929 Evo - 2012 Season Updates
Mar 8, 2012, 08:03 AM
#1
929 Evo - 2012 Season Updates
Hey all. Track season is getting awfully close, so I thought I'd put together a quick thread to list out some of the 2012 season updates that car either has gotten or will be getting shortly. Enjoy.
First up was a new tune. I've always been one to preach the conversation of speed and momentum and handling over just gobs of HP. But after seeing cars in my class continually pull away from me in the straights - I figured it was time to get more HP.
In 2011, I had the car prepped for NASA TTA class which most of you know is pretty restricted on the amount of 'mods' you can do to the car including a required base weight of 3263 lbs for my model. Basically every 'mod' gets a point value assigned so you have to pick and choose what works best for you. Testing and reloading your setup if/when you have time. With a terrific AMS tune last year and my setup of choice I ran just under 9:1 HP/weight.
This year I decided that maxing out my power/weight was goal #1. There's just no replacement for straight-line speed. So after mulling over my options, I built on a relationship that started in 2011 at the track and decided to take the car to Buschur Racing out in Ohio. This would be the first time the Evo would be tuned by anyone besides AMS since... ever.
I was excited to see what Buschur could do and very excited that he agreed to help me pick-and-choose mods on the car to find out the best package while trying to minimize the 'mod' point setup. The downside was the 7.5 hr trip to the shop for me! Buschur agreed to let me drop the car off and leave it for a few weeks, which was great so I didn't have to wait on the car and I was not in a hurry. Dodging some sleet/ice/snow I eventually got the car to Buschur's in late January and the next day I got a call by 10am with the baseline numbers the car put down - which was ~322whp @ 27psi on 100octane on Buschur's Mustang Dyno. This was a lower # than I put down at AMS in January 2011 on their Mustang Dyno, but with the differences in dyno's and everything we just needed a baseline to start with.
The trip to Buschur's January:
Dave and crew tore into the car with some planned upgrades I wanted and also on our 1st idea to try and save points - then back to the dyno. This was basically an idea to try and use the stock boost lines and ditch the MBC; it's something Dave wanted to try. However, option #1 failed to produce the power we wanted, as the torque came on slow and boost did not want to creep over 22psi. so onto option #2.
So with the MBC back on Dave went back to tuning. He found the car wouldn't go over 26-27psi and the power was stuck under 350 and torque ~330 which didn't seem right. He ended up switching out the MBC and eventually the K&N open air filter (he thought it was dirty) and the power shot up and the car got lean! It picked up nearly 20wtq with that change!
So back to tuning and like I had feared we were going to be maxing out the stock injectors. To this point the car has been on the stock motor, turbo, bottom-end, cams, wastegate, TB, intake/exhaust mani's, injectors & fuel pump. Crazy eh. Mostly just intake and exhaust + tuning.
After Dave finished tuning it, we came away with a net gain of about 30 whp - at only 23psi - with a bit more in reserve. I was saddened by the fact we ended up using more 'mod' points vs saving them, but in the end making more power WAS the #1 goal here so we did what we had to do with the mods and the power looks good. I can't wait to get it out and see how the tune feels - as well as get it to a track to run GPS on it to see the differences.
So after a few weeks of having the car at Buschur's I took off on another 1000 mile roundtrip to bring it back home. And wouldn't you guess it; more bad weather. This was the least though (no ice):
Complete list of installs & updates the car got while at Buschur:
First up was a new tune. I've always been one to preach the conversation of speed and momentum and handling over just gobs of HP. But after seeing cars in my class continually pull away from me in the straights - I figured it was time to get more HP.
In 2011, I had the car prepped for NASA TTA class which most of you know is pretty restricted on the amount of 'mods' you can do to the car including a required base weight of 3263 lbs for my model. Basically every 'mod' gets a point value assigned so you have to pick and choose what works best for you. Testing and reloading your setup if/when you have time. With a terrific AMS tune last year and my setup of choice I ran just under 9:1 HP/weight.
