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build diary September 11, 2005: Horsepower! We eventually figured out a couple of things. One, something had been scrambled in the ECU during one of my program saves. And two, we eventually realised that in order to start, the car wanted a throttle position sensor plugged in and set so that it was off idle - but only if it wasn't hot. I can't explain that one but it got us to the point where we could consistently test the car. Bill sat down with the laptop at the dyno and started plugging away. The new injectors have a different response time than the stock ones, so while he was able to quickly able to dial in the lower load ranges by leaning out the overall fuel settings. It took a while to stuff in enough fuel to make the high power ranges work. Eventually he managed to get it rich enough (the injector response was radically different, not just a little) and the car made 146 hp at the wheels. See the dyno chart. That's the most this engine has ever produced by a fair margin, and I suspect I'll be very happy when I get the car back on its wheels. As an added bonus, the throttle bodies will (once the hood is cut for clearance) give a colder intake charge instead of the hot underhood air it's been breathing. It's quite possible that I'll find I have 20% more power on the track. Well, I'd like to think so anyhow. I'm still planning on testing the car with the long trumpets to see what difference that makes. So what was I doing while Bill worked on my car? Helping of course. But I was distracted. Janel was also at the shop and we were stripping down two sets of wheels to be repainted. Apparently you lead an exciting life if you're a friend of mine. Oh, and one more cool thing. Because the ECU doesn't cut fuel on closed-throttle deceleration (no throttle position sensor, it doesn't know what's going on), the Seven now shoots flame out the exhaust. Hee hee! entry 986 of 1439 |