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Update: Mechanically I am very happy with where the car is sitting now. I have replaced the Holley EFI coil with my new AEM coil again. While in the process I decided to give the engine another compression test and clean up the spark plugs. I'm now feeling 100% ready for the tuning session I have re-booked with Shawn for this upcoming Monday afternoon.
I have still been quite leery to drive the car due to EGT's (no, I unfortunately do not have a sensor for this) as even after pulling a lot of fuel I am still seeing the glowing turbine/downpipe flange (the car is still running quite rich IMO and just haven't had the opportunity to keep pulling fuel and testing). I still believe this is just a tuning issue and hoping this will be sorted out by Shawn on Monday. Keep in mind the AFR's displayed in the video below on my Adaptronic software are reading 0.5 leaner than my stand-alone AEM UEGO,
After ~350kms on this engine now, I am very please to see the compression results; seems my slow, cautious approach is paying off . Keep in mind this was a cold engine test as compared to the warm test I did at 0kms. The numbers are likely inflated somewhat; but nonetheless compression has risen and as a result I'm seeing much improved idle vacuum numbers too. Will post up again after my tuning session; hoping I can put my remaining break in km's on over the next couple weeks and start introducing boost!
Good news, when do you expect to start using boost?
Originally Posted by TeamRX8
^^hey, that’s my line …
So while I'm doing my break in KM's now I'll be logging and submitting to Shawn, he will fine tune as we go and after 2-3 maps it should be ready to introduce the boost (hopefully in the next couple weeks). My first session with Shawn went really good; I can't believe how much more smooth the car runs/drives on just his basetune vs my POS map (maybe I shouldn't be too surprised lol).
I'm loosely following the below break in procedure; my understanding is that this is from Rx7 Specialties in Calgary, AB.
I'm currently premixing at 80:1 (roughly 1.9oz/gal). This might be a bit excessive, I'm not sure yet; we'll play round some more.
Here's some videos I took from right after the tuning session:
Also... a bit of trouble shooting. In the second video you can see I have two dash lights on that have only been there since installing this second engine.
The traction light is on. I turn the wheel both directions and restart the car.... it then turns off for a short period of time then comes back on. I know my steering shaft is 1 or 2 splines off center; will be adjusting this back to proper; but could this be the culprit for this light??
Secondly, my red airbag light is on. This starts as off whenever I fire up the car but after a short amount of time it begins flashing in intervals of 3. It does this for a while then stays on solid. Any ideas where to begin to get rid of this one? Sorry for the newb questions... no I have not searched the forum yet
Just dumping some photos of fuel lines (supply and return) and fuel filter are installed, Fuel assembly is modified to hold the Walbro 450 and Radium venturi.
Hey how is it going man!!! Im guessing youre put away at the moment since its pretty cold up there.
For the past couple hrs i just went thru your whole thread since the start and damn!!! pretty awesome adventure for sure, sucks that it cost you a rebuild due to backward lines.
I got an already swapped 8 and i think ive talked to you a couple times on facebook... Im trying to change some things im not really happy with the way they were done with the car and your thread might actually confirm some similar things with mine, but wont know till i get to check that lol.
My biggest thing right now is the whole fuel pump setup, i have been wanting to get one of those b2a or jdl tanks, but at the same time im not sure i want to spend that kind of money on that if a modification can be made to the OE tank and use that extra money on something else. Mine has a 044 bosh under the car literally by the driver seat, using the oe pump as lift to a surge tank that i dont like in the trunk with hoses coming down the pillar and not even allowing the seat to completed lock right, plus theres a fuel smell and im pretty positive is from a fitting that was put to the surge tank on the fuel tank hat that is just not sealed right .
But anyway, i want to get rid of the surge tank and just keep it clean like you and others here i guess have done it before i just go a get a fuel cell instead rather than buying one of those tanks mentioned before lol....
With that being said, i was going to ask you if by any chance you happen to have more pics of what all was done inside the pump assembly? like how you mounted the pump, venturi , how you connected the hose to the other tank and everything lol
I'm pretty sure those to quoted pics are self explanatory with that long hose being plugged to the siphon nipple, but i always like to have as many pics for ref as possible.
