The heat shield looks great for such a simple project! My old one was just a piece of flat steel that I bent and hammered into shape lol. The embossed material looks much more professional.

What fluid did you end up putting in the 6 speed? The Motorcraft XT "unicorn tears"?

 

why did you do full sheet double layer?
Why not just a tab to rivet to?
The entire center of that double layer is now vibrating terribly.

Also, when doing double layered heat shields, a good idea is to get a sheet of fiberglass weave and sandwich it.
Gives more heat isolation, as well as the fiberglass acting as a damper to the vibrations between the sheets.

 

Z, I used Mt90 and lightweight shockproof for the trans. I underfilled it a tiny bit, so I'll probably grab a bit more MT90 to top it off soon. Could be placebo, but it seems happier when the cars warmed up a bit. It also seems to like being shifted a little quicker and harder, so I guess that's good.

Iron, I kinda realized that after the fact, but mostly the double layer was to make the shield more solid. The material is pretty flimsy and my old shield vibrated enough to create some pretty good cracks. Also, I'm still fairly mediocre at fabricating (this is like my second time using rivets FFS), so I've got plenty to learn. Adding a layer of insulation crossed my mind since yesterday, or just adding some exhaust gasket maker or JB weld (my original plan) to insulate it a bit. TBF it doesn't vibrate unless I'm at max boost and WOT. I can go WOT at ~8-10 PSI with no NVH that I'd attribute to the shield. I wouldn't be surprised if an additional rivet in the middle of the top section did the trick.

Depending on if I fix it or not I'll get a video next week at the season opener. I doubt anyone who wasn't intimately familiar with the car would notice the noise I'm referring to.

 

You don't have any heat shielding between the exhaust and the car?


Even the factory uses shielding at 110whp.

My fuel was boiling before I added shielding to the top of the exhaust. I could hear it after shutdown.

 

@sixshooter Are you talking about the top of the exhaust from the manifold back? When I got the car the exhaust was already replaced and most of the heat shields were deleted. There is still a plate below the trunk at least.

I had a similar heat shield to this one on my old setup but it mounted different so I had to remake one for the kraken manifold. A few mounting studs would be really handy, but I think that's only an option on the low mount for some reason.

Was the fuel boiling in the tank? I get boiling coolant on shutdown but it's done that ever since I first turbo'd the car.

 

Shockproof shifts like **** in my experience, but some of the glass transmission crew like it for extra protection. On a 6 speed I'd skip it unless you are borderline power limit wise. The best shifting fluid I've tried is the motorcraft stuff, I run it in all my brass syncro 90-00s boxes now.

Boiling fuel sounds scary, but it's not dangerous. Lots of motorcycles will do that from the factory, i know my Buells sure do.

 

Yes, a whole tank full of fuel boiling on a hot day was pretty alarming. The stock pipe has shields for the tank and transmission. I also protected the diff and the inner CV axle where the exhaust is close. I can't recall what the stock exhaust did there but I knew it was needed.

 

I'll keep the exhaust heat shielding in mind. I haven't noticed anything other than coolant boiling. I assume I would've heard something when stopping to get fuel if the fuel was boiling. I do have more of that heat shielding material, so it wouldn't be too hard to slap some on problem areas.

I found the MT90+Shockproof suggestion from Bofi and FM. I'll run it for now. I used the Motorcraft stuff in my 5 speed and had no complaints about it, so maybe I'll try that out next time I'm changing fluids.

 

I was running MTL + shockproof in my 323gtx, it actually shifted great once it heated up, or in the summer. In the winter is was almost unbearable, and that's mostly when I drive that car, so I went back to FoMoCr fluid.

 

Fire, it could be placebo, but I do think the shifter is better when warmed up. I've also found that if I shift it a little quicker it seems to be pretty happy. We'll see once the weather warms up a bit.

I threw the evap solenoid in the car a while back to see if I was going to run it again. It seems like it's helping with my issues filling up the gas tank, so it's going to stay for now. I had some aluminum bar laying around from the heat shield, so I cut up a little bracket to clean it up. Much cleaner and more secure than the old zip tie I had before. I trimmed up the hoses a bit as well. Tidying up the small things makes the engine bay look a lot better IMO.



