We started a blog here:
http://www.nyspeed.com/blog.php?40-Innovative-Tuning-Blog
I’ll mirror it here in our section.
I’ve never blogged, facebooked, tweeted, or anything of that nature, but this new blog feature on NYSpeed is calling my name and I’m going to give it a go. I’ll do my best to post a little blurb about what’s going on at Innovative Tuning every few days including dyno results, repairs performed, ongoing builds, new parts, fabrication, hopefully some funny anecdotes and more. A lot of people know us, but may not know the full scope of what we do here and I rarely find time to post build pics or updates of any kind so that hasn’t helped. We generally have about 20 cars at the shop at a time so there’s a lot going on here and I’ll do my best to keep up!
I’ll start with yesterday:
We started a MKIV 2JZ powered Supra up on a new engine for the first time. After about 5 years of track days at Watkins Glen and other road courses, the engine had crankwalked pretty badly. Amazingly the engine still ran and made over 500 whp. Compression and leakdown were OK too, but the engine was simply warn out. On teardown we found the thrust washers were completely missing and the crank and one of the main caps were eating each other up when the crank walked.
Here’s a video of the play on the crank from when we diagnosed the issue:
Here’s a shot of the engine bay after first startup. We still have cleanup and buttoning up to do.
More on this Supra later when we button it up…
We had sent the PC that controls our dyno back to Mustang because the database got corrupted somehow. We got that back yesterday and it’s fixed up and no run files were lost. Among other things I learned that our dyno has been reading lower than it should have, even for a Mustang dyno because of a few settings that were incorrect. This will affect 2WD very little, but AWD a bit more. I’ll check that out today when I dyno tune a few cars.
We removed the intake manifold etc. on a 2007 Subaru Legacy Spec B to install upgraded fuel rails and an STI fuel pressure regulator in preparation for a retune on a car we’ve tuned before. This car previously made a ton of power for an FP Green turbo and now has Perrin headers and a Dom 3R turbo so we’ll see what it can do on the rollers later today.
We replaced the transmission on a Honda Prelude which had suffered a differential failure causing it to pull hard to the left and was generally worn.
We also fired up Norm’s 06 STI so he can check it out. This was a big buildup. More on this later…
3/11/10
Perry’s LGT retune went well. The Dom3R with 10cm housing couldn’t match the spoolup of the FP Green with 7cm housing, but it did make some extra horsepower.
While I was tuning our mechanics were tag teaming Darrell’s 09 WRX.
They installed:
KS Tech 83mm CAI
GS 3 port boost control solenoid
DW 650cc injectors
Defi Red Racer boost gauge
turbo blanket
After installs:
The car already had a Perrin TMIC, GT Spec header, walbro pump, and upgraded turbo back exhaust.
After the installs we got the car on the dyno and I started tuning the new intake in. When I started getting into boost I noticed spool up was a bit lazy, but I thought it might just be the header with big primaries. Then I did a full pull and noticed both spool and power were lower than expected. It was getting late, but we stuck around to sort it out and we’re glad we did because the power the car made in the end was great. We rigged up our smoke tester to the intake and found a hose off the turbo inlet was leaking heavily at a union fitting. After clamping the connection we retested the system and found no leaks. After hooking the intake back up I did a pull with no changes to the tune. Spoolup was better, the car picked up 40 ft/lbs of torque, and I had to cut the pull short because it was trending lean due to the change in airflow. After dialing it in, here was the result for the 93 octane pump gas tune:
Our mechanics also put an 07 STI turbo on an 04 WRX and will be finishing installing an APS TMIC and FIC injectors in the morning. Then it’s going on the dyno.
3/15/10 - Tuning, Battery Relocation, Supra 2JZ teardown, etc.
We had a crew of visitors from Erie, PA yesterday. Thanks for stopping by guys and we’ll see you soon for tuning!
With the VF43 turbo, APS TMIC, and 650cc injector installs complete, I began retuning Jon’s 05 WRX. After fighting with it for a bit I’ve come to the conclusion that the used injectors provided are either gummed up because they weren’t cleaned and have been sitting around, or the latency settings we were provided for them by the manufacturer are incorrect. He got them for free and wanted to give them a shot. I was able to get the car running pretty well, but I shouldn’t have had to make some of the adjustments that ended up being required and I’m not happy with the throttle response under certain conditions. We’re going to work with the manufacturer of the injectors today and see what we can figure out together.
The car also had an issue where the fuel pump was running continuously and randomly shutting off, making the car shut off. After testing the ECU output and wiring, we found that the stock fuel pump control unit was acting up. After replacing that part the pump primed and shut off normally and operated normally while the car was running with no issues.
In the meantime, the WOT tuning went smoothly so here are those results:
And here’s a graph showing what he came in with and what he left with. The stock 07 STI turbo we put on only spools around 250 RPM later and as you can see it holds power and boost MUCH better up top, making the torque more linear and providing a WHP gain of around 50 at 6500 RPM.
While I was tuning the guys were hard at work as usual. Tom’s 2JZ Supra engine was torn down. in preparation for a buildup to make more power in the future. We found the intake side of the head had coked oil residue in it while the exhaust side did not. It looks like the previous owner of the car let an oil change or several go way too long. The other side looked cleaner than usual and after inspection we found the head gasket had started to allow coolant and oil to mix. No big surprises were found to this point, but it looks like he picked a good time to tear this thing down.
Brian’s STI has been sitting all winter. Now it’s time to charge the battery up, get his new carbon fiber driveshaft in, clean it up, and put some miles on the new engine. More on this car and buildup to come…
We’re finishing up the work on Mike’s 2JZ MKIV Supra. Battery relocation was one of the last steps. He wanted it positioned so the removable hardtop could still be stowed in the factory location in the trunk. We still need to tidy up the wires and clean things up.
