Hoon
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Rhode Island
It's been a bittersweet day in my MK7 journey.
Last weekend i swapped to a Vortex XL and changed up a few other supporting mods. It rained pretty much all week in New England so today was the first day i could get out and tune. I wanted to get a decent street tune in the car before putting it on the dyno, it saves a ton of time having all the airflow and fueling work very close to final before the car goes on the rollers.
I went out before sunrise this morning to get some open highways and got to work on the tune. 5 revisions later, the boost and fueling are looking excellent, E65 fuel (which is what the only local pump has) and 33 psi boost. I was fighting a knock issue (particularly Cyl 4) which simply shouldn't be a factor at the timing level i'm running, but despite the low timing it's making very good power. I've driven this car for over 20K miles @ 400whp and this is substantially more. Traction in 3rd gear @ 400whp really isn't an issue, you can pretty much dead hook with a good tire/conditions. Now, even on 17" wheels with 245s it will overpower the tires all the way to the 7400rpm limiter, which is right around 100mph. I did a lot of 140+mph datalogs because i had to use 4th gear for most of them. The thing is fucking rowdy, simple as that.
I had a few things to do and on my way home i ran into a super clean 98-02 Camaro SS. It had skinnies up front, big DRs in the rear, lowered, etc. Very nice f-body, you just don't see clean ones anymore. As you all know, i absolutely instigated. Drop to 3rd gear at 70-75mph, and motion for him to take the hit. He gives me this look like dude are you serious? You're not worth the gas. He was not amused. So i sit there for a few seconds in 3rd gear, and he and his wife/GF are talking for a second as shes pointing / gesturing to me. Pretty sure she talked him into it, lmfao. He downshifts to 3rd and tells me to take the hit. We're both cocky, lol. I don't want a win that way, so i honk 3x and we both hit it. He must have had a drag suspension setup for weight transfer, because i swear the front of that thing jumped up 6" as he put 1/2 car on me instantly with the N/A jump...and then 33psi hit, the front tires broke loose and i was on my way. As soon as he realized he was about to eat the whole Gapplebees menu, he lifted.
10 min later my low oil light comes on...
It's been 3600 miles since my last oil change and the car, since new, has drank 1/2 qt every 5K miles. Uh oh.
Pulled the plugs when I got home and Cyl 1 looked to have some carbon on it, but these plugs have only seen E65 which just leaves white residue, not dark carbon. Ed @ EQT suggested compression and leakdown, already had the plugs out so why not. I did a compression test about 20K miles ago after getting fuel starvation at the track. That test was done cold and all cyls were 188-192 IIRC.
This test was somewhat warm and Cyl 1 came back at 172, about 18psi lost over 20K miles.The others came in from 181-185. I was also down a full qt of oil, so the rate of consumption has tripled. I don't have a leakdown tester so i did a wet compression test and cyl 1 shot right up to 188, so the compression is going by the rings. Based on the disappearing oil and plug appearance, the compression is going down and the oil is going up.
The last time I did plugs i noticed oil on the cyl 1 threads, but dismissed it assuming it was the stupid valve cover (again). Checked that today and it's not leaking, so it appears to confirm the theory.
This also explains why my catch can is full much more frequently than other people, and why despite replacing all components and following the service manual to the letter, i couldn't get my upper timing cover to stop leaking. A lot of boost + a worn piston/rings/bore and crankcase pressure will be an issue.
I haven't decided the course of action from here, but i'm going to run it for all its worth until the end of the season and then figure it out over the winter. I really didn't want to build a motor for this car...
Last weekend i swapped to a Vortex XL and changed up a few other supporting mods. It rained pretty much all week in New England so today was the first day i could get out and tune. I wanted to get a decent street tune in the car before putting it on the dyno, it saves a ton of time having all the airflow and fueling work very close to final before the car goes on the rollers.
I went out before sunrise this morning to get some open highways and got to work on the tune. 5 revisions later, the boost and fueling are looking excellent, E65 fuel (which is what the only local pump has) and 33 psi boost. I was fighting a knock issue (particularly Cyl 4) which simply shouldn't be a factor at the timing level i'm running, but despite the low timing it's making very good power. I've driven this car for over 20K miles @ 400whp and this is substantially more. Traction in 3rd gear @ 400whp really isn't an issue, you can pretty much dead hook with a good tire/conditions. Now, even on 17" wheels with 245s it will overpower the tires all the way to the 7400rpm limiter, which is right around 100mph. I did a lot of 140+mph datalogs because i had to use 4th gear for most of them. The thing is fucking rowdy, simple as that.
I had a few things to do and on my way home i ran into a super clean 98-02 Camaro SS. It had skinnies up front, big DRs in the rear, lowered, etc. Very nice f-body, you just don't see clean ones anymore. As you all know, i absolutely instigated. Drop to 3rd gear at 70-75mph, and motion for him to take the hit. He gives me this look like dude are you serious? You're not worth the gas. He was not amused. So i sit there for a few seconds in 3rd gear, and he and his wife/GF are talking for a second as shes pointing / gesturing to me. Pretty sure she talked him into it, lmfao. He downshifts to 3rd and tells me to take the hit. We're both cocky, lol. I don't want a win that way, so i honk 3x and we both hit it. He must have had a drag suspension setup for weight transfer, because i swear the front of that thing jumped up 6" as he put 1/2 car on me instantly with the N/A jump...and then 33psi hit, the front tires broke loose and i was on my way. As soon as he realized he was about to eat the whole Gapplebees menu, he lifted.
10 min later my low oil light comes on...
It's been 3600 miles since my last oil change and the car, since new, has drank 1/2 qt every 5K miles. Uh oh.
Pulled the plugs when I got home and Cyl 1 looked to have some carbon on it, but these plugs have only seen E65 which just leaves white residue, not dark carbon. Ed @ EQT suggested compression and leakdown, already had the plugs out so why not. I did a compression test about 20K miles ago after getting fuel starvation at the track. That test was done cold and all cyls were 188-192 IIRC.
This test was somewhat warm and Cyl 1 came back at 172, about 18psi lost over 20K miles.The others came in from 181-185. I was also down a full qt of oil, so the rate of consumption has tripled. I don't have a leakdown tester so i did a wet compression test and cyl 1 shot right up to 188, so the compression is going by the rings. Based on the disappearing oil and plug appearance, the compression is going down and the oil is going up.
The last time I did plugs i noticed oil on the cyl 1 threads, but dismissed it assuming it was the stupid valve cover (again). Checked that today and it's not leaking, so it appears to confirm the theory.
This also explains why my catch can is full much more frequently than other people, and why despite replacing all components and following the service manual to the letter, i couldn't get my upper timing cover to stop leaking. A lot of boost + a worn piston/rings/bore and crankcase pressure will be an issue.
I haven't decided the course of action from here, but i'm going to run it for all its worth until the end of the season and then figure it out over the winter. I really didn't want to build a motor for this car...
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