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-   -   Harlan's Impossible turbo build. (https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-major-horsepower-upgrades-93/harlans-impossible-turbo-build-240291/)

logalinipoo 01-09-2015 09:52 AM

Yeah it is looking good. I don't like the knob there but that can easily be worked around.

Harlan 01-09-2015 01:13 PM

After I saw how much fuel economy dropped with the turbo installed I got creative with my waste-gate plumbing. Need another solenoid and a couple check valves, but it will be able to open the WG at idle/cruise and then force it closed all the way up.

Brettus 01-09-2015 02:48 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4655117)
After I saw how much fuel economy dropped with the turbo installed I got creative with my waste-gate plumbing. Need another solenoid and a couple check valves, but it will be able to open the WG at idle/cruise and then force it closed all the way up.

Typically fuel economy improves slightly with addition of a turbo ...... so I'm thinking you have an issue .

9krpmrx8 01-09-2015 03:07 PM


Originally Posted by Brettus (Post 4655151)
Typically fuel economy improves slightly with addition of a turbo ...... so I'm thinking you have an issue .

Pfft, not in my case, :lol:

Harlan 01-09-2015 03:09 PM

Well yes I have several issues most are because it's barely tuned and it goes pig rich in boost. I didn't change anything in the cruise range and I've lost a couple mpg. I'm assuming it's because of back-pressure from the turbo, so I've failed the wastegate open to find out.

I thought most people lost fuel economy when adding a turbo, especially highway mpg. Am I mistaken?

Brettus 01-09-2015 06:12 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4655159)
Well yes I have several issues most are because it's barely tuned and it goes pig rich in boost. I didn't change anything in the cruise range and I've lost a couple mpg. I'm assuming it's because of back-pressure from the turbo, so I've failed the wastegate open to find out.

I thought most people lost fuel economy when adding a turbo, especially highway mpg. Am I mistaken?

The only way you will lose mpg at cruise speeds is if something is wrong . Normally you would expect to get ever so slightly better MPGs in all ranges of acceleration bar those in boost .

RotaryMachineRx 01-12-2015 12:22 PM

Yeah I get equal highway fuel mileage after going FI. Definitely use more fuel in the city though, that's just a given...

Brettus 01-12-2015 01:05 PM


Originally Posted by RotaryMachineRx (Post 4655778)
Yeah I get equal highway fuel mileage after going FI. Definitely use more fuel in the city though, that's just a given...

Yeah it is ...but only because it's almost impossible for anyone that has a turbo to not use boost.
If you put an NA car and a turboed car (with identical engines) on a test course and accelerated them at exactly the same rate I'm pretty sure the turboed car would use fractionally less fuel.

Harlan 01-17-2015 01:36 PM

Tracking down my issues now. I think I have a coil pack going out, and I also have a water leak at the injector bung. If I can get a few days off work without being sick I might even get some stuff done.

I'm playing with the TI knock sensing chip. Communicating with it with no problems, but i'm not having any luck getting the A/D to work with an external crystal. I think I may have burnt out something when I soldered it, it's my first time playing with a surface mount IC so it's not unexpected. Should have a second chip in a few days. Also I think I found the fault in my knock sensing code so something should work out of all this.

Have everything for the intake, just don't have the time and energy to redo it right now. I'll post more when I have a real update.

Harlan 01-17-2015 05:25 PM

Found out about and bought a MS3 Knock module. It's the same TI chip with all the auxiliary components including the crystal and caps already installed. A bit of a rip off considering the cost of the parts and the lack of any added value from the design, but it beats having a custom board etched and then trying to soldier all the surface mount components.

Harlan 02-06-2015 05:19 PM

2 Attachment(s)
I've redone the intake , this should be close to my final version. No steel in any of the intake/wi plumbing now. It has one 90 deg coupler which needs to be replaced, the rest looks good. Need to plumb in the BOV recirc but that's for another day.

Meanwhile I've redone the electronics and am currently installing the dash mounted knock/WI/boost control. It's a bit of a mess right now but it is also approaching the final version. I think I'll redo it again for fitment probably have a circuit board etched so it won't be a spaghetti system of jumpers.

The TI knock chip works. It has a bit wider frequency band compared to the code I'd written, but I don't think it will really matter. The reason why I'm sticking with it is that it doesn't need anything else to work, it can take the signal directly and report the amplitude of the target frequency. No tricky coding to make the math work quick enough, no dead spots when the chip runs other code, and no other hardware needed. I'll post more on the electronics when I get it all installed.

