F1point4's Asphalt FR-S 6MT

[F1point4]

Studying

I propped up the GoPro to get a picture of what the car is doing with respect to vacuum at different throttle positions. Wanted to learn when the BOV opens and closes at the current setting and figure out what I can set it to, to help with the whistling.

I have the AEM Failsafe which shows boost on the outer LED ring, and AFR as a digital number. With respect to boost the AEM Failsafe boost gauge has hash marks at 0" Hg, 10" Hg, 20" Hg, and 30" Hg. The actual precision marked by the LED display isn't very precise. I may have to convert the digital display to show boost to get a finer measurement. The LED light that shows you how much boost really just shows.

0" Hg
between 0" and 10" Hg
Between 10" and 20" Hg
Between 20" and 30" Hg
30" Hg


Vortech says the valve opens at 6" Hg. I'm not sure if this means fully open or starts to open. I notice the valve is closed (or almost closed) when the gauge shows between 0-10" Hg. I think its not fully closed, but the whistling/loud whoosing is all gone. I also notice to achieve <10" Hg you'll be accelerating; it is definitely more than just maintaining speed.

When the gauge reads 10-20" Hg, that's more like maintaining speed and the valve is pretty much open.

I don't really hear a big difference between 10-20" Hg and 20-30" Hg. I think the valve is fully open before 20" Hg.

I think the goal for many is to eliminate the whistling when cruising. So the valve needs to be adjusted to be in between 10 and 20" Hg. I'll probably have to get my computer and change the digital AFR readout to show boost instead and hope I can get some better precision.

Yeah adjusting it that tight may increase the risk of compressor surge. Most likely Rick@Vortech will have the data to tell us which values are safe. I don't want the valve to stay closed except for full vacuum (letting off the gas altogether), just to keep it closed(?) longer so it doesn't whistle.

Skip to 8:40 to see some 3rd gear pulls. I think i'm making about 8lb of boost at 7000RPM when I shift. @PERRIN_Chris you can see my AFR there. I didn't have my laptop so no data there. Overall I think it's okay, what do you think?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8pMRA-lDDs"]Boost/AFR readout in different situations: GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition - YouTube[/ame]

[Scenic Driver]

Originally Posted by F1point4

Ultimately decided to cop @Scenic Driver's Idea. I already use RamMount products so it wasn't a hard decision. The arms being braced against the seat. I mounted the camera on my chair because my mass will also serve to dampen vibrations further.

RamMount's are more expensive, but they give me flexibility to adjust the camera position, and it's easy to transfer to other vehicles.

It's pretty amazing how the Rammount parts limit the transfer of vibration, here are those same 2 arms I used in the car with a suction cup base. Most of these roads were not smooth.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iH5bX-85eY"]2013 TT Spring Drive: Catskill Park (sorry about the timestamp) - YouTube[/ame]

[F1point4]

Unconventional

When you want to lift up the whole car onto jackstands you jack it up from the front subframe and rear diff, right? Well my Harbor Freight Floor jack does not fit underneath my lowered car from the rear to get to the diff with the Driveway Labs Diffuser.

However the floor jack still fits if I slide it in from the side with the front of the car on jackstands! It was painful to jack up the car (short pumps) but it's do-able! Just make sure you come in at an angle so you can still insert the jack stand.

@Wonderbar

[Wonderbar]

Originally Posted by F1point4

Unconventional

When you want to lift up the whole car onto jackstands you jack it up from the front subframe and rear diff, right? Well my Harbor Freight Floor jack does not fit underneath my lowered car from the rear to get to the diff with the Driveway Labs Diffuser.

However the floor jack still fits if I slide it in from the side with the front of the car on jackstands! It was painful to jack up the car (short pumps) but it's do-able! Just make sure you come in at an angle so you can still insert the jack stand.

@Wonderbar

Sorry! I wish there was a way around it. The diffuser comes off in about 2 mins though.

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by Wonderbar

Sorry! I wish there was a way around it. The diffuser comes off in about 2 mins though.