I'm a complete noob to the 8 chassis and havent really had much time to get to learn much of it yet.
Hey Man! Thanks for taking the time to read the thread, it's definitely been a process but at the moment slow and steady truly seems to have won the race for me
I do have some more photos that I'm happy to share; I didn't get crazy with photos at that stage in the build so where I am lacking in photos I should be able to clear up with you just having a discussion.
For ease of communication and photo sharing hit me up on FB messenger or Instagram chat. FB: Jesse Aumiller Insta: @Papaburgundy18
As far as build update goes I unfortunately don't have a whole bunch to share. I managed to get 1,600kms on the engine this year before having to park it for winter (drove it right until the last day I could before we got blanketed in snow).
Recently I installed a Radium microglass 6 micron in-line fuel filter and performed a vacuum leak test using an actual smoke machine (this thing worked phenomenally). Essentially I blocked off my turbo inlet and pumped smoke into my UIM. I found 1 coupler connection that had a leak and also found a leak on my rear secondary fuel injector. These are two leaks I wasn't able to find with a brake cleaner spray test or a soapy water test previously. I have all brand new injector O-Rings that I will replace over the winter to button this issue up. I've noticed over the last few starts that fuel is slowly working it's way past the o-ring worse and worse each time; so glad I caught this as the rear secondary injector is tough to see as it's essentially right up against the firewall.
Tuning has been going good and I have the green light to start boosting for my next logs (which unfortunately won't be until the spring time). Once we have a solid street tune it will be on to a dyno session. I am extremely pleased with the way things have gone since getting the car back with this fresh engine at the end of July; just a few minor mechanical and electrical items to address over the winter.
Prior to winter storage I did perform a compression test to see where I'm sitting. This test was done cold so I could compare it to my previous test. Happy to report that numbers have come up (about 5-10psi since last test) and all faces seem to have leveled out very nicely!
Hey Man! Thanks for taking the time to read the thread, it's definitely been a process but at the moment slow and steady truly seems to have won the race for me
I do have some more photos that I'm happy to share; I didn't get crazy with photos at that stage in the build so where I am lacking in photos I should be able to clear up with you just having a discussion.
For ease of communication and photo sharing hit me up on FB messenger or Instagram chat. FB: Jesse Aumiller Insta: @Papaburgundy18
Awesome, I'll hit you up there!
Hopefully everything goes smooth so once the warmer weather comes you're able to hit the road!
Browsed through the thread a bit as the 13B-REW is near and dear to my heart, have been modding them since 1998 or so
Very awesome how far back the engine is, based on one of the pics up above it looks like the LIM to UIM area is very close the firewall. Are you concerned about contact when the engine torques under wide open throttle? Perhaps solid motor mounts to help mitigate? Inquiring minds would like to know!
Hey RX, spring is starting to show up, Is the 8 all ready to go now?
Everything is looking good. Have a live tuning session with Shawn this evening to give everything a once over before I start logging with some boost; but other than that just waiting for the weather to smarten up and the roads to be swept (street sweeping starting tomorrow). I have had the car started and running and took if for a short lap around the block; everything is looking and feeling very solid.
Originally Posted by GoodfellaFD3S
Browsed through the thread a bit as the 13B-REW is near and dear to my heart, have been modding them since 1998 or so
Very awesome how far back the engine is, based on one of the pics up above it looks like the LIM to UIM area is very close the firewall. Are you concerned about contact when the engine torques under wide open throttle? Perhaps solid motor mounts to help mitigate? Inquiring minds would like to know!
Agreed, the UIM/LIM is very close to the firewall. In hindsight I think I would have liked to try an Excessive LIM (I'm just not sure if it would fit with my turbo manifold or not) which would have sat a little more forward. But what's done is done, my piping and everything is fabbed so no changing to it now unless I want to change a handful of items. With that being said though I am far from the first person to use this mount and the stock intake manifolds so I don't foresee any issues. The manifolds are very tight to the firewall in the Y axis (front/back) of the car but in the Z axis (vertical up/down) there is plenty of room. I'm able to remove the UIM from the LIM by lifting it straight up and over the studs in the LIM; so any bit of torque movement by the engine shouldn't be an issue and the Banzai brace I have does have Polyurethane mounts so they are quite firm.