Harlan 02-07-2015 07:14 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Here is the display installed. It's working and reads out IAT, MAF, as well as pre and post TB MAP as well as knock and current water injection rate. I haven't had time to put it through its paces yet, at this point I'm just glad none of the wires are crossed and the indications are close to reality. MAF is reading 3-4 at idle, whereas actual from obd2 is reading 4-5. I do have a vacuum leak somewhere, but the display should be closer to the obd2 value... odd.

The code does a linear interpolation from a table in case anyone is wondering. So the values displayed are from the actual sensor curves for MAF and IAT. MAP is calculated from sensor voltage since the response is linear.

Under the hood wiring is a mess, I need to start working on an actual harness since everything is firming up. Also my small plumbing needs to be redone since it's a mess and I'm happy with how everything is right now. The project progresses.

Right now the 55lb ev12 injector is installed preturbo. It should support 25% Water/fuel to about 500g/sec air. Also I have a flow meter on order so I can add another level of failsafe.

9krpmrx8 02-07-2015 09:39 PM

Lot's of wires. I would surely mess that up, lol.

logalinipoo 02-07-2015 10:07 PM

Mines a bit better than that for now. How much did that knock chip cost?

Harlan 02-07-2015 10:20 PM

The chip is about $7, make it an even $15 with resistors caps and a development board. The other option is a ms3 knock board for around $100. I figured out my initial problem after I bought the ms3 board. Let me know if you want a parts list or other help the ti documentation is very light on application.

Harlan 02-10-2015 11:45 PM

Figured out a few of my problems. I pulled the main pulley and trigger wheel when I installed the turbo manifold and then I never reset the KAM. It all snugged up and nothing was changed, but after resetting the KAM no more misfires. Still crossing my fingers on that one because it's only been a couple days. After I'm sure that's cleared up I'm connecting the RPM signal and knock lockout to the e-shaft sensor and we'll see if that causes any problems. Then everything will be together and time to start putting the pressure on.

logalinipoo 02-10-2015 11:52 PM

good news, I am interested in the knock chip. Where did you get it. A Parts list would be great. I can figure the electronics out but it takes me time. Do you have any pics of the board. I'd feel okay with soldering up a chip like a arduino uno, but a chip like on the mega is a bit too small for me.

Harlan 02-11-2015 12:12 AM

1 Attachment(s)
Its an SOIC-20 chip, so you need a breakout board and some patience to solider it. Here is the intersil datasheet for the chip that TI copied it includes how to wire an external crystal.
http://www.intersil.com/content/dam/...p9/hip9011.pdf
And here is the TI datasheet.
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpic8101.pdf

Attached is a basic version of the code I used for interfacing it on a arduino mega. For an uno you need to change the SPI pins. Pin 49 is the CS pin, and pin 4 tells the chip when to detect the knock.

In the morning I'll post some pictures of the electronics so you can get an idea for yourself. If I end up redoing this again I'll have a custom board etched and eliminate a bunch of the mess. Right now it's just a messy prototype.

logalinipoo 02-11-2015 12:15 AM

Those will take me some time to process, If you do go with a custom board let me know. I might be intrested in one also.

Were their any other knock processors you found? Why did you choose this one?

Harlan 02-11-2015 11:27 AM

I've still got the breakout board with the first chip. PM me if you want it. I chose this one because I found other people using it with some (very little) documentation. If you can find another chip worth trying, let me know.

Harlan 02-11-2015 07:53 PM

Trying to decide what to use as a water injection tank. Currently have a gallon antifreeze jug, but I don't like it for long term. ;) I'm looking in the 4-6gal range, possibly a fuel cell. Devils own has nice tanks, but nothing that fits quite right in the trunk. I'm trying to find something that will fit up against the backseats and keep the weight central without loosing much trunk space. Anybody have ideas?

Harlan 02-13-2015 02:29 PM

Figured out a way to test the whole water injection system without adding any hardware. The pump has a pressure switch that cycles it on and off, and under low demand its cycles are short and far between while under high demand it has long cycles close together. This gives me pump duty cycle.

So I can have a pump duty cycle check both at start up and when injecting. At start up it sprays for a brief moment then checks how long the pump takes to re-pressurize. If the duration is too short the nozzle is clogged. When at power it checks for duty cycle being to short (again nozzle clogged) and too long (loss of suction, or leak). If either is detected it cuts boost to the safe non WI level. Between that, IAT boost cut, and knock boost cut it should be reasonably safe.

