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At this point, I'm $60K+ into this thing. At least for the last two rebuilds I tried to "spare no expense" to make sure I put the right parts in with the intention of each build being my last (again). Now perhaps, we have finally solved the mystery but I'm trying to balance the right parts at the the right price so that I'm not constantly pissing away money into something that seems to consistently fail on me. After this build, yes, it's time to sell it if it fails me again. I have less time to mess with this car with work and 3 kids under 5. Joy is this car lasting more than 1000 miles a this point. I busted my butt for 4 years before my twins showed up to be done and have some semblance of decent reliability. I don't need OEM reliability but I as we've all established, the formula for <~400WHP FD has been around for a while too. When the car runs, it puts a big grin on my face but I also need that grin to last at least 6 months...
based on my experiences, break-in is extremely important.
i know of numerous instances where a motor was built and initially run on a dyno and seriously suffered.
. i believe there is no substitute for road miles. i would absolutely not go near a dyno until i had (and here's a guess) 2 to 4 tanks of gas runtime minimum.
100%. I likely won’t need to take this to the dyno at all. Nelson says his tune should be good still. Maybe we clean it up after breakin on the dyno but my plan is to get this car back in the next two weeks and put some miles on it before DGRR at the end of April. That’s a good 500+ miles of driving to, during, and back on roads.
I should have my car back in another week or two. I ended up going with E&J 2pc 2mm seals. I also upgraded to the ReMedy High Flow Water pump that MazMart sells since the engine was out. Steve Eckerich clearanced and static and dynamic balanced my rotors/rotating assembly. For good measure, he took it down to the legend, Roger Mandeville, and had him confirm everything was perfect before sending it all back to Bryan to get everything back together. I also sent my injectors out to ID for them to clean and test just to rule out any fueling issues. They got a clean bill of health as well. Once the engine is put together, I'm getting compression results. I then plan to measure compression again before I take delivery and drive it home and will plan to take a few more over the coming month(s) to really establish a baseline. I also followed Howard's thread on spark plugs and ordered those surface gap style NGK plugs (10 heat range) to go into my trailing ports.
I think this will do the trick for you. You have addressed the issues and all will be well. Have confidence - says the guy that his been in your shoes more than once
I went 10's. For a car that is mostly weekend/fun, won't see more than 14psi of boost (probably more like 7-12psi on the street), and maybe 4-6 tracks days a year, I was advised against 11's by my tuner and my builder. They said for at track day, I would warm the engine up and then switch to 11's but said otherwise, I should not use 11s.
@TeamRX8 - I ordered the surface gap plugs Howard put in his post, the NGK R6601. Given that I'm not going to hit 500HP, I am kinda back on the fence on whether I should run them. My builder says I should run 10 and 9 combo instead of 10s all around. My tuner says 10's all around but he likes the NGK R7420s. Bryan's (builder) first reaction when those 6601's arrived at his shop was "did you send me lawn mower spark plugs?" (LoL).
To be honest, I am very torn between who I should listen to. I love the wealth of knowledge here, occasionally in Facebook groups, and that of my tuner and builder but at some point, I need to pick one source of truth to go with, which I do feel like should be that of my tuner and builder. I feel like with every rebuild I've done with Bryan, I've made at least one decision that was influenced by something I read or was told online and went again what he thought I should go and so far, it's not exactly gotten me where I wanted.
Right now, I'm learning towards breaking in the car with the 9/10 combo Bryan recommended, making sure I continue to keep compression, and then decide if I wanna throw the 6601's in afterwards.
in this situation it seems that you should follow your engine builder’s recommendations, but with the understanding that he’s going to stand behind the engine for you 100% all the way. Best to come to that understanding between you both, sooner rather than later. Which means being just as committed yourself to not let enthusiasm get the best of you before it’s broken in and everything checks out well.
and if you decide to change plugs later then it seems best that the tuner be involved. Because one of the things that separates yourself is that some of the people giving advice are very hands-on. They’re not just going to make a change like that and throw caution to the wind. They’re moving in calculated steps, studying the logs, and making adjustments if needed. So you need someone else to be involved to handle that for you.
alternatively, if all goes well; if it ain’t broke don’t go trying to fix it, is probably sound advice for someone like yourself.
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Some guys seem to be changing to 11s lately, and HC is currently testing the 6601s, but I think more research and long term testing is needed with those. Seems kinda wierd you have to cut the sealing washers off. That doesn't inspire confidence with me. They're stupid expensive, but the 7420-10s get the nod from me. If the formula aint broke don't fix it.
Looks like Monday is the big day. Bryan just called me up and said the car will be ready to go tomorrow (I just can't get there until next week). He hasn't driven the car yet but warmed it up for the first time and the compression numbers are:
Front: 83 95 95
Rear: 108 105 105
He said we'll keep an eye on the 83 after he drives it and I'll do another test before I leave his shop on Monday. He said these numbers should come up as the engine breaks in and the 83 points to a side seal...could just be the seal needing to break in and seat with the housing.
And she's back! I picked up the car yesterday and drove her about 160 miles home. So far so good. After a short test drive before leaving Rotorsports Racing, I did a warm compression test.
