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Update: I have driven the car over 500 miles since the last posting. To Walmart, to work, to everywhere... At 500 miles I changed the oil, Castrol GTX 10w-30 regular oil same as initial startup. I'll probably switch to a full synthetic in the coming weeks.
I changed out all 4 of my bur9eqps for some r7420-10.
I opened her (waste)gates this afternoon and all I have to say is WOW. The car pulls like a freight train and it sounds sooooo good. EGTs peaked at 1430F at 6600rpm 14psi. I didn't rev it higher than that yet for fear of obliterating the insides of the engine. It was quite odd watching the EGT not rize even though rpm was, the afrs and W/M I assume just keep it under control but it's an odd thing to watch in person.
I will comp test in the coming weeks and report back. I've been logging some of my pulls and I will post the data here. My EGTs do not feed into my ecu though
Updates:
So this evening I took the car out for a spirited drive. I even accidentally hit it off the limiter at full boost... ign cut kabooom, but all seems well. After my drive I did pull the r7420s from the leading position and I have them pictured below @Howard Coleman I would appreciate your read on them. The strap looks like its about half way torched so the temp range is okay but i may not be reading it correctly.
While I was changing the plugs I also did a compression test. The motor was not fully cold as I like to do my oil/plug changes while its still a little warm. The rear rotor is the one that is slightly lower. Im not too sure what to make of the numbers. They seem alright to me. The car starts very easy cold or hot, no gas tapping or holding needed after the start either. I will continue to monitor the compression and will post more updates.
Here is a video of a light 2nd gear pull. Please excuse the creaky interior, that is on the list of things to fix after the engine is solid.
why the diff plug colors? the orange tint often comes from using something similar to Boostane. did you previously run one of the plugs w an octane booster?
while the numbers look close what's w the 300 rpm on the comp test? proper test is at 250.
if the plugs are still out please see if you can get a bit closer to the ground strap.
why the diff plug colors? the orange tint often comes from using something similar to Boostane. did you previously run one of the plugs w an octane booster?
while the numbers look close what's w the 300 rpm on the comp test? proper test is at 250.
if the plugs are still out please see if you can get a bit closer to the ground strap.
Howard,
These were brand new plugs and the only "Boostane" I have is the Snow Performance W/M. Not sure why the color is different. I still have the plugs out of the car as I went back with some new ones.
I have an auto starter which makes it spin extra fast.
The Comp tester you are using should cycle through a screen that gives you Corrected for Altitude and RPM (displays as "COR @ ALT & RPM" or something like that). Should use those numbers as your compression reading for consistency.
The Comp tester you are using should cycle through a screen that gives you Corrected for Altitude and RPM (displays as "COR @ ALT & RPM" or something like that). Should use those numbers as your compression reading for consistency.
Yes it did give me the corrected results but I'm not sure how the algorithm works as the corrected values were all wonky. The same 100psi on the front, and the 100 on the rear corrected to a different number even though same cranking rpm...I much prefer the raw PSI with no correction.
I took the car out for an extremely spirited drive . It was an absolute blast rowing 2nd 3rd 4th back to back to back. I finally got some color in the wastegates.
I noticed after that engine vacuum was down slightly by about -1mmhg. I also noticed that the rear rotor was running quite a bit hotter in general after the load testing, at idle and while cruising.
I went home and pulled plugs and checked for compression. Rear rotor compression was down but not gone. I hurt the engine during the heavy load test (much sadness). I am hoping that I can continue to drive the car and mileage will re-seal the possibly over heated/warped apex seals. The car does still start hot and cold.
I have also added a 7% offset to the rear rotors primary and secondary injector which has re-leveled the EGTs between rotors...I feel like I should have had that compensation beforehand to prevent this.........
I know I should take the engine out and rebuild, but I'm hoping with some mileage the motor will return to its previous compression. If not ill have to go through that process again, grrrrrr.
One note, Howard Coleman has documented in his blog/website that he has seen up to 10% more fuel required for the rear rotor. I'm getting the feeling that anyone running an aftermarket ECU should at LEAST be giving the rear rotor an extra 3% fuel to prevent this type of possible engine damage.
I have also added a 7% offset to the rear rotors primary and secondary injector which has re-leveled the EGTs between rotors...I feel like I should have had that compensation beforehand to prevent this.....
I took the car out for an extremely spirited drive . It was an absolute blast rowing 2nd 3rd 4th back to back to back. I finally got some color in the wastegates.
I noticed after that engine vacuum was down slightly by about -1mmhg. I also noticed that the rear rotor was running quite a bit hotter in general after the load testing, at idle and while cruising.
I went home and pulled plugs and checked for compression. Rear rotor compression was down but not gone. I hurt the engine during the heavy load test (much sadness). I am hoping that I can continue to drive the car and mileage will re-seal the possibly over heated/warped apex seals. The car does still start hot and cold.
