A little update on the build. We got most of the work done under the hood now. I didn't really know what to expect with using the engine wiring harness from my 2012 with the motor from the 04, but it ended up being pretty easy. Only things I had to replace were the knock sensor and water temp sensor. The connectors for the coils were a little different but I just had to shave a little piece of plastic off them with a dremel, and they clipped right in. We also had to wire up the TPS sensor for the new throttle body, injector pigtails, and since I'll be running speed density through the MAP sensor in the hydra, we got rid of the MAF sensor connector and just kept the 2 air temp signal wires to run to an AEM air temp sensor near the throttle body. We also got all of the fuel, oil, breather and boost lines done, there's just a couple fittings we were missing that we have to throw on still. We also wired in a vacuum pump that kicks on whenever the brakes are pressed to add vacuum to the brake booster and help hold the car on the line during the 2 step. We T'd the pump into the brake booster hose between the booster and check valve. We also installed the brake proportioning valve and got the rear brake lines done. Still need to do the fronts lines. We also installed the AMS2000 pro boost controller. There are 10 different control strategies you can set it up for, but after talking to NRL they said all the drag guys use a time based input. Since the "pro" model has a built-in accelerometer, we should be able to see traction loss in the logs and adjust the boost accordingly, without the need for any other inputs. For the time based input, we used the brake switch. We also ran it through an arming switch, so it only starts the timed map when you want it to. Basically, I'll just have to get up to the line, get on the 2 step, flip the arming switch so the control sees 12 volts, and as soon as the brake is released the signal will change to ground, and start the boost timer. The wastegate will be regulated with pressurized Co2 through a solenoid we also mounted under the hood. That's about it for now. Should be able to start it as soon as we get the rest of the fittings and set up the fuel pump. If all goes well, I should have an update of it running very soon! Thanks to Fobia and Wade Deslauriers for all the help with the wiring and plumbing. No way I could have done it on my own.
That is all super cool! I didn't even realize you could get that sophisticated with the boost control. I know boost by gear has been around forever but using an accelerometer to dial out wheel spin is sweet. Are you only using the vacuum pump for the brake booster? Or are you also adding some vacuum to the crankcase to limit blow by and have the rings seal better?
Yeah the ams2000 is pretty sweet. You can set it up to control by pretty much any rpm source- driveshaft, wheel, turbo, etc, engine rpm, throttle position, shift input. You can also set up a scramble or reduce button to it, to increase or decrease boost manually. The vacuum pump is just for the brake booster. It's actually a factory part for audi and VW. They're mostly used on diesels or other motors that don't make much natural vacuum.
So to simply the idea here...basically you can control the boost so that it all doesn't come on at launch (or too quickly after launch) to avoid serious traction issues? Basically plant the right foot and forget it? If so, that's some pretty awesome technology! I'm not trying to knock your driving ability either...it just sounds like an intelligently engineered system.
Well right... I can build boost with simple AP launch control and a VF48 but I'm assuming he doesn't want to build 40 psi (or whatever his max is) at the line...but instead, have the optimum amount of boost for peak tire grip (and presumably some wheel spin) at launch and build at that peak boost/grip level throughout the whole run... Or am I way off base on my thinking here?
You're correct TMF. We'll be able to log passes and see a graph of the G's pulled during the whole 1/4 mile and lower boost only for the exact time when G's drop due to wheel spin. Either for launch, between shifts, etc. It's all based off time, so once we get it dialed in, we should be able to get consistent passes every time. You can still knock my driving ability though
Thanks man, you're welcome to stop by any time! I still have masters of the universe on deck for movie night lol
Nice, that's some pretty cool engineering. Always wondered how high powered drag cars make it down the track without just lighting up the tires. Can't wait to see this thing rip!
We were going to try to start it tonight, but my laptop couldn't connect with the hydra. After some investigation we found that the hydra wasn't grounded. Long story short, the way the engine wiring harness fit with the oversized injectors, I attempted to put the ground wire on the valve cover because it wouldn't reach the intake manifold. Lesson learned. Valve cover is not a suitable ground for engine wiring harness. Problem fixed, shooting for this weekend to try starting.
Getting on the stall takes a long time. Have you ever seen Dipp on the line? He leaves about 5 seconds after the light turns green. LOL. Big tires. Any chance this car will eventually be tubbed and run big tires? Or is the plan to stick with something in the 10.5 or under range?
You guys are technically both right. The whole point of the compound setup is to build boost quicker, but the ams2000 will give us better control. Dipp was spooling a very large single turbo with no kind of launch control. Its a little more difficult setting up two-step on an auto, because you don't have the clutch switch to just run off of. I'm going to run a signal to the hydra from probably the throttle position sensor and tell it to start launch control when speed is less than 1 mph, and throttle position is greater than a given percentage. That way I can get on the line and just put both pedals to the floor. I'm hoping it builds boost pretty quickly. As long as I keep it AWD, I dont have any plans to tub the rear. Maybe someday if i do a rear drive setup with it. I'll be running either 26 or 28" normal slicks, most likely on 15x8 Belaks with beadlocks.
Got the car up and running last night. Here's the video of initial startup after some tweaking to the base tune.
One more video, took the car out last weekend for its first test drive. I have a few things to do yet, but should be ready for the rollers very soon.
You and me both! From the little test drive I did do, it felt a lot snappier than any 2.5 I've driven without hitting any boost. I don't know if that's just because it had e98 in it or what, but I thought that was a good sign. Still working out the kinks though. When we first started it, it had a few leaks as expected. We fixed all the little fuel leaks, and the torque converter seal that was leaking transmission fluid, but I still have a small leak from the old tranny cooler and an engine oil leak that I believe was coming from the oil pan seal. I took everything back apart tonight, and waiting on new parts to put it back together. Hopefully they'll be here before this weekend, so I can get it back together, run a pressure test and hit the rollers!