No need to be sorry sir, I'm happy I can still get on with my work without having to remove the "bad ass GT car style" as you put it

Just wanted to share with others a creative solution

[SmsAlSuwaidi]

Originally Posted by F1point4

No need to be sorry sir, I'm happy I can still get on with my work without having to remove the "bad ass GT car style" as you put it

Just wanted to share with others a creative solution

Well my 86 is fairly low, more like slammed and the easiest way to do it is just roll onto a few pieces of wood!

[F1point4]

Originally Posted by SmsAlSuwaidi

Well my 86 is fairly low, more like slammed and the easiest way to do it is just roll onto a few pieces of wood!

Yea that would be helpful. I already have to scissor jack the side of my car up so I can slide the floor jack in the front :|

My main thing about wood is that I live in a tiny flat where storage space is at a premium already. I need to sell off my old car parts.

[F1point4]

Halleluah

I actually installed this bit of kit a while back, just now getting to the photos. Earlier I posted about how the P&L Catted header pulled my overpipe down and caused it to rattle against the subframe due to low clearance. It is a known issue that P&L and @Hawaiian has been working through.

The noise that happened intermittently was very embarrassing, and I wasn't about to go back to the stock Overpipe.

I talked to P&L and they have been very professional and respectful. Ultimately I wanted to get rid of the noise. Dylan sympathized with my pain and helped with me out with getting their overpipe. They said they haven't had any clearance issues using their pipe and it was an opportunity to go get a coated header.

Nothing was wrong with the Perrin Overpipe itself. It's still a remarkable part and held up well to my driving. I can't have that contact noise though.

Big Thanks to Dylan at @P&L Motorsports, @Chris@Phastek for helping me with shop space, and @Hawaiian with his effort to help the community resolve their issues.

I've done track events and put a few thousand on their gear. It works. My car sounds great and the coating hasn't made the car worse (that's the best I can say, I can't measure the effectiveness) Even though I ended up replacing my header and overpipe with their kit, I have no complaints. They are a stand up shop.

Here I am today:


It's Shiny

20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-004 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Welds look good

20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-007 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-011 by VictorN07, on Flickr



I think the overpipe fits better because it has elongated holes in the flanges

20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-016 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Perrin Performance 2.5" Overpipe vs P&L Motosports 2.5" overpipe. You can see the hump on P&L's is elongated. Perrin's is more mandel bent. Both are very high quality

20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-023 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-030 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-037 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-040 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-044 by VictorN07, on Flickr



The white mark is where the Perrin Overpipe made contact with my subframe. There is already some surface rust

20130926-PLCoatedOverpipe-048-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr

[SmsAlSuwaidi]

Originally Posted by F1point4

Yea that would be helpful. I already have to scissor jack the side of my car up so I can slide the floor jack in the front :|

My main thing about wood is that I live in a tiny flat where storage space is at a premium already. I need to sell off my old car parts.

makes both of us ! i basically hoard my cousins garage and drive 20 minutes to do any install because i live in an apartment complex

[Hawaiian]

Originally Posted by SmsAlSuwaidi

makes both of us ! i basically hoard my cousins garage and drive 20 minutes to do any install because i live in an apartment complex

God i love having a garage now!

I was at P&L doing a little more fiddling with things and I am happy to say there will be a solution for 100% of the people that had issues with clearance in the past.

[F1point4]

Vacuum Studies

My AEM Failsafe gauge shows boost and AFR at the same time. It has two displays, an LED ring and an digital display. Before I had the ring set to show boost and the digital display to show AFR.

Today I reconfigured both to show boost so I can study what the car is doing at different levels of vacuum and what the Vortech Blow-Off Valve is doing.

