No, but I was worried .... and careful .... and stupid for doing it anyway. After installing my Needswings manifolds my car was running lean with the tune I had. No surprise. Two retunes later I'm leaner than when we began. It could be mechanical, (fuel pressure or injector duty cycle) anyway, it's still being worked on. To keep going with the story, I'm leading in my Solo1 category this season and didn't want to come away with no points for the race. I hit the dyno 4 times in the last week to double check what my wideband was telling me. I used different gaskets, went back to the stock manifolds, (didn't richen up more than .2) went back to the Needswings manifolds, dyno dyno dyno, wrench wrench wrench and lean lean lean no matter what. So I bought 10 gallons of 104 with the plan being to run a few laps to warm up the tires and brakes and do ONE fast lap. I arrived at the track with the reserve light on and burned off what I could in the practice session. In went the 104 with no more than a gallon or 2 of 91. During the first laps I was monitoring the AFR's and in 2nd gear they were perfect IMO, in the high 11's to 12. 3rd. gear they would dip to 12.2 and slowly climb with the revs to redline reaching 13. In 4th gear they were 12.2 more or less. I stuck to my plan and ran the last lap hard and came away with a decent time. I didn't see more power with the 104 and was using it for "protection". I don't know if it was necessary but I didn't want to be calling MrMopar for a long block.

I came in 3rd place in the race which is a huge success under the circumstances. The winner was a 1995 full race Honda Civic fresh out of the builders shop. 2nd. place was a STI. I don't know the year or mods. He came to Predator Performance looking for 110 while I was there .... a clue. He was behind me in practice and I let him pass and followed for a while. He's quicker in the twisties but I had him covered on the straights. Being fast in the twisties is more important in case you didn't already know that. I HAVE NO VIDEOS! I need a gopro upgrade. Not to mention I arrived at the track not knowing if I was going to race or watch.

A few observations from all the dynos. I made the same power with the AFR's at 12.5 (pre retune), 13 and 13.5 at redline in 3rd gear. Before you ask, I ran in 3rd. gear because that's where it's leaning out to 13. All were over 350 hp with the best run, a cool run, at 359 hp. You should know that I'm running hot ECT's. Only at full power racing but hot none the less. Gotta fix it somehow. When the ECT's get hot the heat exchanger gets heat soaked too. I'm leaning towards putting the stock heat exchanger back in and using water meth injection to control the ECT's and IAT's. The H/E covers the entire radiator and I think I need the engine cooling more than the huge H/E at this point. Enough rambling. IF and I say IF I go back to the stock H/E it frees up enough points for me to use race tires. I'm told tires, and knowing how to drive on them, is worth 2 to 4 seconds a lap. I'd be spanking that full race Honda. Now wouldn't that be a trip?

Les

 

Congrats Les, way to stay in the hunt.

...what kind of ECTs are you seeing after long stretches of WOT on the track?

 

They stay around 204º for the 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile. On the road course they climb steadily and I back off at 245º. They come down to 212º in a minute after backing off. I'm in dangerous territory. The needle on the temperature gauge stays at 1/2 until about 240º and then it jumps suddenly jumps way up.

Les

 

Crazy.

Are you on a separated system? If so, then maybe opening the system back up would help. That way the air moving through the H/E and the Radiator would both go to help the engine stay cool...not sure how the S/C temps would be affected or affect the engine temps.

 

While back after installing the 185 pulley,My A/F ratio was dangerously lean at top end. Installed NeedsWings fuel management kit with Walboro fuel pump and was still running dangerously lean at top end. Then installed MB fuel pump for the 55 and 63. Didn't think it could be done,but then I was running to rich top end. Luckly Needs Wings fuel management kit has a adjustable pressure regulator to adjust A/F across the RPM's and a brass bleed valve,just for top end A/F adjustments. NeedsWings fuel management kit with the Mercedes fuel pump> A 001 470 65 94 is a proven match. Squirrel Crusher

 

no need for all that. ttm 550cc injectors the ttm fuel rail and a proper tune will fix any lean condition.

 

But we're waiting for a little more information from you about the fuel rail, injectors and proper tune. From you or from Bruce. (it is Bruce isn't it?)

