Hit a milestone and still making changes.

It may take a while, but once the shifter and W/M tank goes in, I'll get another full set of interior pics, there's still 3 more gauges (W/M, Boost Controller, Nitrous fulf level) to go back into the dash pods on the chrono pack.

 

As far as louvers, while if done right they can look good, I'm thinking there weigh be enough reward for the effort, since I'm only looking to improve shal when not moving, I'm thinking the effect would be minimal for this. It's going to bed needbe done some of forced or drawn air system if anything.

As far as cosmetics, I have to admit, I think a couple of well placed flush mount hood locks/latches would look pretty good.

 

Thanks, while it's been a pretty big undertaking and seemed daunting at first, the way things are coming around, it's been worth it. If for nothing else than gaining the first hand knowledge and confidence for other future projects.

 

Wanted to get an update in before the holiday weekend.
Tuning is coming along just fine, with weather and my work schedule there's been a few delays, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Received an unexpected surprise last week when I did my 3rd fill up. Back and forth to work and minimal hard pulls, through 2 tanks of gas I'm averaging 36.8 mpg, and that's calculated, not with the trip computer. Never expected that at all, best I got with the Sprintex was 29 hwy / 26 around town. I'll check it again after all the tuning is done, but either way, I'll take it.

Did the first WOT pull a couple of weeks ago, pretty happy for the base starting point (basically no tuning at all and stock rev limit) 316 hp / 251 tq according to Virtual Dyno.

And yes, I know it's not that accurate, but I can't go running to a dyno after every change (since we're street tuning) and honestly all I'm looking for with it is to see gains or losses, overall, it will be what it will be. I do all my pulls at the same exact spot, the Virtual Dyno setup is the same every time and so far the ambient temps have even been the same.
Honestly, I may even wait to see if they bring back the dyno to MOTD next year before strapping it down.

I did however run across something interesting with that WOT pull. According to my boost gauge tattle tale (have to use the gauge since the MAP Sensor tops out at 19.8) and reading from my vacuum manifold as I am, I only saw 24.7 psi, and I've seen 26.5 just after the boost controller install. So it got me curious, the piping had been off and on when doing the exhaust studs and oil leak, so I figured something just didn't get put back and tightened properly.
After a little research and going through the system, I found the issue... The T-Bolt clamps.. While they got tight enough, the also slightly bent my aluminium piping so that the openings were just a little out of round. Probably not an issue if you don't take things apart much, or can perfectly align everything again, but that's just not feasible for me.
So all the T-Bolt clamps have been replaced with Breeze Constant Torque worm drive clamps, and I'm back to seeing 26+ psi.

Speaking of, as far as boost and power, I'm fine with where it's at, esp considering I'm using the 64ar exhaust housing and the full 2.5" JCW exhaust. Honestly, it's pretty much on point for what the tires can handle anyway, and the only way to give it more overall would be going to a stand alone ECU and boost-by-gear.

Here's the way I see it now...
I will be getting better tires, but not until spring, so I'll just have to deal with these for now.
As it stands, with the current boost setting, full throttle and 1st gear aren't even a thought above 4000 RPM, and once I hit full boost around 5000-5500 in 2nd it also just rolls the tires right off the pavement. But it does hold traction in 3rd and up, so I'm thinking it's just right for my setup with no boost-by-gear option, it will be really fun in 2nd, and if I want more in the upper gears, I can always spray it with a 50 shot or something.
But.... That's now, things may change with the final pump gas and esp W/M tuning. I'll just have to see how it plays out.

I should have at least 1 of the 3 days to work on some of the other things that need to still be finished, so we'll see.

Just for reference, here's a screen shot of where I was with the final Sprintex pull prior to it losing boost, and the first WOT pull with the turbo. I may try and get an actual weight on the car this weekend as well.

Sprintex to Turbo

 

Between the heat coating, turbo blanket and heat shielding, it's not bad at all. Body panels (cowl and bonnet) are only warm to the touch because of the heat shielding and bonnet liner.
So far with ambient temps in the mid 90's, the hottest it's gotten under the bonnet was 205° sitting and idling for 10 min or more. While not excessive, I'm still going to try to address it with some kind of blower or fan that can keep air moving even when the car isn't. Under bonnet air temps when moving are only 10-15° above ambient, with the temp sensor back between my air filter and coolant reservoir.