Last edited by RotaryMachineRx; 04-18-2022 at 04:39 PM.
Unfortunately haven't had much chance to do anything lately. My alternator crapped out and in the process of getting this replaced I learned that because I'm using an RX7 Alternator that it was actually wired in wrong. The Rx8 alternator is wired directly to, and regulated by the ECU. The Rx7 alternator is internally regulated. I had the Rx7 alternator just directly plugged into the stock ecu harness connector, so luckily I was wasn't experiencing any over voltage to date and no harm no foul. What I did learn is that this was big potential to fry the ECU (yikes). Anyways, I bought a refurbished rx7 alternator, and a new alternator connector/pig tail. On this new connector pulled the Sense line to a 12V constant source (post in my fuse box under the hood) then used an "Add-a-Fuse" to supply 12V switched from my 20Amp wiper fuse in the same fuse box to the Lamp pin of the alternator connector. Also soldered a 470ohm 2W resistor into this line to replicate the Rx7 dash warning light which is needed to excite the alternator. Everything seems to be working fine now... but since finishing this up last Sunday I've only put maybe 15kms on the car lol. Hoping to get it out this weekend for a good shakedown and some boosted logs for Shawn. Assuming this alternator issue was the last of my minor gremlins, hoping to see things progress along much faster now and it's strictly just tuning left.
I have been more confident getting into about 3-4psi the last few drives though, so I know everything seems smooth up to that point for now.
I'd say the last item that is still on my mind is the rate at which I seem to be fouling spark plugs. I'm currently still using BUR9EQ's so they aren't exactly expensive but they seem to be getting carboned up really fast. I'm hoping that's still just because of the large amount of idling I've been doing with the car and the relatively short starts/shutdowns that were involved just assessing the new alternator wiring (engine is still relatively brand new at ~1600kms or 995miles). Will continue to keep on eye on this but I did however also buy some BUR9EQP's (platinum instead of copper) in hopes that I'll get more extended life out of these; should hopefully know more after this weekend in regards to alternator shakedown and how the car is driving. I do have some better NGK R7420-10's to use, but want to get everything shaken down and my tune more boost friendly before I put the expensive plugs in (I can literally buy 20 BUR's for the same price as the 4 R7420's). For now here is a few clips from last weekend.
Dwell times are set between 3 and 3.6ms depending on RPM and Voltage.
So seems like I take 2 steps forward 1 step back always. I haven't had any time to put any further diagnosis into this; but ever since wiring in the new alternator the car started running on only one rotor after getting a short distance from my house. Essentially car will start and idle okay, then I start to drive and about a km from home the engine will start to run on only 1 rotor. If I pull over and let the car idle the dead rotor will come back to life. This is repeatable and I was able to get this to happen 3 times in a row. I of course was logging during all of this and my voltage seems to be solid between 13.8 and 14.4v at all times, so I'm hoping this is unrelated and just a coincidence that it has happened after installing the newly wired alternator.
I did manage to get a timing light hooked up while the car was idling on 1 rotor and it certainly appears at first assessment that my front leading spark is intermittently misfiring/non-firing with the other 3 seem to be solid. Next steps will be to test my alternators output with a voltmeter directly to make sure I'm seeing the same that Adaptronic is showing (someone else I know is seeing a different voltage here than with a multimeter); and swapping some plug wires around to see if it is just a failing plug wire. If it sticks with leading front rotor then I have a spare coil I can swap in. If the problem still persists after this then I know it's either a wiring issue or an issue with the ECU itself. Let's just hope its a failing plug wire for now
Some further diagnosis, looking for some input if anyone has seen anything similar or what to dig into next here.
