GRM $2009 Dodge Aries project - EVENT COVERAGE W/ PICS [Archive] - Page 2

Vigo

11-23-2009, 11:02 AM

Well, haven't touched this in a while but i'll throw up an FYI update:

I replaced the broken shift cable and now the car drives again.

I drove it 10 miles, and it started giving me a bad miss, so i parked it. I think it needs a coil, most likely.

I checked the alignment while i was under it throwing the nasty 2" exhaust back on (for state inspection) and it was WAYYYYYYYYYYYY off. AND both inner tie rods are junk. I love racing junk! :p

Good news about that is i just pulled a fast ratio steering rack with good tie rods off the shadow im parting so the Aries will get fixed up with that! I should be able to use the tow bar after that, too.

I also discovered an interesting idea and decided i am going to mount up some old 2g dsm KYB AGX's i have in the rear for 0$ externally adjustable action! Check out Rbryant's camber plate thread for vague info and reference on that.

I think i will do something with the srt-4 front setup i have on my dynasty and put it in this car.. remember, if i can replace those konis/eibachs while keeping comparable performance, thats $500 out of my $1480 budget total.. i could race in the under $1k class with only that change! :p

I also found out i have some 690 cam gears so i will throw one of those on at the same time i put the 3" exhaust back on it. I want a longer 3" glasspack and to finish it out the side before i put that 3" dp back on.

I really wanna swap out that one ugly headlight... SOO lazy though... :p

I still need a better pressure plate.. considering options for that one! I know ive got the fuel and parts to go past the torque level im at once i put a stronger plate on it.

I really would like to build a 3.5FD 555 hybrid for the taller gears. I have both donor trannies sitting on the ground, but none of the 'making it happen', yet. Getting started is the hardest part.

Anyway with a stronger pressure plate, 3" side-exit exhaust, 690 cam gear and more boost, i think i can get it close to 240-250whp. Thats all the power plans in the pipeline at this moment.

Still not sure about GRM next year. I think all involved will reach a decision after the new year. Luckily its a complete car now so it wont be a burn-out task to get it ready like it was this year.

minigts

11-23-2009, 12:29 PM

Did you get Aaron Eckhart to do some stunt doubling for you?

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC01161Medium.jpg

Somewhere in between these two images?
http://www.minigts.com/misc/aaron2.jpg http://www.minigts.com/misc/aaron1.jpg

BTW, very cool and you definitely need to bring this car and whichever other ones to the next SDAC. That's some cool stuff. :thumb:

WOW, they must have deleted the source or blocked it or something. I've saved the pictures and posted.

Vigo

11-23-2009, 07:28 PM

Man, if i can get this thing to tow straight on the tow bar id love to pull it to SDAC behind my minivan and take both, with 3-4 people. That'd be tight.

Dont see the second pic but i googled Aaron Eckhart and that reminds me he's in 2 or 3 movies i want to see.. and ill be right next to blockbuster later... good call.

DaveSkrab

11-23-2009, 07:33 PM

HIGHLY Recommend "Thank you for smoking" Awesome flick.

minigts

11-23-2009, 07:39 PM

Updated links. :)

Vigo

11-23-2009, 11:28 PM

Ok im seeing it now! Hrrmmmm....

Also Dave, that movie was one i had in mind! been meaning to watch it ever since it came out!

I gotta get to work on the Aries! The turbo van Mason has been working on is coming along so fast he'll be blowing me out of the water by new years..
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43834

Vigo

12-02-2009, 01:10 AM

Picked up a nordskog digital fuel pressure gauge to go along with my nordskog wideband gauge. They look like this:
http://www.nordskogperformance.net/images/T/M8034-RB-01.jpg

Neither one has been installed but im putting them in the gloss black radio delete panel in the aries.. should look sweet, but i want to get another one since there's room for 3 gauges there and it would just look SO good :p

I think my highest priority right now as far as performance is finishing the 3" side exit exhaust so i can put it back on. To do that, i need one of these:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/JEX-A4330S/

Once i get that glasspack and finish the exhaust out the side with a wideband sensor bung, the game is back on and ill be installing gauges and such.

Aries_Turbo

12-02-2009, 11:59 AM

thats one long glasspack. :)

brian

Vigo

12-03-2009, 01:22 AM

Yeh i had tried the 3" dp with the shorter glasspack pictured earlier and back to back with it on and off the DP it didnt do very much. It was too loud. Figure i better go with the longest glasspack i can find :)

turbokid

12-03-2009, 09:15 PM

^loud?
Who cares about loud? isnt it a race car for a reason LMAO

Vigo

12-03-2009, 10:04 PM

Well due to some generous help from a good friend it now passed state inspection and all the legal ducks are in a row, so its a street car! Or at least i want to drive it on the street.

Its a race car in that it has almost no interior, no HVAC, holes in the firewall, etc, but other than that its not uncomfortable to drive. It has eibachs and lebaron seats (but coilovers and racing seats are on the list) so its liveable as far as the ride and everything. If i plug the holes in the firewall and get a liveable 3" exhaust setup i'll totally be driving it on the street until it needs inspection again... :p

Also, got rid of the shadow i was parting out. This is relevant because shadow donated a fater ratio steering rack with non-sloppy inner tie rods! And i got $80 for the body! Pretty good since i bought it for $125 and got hundreds of $$ of other parts off it.. thanks shadow!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC07698Medium.jpg
http://gifup.com/data/gifs/1/4/1/141d05547b.gif

Big_P

12-04-2009, 01:18 AM

found elsewhere:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/IMG_3117.jpg

BAMF ride, adam!

Captain Chaos

12-04-2009, 09:09 AM

The holes in the firewall will come in handy this winter. Plug them in the spring.

Vigo

12-04-2009, 01:34 PM

I want to rig up a vent that i can open with a cable pull or something like an old car or the old caravans. :p

Captain Chaos

12-04-2009, 01:42 PM

I want to rig up a vent that i can open with a cable pull or something like an old car or the old caravans. :p

My two old Mopars have those. Once the leaves and debris get done hitting you they work pretty good along with the vent windows positioned just right.:thumb:

54inches

12-04-2009, 07:01 PM

Man brother! I just read the whole Damn thread. That right there is what memories are made of!

That sounded like a blast!!!!!

Vigo

01-02-2010, 11:52 PM

Ok well we've barely touched the Aries over the last two months. I intended to autocross it in December but the event filled up before i could register. So, finally, there's an upcoming AutoX on the 10th that i plan to attend.

Toward that end, i started doing little things to the aries again. Like putting power steering fluid in it and charging the battery :p

Well, actually theres more. Ive been parting out an 88 shelby Z so i've got some enthusiast seats to put in it. They have a lot more lateral support than the lebaron GTS seats that are in it now and seem to be about the same weight. Should be easy.

I've also collected 3 fast ratio steering racks. I need to put one of them in the aries so i dont have to move the wheel as much. This also adresses the fact that both of my inner tie rods are shot!

I also need to check to be sure the o2 sensor is working because it seems to be dead. I tried hooking a scanner up to it recently but it wouldnt communicate, so out with the multimeter i guess.

Anyway all that should be done next friday or saturday.