This year I decided that maxing out my power/weight was goal #1. There's just no replacement for straight-line speed. So after mulling over my options, I built on a relationship that started in 2011 at the track and decided to take the car to Buschur Racing out in Ohio. This would be the first time the Evo would be tuned by anyone besides AMS since... ever.
I was excited to see what Buschur could do and very excited that he agreed to help me pick-and-choose mods on the car to find out the best package while trying to minimize the 'mod' point setup. The downside was the 7.5 hr trip to the shop for me! Buschur agreed to let me drop the car off and leave it for a few weeks, which was great so I didn't have to wait on the car and I was not in a hurry. Dodging some sleet/ice/snow I eventually got the car to Buschur's in late January and the next day I got a call by 10am with the baseline numbers the car put down - which was ~322whp @ 27psi on 100octane on Buschur's Mustang Dyno. This was a lower # than I put down at AMS in January 2011 on their Mustang Dyno, but with the differences in dyno's and everything we just needed a baseline to start with.
The trip to Buschur's January:
Dave and crew tore into the car with some planned upgrades I wanted and also on our 1st idea to try and save points - then back to the dyno. This was basically an idea to try and use the stock boost lines and ditch the MBC; it's something Dave wanted to try. However, option #1 failed to produce the power we wanted, as the torque came on slow and boost did not want to creep over 22psi. so onto option #2.
So with the MBC back on Dave went back to tuning. He found the car wouldn't go over 26-27psi and the power was stuck under 350 and torque ~330 which didn't seem right. He ended up switching out the MBC and eventually the K&N open air filter (he thought it was dirty) and the power shot up and the car got lean! It picked up nearly 20wtq with that change!
So back to tuning and like I had feared we were going to be maxing out the stock injectors. To this point the car has been on the stock motor, turbo, bottom-end, cams, wastegate, TB, intake/exhaust mani's, injectors & fuel pump. Crazy eh. Mostly just intake and exhaust + tuning.
After Dave finished tuning it, we came away with a net gain of about 30 whp - at only 23psi - with a bit more in reserve. I was saddened by the fact we ended up using more 'mod' points vs saving them, but in the end making more power WAS the #1 goal here so we did what we had to do with the mods and the power looks good. I can't wait to get it out and see how the tune feels - as well as get it to a track to run GPS on it to see the differences.
So after a few weeks of having the car at Buschur's I took off on another 1000 mile roundtrip to bring it back home. And wouldn't you guess it; more bad weather. This was the least though (no ice):
Complete list of installs & updates the car got while at Buschur:
- Buschur Racing Oil Pan
- Buschur Racing O2 Housing
- Buschur Racing MBC
- Buschur Racing Evo Air Filter
- Buschur Racing Single Bend MAF Pipe
- Synapse BOV
- All A/C components under the hood removed
- 100 oct Dyno Tune
Last edited by boomn29; May 3, 2012 at 02:31 PM.
Mar 8, 2012, 08:04 AM
#2
So even before I took the car to get tuned in late January, I had already attacked my #2 goal of the off-season: Weight Reduction. Always adopting the KISS strategy; more power + less weight should make a fast car right!
Now as I mentioned earlier, in NASA TTA I have a required weight minimum of 3263 lbs. But I was unsure at this point if I'd run TTA, or bump up to TTS. Hell even caging the car and racing in PTA (pts based like TTA) or ST2 (power/weight like TTS) were on the table. Either way I figured reducing weight was the right way to go as I could always ballast the car back up to min weight, and put it farther towards the rear.
As the car sat at the end of 2011, I could make my 3263lb minimum with about 2/3 tank of fuel, a passenger Sparco seat and harness setup & my spare tire in the trunk. It also scaled about 61% to the front; not sure how that compares with other Evo's? With low fuel and the spare out, I've been scaled as low as 3182 lbs when running TTS and lowering my weight to try to get to 8.7:1 power/weight. That's our starting point...
So, not knowing whether or not I'm going to cage the car, I decided to tear into it either way. If I want to cage it, I can save some $ by pulling the dash out myself. If I'm not caging it, I figure I can still save a little weight by gutting some of the dash.
