Dace's '94 //s4 - Now For Sale!

[UrSobsessed]

Been a while since I've posted, so here's an update on things:

The suspension is great! I love how much more stable the car feels. The only issue I have had with it is the rod end bearings in the links to the ARSB. They dry out pretty quickly and make a terrible noise. I hit them with a bit of lube and they quieted down, but this will have to be a PM item for now. Also, they are set up with male-male threads, so tensioning is more work than it needs to be. Eventually, I'll put together a better set of links.

I have gone VEMS and love it! It is great to be able to tune the car to my exact set up. The chipset that I was running before was having all kinds of problems. With VEMS I've been able to tweak things into working much better. Switching to VEMS exposed a few problems that weren't apparent before, like my spark plug wires that came with the HO coil kit were dying, so I ordered the Magnecor wire kit for a 3b and just cut the the wires to length. The 3b kit was much cheaper than the AAN specific wires I've seen. That helped smooth out the running of the car quite a bit. I also replaced the worn cam chain with a new one. This seemed to tighten up the running even more.

I've been fine tuning the fuel map, acceleration enrichments, boost, etc... Some things are straight forward, others take a lot of figuring out. Not having documentation explaining what each value does, makes for some interesting tuning! My biggest hurdles at this point are getting the VE table correct at idle. If I don't throw a bunch of fuel at it down there, it idles quite rough. I have to run it at ~.8 lambda to have it idle smoothly. I'm not sure if the altitude is making it hard to get things dialed in. After talking to Dave Jones, he said that they were having to do the same thing with another car that they were tuning on VEMS. Slowly, things are becoming clearer...

While replacing the cam chain, I had to change the cam seal. It was leaking like a sieve after only 7k miles. After talking with Dave Jones about it, he said he has changed out a lot of orange cam seals recently because of the same problem. I also replaced the valve cover gasket as it was seeping after about 20k. I figure that's about right for those.

I got some new shoes, which are great. Oettinger RE 18x8 et35 rims wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sports. These tires really handle well, ride great and are quiet on the highway.

A pic of the new stuff:


Currently, I'm having to pull the turbo:( One of the EM studs and one of the turbo to EM studs have gone MIA. Another turbo to EM stud is trying to escape. So, out comes the turbo to put the studs in properly. I'm thinking that the short silicone coupler from my CAI to the compressor housing is not flexing enough under extreme load, thereby putting a lot of strain on the turbo, EM hardware, allowing things to work loose. Sux. I'm going to fab up a mount for the CAI to the bolts on the back of the compressor housing so it can move with the system, not fight it.

While I have the turbo out I'm going to install a larger oil cooler and move it to the space vacated by the SMIC. This will be great, as driving over mountain passes can drive the oil temps too high for my liking.

[ringbearer]

Looks good. Plenty of VEMS advice around here, ask if needed. I will soon as I'm ready.

[200 Avant]

Where in CO are you? The car's looking great

[UrSobsessed]

Thanks! I'm up in Winter Park.

[jcarrick]

I have same problem with idle on my VEMS as well. My map is super rich at idle to get it to idle right. But I'm at like 1.0 lamda still. I think it may be elevation because I'm at 4000 feet right now.

I'm also experiencing some high oil temps and need to get a new cooler. Which one are you going with?

[200 Avant]

Ah.. I used to live in Fraser and I ski MJ. We'll have to get together. Another buddy of mine Keith Sanders is a local WP S6 owner..

[UrSobsessed]

Nice! I know who Keith is. I've seen him driving that car around. There are actually 4 UrS' driving around up here! LMK when you are going to be around and we can set up a meet. I'd love to check out your car! It looks like a great, dependable build!

[200 Avant]

Will do. I'm up there quite a bit during this time of year too.. No better fall riding than in the valley.

I'll certainly drop you a PM when I'm headed up. If you're ever swinging by Golden on a weekend let me know..

Look forward to ripping up Berthoud Pass Motorsports complex one evening... Truly my favorite.

Back when they were closing the pass for construction we'd hit it on the west side and run laps up and down. It was truly a blast..

[PRA4WX]

200 Avant wrote:

Look forward to ripping up Berthoud Pass Motorsports complex one evening... Truly my favorite.

Back when they were closing the pass for construction we'd hit it on the west side and run laps up and down. It was truly a blast..

When i was single i used to ski MJ almost exclusively. I'll confess it wasn't just the bumps and laid back tourist light atmosphere at Jane that kept me coming that way......it was driving Berthoud! I loved beating feet up and down that pass! 8)

[UrSobsessed]

They've been doing a bit of work on the roads up there, which is nice. Not a total repave, but at least the rim killers, etc. are getting some attention...

