I got the new radiator mounted......basically in the stock position. So Ive gone full circle design wise and probably could have saved a few grand just using the stock coolant system. At least I have a 3in thick radiator instead. My next steps are to plumb water lines and wire up the Davies Craig 150 EWP. I am still torn whether I should make a bracket for the EWP or just have it float on the lines just off the radiator.

Afterwards the next big endeavor is to weld up my custom intercooler using the cores I got. Then to redo the charge pipes.

I noticed some puffs coming from the exhaust, so hopefully I just need to tighten up the exhaust manifold and not take everything back out.

Fuel wise with two 450lph pumps running I sit at 60psi and cant go lower. For the time being I disabled the second pump. I have to figure out if the adaptronic lets me control the backup second pump. Looking up staged fuel pump systems sucks ***..... so many youtuber tuner boys talking about their stage 2 or 3 super 1500hp ready crazy sick fuel system. The other method I found is to run the second pump off of a switch that triggers at boost. Although I am not so sure this is ideal for a safety net pump. Originally my intent was to have a complete overkill on pumps incase of a pump failure. I also never put in one way checks after the two pumps because I thought the walbros had them internally. I will check with walbro on this.

 

On the radiotor location, before my engine blew up lol, I did not have any issues with the stock location and electric pump in very hot stop and go traffic. The pump mount right above the radiator out works well and you can basically attach it to the front support.

For your fuel pressure, feel like you may have a restriction on the return line. I have similar dual pumps and I could get the pressure down to 40, settled on 50psi. For pump management I ran both pumps at 30% and ramped up to 100% at 5psi with a solid state relay. I ran both pumps 1 because it was easier with less wiring 2 I did not want the pump to potentially back feed into the non running pump.

 

Did you use an adaptronic to control the pumps? Right now I just have them dummy running with key on which could be my issue. Here's my updated fuel system below. I have a -8 feed which Y splits to the rails. After the rails I go down to the -6 (1ft length) since that is what the regulator takes (probably here). Then its a -6 return to the venturi siphon. which could also be a restriction.


.

 

Haltech 2500 ECU. Not sure if the Adaptronic can do the same thing. But it should if there are DPO outputs. My fuel system is all 8an PTFE and the fuel rails are in parallel with the regulator mounted on the secondary rail, primary out to the regulator 2nd input. For the return off the regulator I have a flex sensor with the fuel bypass as well. I have 3 pumps, the stock pump as the lift and 2 feeds. Basically I did everything so I could do to make 600hp on E85. Controlling the fuel pumps also has the added benefit of preventing fuel temperature increases.

Also my siphon is connected to my lift pump, per Radium the return line is not recommended for pulling fuel from the other tank.

 

I can already hear my wallet crying. The price of learning I guess. I got rid of my lift pump because the JDL intank surge system was awful and I was worried about starving the two main pumps unnecessarily. Sticking with a stock pump unit and doing an external surge probably would be best.

With your SSR setup I imagine that just gets a PWM signal from the ecu and is based on pump data? (Adaptronic should be able to do this) I should be able to wire in and mount the SSR after the pump IGN relay in the trunk fairly easily.

For my layout Radium actually suggested I just go off of the return for the venturi. They told me the lift pump wont work for the venturi since it dumped to the tank(this is JDL's suggested setup). Other than the return they suggested I tee off of one of the feeds and dump back to the tank, which seemed silly to me.

EDIT: Walbro just confirmed that the pumps internally have check valves built in to them. I suppose I could add ones for redundancy.

 

Yeah, I have the JDL surge tank and it is mediocre but it does work. I had no issues with starving the fuel pumps. I'm not sure why Radium said that, they are experts but ideally you want the surge tank to be consistently overflowing and the return with the lift pump keeps the surge tank full. My only issue is when the tank is about a quarter full, which is not a huge deal.

Haltech has a map you can configure for the pump based on psi and rpm and I just configured what made sense. Mainly focused on minimal needed for idle and cruising and just ramp aggressively from there. Water pump is configured the same. Temperature and RPM based.

100amp SSR for both and made sure to include the diode to protect the SSR. The spinning motor can act as generator and back feed power.

 

Good to know, nobody mentioned that in the other forums I was reading up. If you have any part numbers saved for what you used for SSR and diodes Ill take a look at those.