I recorded a bunch of video using my GoPro but I think its better if I just write it out **This is for my style of driving and my gauge, a different driver/gauge may give different readings**

-20" Hg is full vacuum, you are coasting in gear
-19" Hg is vacuum at idle with no AC
-17"/-18" Hg is vacuum at idle with AC

-18" Hg vacuum is throttle used to maintain speed
>-18" Hg vacuum is acceleration. The greater this number the faster you accelerate

-12" to -15" Hg @Rick@Vortech tells me he thinks the valve is fully on
-10" Hg to me sounds like the Blow-off valve is fully on

-6" Hg the valve starts to open. I can hear air come out. Advertised starting point
-5" Hg the valve is definitely off

The loudness of the whooshing/whistling depends on how fast you are going and on what gear. Vacuum is vacuum and the BOV operates the way it does regardless of how fast the car is going.

If the valve is fully on at -10" Hg that doesn't leave us much room to play with the spring. Logically tightening the spring so it opens at higher levels of vacuum should increase the point where the valve is fully open. Regardless its not that much room.

Regardless of if the BOV is open at -10" or -12" Hg, cruising is -18" Hg so the BOV is fully open anyway. I think I agree with @ft86me that adjusting the valve to get rid of the whistle won't work. I think something in the BOV itself has to change if this is the goal. Many thanks to him for actually getting under the car and adjusting the valve.


I may sound like I'm ragging bad on this kit. I'm studying this because I want to understand what our cars are doing. Yea the BOV whistles loudly but everything else it does is pretty badass. I get lots of kudos on the road. @Brian@Vortech and @Rick@Vortech did a good job designing the thing.






Side note, some people think the Vortech kit makes boost all the time and ramps up boost when Engine RPM goes up. Not entirely true; centrifugal superchargers build boost like on an exponential scale. In low RPM the blower doesn't actually make boost. This is good because its easy to stay out of boost; I find myself never making >0 PSI boost in daily driving unless i'm womping on the car.

Here's fun video of me doing a 3rd gear pull with the gauge set to boost. Looks like I am making 7.6 PSI at 7400ish RPM

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqSjK9gaAk8"]3rd Gear Pull with Digital Boost Gauge - YouTube[/ame]

[F1point4]

Here's one of me making 8.2 PSI at redline


20131016-BoostDiagPull-004 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Thanks @Rick@Vortech for being so helpful with my questions

[F1point4]

GoPro Mount V2

Just put together V2 of the GoPro Mount inspired by @Scenic Driver. It now
+ Utilizes both seats for more stability
+ clears the rear seat when its folded down
+ Easily re-positioned when the seats are adjusted
+ The pole and middle arm can be rotated/adjusted to get creative angles , compensate in seat shifts when people sit in the seats, and compensate when one or both seats are adjusted.

Parts:
2x RAM-B-218-1U - 1/4 NPT female base with 1" Ball
2x RAM-B-201U-C - Long Double Socket Arm for 1" Ball
2x RAM-B-231U - Rail base with 1" Ball
1x RAM-B-149Z-GOP1U - Handlebar GoPro Mount kit
1x 1/4 NPT Pipe size Threaded Pipe
3/4" Black Heatshrink for aesthetics (optional)

The pipe size can be as long as you want, that depends on your needs. The pictures easily show how everything is put together


20131018-F1point4GoProMountV2-004 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131018-F1point4GoProMountV2-010 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131018-F1point4GoProMountV2-027 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131018-F1point4GoProMountV2-042 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131018-F1point4GoProMountV2-045 by VictorN07, on Flickr


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EHpmkksTEk"]Revised FR-S GoPro Mount Sample Video - YouTube[/ame]

[F1point4]

Install day at Phastek Performance

Wanted to check over the car before another track event next weekend. @Chris@Phastek wanted to trade me some parts so I ended up heading up to see him to get some work done. Thank you for letting me get it done at your facility.

Another local member came up to get some exhaust work done as well. Here are some fun pictures from the install day


Phil is getting a Borla UEL header and Perrin 2.5" overpipe installed by @Chris@Phastek


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-006 by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-015 by VictorN07, on Flickr

All the cars on the shop


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-055-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-083-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-087-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-099-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-103-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-111-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr


20131020-PhastekInstallDay-120-Edit by VictorN07, on Flickr