ShawneeCreek said:Double check the settings on your wideband controller and ensure that they're not set to imitate a narrow band sensor.
Also ensure that the settings in Megasquirt are set to get readings from a wide band sensor.
It's setup as a wideband, and even on the gauge itself, the reading is either full rich or full lean.
So, I fixed my wideband issue, although, I'm not entirely sure how. I removed it, recalibrated the sensor and then installed it in the header collector and now it's all happy. So, now I got to start the car and start tuning it. It's been 7 years since I've done any tuning, so its slowly coming back to me.
NickD said:In reply to Jaynen :
I figured the 240hp/180tq they quoted would be good enough for me for a while. Especially because going further than that is going to require some upgrades to the engine (Starting to get where stock rods are marginal and Gary at TDR warned me to keep it under 7500rpm) and then you start getting into transmission grenade territory. Going from 92hp/79tq at the tires to 240hp/180tq should be quite a leap
Let me know what you think, my instructor had a rotrex car and surprisingly I didn't think it "felt" fast riding it but he was at more like 220 and I don't know what kind of torque he was making
Jaynen said:NickD said:In reply to Jaynen :
I figured the 240hp/180tq they quoted would be good enough for me for a while. Especially because going further than that is going to require some upgrades to the engine (Starting to get where stock rods are marginal and Gary at TDR warned me to keep it under 7500rpm) and then you start getting into transmission grenade territory. Going from 92hp/79tq at the tires to 240hp/180tq should be quite a leap
Let me know what you think, my instructor had a rotrex car and surprisingly I didn't think it "felt" fast riding it but he was at more like 220 and I don't know what kind of torque he was making
I wonder if that has to do with how Rotrex superchargers gradually pour on the power, instead of coming on hard like a positive displacement blower or a turbocharger.
Maybe one day I'll actually get to drive this thing. Currently waiting for the weather to warm up and some rain to clear off the road. We are still getting 30 degree temps and scattered snow flurries here. And although none of the snow is sticking, all the plow truck drivers are rushing to lay down a salt-pocalypse on the roads.
I still have to street tune it, then put at least 500 miles on it to break in the engine and clutch, pray that no unexpected issues pop up and then call up Berg Racing to schedule it for a dyno-tune and be at their mercy. So, with my first autocross in two weeks, I've pretty much accepted that I won't be racing it at the first event. This weekend I'll reach out to a few fellow drivers and see if anyone is willing to let me co-drive.
Boy, Barbatos is proving to be as a tempestuous as its namesake. Figured I would fire it up today, do a little more tuning, maybe run it up and down the road a little. Go out to the garage to start it and it cranks but no fire. Try fiddling with the timing in Megasquirt, figuring maybe it needs a little more advance during cold starting and still nothing. Can hear the fuel pump, but it doesn't pop or sputter or even try to crank. Hook up an inline spark tester and no juice. I hope it's not a Cam Angle Sensor, as they are something like $350...... It's gonna be a cam angle sensor
Last night after plugging and unplugging things, I got spark back. Figured that maybe I didn't have a connector fully seated. Got the car running and then all of a sudden I kept losing sync and TunerStudio kept going offline. Now, the power LED is on on the ECU with the key in the Off and Accessory position but turns off in the Run and Crank position. I don't have a clue anymore. Shoulda just sold the thing last fall, taken a financial loss and bought something else I guess.
Complaint: Install the EFI relay or hook the battery up or plug in the MegaSquirt and the MS is powered down with the key off and in Accessory. Rotate the key to Run and the LEDs light up in the MS, although a little on the dim side, but when you turn the key to Run the fuel pump does not prime. Turn it to crank and it will crank and sputter once. Then when you let off the key, the LED is now very dim on the MS in Run and Crank. Turn the key back to Accessory and the LEDs go bright and the fuel pump will prime briefly. Turn the key to Off, LEDs are still bright. Unplugging the ignition switch does not turn the MS off, making me think it isn't a berkeleyed switch. Cycling the key results in a still-bright LED when you turn to Accessory but no fuel pump prime. Hit Run and Crank, no fuel pump, dim LEDs. If you unhook the battery, remove the EFI relay or unplug the MegaSquirt, it will act normal and then go back to this weirdness as soon as you crank it.
Cause: I'm running MiataRoadster's phenolic intake manifold spacer, which puts a 1/2" phenolic spacer between the manifold and the head and phenolic washers under the intake manifold nuts. So my grounds that I had on the intake were not grounding. Last week when it was running, we had the fan thermoswitch ground to the cylinder head via a wire due to the broken sensor, which must have been grounding the MS properly. A quick check with an ohmmeter revealed that there was ~900 ohms at that ground there.
