Roadrunners SE

[IanR]

and I thought I was liking your updates...then watching the video at 1.45 bloody love it! Haha nothing like overtaking some of the field but then pushing on not wanting them to catch or be held up, good job on the save.

[Roadrunner]

I haven't posted an update for a while, well, because I've been too busy enjoying the car!

So what's happened in the last few months:

Enjoying the track days more and more.

Drove to Tasmania for the MX-5 Club Nat-Meet. Second time there in the MX-5. Absolutely stunning roads and sensible speed limits (none of this 60kph limit once there's a slight bend in the road)

Two track days at Symmons Plains and Baskerville.
Symmons plains, while feeling like a bit of a drag strip was still enjoyable. The banked hair pin was fun! And it was the first time I've ever done a grid start so that was a blast!

Annoyingly I ran out of rear brake pads (completely cooked - suspected either dragging or didn't like braking from 170somthing to 50kph repeatedly )
Thankfully another attendee had some spare worn pads he loaned me to get me by which I was greatly appreciative of

The video below is the session I got to do after the brake change. First lap not going hard and feeling the brake peddle, second lap went for it then just plodded around. Fastest lap of my group , mere hundreds of a second quicker than Luke and Peter who were in the NC and 2L ND (bare in mind I'm in a turbo, goes to show how quick these guys are!)



Baskerville was an interesting track. I can only describe it as a race track modelled off a rollercoaster The only thing missing was a loop the loop
It certainly was fun and a track I'd like to do again with a full set of brake pads!
My Gopro stuffed up at Baskerville so no video.

[Roadrunner]

Just before the Tassie trip I found a decent sized hole in the soft top, where the rear piece mates to the roof section. This is an aftermarket roof of unknown brand. Seemed like an easy fix with the glue simply coming unstuck and just needed to be glued back together. Annoyingly no local auto trimmers were interested in the job and wanted to charge me for a whole new roof. Not having that so went on the search for the appropriate glue.

Found this stuff:



The hole: (Yuk)



The fix:
I cleaned it all up and then applied the glue along the two joining flaps. Then using a piece of timber wedged from the inside pushing against a length of timber on the outside.

Result: Perfect



Checked it over after a few roof ups and down and it held strong. Still today its fully sealed. I did this to the other side as well as it was just stating to loose its glue as well allowing dirt and grit to get in the join.

[Roadrunner]

The last track day at Wakefield was not a good one for me.
Due to other things on my mind my head wasn't in the right space and I had completely forgotten my lines and braking points which is really annoying as last time I did a 1:13.09 and I was hoping to do consistent 13s, maaaaybe just break into the 12s. Well, no. I was all over the place. I was holding others up behind me which I'm always paranoid about. The Ku31's aren't up to what I'm asking of them anymore. Did manage towards the end of the day to get a few laps in the 13's but not the day I was looking for.

The wife on the other hand took over 2.5 seconds off her best and is improving with every session.

Next up is a set of AD08rs and watch other peoples videos the night before a track day to refresh myself


On the way home from Tassie I had noticed some oddities with my AFR gauge. It was reading really lean on cruise until driving for 20mins and then would act normal.
I figured this was a false reading as it was idling on 20:1 which just isnt possible.
Calibration didn't help and actually highlighted a power problem. A solder joint had cracked which freaked the unit out when calibrating. Fixed that and it allowed me to calibrate the sensor but running operation was still no different.
As the unit was second hand I thought maybe the unit was stuffed so set about replacing it.
First replaced the sensor - No different. Replaced the main display - No different. Replaced the cable between the gauge and the sensor - Hey presto!
Very weird. I'm wondering if somehow the bad connection had caused an issue in the controller cable and the disconnect/reconnect of the cable fixed it. (albeit after I purchased a complete new unit.
Still have to test the original unit and sensor, I'm thinking its either just the cable, or the whole unit is fine and was just having a moment.

[Roadrunner]

At this stage it was pointed out that the car was idling quite rich. I had thought this was the case but the car ran so well I didn't want to play with the tune.
However there was a couple of things I need to bring up with Dann relating to the tune and we were soon discussing the difference between close loop and open loop idle.
Dan said to come on up.

Yay an excuse for another trip up the road to NitroDanns

Again Dann was awesome. Explained a few things about the tune and how it all works.
Dropped the car off in the morning and it was ready in the afternoon. Still idles beautifully, AFR's start rich to combat the IAT heat soak issue but slowly rose to 14.2:1
Car still runs like a dream and I'm loving it so much!

We chucked it on the dyno while we were there.
When the tune was initially done, it read 163hp (pre-ecu was 160hp). We thought at the time that this wasn't right, as it definitely felt like there was more there up top but wondered if it was the placebo effect of having soo much more down low over the factory ecu.

Heres the results
Only mods: 2.5inch exhaust - intercooler - ECU - 12psi

Thats more what it feels like!



The first two runs were a bit lower so I'm going to say the car is in the 175hp range.
I know I could get much more with an intake and injectors but I'm loving it just how it is at the moment.
AND: Still not a single stall when pulling up to the lights

Some photos of the car on the rollers:

[Roadrunner]

Last of the updates for now.

I'm still trying to work out what is "normal" for temps when on the track.

I use to read temps off the ECU which is the temp sensor on the back of the head near the heater hoses.
Before the ECU this temp could get as high as 112degrees. Since changing to an aftermarket ECU it runs so much cooler. (over 10 degrees at its peak )

Then I added an aftermarket temp gauge in the top radiator hose. On track both temps rise together lap after lap, but by the 3rd lap the rear sensor slows down while the front sensor (where the engine water is at it's hottest) still climbs slowely.
When the rear sensor gets to 99 degrees it seems to settle and not get hotter, while the front sensor just keeps climbing. By lap 5 at Wakefield it can be upward of 110degrees.

