Before you take a hammer to it, I wouldn't assume that tool chest top it's sitting on is perfectly flat - they usually are not. I'd put it on a glass table top or something similar that is a perfectly flat surface to judge if the part is warped.

 

agreed but when I rotate in on the tool chest top in the same spot, I can see the warp. Someone suggested the best thing to do is put in a table vice to flatten it.

 

that may work better, but not as much fun as the hammer!
really either would be fine one of my yoga teachers used to say "make it so straight that the ruler looks bent"

 

Good find!

Yeah I'd try to straighten it first. That's not so bent that it's a major problem as far as bending it back and if it doesn't work no big deal to remove and install a good used one.

Good used ones should be a dime a dozen, I'd go that route 100% if necessary. I don't see any reason to go for the FFE kit, that's just throwing money away.

Dale

 

I got as flat as I could but it's not perfect. I got the trigger mounted and at it's worst, the gap is 2.1mm. The FSM says the spec is 1-2mm. We'll see if that .1mm makes a difference since its just a magnet doing the reading. Hope I can do some testing tonight after the kids are asleep...

 

please get a good used one

 

Shimming the sensors will work too.

 

EXACTLY!

This is a critical piece.. spend a little now or a lot later.

 

i mean its a piece of steel going past a magnet, so its pretty low tech

AND

its your opportunity to hit the car with a hammer, vent frustrations...

 

So I sent some logs to Haltech and they said my OScope looked good and since I haven’t actually replicated the issue, the only concern they had was the gap between the CAS and wheel. Since this issue happens randomly, they theorized that perhaps at certain harmonics, I might get a vibration that ever so slightly brings me more out of spec. They said even though the FSM calls for 1-2mm, I should really aim for .5-1mm.

I was able to take a hammer and wood block and get my wheel mostly flat. I shimmed it with a #6 washer I had lying around and now my gap is about 1.5mm at the worse and about .7mm at the tightest. I went and drove around last night and pushed the car hard and no issues so far. I PC logged all my data and will send it to them again to confirm my Oscope still looks good.

People can say what they want about Nelson's locked tune but the car feels damn good. Drivability is great and the car makes solid boost pretty fast. If I can find a good straight used one, I'll grab it but as many others have said, it's a metal wheel that spins around a magnet. Yes, its an important component, but it's also dead simple with no real failure point. I tested the resistance of the CAS per the FSM and both measured within spec for resistance.

BTW, for anyone running the Haltech NSP software, Haltech said when you PC log, you get all channels/metrics with the best sampling frequency. They said many racers will now just strap a laptop in to log track sessions because it's much better than onboard logging in both capacity (duh) and sampling rate. For troubleshooting, they said its not really worth it to use the onboard logging. This apparently was not the case with the old ESP software, which struggled to keep up with sample speed and channels count.

 

Haltech support got back to me and said if the car runs fine and the wheel is within the gap spec, not to overthink this. I'll keep doing more driving and I have a track weekend coming up at the end of the month.

 

Shameless plug since it's for charity, but I'm just about 2 weeks away from a track event with a group called Racing for ALS. Last year I didn't get to take the FD but this year, she's ready to go!!!

I did this event last year and I told my wife I'm doing it every year. This a great event and every penny goes towards ALS Research and/or patients afflicted by this disease. Last year I raised a $1000. If anyone would like to make a donation, any amount counts whether it's $1, $100, or any amount in between or beyond. It's also 100% tax deductible if you're here in the US.

https://www.mightycause.com/story/Oqnqfg

The donation page has preset limits but you can enter any amount you want. Thank you in advance for any donations or even just considering it.

 

Nice! I donated, hope everyone else visiting your thread does so too!

Looking forward to hearing the report from the track day!

Dale

 

Thank you, Dale!

Fundraising closes in a week (6/21)!

 

be safe out there, but have fun too.
.

 

I was scrolling through this thread to look some old posts and I realized I never posted photos on the rotor issue that now know was the cause of my problem. Behold!


Ignore the chunk missing and notice the edges of the groove near the corner seal


Groove too big at edges but fine in the middle

 

Isn't that like engine building 101 for an engine builder?

 

There is no way to know if the rotors were damaged when the engine builder inspected the parts or as a result of operation after assembled.

Very common detonation damage.

 

🤷‍♂️

bryan however had been building engines for 30 years, has a good reputation, and mine seems to be the outlier so who knows.

