My Other DIY Project.

[bassmonster]

Was running lower octane so the ECU had pulled the ignition advance multiplier all down to 0, so I'm missing a bunch of power.

[Grant Bunter]

Accident waiting to happen, everyone's driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!

Hehehehehehe

[DJPhatman]

Accident waiting to happen, everyone's driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!

Hehehehehehe

We don't drive whilst standing on our head!

But, bassmonster, driving while holding a cell phone, camera, whatever is very, very dangerous. Please don't. While we have never met face to face, I would feel just awful to find out you were hurt, or worse, while driving with a distraction.

[bassmonster]

Good point. I didn't think much of it until afterwards, "wow that was kinda stupid" Kind of hard to steer, shift, and hold the phone. I think I'll get one of those suction cup iPhone mounts so I can make videos without having to fiddle around with anything.

Here's the current setup:



It's actually a pretty complex setup. The throttle body is completely relocated, which involved me extending both harnesses. The tightness of the OEM wiring meant that I had to solder wires together using only about 1cm of wire. I also had to extend the coolant lines and completely re-plumb the PCV and breather lines into the custom manifold. In order to keep the supercharger clutch from slipping at high RPM (the Mercedes blower uses a clutched pulley instead of a bypass valve), I had to drill, tap, and bolt the clutch plate to the pulley, all while keeping it balanced.

The white tubing at the top of the manifold is tubing for my boost gauge that I mounted next to the A-pillar. I had to drill and tap the manifold all while sucking aluminum shavings out of the engine, which was scary. I should have teed into the brake booster line for simplicity, but this is much more accurate since it's right at the manifold and not affected when you push the brakes. Also, I know that's probably the worst location for an air filter inhaling the hottest air in the engine bay, but it's kind of cramped in there now with the supercharger, brackets, and extra piping. Eventually I'll re-route that so I can get colder air. As is, I'm not afraid to drive this every day. It's reliable enough that I don't worry about breaking down. With 93 octane it's not knocking, even though the IAM is pulled to 0. Once I get a proper tune it should run much better, and then I can slap a 6 psi pulley on there and bruise some egos.

Speaking of reliability, I replaced both front wheel bearings and ball joints. Took about an hour with a borrowed shop press and new bearings and seals. I'm surprised I had to replace both fronts, usually the rears go first. I also dialed in some more negative camber on the fronts, because I want all the oversteer I can handle.

I'm also thinking of buying a secondhand Eaton M112 roots blower to use for a blow-through-carb setup for my Ford 289 build. I've acquired a set of built heads for that for free.

[Tom Smit]

You're pretty handy with your hands.

[bassmonster]

Thanks. Honestly, I think building BFM subwoofers were my first real foray into the world of DIY, and I'm very thankful for this forum! I gain much of my skill from just being willing to plunge into a project and try something new. There's a difference between diving in to a project prepared and just going in blind. I always do plenty of research beforehand, which is why I haven't had any major failures (knock on wood). The only real setback I've suffered was a bad transmission.

[shawn_g]

Looking good. Are you using Romraider for tuning?

I'd be slightly concerned about that IAM value. It would probably be good to drop the timing across the board to be safe until you can get a good tune on there.

[Chris_Allen]

I'd be slightly concerned about that IAM value. It would probably be good to drop the timing across the board to be safe until you can get a good tune on there.

+1

Valves don't like pistons very much and crankshafts don't like misfires. Nice work though! I used to love working on cars but it started to get frustrating and tedious. Garage does everything now.

[bassmonster]

Looking good. Are you using Romraider for tuning?

I'd be slightly concerned about that IAM value. It would probably be good to drop the timing across the board to be safe until you can get a good tune on there.

Yes, I repurposed my old Windows laptop and am using Romraider and a Tactrix 2.0 OpenPort. I originally had a problem with getting it connect, but deleting the TCU solved that. Also, contrary to popular belief, the TCU does NOT serve as the ABS controller on the '06+ DBW cars.

IAM is the ECU's way of pulling timing across the board when it detects repetitive strings of knock events, but obviously it isn't a good permanent solution. Apparently, the NA cars usually run 0.5 or 0.75 IAM and it's still considered healthy, but an IAM of 1.0 is considered the ideal for turbo cars.

I have a feeling that most of this is the fact that I had a vacuum leak at idle when I pulled my ROM. The video of the first start idle on the previous page shows a lot of stumbling because the car was running so lean. I'm not sure though, because at idle the car is in open loop and the knock control system shouldn't be active then. Logs of pulls all come up clean with low knock counts.