[UrSobsessed]

So I got the turbo to EM studs/nuts replaced. All that hardware was pretty loose. One stud was even missing. I made sure all of the EM studs/nuts were tightened in the head. Also since I had the downpipe out, I relocated the O2 sensor bung to the bottom of the downpipe.

It's mounted at about 10 o'clock in the pipe and is nestled up behind the subframe so it should be protected pretty well.


Thinking that the lack of flexibility in the silicone coupler between my CAI and the compressor housing might have been causing undue stress to the exhaust components under heavy load, thereby(possibly) causing the studs to loosen, I fabbed up a mount to one of the bolts on the compressor housing.

Now that stuff is free of the body, and can move with the engine...



At the same time, I got to relocating the oil cooler and upgrading to a 19 row Derale cooler. I purchased the setup as a kit from Dave Jones of S-Line Motorsport. I could have sourced all of the stuff cheaper on my own, but he has done this so many times, it was nice to be able to just buy the stuff and have everything fit.

M18x1.5 to -10AN adapters in the filter housing


Lines attached with 120* aeroquip fittings. I split the lines like this for easier access to the filter and also to better attach to the cooler


One line runs just under the oil pan, the other just under the radiator. The lines are nylon weaved to avoid the stainless sheath wearing away at the contact points in the routing


Lines attached at the cooler using 90* aeroquip fittings to -10AN/M22x1.5 adapters


Underside view


To mount the cooler, at the bottom I used the stock intercooler mount and made a U-shaped bracket. At the top, I bolted one side to the frame rail and the other to the left side of the upper IC mount.

After driving the car a bit, my oil temps are not as low as they should be. Under normal/slightly spirited driving conditions, the oil temps are between the mark just to the right of the 60C mark and the 130C mark. I was hoping to avoid making a cowl for it, but it's going to have to happen. I guess I knew this all along...

[UrSobsessed]

Ok, so out of the gate here, I'm gonna say that this thread should be called "The Hack Chronicles". Given the limited resources and inexperience that I have, this name seems a bit more appropriate

That being said, I built a cowl for my new larger than stock oil cooler. Some sheet metal, nuts, bolts, rivets and 3mm ID hose, add to that some cheap tools and voila, duct work...

Here are some pix I took of the finished product:

Constructing the sides and bottom of the cowl were pretty straight forward


The top was a lot harder<read bitch> with the intake pipe being in the way. I used two plates to be able to wrap around the intake pipe. I used vacuum line to act as a barrier between metal bits that could rub and make noise and also to seal things up a bit


Everything lines up well with the bottom and sides


It was nice that the cowl and oil cooler lined up perfectly with the left lower grille


All in all, I'm happy with the finished product. I might go back in and seal everything up a little more, but it's SO much better than nothing at all! Also, the fact that it lines up so well with the grille, I think enough air is now getting forced through the cooler.

Next up: "Frankenliner" MOD to the fender well to help get the excess heat that is in that side out...

[UrSobsessed]

It's been a while since my last post! Here is what has been happening with Hungry:

I have been putting together some bits for an audio upgrade. The stock system has served well, but when one of the speakers started to die, I decided it was time for a Bosectomy. I started by pulling all of the speakers and amps out of the trunk and the doors. I then pulled the center console and the drivers front seat out to better be able to access the wiring for the audio and some of the phone stuff. I then pulled out all of the wiring for the audio from the center console to the CD changer in the trunk. I also pulled out the phone wiring from the center console and cut the lines where they enter the back seat. I didn't need to do this but it's never going to be used again and I was in there...

This is my audio out pre amp lines run after removing the old audio wires:

What a beeyotch it was lifting up that carpet!

For the audio upgrade, I'm installing:
Sony DSX-S300BTX head unit - this unit is a head unit with a tuner only, loads of inputs but no CD player. CD's are pretty much dead to me so this fits what media I choose for audio. It also has red lighting for the buttons to match the dash. The display is white, but it is understated and not distracting.
Polk audio PAD 5000.5 - Class D 5 channel amp. It has modest power, more than enough to improve the sound in the cabin.
JL Audio 5.25 component speakers for the front - I put most of the money here and in the amp.
Kicker D630 6x9 3way speakers for the rear - I originally chose some MB Quart speakers but after being sent 2 pairs that were damaged, I switched to the Kickers.
JL Audio 10" subwoofer
All of these speakers were chosen to match or come in very closely to the rated RMS output of the amp.

