Of course. Don't forget to take notes.

 

I guess the recent events relating to my engine are going to keep me from going too. I will probably not be doing any events until at least August. Our local clubs down here basically take July off because there are usually enough other events.

Ok, my first stab at a personal avatar came out a little weak. It is me at Turn 1 at Summit Point last fall. I'll try to make a better one.

 

I will try to make it on Sunday. What time is everyone running?

 

See the end of the Hampton Roads thread.

 

http://timesdispatch.com/news/vaapwire/MGBJS9N7VHD.html

 

Well, I put my front splitter up on ebay today.
Like the avatar calvin.

 

Yup, that happened very local to my house. It is a place I sometimes go and hang out with some car people on Saturday nights. It has made the news big time around here. Basically the Civic and the RX7 drag raced right through the middle of the crowd. There were 2-300 cars in the parking lot and just a huge crowd standing around. It was very stupid. I don't know any of the people that were hurt, but locally I am participating in a fundraiser for the people that were hurt Saturday afternoon.

Surprisingly, the local news media has done a pretty fair job of covering the story. They are giving fair coverage to the fact that this has been an ordely gathering of basically pretty good car people every week for more than a year, and this is an isolated incident of stupidity. The papers and TV crews are comming to the fundraiser event Saturday too.

But.... Don't street race (even though this was in a parking lot, not a street).

 

These were our local articles about the events:

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories...6593&ran=42881

http://wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1349931

 

Calvin- That really sucks, especially being so close to home.

 

That autoX was crap, but I think me and Mike had fun drifting and laying down some black marks around the sweeper at the end.

David, your engine is ready to go! Makes some nice "rotary music", as Brian and I call it, when you turn it over. Everything went smooth and there is some end play in the shaft so the bearings are fine under the front cover. You shouldn't have any idle problems or anything. You may need to turn the idle up a little at first while the apex seals mate up to the old housings.

I'm sure you know the typical break-in procedure: 30 min idle, 500 miles under 4K with varied engine speeds to avoid 'hot spots', 500 not babied but not too rough, and ready by 1000. Dino oil only. I know Kevin recommends longer, but the Mazdaspeed procedure is really short:

"The engine should first be run at idle for 30-45 minutes. During this time, be sure to check for leaks and keep an eye on the gauges. Ideally, for the first 100 miles (depending on use of new or used bearings), avoid operating the engine above 5000 rpm or under heavy load.

From 100-200 miles, gradually increase rpm, but never allow the engine to approach red line. Beyond 200 miles we recommend only short bursts of power approaching red line for 100 miles. At this point, change the break-in engine oil. The engine break-in period is now complete."

 

Thanks,Zach.We just got home,we got back from the beach sat. morning and cleaned the truck and went to the big show,at dinwiddie,and were there sat. and sun.Then we pulled a all night drunk last night,and stayed the night at a friends house.Ill give you a call tommorow(tues) and talk to you about picking it up.Yall missed a hell of a show sat.&sun. there were tities everywhere!I got some pretty good video(no cars really just ****).My girlfriend showed the ranger and got 1st. in the mini 4wd class.
O zach whats dino oil and where do i get it?Thanks

 

Dammit I'm gettiong sick and tired of work. When I get home I'm too tired to do anything. And I swear only crazy people come in to our store to get their computer fixed. Some days I would love to take a baseball bat tot heir computers, or at least a sword.

 

Non synthetic oil...just about everywhere...

 

Castrol GTX is my favorite. 20 or 30 weight. Let me know when you want to pick it up.
The front splitter is sold! Went for 125. I bought it for 150 when Mike first started making them. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

 

Ok guys, need some decision help. I have $125 to spend and lots of things I've needed for a while. I can't get everything so I gotta decide.

Bushings: All my bushings are OE, from 1987 mind you, so they need to be replaced. I could get the toe eliminators and front and rear control arm kits for about $130.

Go a little lower: I could get the Cusco camber plates from CorkSport for about $210 and lower the front of the car another inch. The only problem is the rear of the car. I'll need to make some floor pan 'adjustments', bashing in the bottom of the car allowing for subframe clearance, to get some of the camber out of the rear. Depending on how low the front goes, the rear will go down some more. I'll have to chop up my bump stops too. The rear already bottoms out, regularly.

Beer: I could buy alot of beer for $125. About 215 beers worth of cases. Thats a 35 day supply.

I know I need the toe eliminators because the right rear is completely shot. The wheel toes in and out easily by hand. They are $40, so I might get those either way.

Suggestions?

