Project: Mavro Gato - 99 Turbo'd 3L

[DanG]

Originally Posted by FastCougar

Yanked it today ... pretty easy!

Umm... Yeah. It is. But aren't we supposed to be talking about cars here?

[FastCougar]

Originally Posted by DanG

Umm... Yeah. It is. But aren't we supposed to be talking about cars here?

[Topik]

Originally Posted by FastCougar

if you or wade could do that smiley with glasses on it, you gotta put it as :DanG: That fits him too well.

[FastCougar]

Well, this weekend, upon removing the A/C system, I took the car for a test drive and once again noticed the high RPM stumble. The car is loosing power BADLY around 5,500 RPM. It might make it's way to 6,500 RPM, it may not, all the while missing badly. I have SVT cams and a 7,500 RPM redline.

So, when I got home, I reground my rear relocated battery and that didn't help. So, I decided to pull my front bank of spark plugs for inspection to see how the engine is running. They where nice and sooty black, which I expected because I have a nearly constant CEL for running rich. If I clear the code, it comes back within a driving cycle, again, for running rich. I have never seen the CEL blink to indicate a misfire, or never cleared a misfire CEL stored code. That being said, after checking the front bank and replacing the spark plug boots, I took it for a test drive and WOW, the thing really came alive. This car is a beast over 4K RPMs now. I suspect that I had a slightly misaligned plug boot and at high RPM draw, wasn't making the connection for some reason.

So, this week I plan on pulling both front and rear plugs, cleaning then up nicely and adjusting the spark plug boot connector to ensure it "snaps" over the plug end and secures better. Once that is done and I can get the car on the highway to redline 2nd and 3rd (doubt I can redline 4th ... about 125+MPH!) and confirm this was the problem, I will be calling around to schedule a dyno session as soon as I can.

I hope to have a good wideband dyno plot for the "before" dyno within the next two weeks. Then it's hard to work on the turbo kit so I can follow that up within a few weeks time with an "after" dyno.

[FastCougar]

Well, I just got a datalog for Tom to tune from. Below is a brief showing the great gearing of the trans:

Gear ..... RPM ..... Speed
1st ..... 7587.25 ..... 46.9375
2nd ..... 7849.25 ..... 75.625
3rd ..... 7396.25 ..... 104.5

[StealthyWeasel]

46 is 1st.. OMG... that is awesome. That has got to be exciting. What do you have done with the trans again?

[StealthyWeasel]

wow and the engine speed in 2nd gear.. north of 7800..

[warmonger]

Originally Posted by FastCougar

Well, I just got a datalog for Tom to tune from. Below is a brief showing the great gearing of the trans:

Gear ..... RPM ..... Speed
1st ..... 7587.25 ..... 46.9375
2nd ..... 7849.25 ..... 75.625
3rd ..... 7396.25 ..... 104.5

So send the gosh darn datalog this week since I have a few free days...instead of waiting till I go back to work! lol

[FastCougar]

Well, Tom has gotten me a new tune that I will flash tonight and give the car a test drive. Once the NA tuning is done, I plan on getting the car dyno tested. I had 3 days off this past week, but the weather was so oppressively hot that I didn't get any work done on the car.

[FastCougar]

PCM flashed and test driven. My hat is off to Tom on really improving the car's manners. The engine is MUCH more responsive on throttle tip in and there is much more power throughout the RPM band. I am however still getting an intermittent stumble when above 6K RPM, which I am attributing to my plug wires. I'm currently running a set of used Manecores. They will be swapped out for stock wires tomorrow night, then another test drive.