My Evo work-in-progress pics
Jan 13, 2006, 12:12 PM
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Finally moved the battery to the trunk!!
More pics here: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=178898
l8r)
More pics here: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=178898
l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 03:33 PM
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Been a loong time since I've updated this thread. I've got some time at the moment, so here we go...
From my earlier post:
This situation got progressively worse as time went on. Ultimately two things helped to fix the issue on my car:
1.) Removed the XEDE and went with ECUflash (fixed 80% of the issue) - the car got to a point where it was basically undrivable with the XEDE. Not sure what caused the steady deterioration, but the final straw came after having it tuned by Shiv last May. The car stalled at every stop light with the XEDE connected and
then refused to restart. Had to disconnect the XEDE to even start the car at all. Still had horrible drivability issues even with the XEDE disconnected at that point. Went back to my AMS base flash at that point and started tuning it myself, which fixed all of the startup issues and most of the stalling issues. The car would still stall occasionally and was fairly sensitive in stop-n-go traffic (easy to stall).
2.) Had AMS reflash my ECU with new Injector Latency values (fixed all remaining issue) - I had heard from Martin late last year that they had worked on fine tuning the injector scaling, etc. for their 780cc injectors (which I run). Finally went back to them last week and had Chris flash the car with the new settings. This is what seems to have been the final missing piece of the puzzle. Car idles perfect now. No idle dips, no surges - rock solid at exactly the idle target value.
Got rid of the XEDE, car starts fine in all weather conditions. ECUflash FTW... 
This took a loong time to figure out and has really been my only point of contention with AMS to-date. After much to-and-fro it was finally made clear on the dyno last May. Everytime we did a pull and let off the gas, a HUGE cloud of burnt oil would come out of the tailpipe. Suspected problem with the head. Took it to AMS and after ripping it apart it turns out two of the valves were going bad. I decided to bite the bullet and had them install a fully ported head (1 mm oversized, Inconel exhaust valves) and fully upgraded valve train (already had that). This finally fixed the oil consumption issue. Also made more topend power, but at the expense of some spoolup and low-end torque.
New issue: Phantom knock (work-in-progress)
Seems like the stock ECU does wants to playa-hate the built block. It does not like the built internals or missing balance shafts. I've logged consistent knock counts betweent 2500 and 4000 rpm that should not have been there (read: 93 octane tune with 100 octane gas in the tank). It's a non-issue if I keep the revs above 4000, but it sucks for street driving. As usual I have some ideas here, so we'll see...
... AMS 50 trim write up next...
l8r)
From my earlier post:
d) stalling (now fixed!!)
Much of this has seemed to work itself out. Probably in part due to the new BOV and in part due to the ECU adjusting to the new setup. However, I'm still not happy with the setup. Idle vacuum seems low (between negative 11-13psi) and I am going to have to re-adjust the idle control screw to account for headlight and AC load. I am also building a cold-air-box for the intake, so maybe that will help as well.
I have since adjusted the "BISS", and the car idles much better. It will still stall occasionally (especially with headlights and A/C on at the same time), but I have a theory on that, which I will test over the next few weeks...
Much of this has seemed to work itself out. Probably in part due to the new BOV and in part due to the ECU adjusting to the new setup. However, I'm still not happy with the setup. Idle vacuum seems low (between negative 11-13psi) and I am going to have to re-adjust the idle control screw to account for headlight and AC load. I am also building a cold-air-box for the intake, so maybe that will help as well.
I have since adjusted the "BISS", and the car idles much better. It will still stall occasionally (especially with headlights and A/C on at the same time), but I have a theory on that, which I will test over the next few weeks...
1.) Removed the XEDE and went with ECUflash (fixed 80% of the issue) - the car got to a point where it was basically undrivable with the XEDE. Not sure what caused the steady deterioration, but the final straw came after having it tuned by Shiv last May. The car stalled at every stop light with the XEDE connected and
then refused to restart. Had to disconnect the XEDE to even start the car at all. Still had horrible drivability issues even with the XEDE disconnected at that point. Went back to my AMS base flash at that point and started tuning it myself, which fixed all of the startup issues and most of the stalling issues. The car would still stall occasionally and was fairly sensitive in stop-n-go traffic (easy to stall).
