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Changed the oil this AM and put another ~70 miles on the car today. Mostly taking it easy, lots of engine braking, but I did let it see boost here in there for a few pulls. Only building ~5psi, so perfect for break-in.
The car feels very powerful, even out of boost, so that's awesome.
It's still smoking a little on heavy deceleration, so I'm hoping that clears up between finishing the break-in and switching to decent oil (i just have super cheap conventional 5w-30 in there now).
Had some slight overheating issues driving up the mountain, but that's definitely because of my lack of under tray. Gonna fab up some ducting and slap on the under tray soon.
Really happy with it. Even if it continues to puff a little bit of smoke I'll be OK with it, the motor has tons of compression and feels super strong. We'll see. At least it runs WAY stronger than it ever did.
Sweet! Glad to see it back on the road! Did you paint your wheels?
Thanks Jimmy! Wheels are the same color as when I bought them 4 or so years ago. They probably have 3,000 miles on them. :P
Just ticked over 200 miles today. I changed the oil again after the 150 mile mark. Oil consumption has definitely subsided. I still smell whiffs of oil on heavy decel, but nothing is visible. I did tell the builder to build the motor to the "loose side of OEM spec".
I'm feeling really good about the car. It's got more midrange than my old t25 setup, and at only 5psi, almost as much top-end as the old setup at 10psi. It just feels like a bigger motor. I'll be dailying it so I should hit 1k miles fairly quickly here, then I'll start to turn up the wick...
Overall been driving it like "normal", mostly part throttle shifting at 4k, with a few boosted pulls to 5-6k here and there. Gonna be somewhat nice to it for the next 1k miles.
Just hit 420 miles on the motor today (on the dot as I pulled into my driveway, I lol'd). Put about 140 or so on it today in one trip, a nice loop through the mountains around here.
Yesterday I took the day and built some shrouding for the heat exchangers, failed to take pictures, but it's VERY functional. Temps were perfect the entire time, including boosting up some mountain roads.
I did run into a problem. About 1/2 way through the trip I noticed the AFR's were off. I suspected it might somehow related to the altitude, and they weren't dangerous, just leaner than I usually tune for. Then it progressively got worse. I also noticed the fuel pump is getting obnoxiously loud once it gets hot. It's "normal" loud (for a walbro 255) when cold, but after good and hot it just whines. I already replaced the fuel filter last weekend, so that should not be the issue.. I was thinking the sock could be gunked up, but I think it's probably just time for a new one. This one sat in a full tank of old fuel for over 4 years, so I think it might be done for.
I'm not sure what else would make AFR's go that wonky. My idle went from 14.5:1 to 16:1 after the drive. Cruise values increased similarly, and it was trying to go to 12.8:1 in boos instead of 11.2:1 target it was tuned for. I ended up saving the old map first, then re tuning to have it add more fuel to finish the last leg of the drive. I was wondering if it could be IAT correction or something, but my IAT was 90* (after a very long and and pretty hot day), so it's not like it was heatsoaking and providing false readings. Even if it did, wouldn't IAT correction (or really any other correction) only add fuel? Is there any setting that might actually pull fuel for some reason?
Was a fantastic day overall though, I'm so excited to stack some miles on this thing and turn up the boost!
Definitely post what you find -- I've noticed my car doing the same thing, only my pump didn't sit for more than a few months.
Already ordered a new fuel pump. With how loud the pump gets, it has to be cavitating. It definitely does not sound right. The 255 I have was always loud, but never sounded like this..
I ordered a 190HP to replace it.
I also have a suspicion that there's crap int he tank that's clogging up the sock. Gonna give the tank a good flushing (this time using the drain plug), and pop in the new pump next week. I'll drive it around town for now. It's fine until It's been running for 30+ minutes, then the pump starts making terrible noises, and shortly after that the AFR's get out of whack.
I'll keep this thread posted. I'm outta town for the week, so the next update will be in about 2 weeks.
Glad to see youve got it back on the road man! I bet its so nice to drive it after all those years of it sitting. I used to swear by the winebro 255 but went with a DW200 this time. The DW seems to be just as good at delivering fuel but its much quieter. I really like the Kraken setup, I have the FM stuff and Im a little jealous because I know the Kraken stuff is superior for sure. I did a similar break in procedure to yours. I started it and let it idle, revved the motor, set timing etc. Then drained that oil and went 100 miles on the next change using a lot of engine braking. I let the motor see boost pretty much after 100 miles. I have not been getting much oil consumption and compression is good. What pistons did you use? I went with wisecos they have always been great for me. Pretty soon you can turn up the boost and really let her eat.
