger, the tuner pro and scanmaster together work, but I need all of the data in one place, and it is more user friendly.

More to follow. Feel free to comment.
 
I always work on one part of the slip at a time. Example i'll work on MPH tuning, for that i'll leave soft so it always gets the same crappy 60 ft but becomes predictable.

Typically the shift from 1-2 is at 40 mph. You have to understand that knock that happens on the shift is not real knock. And for me to see a tickle of knock randomly is ok as it shows the knock sensor is working. The bad knock is the one that climbs and gets more aggressive. Example 1,3,5,9, etc. Knock that flashes and disappears is false. And 1 degree is nothing.

Once you get the MPH sorted out.. work on the bottom end of the track and get the 60 sorted out. At 19 psi 103 mph is fine. You shoot for the max increase from 1/8 mph to 1/4 mph. At your level your probably getting 19-20 MPH increase. Once you turn the boost up the mph will also go up.

Your transmission will last longer leaving softer. Will also last longer not blowing the tires and peddling it.

No magic.. just some patience and methodical procedures.

HTH
 
Thanks Razor, good advice. This will require some self control. Even though a 1.75 60 ft is not quick for some, it felt good. I will have to try to back burner the 60ft till I'm happy with the tune.
 

One of the board members showed me this, this is my best ET to date caught a couple weeks ago. The Benz ran me down though.
 
Ran tonight, took it easy on the launch, good cool weather. Decent MPH.
First pass
2.068
12.99@105.69
3.5 retard on the 1-2 shift. A couple of 1.9 blips during the run

Added fuel

2nd pass
1.96
12.81 @ 106.61
.9 retard @ 97. Did not see any other knock, may have missed a blip.

I am not going to touch anything accept fuel for the next time out, not sure how much more I can get out of the current setup.
 
If you are still running the stock air box and elbow as shown in your photo, you can pick up a few tenths and quicker spool by replacing them wit a 9 inch KN filter attached directly to the MAF. Straiten out the MAF tube and secure it so it will not hit the alternator fan.
 
Thanks, I should have mentioned in my list of things done that I have a cone filter sitting under the stock airbox. I removed the original and modified another air box with flat bar, 3" tube, and the mig. I am loosing a little thru the elbow but I know guys have gone a lot faster than me thru the elbow, but I like the stock appearance. I have really just been tweaking a little at a time, but I think over the winter I may do some porting work just to see what I can get out of the stock parts. I'm not sure if I just want to keep going with eeking out every last bit with the stock parts or do some modifications. I also have to figure out my short times still.
 
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