Yesterday I got started on something I've been thinking about for a while now, which is sound deadening. This was more of a curiosity project. I'm not going for Rolls Royce levels of noise here, but I would like to see if I can make the car a bit quieter.

Unlike a lot of the sound deadening I've seen around, I did not go for full coverage. I did smaller sections in a more patchwork fashion. I didn't get many photos of the actual install, but I hit the trunk, doors, parcel shelf and under the seats. I will probably try to get some on the transmission tunnel as well to help a bit with heat in the summer.

I opted for this "stealth" offering from NVX as it's supposed to be good bang for the buck and some of it will be exposed. The Amazon Basics brand was probably the mostly highly recommended budget brand, but I didn't want reflective blue Amazon logos all over my car.




My poor trunk. This was courtesy of the PO. The heatshield underneath the trunk rattles a bit, so I'll likely address that in the future when I'm bored.




Being real, this "patchwork" looks like trash, but I throw a harbor freight moving blanket over all of this as my trunk liner, so it's only ever going to be visible at autocross. Some of these were scrap bits as well, hence them not really lining up or following the lines of the trunk. The center and right of the trunk seemed to be the most prone to vibration, while the left side seemed pretty quiet.




I replaced the weather stripping on the fuel pump/tank cover since it was pretty compressed. This is just some door weatherstripping from HDR that I had laying around. The cover got some sound deadening as well.



Random hole under the drivers seat got covered, as well as holes left by a few self drilling screws from the PO. Not sure why I didn't cover this hole last time I was in here.



The car apparently had central locking at some point. It never worked for me and I never had a fob for it. The wiring was... questionable so I clipped it where it ran behind the speakers. Later I realized that the wires went behind the speaker and were clipped almost immediately after. I'm not sure if this was an aftermarket system or not, but the self drilling screws holding the bracket to the door leads me to believe it was. Oddly, the motor on the passenger side was different from the motor on the drivers side. Both of these were pulled out. Unfortunately they're pretty light, so no real weight offset there.



Random carpet scraps in the door? IIRC there were a few wash cloths stuffed in the door of the car when I got it too, but I must've missed this in previous door related ventures.



I haven't driven the car yet, but fingers crossed that does something. As far as weight goes, I used less than 2 sheets of the material. When I weighed them out, each sheet was about 3.5 pounds, so I'd estimate I added 5 pounds so far.

What I really need to do in the future is to get a new soft top, as the PO used some... questionable methods to install the current top, resulting in "ears" which generate a ton of wind noise. Surprisingly, the top still keeps water out pretty well.

6 screws to hold the fabric there, just like the factory service manual calls for.

 

You might be able to offset the weight of the sound deadening once all those extra screws are removed

FWIW, and this might not be news to you, dynamat/sound deadening only needs ~30% coverage to do its thing. On my previous van, I started with about 1/3 dynamat coverage on the paneling before adding insulation, walls, etc. Ended up with a bunch of dynamat left over so I just kept installing more sheets for the hell of it. Stopped noticing any real returns after going past the initial 1/3 of coverage. That was on a bunch of flat/thin surfaces (van walls/roof) that resonate easily, though. Maybe that rule changes with thicker, more curved surfaces like your trunk, etc. Still, I've only ever read that ~30% coverage is needed.

I also ran 1/2 MT90, 1/2 Light Shockproof in my 6 speed when I first tossed it in. It definitely shifted a little harder when cold but we don't get the same level of cold that you guys do, so I was fine with it.
I'm pretty sure I was running the MT90/Shockproof combo when I blew 4th gear out of my 6 speed at the track as well. Maybe somebody will tell me otherwise, but I don't think the shockproof will/would help with the common 4th gear circlip issue.

 

For your locks, looks similar to how I installed mine on my 2000 (just not as jank..). From the factory on the LS package (and maybe others?), the passenger side lock had a factory motor that would mirror the driver side. If you unlocked the drive side by key, the passenger side would unlock so you didn't have to reach over once you got in. But because the driver side was not powered, no fob needed. Installing aftermarket was easy because you only needed one lock on the driver side and the passenger side would mirror it.

