1.8 FMII turbo installed w/ no power
 

Hey guys, I'm hoping somebody may be able to help me out here or at least point me in the right direction. I've just finished installing my new 1.8 engine replacement with the FMII turbo kit with the Hydra. I bought the engine and turbo all together and it was running perfect before it was pulled. The engine has an FMII setup with a GT2560 (inconel studs) on the stock 1999 1.8L, stock 5-speed, 700cc denso injectors, Warlbro 190HP fuel pump. The engine and my car are both 1999's so the install was pretty straight forward and most of the turbo itself was already installed. I'm running the exact same set up as the PO with a Walbro 190 lhp fuel pump except with a slightly different tune that was provided to me by Ken Hill (who is the previous tuner of this Hydra). I got the car started and it sounded great from idle. However, I tried to drive it and it seems that under any load it wants to "sputter" or "cut out". I made sure the spark plugs had the correct gaps, the crank sensor was spaced enough to fit a credit card, the intercooler piping was all tight, and I believe I got connected all of the ground connections. Also after talking with the PO he said he was having issues with his fuel pump sock after he replaced it. So I filled up the tank in hopes to eliminate that and it was still doing the same thing. I did try using the Diagnostics Panel in the Hydra software and it said everything was okay and passed. So, that didn't help much either. Has anyone had similar issues to this or any idea as to what connections I can check again?

what are your AFR's looking like under boost? Is the map sensor line kinked in any way?

The passenger I had who was monitoring the computer said the AFR's looked pretty spot on when I was able to get into boost. And the line for the MAP sensor was ran with a pretty straight shot from the engine bay, through the firewall, and to the ecu which is currently in my glove box area.

check the boost tables and make sure its not set to fuel cut at some absurdly low boost level. Even if you arent running a boost solenoid, the hydra has a table for overboost protection.

Original coils?

--Ian

The boost tables are set to about 10 psi and that was already set by Ken.

The coils are new along with pretty much every seal, gasket, and sensor on the engine.

I was talking to one of the guys at FM they think it might have to do with the fact that I only have the down pipe and high-flow CAT hooked up. He said if I left it like that or had a short setup like a dump tube the tune would need more ignition advancing to make up for the timing? Or something similar to that. I'm getting the connecting pipe and muffler put on this weekend. The PO and I didn't think about it. I figured back pressure was a non issue with turbo cars. So, it's probably both the tune and exhaust not liking each other. In the mean time until I can get the rest of the exhaust done, I'm going to take some data logs and see what we can find out from those.

ill be honest if FM truly told you that it makes literally no sense at all. I hope you get it figured out though.

How much load before it starts to missfire? Are you able to build boost before it starts missing?

While it is true that drastically changing the exhaust backpressure will change the amount of timing that the motor wants to make the ideal amount of power, it's not going to make it "sputter" or "cut out".

What kind of boost control is it running? If it's an MBC or EBC (basically anything except mechanical wastegate) then a much less restrictive exhaust will mean that you need less duty cycle on the boost controller to make the same boost. So if it was previously tuned for 10psi with a full exhaust and you went with a dump pipe, that same boost control tuning might make 12-14 psi. If the boost cut in the computer is set to 12, then you'll be overboosting, and it'll cut the fuel to prevent engine damage. Overboost fuel cut feels VERY harsh.

--Ian

Thanks for the replies guys! So, after taking some data logs I can see the AFR's were definitely not good. It was just running so bad it was hard to catch I guess? But anytime I open the throttle it goes completely lean. Ken mentioned it might be the vacuum from the Hydra to the intake manifold. That was another thing I was trying to figure out...a solid place to run the line. I believe I have about 6 ports? One on the rear of the intake manifold where the break booster runs. 3 are under the manifold behind the throttle body. 2 of those were just a 2-3" line ran to each other. That is where the FM guys said would probably be the best place. The other port there runs somewhere by the charcoal canister or boost solenoid. And the last port is on the top of the manifold behind the throttle body but that's where I have the BOV line ran to. Actually there is one more under the manifold between the runners I believe. Here is a picture I took of the line I T'd into. The guys at FM said that small 90 is a line that basically equalizes the pressure between the two halves of the manifold.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...844f46369f.jpg

Also, I forgot to mention it seems to run a lot better if I can get it to 3k+ rpms. But it is a little tricky. I'm going to be towing it to the exhaust shop tomorrow to get it all squared away and should hopefully get it back Monday.