I tested resistance of all my plug wires and they are all within spec and nearly identical to each other. 59ohms for trailing and 70ohms leading (leading are slightly longer). Pulling my brand new spark plugs after 10-20kms (yes basically a couple spins down the highway where only one rotor started firing on me) of driving you can see that the front plugs were definitely the ones not firing.
Now considering this problem has sprung up since wiring in the Rx7 alternator with 12V constant from fuse box post to sense and 12V switched (from 20A wiper fuse in front fuse box) with an inline 470ohm resistor to the lamp post, I'm thinking the issue lies somewhere here. My intent is to plug the Rx7 alternator back into the ECU temporarily to see if this changes the issue; but could this be some sort of electrical interference with how my alternator is wired in? Based on all the homework I've done the actual voltage sources are correct and I'm seeing a steady 13.8 to 14.4volts. Is it possible that this is just a symptom of the locations I used for my voltage sources? Please talk to me like I'm dumb (because I am when it comes to electrical by trying my best to learn fast). See below video to explain how my alternator was wired in:
You should not plug it into the ecu, it’s not that type of alternator. If anything, hopefully something in the ecu didn’t get fried when it was plugged in previously.
It’s a bit hard for me to guide you on this since mine is the RX8 front cover and ecu-controlled alternator, but what is everyone else in your same situation doing is the place to start.
You should not plug it into the ecu, it’s not that type of alternator. If anything, hopefully something in the ecu didn’t get fried when it was plugged in previously.
It’s a bit hard for me to guide you on this since mine is the RX8 front cover and ecu-controlled alternator, but what is everyone else in your same situation doing is the place to start.
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I agree, fortunately looking at some older logs while I had the Rx7 alternator plugged into the ECU I never saw any voltage higher than 14.7V. I've been offered from someone local to borrow their Rx8 alternator so I can pop that in and test it out with the stock wiring again. In addition to that I'm thinking I will pop in my spare coil into the L1 spot and see if the coil has potentially been damaged due to the voltage spiking. Seems like this could be likely as it seems to only fail under load, meaning the coils are probably running a bit hotter than idle and the issue goes away at idle as the coil cools off some.
Reviewing logs after wiring in the Rx7 alternator I saw about an hour of problem free, great feeling driving (as indicated in the video in my post a few back) with voltage between 14.0 and 14.2. This was with my 12V constant and 12v switched sources mixed up, but I don't think that should really pose much of an issue?? Then oddly out of nowhere the voltage spiking occurred. Looking at my logs it appears to have kept happening at pedal tip-in and let-off, all while I was in 5th or 6th gear; so there was actually 6-8 instances of voltage spiking to roughly 15.5v. I'm not sure if this is enough voltage to actually damage a coil though, doesnt seem like a crazy high spike; but the fact that it happened that many times in such a short period of time maybe (all within a 1-2 min timespan)?
The other thing on the back of my mind, is it possible that a failing alternator could have cause some damage to the coil but it didn't show up until it got nice and hot after an hour of driving? I'm not sure, I have to say I'm pretty baffled as 15.5v just doesn't seem to me like its a huge spike where it could damage anything (correct me if I'm wrong). That or maybe the ECU logs don't have enough resolution to actually pick up the full amplitude of the voltage spikes since ignition would have been cutting causing the voltage to drop down very quickly after it began to spike..... I dunno, all just speculation.
Path forward now will be to replace L1 coil with the Holley spare coil I have on hand, see if the issue disappears. If not will be swapping in the Rx8 alternator and plugging it into the ECU to see if that solves the issue. If neither of those fix the issue then something completely new has happened and I'll be back to square one scratching my head even more. Fingers crossed it's just a coil issue.
Last edited by RotaryMachineRx; 06-02-2022 at 03:57 PM.
......
09-03-2021, 01:15 PM
. Keep in mind this was a cold engine test as compared to the warm test I did at 0kms. The numbers are likely inflated somewhat; but nonetheless compression has risen and as a result I'm seeing much improved idle vacuum numbers too. Will post up again after my tuning session; hoping I can put my remaining break in km's on over the next couple weeks and start introducing boost!
