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Keep in mind, addicted is high up elevation wise. we felt a difference driving around dgrr vs florida. I don't know where you dynoed on the old turbo comparing a dyno sheet from 2 different dynos isn't very accurate and throwing in elevation changes too complicates things. What I'm driving at is that it very well may have higher peak as well than previously, more testing is needed
Keep in mind, addicted is high up elevation wise. we felt a difference driving around dgrr vs florida. I don't know where you dynoed on the old turbo comparing a dyno sheet from 2 different dynos isn't very accurate and throwing in elevation changes too complicates things. What I'm driving at is that it very well may have higher peak as well than previously, more testing is needed
Well, Addicted is at around 1,000 ft while the last dyno run was done here in Asheville at 2,200 ft. Either of those is high for you FL boys.
Seems to be more of a turbo flow limiting factor but I want to get Borg Warner's opinion. Either way, I'm good as the "usable" potential of the turbo is much greater than the old Precision unit.
You doing well? Car? Thought of you when the wife and I went to Santa Fe a few months ago. Look, it's the "mini me" Digicar!
I want to thank Zach, Wriley, and the team at Addicted Performance in Maryville TN for their hard work and expertise. The car has been mostly at their shop the past two months. What started out as a simple tune turned into a bit more.
As I posted, I picked up the car from Kilo about 4 months ago. Kilo's engine work is superb and he did a nice job of wiring up the Haltech. He's a Microtech guy so the tune was not quite right but I was going to deal with that once I got the car back in Asheville.
Once here, I did some tuning to get startup and general driving right and then spent most of my time working on things that did not quite meet my standards, mostly wiring issues. Found a bunch of exposed connectors, no or bad soldering, and wiring that was generally a mess. Cleaned all of this up and felt that I had done everything I could to ensure that tuning would go smoothly.
After much time on the phone with Claudio and Haltech USA seeking their advice on a tuner, I ended up getting in touch with Zach at Addicted. The shop is about 2.5 hours from Asheville and I had previously met and spoken with Zach at the past two Deals Gap events held at his shop. I'll admit I had some reservations taking the car to Addicted; while strongly recommended by Haltech I had received some less than desirable feedback on the shop so this caused to give pause. Knowing all shops can have an issue or two, I went with my gut and am very happy I did.
The Addicted experience has been my most professional one to date and if you have followed this thread, you know the car has been at a number of big name rotary shops. From my first conversations with Zach to picking up the car this week, the Addicted team has been very knowledgable and responsive to getting the car done. Frankly, the level of professionalism has been a welcome change and reaffirmed my decision.
INITIAL TUNING SESSION
I was very impressed with the attention to detail Zach took before tuning the car. He and the Addicted team spent a number of hours going over the car to ensure it was ready to go. They checked timing, fluid levels, boost controller operation, and the methanol system. I know I am missing a bunch of stuff here but it was refreshing to see the attention to details of the work. In any event, the car was strapped down to the dyno and tuning began:
It's worth posting again this pic as I have never seen a shop take so much time strapping down the car on the dyno and placing fans to ensure proper air flow.
Zach spent a number of hours working on the tune but had some wonky fueling issues which caused the fueling map to be all over the place. Turns out the primary fuel pump was not wired correctly and caused a drop in fuel pressure under higher boost. So, made the decision to take out the two Denso pumps and replace them with Walbro units held in by the CJ Motorsports hanger. Here are before and after pics:
Like I said before, it's a shame the CJ Motorsports hanger is hidden in the tank as it's a well made unit. Was a bear getting the unit installed as the Walbro pumps are a bit larger than the Denso units and it's quite a tight fit installing and bolting it up.
The new wiring and Walbros did the trick, providing ample fuel. The maps completely changed though, sending Zach back to tuning.
PROBLEMS CONTINUE
So, the new fuel pumps helped but another issue popped up, the AEM methanol system. Under higher boost levels, the system became unreliable, sometimes working and sometimes not. Kind of defeats the purpose of the safeguard, doesn't it?
So, after much back and forth on the theory and use of meth injection systems, we made the decision to take out the AEM components and replace them with a Devil's Own pump wired directly to the Haltech ECU. Where the old AEM system was activated at 8 PSI and then linearly progressed to 20 PSI, the new unit activates at 16 PSI. So, it is not used until higher boost levels.