(corrected)
Front: 81 92 92
Rear: 102 106 106
Bryan hooked my battery up to a booster and I was getting 260-280RPM whereas on battery I was getting 230ish with my battery for my compression test RPM. I have the Banzai Racing High power starter and I know my battery used to push a higher RPM. It's been on the fritz for a while so I'm going to replace it. Various people, including Bryan, seem to love these Antigravity Lithium batteries. I don't love the price. I did some searching and Noco makes a lithium battery that has the same form factor and similar weight to the Antigravity battery for about 1/2 the cost. They carry a full 5-year warranty and from what I've found have been highly rated and reviewed in the motorcycle world (The Antigravity battery that Sake Bomb, Banzai, etc sell for the FD is a motorcycle battery as well). The cost is less than what I paid for my Odyssey PC925AGM battery which I think is a bit underpowered as it's only rated at 330 CCA. Odyssey has it rated at 600 PCA (Pulse Crank Amps) which is supposedly a better measure of starting power according to them. When I spoke to sale people at Noco and Antigravity, both said CCA is a dated testing/spec for battery power. Both AG and Noco claim over 700A cranking power in whatever "rating system" they use...
Anyways, the battery should be here today. This is what I'm putting trying in case you're interested:
Looking forward to seeing you and the car at DGRR!
BTW, I run a regular lead acid battery but it's up front. I got a good battery tender and that has made a world of difference in keeping the battery happy.
It comes with a hardwired plug too, makes it easy to hook up. Also it has a "recovery" mode, I actually got a 5+ year old battery that came with an RX-8 to come back to life and crank and run the car MANY times with that feature. Eventually replaced it but it bought some time.
Looking forward to seeing you and the car at DGRR!
BTW, I run a regular lead acid battery but it's up front. I got a good battery tender and that has made a world of difference in keeping the battery happy.
It comes with a hardwired plug too, makes it easy to hook up. Also it has a "recovery" mode, I actually got a 5+ year old battery that came with an RX-8 to come back to life and crank and run the car MANY times with that feature. Eventually replaced it but it bought some time.
Looking forward to seeing you and everyone else at DGRR!
Dale
With the vMount, I had to relocate to the passenger bin otherwise I'd run a full-size . I grabbed the Noco charger, which looks similar to CTEK. It also can bring batteries back life. I'll def try it on my Odyssey just to keep as a backup battery if I decide to keep this Noco
congrats on being up and running. i have run an Odyssey for more than 10 years... and love it. do put lots of miles on your car and i hope to see you at the DGRR. i am planning the Skyway on Friday and socialize on Saturday. i spent the last 4 days installing a Radium fuel tank sump and lift pump. i was getting fuel starvation on accel. with 7.5 gallons onboard.
pretty cheap compared to the one from Volt Phreaks I paid $1500 for in 2011, but it was a deal compared to the $2k+ they were selling for to pro race teams back then; 1000 amp-hrs and only 9 lbs. Most people would faint over that for a battery, but I was fed up having gone through so many other so-called “racing batteries” that either left me hanging at the worst time or just flat quit working. Back then it was quite advanced, with a wired remote on/off button and automatic low voltage shutdown to avoid parasitic drain down
more importantly, 12 years later still just as strong as new.
never underestimate the value of a strong battery and powerful starter with a rotary engine; 320+ starting rpm makes me happy. 😊
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Voltphreaks site looks abandoned though. I don't know if they're still in business?
MegaLife has been bought from buddy club. More expensive than antigravity but specifically for cars.
Jack Webb Motorsport has some interesting packages as well and was told that a kill switch is a good way to preserve a lithium battery. More economical anyway than a lithium charger.
Been reading this thread, the car is wow. Even with all the hurdles. Wish you nice rides with it.
My 21lb braille works great, wayyy better than the miata battery I had used for a couple years, and fits in the rear bin really nicely with some rubber padding and an aluminum bracket I made. Starts the car at about 250 rpm or so with 4ga cables and a stock 80k miles starter.
congrats on being up and running. i have run an Odyssey for more than 10 years... and love it. do put lots of miles on your car and i hope to see you at the DGRR. i am planning the Skyway on Friday and socialize on Saturday. i spent the last 4 days installing a Radium fuel tank sump and lift pump. i was getting fuel starvation on accel. with 7.5 gallons onboard.
it never ends.
Let's def plan to meet up. I'm coming in on Thursday and leaving on Sunday.
Got the Noco Battery installed and it fits like a glove in the passenger bin where I had my Odyssey PC925. I still can't get past the fact that it weighs 5lbs. Holding it feels like holding a battery case that's empty on the inside. Anyways, I ran another compression test today after my 155 miles drive home from picking it up. First thing is that the battery delivered 4 straight tests (2 per rotor) at 283-291 RPM. Below are the correct results. I ran two tests per rotor.
R1
86 98 98
89 99 99
R2
106 105 107
103 107 101
Both rotors showed improvement over the reading I took 2 days ago.
Some other things I had done during this rebuild were to install a Franklin Engineering Short Oil filler neck (with connection to my catch can) and to relocate my coils to the cruise control location. For the latter, I originally used the RHD kit from SakeBomb Garage that put the coils on the lower drivers side frame below the steering column. The issue with this was that it was impossible to get the plugs from under the car and also made it hard to get to them from the top as well. Taking compression tests or swapping plugs was a pain in the ***. I gave up cruise control but in reality aside from the drive to DGRR a couple of years ago, I pretty much never use it.
Oil filler neck. Only $60. Rotorsports had a few. Couldn’t stomach the cost of the IRP neck to be able to connect a catch can.
03-11-23, 03:45 PM
