When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I tinkered around with the water methanol and did some verification checks to ensure it wasnt leaking after activation (overnight) and nothing dripped out … I put a spill cup under the disconnected hose and manually ran the WMI (which is another story - below) for a few seconds … also marked the tank where the WM level was at night. Everything checked out so I think I’m good to go.
I have a buddy that does carbon fiber work and I recently put a radiator fan shroud on my car made of alumalite (sorta a test to see if it’d keep temps down - which it did) So I had my buddy make me a sheet of CF and it took a little work to mark/drill the holes for mounting and the fans but I got it done - no real weight savings but looks much better.
Kansas is quickly approaching and I’ve loaded up the car / tools / spares and made my way to the 1/4mi track (bandimere) only to be rained out the last two weeks … I got refunded/vouchers each time but I need one session to push the car above what I can do on my local rurals.
One of my big annoyances with this car is that I have this god-awful grey hood! It is ugly and makes the car look like a clown-car…a dude in an nissan/infiniti FB group does wraps and I traded him some welding for labor to wrap the hood. Came out pretty good and I wasnt about to knock on him for any imperfections - it’s 10 times better than what it was!
(insert picture)
Also picked up two pails of 117oct for KS … cheap insurance. This might be the last tank of gasoline through the engine. Assuming everything goes well with bandimere tomorrow I’m going to put the car up in the air and go bananas on a few things … going to switch out my rear subframe bushings with solid aluminum from SPL and go poly in my diff. I think it’s unwise to go full solid on both diff & subframe?
Also will be dropping the OEM tank and installing a 5gall fuel cell, going twin AEM 400 pumps, and (not 100% sure - might wait until winter) will be dropping in 1700cc injectors for e85. Aside from the flex fuel sensor everything has come in.
Also will be dropping in a fresh round of break-in oil and I’ll likely run Driven BR40 at the Kansas event … it does say it’s good for 400miles or one track event … so I think I’m ok to do this and plan on pushing 20-22psi of boost which will help bed rings that last touch.
Kansas is quickly approaching and I’ve loaded up the car / tools / spares and made my way to the 1/4mi track (bandimere) only to be rained out the last two weeks … I got refunded/vouchers each time but I need one session to push the car above what I can do on my local rurals.
One of my big annoyances with this car is that I have this god-awful grey hood! It is ugly and makes the car look like a clown-car…a dude in an nissan/infiniti FB group does wraps and I traded him some welding for labor to wrap the hood. Came out pretty good and I wasnt about to knock on him for any imperfections - it’s 10 times better than what it was!
(insert picture)
Also picked up two pails of 117oct for KS … cheap insurance. This might be the last tank of gasoline through the engine. Assuming everything goes well with bandimere tomorrow I’m going to put the car up in the air and go bananas on a few things … going to switch out my rear subframe bushings with solid aluminum from SPL and go poly in my diff. I think it’s unwise to go full solid on both diff & subframe?
Also will be dropping the OEM tank and installing a 5gall fuel cell, going twin AEM 400 pumps, and (not 100% sure - might wait until winter) will be dropping in 1700cc injectors for e85. Aside from the flex fuel sensor everything has come in.
Also will be dropping in a fresh round of break-in oil and I’ll likely run Driven BR40 at the Kansas event … it does say it’s good for 400miles or one track event … so I think I’m ok to do this and plan on pushing 20-22psi of boost which will help bed rings that last touch.
Should be fun at Bandimere. I think the 117 is a good idea. Is it oxygenated? You would have to adjust your tune if it is.
Regarding the rear subframe I have heard both ways. On a dedicated track car like yours I would probably do full solids, but I don't feel super strongly about that. I had full solids on my last Z and it made SO MUCH NOISE. On my current Z I am just full Poly, but its a street car. I would definitely recommend you do a beefy diff brace either way.
After loading up everything and not running it was rather frustrating. It’s almost gotten stressful in that i need some practice runs - KS is one week away!
I already have to the poly mounts (Have had them for about 2years now!) and picked up solids last week.
I do have a diff brace but it was cut-up from the original owner and I bought it super inexpensive to either mock-up and make my own or try to fix where he cut. But a new one isnt out of reach.
It’d be wise to change our diff fluid while I’m there.