2.) Had AMS reflash my ECU with new Injector Latency values (fixed all remaining issue) - I had heard from Martin late last year that they had worked on fine tuning the injector scaling, etc. for their 780cc injectors (which I run). Finally went back to them last week and had Chris flash the car with the new settings. This is what seems to have been the final missing piece of the puzzle. Car idles perfect now. No idle dips, no surges - rock solid at exactly the idle target value.
e) difficult warm/cold start (fixed!!)
The car is much more difficult to start when it's warmed up and even worse when it's warmed up and I stall it. Finally figured out that feathering the gas while I crank it over seems to help, though. I have no idea how to address this at this point.
Now, during winter, when temps drop below 20 degrees, or so, the car is also very difficult to start. Basically if it doesn't start on the first try, then I'm f****d for the next 5 minutes or so (kind of like when it stalls). I believe this may have something to do with the XEDE, since the car seems to start better w/out the XEDE plugged in. Need more research, though.
The car is much more difficult to start when it's warmed up and even worse when it's warmed up and I stall it. Finally figured out that feathering the gas while I crank it over seems to help, though. I have no idea how to address this at this point.
Now, during winter, when temps drop below 20 degrees, or so, the car is also very difficult to start. Basically if it doesn't start on the first try, then I'm f****d for the next 5 minutes or so (kind of like when it stalls). I believe this may have something to do with the XEDE, since the car seems to start better w/out the XEDE plugged in. Need more research, though.
f) Oil consumption (FIXED!!)
The new, built 2.0l block is using WAY more oil than with stock internals. We're talking 1 quart every other time I'm at the gas station. That's about 1 quart per 600 miles!! Spoke with AMS about it, and they are going to have to take a look at this. I could see maybe a quart per 1200 miles, but this is, IMO too high.
The new, built 2.0l block is using WAY more oil than with stock internals. We're talking 1 quart every other time I'm at the gas station. That's about 1 quart per 600 miles!! Spoke with AMS about it, and they are going to have to take a look at this. I could see maybe a quart per 1200 miles, but this is, IMO too high.
New issue: Phantom knock (work-in-progress)
Seems like the stock ECU does wants to playa-hate the built block. It does not like the built internals or missing balance shafts. I've logged consistent knock counts betweent 2500 and 4000 rpm that should not have been there (read: 93 octane tune with 100 octane gas in the tank). It's a non-issue if I keep the revs above 4000, but it sucks for street driving. As usual I have some ideas here, so we'll see...
... AMS 50 trim write up next...
l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 03:40 PM
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New shoes for the beastie:
Virgin TDR Race Pro 1.2 - 18x9
...not-so virgin...
and, yes, I have fixed the tires, which I had mounted on the wrong side of the car (IQ of 300 here, mkay ... I can't be distracted with such details, dammit!!
)
l8r)
Virgin TDR Race Pro 1.2 - 18x9
...not-so virgin...
and, yes, I have fixed the tires, which I had mounted on the wrong side of the car (IQ of 300 here, mkay ... I can't be distracted with such details, dammit!!
)l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 04:57 PM
#82
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Ah the stories ...
The saga of the TDR wheels:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=189901
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=201097
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=207375
The saga of the ride:
Ok, so after my initial review posted in mid 2005, the drivability started to steadily decline during the winter months. The car was difficult to start, stall prone, etc. In my pursuit of (my idea) of the perfect street/road race car and in an attempt to fix the gremlins that were plaguing it, I decided to give the AMS 50 trim a shot in the spring of '06. I paid them to perform back-to-back testing for me and the results looked very promising: earlier spoolup and better topend vs the 3071 kit - what's not to like? Sold! Of course with all this time spent at AMS, I kept having to stare at that shiny new AMS VSR intake manifold. I swear it was taunting me ... alright, sold! Same spoolup, and power went up all across the board again. Very nice indeed.