 

Well, weighed the car, Holy Carp cabrio's are heavy....

Weight with me sitting in the car:

 

Finally another update, the tuning has been coming along, but remote tuning the everyday and warm idle (the closed loop stuff) is a very slow process because of all the minor adjustments, esp now that we've gotten into the extra maps available with the newer VDO ECU.

Well, come to find out the the ByteTronik team has opened a shop in Austin TX with a new Mustang Dyno, and their tuner was in the states for a month.
So.... Road Trip...

I went down the weekend of the 20th, except for my new alternator going bad, it was a pretty good trip.

Ended up taking most of the first day to iron out the afore mentioned closed loop tuning, but it's done and runs perfectly normal. As a matter of fact if it weren't for the power, it drives completely factory, you'd never know that there have been so many changes and modifications to the car.
Then after replacing the alternator, we were able to get the pump gas WOT tuning done as well.

I'm very happy with the results, esp being on a factory ECU, and can't say enough about the time and care that the guys put in to make sure everything was right, top notch, all the way around.

Only thing that bums me out is that prior to the trip I completed the Aquamist install, but because of the alternator problem, there just wasn't enough time for us to do the W/M tuning. But no problem, doing the open loop WOT tuning remotely, is much less time consuming than the everyday driving.

Only other issue was my manual boost controller was a real PITA to adjust and stay consistent, and while it's good now, there's an electronic unit going in this weekend. It will allow much simpler and more accurate adjustments when going from pump gas to W/M tunes.

Speaking of boost, we ended up running out of injector at 22psi, so that is where it will live for pump gas, we'll be able to turn it up with the supplement of the Meth, so no need to get larger injectors for now.
Besides, these 650's are supposed to be one of the most efficient available because of their spray pattern and atomization characteristics.
(I can't help but wonder if they aren't a big part of my exceptional fuel millage. While I didn't calculate MPG on the trip, I can tell you that going from a completely full tank to low fuel warning light, I was able to travel 360 miles.)
And for anything who thinks you can't road trip a car with all these modifications, except for the freak alternator issue, the trip was 1700 miles total, and everything just worked.

Here are a couple of pics of the W/
M install and some dyno graphs.
(For some reason, the final tune in those graphs is not the best number, best number was 329, but I'm not going to cry about 7 hp on a graph, you could lose or gain that with a temp or atmospheric change, if I do get that graph, I'll post it up later)
And since I won't be on that dyno for W/M tuning, I'll adjust the virtual dyno settings to best mimic the actual dyno (weight and dyno type) in order to get a good representation of the W/M changes in power.

So here's the obligatory "on the dyno" pic:



This first graph is a comparison of how the car was when I first got there, running 27 psi:



This is a comparison of safe boost at 22 psi, before tuning:



Here are the W/M install pics, with my injector size and probably running 100% Meth, the jetting calculated out to be in the neighborhood of 1.3-1.5mm, so instead of spraying that much so close to the MAP sensor, I'm doing split delivery as suggested by Jeff Howerton, .6mm Pre-T/B and adjust the Pre-Turbo as needed.

W/M Tank install:







New CAI Filter Positioning:



Rear W/M Nozzle, Pre-Turbo:



Front W/M Nozzle, Pre-T/B:



I guess that's about it for now, new boost controller should be in and setup this weekend, then on to the W/M tuning, as weather permits.

 

It's a 2.25 gallon Devil's Own tank, I of course wanted the one that Howerton used to have, but they've been sold out for a while now.
I was going to put it on my seat delete panel behind the drivers seat, but besides being safer than having 2 gallons of methanol sitting right behind me, it's also more convenient to fill. Plus it fits in well enough to have complete battery access without moving or disassembling a thing.

It's absolutely a blast, not to mention a real eye opener to others....

 

I couldn't afford the wires to go with it....

 

Here are the virtual Dyno comparisons I mentioned.

First is the direct comparison of the before and after tuning using the old Virtual Dyno settings from the earlier posting a few months ago.

And second is an example of where the new settings need to be in order to mimic the actual dyno results.
I'll be using these settings to do further comparisons since I won't be on the same actual dyno again, while not perfectly accurate they will be close enough for my use.





If nothing else it's a good example of how tough a Mustang dyno can be...