[IROCZman15]

Figured I would do a short update (sorry no pics, nothing really visually has changed)

My goal of putting 1,000 miles on the new engine by the end of May was completed! Just crossed over the 1,000 mile mark this past weekend. The car is incredibly enjoyable. I love the new engine's power and love driving it. It idles perfect and the exhaust sounds great (I should post a video of it.. next time) I have done 5 series of revisions of the base tune with the EFI tuner (Mad Science Motorsports) and last week I had a 4 hour phone conversation with him where i took his "intro to holley sniper" online class. I learned a hell of a lot! Fuel injection tuning is so cool, and I have barely even scratched the surface of it. I am starting to make my own changes, (dialing down fuel for better cold start, and after-start enrichment, noticing learn values, applying them to the VE base table) but any major changes I plan on running by my tuner prior to loading them to the ECU.

if anyone was bored and wanted to look at some of my datalogs along with the GCF tune file, let me know, I can email them over.. since I don't think i can post those types of files here on this board. on the holley forum you can, but not here right?

since race tracks have been closed, minimal real world WOT thottle tuning has been done..., but I have done some WOT datalogging on the highway in 1,2,3 gears. In fact I did some today and will look at the data later on. I did a rip with the air filter on, and one with the air filter off. Also, I have joined the Holley EFI tech board and have been reading a ton. I may start making some changes to fueling and timing at higher RPM's in order to pull in more power, and then save the different tunes for an upcoming Test and tune day at Island Dragway. Thats really the only way I can think of since WOT testing on the highways can be hit or miss (hills, traffic, police, tires, etc).

I have yet to install a catch can or breather tank. It is on the list of things to do, but I don't have any burning urge to dig into this just now. However, I fixed my "bouncing" spedometer problem by using a shorter cable. I would get bouncing between 0-35 mph and figured it was the 80" cable.. since when I did the engine bay cleanup, I had too long of a cable and had to "snake" it under the dashboard, causing it to get caught up inside the cable housing. so a 61" cable was just perfect, so that was nice easy fix. speedometer is dead on as per GPS apps.

My tachmoter with the OEM 4,500 RPM yellowline and 5,000 RPM redline bothered me. especially now that I will be shifting gears between 6,000-6,200 RPM with this new engine combination. Visually, that just bothered me. I also did some RPM testing with the holley sniper rev limiter and learned that my oem tach is significantly off. at 3,000 rpm on the holley it was reading 3,200 rpm on the dashboard. at 5,000 on the sniper, it was reading around 5,300 on the dashboard gauge. So I was told about this guy on THirdgen.org who recalibrates tachometers (Cajun tach shop) and he also informed me that a V6 thirdgen tach has a 6,000 rpm redline from the factory. So he is sending me a V6 tach that has been re-calibrated and will be dead on accurate...
...so not only was I consciously shifting way early during my shakedown passes back in March, but I was even shifting lower than what I thought because my oem gauge was reading higher than the engine was revving. that certainly makes me hopeful that I can pull some much faster ET and Speed numbers next session. That, along with some tune adjustments, and the Micket Thompson ET Street SS tires, mayyyybe there is a chance I can crack into the high 11 second zone. That would be great.

bonus: the new V6 tach comes with a 80 psi oil pressure gauge, where my current tach has a 60psi oil pressure gauge. I knwo my engine has at least 70-80 psi oil pressure based on the dyno printout (see previous pages for numbers). Do you think i will have to get a different oil pressure sensor to work with this new 80 psi gauge, or will my current (oem) oil pressure gauge work fine? does the new gauge simply just provide a larger range of psi or is it calibrated/wired different?

Aside from that, I have gotten a bit used to the car once again after this 1,00 miles. It does feel a bit more "unsettled" in the nose though. I was VERY used to how the car handled and turned and cornered hard due to the various autocross events I've done, and just from owning the car for 20 years. But now, it feels noticeably lighter up front. Almost to the point of having some understeer. I know I move the battery to the back and changed a small amount of weight distribution, but the overall weight of the car was within 30 pounds of what it was prior to this whole engine project. I have the Koni yellows up front and they are cranked up to 2/3 of max. I'm not complaining, but just mentioning that because it was a noticeable change that I am getting used to.


Even with no car shows happening, or autoX, or drag racing, or cruise nights, I am glad I was able to hit 1,00 miles. Got a lot of compliments on the car too and basically I am just really enjoying the seat time. Learning the holley sniper system is the next long term project. hope to hit 11's. after that, I will probably explore getting my nitrous system hooked up. then, will certainly need to get that roll bar installed too.

thats about it for now.