So while the factory sensor/rear of head is in a perfectly acceptable range, the front is still making me nervous.

So what can I do about this? Everyone I have spoken too and researched have said for better cooling you need ducting, ducting and more ducting.

The SE has a massive gap underneath between the radiator and the undertray, and huge gaps for air to escape around the sides of the radiator. This is someting I have always wanted to address, so in I went.

There is quite a few factory bolt points you can use on an SE so I didn't even need to utilise a rivnut set (though I've been looking for an excuse to buy one )
This was perfect as I didn't want to have to cut the factory undertray and I wanted all the usual access points.
This is all using existing mounting points for bumper and undertray.
You can read the full build here: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=71968

But heres a few photos for those here already:

The Problem:
Big gap underneath


And down the sides








Solution:

1.2mm aluminium cut and bent into shape to force the air up and into the radiator





The sides:

]



The results:




Instant cooling when on the move. Not that I've ever had issues on the street with heat, but I let the car get up to thermostat temp and started driving before the fans kicked in. The temps dropped remarkably quick when on the move.
The track will be the true test but this appears to be making a huge difference, and how could it not with so much more air being rammed through the radiator.

I've been asked to take some photos with the bumper back on, but to be honest, you can't really see much, but I'll do it anyway and post them up.

I didn't fill in the gaps under the intercooler piping as I have read of people having issues with brakes over heating. I'll see how this goes as is. I'm thinking I may even use these gaps for brake ducting in the future anyway.

If this doesn't curb the heat on track, next up is an oil cooler!

[Lokiel]

With the bottom lip of your ducting, you should bolt that to the intercooler's two underside mount points and fill in the gaps with foam.

"Why?" you may ask...

With your ducting as it is, air can enter underneath the intercooler and you'll develop a high pressure zone between the intercooler and radiator so less air will flow though the intercooler, making it less efficient.

"What about the gap above the intercooler to the radiator?" is the next question...

This too will help create a high pressure zone between the intercooler and radiator so consider adding a horizontal "roof" on top of the intercooler that extends a short ledge in front of it, back to the radiator to force air through the top part of the radiator only and not down and into the intercooler/radiator cavity. You could also angle that "roof" downward to vent more fresh air through the top of the radiator and less of the intercooler-warmed air through it (would increase the pressure between the intercooler and radiator though so maybe not).

[Roadrunner]

Great advice! I have heaps of left over sheet aluminium so will look into doing something like that.
At least the bottom anchor points are easy to get to with the bumper on.

[Nevyn72]

That's quite an update there mate!

I'm impressed with the dyno results given you don't have an intake or injectors.....
Did Dann install a MAC valve to replace the factory EBC when he fitted the ECU? (Adaptronic is it?)

[IanR]

When it rains it pours! updatedumpdumpdump

Nice work Josh, I can see why you wernt there on sat for hillclimb practice "so much to do". Glad also for the extra horses in the corral now.

[speed]

That's quite an update there mate!

I'm impressed with the dyno results given you don't have an intake or injectors.....
Did Dann install a MAC valve to replace the factory EBC when he fitted the ECU? (Adaptronic is it?)

Agreed. Nevyn72, can't wait for yours to be up there

[Nevyn72]

Agreed. Nevyn72, can't wait for yours to be up there

Just gathering parts for the moment, got some little yellow squirters so far..... Hopefully something to manage the electrons soon.....

[bruce]

NAs have a black plastic part which fills in the gap between the bar and undertray (are you missing it?) The undertray fits into it.

[Roadrunner]

NAs have a black plastic part which fills in the gap between the bar and undertray (are you missing it?) The undertray fits into it.

Yes mine has that there, the photos are without it in. The biggest issue is this part doesn't lip up in front of the radiator so air simply flows straight under the radiator.
I considered just creating a short piece to just lip up in front of the radiator but decided I may as well form it all the way to the bumper for added strength.
The factory radiator had foam on it across the bottom to block this off. When I fitted the aftermarket radiator I tried filling the gap with adhesive foam, but after the first track day half of it was missing, which goes to show how much air flows through there!

This is that panel here. The metal panel I formed it to has 2x 45degree bends as opposed to 2x 90bends as the plastic panel has. I can only assume this will smooth the air flow and help direct it more

That's quite an update there mate!

I'm impressed with the dyno results given you don't have an intake or injectors.....
Did Dann install a MAC valve to replace the factory EBC when he fitted the ECU? (Adaptronic is it?)

Yes Mac Valve installed with ECU (Adaptronic E440 Select PNP). Just goes to show how much the factory ECU cripples the whole setup!


To save those searching previous pages, here's the dyno graphs next to each other:

My car (the orange line) is how the car is now but on the Factory ECU: (the purple line, that's Emilys SE )

This really shows how crappy and terrible the stock ECU runs the show and highlights the very late change from closed loop to open loop fueling power surge at 5000rpm and then it's all over 1000rpm later...




After ECU install:
(Happy times!! )



TL;DR - if you have an SE, change the ECU asap!

[ManiacLachy]

Stop doing this to me! The want for an ECU is very very strong. I want a power curve like Em's, even if I can't get that same peak power.

You need an overlay of your stock tune with the "good bit" and your current tune. It would really highlight the difference. Was anything else done to the engine/intake/exhuast between the two dynos?

Recently I've been noticing how I never go near full throttle on my car, even when I'm pushing it. I recall Lokiel saying some time back how with a stock tune (+ bolt ons) you learn to drive around the tune, to avoid the hesitation, the fuel dump, the boost cut, etc. I'm noticing that so much these days.