Today i actually attempted an oddball mod ive been planning on for a while. I took some 2nd generation DSM rear struts, KYB AGX externally adjustables, and modified them to fit in the rear of the Aries. If i plan to go back to GRM itd be nice to make even more room in the budget by replacing the most expensive parts with cheaper ones, and the Konis are a lot of that money.

Ive had these AGX's sitting around for years. I happened to see a pic in one of Rbryant's threads where he had drilled a vertical hole through the upper shock mount and converted to a similar shock, and after seeing that i looked up the specs on the AGXs i had and noticed the lengths and travel were very similar to stock shocks.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08396Medium.jpg
Dem is some AGXs.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08398Medium.jpg
Theres a stock shock next to it. Similar length but obviously different on the top AND bottom.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08400Medium.jpg
Hole in the AGX bottom is way too big for the stock bolt.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08402Medium.jpg
There's the stock shock bolt put through one of those spacer thingies from the long alternator bolt. You know, that thingie.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08403Medium.jpg
You can see where this is going. It doesnt fit, YET.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08404Medium.jpg
First step, cut it in two pieces! Kablam!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08405Medium.jpg
Then turn down the outside diameter in the D.i.y. LATHE. Yes that means chuck it up in a drill and spin it against a grinding wheel. Seriously.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08406Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08409Medium.jpg
SUCCESS!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08408Medium.jpg
Ooh look an ACCESSIBLE adjustment. :p
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08418Medium.jpg
Step 1: drill hole. Step 2: SUCCESS!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08420Medium.jpg
Ta-da!!

So that's ONE way to get externally adjustable rear shocks.

I also welded a plate to the rear axle from the Shelby and plan on putting that in the Aries along with the external swaybar thats already on it.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08410Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08412Medium.jpg
Harbor Freight welder FTW.

54inches

01-02-2010, 11:57 PM

Noice!

Reaper1

01-03-2010, 02:20 PM

I'm going to warn you right now, just adding the plate is going to stiffen the rear roll of the car a LOT! In my experience it was too much! If you add another sway bar on top of it, the car is going to be VERY tail happy...drifting won't be an issue, trust me! Be VERY careful when you take this combination on the road. I PROMISE it will be very twitchy! Tight auto-x courses will be something you look forward to because rotating that car won't be a problem at all!

turbokid

01-03-2010, 08:01 PM

Wow very nice work.
I envy your Texas weather.
Its like below 0 here and I cant even put a shifter cable in my car!
Q

Vigo

01-04-2010, 02:07 AM

FYI this is the third axle i've welded up this way. The first time i did one, back in 03 or so, was the first time i spun my dodge dynasty. After a bit of a learning curve to match the change i still think its an excellent mod.

I will be putting this in the Aries along with the external bar and see if it is unmanageable. If it is, ill take the external bar off. That would be another $100 bucks back out of the budget!

Reaper1

01-04-2010, 10:14 PM

OK...I just remember when I did it back around 2000 to my Daytona that is made the car so twitchy I didn't like driving it hard on the street at all and that auto-x was always full of surprises as I never really knew what the car was going to do! To each his own, I suppose. I like a more predicable set-up, but then again, just like a stunt plane or a fighter jet, stability sacrifices manuverability to a point.

Vigo

01-04-2010, 10:17 PM

I felt the same way when i first did mine, but i guess i got old and lame because apparently i dont turn hard on the street anymore anyway, lol. I think getting my minivan ~2 years ago broke me of the habit of turning hard.. i need to get back into it! :)

I'll post some feedback on how it works if i get it in by the 10th and autocross on it.

Vigo

01-10-2010, 11:05 PM

Well, i autocrossed the Aries again today. I took my camera but... the memory card wasnt in it! Doh..

Anyway, it was damn cold during the morning runs. Down here in south texas we're experiencing the coldest weather of the last 20 years. It has gotten into the teens F in some areas. 20s at night for almost a week now.

And of course the Aries has no heater at all, and some nice ventilation holes in the firewall that i stuffed with rags, so it was PLENTY COMFORTABLE.

The venue we ran at was huge, but in the morning the surface was SO SLICK that nearly everyone spun on most of their runs. I spun the car about 400 or 500 feet into my very first run. Ive done that before in this car but im trying to break the habit.

My first 4 runs didnt see much improvement, but the car entertains the hell out of people.

By the time my afternoon runs came around it had warmed up 15+ degrees F, track temp was up substantially, and i dropped like 12psi from each rear tire. Between all that i dropped 3 seconds off my morning best and didnt spin it once. in the morning i had spun or nearly spun on 3 out of my 4 runs.

The car STILL has wasted inner tie rods and no alignment.

I had put the enthusiast daytona seats in it, and since im not too big i was able to tighten them all the way up and they held me pretty darn good for stock junk. I also noticed that the 'big' gas pedal from the shelby z was offset to the left a bit more than the Aries one, putting it closer to the brake pedal. I added about 3/8" of spacers between it and the floor and put it in the Aries, so now the gas is much closer to the brake pedal both laterally and depth-wise, and it feels much better that way.

I think i want to build myself a nice sturdy dead pedal sometime.

Also, Mason and I fixed a dead o2 sensor and fixed the a/f gauge the day before, so its running a lot better part throttle, which is real nice because i can almost NEVER floor it in autocross. I keep telling people i wish i could turn my boost down more because i leave it on just wastegate boost (5-7) and its still way too much. I was getting into 3rd at like 20 mph just so i could concentrate on steering instead of pedaling. By the end of the day i did experiment and learn to use that 1/2" of pedal travel that doesnt send me out of control well enough to drop some time by avoiding shifts.

But it all comes back to this: This car makes TOO MUCH torque and doesnt have enough rpm for an autox car.

I have lots of plans to address that, but this is a long post already so that's for later.

turbokid

01-10-2010, 11:45 PM

Lol well I want a new post explaining that. Port work on the top end should drop the torque as well as an adjustable cam sproket to move your power band upwards.
Is the head stock? Maybe time for the comp springs and pt lifters.

Vigo

01-11-2010, 11:09 AM

Yes, its a completely stock 89t1 2.5 with bigger injectors and a t2 garrett on it. The car is pretty light, though.

Plans for killing some torque in the short term are a few things:
1. put on a 690 cam gear that retards the cam 4 degrees. ive recently discovered i had 3 of these sitting around in different places.
2. I have an adjustable end for the wastegate actuator.. I think i will cut and thread my wastegate arm so i can use the adjustable end and lower the wastegate boost setting down to 3-4psi.

Those two things which i already have parts for should kill some low rpm torque.