So, I figured before I get started, I should snap a few pics.
Gauges out! I was very careful with these!
Box of parts removed to this point. I weighed it at like 12lbs to this point. Obviously some of this is going back in though, as a lot of it is plastic parts that cover the ugliness underneath! Note the gauges are NOT in the box.
Here's a pic of the dash and doorskin - just sitting to the side for now. Both going back in the car (20lbs total here).
Some updated pics of the dash that's currently out of the car. It's kinda neat seeing how all the vent routing is done. The rectangular hole on the right is where the passenger side airbag was, it'd been covered with black tape but I'm planning on a bit better fix.
This pic is from late January. As you can see the dash was still out. You can't see but the ACD unit it out too. And yes, the speedo and A/F gauge is ziptied in by yours truely. I figured that'd be nice to have for Buschur while running on the Dyno! It's a pretty crappy hack job but that's exactly how I delivered the car to Buschur in late January. I felt like a total chode but the timing (freaking snow/ice) played a part in the dropoff as well as my time working on the car in the garage.
While at Buschur, I had them pull the AC and replace the O2 Housing. Here's a pic of the AC and old O2 Housing that came out of the car. The AC only was 20 lbs.
Specific items removed - that I can remember:
And the dash going back in last week.
I tried to be as detailed as I could be when I removed everything. I taped off the wires & plugs to the various gauges, ACD, ones that were grounded, etc. Also bagged all the screws into 2 bags as I had a container in each footwell that I was tossing everything into. Now I can gaurantee I'll put less than 1/2 the screws back in!
It's oddly calming to see the dash and especially the speedo & tach back in place.
Dash back in, gauges hooked up, traqmate officially hard-mounted. I'm liking this. This was really the last of the necessities that needed to be completed.
The only bad part is after my event this weekend, everything comes back out! All the gauges, the traqmate mounting and the dash come back out before it goes to the cagebuilder. I'll also have to pull the passenger side seat, both harnesses and the rollbar (not fun) so there's definitely work to do as soon as I get back next week.
Now as I mentioned earlier, in NASA TTA I have a required weight minimum of 3263 lbs. But I was unsure at this point if I'd run TTA, or bump up to TTS. Hell even caging the car and racing in PTA (pts based like TTA) or ST2 (power/weight like TTS) were on the table. Either way I figured reducing weight was the right way to go as I could always ballast the car back up to min weight, and put it farther towards the rear.
As the car sat at the end of 2011, I could make my 3263lb minimum with about 2/3 tank of fuel, a passenger Sparco seat and harness setup & my spare tire in the trunk. It also scaled about 61% to the front; not sure how that compares with other Evo's? With low fuel and the spare out, I've been scaled as low as 3182 lbs when running TTS and lowering my weight to try to get to 8.7:1 power/weight. That's our starting point...
So, not knowing whether or not I'm going to cage the car, I decided to tear into it either way. If I want to cage it, I can save some $ by pulling the dash out myself. If I'm not caging it, I figure I can still save a little weight by gutting some of the dash.
So, I figured before I get started, I should snap a few pics.
Gauges out! I was very careful with these!
Box of parts removed to this point. I weighed it at like 12lbs to this point. Obviously some of this is going back in though, as a lot of it is plastic parts that cover the ugliness underneath! Note the gauges are NOT in the box.
Here's a pic of the dash and doorskin - just sitting to the side for now. Both going back in the car (20lbs total here).
Some updated pics of the dash that's currently out of the car. It's kinda neat seeing how all the vent routing is done. The rectangular hole on the right is where the passenger side airbag was, it'd been covered with black tape but I'm planning on a bit better fix.
This pic is from late January. As you can see the dash was still out. You can't see but the ACD unit it out too. And yes, the speedo and A/F gauge is ziptied in by yours truely. I figured that'd be nice to have for Buschur while running on the Dyno! It's a pretty crappy hack job but that's exactly how I delivered the car to Buschur in late January. I felt like a total chode but the timing (freaking snow/ice) played a part in the dropoff as well as my time working on the car in the garage.