To connect the antenna I used the Metra adapter 40-VW12 which is a short adapter instead of the 10" 40-VW10. I didn't see the need for any extra wire behind there. And for the power I soldered the head unit wiring harness into the Metra 70-1784 adapter harness. The antenna adapter was necessary, but the power harness is not. It just made it a little easier being able to solder in at a table instead of in the car.

When doing this I used Jimmy Pribble's write up on the Bosectomy/Audio upgrade he did in his car and a reference. It's a great write up and using it helped give some insight to what I would encounter. The write up is http://www.jimmypribble.com/blog/2010/0 ... my-part-1/

Here are some pix:
Front door card prepped for the new speaker mount:

The speaker mounted on some painted masonite:

Mounted in the door:

Front view:

With grille:

After unplugging the tweeter ports I installed tweeters:


I installed the crossover for the fronts on the inside of the door card(exactly where JL tells you not to :tard: )

The rears took only a bit of modification. Since I didn't use the MBQ speakers, I had to modify the housing to be able to screw the speakers down. The bolt holes didn't line up at all. Thank you Dremel! I also had to cut out a portion of the rear deck metal because the speaker magnet was too big. Thank you jigsaw! I forgot to take pix of this step because I was on a mission that day.

I ran the speaker wires to the front of the car under each door jamb. Then I mounted the amp to the panel in the back of the trunk next to the ski sack port:


When running the power line to the battery under the rear seat, I found this:


YUCK! When I first bought the car, the terminals were horribly corroded -far worse than this. The PO had a standard battery in there, not an externally vented one that is required in these cars. I got the correct battery, cleaned the terminal as best I could and it lasted 3 years. The corrosion had penetrated 2-3" into the cable so I decided to end it once and for all!
I pulled back the carpet behind the front seat, cut, spliced and soldered in some new 1 gauge cable:

and then hit it with some 3/4" heat shrink tubing:


Now to address my needs for multiple power lines attaching to the battery. I chose to run power into a distribution block mounted near the battery and then attach the power wires to it. The cable running from the battery to the block is 2/0 gauge soldered into a new terminal with the exposed wires protected with heat shring tubing.
The block with wires connected:

and everything buttoned up:


After getting everything dialed in, I'm really pleased with how this thing sounds! The stock system was not bad for what it was, but man have we come a long way since '93

Here is a pic of the head unit with the instrument lighting:

and closer in:

[ringbearer]

Looks good and I bet sounds even better.

[UrSobsessed]

I have FINALLY been able to focus time on getting the fueling in my car dialed in. Lately my car has been running great! So, I'm wondering what you guys think of these targets for fueling. I'm looking for any constructive input here on points it could be leaned out or where it should be enriched.

Actual lambda follows this table very closely, other than idle, which is so far impossible for me to make smooth with out throwing a tanker load of fuel at it.
I don't hear any pinging or detonation at all and the car is really responsive. I'm happy with where it is, but I don't want to go outside of the safe range too much under boost. I'm still on a stock bottom end. I'm running 91 Colorado craptane and live at 9k ft. where atmospheric pressure is ~75kpa. I'm running at ~230kpa peak boost with little to no overboost that holds all the way to redline.

What do you guys think?

[loxxrider]

I don't think anyone is really going to comment on a lambda target table. In my opinion, the table looks fine. If your AFR's are indeed true to this table, then they are fine. Fuel can be off a lot and hardly make any difference in power or safety. You have to be off a lot to cause problems. The real table you want to be questioning is timing.

I don't really know why you are shooting for .97 and .90 in the lower left of the lambda target table though... something is amiss if the car wont idle leaner than that. Some might be quick to say the 440's you have in there (from the looks of it) might be the cause of that, but I had 440's in mine for about a week and I had no problems getting it to idle nice and lean. I guess maybe it could be from the altitude though...

[UrSobsessed]

I just put the target table to illustrate better the numbers I'm getting instead of posting a few pix of logs.
My timing table looks like this:


The .97 and .90 is from some experimenting and when I was running EGO closed loop. As far as idle, I'd like to say that it's from altitude but I couldn't get it much leaner when I was at low altitude. The injectors are 60#ers, I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but getting the fueling right down there isn't something I've been able to do. I'm open to any ideas here. It idles pretty smoothly, until a/c comes to the party, which makes it want to die when returning to idle, etc. Def a work in progress...

[loxxrider]

So are you saying it wont idle steady when coming down from higher RPMs or it just wont idle steady in general if you lean it out? That would be two separate issues.

[UrSobsessed]

It won't idle steady in general if I lean it out. The leanest I can get it is about .82-.85ish before it starts rolling around. The return to idle is only a/c related. I'm not really dealing with that until I can get the idle mixture sorted.

