93 2.4l DOHC Shadow

[BadAssPerformance]

There's proof of just how much more pressure is under you hood then on top. That was a bit of a surprise to me when I was doing my research. Is that picture from MB? I'll have to bug her for a copy.

Troy (the ford guy) took it, click it a couple times and it gets bigger. There were a series of pics bu this was the best one.. can send you the rest if you'd like

[turboshad]

Well this year has been slow and depressing as far as the car goes. Have a baby and buy a house and there isn't much time left for the car. After SDAC it pretty much sat for the next couple weeks before I started to change out the fuel pump. Last year I noticed it was having trouble getting past 65psi even though the AFRs were still good. I'm pretty sure that I was able to compensate with the 1200cc injectors so the FP didn't become an issue. Obviously I wasn't comfortable with that so it was time to install the Fuelab pump I purchased in January of 2011 and had shipped to Aaron in FL while I was on a trip to that area. (Thanks Aaron ). The pump I purchased was a Prodigy 41402 good to 1300HP so I don't think I will be out growing this one anytime soon. Because it is external I needed to build a rear sump onto my tank which usually means welding. Even though there were some good garage mechanic tips on how to weld to a used fuel tank I still wasn't particularly comfortable with it. Then I began to think that if they can build cars with glue these days there had to be one I could use on a fuel tank. With a phone call to our Loctite rep he did some research for me and came up with an epoxy adhesive that was impermeable to fuel didn't loose any strength with continued contact. So I made a simple rear sump and then glued the sucker to the bottom of my fuel tank. It worked like charm and no welding or explosions to tell stories about. The best part is my rep had some samples he needed to get rid of so I even got the stuff for free.

I drilled some 1 1/2" holes to let the fuel flow into the sump but still keep some structure in the tank and create a bit of a baffle. This was the point of no return.





Loctite 9460 was the adhesive of choice. He also gave me this nifty adapter that allowed me to use a normal caulking gun to apply it.





Glued and secured to sit for 24hrs while to epoxy fully cured.



The only part of the system I wasn't really happy with is the feed line had to go over the rear axle but I wasn't comfortable mounting the pump on the side rails as I felt it hung too low so this was the only option.

[minigts]

That's just awesome man. I tell ya, you do these things that maybe we think about, but definitely wouldn't risk sometimes. Really makes you think it doesn't take much to adapt to modern engineering to our cars. Thanks for sharing DJ, you're alright in my book.

[turboshad]

Now for the awesome part. I was working hard to have this completed for a race at the beginning of August. It is the only race in my area that I can compete in an actual class in so I always look forward to it when i can attend. With a borrowed trailer and borrowed truck I loaded the car to get to the track for Sunday morning. I finished the fuel pump install that evening and figured I could trim out what I figured would be a rich tune in the practice and qualifying runs. On initial start up that evening the pump primed quickly and easily built pressure to 95psi which was well above what I needed so I stopped the test there.

The next morning the car took a bit longer to start and I concluded that a check valve would be needed but it still primed within a couple seconds and ran perfectly. I unloaded the car at the track with no problems and headed to tech where I started and stopped the engine several times as the line advanced. Once at tech I turned it off and once passed I went to start it and nothing. No prime, notta. I checked around and couldn't see any visible problems so I gave it another try and while cranking the pump came to life and the engine started. Even though the pump was working it wasn't running at near the RPM it had before. Once back to the pits I shut it off and then had the same problems with spuratic operation and reduced pump RPM. Now with the pump running I couldn't muster any more than 65psi out of it so obviously things weren't right. I checked grounds and even dismanteled the whole fuel pumps with no luck. The motor seemed fine but the controller board smelt burnt to me. So back on the trailer and back home. My 15 minutes of fuel pump operation were over. .

Currently the pump is back at Fuelab for warranty so I am really hoping to get it back in time to race at least once this year. I will be gone at the end of the month for a work trip to Italy so my last hope will be October 8th which is the last day our track is open. I was pretty disheartened after all the work I put into getting the car ready but I guess them's the apples some times. Anyway, that is where the Shadow sits right now, broken and in the garage.

That's just awesome man. I tell ya, you do these things that maybe we think about, but definitely wouldn't risk sometimes. Really makes you think it doesn't take much to adapt to modern engineering to our cars. Thanks for sharing DJ, you're alright in my book.

Thanks John. Another great benefit to the adhesive is it doesn't degrade the galvanized coating like welding does so you don't have to re-coat the inside of the tank or spray the weld effect exterior after. I was really happy with the results and even though the car doesn't run it has been sitting with fuel in the tank for the last few weeks and no problems to be seen.

[minigts]

I swore as I read your post, that you were going to say the fuel had drained from the tank or something of the like causing it to have starting issues. I was ready to delete my post!! haha Just kidding!! Hope the pump is the issue and a warranty replacement will solve it.

[turboshad]

On another note, before SDAC I was able to get the sway bar on. The only issure I ran into was the end of the bolt on the driver's side will hit the rim before full lock. That being said for some reason the driver's side will turn further than the passenger and I can't quite figure that one out as all I did was change the tie rod ends before the trip. Maybe it always did that and I never noticed. Who knows.

[turbovanman²]

Once again, simply awesome,

Great info on the glue too,

[Shadow]

Now for the awesome part.

Damn, I thought this was foreshadowing? Bloody sarcasm!