While at Buschur, I had them pull the AC and replace the O2 Housing. Here's a pic of the AC and old O2 Housing that came out of the car. The AC only was 20 lbs.
Specific items removed - that I can remember:
- Underhood A/C - 20lbs
- Both door speakers
- Misc sound deadening behind dash
- Misc plastic trim parts including glove box and parts of the vents
- Probably 2/3 of the screws previously used to hold in the dash
- Whatever else I could cut or scrape out
And the dash going back in last week.
I tried to be as detailed as I could be when I removed everything. I taped off the wires & plugs to the various gauges, ACD, ones that were grounded, etc. Also bagged all the screws into 2 bags as I had a container in each footwell that I was tossing everything into. Now I can gaurantee I'll put less than 1/2 the screws back in!
It's oddly calming to see the dash and especially the speedo & tach back in place.
Dash back in, gauges hooked up, traqmate officially hard-mounted. I'm liking this. This was really the last of the necessities that needed to be completed.
The only bad part is after my event this weekend, everything comes back out! All the gauges, the traqmate mounting and the dash come back out before it goes to the cagebuilder. I'll also have to pull the passenger side seat, both harnesses and the rollbar (not fun) so there's definitely work to do as soon as I get back next week.
Last edited by boomn29; Mar 8, 2012 at 09:00 AM.
Mar 8, 2012, 08:05 AM
#3
As I hinted earlier, I was torn on the decision of whether to run TT again in 2012 or to race. Furthermore, whether to cage and race the Evo or rent.
I think the real itch started last October at Road America. I had a battle in TT with a C6 Vette that I simply could not get around. He'd obviously pull me on the straights, but he braked early - very very early on the long main straight and I would be back on his *** in the braking zones. Bottom line is he was holding me up. I think I did 3 laps behind him running in the 2:31-2:32 range.
Getting frustrated I was going to try and dive-bomb him in the braking zone if I had to; but I couldn't get close enough. After watching him in the last few turns on the track from 'Canada Corner' through T14 I had figured my area to pounce. He braked way early for 'Canada Corner' which is about 138mph for me. So I caught him and he strayed a bit wide so I was nearly side-by-side but I had momentum and the better outside line through T13 and T13A. He finally yielded for T13A as you have to setup on the outside and I was already there! I pitched it in a little sideways and kept it floored; slid to the outside got through T14 and was on the loooonnngg front straight. Then I see that yellow Vette pull out to pass. I screamed 'NOOOO'; all my hard work could be lost. I went deep into T1 and left room just in case but he braked way early and I was going to have a clean lap finally! I made the most of it with a 2:29.2. I took 2nd in the afternoon and that'd finish the competition year for me.
Here's me working on the pass:
I spent a lot of time weighing my options, mostly trying to figure out the financials side of things. Scenarios from running TT again, racing w2w, doing both, splitting, renting a car to race and running TT, renting for Enduros to selling the Evo altogether. Lot of options, lots of estimated calculations!
After getting all the rental estimates for other cars, most of which were in the much slower range being PTE Civics, Spec944 Porsches or Spec Miatas I finally figured out that since I already had my car setup for the track (not w2w; but suspension, etc) that it'd be cheaper to cage it and run it.
So, sometime in January I decided officially to cage it and sent in a deposit to my cagebuilder of choice; Izzy's Custom Cages in St Louis. Izzy's was really my only choice from the beginning as he's pretty much local and I've seen several of his builds for the SCCA and NASA - so he understands the rules.
Back to the timing of everything. With the cage decision coming in early January, I still had to get the car to Buschur's for a tune; knowing that it would probably be there a few weeks. A snowstorm delayed me 1 week, then an ice storm delayed 1 day the next week before I got it there.
Once the car was showing signs of life at Buschur (meaning nothing broke!) I scheduled my cage appt to be in late March. Izzy wanted at least 21 days and we easily found about a 1 month window. This left me the opportunity to get to Road Atlanta to start the season off in March - get the car caged - then have it caged and ready for w2w in mid April for the local NASA MW/GL season.