[loxxrider]

OK my thoughts are (not in any order):

1) Try different injectors
2) Verify that your wideband is truly reading correctly (calibrate at 20.9%) and maybe compare to another wideband
3) Check what pulse width the injectors are at when the car starts stumbling... see if others are having problems running your same injectors that low

[UrSobsessed]

Thanks for your thoughts.

The injectors are only ~10 old. I replaced some 440's with them. The problem was the same with them. If anything, things are slightly better with the new ones.

Do these WB sensors need to be calibrated periodically? It has been calibrated, but that also was about 10k ago. Could the WBO2 PID setting play into this?

The pulse width is 1.3mS at idle. I think Ed was running the same injectors on his last car. I'll see what he has to say...

This thing has been a bit of a challenge to tune, but I think some of that is the altitude. Marc was saying that these MAP based systems actually need MORE fuel at altitude to operate efficiently. Perhaps this is accentuated more at idle, when cars run less efficiently in general. One thing that did help with tuning was converting to a 1.8t MAT sensor. That made a big difference!

[UrSobsessed]

So I just went out for a drive and took a log AND THE CAR IS RUNNING RICHER!!! It's anywhere from .04-.14 richer than 2 days ago. I have changed NOTHING to make this happen. All the driving conditions are the same. I drove down the same road. This is ridiculous. I don't know how something so simple as fuel tuning can be so @#$%@#& *^$@$%#@!^%$#@ challenging for me!!! WTF!!!!!!! I'm screaming mad!

Ok then. Sorry about that. I'll calm down now.

[loxxrider]

Thanks for your thoughts.

The injectors are only ~10 old. I replaced some 440's with them. The problem was the same with them. If anything, things are slightly better with the new ones.

I'm not worried about them being bad because they are old or anything... just saying that the newer EV14 tech can make a huge difference on injector performance at idle. The bigger, older stuff really hates life at low pulse widths. I'm not sure what is really low for the injectors you have, but one idea to see if you are in the non-linear range of the injector's response would be to lower fuel pressure if you have an adjustable FPR. That way your pulse widths could be higher at idle, and you might have better luck leaning the engine out *IFF* this is the root of your proglem.

Do these WB sensors need to be calibrated periodically? It has been calibrated, but that also was about 10k ago. Could the WBO2 PID setting play into this?

It can't hurt to calibrate periodically (make sure it is done with the sensor in open air), but it isn't necessarily essential. Don't mess with the WB02 PID settings. They should be fine from the base tune. I was simply suggesting you verify with another wideband... you never know what craziness might be going on.

The pulse width is 1.3mS at idle. I think Ed was running the same injectors on his last car. I'll see what he has to say...

This thing has been a bit of a challenge to tune, but I think some of that is the altitude. Marc was saying that these MAP based systems actually need MORE fuel at altitude to operate efficiently. Perhaps this is accentuated more at idle, when cars run less efficiently in general. One thing that did help with tuning was converting to a 1.8t MAT sensor. That made a big difference!

Not sure why MAP-based would need more fuel at altitude, but I'm interested in what the reasoning for it would be. If you are having such severe problems with the AFR/lambda changing on a day-to-day basis, there may be other issues at hand. Ensure that your ECU vac line is in good shape... I had some crazy issues one time when mine was squished.

[UrSobsessed]

The altitude fueling was something Marc told me about when I was comm with him about the best way to go about using the barometric correction in vems.

A couple of things I've discovered:
1) My fluctuation in lambda is likely from different fuel. I filled up between the different log times with pure gas. I have tuning running the standard E10. I forgot about this one until today; and
2) After talking with Marc, I unhooked the line from the tank to the N80. The car ran much leaner, but most importantly I was able to get the idle mixture to stoich. I have not been able to do that since I've switched to vems. It still did a bit of bouncing around, but was more controlled and was at the point where I could then fine tune it to calm down.

I'm thinking that I'll be setting up an N80 provision in vems in the near future...

[EDIGREG]

There is no reason those Siemens 60's can't idle perfectly smooth on our 2.2L engines. I have never tuned a car at altitude but I have no doubt that what you are experiencing can be corrected via software/tuning. Hopefully N80 ends up fixing your problem completely tho. Really hard to diagnose/tune idle remotely...

It makes sense that you are running richer having filled up with 0% ethanol. You really shouldn't need barometric correction unless you are routinely experiencing big elevation changes. Plus, in my experience it doesn't work all that well (on VEMS *or* Motronic), and closed loop fuel adjustments can handle day to day environmental variable changes.