A pic of the Devil's Own pump:
And the car back to its natural habitat, the dyno:
HAPPY ENDING BUT NOT YET
Need to run now and will post up more later. There are a few more twists to the tuning story.
In the meantime, check out this awesome video made by Chad Collins of Addicted:
Can you share how the meth injection was wired in?
PWM to pump or are you using a solenoid?
Nothing sophisticated like that. The meth pump is wired into a digital output from the Haltech PS2000 and is activated (full voltage) at 16 PSI. We sized the nozzle to work up to around 22 PSI.
So, with the old setup (AEM), I had linearity from 8 PSI to 20 PSI, meaning I sprayed methanol starting at 8 PSI but just a small amount with a profession to 20 PSI. The new setup uses no methanol until 16 PSI.
We went back and forth on this and ultimately decided to eliminate an additional electrical component (AEM controller) as a point of failure. We also had rock solid AITs at low boost without the methanol due to the new v-mount setup hence the current setup.
The PS2000 only has one DPO (to me knowledge) that can be used in a linear fashion and I have that powering the OMP. The newer Elite series would be the answer.
Originally Posted by Islander
Hey David, are those bosch 044 pumps?
I've never seen walbros that look like that. Guess I need to do some searching.
Brain fart! Sorry for the mistake. Yes, they are Bosch 44s. Here is the box:
The Bosch 44s are a bit larger than the Walbros and are more difficult to install into the tank. CJ Motorsport no longer offers them as an option.
Cool makes sense and I also agree with not having a controller. I just changed ecu's so am trying to make it linear though. If you don't have enough outputs then I get it.
Which brings us to the next question haha. Any plans to upgrade ecu's and swap to the elite? I just went to the AEM infinity, but would have gone with the elite if I already had haltech.
To finish up the story, the car now had correct fuel delivery and it reliably sprayed methanol, so it was back to the dyno. What else could go wrong?
NO FUEL, NO GO
Zach proceeded with tuning the car. As a precaution, he had one of his guys watch the engine bay to ensure there were no problems. This turned out to very good call as when boost was turned up, a mist of methanol sprayed out of one of the injectors. We had a bad o-ring seal.
So, off went the UIM, the fuel rails, and the injectors for inspection. In addition to old o-rings (not a biggie money-wise), Zach did not like the way the injectors were installed (old school). I felt like the rotary gods were telling me something, to go with ID Injectors.
Off went the RC Engineering units and Addicted installed new ID 1000s in the primaries and 2000s in the secondaries. Also re-sleeved the units with FFE parts so there should be no leaks cropping up in the future.
Problem solved! Car felt much more solid. Had to take a bunch of fuel out of the idle map as it was so rich (to power the old RC injectors), we fouled a set of plugs.
Feeling good, it was back to the dyno, anxiously waiting results. But they were not to be. When we turned up the boost, this is what the car sounded like:
FUEL, AIR, BUT NO SPARK
Gotta have the three, but in our case, we didn't have reliable spark. Strange as I run AEM coils and they are supposed to be great. Turns out they are, if installed properly and mine weren't.
If you use the AEM coils you know they need to be wired up exactly as specified by the manufacturer. The grounds need to be separated and mine were run together and attached to the block as opposed to one set going to the battery:
In addition, all the coils should be wired to the same power source and mine weren't. So, Addicted rewired the coils and once again, we were off to the races. Or were we?
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BOOST, NO TREBLE
What else could go wrong, right? Funny, mentioned to the wife there was nothing else I could think of to go wrong. Probably jinxed myself here as we know with rotaries, there is always something else. And that something else showed itself as we once again turned up the boost. A boost leak between the UIM and the throttle body.
Because Addicted has messed with so many items in the engine, they like to do a smoke test to ensure there are no leaks. Here is what the test turned up:
And pics of the UIM and throttle body. Kilo used gasket maker to mate the two parts together but it leaked:
As you 3-rotor guys know, the 20B UIM and 13B throttle body do not exactly match and something has to be done to fill in the spaces. But as you can tell, the above was not enough. Instead of gasket maker, Addicted used JB Weld (the duct tape of the auto industry) to fill in the spots and one of their metal gaskets:
Problem solved! The car was smoke tested again and no leaks were present. Finally!
Great news David!
