Budget M42 turbo build

[Danny]

What turb?

[Schnitzer318is]

BTW for boost control I'm using a Tial 38mm wastegate with a 7.5psi spring for now. Once the tune is good, I already have a 10psi spring waiting :)

Sweet. See with my crappy OE Startion wastegate actuator I need some sort of alternative boost controller.

BTW, may as well throw that 10psi spring in there now... you'll have to retune alot of the rev band by upping the boost. At least this way you only have to tune once. Just keep it safe by making sure it's rich when you start to tune it in higher revs.

[e30guydownunder]

EBC is the way :D keep that wastegate clamped shut until your desired boost is reached. I was going to mod megasquirt for it, but my new ECU has it as well.

[gearheadE30]

Yeah, I may go EBC in the future. Right now, the goal is to get it tuned and such.

That's right, it's all together now and it runs! Just got the exhaust put on it, with a bung for the wastegate. I had to drive it with just the downpipe to the shop, which was interesting haha. The car is a ton quieter now. I pulled out a ton of timing and am dumping fuel in to avoid detonation, but I should be able to start tuning. I've been pulling the plugs every so often to check for detonation, and there are little black flecks on the insulator, but they blow right off... I did just switch the plugs to a colder heat range and haven't driven it since (NGK BKR7E from NGK BKR6EK) so that might fix things. I did have a head gasket/blown motor scare and u-hauled the car home, but it turned out the problem was a misfiring cylinder 1, which fouled the plug and started pouring gas into the cylinder. I could feel it going on 3 cylinders, so I stopped and pulled the plugs and thought the liquid was oil. Thank God it wasn't heh. So far I;ve barely gotten into boost (maybe 1 or 2 PSI so far) but I'm trying to be as careful as possible. MS2's table switching is also working beautifully, and the boost fuel/spark limiter is a very nice feature to have. Now off to see why the LC1 isn't giving me readings again... hopefully recalibration will fix it again, but the sensor may be bad...

[e304me]

Hey what are your vacuum readings at idle? I just hooked a gauge up to my car and its only about 15 or 16in/hg.

Congrats on getting the car running. What are you using for knock detection?

[Danny]

Let's see some datalogs.

[gearheadE30]

e304me-idle vacuum is between 35 and 40 kpa at idl; I'm not sure what it ends up being on the boost gauge. I want to say between 10 and 15 in Hg, so yours doesn't sound all that unusual.

I'm not running knock sensors. I'm being extremely careful with the tuning as well as watching the spark plugs, which are a very good way of watching for detonation.

Danny-as soon as I get this dumb f*cking LC1 working again, I'll get some logs up, heh. It's been throwing errors 4 and 5 (pump circuit open and reference cell short, respectively) which supposedly dictate replacing the sensor, but a new sensor didn't fix it...so I'm kinda stuck...

[e304me]

I would get a knock mic or something for when you are tuning. I am installing a TurboXS knocklite. It uses RPM to adjust sensitivity so its pretty accurate. Wish I would have installed it earlier. It is pretty easy to hear knock on these motors but if you have a loud exhaust it might be difficult. Also It can actually detect it before you can here it. It has a yellow light for slight knock and a red for more severe knock. There is a post for a sensor on the intake side I am going to be using.

[Danny]

Danny-as soon as I get this dumb f*cking LC1 working again, I'll get some logs up, heh. It's been throwing errors 4 and 5 (pump circuit open and reference cell short, respectively) which supposedly dictate replacing the sensor, but a new sensor didn't fix it...so I'm kinda stuck...

Same thing happened to me! Seriously, ditch the LC1 and get an AEM UEGO. Worlds better.

Seriously. I struggled with this and with Innovate for 3 weeks. Just get an AEM. Seriously.

[Schnitzer318is]

^I second what Danny said. I am using the AEM Uego he was using and it is still performing perfectly.

BTW... those are awesome idle numbers. My idle is 55kpa with my ICV working. Not sure how you got yours so low... lol or why mine or so high? I can say it idles just fine at 1050ish when warm and 1100ish when cold.

I wanted to try that knock system from TurboXS... keep us updated as to the progress you have with that. I don't think I have any detonation as I'm sure it would have done damage by now if I did... but it's still a nice thing to have detection capability.

[e304me]

Higher vacuum numbers are better.

Also I am using the AEM Uego as well and like it!

[e304me]

Hey whats the deal with the coil pack wires? I went to tap one them for my knock sensor install (for the rpm signal) and I took a little slice and it seems like its a wire with another wire inside of it???

[Schnitzer318is]

Higher vacuum numbers are better.

Also I am using the AEM Uego as well and like it!

I agree higher vacuum numbers are better... but lower kpa's indicate greater vacuum.

From DIYAutotune's website:

"Next using a wideband o2 system tune the idle for best vacuum (lowest kpa) and/or for about 13.2-14.0:1 AFR. You want the highest amount of vacuum while being no richer than about 13.2:1 at idle."

[e304me]

Oh 0 vacuum is round 100kpa. So yours and mine is about the same

wait i dont think thats right, i dont know

[gearheadE30]

Okay, I checked again to be sure. With the engine warm, the boost gauge is between 18 and 20 in Hg, and the computer shows about 40 kpa at idle. I may be switching because I've been hearing a lot of bad stuff about the LC1 now that I have it, heh. It worked fine until now...

Eventually I may get a knock mic, but it wasn't that hard for me to get rid of knock with an NA engine and no mic, so we'll see how this goes. My exhaust is actually pretty quiet-turbo, 2.5" ID, magnaflow cat, 20" glasspack, magnaflow 11265 muffler. I like the sleeper-ness.

The coil pack wires are shielded to avoid electrical noise. The outer sheath is grounded at one end for that purpose.