 

coughlsdcough

actually, i would go with the bushings. i hear the rear steering (or whatever its called) on the fc is a bitch. i wouldnt go with beer, then 35 days and 215 beers later.. your going to a.) wish you had more beer b.) wish it wasnt gone.

oh yea, and the autox kicked ***. thanks for letting me ride along zach. definately an experience to say the least

 

I'd probably go with the toe eleminator kits all things considered. You hang around enough women to keep you in beer.... What??? they don't buy you beer, you need different women :-)

 

Bushings!

That way when you learn the easy way to do everything (always after you're done!) you can show everyone else how to!!

 

I'll order the toe bushings today.

 

Ok, that is how I thought everything worked, I just could not put it into words that night. My next question is how does the electronic boost controller work? I understand how it can increase your boost by not activating the wastegate via closing a valve between the wastegate actuator and the intake (after the turbo). I don't understand how it can limit your boost when you put it on a low setting. The only thing I can think is that is has some kind of airpump that actuates the wastegate when you have it set to 'low'. Another thing I am wondering about is external wastegates, do they use a spring set to a certain tension or is there a vac/pres line attached that activates it?

Zach, I am not asking you to do all this research for me...just seeing if anyone reading this knows the answers. I am too lazy to do the research now.

A lot of turbos spin near 100,000 RPM at max boost (this is what I read somewhere a while back). I don't know what redline is on S4/S5 turbos though.

I took the twin scroll actuator out the other day since it was keeping the flapper closed all of the time. What a difference it made! Turbo spins up waaaay too quick to not have my microtech or boost controller!

Had a good time the other night at G-Force. We should do it again soon...without the booze for me..

That is all for now.

 

I would go with the bushings as well. Maybe a nice bottle of whiskey with any extra. Skip the beer.

 

you ran g-force after drinking? i coudlnt imagine..

 

**Popoffs**
Everything else cept for the popoff valve is generally correct.

The pop off valve is a last resort safety item. You really don't want to rely on it at ALL. Reason being, you remove all pressure from the intake path between the turbo and the motor. Basically, going from 15 to 0 psi in no time at all. It doesn't help reduce any lag at all, in fact, it's going to do the opposite. Once it popoff valve seals itself back off (once the boost has dropped a shitload) you now have to repressurize the whole system.

**Boost controllers (manual or electric...)**
I'll go over manuals, then electrics. Manuals are typically inserted in a vacuum line between the source (nipple on the compressor housing right by the outlet in our cases) and the wastegate actuator.

Nipple -> MBC -> WG actuator

In a ball and spring type MBC, the spring holds a steel ball against the nipple side of things. This allows pressure to build up before air/pressure is allowed to pass through (after the pressure being exerted on the ball and spring is greater than the spring tension) and pressurizes the line to the WG actuator, causing it to open. This ends up making boost come on slightly faster than stock (pressure bleed system). The tension on the spring can be increased/decreased by screws/hex. All you end up doing is compressing the spring which makes it harder to compress further, so a higher pressure would have to occur for a signal (air) to get past the MBC to the WG act..

Electrics add a few components to the mix. Instead of using a ball/spring, they use electrically controlled solenoids that recieve their signal to open/close via a pressure sensor that's tee'd in generally to the compressor side of the solenoid. So, once a preset pressure is detected via the sensor, the boost controller sends a 12v signal out to the solenoid opening it up and allowing air to pass by to the WG actuator.

coffee break

A boost controller in NO way can lower the amount of boost that would naturally occur. IE a unrestricted line straight from the compressor housing nipple to the WG actuator. If you want lower boost levels, you need to fab up a restriction for the intake. So, if you know what your absolute lowest amount of boost is going to be (4th/5th gear heavy load pull) using a straight connection, you can install a BC and set it's lowest setting to that boost level. Now you'll spool much quicker to your lowest boost level.

Try using a straight chunk of 6mm tube...soo much lag.

**Wastegates**
Just to answer Rob's Q. WGs come with springs. You can order different level springs that would naturally open up at that boost level. So in an external with great flow compared to the stock internal WG, you could get a 7psi spring and it'd should be able to hold a nice 7psi. They need a vacuum/pressure signal, so one is sent to it just like the WG actuator for the stocker...this way you can keep a 7psi spring, but still use a BC to run 10psi.

 

Thanks Joe. I knew you'd chime in eventually. I thought the POV would let out just enough to stay at its set limit. Seems like its useless otherwise, especially with a wastegate doing the job.

If I do 500 more rebuilds, I'll be able to afford one of these puppies:
http://www.sandersonsales.com/eleanor.html
That is one bad *** machine. Check out the 750 hp supercharged model with a 125 shot of nitrous. Ooooh baby. I'll take it in red.

 

The POV is there as a safety precaution in the event that the wastegate can't pass enough gas to keep the boost down.