Another goal for this year was to start the season earlier than normal. I knew this would mean travel. I was close to heading to Road Atlanta last December for a NASA SE event but by the time I tried to register things were full and I never made it off the waitlist.
Options for 2012... There was a March NASA SE event at Road Atlanta. As well as 2 other NASA events in February at CMP and VIR. Both of these were long long trips for me and crossing over the mountains in February and traveling 14+ hrs to VIR didn't seem fun. Ended up Feb was out with the conflict from my Buschur tuning appt. So Road Atlanta was in; and I registered!
So, I leave tomorrow for the 670 mile trip to Road Atlanta - my first trip there ever. Wish me luck. I'm thinking it'll be about 1500 miles in total including on-track mileage.
Then the car will come back and get caged. I'll post updates after the trip and pics from the cage in a few weeks if all goes well.
I think the real itch started last October at Road America. I had a battle in TT with a C6 Vette that I simply could not get around. He'd obviously pull me on the straights, but he braked early - very very early on the long main straight and I would be back on his *** in the braking zones. Bottom line is he was holding me up. I think I did 3 laps behind him running in the 2:31-2:32 range.
Getting frustrated I was going to try and dive-bomb him in the braking zone if I had to; but I couldn't get close enough. After watching him in the last few turns on the track from 'Canada Corner' through T14 I had figured my area to pounce. He braked way early for 'Canada Corner' which is about 138mph for me. So I caught him and he strayed a bit wide so I was nearly side-by-side but I had momentum and the better outside line through T13 and T13A. He finally yielded for T13A as you have to setup on the outside and I was already there! I pitched it in a little sideways and kept it floored; slid to the outside got through T14 and was on the loooonnngg front straight. Then I see that yellow Vette pull out to pass. I screamed 'NOOOO'; all my hard work could be lost. I went deep into T1 and left room just in case but he braked way early and I was going to have a clean lap finally! I made the most of it with a 2:29.2. I took 2nd in the afternoon and that'd finish the competition year for me.
Here's me working on the pass:
I spent a lot of time weighing my options, mostly trying to figure out the financials side of things. Scenarios from running TT again, racing w2w, doing both, splitting, renting a car to race and running TT, renting for Enduros to selling the Evo altogether. Lot of options, lots of estimated calculations!
After getting all the rental estimates for other cars, most of which were in the much slower range being PTE Civics, Spec944 Porsches or Spec Miatas I finally figured out that since I already had my car setup for the track (not w2w; but suspension, etc) that it'd be cheaper to cage it and run it.
So, sometime in January I decided officially to cage it and sent in a deposit to my cagebuilder of choice; Izzy's Custom Cages in St Louis. Izzy's was really my only choice from the beginning as he's pretty much local and I've seen several of his builds for the SCCA and NASA - so he understands the rules.
Back to the timing of everything. With the cage decision coming in early January, I still had to get the car to Buschur's for a tune; knowing that it would probably be there a few weeks. A snowstorm delayed me 1 week, then an ice storm delayed 1 day the next week before I got it there.
Once the car was showing signs of life at Buschur (meaning nothing broke!) I scheduled my cage appt to be in late March. Izzy wanted at least 21 days and we easily found about a 1 month window. This left me the opportunity to get to Road Atlanta to start the season off in March - get the car caged - then have it caged and ready for w2w in mid April for the local NASA MW/GL season.
Another goal for this year was to start the season earlier than normal. I knew this would mean travel. I was close to heading to Road Atlanta last December for a NASA SE event but by the time I tried to register things were full and I never made it off the waitlist.
Options for 2012... There was a March NASA SE event at Road Atlanta. As well as 2 other NASA events in February at CMP and VIR. Both of these were long long trips for me and crossing over the mountains in February and traveling 14+ hrs to VIR didn't seem fun. Ended up Feb was out with the conflict from my Buschur tuning appt. So Road Atlanta was in; and I registered!
So, I leave tomorrow for the 670 mile trip to Road Atlanta - my first trip there ever. Wish me luck. I'm thinking it'll be about 1500 miles in total including on-track mileage.