Things i want to do longer term to address the problem:
1.520/555 tall gear hybrid. I already have donor trannies, just need to do the work. Help traction a bit and give me more mph in the gears.
2.3" exhaust. I have the downpipe and one muffler, another is being sent soon, so i can weld it all together. This is just to help high-rpm breathing so i can rev past 5k without feeling like im killing kittens. Thats what it feels like to rev this motor much past 5k :p As is i dont like pushing 2nd much past 45. 50 mph is about as far as i go in 2nd and if i could get that up to 60mph id be very happy.
3. Endlink swaybar. Already have the parts and have done most of the work, just need to tap the swaybar. This should help me with traction by allowing the swaybar to articulate more without unloading the inside tire as much on turns.
4. R-comp tires. I have some used ones mounted up on 15s.. just need to grind out the center bore of 2 wheels before i can bolt them onto the car! :p
5. Modify 1pc intake. User Aerosmith145 here built one that is EXACTLY what i would try to do when i get around to it. His is my inspiration. Bigger plenum and shorter runners will hopefully kill a tiny bit of low rpm torque, but definitely allow me to make more high rpm power.
6. PT lifters. I'll be watching the yards. High rpm power again.
7. Long term stuff here... tbi header with a big external wastegate. Allow me to flow a larger volume of air out the exhaust side while being interesting and keeping a .48 housing. I know a .63 would probably take me as far as i wanted to go with this thing, but that cost more and doesnt teach me anything.

If i ever get both manifolds worked out, i will go into the head THEN. Im not seeing that happening in 2010, honestly :p

Vigo

01-11-2010, 03:04 PM

Found a pic:

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs211.snc3/21876_1271200654227_1056204545_800418_6770571_n.jp g
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=800418&id=1056204545

I love that the caption says:
" PROOF that you can autocross ANY car! =D "

StraX22

01-11-2010, 10:46 PM

Now I am realy looking forward to the next event! Mabey I'll finally be able to run the CSX.

Vigo

01-11-2010, 11:52 PM

I sure hope so!

http://www.sasca.org/forum/index.php/topic,3964.0.html

^ thread on local club board regarding the event. Funny comments involving k-cars and my car on pages 4 and 5.

For reference, here's my friend Craig's miata. I mentioned him in this thread (he gave me the aries' turbo and r-comps) and on that SASCA thread. Cool guy!
http://www.youtube.com/user/shaneapowell#p/u/6/KEn0jOjY1Rg

Vigo

01-12-2010, 08:25 PM

Well i drove the Aries for the longest distance EVAR today: 60 miles straight. All highway. Its my i-35 san antonio/san marcos commute. Anyway, passed a new civic Si sedan that didnt seem interested.. a new lexus es350 (quick car) that wanted to drive fast but not race, and finally got up to a very young couple in a 2g eclipse spyder GS (not turbo). He got the tail lights. The girl seemed curious, kept turning around and looking at my car (the top was down). Guy finally passed me a few miles later but looked angry. I wanted to give thumbs up but he wasnt looking :(

Did i mention my Aries has a tail now? It broke and tossed the serpentine belt the other day, and it coiled up like a pig tail. Now its hanging out of my trunklid for STYLE. So my car has a pig tail. Maybe thats what upset him..

Im testing hwy mileage, should know something tomorrow morning. Hoping for 30mpg but i did get up to 17 psi a few seconds.. hoping i didnt ruin the whole experiment :(

Vigo

01-14-2010, 10:03 PM

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08482Large.jpg

Pic in my driveway this morning. I dunno where the tail went...? Lol

turbokid

01-14-2010, 11:35 PM

Liking the wheels!

Aries_Turbo

01-15-2010, 10:22 AM

i like the painted black side trim. im planning on blacking out all my trim.

Brian

Vigo

01-18-2010, 01:39 PM

Here's some old pics i just ripped off my ancient Cardomain of when i first got the aries.

thrown-rod 92hp 2.2L TBI, 2.78FD lockup a413, 13" wheels with 175/80r13s, 9" front disc brakes. W00t!!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0001-22231390001_large.jpg

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0002-22231390003_large.jpg
Literally the first time i pulled it into the carport to work on it. Swapped it to functional 2.5 tbi (out of the free shadow in the background) and ran it!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0006-22231390002_large.jpg

Over time i did a bunch of stuff, 5spd swap, lowered it, exhaust (same shitty one thats currently on it!), crabs, welded daytona axle, seats, etc. I daily drove it like this for a long time, and loved it. It ran a best of 17.0@77 as a lightly modded tbi. :p

/history lesson!

turbokid

01-19-2010, 04:17 AM

Lol you ran it as a tbi? thats pretty funny

Aries_Turbo

01-19-2010, 01:54 PM

i used to run my tbi auto aries at the track. great consistent bracket car.

id let my friends that have never been to the track drive it too.

Brian

Vigo

01-20-2010, 12:02 PM

id let my friends that have never been to the track drive it too.

LOL, good starter car. Last time someone else drove my car at the track, something broke. Not that i care but makes for a good story.

When i ran my stock 2.5 tbi/ 2.78 auto aries on the gtech it ran 19.2s.

For the record, i never put a 2.5 computer in it and after the mods i did it ran pretty lean.. It always had way more power before it was warmed up. Eventually i just left the thermostat out to keep some of the power. Thats how little i cared! :p It probably would have gone 16.5 if id crushed the regulator and hooked up first. Maybe faster, who knows.

Aries_Turbo

01-20-2010, 05:55 PM

my beater k went 19.1 with me in it and 18.7 with a skinnier friend driving lol.

Brian

Vigo

01-21-2010, 01:21 AM

Is that the same one that later ran 15s as a bone-stock-3.0/auto swap? I know you've had a few beater k's...

Gotta fix the steering column on the aries. The big plastic bushing thing down towards the bottom came out of its collar and now its all wobbly. :p

Aries_Turbo

01-21-2010, 11:49 AM

yeah i had that plastic thing give me problems.... partly cause i broke the tab. i held mine in with screws.

i had 2 4-door blue aries, one white v6 2door reliant and one 2door turbo reliant. now all i have is the tan turbo reliant.

Brian

Vigo

01-22-2010, 11:31 PM

News:

I'm getting some items for the Aries shipped to me from a cool guy who's parting his turbo 3.0 van, which include...

A 30/30 Autometer Cobalt boost gauge (increments smaller than 5! Measures pressure below ambient! UPGRADE)

An external Walbro 255 fuel pump (for max pressure jacking action!)

Some kind of small straight-through 3" muffler which will be combined with my 3" glasspack and downpipe to complete a 3" side-exit exhaust!

:rockon:

Vigo

01-23-2010, 01:49 AM

Noone will EVER find my Aries in this picture!
http://racingready.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/SASCA-AutoX-1-Blossom-Athletic-Center-Pano2e.jpg

RoadWarrior222

01-23-2010, 09:53 AM

No-one will ever find my Escort Wagon or '88 Voyager in it either. :p

Vigo

01-23-2010, 11:16 PM

No-one will ever find my Escort Wagon or '88 Voyager in it either.

Hey, my car actually EXISTS in that picture!

Vigo

01-27-2010, 04:20 PM

Alright, thanks to a cool guy named Anthony who parted out his 3.0 turbo 5spd grand caravan, i have some new stuff for the Aries!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08608Large.jpg
30/20 Autometer Cobalt boost gauge. Wish it went to 30 but its WAYYY better than what i got :p

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08610Large.jpg

Walbro 255 External. Putting this in series with the brand new turbo pump in the tank should let me support huge pressures and over 500hp, maybe over 600hp.. As if i'd ever get there!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC08612Large.jpg

A 3" straight through magnaflow!! This is perfect to finish out my 3" side-exit on the Aries. It will just fit sideways in front of the fuel tank.
So ill have the glasspack pictured earlier in the thread coming off the 3" downpipe, and this muffler in front of the fuel tank, and still side-exit, probably with a turndown because i think a full 3" tip coming out the side will look like crap and become a liability as I lower the car more.