 

Thanks for the info Karter. That makes sense. I remember looking into it a long time ago. It never worked and the broken motor was providing enough resistance on the locking mechanism to make it hard to open, so at some point I disconnected the motor from the locking arm. Not sure why I didn't pull the whole assembly at that point.

Z, I heard something like 80%, but I've also heard that's a marketing tactic to get people to buy more material. I'm trying to focus on the areas that are the most drum-like. So far the doors and trunk seem to be the worst offenders. The parcel shelf panels and carpet also do way more than I realized. I ran an errand when they were out of the car yesterday and it was shockingly loud.

I'm sure I'll end up with extra material, but it'll go in the Chevy I'm sure. I doubt that thing has any sound insulation at all.

 

I think the car seems quieter with the sound deadening. It's a subtle difference, but I think it's a step in the right direction.

I did 2 leak down tests yesterday. One cold to get familiar with the process, and then one after the engine was warmed up. I've been wanting to do this for a while, since I had some questionable compression test results last time. I assume the compression results were due to my inexperience and a questionable gauge, but given the car's propensity to make less power than I expect I figured it was worth checking the leak down results. I was able to borrow a compressor and leak down tester, so with no real expenses involved it seemed like no-brainer as well.

From what I read online, the test is usually done between 50-100 PSI. If anyone more experienced wants to comment on that I'd appreciate the knowledge.

I figure the cold test isn't worth much, but I figured I'd try the worst case scenario just to familiarize myself with the process. I did make the mistake of testing one cylinder when it wasn't on the compression stroke, which showed crazy leakage, but realized that the test was screwed up pretty quickly.
I set the gauge to 50 PSI for this test, assuming I could take the PSI on the other gauge and pretty easily calculate a leakdown percentage. The worst cylinder was cylinder 3, at ~18% leakage, while the others were around 5% to 10%.

Later, after driving the car around, I redid the testing at 80 PSI. This gave much better numbers, with all cylinders holding ~75 PSI which would be ~6% leakage.



I'm not sure if these look good or bad. If anyone has input let me know.

I'm pretty happy with those numbers. I'm not exactly sure how accurate they are, but nothing seems catastrophically wrong. A little peace of mind if nothing else.

First autocross of the season is this weekend. I'm itching to get back out there and finally let the car eat a bit.

 

I usually do 100psi, because the math is really easy. 4 cylinders are pretty easy, go to TDC, and test 1 and 4. On a running engine, one will have lots of leak down, one will not. Then rotate 360 and test the other one again. If you peak down the oil cap, you can make sure your cam is pointed out, so you know you're on #1 TDC. Then follow firing order (1342), rotating 180 between tests.

 

Looks solid to me! I agree with Curly, 100psi is just easy for % of leak so I set mine there. And 6% leak is good, so send her!

 

That was my thinking as well, but honestly I wasn't sure how well my dad's old compressor would do holding 100 PSI since it's a smaller tank. My thinking was that 50 would work and I could just double the error pretty easily, but I wasn't sure if that would provide less accurate results. Doing another 50 PSI test while hot would actually be an interesting experiment.

Curly, when I did the hot test that's what I did as well. Got cylinder 1 to the right spot and then just ran through the firing order. Really not too bad of a diagnostic outside of needing the tool and a compressor.

 

Now do a v8 where the plug isn’t directly above the piston. Damn near impossible.

Leak down tests don’t leak air (shouldn’t at least), so you’re only asking the compressor to maintain 100psi in the lines and top of the cylinder, so most can do it, if it can get there at all.

 

We finally got back out to the fairgrounds last weekend. It was a bit cold and rainy, but better than nothing.

I threw last seasons RT660s on a couple days before the event and drove some of the foothills around here. Every time I swap tires I'm reminded how of a difference the stiffer sidewalls - at least that's what I'm assuming makes the difference - make. It really feels like the car is on stiffer suspension with just a tire change, which I guess in some aspects it is.