Correction: Relocated the ground to a valve cover bolt. Less than 2 ohms now
Reset the ignition timing, and it lives
Took it out and put about 40 miles on putting up and down the road tweaking the tune. Seems to run and drive fine.
Awesome!
Commuted to work in it today. Also got it state inspected. Cold starts are a little cantankerous, requiring some feathering of the throttle while cranking. Not sure what I need to add or subtract. Starts great once warm
In other news, because it won't be ready for the first autocross next weekend, I secured a co-drive in a friend's BMW Z3 M Roadster. Even better, it's the later one with the S54, so it's a pretty hairy machine even in stock trim. And being a powerful, short-wheelbase RWD roadster, it'll kinda prepare me for racing my Miata
Also, signed up for the SCCA/Tire Rack Champ Tour at Seneca Army Depot on July 8th-10th. My car is way underprepped for SSM and I have no intentions of making it a full-tilt race car, so I'm sure I'll be dead last in class (There's a 911 GT3 and a truly psychotic Lotus Elise in there) but it's 3 days of autocrossing for $120 and a bunch of my local race friends are attending, so should be a good time
So, quietly been piling on the miles. Up to 320 miles so far. Last Saturday I washed it up and took it to the local college car show
I couldn't get away from the car at the show. Seriously, I had people asking questions and commenting on it the whole time. Repeatedly was told it was the coolest car at the show, including by the guy who won the Best Import Award (in a stanced S2000). One kid hung around for about 2.5 hours asking questions, before finally asking if he could go for a ride in it. So we hopped in, fired it up and went and found a deserted-ish road on the college campus and I punched it for the first time, with one eye on the AFR gauge the whole time. Holy E36 M3, this thing is FAST. And really berkeleying loud. I have the Good-Win Racing baffle in the exhaust tip currently, and I'm not sure I'll ever pull it out. I also scared the daylights out of the guy riding with me, and he drives a bolt-on/tuned E9x 335i, so it must be pretty quick.
Some of the other cars there:
Yes, that Impala is stickshift-converted.
So, with my Barbatos not ready for showtime, I decided to co-drive for the first autocross. Event was held at the Oswego County Police EVOC training site at the Oswego County Airport.
Pre-run video of the course from the course designer's S2000
The car I was driving was Mark Mangicaro's B/Street Z3 M Roadster. I'm not sure of the year but it's the later version with the S54 engine from the E46 M3. It is completely bone stock except for a set of stock-sized RE71Rs on stock wheels, and it only has 28,400 miles on the odometer.
Styling: I think that the Z3 is a handsome enough design, probably one of BMW's last non-controversially styled cars, along with the E46. And it has aged well. But I can't help wish that the M had a little more pizzazz to differentiate it from other Z3s. Also, personally, I would pick a different color other than Titansilber Metallic, which makes it blend in even more. I'll give styling a solid 8/10.
Interior: For whatever reason, I'm not a huge fan of the interior on these. It just doesn't seem to jive well with the rest of the car. The chrome-ringed analog gauges in the center console seem like they'd be more at home in a quaint little British roadster than a high-tech German bruiser. The controls for the top are in a strangely located position. And as with all BMWs of this era, the shift knob retaining mechanism was gacked up, so it popped off when you ripped 2nd gear. But the ergonomics seemed solid (other than the top controls), the seats were comfortable and supportive, I could fit my 6'3" frame in it with a helmet on and fit, and the materials seemed to be good quality. So, I'll call it 7/10.
Engine: This engine.... Holy E36 M3. I've heard people talk about how great the S54, with it's dual VANOS and 6 throttle bodies, is but to experience it is a different matter. While I don't much care for the exhaust note, and it's by all accounts (even the owner's) a demanding mistress to keep happy, the power and torque and delivery of both is amazing. Great engine for autocross use. It'll dig it's way out of a corner at low RPM and then scream all the way to redline (I know because I was hitting redline at 2 separate points on the course). And even as it approached rev limit, it was perfectly smooth and felt like it'd rev another 1000rpm more. 9.5/10.