:D

54inches

01-27-2010, 04:33 PM

Noice!

Vigo

01-31-2010, 12:20 AM

I registered for an AutoX on the 7th.. and another on the 21st. I think my to-do list for autox is basically:

Fix steering column
Put in faster steering rack w/ good tie rods.

Turbo_Rampage

01-31-2010, 03:18 AM

Noone will EVER find my Aries in this picture!

Is this it? :D

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee186/Turbo_Rampage/SASCA-AutoX-1-Blossom-Athletic-Cent.jpg
My red arrow isn't very visible...

Vigo

01-31-2010, 12:54 PM

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD JOB!!!

You got it right!:clap::clap::clap:

:thumb:

Turbo_Rampage

01-31-2010, 01:28 PM

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOD JOB!!!

You got it right!:clap::clap::clap:

:thumb:

Haha thanks! It was like a Where's Waldo picture, :D

Vigo

02-03-2010, 08:38 PM

Due to school workload i MAY not make the AutoX on the 7th.. 21st is still on..

But check the latest.. i will try my DAMNEDEST to hit this one on the 13th!

http://www.sasca.org/forum/index.php/topic,4020.msg42659.html#msg42659

Aries_Turbo

02-03-2010, 09:26 PM

adam, what oilpan are you running? baffles? oil pressure gauge?

on my k car, i could easily starve the pickup for oil with a 2.5L non baffled pan with no balanced shafts.

brian

Vigo

02-04-2010, 01:57 AM

We switched to a 2.2 pan before the grm event.

Ive actually seen the oil light come on WITH the balance shafts in a 2.5 pan with full oil.. so far i havent seen the light come on with this 2.2 pan at all.. thats an improvement right? :p

I have considered adding baffles, now that i have a WELDER :eyebrows:

RoadWarrior222

02-04-2010, 11:36 AM

Yeah, we had a 2.5 TBI minivan and if you threw that into a corner the oil light would flash. Think it was left handers.

Vigo

02-08-2010, 01:19 AM

Well, Mason and I worked on the Aries a good bit today.

Got the new faster ratio steering rack in. I got it out of a VNT shadow, and it had pretty recent tie rods and had been rebuilt by a company here in texas in the last few years, seems to be in nice shape. A tape measure alignment with GOOD tie rods is a hell of a lot better than what it was with sloppy, loose ones.

Mason also fixed the bushing on the steering column and moved some grounds around for our gauges so they're a bit more vibration-resistant now :)

Then we loaded it up with motor parts and tools and used it as a cargo vehicle.. It is SURPRISINGLY effective as a cargo vehicle when there's no interior to worry about wrecking up. :p

Aries_Turbo

02-08-2010, 02:13 PM

if you take the back door off of an aries, an entire turbo mopar setup (engine trans etc) slides right in using a cherry picker and sits perfectly where the rear seat bottom would go. one strap to the rear seat back support and it doesnt even move.

i hauled an engine and trans from southern md (franks house) to my house in wny that way. :)

just make sure you put caps on the fuel rail in and out or the interior smells like gas. :)

brian

Vigo

02-08-2010, 04:38 PM

just make sure you put caps on the fuel rail in and out or the interior smells like gas.

Hehe, my spare tire well has a layer of kitty litter at the bottom from all the messy parts ive hauled so far. :p

Aries_Turbo

02-08-2010, 05:57 PM

hehe...

my wife spilled a bag of kitty litter in the trunk of her neon... it worked out cause later a bottle of oil leaked into the tire well and some windshield washer fluid. sucked it right up. :)

Brian

Vigo

02-13-2010, 12:31 AM

Gymkhana in the morning! :D

Should be fun...

I think im going to pick up one of these, since ill be doing a lot of racing now and dont want to keep using loaners:
http://www.newenough.com/image/path/14373/430-611.jpg

The car's steering feels MUCH better with the newish fast-ratio rack on there, and the alignment is only off by a bit. Just gotta tweak that a little bit, and then its on to installing 3 new gauges i have, and putting that 3" exhaust in!

If the 3" exhaust makes it even more touchy than it is, im putting on the 690 cam gear to retard the cam.

Should have some pics from the race tomorrow.

Vigo

02-13-2010, 11:09 PM

Alright, did Gymkhana!

I thought i might break my car.. and i did. But more on that later! PICS!

http://harrishillroad.com/
Got to use nearly all of the course, and got over 80mph... NOT what i was expecting from 'Gymkhana', but ultimately more useful as experience. Hell, i even found out that my car pops out of reverse if i floor it without my hand on the shifter.. who'da thunk? :lol:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0213001316aMedium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09091Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09094Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09106Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09102Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09098Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09087Medium.jpg
Mason did some off-roading while we were there. He also posted a pretty fast time!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09107Medium.jpg

And then, last run of the day (out of everyone, literally last car on course) with me driving, it broke...
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09114Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09116Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09121Medium.jpg

Still a great time! The H2R guys said our car generated the most radio chatter and was the most talked-about car of the day, one thing i can consistently claim to winning.

The intermediate shaft cracked after the wheels caught from wheelspin. Im going to pick up the car tomorrow, and it will probably be fixed next saturday for next Sunday's AutoX!

So after first getting it running on a 250k mile turbo motor last spring, i can say it made it almost a year without breaking :D

2.216VTurbo

02-13-2010, 11:29 PM

Good times! Are they timed laps or are you just supposed to get sideways like that one pic:D?

Aries_Turbo

02-14-2010, 12:14 AM

hopefully the intermediate shaft didnt break anything else under there.

i hate those intermediate shafts. they are more trouble than they are worth.

car looks good. :)

Brian

Vigo

02-14-2010, 10:51 PM

The laps were timed, but i was just trying to stay pointing the right way, didnt have much chance to worry about my lap times.

The back end has NO weight and too much roll stiffness for this kinda racing. I always knew what was perfect for autoX would be too much on a road course, but i really wasnt expecting to USE this road course like a road course.. i thought gymkhana would be slow! Well, it was fast enough and cold enough and with enough water on the course to make me fear for my life a little bit. I was really worried about going off sideways and rolling it, because the back end was just hopeless at those speeds.

Heres a basic rundown of what we did:
Backwards down pit lane,
180 at the bottom onto the front straight,
first turn was divided by a line of cones which broke up the racing line and made you go slow on the outside, slow on the inside, or try to cut through the line of cones somewhere,
a pivot cone in the middle of a lake in the middle of a turn (you have to do a complete turn around it before you keep going, and there was water flowing across the track),
a normal high speed turn right after another water crossing,
a slalom,
an emergency lane change maneuver,
another river on the track, then a turn,
a field of cones you had to go through without touching any,
an apex cone that you HAD to hit or get a penalty,
2 gates to jink through and then come to a complete stop in a cone box
reverse out of the cone box all the way back through the first gate,
go forward AROUND the gate you reversed through, and haul --- down the finish line, which was also marked by water on the track.

The cold and water are really what made it scary as ---- for me, but even if it was dry i still couldnt have driven even 5/10ths over my nerves because of how loose the back is.