And I got myself an oldy but goody. It’s a 54" Matco bottom box with all ball bearing slides etc.
3/16/10 Finish battery relocation, gauge installs, turbo diagnose, etc.
The battery relocation on Mike’s Supra was finished up. Everything is loomed, the ground is complete, the fuel tank access plate has been notched so it’s no longer crushing the power feed to the fuel pump relay (not our install), and the wires are secure.
Boost, EGT, oil pressure and wideband gauges are going in Rob’s 2G Eclsipe GSX as that build continues…
I started the engine run in on Brian’s 04 STI.
We talked to FIC about the injector issue and they agreed that Jon’s 650cc WRX injectors need to go in for cleaning and testing so they’ll be coming out.
We diagnosed a turbo oil leak on Rich’s STI. It turns out the turbo itself is internally damaged and the oil is leaking out of the center section, then seeping out between the turbo center section and exhaust housing. Time for another turbo… We discussed the Evo 3 16g as a more durable replacement for the stock turbo, a turbo inlet hose to replace his aging stock unit and some supporting mods.
AND…we did some spring cleaning which will continue here and there as we can spare a little time. I finally decided to let a bunch of my old junk go so the scrap pile is growing.
3/17/10-3/20/10 - Newman’s Skyline powered BMW and more…
Newman’s labor of love was dropped off Thursday evening for us to start preparations for tuning. For those not familiar with his build, he’s taken an E30 BMW and swapped in an RB26DETT Skyline GT-R engine, which he’s modified including the installation of a GT35R single turbo setup and more.
When the car arrived we did the following:
compression and leakdown testing
tie wrap vacuum lines
remove headlight, smoke test intake system for boost leaks
remove compressor housing, seal, reinstall housing
Newman fought with a PITA balance tube leak and won
oil change and filter inspection
replace non functioning wideband o2 sensor
diagnose MAP sensor wiring issues
Newman fixed the wiring issues
start car and bleed coolant system
get car onto dyno and call it a night
The next day we:
wrapped and secured the new wideband sensor cable so it doesn’t melt on the header
smoke tested the exhaust system for leaks
found leaks at some welds, at the v-bands, and at the muffler
Exhaust sealant was used on the v-bands. One is sealed now. The other one still leaks a little, but it’s far enough back and nowhere near the wideband that it doesn’t need to be fixed right now. It can be fixed off the dyno.
Newman got a clamp for the muffler which was just stuck in the exhaust pipe when it arrived and that took care of that leak for the most part.
We strapped the car down and I started the partial throttle tuning.
Saturday I came in ready to get the bulk of the remaining tuning done. The cold start, warmup, and hot start related corrections are all very close to dialed, idle is good, tip in is snappy, and I worked on partial throttle tuning. Newman made new ground connections for the ignition module, we put some fresh plugs in the car gapped down to ready to boost the car, but before we got a chance to we hit a snag.
Timing syncs and holds steady at idle, but as the RPM went up we started to notice some misfiring. At 4000 RPM and still at or less than 1 psi the misfiring was noticeable so we started to investigate. I found the AEM EMS was counting timing errors. We got the timing light back out, I locked the timing at 25 degrees and we performed a slow sweep in neutral, so the load was a low as possible, from 2000-4000 RPM. As the RPMs went up the timing remained at 25 degrees until we exceeded ~3300 RPM at which point timing advanced a huge amount and started bouncing around the 40-60 degree area getting worse as the RPMs went up. We let right off. Needless to say that’s a serious problem.
I got my scope out and we set it up to record the crank and cam outputs from the Newman modified CAS (cam angle sensor). At idle the signal is very clean. Around the problem area, the signal deteriorates slightly, but that doesn’t seem to be the cause of the problem. Please note these voltages represent actual voltage divided by two as we had a voltage divider in place between the sensors and the scope.
Idle (2 cycles shown):
idle zoomed in more:
Near 4000 RPM full cycles:
Near 4000 RPM zoomed in more:
Now that we see the proper 24 teeth with one sync per cycle we can move forward with the diagnosis. The wiring is fine, both signal outputs are functional and look pretty good so we’ll contact AEM (the manufacturer of the engine management system on this car) Monday to discuss why the coils are being fired over 30 degrees too far advanced when this fault occurs.
In other news…
Engine run in continued on Brian’s STI and we gave it a bath.
We started diagnosing Ray’s Eclipse GS-T Wednesday. It was towed here with a myriad of electrical issues. The alarm wiring was interfering with some important engine control circuits, the alternator’s voltage regulator was shot, fuses were blown etc. A new alternator is on the way and then we’ll continue repairs on that car next week.
Aaron brought his 06 STI in for an ACT upgraded clutch kit install. After running a very aggressive stock turbo mapping for a while which generates a lot of torque, the stock clutch was spent. We had the stock flywheel resurfaced and reinstalled it along with the new clutch, throwout bearing and pilot bearing.
While his car was here we diagnosed a methanol injection kit flow sensor issue on his car. The turbine inside the sensor turned out to be jammed up so it’s going back for warranty replacement and a new one will be fitted. We also found that the crack in his turbine housing is stretching, but it will be replaced with an upgraded unit soon, so it’s not a big concern. A meth bung was also welded in a charge pipe in preparation for an upcoming front mount intercooler install.
We continued the spring cleaning and purchased more industrial shelving to make sure we have a big shelf available for each build we’re working on to keep things organized.
