Back from Ground Zero
01-20-2007, 10:00 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 545
Well I drove down my 82 turbo fb down to Portland this morning. I just swapped in the Power fc and it was time to get it tuned in. Bmwgirl brought down the 540i just incase. Got to hang out in their new show room for awhile and drool over all the cars. Then they gave us a tour of the new shop. They have a seperate dyno room, probably because rotaries burn so clean. They also have 4 car lifts, and a cnc. Really a cool shop.
OK down to brass tacks. It went really well, we didn't get the numbers we were looking for, but that was a product of the "winter gas" and not Ground Zero. Ralph ended up having to pull back some additional timing and turn the boost down. What was happening was a lot of knocking under boost because of the crappy 92 octance. So Ralph went ahead just set up the pfc to be really conservative with timing, fuel and boost. I will eventually go back once March 1 rolls by and they bring out the summer gas.
So the numbers, He ended up hitting 232 at 6.7 psi of boost and 8000 rpm and 155 lb ft at 6200. First off 232 at 6.7 is pretty impressive in itself, especially with retarded timing. Also look at the dyno sheet; the horse power just keeps climbing and torque is relatively flat for a large stretch of the graph.
The feeling is we should be able to squeeze quite a bit more out of it later this year, depending on Ralph's opinion we may throw in some race gas and run it up to 15 psi. All and all pretty pleased with what they were able to accomplish with so little boost and crappy fuel. Thanks to Ralph, Chris, and Brian for their great work. Sorry no video or pics of the dyno runs, closed room, insurance you know.
OK down to brass tacks. It went really well, we didn't get the numbers we were looking for, but that was a product of the "winter gas" and not Ground Zero. Ralph ended up having to pull back some additional timing and turn the boost down. What was happening was a lot of knocking under boost because of the crappy 92 octance. So Ralph went ahead just set up the pfc to be really conservative with timing, fuel and boost. I will eventually go back once March 1 rolls by and they bring out the summer gas.
So the numbers, He ended up hitting 232 at 6.7 psi of boost and 8000 rpm and 155 lb ft at 6200. First off 232 at 6.7 is pretty impressive in itself, especially with retarded timing. Also look at the dyno sheet; the horse power just keeps climbing and torque is relatively flat for a large stretch of the graph.
The feeling is we should be able to squeeze quite a bit more out of it later this year, depending on Ralph's opinion we may throw in some race gas and run it up to 15 psi. All and all pretty pleased with what they were able to accomplish with so little boost and crappy fuel. Thanks to Ralph, Chris, and Brian for their great work. Sorry no video or pics of the dyno runs, closed room, insurance you know.
01-20-2007, 10:23 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: WA State
Posts: 475
I have to say I am more than happy with the tune, even though we aren't at the boost/hp we had hoped for. THat will be coming sooner than we will know it, I"m sure. It is so much faster, all across the powerband.
The car runs so great, the power is so smooth and consistant and there is no more stutter or hesitation at all. It almost feels like the MCoupe. It is going to be so much more enjoyable to autocross as we won't have to be guessing on how it will run for the day and whether or not the power will come in.
I had forgotton how much fun the car is to drive
I'm sad to say though that it is now faster than the 540, even from 2nd and 3rd gear pulls. It's still fun to be in a good race though and I will keep trying, maybe he will miss a shift or something I just need to find a track long enough to get into sixth gear and then she'll be a winner again.
Thanks again to everyone at GroundZero - you all are great!
The car runs so great, the power is so smooth and consistant and there is no more stutter or hesitation at all. It almost feels like the MCoupe. It is going to be so much more enjoyable to autocross as we won't have to be guessing on how it will run for the day and whether or not the power will come in.
I had forgotton how much fun the car is to drive
I'm sad to say though that it is now faster than the 540, even from 2nd and 3rd gear pulls. It's still fun to be in a good race though and I will keep trying, maybe he will miss a shift or something
Thanks again to everyone at GroundZero - you all are great!
01-20-2007, 10:42 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: WA State
Posts: 475
Originally Posted by Kill No Cone' post='854238' date='Jan 20 2007, 08:31 PM
Well you should be able to get it into sixth during a track day, but then you have to worry about breaking from 130 mph.
Your funny, the 5 series hit 125 in fourth when we did the PDX event, but I ran out of track. I heard a rumor that Spokane has a long straightaway though. Just so hard on the tires, stopping ~3800 lbs.
01-20-2007, 11:40 PM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 519
Excellent numbers from the psi you are running at. Congrats! Things can only go higher from there.
Winter gas sucks really bad. I have a completely stock turbo Volvo and I have noticed that power and driveability has only got worse during the winter months.
Also my trade deal fell through for the moment with the MPV for 740 turbo sedan (hopefully I will have good news). I was supposed to meet them but as luck/fate may have it the person was having a leak from the turbo from the same place mine was leaking (only theirs was bad enough that she did not want to drive it at all).
Hopefully soon I will have a 740 turbo sedan to commute/race LOL!
Winter gas sucks really bad. I have a completely stock turbo Volvo and I have noticed that power and driveability has only got worse during the winter months.
Also my trade deal fell through for the moment with the MPV for 740 turbo sedan (hopefully I will have good news). I was supposed to meet them but as luck/fate may have it the person was having a leak from the turbo from the same place mine was leaking (only theirs was bad enough that she did not want to drive it at all).
Hopefully soon I will have a 740 turbo sedan to commute/race LOL!
01-21-2007, 11:05 AM
#9
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 545
Yea, I should of dragged out the standalone swap till March, but I like to get stuff done asap. Great to have it up and running again and to know I can beat on it without detonating apart. The good news is that Ground Zero uses a Mustang Dyno, so if anything those numbers are on the low side.