So now i have a laundry list of things to try to tune that out and get some confidence before i go high speed racing again.. It doesnt sound like you would get going very fast, but its a 2 mile course iirc so the aries was hauling --- between obstacles, even on 5psi. I NEVER felt the need for the 'all of it' button, but Mason used it anyway!

Maybe im traumatized from flipping a car into the dirt and having a wheel torn off by something that would have taken my head off if id been facing the other way. I am honestly terrified of going off the course at that speed, because if im going off at all, it wont be going straight :(

I'll do some stuff about the back, and try again when i get the chance. Im not letting my nerves and a bad car setup ruin road course racing for me.:amen:

StraX22

02-14-2010, 11:25 PM

Man it was a great time! You should really post some of those videos.
The thing I loved the most was that no body was paying all that much attention to the car at first, but by the second lap (my first time driving) the man in charge was saying over the radio "up next we have Mason in what looks like a Dodge Charger or Viper of some sort."

Also, after watching one of the pros fly off the track with about 2' of air in a newer MX5 I'm sure everybody was a lot more cautious. :eek:

Vigo

02-14-2010, 11:54 PM

turbokid

02-15-2010, 01:24 AM

Very nice! I would love to road race one my cars when I get to that point. But my preference of vehicle makes that hard as I love convertibles and t-top cars and the body flex and weight in those cars is a little much.
I would like to find a good turbo dodge that I could strip and do something similiar to your car with.
Q

StraX22

02-15-2010, 09:37 AM

Forgot to mention, i flat-towed it home on the towbar today, and it went MUCH better than last time. I think the towbar is now GO, which saves me ~500 lbs and a lot of hassle from using the dolley. :D

Sweet! I was kind of worried that I didn't hear from you, glad to hear that towing that car will be 100 times easier.

RoadWarrior222

02-15-2010, 09:54 AM

I think im going to pick up one of these, since ill be doing a lot of racing now and dont want to keep using loaners:
http://www.newenough.com/image/path/14373/430-611.jpg

Don't a lot of tracks demand full face helmets now?

Vigo

02-16-2010, 12:55 AM

I think Harris Hill Road specs SA2005, but... conditions on the ground were different. :p

I might pick up a full face helmet anyway. Its only about $25 difference between the one i posted and a full face from the same company.. but neither is SA2005. :(

Ondonti

02-16-2010, 04:20 AM

3.9 tow ftl!

the track sounds fun yet I bet I would have been scared out of my mind also.

RoadWarrior222

02-16-2010, 12:57 PM

There's nothing that quite enlivens the senses like realising you've gone too fast into a reverse camber downhill hairpin :D

Vigo, yes, I was essentially meaning don't waste cash on something that won't do for everything.

Vigo

02-19-2010, 03:01 PM

Two random pics from when i picked it up from the track, and also a picture of a monkey i took for no raisin.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09159Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09161Medium.jpg

On the plus side, i have the sheets to make magnetic numbers.. in fact, i could be doing that right now.

But im doing this.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09275Medium.jpg

Vigo

02-20-2010, 11:28 PM

Fixed the Aries today. Ran into some interesting issues!

First off, i found out you dont have to even touch the mounts to get the intermediate shaft out of my car. It comes right out the wheelwell. All you have to do is pull the belts and the crank pulley and voila.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09485Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09484Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09488Medium.jpg
Actually, i had to trim about 1/4 inch off my non-ac bracket to get the gear off the intermediate shaft.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09489Medium.jpg
Close-up of the area i trimmed a bit.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09486Medium.jpg
Here's the damage on the intermediate shaft.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09487Medium.jpg
Here's the damage on the oil pump gear.

We put it back together with another shaft and pump out of an 87 t1 shortblock i have sitting in my carport, and it ran fine.. BUT IT KNOCKED! I was really surprised to hear a knocking noise because it didnt seem like anything related to the broken shaft could have caused that. The noise seemed to be coming from the intermediate shaft area, which got me to thinking... and amazingly, my off-the-wall idea was RIGHT!

Here's the thing: the Aries' 2.5 motor is an 89 common block, which has no provision for mechanical fuel pump on the block, and has no lobe on the intermediate shaft to drive one. The 87 t1 motor DOES have the lobe. I thought to myself, what if the lobe and the crank were in just the right orientation to BARELY touch each other (if it wasnt barely it would have just broken the shaft), so on a hunch i went back in there.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09491Medium.jpg
See that TINY shiny spot there on the lobe? That's what it was! It was BARELY scraping the edge of the #1 rod.

I took a picture of an 86 tall block 2.5 i also had sitting upside down with the pan off in the carport (convenient, eh?) to take a picture of the area im talking about.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09493Medium.jpg
Thats an intermediate shaft WITHOUT the lobe, and the #1 rod. You can see the clearance there and imagine that the lobe on the shaft takes up 100.5% of it if you have it oriented JUST the wrong way.

So, i ground the lobe down a tiny little amount and put it back in. Works great now! And the Aries has fresh oil now too! All is right with the world.

Ill be Autocrossing it 12 hours from now. :)

Aries_Turbo

02-21-2010, 12:12 AM

oh, thats the intermediate shaft you broke? i thought it was the equal length axle intermediate shaft.....

hopefully that lobe contacting the rod didnt trash the rod bearing any..... :)

good luck at the autox. :)

Brian

Pat

02-21-2010, 12:26 AM

might want to take a close look at that outer I shaft bearing. It looks like it may be flaking apart.

Reaper1

02-21-2010, 03:05 AM

Now you know why I don't suggest the boxed rear axle to people who drive their cars on the street! LOL I understand it for an auto-x only car, but the experience you had would NOT be fun on the street in an emergency situation, no matter how experienced you are with controlling your car! :amen:

I'm glad you had fun though...doesn't sound like something I'd do with my car (as fun as it does sound).

Good call and catch on the i-shaft lobe thing! Not something I would have thought of for sure!

Vigo

02-21-2010, 09:08 PM

might want to take a close look at that outer I shaft bearing. It looks like it may be flaking apart.

Oh, it IS flaking apart. But at 4pm on a saturday before a sunday race on a 260k mile motor.. It seemed like it wasnt worth missing a race just to borrow a little more time on this motor. The next time i have the motor out (if its not already broken) i will knock out those bushings and replace them. From now to then, the motor will probably not pick up more than a few hundred miles of run time.

Now you know why I don't suggest the boxed rear axle to people who drive their cars on the street! LOL I understand it for an auto-x only car, but the experience you had would NOT be fun on the street in an emergency situation, no matter how experienced you are with controlling your car!

Oddly enough, im starting to wonder how much of it is just how the tires act at low temperatures, because today I autoX'd it with the exact same setup and tire pressures on a warm, dry track, and i couldnt get the back end out. On my last 2 runs i was feeling out the limit by jerking the wheel and jabbing the brakes around some gates and i BARELY got the back out. And this is after cranking my AGX's from 1 to 8 (max), and my front struts on the softest setting.

So, i am re-evaluating. I learn more about this car every time i race it, which is why im trying to get all the seat time i can racing it, so my changes are accurately targeted so to speak.

