Shawn's thread: #LegalStatus

[vt10vt]

And then some videos. One of the dash, I don't know why the oil pressure gauge is pegged?


Link to video

And just a few revs


Link to video

PS, go to page 3 and read the updates, don't be lazy and just watch the videos! Anyways, hopefully with new plugs it won't be missing and hesitating like it is. I just sold the G-ladder off the G60 Corrado I traded for this and that money is buying me a new (refurb) laptop! Then I can actually start tuning. Right now I only have a laptop when my roommate isn't home and that rarely lines up with a time I want/need one so progress should be easier as a result of that. Hopefully, as always, everyone enjoys the read!

[vt10vt]

So not too much to report tonight, bled the brakes after work but as soon as the car is running they suck :( I hate bleeding brakes because I have such a hard time feeling like it's 100% and they definitely aren't right now. Oh well, they're good enough to haul it down around the block for the time being!

I got a set of BRK7E's but the ends are wrong for my plug wires. I don't even remember where I got mine but they take the tips with the threads, not the big ones. So tomorrow I'm going to get a set of Autolite's, gap them down and save for some nice, new wires and new plugs.

In addition to starting the brake bleeding process I did a pressure test using the stock intake plumbing run out the headlight bucket. Everything checked out except a leaky gasket for my throttle body adapter plate so I'll make another one up tomorrow and test it again to make sure the problem is fixed:


Grom managed to sneak into the picture! Hopefully tomorrow, armed with correct plugs and possibly another bleed I will have her cruising around the industrial park!

-Shawn C.

[PRY4SNO]

Just a thought, the oil pressure gauge could be pegged because you have the sensor wires reversed. Worth a look.

HTH

[vt10vt]

Just a thought, the oil pressure gauge could be pegged because you have the sensor wires reversed. Worth a look.

HTH

Close! I must have knocked it or something in taking the head off/putting it on and after you suggested it I finally checked SJM at lunch and found the oil sensor section and took a look. The pin wasn't disconnected, the spade terminal was just gone leaving a wire hanging by itself, looks like a ground which would make perfect sense. Thanks for the input!

Got to the shop wayyy later than I wanted to today, I don't see a reason I can't at least be tooling around the 'neighborhood' by the end of tonight. Still, there's a "short" list that needs done:



"short." Updates later, going to be a long night and I should be working not posting!

[vt10vt]

Couldn't help myself w***ing her out, ready to roll!

[vt10vt]

Ok so I just accidentally deleted my whole post... round two won't be as well written I fear.

SUCCESS!

The old girl fired up tonight with new plugs and my checklist complete, plus a lot of other little things I got caught up in in the process. During the warm up process it felt and sounded really good, but a minute into the drive started missing really bad. I'm thinking my plug wires are now the culprits. Unfortunately I am flat broke, but fortunately my change jar hasn't been cleaned out for a while! My AFR's stayed good the whole drive, if not a little rich, and the first 2 1/2 (light acceleration) pulls it spooled up and felt AWESOME, but then the missing started. Anyways, on to pics of the progress:

A little motivation-in-an-appropriate-mug:


First air filter attempt, I was trying to get rid of that tiny little airbox below the intake manifold :dur:


Then I decided that airbox makes some pretty cool noises so I made up a temp screen out of a sink strainer:


New autolite cheapies gapped to a little more than .025:


Practicing stalking those STI's


And some videos for you, keep in mind this is all on a base tune and I am very happy to report it runs on the rich side :-)




And in celebration, my ride-along partner Zach and I had one of these (there was two but I broke one..)


I couldn't be happier, yeah it sounds like ass and there are several issues to be attended to but I drove it for a whole ~5min after warming it up and it didn't overheat, blow up, fall apart, lose wheels or anything and I am happier than a pig in mud!

-Shawn C.

EDIT: If the videos aren't working and a moderator would be willing to fix them that would be awesome, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

[vt10vt]

Okay so looking for some input and suggestions please! The car starts and settles into a nice (for being untuned) idle. It rev's smoothly at first, but once it runs for a little bit, not even necessarily fully hot, it starts to miss really bad and sounds like the timing is off. I have double checked the physical timing and everything is dead on. I have the firing order 1-2-4-5-3 rotating clockwise around the distributor. There is no adjustment in the distributor is there? Like if it somehow ended up a few degrees rotated the ECU should compensate right? I did new plug wires today, no change. I moved some grounds around and it seemed to help at first but as soon as it was running for a minute it started missing again. It sounds like it's evenly off, and by that I mean it sounds like all spark events are retarded or advanced (not sure which). I played with the hall sender, plug wires, coil connections while running and none seemed to affect it. Coolant temp sensors are hooked up and ohm'd out within spec. According to the wideband I'm running about right (thanks for the map Brent!), maybe a little rich, but it leans out during deceleration and light throttle, idle etc. and gets more rich with throttle about what it should. I don't think this is Megasquirt related because it's just MS1 fuel control and if my AFR's are alright I should be looking more on the stock (read: ignition) side of things right?