At this point in time I had AMS tune the car with a conservative flash, since I was going to the May Vishnu dynoday in St. Louis. This turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. For starters I finally figured out what had been causing all of the oil consumption - bad valve in the head. The car was spewing huge clouds of burnt oil everytime we let off the gas on the dyno. Secondly, in the course of tuning the car Shiv decided to reflash the ECU with his own base flash. While we did make more power with Shiv's flash and the XEDE - all driveability disappeared. After I pulled away from the shop (mind you, 300 miles from home), the car stalled at the first stoplight I got to (about 20 minutes away) and refused to restart. Had to yank out the XEDE right there, stalled at the light with all kinds of pissed off ppl, just to get the car started. It would still stall immediately after lifting off the throttle, though, so here I am looking like a f*ing moron revving the **** out of the car at every intersection. At this point Shiv was already heading for home, so I got stuck trying to drive a stall-prone car back from St. Louis to Chicago. Nice. Needless to say my XEDE now serves as a paperweight, since not only does it not work on my car, the advent of ECUflash pretty much has eliminated any resale value. Beautiful.
My wife and I got back to Chi-town in one piece, where I now had to beg AMS to put their flash back onto the car. Luckily they were cool about it and hooked me up. Not so lucky on the cylinder head - two valves going bad, so I said _f*ck_it_ and had AMS swap it for a ported cylinder head. The car lost close to 200 rpm in spoolup and lost some low-end torque, but improved topend power. One of the few mods that I'm really not sure how I feel about. On the one hand it sucks to lose that much torque down low, but on the other hand with that much power on tap, the smaller initial 'hit' isn't such a bad thing - and when I'm road racing it, I try to never let the RPM drop below 4000-4500 anyways...
One of the weirder things to happen at this point was that it had become more difficult to get the car into gear and the clutch became a little less grabby. The theory is that one of the disks of the Exedy Twin isn't fully disengaging anymore. It's been like that for pretty much the last 9 months now. I don't really have the cash to have someone rip apart the clutch, so I guess we'll see how long it lasts in its present state...
New wheels finally arrived in June 2006 (see the TDR links above) and after a busy summer at work I finally got to track the car in the fall. Two awesome track days at the Autobahn country club in Joliet, IL. Track day(s) summary:
- went to HP+ pads from HPS ... still got fade.
- Rotorpro rotors had to be turned, but are still holding up good
- Had to do some fine tuning, since I hit fuel cut on the track
- Intercooler hose popped off - f'ing gheyness, and why does it always happen when I'm passing someone? (in this case an M5, dammit)
- Car was misfiring at the beginning of the second track day. New plugs and it was good to go.
- Greddy Type-RS BOV diaphragm disintegrated. Got a new one, it also started to leak very shortly after I put it on the car. Hate to say it, but as well as the RS works, it just does not last very long (or not at all if you track your car)
At this point in time the car was running pretty good. Fuel trims were pretty close with my tune, but it would still stall every once-in-a-while. Mostly when trying to navigate in a parking lot in 1st gear. Martin had told me last fall that they had figured out some better injector scaling, so after a long hibernation, I went back to AMS last week and had them flash the car with the new injector settings. End result: car runs like a champ. Idle is perfect (as good as stock) and no stalling what-so-ever.
Looking forward to a good HPDE season now...
l8r)
The saga of the TDR wheels:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=189901
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=201097
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=207375
The saga of the ride:
Ok, so after my initial review posted in mid 2005, the drivability started to steadily decline during the winter months. The car was difficult to start, stall prone, etc. In my pursuit of (my idea) of the perfect street/road race car and in an attempt to fix the gremlins that were plaguing it, I decided to give the AMS 50 trim a shot in the spring of '06. I paid them to perform back-to-back testing for me and the results looked very promising: earlier spoolup and better topend vs the 3071 kit - what's not to like? Sold! Of course with all this time spent at AMS, I kept having to stare at that shiny new AMS VSR intake manifold. I swear it was taunting me ... alright, sold! Same spoolup, and power went up all across the board again. Very nice indeed.
