rmoltis build thread 96 aspire

[Movin]

Flame speed.
Cool things that go boom are rated by the flame speed. Explosives are awesome..
Gun powder is sold by flame speed in certain volume and shape considerations.
Fuel for cars also has flame speed, Varied by volume, combustion chamber shape
and charge velocity. Tuning will chase these variables around for the best result.

I did dyno tunes for a while. It just speeds up what you are doing and gives paper work
to those who do not tune to share with their buddies over a beer. No disrespect to dynos
they are awesome but with your knowledge and skills, the equipment you are using i think a dyno would just tell you that what you are doing rocks!

[rmoltis]

I installed my wideband today in the second header bung.

And went out to check the air fuel ratios.

This guage shows e0 air fuel ratios.

14.7 at most speeds which is approx 14.2 e10
And at wide open throttle it reads 12.5:1 which is about 12:1 equivalent in e10.

Turns out my seat of the pants tuning was pretty damn spot on lol.
I didn't have to change anything except for idle air fuel mixture for idle rpm.

[rmoltis]

I need to correct my last post.

Converting the 12.5 afr reading on the e0 wideband.
Got me a lambda value of .85 (12.5/14.7=.85)
And converting lambda to afr of e10 (.85×14.12=12) 12 afr

And since around 12:1 ratio is right around where e10 should be at wot or .85 lambda.
It should be good.
Car seems to respond best to it, even with the 93 octane I use.
If I bring the air fuel ratio slightly richer at wot.
The top end starts to bog down as it approaches redline.

But as it sits now it will pull up to redline without the bog down
even as volumetric efficiency starts to taper off at the top end.

The narrowband still seems to peak at .83-.85 volts at wot.

[rmoltis]

after putting it off for so long.
I went ahead and ordered a new oem 60 amp alternator.

I have been mulling this idea over in my head for a while.

My choices were:
invest in a high output alternator and fitting for less overall cost but higher initial cost
by removing the new oem alternator from the equation.

Or buy a new oem alternator for the time span until I figure out how to approach the high output alternator.
This process would incur less initial cost but higher overall cost.

The main driver in my decision was the fact that my stock alternator could give out or bind up at any moment and leave me stranded.

This has happenned to me before in my jeep.
Luckily it happenned across the street from an auto parts store.
So I walked over and bought a new one with a new belt and installed it right there.

Also I'm sure the new alternator will bring back stock voltages to my charging system.
Ideally bringing spark back to factory spec.

[rmoltis]

Now that i am familiar with how it runs with just the exhaust and drop in filter and fuel pressure regulator.
And know it was at or close to its optimum point.

I think i have the idea of this ignition timing/idle adjustments/along with air fuel ratio and fuel pressure adjustments down.

So today i was looking at my cylinder filter.
I cant call it a cone because its a cylinder shape k&n.
It has a radiused edge/velocity stack inside where it meets the tube.
It helps smooth airflow and stabilize it.
Also that maf screen helps as well smoothing out airflow.

So i got to thinking about i gave this thing a year of experience to get to know it
Then removed it dissapointedly.
While being joyous to have stock airbox back on and return of lpw rpm driveability.

well that was at a point where i wasnt the most spot on with this air fuel, ignition timing, fuel pressure, idle mixture adjustments
and general understanding.

so i decided to give it another try.
i mean most performance vehicles have them.
i went out and installed it today and am currently fiddling with adjustments.

i will report back on my perception of which one i think seems to give the best gains where i want them.
then will let you guys know which one i will be keeping.

[rmoltis]

So here are a few differences I noticed between the pod filter and the air cleaner assembly with the k&n drop in filter.

First thing I noticed was that at WOT my car was rich by about .5 afr.
So with the airbox on it was 12.4 (it was 12.5 before but I went to 12.4:1 which is close to 11.8:1 in e10)
I did it for safety on those 100 degree days since I have a 195 T-stat.

So once the pod filter went on it dropped to 12.0afr.
Which had to be leaned out by 1 psi of fuel pressure to return to the correct afr.

