How far down? Can you post the numbers?

 

I hate to say it, walmart gas Denny.

 

Get your pitch fork, gather your torches, down with walmart.

 

and nothing to do with leaving a series cap on the ignition disconnected for an unknown amount of time? a capacitor responsible for noise and DC coupling rejection, one that MM and some electrical engineers claim could cause an errant spark, or even lack of spark?

 

who knows what happen?
It blew about 2 miles away from where I got gas ( a popular walmart). I havent gotten gas there in a long time. I had 1/2 tank before I filled up.

When I started looking at everything I found the capacitor wire broken. I have no idea how long it had been that way as it was broken down in the harness--out of sight. Found it when I started cutting harness covering while trouble shooting.
I dont think that capacitator had any affect since I was running the hks twin power? Dont really know.
I never had a misfire code.
Only boost since I filled up was MAYBE a 2-3 lb boost as I was normally accelerating in traffic.
I have NO clue as to why this happened.

Real ? is what now? I have driven other cars since mine went down (and before then) and they are all -----well blah---- including the 2011 Mustang Gt----fast but blah. Vette/camaro again fast but --Blah
Challenger SR8---potential but priced way to high. Nissan 370Z----no way.
Even the R3 I have---its nice---but not enough power for me. BMW M 3 E46---that engine has its own set of problems. Its nice but its to "refined" for me.
Maybe a 3nd gen v/8 car? I havent driven one of those--yet.
Sounds like I am friggen addicted to the 8 and thats bad.
Maybe I should buy a low mileage good compression engine and install? Stop using it for my DD? I should have enough left over parts to almost build a spare engine?
Truthful question---I have been told that ceramic seals will blow too. That for my purpose they offer no advantage. Anyone running these of the street?
I really am torn about what to do here. More so than the last time.
OD
OD

 

ya, who knows for sure OD. could be gas, could be ignition. could have started a long time ago with a fracture and just now got bad. just thinkin outloud.

methinks you should move all over to the R3 and deal with the challenges involved...

 

1) We recently dealt with this on Phil's car.
2) Kane has ceramics from NRS.

 

Damn Denny I'm puzzled too.

The only thing I do differently is that I use a boat-load of MMO on my car.

Thus far over 25k of SC on a 25K install with plenty of track (autox, drag racing, road racing), dynos and two detonations events due to negligence on my part.

 

Yesterday, at Palm Beach International Raceway. I graduated from HPD1 to HPD2 (no more mandatory instructor time).

Car ran great but my syncros are grinding on 4th. Cam suggested changing from Royal Purple to regular gear oil. I'm going to do that first and see what happens. If no, going to get an 09-10 tranny.

Next NASA FL event is Homestead Jan and Mar (not sure if I'll do Jan or Mar but def only one since it is a 4 hour drive).

Note for the haters: Lots of need improvements on my road racing skills but I do take baby steps on everything I do thus keeping the car of the walls and my shallow pockets full.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el8nom2fR6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXI9L14VNWo

 

anyone ever heard of Mr Mazda 7 on e bay?

 

I could be completely off base, but is it not possible that given your ignition nonsense you wound up having a completely inappropriate fire of your trailing plug(s) far too late (or early) and thus "Pop goes the engine"?

I feel for you Denny, but don't give up the 8. You're one of the big dogs, you've got to keep reppin' on the road courses

If you leave, Rotr8 and I will

 

I dont know what to do--right now. I guess it will come.

Smooth driving Juan---really smooth--- I hear your trans a little and the gearing for that track is a little off? Looks like a real fun little track. Not much traffic?
You want some hints?
I bet you want to do that again--with r compounds on there? lol.
your speed sure picked up by the 2nd vid.
OD

 

rebuild using bendy apexs

 

I've used mrmazda7 for a couple things, interior/engine bay parts. Parts came quick and in good shape, though I never purchased an engine from him.

Hang in there OD, when you can, consider a rebuild or pick up another motor.

 

If only we had a blow off valve from the compression chamber for detonations, one that opens before the apex breaks....

 

Agree--need SOMETHING.
I am beginning to think Moon was right. Bad gas. Caused misfire/detonation that I did not hear.