[turbovanman²]

Now to adress the issue of detecting knock. As I mentioned I don't have any KR feedback on my MS. I was going to build the corny looking setup where you run some tubes to the engine bay and then have some headphones in the cab like an extended stethascope. Then I came across people using a microphone for an electronic stethascope. I liked this idea much better but it still seemed a bit hokey. I bought a mic I thought would work and then I read that someone had found a flat response knock sensor. This is essencially a piezo electric microphone that outputs over a large frequency range unlike most knock sensors which are filtered to a specific band. This was by far the best thing I had seen to hear knock so I sourced them out to be in VWs but figured it would be a tough find and new they were $150. Well after a trip to the wrecker I found that almost any 90 and up VW had them and they sit right on front of the engine for a 30 second removal. I picked up three of them for $5 which was much less than $150. The use an 8mm bolt but there is enough material to drill it out for a 10mm bolt. I got it installed just before my trip to SDAC and I must say that you can hear pinging as clear as day way before you would ever hear it in the cab. It is the best tuning aid next to a WB that I have put on my car so far and I feel way more confident in pushing things in boost when I can hear things happen so soon and so clearly.


Here is the sensor.



This particular one is a Bosch 261 231 013. I found that any 261 231 *** is the same sensor. The last 3 digits just denote the type of pigtale. The VW one is nice because you can grab the sensor with the long lead as well as the factory plug very easily.





I mounted mine in the ceneter of the block so I wouldn't get any valve train or injector noises. The sound is very clear and uncluttered so there is no mistaking when something happens.



Then I brought a shielded cable inside and wired it to a 1/8" headphone jack. I run this into the mic input on my laptop. This aplifies the signal so you can use the headphone out on the laptop to listen to it as well as record it if you like. You also need to wire in a resistor inline so it doesn't distort with the increased sound at higher RPM levels. I think I used a 33K resistor but can't remember. The best would be a 0-50K pot so you could adjust it for the best signal.

DJ, I have a sensor with part number, SME KS1 054 905 377 of a VW 2.0L, it has 2 knock sensors, this is one of them, has a blue 3 wire connector. Did you use the 33K resistor?

[turboshad]

I had the resistor in but I will be switching it to a pot. The resistor was too much of a crap shoot depending on what type of amplification I was using. For the laptop it was fine but for other things I tried it would still clip the input. I picked up a little amp board off ebay I am going to try now since my laptop no longer has separate mic and headphone plugs.

[turbovanman²]

Ok, await feedback.

[turbovanman²]

I should have mine built tonight, bought an adjustable 0-50K pot and will wire that in.

[turboshad]

I think that will work out much better for you. When listening to it if the sound starts to break up and get all garbly, usually with higher load and RPM, then you are probably clipping the input. Wire the pot so CW turn decreases resistance and you will have yourself an input gain knob.

[Ondonti]

A little amplifier would be nice. I took a normal mini microphone and attached to to a metal clamp but connecting it to the laptop is something I don't like.

[turboshad]

September has been a busy one but while in Italy for work my fuel pump came back from warranty. Our last track days this year were Saturday and Monday but with a 1yr b-day party for my daughter on Saturday that left only Monday as my last chance to get out. When I woke up the weather didn't look good. The high for the day was 10C (50F) with 54% humidity and it wasn't supposed to get that warm until 3PM. I figured it wasn't worth going out as the track conditions would probably suck but after talking to a few friends that were out there or on their way I figured it would at least be a good time hanging out in the cold so I packed up and left. Long story short a few little things happened that should have made me reconsider, like my laptop losing comm. right before the water box so no logging, almost like it knew the future. Regardless I did a nice long burnout to get the frost out of the tires and lined up beside Steve and his red Lebaron. Third light flashes and I go with the track surprising the hell out of me with a hook like I've never felt there. Hmmmmm, maybe this will be a good day after all. Out of first and into second and it started to break up a bit which I expected with a new pump that could actually sustain fuel pressure so onto third I go........sort of. You know those days when you realize you shouldn't have skipped out on your MT shifting course so you would know what to do past second gear? Well this was the day as I promptly slammed it into 1st at at least 7000RPM in 2nd. That put me right up to 11,100RPM which promptly seized my clutch so I couldn't get it out of gear. After a while of tugging on the shifter it finally went to neutral and stalled to a halt.

So what I know is the clutch is seized or jammed or snapped or something as I couldn't get out of 1st and there is no pedal feel now. The car won't start and there is a knock when cranking. My first guess is either the timing belt jump and some valves are bent or a rod stretched and a piston is now kissing valves. I probably won't have an answer for a couple months with the other things I need to get done but I don't imagine it will be pretty.

And to top it off Steve broke his tranny at the line on that run and 2 runs later the last standing TD (I believe 3 TDs in one day is a record for that track) came hobbling back with a smoking tail pipe and stories of a large bang halfway down the track. It was just not a good day for TDs.

[lengel]

WOW! That sucks DJ! This same thing happened to me a few years ago, but I went from 3rd to 2nd. My clutch was done and all me fly wheel bolts snaped off in the crank. Hope its not too bad of a fix.

Adam

[BadAssPerformance]

Bet that was a scary ride! What clutch was it? You got a scatter shield on there right? Hope the engine is not too bad and the trans is OK! Bummer you didnt get a good run on the "dead hook" track is arctic air

[speedfreek500]

Ouch dude, that sucks. Next year i will be out there with ya, What did steve run for a time or did he even get too? I haven't heard from him in a long time.

Did you hear about castrol raceway that they have a 4 million dollar loss and are go bankrupt?

[Pat]

That's too bad, DJ....sorry to hear it. Thankfully, nothing came completely apart and you weren't hurt.

[BadAssPerformance]

That's too bad, DJ....sorry to hear it. Thankfully, nothing came completely apart and you weren't hurt.

Yeah, coulda been MUCH worse and projected thru the windshield or found the wall!