Got up at 6:30am to arrive when Gotham Racing opens at 10am on Saturday.
I had just installed the PowerFC about 10 hours prior to leaving. And the map I borrowed was good enough to get me where I need to go with no boosting.
Arrived on time and Rich, Ihor, Alex were already hard at work And then Steve Kan rolls in one of his many FD's
(BTW its for sale $17k) *see pic below


Anyhoo, another Forum member, I think Chris is his name, also got up at the butt-crack of dawn from Houston to also get some tuning , etc. done.
He had a nice low mileage SSilv. with some 18" Advans on

I got the 850's installed in the primary location and we fixed some Misc. stuff then we were ready for a Street Tuning Session.
Let me first touch on something, I thought the 850's would be plenty for the direction I wanted to take my FD, but I soon found out its not.
**I went off the RX7.com fuel calculator to help plan my course but it didnt take much to max out the 4x850s**

Pre-tuning pic, inside Gothams shop. (white ones mine) FDs in full effect up in that piece.. yO!
Long story short we exceeded 140mph, hit 8krpms in 4th gear probably a dozen times. Tuned it for a max of 16lbs and saw the 850's at 96% inj. duty near redline. Steve made it very drivable and it was a whole new beast!

**NOTE: Change your Plugs, Oil & make sure your coolant is top notch before any street tuning or dyno tuning session!** I thought I could get by on my fairly new plugs, but it wasnt the case. Also if your clutch is slipping defintely take the time to change it out to get ready for duty.**

I didnt double check my coolant, and even though temps looked good while tuning, something went awry. And it now looks like the Coolant Seal bug bit me. Sweet smelling smoke upon start up before heading out confirmed this several times.
So I nervously drove it home 3 hours straight home and crashed. In the morning I started it up just to see if the Rotary Elves fixed my leak overnight (which they did not <-- lazy *******)
Well I have back up turbos and radiator so Ill probably throw the ol' Block Weld in just to drive it around until I think about what route I want to take next.

Another Forum members car being worked on


Steve's Car's & the famous Red one that he started up for us.


Outside, across from the shop


what I see with my glasses off


All in All a good trip. Unbelievable what going from a Pettit ECU to a tuned PowerFC does with a few more lbs of boost and Steves magic touch! Not too bummed on the motor. But hopefully I can take advantage of the tuning and finish her off in proper fashion

 

Very nice set of pics. Looks like my garage with all the parts laying around. ( Only my shop is not as big!!)What does the wizard Steve estimate your Rwhp at? Was the engine going before the tuning session? ( not at all trying to start a conspiracy theory!!)

 

<hypocrite alert>
I know you're tuning your car, and it was probably a blast running your car like that, but sppeds like that on public roads are just flat out irresponsible IMHO. I'm really surprised Steve (or any shop) tunes that way. </hypocrite alert>

Anyhow, off of my soapbox. Nice pics. Bummer about your motor.

 

While I will agree to some extent,....It is Texas bro. Nothing but room and open roads there.

 

Don't need to tell me, I'm from Houston originally.

I'm just wondering what happens when Steve (or some other tuner) is out for a spin in someone's car and they have a blowout at 140 mph. It's one thing to push the limits in your own car, and a completely different thing to do it in a car that you don't have much experience with. One can only hope that they put the car through an extenisve check up before running them that hard

 

Nice pics. Hey, that's my silver FD! It was good talking to you on Saturday. I was really bummed out for you about your coolant seal, but I'm glad to see that you're taking it in stride. Your car is very nice.

They installed an ACT HD clutch after my stocker slipped during the initial attempts at tuning. We started tuning again after dark. With my oversize tires I was hitting 150mph on tuning runs. It was freaking scary in the dark on that unlit road. Everything went fine, fortunately. <BTW, the driving is done by the owner of the car and the owner/driver makes the decision if he wants to speed. 3rd gear runs were an option. Please no nagging threads about irresponsiblity, ok guys?> Steve was able to tune up to 16-16.5psi. I was getting 15psi of boost by 2500rpms. I love stock twins! He mentioned that your car was definitely stronger at high boost/high rpms as yours is non-seq. The stock seq setup just peters out at those levels. Anyway we dropped it back to 12psi to help everything last. The only issue I have is popping with decel, but you can check out my thread in the PFC forum.