I can't wait to bring mine up there. If I could make close to what you made, I would be happy! Congrats to your long saga with this car! Hope you'll be attending DGRR next year? I would like a ride if possible.
Cool makes sense and I also agree with not having a controller. I just changed ecu's so am trying to make it linear though. If you don't have enough outputs then I get it.
Which brings us to the next question haha. Any plans to upgrade ecu's and swap to the elite? I just went to the AEM infinity, but would have gone with the elite if I already had haltech.
No current plans as I just don't want to mess with something that is working. The Elite is a really nice ECU though. When Haltech sponsored me, the PS2000 was the top of the line. See how long it's been trying to get the car back on the road?
Originally Posted by Herblenny
Great news David!
I can't wait to bring mine up there. If I could make close to what you made, I would be happy! Congrats to your long saga with this car! Hope you'll be attending DGRR next year? I would like a ride if possible.
This is a great area to just go out and drive. Did it yesterday and had a blast. Missed the FD feeling.
DGGR - probably. I need to contact my father in law and see what his plans are. He loves the event so most likely yes and would be happy to throw you the keys so we can go out.
Looking good David. These cars are such a pain and pleasure to own. Can't ever leave them alone. But I'm glad to see you are gonna be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor now.
just quick note about your methanol setup. If I understand you correctly, do you not have a solenoid before the injector? are you just running pump directly to an injector, and whenever pump turns on, you have spray?
Yes to the above. The Haltech activates the pump at 16 psi. There is just one flow controlled by the size of the nozzle. No solenoid.
The downside to this is obvious, no linear control of flow. The PS 2000 has only one linear DPO and that controls the OMP. On the other hand, we don't have to worry about the meth failing at low boost as it is not used. AITs are fantastic so don't need it at that level and it's one less thing to break.
Am open to suggestions if we are missing something.
How about also wiring a solenoid switch to turn on when your pump is on. That way, you're not sucking methanol in vacuum operations and potentially have on empty tube to prime when your pump is on. Just a thought.
^ Well, the pump has a built in reverse check valve. Just verified that. I'd believe that should take care of vacuum issues unless I am missing something - which is very possible.
Found a power steering pressure hose leak so have ordered a new one. Also didn't like the looks of a woven covered brake hose connected to the master cylinder so I've got one of those coming as well.
My other current issue is the temp mix control **** doesn't work. I've replaced the switch potentiometer as I had an extra one but it didn't resolve the issue. I really don't want to pull the dash which I think is the next step.
Great info on the AEM coils David. I pulled mine off my car because they didn't seem to be working correctly and went back to the ls1's I had. So are all three grounds running separately? It also seems weird that they would need the same 12v source as I split mine and ran 12v to the leading bank and another to the trailing bank with separate relays. I thought this would be what you'd want so not to overload the relay when these things hit there peak output. Guess I'll just run one big *** relay and from there.
For the grounds, my pins C & D were spliced together and wired directly to the rotor housings. This is wrong. Pins C get grounded to the engine block (rotor housing that the coils fire into) and Pins D get grounded back at the battery. This mistake caused the coils to misfire at higher boost and higher RPMs as shown in the video I posted. Once the change was made in the wiring, problem solved without raising dwell at all (mine is set in the 3 range).
As for the power wiring, I too thought you had to separate the power and have it come from two sources as you indicate but Addicted was adamant the power all needs to come from the same source. Their explanation was you need consistency in the source so you can be confident all coils are getting the same power. So, my coils are now all wired into the Haltech relay box.
These changes work great on my car versus the way it was wired.
Happy New Year to you as well David. To clarify, with B are all 6 grounds sharing the same lug? Where did you run B? With C, are all 6 sharing the same lug on the block or are they divided to each rotor housing? I wanna get this right this time around. Thx for the info and your car is looking more and more OEM spec everytime I see it.
Had the high pressure power steering hose replaced and the clutch slave brake hose fixed as well. Was interesting driving the car to the mechanic in snow showers. Don't recommend high HP and rear wheel drive in conditions like that.
So (knock on smoke infused FD plastic) I am now down to getting the idle speed controller to work correctly and aesthetics on the car.
those wiring diagrams bring back nightmares for me. i remember running all those damn grounds to each coil and thinking, damn it.....why do i have to have 6 coils! Trust me i thought about joining the grounds many times.....Glad you got it all worked out.
12-22-16, 01:53 PM