I am thinking about devising an adjustable rear roll stiffness setup similar in spirit to what's on Pat's car, but its behind a lot of boring/basic things on the list like fixing the WOT problem its just picked up, and finishing the 3" exhaust, etc. Ultimately i need to completely 'feel out' what is already there before i go messing with the suspension any more, i guess.

ALTHOUGH... i did pick up some 18x8 rx8 wheels with 245/35r18 V710s on them that im quite tempted to use:eyebrows:, thanks to my great friend Craig.

Craig, pilot of the 12 second thriller called Teal Turd, has been an enthusiastic supporter of this madness and has thrown MORE than a few good deals my way over the years.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09500Small.jpg

I didnt really take any good pictures today, but the local club (http://www.sasca.org/forum/) had a record turnout (~140 entrants).
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09502Medium.jpg

Vigo

02-21-2010, 09:22 PM

Drum roll please............................................ ..............

It has now officially happened.

Mason and I have have been put in a magazine!

Here's to his and my first and hopefully not last magazine ink!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/NewImageLarge.jpg

I feel cool because people at the autoX had to tell ME that i was in the mag, meaning they saw it, read it, recognized and remembered me and the car and wanted to talk about it. I didnt know the issue was out yet.

Its the April issue of Grassroots Motorsports Magazine and it looks like this, if anyone wants to pick it up. And btw, let me say that from this experience i feel that the GRM guys are really a good bunch, and what they do is near and dear to our k-car loving hearts. So if you have enjoyed reading our GRM $2009 story and would like to support this kinda thing, drop a few bucks and buy their mag:eyebrows:. A lot of big names have gone down the tubes in the magazine industry in the last few years, and the best thing you can do to keep the good ones alive (aside from showing up to their events and giving them good stories to sell:p) is to buy their product! GRM=A+.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09516rMedium.jpg

54inches

02-21-2010, 09:39 PM

FN Sweet!

Vigo

02-21-2010, 10:55 PM

Some excitement from today's autocross.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k263/smracer99/SASCA2-10038.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k263/smracer99/SASCA2-10041.jpg
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k263/smracer99/SASCA2-10030.jpg
~4 bags of kitty litter. What a mess!

turbokid

02-21-2010, 11:48 PM

Congrats on the mag.
Sucks about the auto x

Vigo

02-23-2010, 01:58 PM

I have no idea why ive never been able to update the title of this thread. I go in there, do it, and nothing changes.. wtf.

2.216VTurbo

02-25-2010, 11:27 AM

^Titles can't be changed, how about a *NEW* thread, or is that too much technology for ya:p?

They let guys autocross in shorts?? That little oil fire is just the kind of reason why long pants are required for any track event.

Vigo

02-25-2010, 01:23 PM

They let you autocross in anything besides naked. You do have to have closed shoes and a helmet, though.

I think it should be left up to people like those who have more engineering credits than car-building experience as to whether they want to wear long pants or a firesuit or anything special in their nearly undriveable project. Its an engineering program car from one of the local universities. There were two schools/projects out there that day. I am glad that the guy got out fairly fast, because those things are a TIGHT squeeze.

I do think that my car isnt safe enough for HPDE, though, long pants or not.. Id want to plug the holes in the firewall and add a cage with door-bars first and foremost. Thing is, doing that makes the car less fun everywhere else, so i dunno if its worth it to me at this point. Ive still got a lot of learning to do driving the car at 40 mph without a cage. :nod: I might wait until im out of college and working full time again before i start getting into track days.

omni_840

02-25-2010, 02:00 PM

Congrats on the Magazine coverage!

BTW the driver in the second pic looks like he's getting ready for the stop drop and roll

Reaper1

02-25-2010, 08:07 PM

Looks like an SAE Formula car. Yeah, those actually catch on fire a LOT because of packaging and such. Melting engines are a common occurrence as well because they are pushing the edge of trying to be VERY light, so they skim as much as they can. Usually too much in the cooling area!

In order to compete in the SAE competition you HAVE to be able to exit the car in 5 seconds or less with a full fire suit on and all.

Vigo

02-25-2010, 10:42 PM

Definitely SAE Formula, i forgot the name.

Ive never seen these cars anywhere but autocross, and i can tell you to an absolute certainty that i have never seen a team/car that didnt SUCK BADLY at autocross, and ive been seeing different cars/teams over the course of the last few years from several schools. Maybe they are faster on other venues, but all ive ever seem them do at autocross is not start, make too much noise, stall out, spin out, and now catch on fire.

Of course, i might have these problems too if i had to share a car build with a dozen or more other people. Something about 'too many cooks in the kitchen'. :p

WLKivett

02-26-2010, 09:16 AM

...defiantly to many cook in the kitchen. Most of the time each team member is assigned to design and build one aspect of the car and more often than not when it's time for everything to work together they don't.

Reaper1

02-28-2010, 03:34 PM

You also have to remember that these cars are built from scratch and are engineering projects by undergrad and MAYBE a grad student or two. They are designed and built by the students with very little outsourcing. The fact they even move is a miracle! Most of the students have never even changed their own oil, much less built or tuned a race car from the ground up, so they don't understand certain aspects of "real life" that the books don't tell them about.

Another thing about the Formula SAE competition is that they HAVE to have a new car (chassis and all) every year! They never really get to fix problems unless they are supporting multi-year builds. Most schools can't afford that! I know our Formula Hybrid SAE car had a budget around $35,000! That's nothing compared to what some of the teams spend or have sponsorship for!

Vigo

02-28-2010, 06:05 PM

I am an undergrad NON-engineering student and i could start my own SPEC-Aries racing league with $35k and even pay the drivers to entertain me. :p

I agree that theyh have a lot going against them.. most of it being the people themselves. Ive had good conversations with a few young engineering students in the past year or so, but most of the time i find myself thinking that nearly everything they do involves 'more dollars than sense'. Including their education.

Id like to try driving one of those cars, though.. First thing id do is install an overrunning clutch in the driveline somewhere, because it seems those things have utterly horrendous off-throttle oversteer, and in something that short, once it STARTS spinning, its done spinning before you can blink.

Aries_Turbo

02-28-2010, 06:34 PM

i have a friend that is an engineer for corning glass.

he is more redneck than engineer (like me).

he built a custom glass powder auger for feeding glass process furnaces for less than 100$. most engineers there would have spent over 1000$. he used an old drill bit, a piece of electrical conduit, a piece of exhaust tubing and a gear reduction motor and welded it all up. it works flawlessly.

i think engineers should have to take a course in being a redneck jerryrigger before they start their formal study. adam and i can teach the course. they should also have to compete in a few seasons of autox before they 1. get their drivers license -and- 2. they are allowed to be in the formula SAE program.

this nation needs more common sense. :)

brian

Ondonti

03-01-2010, 01:15 AM

Wait, so crappy little school cars get to run and catch on fire and BYU's hydraulic car can't compete? BS :P

Most engineering students I have met really don't seem excited about actually doing engineering so I think contests like these are a good thing, to keep their minds open and excited.
My dad's undergrad was in engineering and his hobby is gardening :p
I would say University of Washington failed to excite him with the things they taught but his day's on the family farm as a kid certainly had a lifelong effect.