Bandimere was a hot mess and really only got one pass in …
A huge issue and I am not sure how I didnt catch this, and I think during a recent software/firmware update my MAP sensor got swtiched from a 3 bar to a 4 bar … so at idle I should be seeing around -12in-hg of vacuum and at 10psi of boost I should be seeing 10psi of boost … but the switch over to the 4bar meant that I was essentially offsetting my boost by about +8psi …
meaning at idle the car is actually seeing -12in-hg of vac but the tune and the ecu is feeding the engine as if it was seeing -6in-hg of vacuum … not a huge thing for vacuum but I set my boost contorl up to 12psi of boost … and luckily I was not taking the car past 6k rpm but my gauge would read 12psi of boost but the ecu was giving fuel and ignition timing of 20psi of boost … for some reason I was seeing 19degrees of timing on at/around 6k rpm and 12psi actual bost levels … I sorta freaked out and the only think I could think of (before I googled it) was I had a pinched line or some type of vacuum leak or I jacked up the Link MAP sensor … Luckily it was just a shitty calibration in the form of a wrong sensor. I put the 3bar sensor back into the settings and it worked like it should.
2nd issue was my battery … The car was running goofy and I wasnt doing a good job of battery management (froma 5k ft view). My terminals were seeing corrossion and probably werent passing a charge and I suspect my battery needs serviced and/or replaced. I do have a spare battery (theyre both ford SUV / truck batteris and I am going to attempt to service them and see how they bounce back.
Gonna get the subframe off this weekend and go to town on the bushings and tank … wish me luck!
some happy news - Link gave me the green light to use their logo on my car…got door stickers and a roof sticker.
Had a great evening last night - very busy and 1000 things going on. I have a g37x that I’m doing a quick turbo kit on (to generate some cash to fund / replenish the funds for the e85 swap). Needed to get that car buttoned up (back to NA) and out of the garage and then my car in and up in the air.
I really told myself just get the car up, maybe the wheels off, maybe the brakes off and call it a night … fast forward about 2hours and I had the subframe 100% dropped… I didnt have an exhaust to take off but I did have to drain my radiator/hoses to get them out of the way. Aside from the rear subframe nuts which required a breaker & cheater bar (maybe ~150ft-lbs of torque) everything came off pretty easy … I was suprised.
Spent about 10minutes just staring at the bottom side of the car and strategizing how to put the fuel cell in and I’m feeling optimal about it. I estiamte I have about 10gallons of fuel in the car at the moment, so dropping the tank wasnt an option.
I did drill a few holes in one OEM bushing and will likely be buying a recip saw to finish the job.
What pain in the *** solid bushings are … the freeze the bushings and heat up the subframe worked for about the first 3seconds … no amount of pounding / clamping / crying put those funkers in … did some google’ing and some freak-out and my next best option was to zip off to harbor freight and pick up a press…never really thought having a huge press would be a good use of shop space but good lord the shop press really was the trick to pushing these in. The two rears were pretty easy but the fronts required me to take the wheel assemblies off - not a huge thing but did take 30minutes or so.
I worked on the 5gall fuel cell and it wasnt happening … I finally just stopped and decided to put the OEM tank back in … I’m happy I did bc I was able to get everything reinstalled and it got me caught back up. Further, I wasnt wildly confident that I could do the diff bushings … the two fronts would be easy but the rear scared me off…My buddy has the Z1 removal tool but I was feeling crunched on time - the rear bushing isnt in great shape but its holding it’s own for now. I was able to swap in fresh redline 75w90 fluid.
Got everything back together and re-installed.
Kansas is a go … got everything wrapped-up on Tuesday evening along with a quick test drive.
Wednesday came quick and I decided to rent an enclosed trailer from a local guy here in colorado after last year’s rain storms that rained on the exposed car. I picked up a 24ft alunimum enclosed and compared to the open trailer it is a huge upgrade. I was able to get tools/supplies loaded by the end of the afternoon and then the car loaded by the mid-evening.
Woke up Thursday (well-rested) and got out the doord around 9am. Huge difference in drivability … this trailer is about 10ft tall and sways pretty good - I did move some stuff around in the trailer to help with balance but the cross winds played a role.
