First a big thank you to Al Balinsky at Scarboro Mazda for arranging the track time. It was just what we needed.

I brought the Flying Pig out of storage about 3 weeks ago. Did a basic cleanup and made sure it ran. For those old enough to remember the previous race reports I used to do, I really haven't had anything to report other than frustration since I put the 4 ITB's on the car at the beginning of 2007. It was so frustrating trying to develop this system and work out all the bugs. The last time the car ran at a test day in October 2007 we finally got the mapping about 90% of the way there but had a lean condition over 6,000 that no matter how much fuel we threw at the car, it wouldn't go away. Last year most of my time was taken up with the Cougar and the Rex sat in my garage waiting, waiting.......

So I took out the stock N/A pump and replaced it with a 255 LPH Walbro, changed the oil, did a qiuck nut and bolt and went out to the track night with Al. First session the car was a lot faster but was stumbling a fair bit and would only clean out under full throttle. The A/F's were lean ranging from 11.5 to about 15.1 at higher throttle. and I was also getting a rattle sometimes when trying to pull hard in 3rd gear. This was on the almost 2 year old fuel as well. We added 5% more fuel and I went out again. The car was better but still kinda soft. The rattle was better, but still there.

We added 5% more fuel again, across the board and I let the other driver who will be using the car go out for some laps. We only had 2 hours of track time, so I really really wanted to get back in the car. One of my crew guys wanted out in the car so he went out for 3 laps as well. When he got back in I asked Dave to check the timing. I just had a feeling....... At some point the timing had reverted to some weird base map and moved up to 32 degrees above 6,000 rpm. Yikes!!!!!!!! Joe at RPM built me a strong strong motor as it didn't pop. We backed the timing back to 22 degrees leading and I went out again.

HOLEY F#$K!!!!!!!! The car was like a rocket. It wanted to blow the back tires off it coming out of every turn and it was spinning the rears for about 15 feet going into 3rd on the back straight. It pulled to 9,000 rpm like right now. The car was totally transformed. It was like we added about 50-60 hp with the last adjustments. The car just flat out flew. The exhaust note was totally different. Really sharp with a harsh bark when I lifted to shift.

The best part was that we still had to much overrun enrichment on so when I lifted to go into the right hander at the end of the Fabi straight the car launched a 4 foot wall of flame out the tail pipe that lasted for about 4 seconds. It was so bad that it lit up the whole underside of my rear wing like a set of headlights were set on top of the rear bumper. I was also sniffing for the next few seconds to see if I could smell my rear bumper burning, LOL.

Anyways, for the first time since I went into this whole thing the car has met or exceeded my expectations. I am totally blown away with the change and the power it seems to have now and I have been grinning all weekend. The only negative is that the car uses so much fuel now that the tank vacuum relief valve won't flow enough air and we vacuum lock the tank in a couple of full throttle laps. Thats easy to fix with a proper tank vent. One more tuning session and we should be good to go.

Man, I love this car. RX7's with ITB's forever!!!!!

Eric Nummelin

 

cool report. i was there (me in the velocity red rx8 going very slowly. it was my first time) and got passed by you a few times. hope i wasnt in your way too much

glad to hear it went better for you by the end. I could always hear you coming up behind me before the back straight....some really weird noises coming out of the car. I think that rattle you speak of was the one i kept hearing.

 

Woooot!!

Glad to hear the old half-bridge is still treating you well and even more glad you have the EFI figured out.

Al's probably going to throw a carb at me now lol.

 

Great to hear Eric! Awesome that you got it sorted out, as I know how frustrating it can be. I want pics or video of the flame too! I've got about 3 more weeks until we hit the track again, and I hope I can emulate your progress.

If Al doesn't hit Joe with the Carb, I might want to look at going with the ITBs over the next winter. Might need to cheat off all of your work.

We think we figured out the root of all of our ignition breakup/noise etc. that was causing the car to fall on it's face over 6000rpm, so fingers crossed.
We started out over winter to just clean up the wiring, install some new switches etc. The more we cleaned, the worse the wiring already in the car looked, so we ended up ripping it all out and completely re-wiring the car. Main power wires had 3 splices in them during their run (with the splices done with clamps, no solder, some not even taped, just with loom over them.) One of the lengths was 110v house-hold power wire. The wires to the coils here spliced, crimped etc with bad grounds, under-sized wires etc.
I'm going to slap the guy who built all that, and I'm amazed the car didn't burn down. But, once it was all done, she fired up on old gas with an edge to the idle like I've not heard before, and she responded to throttle blips instantly.

 

Bloody N/A engines and their bulletproof selves

If I spent two laps tuning my car with too much timing I'd be sweeping up pieces of apex seals off the straights

Nice work eric, glad you're reaping the benefits after all this time!

 

You guys can keep playing with your EFI, with a 10,000rpm rotary i am sticking with a distributor and carb set up! Timing is never an issue, set it and forget it, the same with the weber. Smooth transition on and off throttle, easy to check WOT. AND A S___LOAD LESS MONEY!

 

so whos got faster times on mosport

 

oh snap, its on now!

 

Eric, bring it down to Kitchener, I'll setup an hours worth of dyno time to do some tweaks and finally get some WHP #'s

 

My cars fastest lap with me driving it is 1:36.736 (and thats with a 4spd gear box!)

 

Oh Al, Al, Al.......... you know your 4 gears are closer in spread than the 2nd, 3rd and 4th in my box. Tsk, tsk.

Anyways, we know what car is faster at Mosport;
















its my Cougar, LOL. Its done a 1:34 and change on T1R's and a 1:32 and change on RA1's. I hope to do a 1:34 and change this year with more seat time and having a working 3rd and 4th.

If you are looking at RX7's only, then there is no question, Al's RX7 is the fastest, no doubt about it. After I get mine all set up I will be delighted to do a low 1:37. I expect Al to be in the 35's this year. He is a very good driver with a very good car. Its in a different class than my car with its close ratio box and monster peri power, though the Weber Carb holds it back some (ducks and covers), LOL. My fastest lap in the #23 RX& was a 1:38.1 with a Mazda Re-Man and stock ecu back in 2004.

Joe I will take you up on that after I finish off the Cougar and get the RX out for a few events to improve the setup on track a bit better. Thanks.


(flame suit on)

Eric