At this point in time I had AMS tune the car with a conservative flash, since I was going to the May Vishnu dynoday in St. Louis. This turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. For starters I finally figured out what had been causing all of the oil consumption - bad valve in the head. The car was spewing huge clouds of burnt oil everytime we let off the gas on the dyno. Secondly, in the course of tuning the car Shiv decided to reflash the ECU with his own base flash. While we did make more power with Shiv's flash and the XEDE - all driveability disappeared. After I pulled away from the shop (mind you, 300 miles from home), the car stalled at the first stoplight I got to (about 20 minutes away) and refused to restart. Had to yank out the XEDE right there, stalled at the light with all kinds of pissed off ppl, just to get the car started. It would still stall immediately after lifting off the throttle, though, so here I am looking like a f*ing moron revving the **** out of the car at every intersection. At this point Shiv was already heading for home, so I got stuck trying to drive a stall-prone car back from St. Louis to Chicago. Nice. Needless to say my XEDE now serves as a paperweight, since not only does it not work on my car, the advent of ECUflash pretty much has eliminated any resale value. Beautiful.
My wife and I got back to Chi-town in one piece, where I now had to beg AMS to put their flash back onto the car. Luckily they were cool about it and hooked me up. Not so lucky on the cylinder head - two valves going bad, so I said _f*ck_it_ and had AMS swap it for a ported cylinder head. The car lost close to 200 rpm in spoolup and lost some low-end torque, but improved topend power. One of the few mods that I'm really not sure how I feel about. On the one hand it sucks to lose that much torque down low, but on the other hand with that much power on tap, the smaller initial 'hit' isn't such a bad thing - and when I'm road racing it, I try to never let the RPM drop below 4000-4500 anyways...
One of the weirder things to happen at this point was that it had become more difficult to get the car into gear and the clutch became a little less grabby. The theory is that one of the disks of the Exedy Twin isn't fully disengaging anymore. It's been like that for pretty much the last 9 months now. I don't really have the cash to have someone rip apart the clutch, so I guess we'll see how long it lasts in its present state...
New wheels finally arrived in June 2006 (see the TDR links above) and after a busy summer at work I finally got to track the car in the fall. Two awesome track days at the Autobahn country club in Joliet, IL. Track day(s) summary:
- went to HP+ pads from HPS ... still got fade.
- Rotorpro rotors had to be turned, but are still holding up good
- Had to do some fine tuning, since I hit fuel cut on the track
- Intercooler hose popped off - f'ing gheyness, and why does it always happen when I'm passing someone? (in this case an M5, dammit)
- Car was misfiring at the beginning of the second track day. New plugs and it was good to go.
- Greddy Type-RS BOV diaphragm disintegrated. Got a new one, it also started to leak very shortly after I put it on the car. Hate to say it, but as well as the RS works, it just does not last very long (or not at all if you track your car)
At this point in time the car was running pretty good. Fuel trims were pretty close with my tune, but it would still stall every once-in-a-while. Mostly when trying to navigate in a parking lot in 1st gear. Martin had told me last fall that they had figured out some better injector scaling, so after a long hibernation, I went back to AMS last week and had them flash the car with the new injector settings. End result: car runs like a champ. Idle is perfect (as good as stock) and no stalling what-so-ever.
Looking forward to a good HPDE season now...
l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 05:22 PM
#83
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Alright, I've been driving AMS setups for well over a year now, so I once again it's time for some overall impressions of the setup. I'll do some generic ratings based on a 5 star (*****) rating system (edit: Vishnu stage 1+ = Vishnu v390):
Drivability Rating - (stock = *****, Vishnu stage 1+ = ****1/2, AMS 3071 = ****, AMS 50 trim+ ****)
The current setup makes more power, but the 50 trim combined with the VSR intake and ported head does not hit as hard initially. Power tends to be more deceiving with this setup, because you don't get that initial pressed-into-your-seat feeling, but it keeps building as the revs climb and before you know it you're going waaay faster than you should be. No 5th gear surge either with the 50 trim. Actually it's kind of strange to drive the car with the 50 trim, since below 4000 rpm it really isn't anything special and feels a bit sluggish or perhaps bored. But once I clear 4500 rpm and am on my way to that shift at 8500+, the car just comes alive. The engine, which felt rough and unrefined in the lower rpms, revs smooth as silk, and the whole driving experience just morphs into a seamless blend of power and balance. Very intoxicating - and thank God for track days!