I just didnt like how shallow the JDL surge tank was. With all the pumps and plumbing two 450lph pumps would suck through the remaining volume so quickly. I rather just drop the lifter pump and run the two pumps with a hydramat across the tank. Understandably he tried to make something fit within the tank opening as best as he could, but I just didnt like it in the end. I am also partially skeeved out with how he did the electrical passthrough. I may machine out a bulkhead connector or something instead of his terminals. Id hate to short and spark something in there. Would just need to find an e85 safe bulkhead with 5 connectors.

 

So I just used the Haltech branded SSR but you could probably use something less expensive.

For the diode I pull them out of an AC Delco part from eBay. But here is a link,

https://painlessperformance.com/prod...part-no-30720/

The diode is directional dyi

 

Trying to find a semi decent SSR is troubling. Either they are 100-300$ each or you get a sub100$ one that half the reviews are people complaining about random failures. Not confidence inspiring at all.

 

The Haltech ones are $60 on their site

 

Yeah the haltech ones appear to be the way to go https://www.haltech.com/product/ht-0...relay-100-amp/

Then the diode people apparently use are the 1N4004 which are only 1amp, I'd think you should use a higher rated. I found some 20A10 which are 20Amp ones.

Now I just need to check the adaptronic software wise and also figure out if it needs a resistor setup like the haltech.

Edit: Also want to note how people say to PWM and SSR control the pump to avoid running it at 100% and damaging it..... then reading more it seems most pwm and SSR do not run at a high enough frequency for what the pumps want and can prematurely damage the pumps.

 

Well if anyone knows any adaptronic wizards. It looks like you can setup fuel pump duty cycle PWM and assign a frequency. However I cannot find any tables to control what duty cycle you want vs boost or rpm. Either this function doesnt exist or the ecu is smart enough to vary the pumps duty cycle to achieve the desired pressure.

The guys in the adaptronic help facebook group are saying I should just run the one 450 pump and turn on the second 450 at ~10psi boost usign a simple hobbs switch. They do not seem to understand how to setup PWM and use a SSR for pump control. Apparently one of the RGHTBRAIN guys sent a message saying he doesnt work for free and does paid consulting which I didn't see and now he is on an ego trip not answering simple questions...... dude I am not going to pay you for a simple facebook comment.

My research so far has lead me to these control schemes:

1. Run both pumps 100% all the time with their own relays. For this I need to eliminate the bottlenecks to help regulate pressure back down. I liked this Idea because of its simplicity
   >> Argument against is heating the fuel and pump life. To what degree I would hope the walbro pumps that were not originally designed to be PWM controlled would be fine at 100% duty in a dummy system. Unless people give a lower voltage using resistor packs or something.
2. Use a hobbs switch tied to boost to activate the second pump. The adaptronic can act as a editable hobbs switch if you do not use the PWM enabled shown below.
   >> Argument against is inconsistent fuel pressure spikes. Also, too high of a hobbs pressure setpoint and the pump wont cover you if the primary pump fails. Too low a setpoint and it turns on and off too much ruining life.
3. Use PWM control and a Solid State Relay to control both pump speeds. I liked this Idea because if one pump fails, the PWM will step up the other pump.
   >> Argument against is that the Walbro 450s may or may not like PWM control even though the MFG claims they are compatible. Also adaptronics does not seem to have pwm control tables for fuel pumps.

Radium confirmed that a PWM solution is ideal and that the Walbro450 pumps do PWM...... now its just a question of the adaptronic issue.

 

Well for now until I find someone who knows adaptronic well I will just run the one pump as is at 100%. Otherwise I would just be hoping the PWM manages duty cycle itself.

Yesterday I made up most of the coolant lines. Now I just need to mount the resevoir and find radiator caps. I am questioning whether to make a mount for the Davies Craig 150 EWP mainly because all of their diagrams show it just placed inline. Maybe I will just rubber isolate it really well. Currently it is fairly stable as is even without fluid in the lines. Also there are no mounting holes on the unit....so I will have to figure something out.

 

Concerning the Y you mentioned. I don't know if it is best but I like the idea of that. I put a Y into my system and so far its working really well, granted I have not pushed the car. Great job. Everything looks great.
Oh and for what it is worth I'm running a Deatschwerks brushless 440 in the JDL surge tank. The DW 440 comes with a controller that has a low speed and high speed. The ECU simple sends the trigger to go to high speed when you tell it to, that may be the easiest way to solve this issue? Seems like to get it up and running you will only need the single pump.