Many schools say lifelong learning is a goal of theirs and I think these projects help that, but they don't encompass enough of the students. Also, many of those students probably are not as excited about cars as we are but their choices are so limited.

Reaper1

03-04-2010, 01:03 AM

Brent, the Formula SAE (FSAE) and Formula Hybrid SAE competitions are completely seperate and have their own sets of rules for the most part. We ('Riddle) tried to build a car to compete in both competitions, but we didn't finish the car in time.

Anyways, I saw BYU's car at the competition and EVERYBODY wanted to see it run! The one pencil jokey with a basic understanding of law nixed it to everybody's dismay (and REALLY frustrated BYU..as it should have).

I agree that there are more dollars than sense at times, but these cars use a LOT of CNC billet parts, one-off carbon fiber parts, the "best" of everything (usually meaning the lightest they can find that fit the rules). Hell our car had carbon fiber A-arms(designed, fabricated, and tested in house), a fully billet CNC transaxle(fully designed, machined, and built in house), Penske external reservoir shocks, custom billet CNC wheels and brake rotors...the list goes on and on. Some of those schools have to farm out that work, which is EXPENSIVE!! They have to have a cost report for the cars as well as part of the competition where EVERYTHING is accounted for, down to every foot of wire, every terminal, every crimp, every screw....it gets a little insane, honestly.

Like I said, for the cars to even move under their own power is an accomplishment! Sure, you can build it for less, but to be truly competitive it takes a LOT of engineering, skill, patience, and money! One of the best teams is sponsored by Audi and ships the car from Europe for crying out loud!!!

Vigo

03-28-2010, 11:46 PM

Mason and I installed the Nordskog in-cab fuel pressure gauge on Saturday.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00260Medium.jpg
I used the schrader valve and hose off my $7 harbor freight fuel pressure gauge kit to tap into the fuel rail.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00261Medium.jpg
$3 of adapters from Lowe's let us hook it up to the remote sender.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00265Medium.jpg
The sender is mounted to the firewall next to that hole where the ac lines used to be.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00266Medium.jpg
You can kinda see the gauge there being blocked by the steering wheel. Black gauge in a black panel looks pretty sweet.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00269Medium.jpg
This is how many tools we pulled out by the time we finished installing that gauge.. Why the welder, you may ask? Well, the set screw holding the drill bit in my Harbor Freight holesaw kit stripped out, so i welded the drill bit into it! :p

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00259Medium.jpg

I also welded on a bung for the wideband onto the exhaust. I intend to build a 3" exhaust but didnt get around to it this day, and wanted to install the wideband anyway.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00270Medium.jpg
$13 harbor freight stepper drill bit set.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00271Medium.jpg
$1 nut from NAPA and $2 clamp from Harbor Freight.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC00272Medium.jpg
$89 Harbor Freight flux core mig welder.

The wideband gauge is also a Nordskog style gauge. I basically have this setup:
http://www.motorsportsinnovations.com/Inv-Pics/iv-3796-red.jpg

So i have 2 nordskog gauges in that black panel. Now i need to find a 3rd to round it out. Those gaugest are the fanciest pieces on the car right now :p

I also installed the Autometer Cobalt boost gauge in an existing hole. That gauge is ALSO way too pretty for the rest of the car. Very legible though!

And also this FOR NO RAISIN
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/banana-1.gif

Aries_Turbo

03-29-2010, 12:20 PM

2 things...

ziptie the hose to the fuel rail so the vibrations dont crack the schrader valve off the rail. it needs to be secure.

the O2 hole... the wire end of the sensor needs to be at an up angle of at least 10 degrees or the sensor will build up condensate and will die quickly.

other than that, nice install.

Brian

Vigo

03-29-2010, 12:34 PM

The bung on this exhaust is probably only going to be used for less than an hour of runtime. Im going to finish my 3" exhaust and do it the right way there, but for now i just wanted to do it easily and quickly to help me diagnose an issue im having without having to drop the exhaust just to drill it.

Aries_Turbo

03-29-2010, 01:17 PM

gotcha. makes sense. :)

brian

54inches

03-29-2010, 02:48 PM

I love bananas.

Vigo

03-30-2010, 10:14 AM

Well, wideband helped me figure out my massive misfire problem.. under wot, the AFR goes WAY down below 9:1 and the car breaks up completely.

Now.. i have to figure out WHY its doing that. None of the sensors are messed up, but i did find a lot of icky ground resistance last night and i think it might be massively offsetting the sensor signals. Need to hook it up to a scanner now. : /

Vigo

04-02-2010, 12:47 AM

My uncle just donated all the important bits of a wet nitrous setup to me. Needless to say, it will be going on the Aries.:D

Pat

04-02-2010, 09:47 AM

My uncle just donated all the important bits of a wet nitrous setup to me. Needless to say, it will be going on the Aries.:D

Cheater! :p

Aries_Turbo

04-02-2010, 10:14 AM

your clutch up to the task?

that will be fun. :)

Brian

Vigo

04-04-2010, 02:59 PM

your clutch up to the task?

Nope, sure isnt. It was just on the hairy edge with moments of slipping when it did 320 tq to the wheels.

But its just a stock t2 or t3 plate on a 4puck. All i need is a stiffer plate.

Still dont know WTF is going on with the car. I have no idea why it wont communicate with a scanner, traced just about every wire in the car and tested every sensor via voltmeter since i cant do things the easy/productive way... and i cant find ANYTHING wrong.

Here's an actual description of the problem:

AT PART THROTTLE: In any gear, when accelerating, it will pull cleanly through the rpm range up to 6k rpm on wastegate boost (~6psi) with no hiccups or misfires. Part throttle boost afr is 14-15:1 on wideband :confused: but it works.

However, if you get close to WOT on the pedal, after 4000 something rpms it goes WAAAY rich on the wideband (goes down to about 9:1 and then cant fire it) and just breaks up completely until it sounds like a stalled motor with the throttle body open. If you let off it comes back immediately. So you can floor it up to 4000+ rpms and then it wonks out. Or you can part-throttle it in boost up to 5 or even 6k rpms, but if you floor it at that point, it wonks out.

This is at the same amount of boost as part-throttle. The only thing i can see changing is that at some point in the pedal travel its going super-rich and dumping a crap-load of fuel. :confused2:

1BADVAN

04-04-2010, 03:48 PM

Nope, sure isnt. It was just on the hairy edge with moments of slipping when it did 320 tq to the wheels.

But its just a stock t2 or t3 plate on a 4puck. All i need is a stiffer plate.

Still dont know WTF is going on with the car. I have no idea why it wont communicate with a scanner, traced just about every wire in the car and tested every sensor via voltmeter since i cant do things the easy/productive way... and i cant find ANYTHING wrong.

Here's an actual description of the problem:

AT PART THROTTLE: In any gear, when accelerating, it will pull cleanly through the rpm range up to 6k rpm on wastegate boost (~6psi) with no hiccups or misfires. Part throttle boost afr is 14-15:1 on wideband :confused: but it works.

However, if you get close to WOT on the pedal, after 4000 something rpms it goes WAAAY rich on the wideband (goes down to about 9:1 and then cant fire it) and just breaks up completely until it sounds like a stalled motor with the throttle body open. If you let off it comes back immediately. So you can floor it up to 4000+ rpms and then it wonks out. Or you can part-throttle it in boost up to 5 or even 6k rpms, but if you floor it at that point, it wonks out.