I have also added a 7% offset to the rear rotors primary and secondary injector which has re-leveled the EGTs between rotors...I feel like I should have had that compensation beforehand to prevent this.........
I know I should take the engine out and rebuild, but I'm hoping with some mileage the motor will return to its previous compression. If not ill have to go through that process again, grrrrrr.
One note, Howard Coleman has documented in his blog/website that he has seen up to 10% more fuel required for the rear rotor. I'm getting the feeling that anyone running an aftermarket ECU should at LEAST be giving the rear rotor an extra 3% fuel to prevent this type of possible engine damage.
I wonder if simply using the OEM racing-spec oil jets on just the rear rotor couldn't even out the temperatures, rather than offsetting fuel?
Or would that effect on the rotating assembly balance make this more trouble than it is worth? Apparently the weight of the oil needs to be considered when balancing rotors.
I wonder if simply using the OEM racing-spec oil jets on just the rear rotor couldn't even out the temperatures, rather than offsetting fuel?
Or would that effect on the rotating assembly balance make this more trouble than it is worth? Apparently the weight of the oil needs to be considered when balancing rotors.
How low is low, by the way?
I dont think the larger oil jets would assist in cooling the apex seal. It might help keep rotor temps down but the fuel should help cool the apex seal itself
I dont think the larger oil jets would assist in cooling the apex seal. It might help keep rotor temps down but the fuel should help cool the apex seal itself
Why do you think apex seal heat was your issue this time?
It sounds like something else, if all the faces have gone abruptly. Unless you nuked at least two of them.
Maybe try getting borescope inside the engine?
Why do you think apex seal heat was your issue this time?
It sounds like something else, if all the faces have gone abruptly. Unless you nuked at least two of them.
Maybe try getting borescope inside the engine?
Valkyrie, this is very similar to the failure I just suffered. All 3 apex seals on the rear rotor warped and i lost even compression in the rear only. That is why I think it is the same apex seal heat issue as last time.
I put about 100 easy miles on the car this evening. Comp before had lowest face at 63 psi highest at 69. After the drive were at 73psi low 76 psi high. Both tests were done right after driving, hot spark plugs are always fun.
Hopefully I can put ~1000 miles on it with no heavy boosting and the compression will restore. I will post updates as things progress.
I put about 100 easy miles on the car this evening. Comp before had lowest face at 63 psi highest at 69. After the drive were at 73psi low 76 psi high. Both tests were done right after driving, hot spark plugs are always fun.
Hopefully I can put ~1000 miles on it with no heavy boosting and the compression will restore. I will post updates as things progress.
I put another 200 miles on it this morning. Compression check afterwards was 83 on highest face and 75 on lowest. The delta is kind of large but hopefully it'll narrow down and continue to rise! Someone tell me something positive!
Update:
Over the past 48 hours I could help but obsess over the source of the apex seal heat and odd spark plug color. I reached out to my tuner and he noted that the orange plug was due to a LEAN condition in his opinion which had me thinking more and more.
I decided to unplug my AEM W/M controller in efforts to reduce variables. With the water meth unplugged I noticed an odd lean condition when exceeding 12 psi ~4500 RPM. Even with massive amounts of fuel added the car would stay in the ~12.0 AFR range which is terrifying. I have some sort of fueling problem under load. After repeated tests on the road this condition was 100% replicable. I do not have fuel pressure logged in the ECU just the Aeromotive liquid gauge on the regulator itself.
I have been having problems with fuel pulsation with the PTFE fuel lines I have currently. I am going to switch my return line to a rubber hose to add compliance and hopefully dampen out the pulses in the higher RPM. I am also going to change my in-line and in tank fuel filter and check the pump wiring to ensure that fuel is being sent un-restricted This I believe is the cause of both of these apex seal warpage events as I had the W/M connected and running before I went to the dyno initially(on the E&J seals), and now after my ~700 mile break in & 400 regular miles.
The W/M was masking the issue and keeping the motor alive as I tried to beat it to death. I will run without the w/m for now. It has only caused headaches.
12 psi and 4500 is the general area where your secondaries enter. are you sure you are getting proper secondary delivery?
please post a graph containing your primary & secondary injector duty cycle.
the first item you should buy is a digital fuel pressure sensor and log fuel pressure. it is my truly humble opinion that there are two sensors that must be on ALL turbo'd rotaries. a good wideband (and the best is the iteration of the NGK AFX sold by Ballenger as it uses a superior O2 sensor) and a digital fuel pressure sensor. FWIW, i run PTFE fuel lines w no pulsation dampener and they work fine.
your W/M system is not the culprit. you need to solve your fuel problem then re-enable your W/M.
Last edited by Howard Coleman; 04-16-23 at 08:08 AM.
04-09-23, 03:29 PM
. It was an absolute blast rowing 2nd 3rd 4th back to back to back. I finally got some color in the wastegates.