Running the 3.5l ecoboost F150 showed it’s achilles heel in that pulling this 10ft tall billboard pushed my mileage down to about 8mpg … I could only safely travel about 60mph to 65mph and unless I was going downhill I couldnt get past 5th gear … the truck would downshift to 4th and 3rd on hills. I normally get 600 to 700miles per tank of fuel and I was down to under 300miles per tank!
Rolled into Cherryvale KS around 11pm to our AirBnB and called it a night…
Woke up 9am, well rested and found a nice cafe and all had breakfast … zipped over to the airport where we were supposed to be able to pickup our registration packets but they werent quite ready. I guess, the event had some cancellations with the storms down in Florida so hopefully the event is still succesfull.
Yeah, if you've got the space even a cheap press is a must have. I sold mine in the last move and I still don't quite have the space again in this place. I've had to use a press/pull kit which is fine for the small jobs but even they can get frustrating. Removing/installing all the bushes on the front and rear knuckles was possible but took 10 times longer and much more swearing than a hydraulic press. Next house...
Ahhhh soooo Kansas … please but not satisfied … Ive determined that travelling for races really sucks! Very stressful, and very expensive.
We arrived as planned but just later. Google says it’s a 8hr to 9hr drive and it took us damn near 15hours - the time change didnt help either. Part of the delay was that my buddy drove his tesla and we had three stops for him to re-charge … the actual charging wasnt bad, maybe 20minute to 30minutes to get the car near fully charged. Gave us time to stretch our legs and shoot the **** while the car charged - it was fun depsite the longer duration.
For reference - on Monday morning we left around 7am CST and arrived back in Colorado around 5pm MST - around an 11hr drive back. I was pretty consistent keeping speeds around 60mph to 65mph and we stopped for gas / breaks twice.
As previously mentioned we had Friday to hang out and get our bearings and we were 100% ready on Saturday.
I got the car off the trailer and it was driving decent but had some break-up and fuel pressure issues that I attributed to the fuel pump, lack of a fuel basket assembly, and low fuel levels. The pump that was in the car was a walbro 525lph and I can’t say for certain but I think the pump was being spotty at best … I didnt fight it and put in a spare AEM 340lph, filled the fuel tank and it took a minute of run time to cycle air out of the lines and the car was ready to go. All in all, took maybe 90minutes to diagnose and swap pumps. I did a few data logs and corrected some lean AFRs and got in line to run.
This was one reason I wanted to get the 5gallon fuel cell in the car with the twin AEM 400lph pumps. But I just ran out of time and I tried swapping the OEM fuel basket assembly back in but it wasnt holding fuel pressure at key on.
Spent my runs on Saturday just getting practice runs in - wasnt pushing but 4psi and gradually increased boost after each run. I think I took 4 or 5 runs on Saturday and the car ran pretty good as expected…After each run I reviewed datalogs and corrected fuel. My timing was super safe and I really didnt mess with ignition timing. Just inched up boost after each run. AFRs were rough my first few passes but I really got them under control - Link’s data logging can be a little more complicated than Haltech’s (for instance) and I had pull up differnet parameters but as soon as I got it figured out it was seemless.
After a few runs I was really pushing the car … It didnt make sense to shift into 6th gear (at this point in time) and I really wanted to ‘test’ the car to see how it would hold up. I typically dont feel comfortable holding revs past 6500rpm but I gave myself permission seeing that it’s a built block and I added the premium oil pump.
I think I started hearing a little noise (or what I perceive as noise) late on Saturday but I have so much going on in the car that I told myself not to freak-out over it. I dont think it was detonation or anything like that, I think it was oiling but I am not sure. For what it’s worth, I was still on break-in oil, I put in fresh Driven BR 10w-40 which is advertised that it can be used for 400miles or one night of racing … My plan was to run break in oil for the event and call the engine broken in - hence why I didnt feel bad about really thrashing on the engine.
Sunday came and we left the trailer & car there overnight (most people did) and I did a few quick checks on the tune, we topped the tank off with the C16 and I started the car up and I didnt hear any of the knocking sounds from the previous day. Had a few runs and my buddy said he could hear some stuff when I was pulling into the pits … Wasnt 100% sure if it was noisy valves or if it was truly rod knock but I shut the card down and we took a break for lunch. Old school trick my buddy did - grabbed as much oil off the dip stick and wiped it on the black AEM fuel pump box and didnt see any bearing material whatsoever … I guess we could have cracked the oil filter to get a bigger sample but neat little trick.