Les

 

i have the setup on my 32, grip grip has it on his stacked setup and zahanma is getting it installed on his car this week. the setup itself is done. scaling the injectors is done and my stft are 2 to 3 % and my ltft are -.78. the tuning is taking a bit longer but coming along. unfortunetly grip lunched his diff sat nite so he is down until the wavetrac is installed and my tuning cable took a crap so im waiting on another cable.
call bruce at tuning technology motorsports and he can fill you in on the cost and lead times.

 

Both my tuning cables took a crap. They are crap. Anyway, the tuning has been such a drama for me that I rue the thought of tuning for new injectors. Do you know what tuning software is being used? I have a great tuner local to me but ........ and if it's not too expensive ........

Les

 

it was a big decision to switch tuners les. something i thought about for over 2 months. when the opportunity came my way i thought long and hard. this tuner writes all his own files but i have no idea what software is being used. its a time consuming process but we are headed in the right direction. hopefully within 3 to 4 weeks we will have everything dialed in with the c3 then i can stack a 178 and see what we can do!

 

If you have +/-1% LTFTs with the car at full temp then kudos to you and your tuner!

 

Awesome as always Les and congrats on the 3rd place!

 

Here are the results from the race. It has some mistakes (Pontiac?) and the 135I was slower than the posted time and the STI that was faster than me is in A on this list. The first GTR of Daniel is stock with Hoosiers. The other GTR's are monsters and their owners are learning ....... well aren't we all. Faster than GTR's people!


POS CAT PILOTO AUTO BEST LAP
1 U Jose I Carro Mitsubishi Evolution 01:23.054
2 U Hugo Rodriguez Ariel Atom 01:24.100
3 U Gustavo Colberg Ariel Atom 01:27.348
4 U Eduardo J Diaz Nissan GTR 01:29.472
1 A Daniel Arzola Nissan GTR 01:26.355
2 A William Roman Subaru STi 01:27.804
3 A Gaby Garcia Mitsubishi Evolution 01:27.869
1 B Jose Ortiz Honda Civic 01:27.672
2 B Leslie Howard Pontiac Crossfire 01:29.439
3 B Amador Perez BMW 135i 01:29.439
4 B Ricardo Rojas Ford Mustang 5.0 01:29.567
5 B Sergio Sanjenis Ford Mustang 01:31.862
6 B Ebbet Diaz 01:33.104
7 B Jose Ortiz Honda Civic 01:34.925
8 B Mario Fernandez Ford Mustang Cobra 01:37.404
9 B Hector Mendez Mercedes Benz E63 01:40.276
10 B Edward Mitsubishi Evolution 01:41.563
11 B Jose Medina Honda Civic 06:19.078
1 C Francisco Marrero Porsche Boxster Spyder 01:29.593
2 C Ariel Velazquez 01:31.739
3 C Luis Fuentes Honda Civic 01:32.696
4 C Christian Oquendo Nissan Sentra 01:36.223
5 C Victor Vargas Nissan Sentra 01:38.734
6 C Roman Melendez Honda S2000 01:40.573
1 D Eric Rivera Mazda RX-8 01:32.754
2 D David Badia Honda Civic 01:33.056
3 D Esteban Valentin Honda Del Sol 01:35.896
4 D Luis Lopez Cooper Mini 01:37.790
5 D Alexis Morales Toyota Corolla 01:41.201
1 E Luis Maldonado Volkswagen GTi 01:39.088
2 E Ricardo Recci Audi 01:40.201
3 E Mario Perez Toyota Yaris 01:42.498
Rey Mendez Subaru STi 01:28.326
Boxster Blanco 01:32.067

 

not much time separates you all...there's some competition there... Nice post Les... Keep charging...

 

Thanks Doc! The target keeps moving forward. The series is in it's second year now and a few purpose built cars are showing up like the 95 Civic that won my class this event. My times are getting quicker and more consistent. My worst fault is braking too late hurting my speed entering the corners after the straights. I can't get enough of the Stoptech/Carbotech sensation. The braking power is mind altering.

Les

 

I got a retune today so a dyno is in the near future. I'm afraid I'm out of injector though. But something good happened today! I found some ATF locally that Rudy might approve of.

 

les i cant seem to pm you so email me at tbtunes@bellsouth.net. i have your injector fix

 

glad it isn't just me...I can't seem to PM you either..... Steve.... you looped the fuel rail...pictures ...send them to the Iphone....lol