The only reason I still give this setup a 4/5 star driveability is because the Exedy Twin is still more of a pain than the stock clutch, especially since it is no longer engaging/disengaging quite the way it was and should.
Power Rating - (stock = ***, Vishnu stage 1+ = ***1/2, AMS 3071 = ****, AMS 50 trim+ = ****1/2)
- 1st gear pull - still no point (see above)
- 2nd gear pull - hits hard, but as hard as before, still have to fight some torque steer to keep the car pointed straight. The new 265's help a lot here.
- 3rd gear pull - still hits hard, car pulls as hard as before, but now pulls all the way to 8500 rpm, which is exactly the shift point I was looking for
- 4th gear pull - pulls slightly harder than before, haven't really had an opportunity to try
- 5th gear pull - no idea yet, I don't have enough open real estate to try
The combination of 50 trim, VSR intake, and ported head have basically accomplished what I had been after all along: an Evo that pulls hard to ~8500 rpm. current peak power (hp & tq) is at 7200 rpm and begins to fall off from there. With the stock gearing the shift point is somewhere around 8500 rpm. Spoolup of the 50 trim is much more like the stock turbo. Definitely more progressive than the 3071, which was almost like an on/off switch when you spooled it.
Fit-n-Finish - (stock = *****, Vishnu stage 1+ ****1/2, AMS 3071 = ****1/2)
Not much changed here. Added an AMS lip and beatrush undertray to the car, both of which fit great. Added a Saiko Kun dual catch can after seeing all the gunk in my stock intake manifold. The only criticism of the turbo kit so far is that the four bolts holding the wastegate onto the hotside have started to back out (2 were missing!). AMs gave me a set of replacement bolts with special washers to help prevent them from backing out again. Note to self - check the bolts every month or so...
l8r)
1.) Drivability
Daily driving was initially a challenge ... I basically had to learn to drive the car from scratch. IMO the stock setup was one of the easiest stick shift cars I've ever driven, but with the larger turbo and other mods, it became a b***h to drive in stop-n-go traffic. The first week had me stall the car on numerous occasions in traffic, and then it_would_not_start! F**k!! Very irritating, to say the least. However, in the second week, things seemed to work a little better - perhaps the ECU "learning"? - whatever it was, I was learning to handle the new setup a little bit better. I was still getting compressor surge, even though my BOV was adjusted to hold exactly 23psi. This has since been taken care of by going from a Greddy Type-S to a Type-RS. Now, in my 4th week of driving, the car is behaving MUCH better than it did initially. The only time it becomes a pain-in-the-*** is when I accidentally stall it in a parking lot ... for about the next 5 minutes the car does not want to idle worth $hit, but then it's all good again.
One of the things that I really like about the new setup is that it is easier to drive on the interstate ... no more spoolup in 5th gear when I'm going with the traffic flow, and the surge (bucking) I used to get at ~2800rpms in 4th/5th gear on my stage 1+ is also gone. On the same note, though, partial throttle in 5th gear around 4000rpms does lead to some surge - however that is really never an issues, since I downshift into 4th to get full power at those speeds anyways, hehe. The car is also slightly louder than before, even though I have the same exhaust from the DP on back.
Hard driving is amazing ... the car has an amazing amount of power and it seems that the revs just keep on building w/out limit. Very nice, wide powerband ... just as wide as the stock turbo setup, but with the bigger turbo, it's much more usable when you're pushing the car (i.e. upper rpms). Gave a ride to a buddy of mine, and he was very impressed, to say the least. Needless to say, this is exactly what I was shooting for with this build-up.