 

On the drain for the turbo, wondering if you will have positive coolant pressure through the turbo. I setup my turbo drain to be pulled by the water pump, also wondering why not use the passenger side rear iron water port for turbo feed, thats the OEM location.

Brushless fuel pump would be best. Would need to open up the wallet again.

 

Yeah I was actually thinking about it more. On the later gen S1 cars didnt they put a restrictor pellet in the heater core line? My thought was the turbo restriction will act as that pellet by going down to a 6an. At the same time the heater core will atleast cool the fluid going to the turbo slightly more as a bonus.

At this point I am starting to lean more towards simply getting the car running. Then I will do a second pass on the systems. Next time I touch the pumps again I think it'll be to design my own pump hanger. Similar to JDL's but I will put in an actual bulkhead connector that's safer than the cracked lugs he used.

That DW440 looks like a good setup. pretty cool that they even have a pwm version with a controller unit with simple wiring. 12v, ground, and ECU PWM ground. I will definitely keep this on mind. Nice when a company has their **** together......hard to say the same getting answers out of walbro. OH AND IT INCLUDES A BULKHEAD RATED FOR E100

 

I had decided early on to block up that coolant port on the back passenger side of the engine. Also I am fairly certain it is a smaller diameter than the 6an line. Originally I was going to split right at the water pump and go to the turbo with its own line, maybe I will go back to this plumbing wise later on. If I need to run the turbo straight to the pump I should be able to tee into the coldside of the radiator at the reservoir 6an

So you didnt run the turbo to the hotside of your radiator and went straight to the cold side pump?

 

Yes. I plumbed the turbo from the rear iron and tee'd the bottom into the water pump input. So technically the turbo line is feeding hot water into the engine with the cooled lined.

I used something like this with a barb fitting.

https://www.americanvolt.com/product...sending-sensor

 

Hmm. I took my coolant from the heater core to the turbo then used a Y adapter into the hot radiator return like this. Are you staying that its possible to have back flow of the coolant. I was hoping the flow of the coolant to the radiator would help pull the coolant from the turbo.
I will post a picture.


You can see the flow of the coolant coming from the turbo and going to the hot coolant radiator return. Seems like it works. Would you guys think that this setup is a problem. How much pressure is coming from the heather core?

 

I can't say for certain. There may not be any issues with how yours is setup. My intention with how I configured was to ensure there was a pressure differential of some sort. I do know that the port on the rear iron pushes water out at a decent rate as the iron is lower than the radiator.

I'm absolutely not an expert on the matter.

 

My concern is the turbo coolant outflow is Y'd into a line that technically has no flow until the thermostat is opened? I plumbed my turbo outlet back to the suction side of the factory water pump FWIW.

 

I see your point and it looks like some do it that way. Basically the turbo is in direct parallel with the pump so you ensure it gets a max pressure differential or flow through the turbo.

I tried to represent the two below using my diagrams. I also simplified it by making it like an electrical diagram. On mine the question is what the ratio is of resistance between the heater+turbo line vs the engine pathway. If the hot side of the engine has less resistance than the heater core, the turbo may not see as much flow.




And here is insights, where the turbo has guaranteed flow, the resistance of the engine path running through the radiator basically ensures the turbo is a path of least resistance and will max out flow wise.

 

Hooked up the Davies Craig controller this weekend. The kit comes with a pretty good harness, except they assume you can use the stock fan relay wiring. I ended up using my spare fuel pump relay which was mounted under the passenger airbag.

I sealed up the firewall grommet again, then just realized I had not run wiring for a boost gauge yet. What I should really do is just get some sort of tablet and see if I can do a virtual gauge setup.



Relay under pass airbag location. Wiring is then sent out of the passenger side brake booster bulkhead

 

Chasing an exhaust leak and it appears that the manifold flange being thin caused a snag. The nut appears to be bottoming out on the deadzone center of the studs. To solve this I am going to try some inconel belleville washers first. I was also looking at trying nordlocks, but inconel nordlocks are $130 per washer.

 

I have titanium studs and they worked out really well. They came with washers and they are low profile nuts.