To try and combat the buzzing/screaming/kazoo noise from the heat shield by drilling out one of the rivets and adding some fabric heat shielding material between the flaps. Spoiler alert, this did not change anything.




It took all of the morning runs to start getting back up to speed. It was spitting rain all morning, so the tires didn't want to hook up at all. I felt pretty good about my throttle control, but getting used to the lateral grip takes me a second. Judging lateral grip is somewhere I think I have a good amount of time to gain. I left the car on "low boost" (still 180 KPA peak) all day and honestly didn't feel like I was limited by power at all.




I ran the Tecnas at 10 clicks from soft all weekend. It wasn't until I was back home swapping tires that I realized/remembered they have 30 clicks of adjustment instead of 15. I set them thinking they were at 2/3 stiff. I didn't feel a need to go any stiffer though. I'll probably play around with them at our next event, but likely I'll set them to 15 and call it good.

Sunday was a bit warmer and was dry right up until it starting sprinkling on the last 1-2 of my runs for the day. Fun courses and fun people on both days.

Saturday results were 1st in XB, 10th Raw and 18th PAX.
Sunday results were 3rd in XB, 8th Raw and 17th PAX.

One of our national champions who has a very well prepped ND showed up on Sunday with some fresh 285 Vitours. The car makes stockish power, but has been setup for D Prepared, so it's fairly racecar'd out. He and his wife picked up 1st and 2nd place, beating me by ~2 seconds and ~1 second respectively. They didn't seem too thrilled with the Vitours coming from Hoosiers, so I'm not sure they'll keep running XB. They did say the shorter sidewall was nice for low end torque and gearing, although I think that would be fairly ND specific benefits since they're usually using 3rd gear and I'm struggling to stay off of limiter in 2nd.

The car is much noisier than before. There is a ton of chatter/grinding noise at higher RPM which you can hear in that video. It isn't that bad just putting around town, but watching those videos back makes it seem pretty obnoxious. I'm guessing some of that is from the 6 speed. I'm assuming the majority of it is coming from the lack of pinion damper on the diff and possibly some from the poly bushings. Along with the noises, I was getting a good deal of vibration which I assume was coming from the exhaust contacting the chassis in a couple places. The downpipe was rubbing on the steering column in a corner or two as well, so that might get a bit more clearancing, but it's not nearly as bad as it was before.

I found out after the weekend that I have also not solved my clearance issue with the front right tire. The rub spot looked nice and shiny. I figured I'd clean it up and hit it with some rust reformer to protect it and so it's easier to tell if/when it happens in the future.




I also realized that there's a balance weight on the inside lip, which probably isn't great when you're already pushing your limits on clearance.


Other than those issue the car ran quite well. Onboard logging on the Link is pretty handy. I had a solution with Speeduino to use BT and log via my phone, which was a bit more convenient, but it is nice to have it automatically log every run. Only downside is that I need to have my laptop to look at logs or monitor temps. At lunch on Saturday I realized I had been running lean in quite a few spots. WOT was spot on, but high RPM low/medium load was pretty far off. I felt this in the car at one point and thought I hit a protection of some sort on the ECU. I'm still not completely sure the car didn't fuel starve, but I'm guessing it was just leaning out. Regardless, the car ran fine on the next run.


On the left you can see the WOT AFR vs Target On the right, notice that I'm partially on throttle, but I'm nearly pegged lean

Something else you might notice in that log is that my coolant temps are basically a flat line. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic, since it was pretty cool this weekend (16 C/ 60 F Ambient as a high), but it's nice to not see crazy spikes in the trace like I would on my old ECU. It'll be nice to be able to have coolant protections in the ECU that don't engage after 1 run. I did have my fan switch on for this run, so both fans were running constantly, but it seems like a step in the right direction.

Overall, pretty stoked with the weekend. I've changed a lot with the car over the winter, but the car feels pretty similar for now. I think this recipe will work for the majority of the season and I can just refine what's here before moving on to more power.

 

Cars looking fast and responsive with the kraken setup! Nice work out there on the podium!