Daily driving was initially a challenge ... I basically had to learn to drive the car from scratch. IMO the stock setup was one of the easiest stick shift cars I've ever driven, but with the larger turbo and other mods, it became a b***h to drive in stop-n-go traffic. The first week had me stall the car on numerous occasions in traffic, and then it_would_not_start! F**k!! Very irritating, to say the least. However, in the second week, things seemed to work a little better - perhaps the ECU "learning"? - whatever it was, I was learning to handle the new setup a little bit better. I was still getting compressor surge, even though my BOV was adjusted to hold exactly 23psi. This has since been taken care of by going from a Greddy Type-S to a Type-RS. Now, in my 4th week of driving, the car is behaving MUCH better than it did initially. The only time it becomes a pain-in-the-*** is when I accidentally stall it in a parking lot ... for about the next 5 minutes the car does not want to idle worth $hit, but then it's all good again.
One of the things that I really like about the new setup is that it is easier to drive on the interstate ... no more spoolup in 5th gear when I'm going with the traffic flow, and the surge (bucking) I used to get at ~2800rpms in 4th/5th gear on my stage 1+ is also gone. On the same note, though, partial throttle in 5th gear around 4000rpms does lead to some surge - however that is really never an issues, since I downshift into 4th to get full power at those speeds anyways, hehe. The car is also slightly louder than before, even though I have the same exhaust from the DP on back.
Hard driving is amazing ... the car has an amazing amount of power and it seems that the revs just keep on building w/out limit. Very nice, wide powerband ... just as wide as the stock turbo setup, but with the bigger turbo, it's much more usable when you're pushing the car (i.e. upper rpms). Gave a ride to a buddy of mine, and he was very impressed, to say the least. Needless to say, this is exactly what I was shooting for with this build-up.
The current setup makes more power, but the 50 trim combined with the VSR intake and ported head does not hit as hard initially. Power tends to be more deceiving with this setup, because you don't get that initial pressed-into-your-seat feeling, but it keeps building as the revs climb and before you know it you're going waaay faster than you should be. No 5th gear surge either with the 50 trim. Actually it's kind of strange to drive the car with the 50 trim, since below 4000 rpm it really isn't anything special and feels a bit sluggish or perhaps bored. But once I clear 4500 rpm and am on my way to that shift at 8500+, the car just comes alive. The engine, which felt rough and unrefined in the lower rpms, revs smooth as silk, and the whole driving experience just morphs into a seamless blend of power and balance. Very intoxicating - and thank God for track days!
The only reason I still give this setup a 4/5 star driveability is because the Exedy Twin is still more of a pain than the stock clutch, especially since it is no longer engaging/disengaging quite the way it was and should.
2.) Power - (stock = ***, Vishnu stage 1+ = ***1/2, AMS 3071 = ****)
- 1st gear pull - haven't tried yet, partially because I like my stock clutch the way it is and besides it'd be over faster than Joe Average having sex with his dream girl, so why bother?
- 2nd gear pull - hits like a hammer, I have to fight torque steer to keep the car pointed straight
- 3rd gear pull - still hits hard, car pulls much harder than before
- 4th gear pull - pulls as hard as 3rd gear used to
- 5th gear pull - no idea yet, I don't have enough open real estate to try
Looking at my dyno charts, the 3071 was a nice next step in the buildup of my Evo. It represents a significant gain over the previous setup, similar to going from a stage 1/91 Ocatne tune to a stage 1+/93 Octane tune. Hammer-time (spool-up) starts at 3500 rpms and the anvil (full boost) drops at just before 4000 rpms. During initial spoolup, the turbo sounds like a freakin' jet engine ... very nice! I've done hard pulls in all gears, except 1st and going from no-spool to full spool seems to happen much quicker than on the stock turbo.
- 1st gear pull - haven't tried yet, partially because I like my stock clutch the way it is and besides it'd be over faster than Joe Average having sex with his dream girl, so why bother?
- 2nd gear pull - hits like a hammer, I have to fight torque steer to keep the car pointed straight
- 3rd gear pull - still hits hard, car pulls much harder than before
- 4th gear pull - pulls as hard as 3rd gear used to
- 5th gear pull - no idea yet, I don't have enough open real estate to try
Looking at my dyno charts, the 3071 was a nice next step in the buildup of my Evo. It represents a significant gain over the previous setup, similar to going from a stage 1/91 Ocatne tune to a stage 1+/93 Octane tune. Hammer-time (spool-up) starts at 3500 rpms and the anvil (full boost) drops at just before 4000 rpms. During initial spoolup, the turbo sounds like a freakin' jet engine ... very nice! I've done hard pulls in all gears, except 1st and going from no-spool to full spool seems to happen much quicker than on the stock turbo.
