Most liked posts in thread: SuperTurbo Mini Project

Funny you should mention that...ok, not really (for now )


...but did I mention the aerodynamic dimples I'm adding?

 

Hmmm...

 

I must admit I've strongly considered adding air jacks....but there's several items higher on the priority list (e.g. molded plexiglass quarter panels with air intakes).

 

Update - purrs like a kitten!

Ok, the car is running like a dream now....but I did have to fix two (of my) stupid mistakes first:

My first Homer-esque mistake I discovered immediately when I went to run the ignition tests with the ECU. I hooked up a spark tester to ignition output 1/cylinder1, told the ECU to fire the spark (2400 RPM @ 6ms dwell) and it worked great the first time!!! Same thing with output2/cylinder2, output3/cylinder3, output4/cylinder4!!..... dope! They're supposed to be wired in firing order!! Sigh. Check the book...no, I can't tell the ECU to change the firing order. Fortunately I just had to rearrange one control wire for 2,3 & 4...sorted!

Ok now everything works great! Great spark, everything in the right order, injectors running great, etc. etc. Finished reassembling everything, pushed the car out into the driveway, fire extinguisher handy, turn everything on, push the button - car turns over fine....but will not start. Nada. zip.

Hmmm....well, I know the ignition & injectors are working OK. Let's pull out a spark plug & check the spark - perfect! (actually the best I've ever seen it). Battery low? Ok charge it...no change. I was running a bit rich last time I started it, maybe I'm flooding it. Trying cutting fuel by 10%, 20%, 30%...nope. Ok, add fuel by 10%, 20%...nada. Tweak timing...zilch. Sudden fear: maybe I left a rag in the air intake!!! Frantic disassembly...no, nothing there...ack!! Bad fuel? Worked last time I was running it & haven't added fuel since then...rogue settings value change in the ECU? (it's happened before)...methodical search...nope. Major frustration.

As is often the case when I let my brain work on a problem in the background (i.e. when the silly conscious part is asleep) it quickly comes up with the solution. And as I was driving to work the nextday it explained it to me:

As I've mentioned before in a 4-cylinder, wasted spark engine there are two equally correct timing points that are separated by 360 degrees. Setting the GRIP to either of these two values will work equally well. However now that I have one-coil-per-plug, this is no longer the case.

I was 99% positive I had the correct value for the GRIP, but it's easy enough to check. The minute I got home from work, I pulled out the computer, changed one entry in the settings, flipped the switch...and it purred to life! Success!

My impression thus far is that the spark with these coils is amazing. It may be my imagination, but the spark is far more intense than I remember it being before. Just as an example, when I was running the initial tests I moved one spark plug wire from coil-to-coil. At one point I forgot to switch to the next coil. When I started the test, the spark jumped from center post of the previous coil to the closest metal contact point..over 1.5" away!

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On a separate note, I also painted the valve cover with a ceramic-based high temp paint to help protect it (a bit) from the heat.

Here's an updated picture of the whole engine bay:



I also built & mounted a prototype "air scoop" to try to force more air down between the turbo & valve cover. I'll make a prettier version after I verify this is really helping:





And just in case you're curious, here's a picture of my work area:



More testing this weekend...

 

I recently rearranged & recalibrated the temp sensors & am planning on gathering updated logs on that on my next run. I have one stock air sensor & two from Motec & I didn't trust the data from the stock sensor - so I swapped the positions around. I'll post the raw data & my thoughts on it as soon as I have it.

 

Before I had the GRS front-mount IC I had a GRS top-mount. So I can't exactly compare it with stock. However I do happen to have a stock IC laying around. So I'll take that to the next event & do one run with it just to compare to the others....just for fun...

 

Yeah, I meant CRIP not GRIP (different acronym from my day job).

Interestingly those are the #s I was using before. I had to change the CRIP to 78+360=438 for it to work. Hmmm....