This is at the same amount of boost as part-throttle. The only thing i can see changing is that at some point in the pedal travel its going super-rich and dumping a crap-load of fuel. :confused2:

my van would do this break up at 4000 RPMs thing. It was before i had a wideband but when i would change the plugs it usually went away. I have heard that the copper plugs don't last long at all at anything over 15 psi, i would have to change them every 3 months or so it seemed when i kept the boost cranked up. I don't know exactly what the problem is but this works for me :)

Vigo

04-04-2010, 04:32 PM

Well, my plugs are nearly new NGK's gapped to .032, and perfectly clean. I ohmed the plug wires, checked the cap, replaced the rotor, checked the slop in the rotor, the trigger wheel, and the i-shaft gears. I swapped the coil, pulled the tach wire off (just in case), swapped hall effects, checked voltage to the coil, on and on and on. I think i checked everything possible on the ignition side. I suspected an ignition problem until i got the wideband on it.

Now i know that any afr below 11:1 needs to be fixed, and thats the bottom line. I dont think any stock ignition setup is going to be able to fire a mixture thats richer than 9:1..I just need to figure out why the computer thinks it needs to dump fuel like that.

Aries_Turbo

04-04-2010, 05:21 PM

is this rich thing a recent happening?

Vigo

04-04-2010, 11:12 PM

Yeh, sorta. The symptoms started at the Gymkhana thing, but i parked the car after that and only started trying to diagnose it about a week and a half ago. I didnt know with certainty that it was a fuel issue until i got the wideband on it a week ago.

Vigo

04-11-2010, 11:56 PM

Havent done any more work to it but thought id mention a funny side-effect.

If you floor it in neutral it acts like a launch limiter with anti lag.. it revs up to about 4k rpm and dumps so much fuel that it sits there and sputters and builds 5psi! :p

turbokid

04-11-2010, 11:59 PM

Strange. And you are sure your regulator isnt an issue?

Vigo

04-12-2010, 09:34 PM

Yep, got an in-cab fuel pressure gauge and the pressure is correct at all times.

Aries_Turbo

04-12-2010, 10:20 PM

its either a cal issue or a sensor/wiring problem.

Brian

Vigo

04-13-2010, 12:20 AM

Well, we've ruled out the cal issue by using two different chips , both of which ran fine without this problem before it developed and now is the exact same problem on both chips.

Ive also tested EVERY sensor on the car that i can read off of. The only things i cant check are the knock sensor and the HEP, neither of which can cause this, imo.

My next step is to see if the injectors are just grounding wide open. I cant read pulsewidth but i can read frequency on the Fluke so im thinking if they stop cycling it will go to 0 and ill know that way. Havent gotten around to trying yet.

Aries_Turbo

04-13-2010, 11:59 AM

2 chips with the same cal or 2 different cals?

Vigo

04-13-2010, 09:18 PM

Well, one was an off-the-shelf FWD cal and one was the same cal after a bit of dyno-tuning by JamesL. Neither one had this problem before, and both have it now, so i think it is not cal related.

Aries_Turbo

04-13-2010, 10:25 PM

gotcha. makes sense.

Vigo

05-21-2010, 11:55 PM

We got a bit more ink in the June 2010 GRM :D

In the article:
DO IT YOURSELF: 40 Penny Pinching Speed Secrets!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09695.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09696.jpg

Yep, out of 40 speed tips, we got 2.. a solid 5% of the article :p

Pat also got 3! So, between the two k-cars that showed up out of a total of almost 60 entrants, we locked up ~13% of the speed secrets article :p

If they'd credited the Oven Cleaner speed tip to me, it would have been even more...
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC04187.jpg

Vigo

09-04-2010, 12:49 AM

Im wondering if i should rename this thread or something..

ANYWAY! I FINALLY built the 3" exhaust ive been meaning to build for the last.. one year! lol. We ran a 3" downpipe and glasspack at GRM but put the nasty 2" exhaust back on afterwards for streetability. This nasty 2" exhaust was great when the car was tbi but its incredibly too small for a modded turbo car. It's so small, the car hit peak power on the dyno at 3900 rpm. I think CHOKE is the appropriate word.

Anywho, i already had the 3" downpipe and glasspack, and i bought a nice stainless magnaflow from Splatmaster86 a while ago along with some other stuff, and then finally my friend with the white new yorker dropped me a off a section of 3" stainless out of someone's RX8 exhaust they had taken off.. And finally it was time to begin. I think as far as parts (not including cost of tools i used) with downpipe, glasspack, magnaflow, 3" stainless pipe, and wideband bung, i have under $100 in this exhaust.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02110Large.jpg
There's the pile of stuff im making an exhaust out of.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02112Large.jpg
There's the old one out with the new stuff sorta mocked up next to it. Old was 2.25" log-motor downpipe to a 2" glasspack with stock bends behind it dumped out the side.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02114Large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02122Large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02125Large.jpg
Welding is great fun, especially when it costs so little. Harbor Freight FTW!!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02146Large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02148Large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02129Large.jpg
That is the look of pure satisfaction.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02144Large.jpg
Here's all the tools i used.

So finally the aries gets a decent exhaust. w00t!

54inches

09-04-2010, 01:01 AM

Looks great. That is exactly what I am going to do with mine.

How loud was the old exhaust?

Vigo

09-04-2010, 01:45 AM

It was very loud at WOT when it was non-turbo. At cruise with the 5spd it was just fine. At cruise with the 3spd auto it was a little much (rpm difference, had same exhaust with both 5spd and auto in same car).

As a turbo it was quieter than as non-turbo. Overall i liked it even when it was non-turbo. It idled and cruised fairly quiet but got really loud when you wanted it to. Remember they make glasspacks in all sorts of lengths.. you can get one 4ft long if you want. You can make your entire exhaust out of glasspacks ( i want to try this someday).

Aries_Turbo

09-04-2010, 08:14 AM

nice job.

you will probably have to dial in the pumping efficiency table on that cal now though as you increased flow a decent amount.

Brian

54inches

09-04-2010, 11:17 AM

I was looking at a glasspack that was close to 4' long; funny you mentioned that. I measured the surface area and volume of the old muffler (1 7/8") so I could get a similar sized muffler in 2.25". I think it came out to a 27-29" with a 4" case. Something like that. It should have the same sound as stock and that is what I am going for.

Good job bud!

BTW, what happened with the Magnum? Do you have pics of the arrow?

Vigo

09-05-2010, 10:32 PM

My fiancee hit a minor lake in the middle of a highway during a flash flood and hydroplaned it for a while.. That part wasnt a big deal until the guy behind us ran into us. Got significant damage to the RR quarter, need a new RR door, probly a skin on the RF door, and RF fender may be fixable. Also minor damage to passenger outside mirror and a broken rear control arm and trashed wheel (steelie). No pictures of the the damage.

I only have one picture of the truck. Ive got a set of those 7-spoke steel wheels in the bed for it too. Havent done anything with it yet other than start scraping the insulation stuff off the floor to find rust.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02770.jpg