So basically it reduced the amount of air coming into the engine.
Couple with reduced fuel should equal less power correct?

I will say I noticed there was less resistance against the engine drawing air in
Which may theoretically make up for the loss. But who knows.

Next I had to advance the timing a tad to bring it back into its zone.
As well as returning idle fuel mixture to the 700 rpm mark.


The car seemed very responsive and the exhaust note had gotten louder.
But I still felt it was down on power.

Vacuum fitting was attached along with the intake air sensor.
So nothing was left unattached

One thing I could draw from this is that the stock airbox is essentially the air plenum since the aspire doesn't have one built into the intake manifold itself.
And removing it reduces the engines ability to draw air from it.
Reducing the possible air coming in each revolution.

Another possibility is that
the stock airbox does a great job of smoothing, straightening, and increasing the static pressure of the air entering the intake manifold
as it flows over the maf which helps increase air density and increase the accuracy of the maf unit.

The flow of the pod filter may be higher.
But the density of the air was lower maybe mostly due to the fact that
The temperature of the intake air went up by 30 degrees it was at 130 while with the stock airbox it tended to stay around 105 degrees constant.
It would drop back to around 100 during a constant cruising situation such as freeway driving.


So far I am not impressed with this cone filter, pod filter, whatever it's called yet again.
The air fuel ratio was right at WOT
The ignition timing was on tune.
And the idle rpm was adjusted.
All while using the jumpers.

I will give this another day or so to see what I think.
Or I may revert to the stock air box again today.

So it comes around to the same conclusion as the last time.
It made less overall average Tq possibly from reduced airflow, velocity, or lack of a plenum
And fuel pressure had to be dialed back 1 psi or so.

This is all being based on real ecu feedback, wideband and Butt dyno.

[rmoltis]

I decided today to put my time to good use hopefully into something that will give me something in return.

As you guys have read the cone filter has been a dissapointment to me.
I wouldn't foresee needing it unless I were to enlarge the displacement on my engine.
Or go forced induction.

So I got to wondering what I could do to my factory intake to free up potentially 1+ cfm of air extra.

I say 1+ because at minimum I want to expect some gain even if ever so marginal.
But it possibly may give more.
Only way to know for sure exact numbers would be an air bench which I don't have.

The ground rules for myself were.
Don't enlarge any tube to a larger diameter and just focus on streamlining air paths and reducing resistance points. To help smooth out flow.

And not to make any huge changes.
I would rather have a small gain than none at all or a loss even.

So I used this spare air cleaner assembly for my aspire.
It was kindly donated to me by zoom zoom he wanted to fund my research.
Thx zoom zoom.

I have the full airbox in back for reference and donated one split apart revealing it's insides.
The resonator and horn are both on the left. While the filter box in on the right.


Here is a closeup of where the horn transitions into the filter box
You can see there is extra plastic from the manufacturing process that could be trimmed down and smoother out/radiused.

The resonator port on the right side stays attached to the filter box side
So that's what that hole is for. It's so the port can go inside the resonator airspace.


Here is a closeup of the ""radiused edged horn"
As you can see there is much manufacturing plastic that was never smoothed out by the sweatshop workers over in Korea. Which leads to restrictions in airflow.
There really isn't much radiused edge haha.


This is a closeup of the intake portion of the resonator cavity of the hemholtz resonator.
This tiny hole allows air to be drawn in at a certain rate. Thus keeping the main flow of air to the main horn. I believe this secondary intake point may be used once max airflow has been achieved through horn negative pressure is increased drawing air from this point too.



After that intake. Inside the resonator cavity is the second air intake point.
This tube sticks into the cavity a certain length of tube and inside diameter.
To induce resonace. the frequency is chosen here. This port width and height determines the frequency of the resonance itself
While the resonance chamber adds the necessary airspace to the total airbox space
For the frequency to actually resonate within the airspace.



My goal was to optimize these points.
Next post shows after pictures.

[rmoltis]

Starting with the horn portion that flows into the filter box side.
I ground down much extra material while giving it a radiused edge
As well as smoothing out bumps inside the tube


Next up we have the horn itself I made sure to radius the edge as good as I could.
It is much improved over factory. No hard edges or lips.