- 1st gear pull - still no point (see above)
- 2nd gear pull - hits hard, but as hard as before, still have to fight some torque steer to keep the car pointed straight. The new 265's help a lot here.
- 3rd gear pull - still hits hard, car pulls as hard as before, but now pulls all the way to 8500 rpm, which is exactly the shift point I was looking for
- 4th gear pull - pulls slightly harder than before, haven't really had an opportunity to try
- 5th gear pull - no idea yet, I don't have enough open real estate to try
The combination of 50 trim, VSR intake, and ported head have basically accomplished what I had been after all along: an Evo that pulls hard to ~8500 rpm. current peak power (hp & tq) is at 7200 rpm and begins to fall off from there. With the stock gearing the shift point is somewhere around 8500 rpm. Spoolup of the 50 trim is much more like the stock turbo. Definitely more progressive than the 3071, which was almost like an on/off switch when you spooled it.
3.) Fit-n-Finish - (stock = *****, Vishnu stage 1+ ****1/2, AMS 3071 = ****1/2)
Both Vishnu and AMS components are top notch. However, just like with the Vishnu stuff, I do have small bones to pick with the AMS kit. AMS' fabrication is on par with the best I've seen, very very nice work. Fit and finish on the turbo kit is excellent. The turbo and exhaust manifold fit perfect and are braced nicely. The downpipe clears the rear cross-brace without spacers, the front cross-brace still needs them, though. Pretty good for a 3" DP. The lower IC pipe is a work of art - but it is free-hanging, not braced like the stocker. IMO a brace would be very welcome. The slim-line fan is bolted directly into the radiator ... I wish I would have known about this before, as I would have insisted on mounting it onto the stock mounting points. FMIC fits very nicely, although I have not had a chance to put my undertray back on, so I don't know if any trimming will be required.
Both Vishnu and AMS components are top notch. However, just like with the Vishnu stuff, I do have small bones to pick with the AMS kit. AMS' fabrication is on par with the best I've seen, very very nice work. Fit and finish on the turbo kit is excellent. The turbo and exhaust manifold fit perfect and are braced nicely. The downpipe clears the rear cross-brace without spacers, the front cross-brace still needs them, though. Pretty good for a 3" DP. The lower IC pipe is a work of art - but it is free-hanging, not braced like the stocker. IMO a brace would be very welcome. The slim-line fan is bolted directly into the radiator ... I wish I would have known about this before, as I would have insisted on mounting it onto the stock mounting points. FMIC fits very nicely, although I have not had a chance to put my undertray back on, so I don't know if any trimming will be required.
Not much changed here. Added an AMS lip and beatrush undertray to the car, both of which fit great. Added a Saiko Kun dual catch can after seeing all the gunk in my stock intake manifold. The only criticism of the turbo kit so far is that the four bolts holding the wastegate onto the hotside have started to back out (2 were missing!). AMs gave me a set of replacement bolts with special washers to help prevent them from backing out again. Note to self - check the bolts every month or so...
l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 05:46 PM
#84
Ludi,
I read every word. Great writeups. Thank you very much for your insights. I will definitely have a few questions for soon. But, before I go, I need to know more about the VSR intake. I have one on the wrong end of my car right now (lol, it is in a box in my trunk). Did it really help?
I read every word. Great writeups. Thank you very much for your insights. I will definitely have a few questions for soon. But, before I go, I need to know more about the VSR intake. I have one on the wrong end of my car right now (lol, it is in a box in my trunk). Did it really help?
Apr 12, 2007, 07:21 PM
#86
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Smoggy,
if you promise not to hate on the numbers, I will post a comparison graph.
Back-to-back comparison of the 50 trim with stock intake and 50 trim with VSR intake ... keeping in mind that at the time this was on the bad cylinder head ...
l8r)
if you promise not to hate on the numbers, I will post a comparison graph.