Where else should I be looking? What else should I check? I need to see if the rpm's on the dash match the MS display but, alas, still not laptop of my own so hopefully I will be able to borrow one tomorrow to see.

Questions:
Does the 02 affect timing maps in the MAC-11?
What sensors DO affect timing? I think coolant temp does correct? Anything else?
I know the full throttle switch has a big impact on stock management but that's confined to CIS fuel injection settings right?

Thanks in advance!

-Shawn C.

Edit: just remembered I forgot to plug in the stock air temp sensor :dur: did that, it started and ran great, rev'd without hesitation a couple times, and then started getting worse again. Tried to pull it out of the shop and as soon as load is applied it misses worse. Still running on the rich side of things.

[vt10vt]

Also pulling individual plug wires does not seem to affect the problem

[vt10vt]

Stupid iPhone accidentally hit quote instead of edit on first post to change title

[pkw]

stock ecu needs a good map signal connected to it

[vt10vt]

stock ecu needs a good map signal connected to it

Yep, the lime green hard line on the passenger side strut tower correct? It is hooked directly (as jin no 'T' connectors involved) to a nipple on the intake manifold and verified not leaking.

Oh, and fuel pressure is good and boost/vac reference line is hooked up and I also checked it for leaks

[vt10vt]

So I had to do some body and tie rod boot repair on a POS liberty today and work on the clock for a couple hours but I've been messing with the Audi and am not making much headway. I checked the resistance in the sensors again, they're ~600ohm with the thermostat in the building set to ~65*F which seems a little low but not enough I would worry too much.

Then I swapped the connectors to opposite sensors and that seemed to help for a minute and my gauge started working, which it hasn't been and I'm not sure how accurate it's reading but it seems reasonable. However the car still sounds like the spark events are off. It misses a little at idle, and whereas before it always sounded off but evenly so, now it sounds more on but you can hear a random miss here and there and on deceleration.

The car seems to clear up as you get into the throttle, it will hesitate and miss and then start sounding like it's hitting once it gets into a little bit of boost. On top of this the battery isn't charging for some reason and it intermittently blows blue/white smoke BAD. I was running between 14 and 23psi on CIS without a bypass valve so I'm hoping it's just the seals in the K26 finally giving out but part of me fears worse..

I guess I'm going to order new coolant temp sensors and see what that does for the problem. While I wait for them I'm going to try and track down the charging problem because it sounded better running while on the charger so maybe I have a bad ground/power wire or something somewhere and the coil is having a hard time getting the juice it needs? Seems to miss less with fewer accessories on but not terribly noticeably.

Please let me know what you guys think as I do feel like I'm at least moving through it methodically but some insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

[vt10vt]

Okay, someone please help...

I cannot figure out why I am having charging issues. The alternator is working, and the battery takes a charge fine, but the alternator is not charging the battery. The car will run until the accessories all get very dim, but stay running, but soon as it shuts down it will not restart. I have checked battery wires and grounds, everything clean and good. I checked voltage at the alt field generator thing, the blue wire that has the connection near the battery post and it is the same as I am reading at the battery.

On the bright side I bet this is my problem! It would make sense that if the coil/ignition side isn't getting a constant, smooth current from the battery it's likely that it is causing all sorts of disturbances in the ignition system correct? Am I dumb? Even if the answer is yes it is still better than no answer at all so please reply! :-)

[autoholic]

I would agree that if you are not getting full voltage to coil and fuel pump that could be your problem. Sounds like it could be a ground. are you certain the engine to chassis ground is good? I have also heard of some weird ign switch problem with these causing no charge, have you had any switch issue's?

[vt10vt]

I would agree that if you are not getting full voltage to coil and fuel pump that could be your problem. Sounds like it could be a ground. are you certain the engine to chassis ground is good? I have also heard of some weird ign switch problem with these causing no charge, have you had any switch issue's?

Ground is what I've been thinking too. Engine to chassis ground is good, ignition switch was having problems when I first got the car and I replaced it (Meyle part though..) and haven't had an issue since, but the wideband did get spliced into one of the switched 12v wires leaving the switch, and when that was done the ignition switch wire was cut (not me!) but I just checked and my solder fix, although ugly, seems to be very solid.

Thank you!!

[vt10vt]

Confirmed draw at the battery, slowly dropping voltage, on the charger it sounds GREAT, pull the charger and volts start dropping, car starts missing... Hmmm...

I'm trying to narrow it to something I could have broken/changed in the course of pulling the head and putting Megasquirt in because it has never had a charging/holding a charge problem in the past. The alternator should only have the main power cable and it's signal wire correct? Neither of the other posts are meant to be ground posts are they? I have a black/brown trace wire in with the starter/alt/battery wires that doesn't seem to go anywhere, I kinda thought it was for the sender on the bottom front of the passenger side of the block but that's just because it was the only post/connection I could find missing a mate.

Unfortunately I'm headed home for the night but if you have ideas please throw them out!