Ok--i have decided to keep the car. Mainly because I cant find anything else that would satisfy me. I also am staying boosted. I have the R3--still will sale it. It just doesnt have enough power for me.
I will be upgrading my injectors (like Juan has--hes the man!) and upgrading the ignition so I can run a better coil. The oem coils even with the twin power can only generate a orange to yellow spark--even after closing the gap of the plugs a little. I will not be satisfied until I get a bright blue spark. I have no way of testing the sparks power so I will have to fall back of my old school ways.
I will be calling Cam to see if he can give me a reflash with the dwell increased to a 4.5--4.8 ms. I already have an LS2 set of coils that I took off due to concerns of inadequete dwell and 10lbs boost.
What are yall doing?
I also will no longer have the car as a DD. Special car for special occasions. Yes I HAVE to track.
I will only buy gas at KNOWN good stations from now on.
I have sourced a short block from Mr Mazda7 (thanks for the feed back) and am checking the vin number for correct milage. He reports an 8.8, 8.9 compression. I got it for a good price.
This way I will have enough parts lying around to try and put together --over time-- a spare engine.
I have never rebuilt a rotary engine--guess it's time to learn.
May call ole Ray down to help me at some point---dont know yet. May ask Paul to help--dont know.
According to my wife I may have to find a new source for supper. But at least she hasnt taken away Roscoe--my wonder dog.
I am a really sick man.
OD

 

We need portable octane testers for these days. Glad to hear your keeping the car, and will be fixing it up a bit more.

 

Some logs from my last session at PBIR.

Still don't know why my car runs so hot while in "driving like you stole it" mode. 233F max while racing and 180~185F at normal driving.

Ambient temp: 65~70F
IAT: 100~105 while spraying 50/50 mix of VP M5. Not a lot but just enough to prevent detonation.

Runing:

1. 90/10 water/coolant mixture with water wetter.
2. Mazmart water/thermostat combo.
3. BHR aluminum radiator.
4. Secondary rail radiator.

Could it be the M5 or my MSD coils?

 

I guess I was fortunate. I had the same capacitor wire break but did not detonate the engine. With mine I would loose all power including starting, the dash would light-up with every cel and two fuses would blow. We would change the fuses and it would run for several hours so it caused us to think that what ever the, problem it was fixed during the several changes that were made.

I kinda lost count but I think the s/c was removed at least 4 times looking for the problem. Erick and Ray found the break while doing checks on all the other wires in the harness (fourth time for the wire checks), but this time we also removed the covering. Hell we removed and checked just about every electrical connection in the car.

I did a routine compression check and both rotors are well within compression requirements.

 

the gas delivery guys have little tester strips they dip in there but i cant find them for personal use yet..

 

i think mine was ok Phil because i had the twin fire on it. it has its on stuff??

But--dang---that sounds like a lot of cussing time?

My idle grams per sec is 7-9 grams?? Go figure. Coarse its cooler outside now.

Juan I believe your secondary radiator is not big enough? Also did you plum it using the heater hoses?
Upgraded radiators in the oem position certainly helps with recovery time, but i havent seen them actually keep the car cool on the track.
I have a secret way of mounting one--hehe.
OD

 

This may be urban legend, but I've always noticed that gas formulations change as we enter winter months, and not for the better. More 'oxygenators' and lower overal octane rating, and lower mpg as a result. I don't care what the pump says. I bought a tankful of 93 octane at Sam's Club a week ago in my Nissan Xterra with a Stillen blower and every time I got into boost the CEL lit up with a misfire code. After half a tank I topped off with Shell and it stopped.

Axe yerself a question: where do these places get their gas from? Is there a "WalMart" gas refinery? Or, maybe, just maybe does it all come from the same regional distributor, and the delivery tech adds some special additive for that brand? My dad worked a Mom'n'Pop place after retirement that sold Citgo, and he said occasional the delivery guy would show up late in the day with a few hundred gallons of premium and rather than haul it back to the distributor, he'd sell it to the store at regular grade prices and load it into the regular tanks. Food for thought.

 

Yeh, gotta also think of how much they go through gas. If its sitting in a tank and not used it will end up going bad. If they sell a lot of it they need to keep it topped of with fresh fuel.

 

since I have to do SOMETHING--last night I just ran a backyard experiment of sparkplug fire.
Back yard test---remember!!

1st i hooked up 4 sparkplugs in a row and attacted the oem coils --weak *** spark -yellow orange in color and the trailings DO fire on start up

2- hooked up the hks twin power to the oem coils---couldnt tell a difference still very weak--hell my John Deere lawn tractor has a better spark.

3- hooked up a set of LS2 coils (not the yukons) with the factory dwell-----AND ITS BETTER. Spark is still orange/yellow but noticeably brighter. I did have the correct sparkplug wires for this.
I didnt bother to hook up the twin power to the ls2 coils.
My coils are less than 1 year old and the plugs are 1 month oldl

Guess where I am headed?

Also thinking about putting my larger pulley on and running 7 lb boost since I do road track this car. Changing my injectors back out etc--installing the blues into the p2 position and having my reworked yellows when ever and if i ever wanted more boost.
Also time to send the injectors off for balancing/cleaning.
I have a short block on the way from Mr Mazda7--compression 8.6-8.8 and vin number only shows 28K miles.
Maybe I will have it back up by Jan/Feb. Taking my time and locking in some "things"
On my rebuild I have decided to go with the NRS seals. Damn you Kane! JK dude.
OD

 

If you had no plugs in the engine during this, your engine was likely spinning above the RPM at which the trailing start to spark during cranking.