Back from lunch and fired the car up and the knock was still present … sorta went away with some revs (assuming bc of higher oil pressure) but it wasnt something I felt comfortable running … and if this is just a compromised bearing than getting the engine out of the car, flipped over, new bearings installed and a few rounds of flush oil is a pretty easy and not wildly expensive task.
Got things cleaned up, got the car loaded and strapped down, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon watching cars run. We stayed Sunday night at our Air BnB and did some exploring around a few small towns in the area. Called it a night and left early on Monday morning.
Moving forward -
Its pretty intense the few weeks running up to these events, especially when you have to travel so I told myself to park the car and not touch it for two weeks … so really just cleaning the garages, putting stuff away, organizing, a little welding, etc.
when I get back on it:
Compression test to see how the cylinders are doing - I was around 90 to 110psi each cylinder pre-break in … so I’m hoping to have gained compression since putting new rings in/fresh hone. I know I have one valve that doesnt seal 100% (I can see a very tiny bit of light when doing the flashlight test).
Will probably do a leak down test as well before pulling the engine …
Do a visual oil inspection on oil in the sump and cut the filter open to see what it has caught.
I’ve already ordered a new crank shaft and I have a few sets of (new) bearings in the parts closet. I’d rather not open up the heads and just keep this mitigation effort on the bottom end but the compression test will dictate that.
I’d also like to see what I can do to get the half mile events closer to Denver - There are a few smaller airports in colorado that might make great environments for these events.
Other major items on the winter to-do list:
Going e85 … I think I have everything needed to do this so it may be once the engine is back running
Still want to drop a fuel cell in and eliminate the OEM tank
Fabricate a carbon fiber air duct for the rear hatch lexan
Rebuild the OEM engine bay harness
Swap over to either Link or Haltech’s PDM
Go lightweight seat with a harness bar
Swap out diff bushings
some media (I really hate taking pictures)
The setup…
Kansas
Budweiser vs. Bud Light 1/2mile race…
Best buddy Larry …
I think this is the only picture of the car running …
Me & my buddy Ky (Larry’s step-son)
At the AirBnB
and this is what a spun bearing looks like (oil taken from the pre-filter side today
Amount of oil in the catch can since I last drained it … which I cant remember last time I emptied it. Let it be documented here.
Its a let down for sure and maybe the most frustrating thing is that I dont know ‘exactly’ why it failed.
I can immediately think of three / four causes:
1. Was break-in oil the wrong lubrication for the event?
2. Were bearing clearances too big? And/or was I tumbling the big end of the rod on the crank shaft and/or the crankshaft in the main caps?
3. Did I push the engine too hard?
Or
4. Some other failure I am not seeing??
Im not too worried about the bearings that are an easy swap but I am hoping that my compression is coming in as I dont want to open the heads if I dont have to.
The engine comes out of the car pretty easy and flipping the engine and dropping in new bearings isnt difficult.
On a ‘comsmic level’ - I think it was an Elon Musk re-quote of ‘The man who loves walking will go further than the man who loves the destination’ … I enjoy spending time in the garage with the car. A few local buddies here think I’m absolute crazy for the spending the time and money on this car over the years and they are more of the ‘immediate gratification’ types (which I can understand). I’m definately more of ‘The journey is the reward’ type. I also think these times define being ‘satisfied’ with the car versus being ‘happy’ with the car.
Its a let down for sure and maybe the most frustrating thing is that I dont know ‘exactly’ why it failed.
I can immediately think of three / four causes:
1. Was break-in oil the wrong lubrication for the event?
2. Were bearing clearances too big? And/or was I tumbling the big end of the rod on the crank shaft and/or the crankshaft in the main caps?
3. Did I push the engine too hard?
Or
4. Some other failure I am not seeing??
Im not too worried about the bearings that are an easy swap but I am hoping that my compression is coming in as I dont want to open the heads if I dont have to.
The engine comes out of the car pretty easy and flipping the engine and dropping in new bearings isnt difficult.
On a ‘comsmic level’ - I think it was an Elon Musk re-quote of ‘The man who loves walking will go further than the man who loves the destination’ … I enjoy spending time in the garage with the car. A few local buddies here think I’m absolute crazy for the spending the time and money on this car over the years and they are more of the ‘immediate gratification’ types (which I can understand). I’m definately more of ‘The journey is the reward’ type. I also think these times define being ‘satisfied’ with the car versus being ‘happy’ with the car.
