indeed....
what do you think about reusing the o2?

 

I dunno, $340.00 is a lot of money, but they look like crispy critters.

I guess the question is: Why are they getting so hot? I know that is a hot area, but man you are melting down stuff.

 

Hey *****,
Don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I'm an old school racer, not used to these ECU's etc.
The more I think about it the more it seems as if you may be running way too lean. That will burn the hell out of things in a hurry.
What do your exhaust tips look like? I run pretty rich in my Z apparently and my tips are sooty all the time.

 

yeah the engine was running lean... there's no question about that. Normally my tips are all black as hell but at the end of my last track day, they were white... so I told my self I'd install that afc but then the idle problem came up a few days after the track day. I've been supremely lazy to deal with it but uh... yeah... that seems to be what caused the problem for me. I'd be inclined to say the same for others, but I'm not trying to start any fires here, if you know what I mean.

 

I should add that my thinking is that the mixture leans out at high rpm and is rich at lower engine speeds.

 

I'm not sure about this, but I thought I had heard that the Z ECU will ask the engine to run rich when you are pushing it to take away some of the horsepower. I believe this happens in the higher RPM range. I have this in my head for some reason, maybe I am thinking of some other car.

Has your ECU been reflashed?

 

never been reflashed

 

Maybe somebody has an idea why it's running lean. Could it be the R/T cats themselves? If so, why doesn't it happen to everyone?

I had almost bought these, but I guess I will wait a little bit.

 

sorry fowlman... i should have mentioned it from the beginning...

before the rash reports about rt cats dying, there was a big debate about whether they would cause a lean condition. I don't know if any substantial conclusion was reached but i think it's safe to say that any power related modifications to your z, however insignificant they may seem, can lead to a lean fuel mixture. I hope that's not too general of a statement. Don't hold me to it.

If someone were to ask me, I would say test pipes or stock cats. If you're gonna sacrifice cats for performance... go all out... if you're not then you're not. Of course, my new recommendation for first mod on the z, is an AFC.... haha

 

Thanks, I have been trying to keep my Z relatively stock, so I can use the warranty if I need it. I also don't want to mess with the smog guys, but with the exception of my borla exhaust I can remove what I do have pretty quickly.

There is also been talk about the ECU reseting itself back to compensate for mods, but maybe that does not include aftermarket cats. (I'm not sure I believe that anyway) From what you have said you are running lean and that I know can fry stuff. Why you are running lean is for the experts to decide.

 

Here's what the RT's did to my A/F. The three lower lines are from dyno's prior to adding the RT cats. The top (blue) line is after adding the cats (no other changes). I was able to have Technosquare reflash my ECU to richen the mixture.



I'm not sure if someone with stock ECU would have the same problems. I know it was discussed at length a few months ago but I don't remember if anyone found out if the same thing happened with the stock ECU.


George- are you just going to gut those cats and use them as test pipes? Or are you planning on sending them back to RT to have them replace them? What led you to check them in the first place. Did you have a sudden drop in power like others felt?

Now I'm worried- better check mine this weekend.

 

i'm going to put the stock units back on and get my money back.

someday i'll cut the bubble out of the rt's and take it to a welder to make test pipes out of them. If it all works out this will all have costed me little bit of money, a lot of time, and a set of free testp00ps! hehe

 

oh yeah... I found out because I had a rouch idle and I remembered the tips were all white at the track, so I checked the o2's (even tho i had no cel)

That's when I found something had dented the o2 in the left bank.

 

Get rid of those cats and get test pipes. U can definetely feel the power. Ihave the helix test pipes.