I sent an email to several Subaru tuners and I'm going down to Atlanta this weekend to visit Georgia Tech again before I commit there, so perhaps I can run down to TopSpeed Motorsports in Alpharetta.

[shawn_g]

I have a feeling that most of this is the fact that I had a vacuum leak at idle when I pulled my ROM. The video of the first start idle on the previous page shows a lot of stumbling because the car was running so lean. I'm not sure though, because at idle the car is in open loop and the knock control system shouldn't be active then. Logs of pulls all come up clean with low knock counts.

I get what you're saying, but if the IAM is still at 0 after resetting the ECU, it's definitely knocking bad enough somewhere to pull that much timing. The learning view tables should give you good insight on your problem areas.

I've got a self tuned 06' Legacy GT. It's the grown up version of my old WRX (and also much faster)

[bassmonster]

The learning view tables should give you good insight on your problem areas.

I've got a self tuned 06' Legacy GT. It's the grown up version of my old WRX (and also much faster)

Unfortunately, Learning View doesn't work for my specific ECU. I've been reading some of the logs, and it's very time-consuming. It seems the problem areas are right off throttle tip-in, which I'm guessing is coming from the delay between open and closed loop and the extra space in the intake tract between the MAF sensor and the cylinders.

Ooh, I'm jealous of the LGT. I want an '06 LGT 5-speed, that or a 5MT Outback XT.

[shawn_g]

The learning view tables should give you good insight on your problem areas.

I've got a self tuned 06' Legacy GT. It's the grown up version of my old WRX (and also much faster)

Unfortunately, Learning View doesn't work for my specific ECU. I've been reading some of the logs, and it's very time-consuming. It seems the problem areas are right off throttle tip-in, which I'm guessing is coming from the delay between open and closed loop and the extra space in the intake tract between the MAF sensor and the cylinders.

Ooh, I'm jealous of the LGT. I want an '06 LGT 5-speed, that or a 5MT Outback XT.

Bummer on the learning view, it's really handy for tuning. I gave up on trying to get rid of every little throttle tip-in knock on mine and found that it's nearly impossible to completely eliminate it.

I've only had my LGT since July of last year, but I absolutely love it for the sleeper factor. Here's a quick run I did where I accidentally hit the rev limiter in 2nd. I'll probably get scolded for holding the camera while driving . Oh, and it was a closed course, yeah, definitely.
http://youtu.be/FAz77QpzlUk

[Charles Jenkinson]

That's moving some. I like it. Fast cars are great. And the dedication you've shown to do the mods you have is equally impressive.

[bassmonster]

I've only had my LGT since July of last year, but I absolutely love it for the sleeper factor. Here's a quick run I did where I accidentally hit the rev limiter in 2nd. I'll probably get scolded for holding the camera while driving . Oh, and it was a closed course, yeah, definitely.
http://youtu.be/FAz77QpzlUk

Wow, that's pretty quick. I enjoyed the sound of the Megan exhaust on some of your other videos.

To be honest, I would love to tune it myself, but where should I begin? I know the basic logic of the ECU as it pertains to knock control and AFR sensing, but I don't know which tables to modify first, and I don't know how I should modify them. Should I start with rescaling the MAF sensor, then pulling ~20 degrees of timing across the board then gradually making changes in fueling? I guess I should just bite the bullet and get a pro-tune, but being able to tune it myself would be really neat.

That's moving some. I like it. Fast cars are great. And the dedication you've shown to do the mods you have is equally impressive.

Thanks. This car is getting to the point where it's finally able to get out of its own way.

In other automotive project news, I'm taking my Ford 289 block to the machine shop today to have them hot tank and magna flux it. If the block is healthy I'll continue the build. I'm turning this into a father-and-son project like my first BFM subwoofer was. Since I'm getting a free set of built heads, we might decide to do a mild high RPM build with this motor just for the fun of it. And since I'm going to Georgia Tech, which has a Grassroots Motorsports program, maybe I can drop it into a cheap rolling chassis for the $2014 GRM Challenge. Of course, that's thinking far ahead.

[Chris_Allen]

IAM is the ECU's way of pulling timing across the board when it detects repetitive strings of knock events, but obviously it isn't a good permanent solution. Apparently, the NA cars usually run 0.5 or 0.75 IAM and it's still considered healthy, but an IAM of 1.0 is considered the ideal for turbo cars.

I suppose that depends on the range of the multiplier and how it was orginally tuned.