Brettus 02-13-2015 02:35 PM

I just fitted an alarm if water doesn't reach a certain pressure ....... ever heard of the KISS principle ?

Harlan 02-13-2015 03:23 PM

Yeah, but if the fuel injector plugs (kinda likely) then pressure never drops. Compared to what other solutions I've thought about this is simple.:lol:

Remember this isn't just for safety margin, if it fails (and nothing else catches it) the engine will fail soon after.

Just flow tested my injector at 800ml/min. May need to go bigger for my goals, but it's good enough for now.

Brettus 02-13-2015 03:52 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4664353)
Yeah, but if the fuel injector plugs (kinda likely) .

Only if :
*you use injectors not designed for the purpose they were intended for :uhh:
*don't use distilled water
*don't have any filtration

You really should be using the right tool for the job rather than complicating it as a compensation for using the wrong thing .

This would suit your needs perfectly ...actually designed for the job .......... solenoid nozzles
http://www.alamomotorsports.com/FJO/waterinjection.html

TeamRX8 02-13-2015 03:58 PM

supposedly the reason Injector Dynamics released the ID1300 with stainless internals for alcohol fuels is because if std injectors sat unused for a while they would rust and stick/fail.

If true, then I can only imagine that a water/alcohol mixture with be that much worse for potentially causing the issue ...

Harlan 02-13-2015 04:07 PM


Originally Posted by Brettus (Post 4664358)
Only if :
*you use injectors not designed for the purpose they were intended for :uhh:

That's the problem right there. There are no fuel injectors designed for 100% water. I expect the fuel injector to be a wear item, and that's ok. I don't expect them to last longer than 6 months without cleaning or replacement so long as they last longer than my patience. I may go for a ID1300 eventually, but it all depends on how well the system works.

Right now I've had good luck with EV14 injectors. No rusting shut, just a bit of plugging and that was due to a carbon steel injector bung which has been replaced with aluminum.

logalinipoo 02-13-2015 04:21 PM

1 Attachment(s)
Fjo was bought put by holley, thats the method im going with. Im thinking of using a mac solenoid and this bete p66.

Harlan 02-13-2015 04:55 PM

That should work nicely. Bench test it with the mac solenoid first of course.

logalinipoo 02-13-2015 05:01 PM

Yeap ive got a 1liter graduated cylinder so ill flow test it at a few different pressures to soo how much difference it makes. Then build a map based on that.

Harlan 02-20-2015 08:42 AM

Missfire\MPG issue is fixed. It was the KAM. Water injection is working great. Need to install the rpm sensor wiring and get the lockout installed, but happily cruising at 4 psi.

Harlan 02-23-2015 05:17 PM

I've done some logging and AFRs are hovering 12.5-13 just a hair lean. Working on a fuel pump solution now. Hit 8psi twice by accident at around 4000 rpm, no knock but damn the car became a beast. Highest IAT jump was about 25deg from 60 to 85. Short pulls, low boost, and low rpm are my limitations right now, but I'm reworking my water tank and installing the lockout when the weather gets warmer. I really want to push 8psi on the low end and start working up the RPM. Traction will quickly become an issue.

Brettus 02-23-2015 06:16 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4666674)
Working on a fuel pump solution now. .

You haven't run out of fuel pump yet .............. not at that psi/rpm ......

Harlan 02-23-2015 06:54 PM

Correct and I want a fix before I get there. I'm staying within stock fueling limits until I get the failsafe working and preferably a new pump.
Edit:
Just ordered a DW200 straight from their website. And i have half built a "Buck-A-Pump" system, just need to figure out where to connect a fuel pressure sensor.

Harlan 03-16-2015 07:47 PM

I'm loving how the car performs right now, pretty much everything I had hoped for with this build. Boost comes on low in the RPM band with no perceivable lag. The WI has yet to fail, and is providing enough to prevent knock and keep IATs reasonable. The arduino based EBC and WI controller works like a champ both at maintaining pressure and spraying on demand. I've simplified a lot of my WI code so it sprays at 25% water to fuel (by mass) after 60g/sec air flow. This keeps water consumption down while still providing safety. The couple of runs I've had at 8psi have been exciting, but uneventful. Time to fix some things and do it for real.

Here is the list of things to do before 8psi (and >6000rpm in boost):
WG reconfigure to push pull.
BOV plumbed for recirc.