Back-to-back comparison of the 50 trim with stock intake and 50 trim with VSR intake ... keeping in mind that at the time this was on the bad cylinder head ...
l8r)
Apr 12, 2007, 07:37 PM
#88
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And here's the one that gives me a grin ... again and again.
Last year's numbers compared to this year's. Only difference is the ported head vs. the bad head. Very similar tunes - 93 octane, 21-22psi of boost. Notice the power at 8500 rpm.
l8r)
Last year's numbers compared to this year's. Only difference is the ported head vs. the bad head. Very similar tunes - 93 octane, 21-22psi of boost. Notice the power at 8500 rpm.
l8r)
May 1, 2007, 06:08 PM
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more musings...
Ok, so it's been almost two years since I've been at Gingerman Raceway. A lot of things have happened since then - most notably the somewhat excessive buildup of my Evo. One of my original goals had been to build up the car to a point where I did not have to shift on short straights on a road-course. Specifically the short straight after turn 2 at Gingerman comes to mind...
I'm happy to report that my Evo performed flawlessly at the last trackday (unlike its overzealous owner) and that one of my original build goals has been met. I can now come off turn 2 and take the aforementioned straight in 3rd gear all they way until I have to slam on the brakes for turn 3. I even had a couple of people comment on it during the day, with the "what did you _do_ to that thing??" comment making my day.
Let me pause and thank 3ballsracing for putting together a great track-day. It was well organized and I had a blast throughout the day.
As I said, the car performed flawlessly. No blown-off IC hoses, no popped dipstick, no nothing ... well ... not counting some part throttle surging from my BOV (Samco). Looks like the Greddy RS is going back on - even though it goes through more diaphragms than a groupie during Ozzfest.
I had several people comment on how fast the car looked on the track and I was able to reel in pretty much anything short of Z06's in the straights.
Rain crept in during the afternoon, making my last outing the most interesting one. I actually managed to spin my car coming out of turn 2, because I lifted in mid turn like an idiot...
This was my first time tracking the car in the rain, and it taught me a lot of things about my car (like NOT lifting in mid-turn, grr). I started to see how I could get around a little bit faster by trail braking into the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the turn and I learned that I am at best pushing the car at 7/10ths in dry conditions. Shamefully my brake points in the rain were not that far off my brake points in the dry. I will definitely be looking for more rainy days to practice driving technique. I'll also be looking for a harness as it's getting more difficult to keep my fat **** planted in my seat as I get better in the twisty sections.
Next up: AMS track day at Autobahn in Joliet.
l8r)
I'm happy to report that my Evo performed flawlessly at the last trackday (unlike its overzealous owner) and that one of my original build goals has been met. I can now come off turn 2 and take the aforementioned straight in 3rd gear all they way until I have to slam on the brakes for turn 3. I even had a couple of people comment on it during the day, with the "what did you _do_ to that thing??" comment making my day.
Let me pause and thank 3ballsracing for putting together a great track-day. It was well organized and I had a blast throughout the day.
As I said, the car performed flawlessly. No blown-off IC hoses, no popped dipstick, no nothing ... well ... not counting some part throttle surging from my BOV (Samco). Looks like the Greddy RS is going back on - even though it goes through more diaphragms than a groupie during Ozzfest.
I had several people comment on how fast the car looked on the track and I was able to reel in pretty much anything short of Z06's in the straights.
Rain crept in during the afternoon, making my last outing the most interesting one. I actually managed to spin my car coming out of turn 2, because I lifted in mid turn like an idiot...
This was my first time tracking the car in the rain, and it taught me a lot of things about my car (like NOT lifting in mid-turn, grr). I started to see how I could get around a little bit faster by trail braking into the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the turn and I learned that I am at best pushing the car at 7/10ths in dry conditions. Shamefully my brake points in the rain were not that far off my brake points in the dry. I will definitely be looking for more rainy days to practice driving technique. I'll also be looking for a harness as it's getting more difficult to keep my fat **** planted in my seat as I get better in the twisty sections.Next up: AMS track day at Autobahn in Joliet.
l8r)