Thanks for posting the pics.

Chris

ps- Steve's butt dyno says I have 310hp @12psi, 340hp @ 15psi and that it could run low 12s (with the right driver). Again, he also said your car has more power than mine.

 

Totally true wingsfan! I would not do that in my customers cars. I only test some third gear boost runs and let them rag on it. (Knocking on wood about the blowout remarks,...Thatt would really Suck!!)...Back to the shop, They do have a Dyno correct? The other advantage I see to the dyno is the ability to see things easier while the car is under load .

 

if you are afraid to take your car to 140mph, but you're paying to have it tuned

you should sell your car

 

The owner drives and Steve tunes from the passenger seat.

 

W3RD!

 

That makes it responsible? It's still risky. And if you get caught doing that they're both going to jail.

 

Put your hands behind your back!!! Bling Bling LOL

 

Why not third gear runs? What is the difference between 3 and 4 other than speed?

 

4th gear is a 1:1 ratio, it eliminates output bias through the gearing in the tranny..so you use it on the dyno for accurate horsepower figures

now as to why it is used on the street...you got me!

 

If that is the only way he tunes than he just eliminated ALL people in Hawaii because there is nowhere to safely go 140. The roads are only 2 lanes with nice soft LAVA ROCK 2inches off the side!!. Not to mention uneven and bumpy as hell!! It has nothing to do with being afraid!, It has to do with being responsible and professional.

 

he can tune on a dyno as well....but street tuning is more accurate, you better simulate wind speeds and acutal loads

 

Agreed it is more accurate, but for those speeds they should be renting track time at Texas World speedway or some equivalent. Speeds of 140+ on public highways is just asking for trouble IMHO.

 

You don't seem to be mad about the seal at all, I think I would be pissed after going through all that trouble to get the car to DFW and then tuned just to have the seal go. By the way I was there too when your car was getting tuned, I wasn't driving my FD though your car looks nice I really love white

 

And how often do you drive at 140 to have those factors make a difference? I stomp it as much and often as possible but those reasons do not justify the risk.IMO ( Why doesn't the Gotham crew build a dyno inside a wind tunnel? I know it be crazy $$$ but that would solve the debate of having to go 140 on the roads.)

 

umm they probably would (as well as every shop) if they could afford it

 

Well how many bail bonds and speeding/wreckless driving tickets does it take to rationalize doing it? And by the way ALL your FD's at the shop look great guys!!! And Steve's cars.

 

why not make a dyno that has different resistance as the speed goes higher...put a brake on it or something....
Like those treadmills in 24hours fitness...the human dyno...

 

hey HeatTreated my friend john is going to gotham this coming saturday for a tunning session with steve. Other than the stuff you already said is there anything else he should check/replace/be aware of. If you wouldn't mind Pming him with some info his member name is Huls2304 but if not would you mind just giving some more feedback in this thread and I will tell him to read it. Thanks and sorry again about your coolant seal.
-Nic

 

Most dynos do have a break on them. I am guessing you mean putting a load like heading up a hill or a 140 mph headwind. There are dynos that have this capability. If the one Gotham has is one of those I don't know. I also don't know which model dyno it is that has this capability. ( I DO know that the dynojet one we had at the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute had the ability to duplicate atmospheric conditions as well as loads. It was very bitchin to work with!! ).....Cloud9 - Some other things to maybe check or replace would be your brakes!! Haha! Maybe your diff. and trans. fluid as well so you know you have real clean fluids in the entire car.

 

Gotham does not have a in house dyno, they would probably refrain from doing those runs on the street if they had one. I agree that it is rather reckless to do 12 consecutive pulls to 140MPH, but I will say that a lot of the roads out there by the shop are very open. I have to drive a 4lane highway to get there.