Glad to see youve got it back on the road man! I bet its so nice to drive it after all those years of it sitting. I used to swear by the winebro 255 but went with a DW200 this time. The DW seems to be just as good at delivering fuel but its much quieter. I really like the Kraken setup, I have the FM stuff and Im a little jealous because I know the Kraken stuff is superior for sure. I did a similar break in procedure to yours. I started it and let it idle, revved the motor, set timing etc. Then drained that oil and went 100 miles on the next change using a lot of engine braking. I let the motor see boost pretty much after 100 miles. I have not been getting much oil consumption and compression is good. What pistons did you use? I went with wisecos they have always been great for me. Pretty soon you can turn up the boost and really let her eat.
Thanks bud. It does feel great to be back in action! I went with the walbro 190hp this time, mainly because of cost. It's cheap and available.
I've been meaning to take some more pictures of the kraken setup, as the exhaust is really a work of art. I'll hopefully get it on a lift next month and take some glory shots.
I'm just on OEM 9.5:1 slugs on M-tuned rods. Loving the high compression right now, as I live at 7,200 ft elevation and usually go up from there on most drives. Really feels punchy out of boost, which is also nice with the 2860. It has good punch, almost like a bigger motor, even out of boost. Once I hit 1k miles I'll turn it up to ~10psi and take some datalogs/virtual dynos for the thread. Eventually I hope to be running "allofit" on e85, but that's somewhere down the line.
I sold a Walbro and bought a DW years ago. Seen too many problems with wallies. Sometimes when they start to go bad they melt wires inside the tank. :-0
Walbro 190 is in and my fuel issues are fixed. It definitely was not the pump though. I drained the tank and the amount of sand that came out was very surprising, I suspect the debris was getting shaken around and gradually stuck to the pumps sock when it was running, resulting in the LOUD whine and afrs after longer spirited drives. This also explains why it was fine after sitting over-night and afrs went back to normal.
I hit 600 miles (500 miles on my last oil change) and changed the oil again. Proceeded to give it a good flogging with some friends of mine on some twisty roads. My ducting is working perfectly, after hard flogging i stopped to check IAT and CLT, IAT was at ~80* and CLT at 182. That's after a few "laps" around our local driving spot, or 20 minutes of hard driving.
Car is not really burning oil now, save some during decel. I can smell it, but can't see it. I had my buddy follow me, and he said he never saw any smoke. When I changed the oil I drained it all back into the same container it came out of, and it was maybe .25qt low, after 500 miles, and some hard driving. Very happy with this, and it only seems to be getting better as I get miles on it. It's at 750 miles on the motor now, and I've been driving it to work every day and taking it everywhere on the weekends.
I'm currently building a DIY billie setup to replace my garbage KYB AGX.
I'll also be tracking the car soon.
Once I get a carport (soon!) I might re-install the soft top so that I can take advantage of all the great weather around here.
And then I'm going to do something about the garbage paintjob the car has. The body is mostly straight, sans the drivers fender and finish panel, of which I have replacements already. I'm considering basic bodywork, then wrapping or painting the car.
I'm at 1,300 miles on the motor now. I daily drive the car, but I only drive 20 miles on my commute, so most of the mileage has been on trips into the mountains. Still just ripping along at 5psi, major plans to up the boost soon.. just sorting out the kind of minor nuances you get with a 30 year old car that has been stored outside. Fortunately the chassis has zero rust (beyond minor surface rust), so the car is super solid. Notice the heat shield and catch can. I plan on fixing my catch can routing soon. I've been reading about how you should cap off the drivers side and add a new vent to the cover, but I've had very minimal oil collect in the can.
Also the BEGI heat shield that I had to slightly modify to fit my kraken kit.
And some interior shots. Experimenting with a shifter extension. I like it so far for agressive driving, but it's a little more effort on the daily. Might shorten the rod, or add a short shifter, not sure yet - but I do like it over the stock location. I also added some very nice hardtop brackets, and oh boy did they make a difference. Going down the dirt road that I live on the NVH is substantially reduced. I thought it might be a minor upgrade, but it my case these are leaps and bounds better than how my hardtop was previously attached (custom side brackets that I had to fab due to my rollbar).
Also,yes, the car is super dirty. I've given it a once over, but have not given it a deep cleaning after it was sitting for 4 years. It's on my list, but like any project there are just other priorities. I really hope I'll be able to get the car how I want it and start to work on making it look nice.
It's been running really well so far with minimal oil usage, it sounds smooth as ****, and runs really good. No leaks, and while the tune leaves much to be desired it's very safe. Gonna work with Vlad to dial it in a bit better, but have gotten super busy with work recently.