Oh, you know it, I might even dust off my real video camera for that day! I'll let you know when it's going in, stop on by if you want!
Too much weight Just a little update since the thread was bumped, got all of the major leaks fixed, might still need to tighten a fitting or two. Since I was taking off the oil pan, I decided to upgrade to a killer b pan and pickup. Fobia uses a killer b pan on his long block mock-up for his turbo kits, so fitment was perfect. It also fit well with the tssfab front subframe. Since I had the header off, I thought I'd take a picture of it. I was actually just at Fobias house the other day and he had a few turbo kits laying around waiting to ship, and he was working on an evo kit for another RS motors drag car. All of his stuff is top quality, but I love seeing the custom work. As for my car, next order of business is boost leak test before the dyno. After a lot of looking around, I ended up piecing a tester together out pvc. I call it the J5500, from J5 Industries (TM) I hooked up the pressure tester tonight, and it was immediately evident that I had some leaks at the intake pipe clamp joints. Most likely I damaged a few of the o-rings, not being careful enough sliding the metal sleeves on and off. Im trying to get some vibrant o-rings ordered asap, which are a bit thicker. More updates soon.
Looks like you have a couple leaks on the header to head connection. Get that thing bolted on there nice and tight!
Lol yeah, we could hear it when it was running. I cheaped out on Grimmspeed gaskets. Im sure it couldve been fixed by over tightening, but I used OEM gaskets this time.
Sorry for neglecting this thread, I have one on nasioc as well and its hard for me to keep up with both. I got the tranny cooler replaced and installed a killer b pan and pickup, since I had to take the pan off anyway. My fuelab 42402 pump went out on me after about 10 minutes of use, so I had it rebuilt and sold it, and bought a weldon 2345-a pump. When I brought it dyno at RS, we ran into a couple issues. First of all, the injectors were pushing too much fuel, and we couldn't turn the base pressure down because the pump was too strong, so I replaced the aeromotive -6 orb regulator with a weldon 2047 -12 orb, and replaced the -8 return line with -10. After that, we were able to adjust base pressure wherever we wanted. The other issue we ran into, is that the hydra is getting a delayed response from my throttle position sensor when under load. It doesn't read any throttle position until about 3k rpm, and then it seems like it's triggering fuel cut decel because the engine speed is too high for 0% throttle. Ron has been working with hydra to figure out a solution, but I won't have anymore updates until we figure that out. I also have a new page on Facebook called "j5 industries" that I Fobia or I will be posting updates of my car on, as well as other stuff. Like my page if you'd like to follow.
No, but Bee does. I made a few people administrators. I'm still not sure who posted the picture of me and Matt this morning lol
Believe it or not, I was actually pretty drunk the night J5 Industries made it's official facebook launch, so I can't remember if I made AJ admin or not... but I think you might be onto something with that one Josh lol!
So much awesomeness. I'm interested in hearing back what you guys end up figuring out for the TPS issue! Does the throttle body measure a nice low resistance to ground?
The TPS seems to be working fine, that's the weird part. We're able to calibrate it to the hydra, and it reads fine in neutral, just not under load. On a DBW setup there is a seperate pedal position sensor and throttle position sensor that both need to be calibrated. It could be that it's just because its expecting a pedal position input and it's not getting it, which would most likely be a setting that needs to be changed in the software. Hydra hides some of their settings, so they can only be changed by contacting them directly. I'm hoping when Phil at Element gets the map it's just a setting that needs to be changed. Another idea I might try, if we can't find a software solution, is wiring my tps sensor differently. When that tps was wired to the hydra in the 04 sti, they wired the power and signal wires directly to the hydra, and grounded it near the sensor. I did it a little differently. I used the factory wires in the engine harness to the original dbw tb, determined which 3 wires were power, ground and signal and just spliced the tps there to keep things cleaner. I don't see why there would be any difference as long as there is continuity from the tps signal wire to the hydra input, but who knows?
What about tee-ing the TPS signal into the Hydra pedal position inputs (main/sub), and then recalibrating? In my mind, that would emulate a DBW setup with a 1-1 mapping between the throttle and pedal position, which should keep the hydra happy if that's what is throwing it off. If it works, that would at least get you going until Phil can get you a software setting solution.
That's actually a really good idea, that mightve worked! The good news is, we figured out what what the problem was so we shouldn't have to mess with any of that. We sent the map to phil at element tuning today, and he said it was all messed up. The pedal position input was on, that was our throttle body issue, and the 3k rev thing some kind of ignition by gear thing that was on. There was also a bunch of test garbage on there that shouldn't have been there, so he thinks we were trying to tune hydras test map, not the base map he sent me. So, either I installed the base map incorrectly, or it was lost somewhere between when I got it, and my car hit the dyno. Either way, I'm just glad it should be an easy fix. I also just remembered last night that I forgot to send a manifold pressure signal to the boost controller. I have one 5 bar map sensor in the top port of the wastegate, so it should read target pressure fine from the co2, but no actual manifold pressure because my map sensor is built into the hydra. Im sure I could run a signal from the hydra to the boost controller, but the map sensor in the hydra is only 3 bar, so I ordered another 5 bar sensor that will go in one of the bottom wastegate ports where the manifold reference goes and ill wire that to the map input on the ams 2000 wiring harness. At least we're getting somewhere, hopefully more updates soon!
