I'm thinking about a clear bra for the bumper eventually. We'll see.
So, the day at the dyno was filled with some good, some bad, and some ugly.
The good:
- Kris got a pretty good grasp on the idle and drivability. We took it for a drive around town with me driving and him in the passenger seat plucking away at the keys on the laptop. The car idles like a champ at around 900RPM. Cam pulls a whopping 7mmHg of vacuum at idle, so I'm glad I have hydroboost brakes. I left last time with the car breaking up between 2500 and 4000RPM. All that is gone now. She pulls pretty clean through the RPM band. Big thanks to Kris for taking time out of his Sunday to get this thing drivable for me. He took it from an engine that wouldn't fire to a near 700hp monster that cruises down the road at 2000RPM with great drivability.
- The engine temp is spot on. 180 when cruising around and 200 when idling for a while. It may creep up a little higher on the hotter days, but that's okay. I can always mess with the restrictor in the water neck if need be.
The bad:
- The car won't make more than 15lbs of boost. I had the boost controller turned all the way up to 30psi, and it still wouldn't budge off 15psi. I researched it a little, at things seem to be pointing to a bad diaphragm in the wastegate. I need to troubleshoot the AMS-500 boost controller to make sure there isn't anything wrong with that. If that checks out okay, I'll open up the gate and see what may be wrong with it. Because of it not making any more boost than last time, the power output was not much more. 679HP/657ft-lb. Timing and AFR are still relatively conservative. It's not a race car, so I don't need every last ounce of power. I would still like to crank the boost just to see what I can get out of the car. Purely for giggles.
- The 25A fuse for the fuel pump blew on us once. That makes me nervous. I'll give Fuelab a call this week to find out what could cause a current spike like that. I can't have the pump randomly blowing fuses when on the road.
The ugly:
- The rings are shot. She's smoking like a chimney through the breather and on deceleration. Switching to the 20w-50 didn't help anything. The engine will be coming out this winter. I'll use that opportunity to upgrade to MLS gaskets and wrap the rest of the turbo piping. I can still enjoy the car for the last few nice weeks we will have up north here. I may also look into a twin-disc clutch. I didn't mind the SPEC stage 3 too much with my old combo, but it's quite a b*tch now. I do need to re-bleed my hydraulic setup, but the clutch is still very on/off.
Here are some cell phone pictures from today.
And a dyno video from the back side this time. I stopped it before the smoke engulfed the camera. The Magnaflows sound great in person. The car is rather quiet and unassuming considering how much power it makes. I like it that way. View: http://youtu.be/RVPwWYOFIdM
I'm going to drive the hell out of the car for the next week or two, and then she's back on the lift so I can go over everything. Check hoses, tighten bolts, etc. The engine will come out eventually so it can be sent off for rings. I also need to finish up the interior over the winter. It still needs a trunk floor, sound system, and alarm. I'm very happy with where the car is right now. Still some things to work out, but that's just how it goes when you build it from scratch.
That sucks about the rings and boost issues. Curious about the fuse issue. I was considering a fuel lab pump at one time myself. Beautiful car and congrats on everything you've accomplished so far. Now go enjoy it before that dreaded white crap starts flying
You seem to be taking the ring issue in stride. I couldn't begin to remain calm with that situation on such an expensive investment. But in light of recent events, I guess there isn't much else you can do.
The ring issue was completely my fault, so I can't blame anyone but myself. I should have been more diligent when I first started the car in my garage. It's easy to overlook how much fuel those 95lb injectors can move at idle. I've taken the engine out of the car so many times that it's not a huge deal anymore. Nothing catastrophic happened to the car, so that's what I'm happy about.
I wish it could be done for cheaper. I even used a lot of second hand parts to save money. Here's a quick breakdown of the major parts just for reference:
Paint - $6,500
Cobra ground effects - $1,000
Hood - $300
Dart longblock (second hand) - $6,500
Turbo and piping - $3,500
Wheels/tires - $4,000
Transmission/clutch - $2,600
IRS w/ bushings (second hand) - $1,500
Suspension - $3,000
Fuel injection - $2,000
Cobra brakes - $1,000
Hydroboost - $800
Engine accessories/brackets - $1,000
Top end components - $1,000
Fuel system - $2,500
Gauges/wiring - $1,500
Interior ( second hand)- $600
Recaros (second hand) - $700
8 point roll bar - $1,000
Cost of the car in 2003 - $3,500
There's $42,700 worth of stuff off the top of my head. Doesn't include the nickel and dime purchases that are probably responsible for another $5k. I sadly probably have more like $50k in this thing. Building a car that is both reliable and powerful takes a ton of coin. I sleep better at night knowing everything was done as good as it could have possibly been.
There are no cheap parts on this car. I could have easily slapped on an On3 turbo kit and used Chinese suspension components, but I chose to use the best stuff available for my intentions with the car.
I never plan to sell the car, nor did I expect to ever have it worth what I have into it. Anyone that goes into a build with that mindset will end up disappointed. The insurance company had no problem slapping a $45k policy on it. That's the only value I was concerned about. After totaling my receipts in a few weeks, I may be going back to them for more.
Wow ! I am speechless I love this thing and I hope you get all the little stuff sorted out ASAP. I can't wait to get the dart stuff in my car and on the road !
The car looks great I was happy to come in and get it dialed in some more, I wish we could have upped the pressure to 20lbs and seen it break 800rwhp but well do it next time! I still would look into that fuel pump i dont trust it especially after it popped the fuse out of nowhere at idle..... maybe run a thicker gauge wire ? For anyone that says they dont understand the $ spent on this car, build it yourself and show us because there is much more to the quality and high level of excellence that pictures and typing dont show. It is one of the nicest builds ive seen inside and out, and ive been around a pretty large amount of cars from budget to 1/4 million+ and i would have no qualms putting it next to the nicest of em! Good luck with it, take care of that ring seal since you only washed down the cyls you should get away with quicky hone and fresh rings and then it will be almost perfect !