This was after my issues with the second set of seals (RA Super Seals) so we have no way of knowing if it was that bad when we blew the iRotary ones so it’s all guessing and blamestorming at this point.

I know every builder has good and bad but I’m not sure I’ve heard much bad about Bryan since I got into this game or even when I did my research before I picked him. Don’t get me wrong, I was frustrated as hell but so far this engine is performing well. We will see how it does as the track in two weeks. That’s the real shakedown.

 

Well…the FD survived 2 days on track! The motor seemed to do well. No issues starting hot or cold. I ran AI with 0F windshield washer fluid with my AEM controller set to start spraying at 7psi. My dual oil coolers also did very well. It was pushing 90 degrees with 80%+ humidity and my oil temp never crossed 192F and mirrored my coolant temp most of the time. After all I’ve been through, no engine woes was the best news of the weekend.

Now, one lesson I learned is that venting my catch can from just the oil filler neck simply isn’t enough. After my second session on track, my engine bay was “lubricated” in oil. It would seem my 750ML catch can would get full and then start blowing oil through the air filter. Talk about a fuster cluck to clean. I ended up having to drain my catch can after every session. I also found a few leaks in my exhaust as both my wastegates had very small leaks at the vBand clamp and also at the T4 flange where my turbo connected to the manifold. The nuts on the studs had come loose as I kept hearing this weird jingling like sound. One of the nuts would thread on tight but then back out easily. I’m going to pull and replace the studs, nuts, and gasket when I also vent the passenger side of the block. I also need to probably buy a new turbo blanket. Mine fell apart on the inside after I removed it. I put it back on for the time being because there was zero chance I was going to expose my bay to those temps without one.

Special thanks to @Howard Coleman for providing some remote support on suspension and tire setup. I borrowed a tire pyrometer and after each session, I gave Howard temp/psi readings and he helped me dial in the right pressure. He also suggested I run my Ohlins DFVs at full soft in the rear and 40% from full soft (~13 clicks) up front. That was way off from the 10 clicks from full hard (32 clicks total range) that Ohlins suggested for every day use. I was little nervous but Howard reminded me that the FD has a race suspension geometry and also that roll isn’t a bad thing on this car. My Porsche was flat on track and FD has roll but man did it grip well on Michelin Pilot 4s (300 treadwear) tires. Howard also made camber suggestions but I didn’t have the tools or knowledge to make those adjustments trackside.

Nelson’s tune was also very good. Only once did I hit engine protection on a lean event. The logs show my AFR was 12.8 when it should have been 11 on full boost. I suspect it was fuel slosh as my logs showed a drop in estimated injector flow rate and because I had half a tank at the time. I filled up and kept the tank topped off and had zero issues. Overall, I was about 5 seconds slower than my best time at VIR in the Porsche but 10/10 the FD was more engaging to drive, especially to drive fast. Porsche is just point and go. FD was so much more raw for sure. No nannie and no PDK transmission.

Got a few small projects ahead of me but so far, no engine rebuild. Had to head out of town so I’ll try to start a drive the car around this weekend to confirm all is still good with the engine.

My best session:

 

Nice controlled driving - very methodical !!

 

Very common experience, regarding full catch cans. Larger baffled cans and baffled oil necks seem to be the trick.

Are you using copper locking nuts? If not, would strongly recommend. They're "ovalled" and single-use to protect backing off.

Some folks will tell you the blanket cooks the turbo. Either way, you're cooking something. Hood vents help.

Congrats on the awesome outing!

 

Man that's great news! That really must have felt good that it made it. You can't stress test a setup harder than a track day.

Dale

 

This may or may not be applicable to other setups, but on my F2000 I have a 2-stage vent from my dry-sump tank. This provides a route for any oil that gets into the vent to drain back into the dry-sump tank and not get to the catch can. It's a vent-baffle can between the dry sump tank and the actual catch can. I almost never wind up with oil in the overflow/catch can.

Photos below show the setup. The photos are in the same orientation as the installation.

 

I'm hoping venting both sides will equalize the pressure and lower the amount it throws out. My oil level was at half so I topped it off and I'm pretty sure the next session out, it threw it all back out in my engine bay! As for the nuts, the ones that were on there were not copper. I was told by @Howard Coleman to buy these studs/nuts and this gasket. For the turbo blanket, I'm worried if I don't use one, it's going cook my engine bay and anything near it...