Driveline: A great transmission, coupled by a weird clutch. I nearly stalled it once trying to get moving, because it felt like it took up twice. You'd start letting the clutch up and it would feel like it was grabbing, then there was a bunch of travel and it would fully engage. Not sure if that's normal to all of them, or an idiosyncrasy of the this particular car. But once moving, the shifter had solid engagement and short travel. And for this particular course, it had perfect gearing, just grazing rev limiter at 2 separate parts of the course, which I'm told is 70+mph speeds. 8/10
Chassis/Brakes: I've heard that the combination of the Z3's short wheelbase, funky E30 rear suspension and big honking motor makes them a snap oversteer widowmaker. I didn't find that to be the case, but maybe that had something to do with the gooey RE71R tires and Mark's fastidious attention to tire temps and pressures. Tons of grip, although maybe a little more body roll than I was expecting and the steering seemed a little slower than I would want. Everything felt a little muted compared to my Miata, but I could still tell what was going on and what the car wanted me to do and it didn't seem to get upset over the rougher parts of the course. ABS was a nice plus, because you could haul freight into a corner and then bend the brake pedal in half without locking up the tires, and it never seemed overly intrusive. Not sure if it's running upgraded pads, but if it isn't, it doesn't seem to need them for this usage. My biggest issue was telling where the edges of the car were, because this thing has child-bearing hips, but that's more a me issue. 9/10
As for the race results, I was slower than Mark on the 3 morning runs. Part of that was due to me learning the car, the other was partially due to me goofing up the optional-direction offset slalom at 1:02 in the video. The gates set you up on the right side of the first and last cones of the slalom, making it feel natural to start on that side, but then you were fighting the offset. Going to the left felt unnatural on the first cone but straightened the slalom out drastically and picked up a bunch of speed. At the end of the morning, I was sitting on a 72.285s clean, while Mark had a 68.137 + 1 cone. Regrouping for the afternoon, I immediately blasted 2 consecutive clean 70.6xxs, and then on my third run ripped off a 68.500. At this point Mark was still stuck in the 70s and 71s due to picking up cones left and right. I was sitting in the car ready to roll for my fourth afternoon run when I witnessed the gnarliest autocross accident I've ever seen. This shut down the event while we recovered the car, cleaned the surface and filled out accident reports, also resulting in us getting cut from 5 runs to 4. I then forgot to turn off traction control, plus the tires had cooled, and I slowed to a 70.265 and punted a cone. Mark hopped in for his last run and clicked off his only clean run of the day and beat me by 0.098 seconds with a 68.402. This was good enough to get us 6th and 7th, respectively, out of 17 in the Street class, and 15th and 16th overall. Class Results. PAX Results.
Final verdict: While I'm still not sure I would ever own one, due to it's complicated and pricey nature, I'm still glad to have had the chance to drive this monster. Definitely a car that will hold a special place in my heart. And probably gave me my best overall finish of the season (yay, SSM PAX).
Between the SUNY IT car show and my May 19th appointment to get my car dyno-tuned by BERG Racing in Webster, NY, I proceeded to rack up 800 miles on the car, change the oil, raise the front ride height and drop the rear ride height, align the car, fix some various leaks and swap out my rusty old water pump pulley in a (futile) attempt to eliminate belt squeal on startup.
The day of my dyno-tune approached and I was admittedly like an expectant father. People kept asking if I was excited and my response was invariably "I'll be excited when the car is tuned, in one piece and makes solid numbers. Until then, I'm nervous." I was also a little concerned when I told BERG what all was done to my car and they said "Oh, that should make about 190-200hp." Hmmm, TDR said this kit was worth 240hp.
Wake up the 19th and make the 2 hour drive out to Webster and meet the tune and the owner of BERG. Super nice people, really awesome shop full of really cool cars. Having never had a car dyno-tuned, I really wasn't sure to expect as to how long it would take. Car was making power pulls within an hour and a half and done in 2 and a half hours.
The first pull where he really got on it, I saw 216hp and 169lb-ft and he wasn't finalized with the tune or using the full power band. A subsequent pull saw 227hp/174lb-ft, followed by a 229/179 pull and then it blasted a 234/181 pull. We then started running into belt slip, before hitting a 245/184 pull when the belt cooperated. TDR warned me to stay below 7500rpm in boost for the sake of my connecting rods and I had set the rev limiter at 7000rpm. Trying to get a 250hp pull, the tuner bumped the rev limit to 7300rpm but we kept fighting belt slippage, limiting us to around 225-230hp, and when the belt did cooperate, power output plummeted after 7000rpm due to the cams running out of steam. Final corrected numbers ended up being 241hp @ 7000rpm and 181lb-ft at 6700rpm.
Also, check out that super linear curve!
So are you still happy with the power?
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