Then the car will come back and get caged. I'll post updates after the trip and pics from the cage in a few weeks if all goes well.
Last edited by boomn29; Mar 8, 2012 at 09:18 AM.
Have fun a Road Atlanta; supposed to be a great track!
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Mar 8, 2012, 12:56 PM
#10
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Great to see you posting again. I was checking out your blog the other day and was wondering where you were going racing. (being from the midwest.
). Now here is my question. How can NASA regulate dyno numbers if all dyno's don't read the same? It sounds like if you follow the rules you just want to find a dyno that reads low? I was planning on hitting up either Fall-line motorsports or Kelly-Moss motorsports for my dyno session in the next few weeks.
I'm excited to see a cage go in the car. Can you give us an idea of what your building?
I should be seeing alot more of you this season. I relocated to Milwaukee and plan on running with NASA for a few of the midwest events. Are you running Autobahn in April?
). Now here is my question. How can NASA regulate dyno numbers if all dyno's don't read the same? It sounds like if you follow the rules you just want to find a dyno that reads low? I was planning on hitting up either Fall-line motorsports or Kelly-Moss motorsports for my dyno session in the next few weeks. I'm excited to see a cage go in the car. Can you give us an idea of what your building?
I should be seeing alot more of you this season. I relocated to Milwaukee and plan on running with NASA for a few of the midwest events. Are you running Autobahn in April?
Mar 8, 2012, 01:21 PM
#11
Great to see you posting again. I was checking out your blog the other day and was wondering where you were going racing. (being from the midwest.). Now here is my question. How can NASA regulate dyno numbers if all dyno's don't read the same? It sounds like if you follow the rules you just want to find a dyno that reads low? I was planning on hitting up either Fall-line motorsports or Kelly-Moss motorsports for my dyno session in the next few weeks.
I'm excited to see a cage go in the car. Can you give us an idea of what your building?
I should be seeing alot more of you this season. I relocated to Milwaukee and plan on running with NASA for a few of the midwest events. Are you running Autobahn in April?
). Now here is my question. How can NASA regulate dyno numbers if all dyno's don't read the same? It sounds like if you follow the rules you just want to find a dyno that reads low? I was planning on hitting up either Fall-line motorsports or Kelly-Moss motorsports for my dyno session in the next few weeks. I'm excited to see a cage go in the car. Can you give us an idea of what your building?
I should be seeing alot more of you this season. I relocated to Milwaukee and plan on running with NASA for a few of the midwest events. Are you running Autobahn in April?
And yes, I'll be at Autobahn in April. It'll actually be my 3rd event if all goes to plan! Plans are to run 1/2 of the 3hr Enduro Friday as I should have my COMP license by than and I've rented a seat in a Porsche 944; then run the Evo Sat/Sun. Not sure if it'll be TT or w2w; just depends.
As for Dyno's; yeah it does pay to find a low reader it seems. It also seems to pay to NOT run on a DD or MD as that 1.1 multiplication factor isn't all that acurate across the board imo. I know AMS said their MD read exactly 8% lower than their older Dynojet.
In the end, the dyno at the event (take Nationals for instance) will be the ultimate deciding factor as to whether you're legal or not. In addition to that, random - and sometimes redundant - GPS testing as well. I know I was GPS'd in 3 different sessions last year. If they find something odd, they can dyno you or send you to an offsite dyno if their is not AWD dyno available. And guess where the closest AWD to Nationals is? Buschur... So I'm more than safe as I know my numbers there and we built in some safety by dynoing in much much colder temps.
Mar 8, 2012, 06:52 PM
#12
Nathan, great write up! I bet you're excited for that first head to head experience! Good luck this weekend learning the new track.
Jeremy, looking forward to getting to run with you this year too. What class are you going to run? TTU? I should be at Autobahn, Gingerman, Grattan, and most of the MidOhio events this year. . .
Jeremy, looking forward to getting to run with you this year too. What class are you going to run? TTU? I should be at Autobahn, Gingerman, Grattan, and most of the MidOhio events this year. . .