Just glancing through, and I think it could have been a number of things, but definitely wouldn't think pushing the car at a track event on break in oil is the way to go. Usually break in oil intentionally increases friction to help set the rings to the cylinder walls.
I was also on 10w-40 break in oil for about 400 miles, but with an oil change at every 100 miles, and strictly moderate to light throttle with zero boost. Had to get the rings to set properly with intentionally putting the car in vacuum while driving and slowing down to a stop (machinist's orders).
With the bearing clearances, how's your oil pressure when you're on break in oil? I ran 10w-40 break in, but now I'm on 15w-50 synthetic.
Hopefully an easy fix overall, but would go through a full break in procedure with the break in oil next time and then switch to synthetic before an event.
I hear what you’re saying and not to be combatative but Driven says 400miles (which I put about 150mile to 200miles on my first break-in and I essentially had zero miles on my second round of break in oil).
Yea - my first 50miles of so I was pretty light throttle and put the car in vacuum. From mile mark 50 to 150 I pushed plenty of boost (like 12psi to 15psi) and plenty of hard vacuum - I was pulling 20in-hg on harder engine breaking. I think/thought the consensus is that you shouldnt baby the engine during break-in?
I did maybe 10-15minutes of reviewing datalogs from the kansas event only looking at oil pressure and pressure was good through my runs … I didnt look at oil pressure from logs during break-in.
How do you like 50w oil? What are your bearing clearances? Whats your build/power levels?
What are your thoughts/reasons for doing another break-in period?
Yeah, there's definitely varying opinions on what's needed for a break in. Some just build the motor and send it on the first drive. I took the more conservative route with multiple changes and staying out of boost until I was on a full synthetic.
Again, the consensus varies. Some say it's broken in relatively quickly and can just hammer on it. Others do 500-1000 miles. I did right about 400-500 and felt good about it. I'm also paying attention to all things like cooling, fuel, and new drivetrain components as I did a new clutch and rear diff at the same time.
The 50w oil has been great, and was a selection suggested by the machinist as he set the clearances for me based on the power goals. I can't recall off the top of my head what they were. Build consists of boostline rods, wiseco 11:1 pistons w/upgraded wrist pins, dynosty girdle, and arp main/head studs, with rotating assembly balanced. Kit is a momentum single kit with a Garrett G35-900. Made 604whp at 13psi, but I've changed a few things and car makes a bit more boost now. I typically run it on the lower boost map that's around 550whp.
I only mentioned another break in period assuming you'd have to tear down the motor and start over. If you don't have metal throughout the engine, can likely just do the bearing swap.
Yeah, there's definitely varying opinions on what's needed for a break in. Some just build the motor and send it on the first drive. I took the more conservative route with multiple changes and staying out of boost until I was on a full synthetic.
Again, the consensus varies. Some say it's broken in relatively quickly and can just hammer on it. Others do 500-1000 miles. I did right about 400-500 and felt good about it. I'm also paying attention to all things like cooling, fuel, and new drivetrain components as I did a new clutch and rear diff at the same time.
The 50w oil has been great, and was a selection suggested by the machinist as he set the clearances for me based on the power goals. I can't recall off the top of my head what they were. Build consists of boostline rods, wiseco 11:1 pistons w/upgraded wrist pins, dynosty girdle, and arp main/head studs, with rotating assembly balanced. Kit is a momentum single kit with a Garrett G35-900. Made 604whp at 13psi, but I've changed a few things and car makes a bit more boost now. I typically run it on the lower boost map that's around 550whp.
I only mentioned another break in period assuming you'd have to tear down the motor and start over. If you don't have metal throughout the engine, can likely just do the bearing swap.
zillion opinions for sure! I’ve heard similar things where its broken in as early as 50miles and then there are people saying that it takes 2500miles … sorta funny how much variation there is.
I can only assume he opened your clearances up a touch (based on your build sheet / numbers / oil selection).
Without knowing what’s really going on I am going to drain oil and take the bottom end off to see how bad the damage is. Obviously there is going to be bearing material in the sump but I would think that the filter has caught anything before it has gotten up in to the gallery. I also want to check compression too.
09-18-2022, 07:40 AM
