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There are a few finicky things I'm sorting out, but it feels gooood under boost, even though it's just 5psi right now. And with Vladi in the tune, there is a slightly lower chance of blowing this one up.
I've made a few tweaks to get it dialed in. First, I ditched the monster aftermarket eBay throttle body. It looked cool, but required layers of bandaids to make work. There wasn't a great way to mount the throttle cable, the tps I fitted to it wasn't a perfect fit, and the Iac was slow and finicky. I swapped all that out for a smaller but totally OEM setup from a '03 cavalier. It required moving to a slightly more restrictive intake manifold, which apparently the cavalier guys would upgrade to the one I had, and the TB at it's narrowest point is slightly narrower than my IC piping (2.25). The result is infinitely more driveability, and got rid of all the wandering idle and tps sticking issues I had been having since the first engine went in over a year ago. Wrinkle painted for good measure
The other addition is a proper-ish catch can. I found a bunch of oil in the intake, which is either originating from the crank case vent (which was just going straight to the intake pre-turbo) or from the turbo itself. For this I went with a cheapo catch can that uses steel wool as the condenser medium. It came with a useless dipstick that won't show anything when dipped through the steel wool, so I put in a little separator. I might end up doing a little DIY baffling later on it seems like I need to do a better job of separation. I also connected it to a port on the turbo inlet that has a venturi-type opening. It was blocked off, so I opened it up and it should provide a bit of vacuumed to make the whole thing work.
Next up, moooore boost!
18psi has been hard at work getting this thing dialed in. The extra power was no match for the 215-width Falken RT615K+ tires. We got some meats on there, but even 245-width RS4s light up when you put the pedal down.
With E60 in the tank, Vlad got it to a Mustang dyno and laid down 290whp and 392ft/lbs while unable to keep traction on the dyno. This seems to be taking it to the limit of the turbo and fuel system, and it's plenty of power for my purposes. From here I'll focus on reliability mods, suspension (fixing a blown Xida and installing SADfab bushings) and brakes.
For those who are just joining us here, and for anyone who doesn't want to go back years into the past to see what this build consists of (yes, that's everyone), here is where it stands:
ZZP built short block
New gen 3 block LE5
forged Diamond 10.4:1 pistons
forged Molnar rods
new crank
stage 3 ported head
82lb valve springs
Inconel oversize valves
Fluidamper harmonic balancer
Flex fuel
DW200 fuel pump
FlowFlorce 960cc injectors
Stock LNF cast manifold
BorgWarner OEM K04 turbo with billet "big wheel" compressor wheel
DDM 450ft/lb clutch
New Solstice AR5 transmission
Custom driveshaft
3.6 Miata Torsen diff
Holy torque, that thing must be a beast! Get some of the new Nankang AR1's in 275/35/15's and it will help. It was the only tire that didn't spin in fourth for me and I was running 245 RC1's prior.
Holy torque, that thing must be a beast! Get some of the new Nankang AR1's in 275/35/15's and it will help. It was the only tire that didn't spin in fourth for me and I was running 245 RC1's prior.
Basically it would break loose and spin after that initial hit, so everything after 3600-3800 was wheel spin. At one point I stayed in it and the room was filled with rubber smoke making it look like I was doing a burnout.
It's a torque monster. The above map will be your "rolling burnouts" map and I'll have a "hook up and go fast" map to go with it, because it won't hook, even with the brand new rs4s, all the way until 4th gear, at least in this crisp weather.
It needs a stronger fuel pump. It DESPERATELY needs an adjustable FPR. After that it will need a much bigger intercooler core.
OR
Just enjoy it as is because it is an absolute riot and will make you giggle hysterically while you fight with the steering wheel to keep it on the road
******* hell dude. Competing with the LS on torque lol. I think I make like 410 ft*lb hahaha
I think Vlad is a bit of a broken record - I've lost count at how many times he says it feels like a V8. What RPM are you hitting peak torque at? I'm curious how the power band compares. This engine is basically one bank of an LS, and at 2 bar pressure it's theoretically like adding the other bank. 18psi gives it enough extra to overcome the inefficient little turbo.
Dug up my chart way back in my build thread, looks like it made 419 ft*lb at around 5500, looks like we were making similar torque numbers at your peak torque rpm lolol. That's pretty awesome.
Am I crazy in seeing that you guys were only running it to 4500 rpm? Is that cause of it slipping/limits you mentioned?
The engine is built for a 7500-7800 rpm limiter, and the tiny turbo should still make decent power to 6k+ before tapering off. It just needs traction... And more fuel... And more intercooler and oil cooling and better crank case ventilation and a bigger turbo. But yeah, it should have been able to pull to the redline if it could hook up on the dyno.
The engine is built for a 7500-7800 rpm limiter, and the tiny turbo should still make decent power to 6k+ before tapering off. It just needs traction... And more fuel... And more intercooler and oil cooling and better crank case ventilation and a bigger turbo. But yeah, it should have been able to pull to the redline if it could hook up on the dyno.
I think Vlad is a bit of a broken record - I've lost count at how many times he says it feels like a V8. What RPM are you hitting peak torque at? I'm curious how the power band compares. This engine is basically one bank of an LS, and at 2 bar pressure it's theoretically like adding the other bank. 18psi gives it enough extra to overcome the inefficient little turbo.
Oh did I forget to mention that this car feels like a v8? My bad.
It's a torque monster. The above map will be your "rolling burnouts" map and I'll have a "hook up and go fast" map to go with it, because it won't hook, even with the brand new rs4s, all the way until 4th gear, at least in this crisp weather.
It needs a stronger fuel pump. It DESPERATELY needs an adjustable FPR. After that it will need a much bigger intercooler core.
Love it, rolling burnout map.
Definitely need the pump and regulator upgrade, makes a huge difference.
Maybe you can show up one Wednesday and smoke my ***, sure would be nice to get smoked by a Miata one time.
Last edited by sonofthehill; Feb 23, 2021 at 11:38 AM.
Reason: edged up
0
gives it enough extra to overcome the inefficient little turbo.
Love it, rolling burnout map.