[vt10vt]

Ok so started tonight looking at the charging problem. After picking a friend's brain I checked the voltage regulator. Turns out there's no way I've been getting a charge. Regulator was totally destroyed, but luckily another friend (rallyfreak202) had given me an extra 20v alternator when he went AAN in his 4k so I swapped the regulator over to my alternator. Unfortunately a bolt snapped on the extra alt and the reg was difficult to remove but I did so without damaging anything.

Bad regulator, one of the spring loaded things was jammed all the way in and the other was totally popped out


What it's supposed to look like


New regulator fixed and ready for instal



So the car ran significantly better... only for a few minutes. The plugs had formerly been darker, and after playing with some boost leaks, the car still sounds like it is missing. Here is what the plugs look like now:







How do these look? AFR's before fixing boost leak and realizing an air temp sensor wire had pulled out of the relay board were ~12-13:1 and after looked closer to ~17-18 at idle and jumped around under load and even a bit at idle. Now that the charging issue is fixed I am really stumped as to why it is missing so badly :?

[rogermoz]

Is your gap right on the plugs?

[vt10vt]

Down to .025" that's what I've been reading people like to run

[rogermoz]

Just missing on one cylinder or multiple?

[vt10vt]

So a few minor updates, I moved some stuff around, hooked up the wideband output of my LC-1 to megasquirt like Brent suggested and finally got that working. I had tried 2 different narrowbands and the wideband analog before and for some reason couldn't get anything to read right but it's working now! The was firing right up and settling into a nice, relatively even idle, and after a little messing with the map it got way better. I pulled the wastegate spring out and began tuning some lower MAP/RPM stuff, got it a lot smoother and changed the X axis so the top of the range is only 7200 instead of 8k and moved some other points down as well so I have points closer together when I'm coming onto boost. Tuning is awesome! I'm having a blast and can't wait to start building some boost!

The car has occasionally been blowing some smoke and I remembered today I never retorqued my headstuds, and then realized I lost my 12pt. 1/2" drive 13mm so tomorrow I will get another and torque the ARP's again. Hoping that the smoke I'm getting will disappear after that, really would like to not have to do a second head gasket within 500mi! If it is a problem I will most likely use the time waiting for a gasket to come in to powdercoat my valve cover, fuel rail bracket, rail itself, etc. etc.

Just a couple pics.

Where I started the night:



Where I ended it:


Gromit won't stay out of the car... I need to start being more careful before he rips/scratches the leather


Hopefully I'll be doing a little bit more intensive tuning tomorrow night later on and then hopefully I'll have a map to post up. I'm a bit behind on hours because I've spent so much time on this in the last week so that's a priority, but who needs sleep right? Thanks for reading!

[vt10vt]

So I need to get my butt in gear if this thing is going to be presentable at Carslisle! I've had an oil leak I cannot seem to trace, and the 226k K26 is giving up the ghost in a big way, so I decided it was time to pull the motor and do a little beautification while I have (some) time and a little (less) money. The entire CIS harness is still in there so I want to trim/tuck that and wrap the auxiliary MS harness I've built, degrease and powerwash the bay, paint the block etc. etc. It's also likely my new turbo will be here before I finish putting this thing back together so hopefully that sucker will be playing its song once this is back together. I'm going to pull the manifolds, valve cover, H2O flange things, and maybe even the upper and lower timing covers (doubtful) along with fuel rail, brackets and other misc stuff for powdercoat. Unfortunately we don't have our big blasting booth for the diesel compressor-powered blaster set up yet so looks like I'm going to be spending more than a few hours with our crappy little cabinet

So last night I made it over to the shop about 10pm and started ripping into it. I was on my own which made it a little daunting but by the time 3am rolled around things had progressed nicely:

10:30:


About midnight:


I missed one 13mm bolt on the drivers side which killed some time figuring out what I missed, and then the drivers side chain slipped, luckily the AC compressor caught on the frame rail and no damage was done! Phew!


In need of a good cleaning, which she will get today!


Happy and tired


Went over this morning to grab some tools to steal back my engine stand from my roommate's BMW motor that has been doing nothing but sitting and couldn't help doing something so I pulled the clutch so I can fit the stand when I get back over a little later:



Gotta give a friend a ride to work and grab some engine paint while I'm out and I should be back at it by 1pm today. I gotta go work the door where a friend bartends tonight and then put in a min of 5hrs on the clock tomorrow but I'm gonna be busy so stay tuned for updates! As always, thank you for reading, input always appreciated

[Hank]

Nice progress. Good work.

[loxxrider]

Very nice. That is solid work for sure. I wish I could make it to Carlisle this year to see it!

Tuning is fun huh?

[vt10vt]

Thanks guys!! Loxx, it's too bad you won't be able to make it in May, can always use more T44 guys! And yeah, tuning is a lot of fun before I pulled the motor I had put the wastegate spring back in and it's even more fun with boost, but now that the bugs are sorted only having control over the fueling side of things seems really lame when I know I could be adjusting ignition mapping as well. All in time though, it would be sweet to join the T44 launch control sound-off at Carslile...