DW200 installed
RPM pickup installed.Almost
Water tank and pump permanently mounted.
Lockout installed.Almost

Hopefully I'll get it done in the next couple of days, because I'm about to be working a month of extended overtime at work.

Harlan 03-24-2015 07:17 PM

Got some work done today, but not enough. Waiting on time and coil-overs right now. Probably do some datalog runs on the drives to work and dial in cruse numbers, but everything else is on hold.

Harlan 03-28-2015 06:48 PM

Push/pull wastegate works great. I did some creative plumbing and I now can fail the wastegate open or set it full closed until 4psi or whatever higher set-point I put in the controller. I still end up with around 2psi at 7k+ but who cares, it's enough to allow me to prevent engine damage. Recoding the controller right now to default to 0psi and allow menu selected boost. When I get RPM working I'll have full boost profiles.

Harlan 04-01-2015 02:23 PM

I pulled the e-shaft trigger plate off so I replace the front main seal, but when I went to put it back on the bolts wouldn't thread in the holes(they were a little bit off). After a little drilling it went on but now the car runs really rough. So is my catalytic toast? Or is it my fuel pump?

dannobre 04-01-2015 02:30 PM

LOL....... this had better be an April Fools joke ;)

Harlan 04-01-2015 10:20 PM

Would have posted a Renesis Isuzu swap. I was thinking perhaps a rodeo, but I didn't have time to Ms paint some torque curves at work.

Harlan 04-05-2015 08:40 AM

The closed loop boost controller works great. Its spooling quicker now with the valve pinned shut until it hits the setpoint, then maintains closely all the way up. But the Chinese waste gate appears to be rusting shut overnight. When I start driving I get a single spike to 8psi then it behaves. Took a while to narrow down the cause, but Tial waste gate here I come.

Edit: And its now stuck open. Tial on order... Gonna be a while until I get it put in.

Harlan 04-13-2015 07:12 PM

Ok... Serious Problem. My water pump pulley cut through my turbo oil drain. Getting things together to re-plumb it to the front cover. Been going NA the past couple of days (with my other car). Should be back up when I have a day to work on it... Maybe in May.

Harlan 05-28-2015 06:35 PM

The car is back on the road and happy. Oil drain is now going to the drivers side of the pan with braided hose and AN fitting. Knock based boost cut is working and has saved me a couple times from water injection failure, haven't used the full engine cut yet. Still a work in progress.

Brettus 05-28-2015 08:11 PM

why did the W/I fail ?

Harlan 05-28-2015 08:30 PM

Had a fitting start leaking, it drained my tank. I assumed I had just been hitting it hard and ran out of water... Then I filled it back up and within 15 minutes it ran out again and I found the leak.
Knock hit 400 and it fails the WG open, reliable unless the WG gets stuck closed.

Brettus 05-28-2015 11:29 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4694176)
Had a fitting start leaking, it drained my tank. I assumed I had just been hitting it hard and ran out of water... Then I filled it back up and within 15 minutes it ran out again and I found the leak.
Knock hit 400 and it fails the WG open, reliable unless the WG gets stuck closed.

Have you done a DIY on your knock detection / WG system ?

Harlan 05-28-2015 11:51 PM

Not yet. I have posted some of the code, but the code and the hardware is still pretty rough. I'm just glad it all works together well enough to keep the engine from getting killed. Guess I could throw it together and let other people help work out the bugs.

Brettus 05-28-2015 11:59 PM


Originally Posted by Harlan (Post 4694218)
Not yet. I have posted some of the code, but the code and the hardware is still pretty rough. I'm just glad it all works together well enough to keep the engine from getting killed. Guess I could throw it together and let other people help work out the bugs.

I would be keen , but I'm pretty weak on the electrical/software side of things so it would need to be simple ..........

Harlan 06-03-2015 08:11 AM

I got tired of having one of the wires to my display disconnect and various other issues, so I'm getting parts together to completely overhaul the WI wiring/circuit boards. This will also clean up spaghetti system of wires under the hood and make it more presentable. Getting custom PCBs etched is on the table, but I still need one more generation of protoboard just to make sure I like it as is. I still haven't settled on a permanent tank mount for the trunk, because every time I try it looks wrong. At this rate I may need a custom fuel cell just to satisfy my OCD.

Harlan 06-12-2015 05:01 PM

1 Attachment(s)
My WG plumbing.


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