Then we have the resonance tube.
I didn't want to change the length or inside diameter because it would affect the resonance point. But to be fair I wouldn't mind if the resonant point moved slightly up in the rpms
So I radiused the inside edge of its intake portion. Even though the width and height were not changed. The radiused edge ever so slightly increased the area of the port itself every so slightly (tiny change) possibly moving resonant point upwards. Fingers crossed.


And last here is the main intake point for the resonator cavity.
I took a triangle shaped bit and rotated it by hand to give the hole a tapered edge while increasing diameter a hair wider (really tiny change)
Then smoothed it with a plastic wire wheel


All these things were ground, then smoothed with a plastic wire wheel, then smoothed more with a polishing bit.

Granted all these things were done by hand so they are not machine perfect.
But they are. I feel much improved over stock.
Or at least they look so.

I will be reassembling the pieces tonight.
And since the stock gasket was deteriorated.
I will use silicone caulking and sandwich the 2 sides together.

Will install tomorrow or whenever is next convenient.
Then I will report back.

[Movin]

Plastic surgery can be beautiful, Do the art doc !!

[rmoltis]

My brand new alternator arrived in the mail yesterday.




Installed it the same day.

Turns out the old alternator had been replaced in the past.
But it was a remanufactured unit.

I have had many problems with Remanufactured things.
When I first started wrenchin on my rides 12 years ago.

I used to buy remanufactured because it saved me a small amount of money initially.
But in the long run I'd say about %50 of the time I'd say those same parts would end up failing much sooner than a new product would have.

Which just costs me more money in the long run or "the big picture".

So lessons have taught me that new is usually better than rebuilt.
But not "always"

New unit looks and feels solid
My test drive today should either confirm or deny whether or not this new alternator eliminated that "knocking/rotating" sound I've been hunting down.

Also the modified airbox has been installed.
I'm just spending a little more time with it getting used to how it feels in comparison to how it was.

Immediately upon reinstallation and crude tune.
And took a light drive around the block.

First thing noticed was the restoration of lower rpm and mid rpm torque.

my fuel pressure had to be turned back up in between each drive in very small increments.
Until I got to my narrowband reading .83-. 85 and the wideband reading around 12.5-12.4

I am enjoying this airbox very much.
It seems to have gained some grunt in the low&mid rpms.
If there was any removeal of restriction in the box.
It must have emphasized the already designed airflow/torque curve from the factory.
It seems to help marginally up top.
Overall it feels great.
But yet again I have no dyno evidence or #'s
To back my claim.

This could all be me just noticing the difference between the pod filter and stock type airbox.
It's power vs. Torque.

Fyi. The k&n filter was also cleaned before installation into new box.
This keeps the tests fair and equal between boxes.

I will leave it on for a lengthy period of time getting used to it.
Then someday in the future I can revert back to the unaltered stock box.
And see if there was anything gained or lost.
The stock box will be the baseline.

If you guys do these things.
Ignition timing, afr adjustments, idle mixtures
Don't let the engine fool you.
Readings will continue to change until the vehicle has been "fully" warmed up.
I made sure to get it to 195 then go for a drive to heatsoak the engine on the hottest times possible during the day.

This is because if that is the peak temp your vehicle will see.
It is smart to tune for that point.
That way you don't run into any engine damaging circumstances.
I'd rather have it set for a safe optimum at high temp.
Than set it at lower temp and have the afr/fueling/ignition change everytime it warms up.

Mainly I do this because of the 195 degree thermostat coupled with sometimes 100 degree days, matched with stop and go traffic here in pittsburgh.
I'd rather take no chances.

[rmoltis]

I took an 18" metal breaker bar and placed in against various engine components.
Then I would put my ear against it and use it as a stethoscope.

The sounds would transfer through it.
Once I got to the alternator I heard the noise quite clearly.
It sounded less like a knock through the "stethoscope"
And more of a rotating/off balance/bad bearing/drag creating sound.

Since the old one was a remanufactured unit.
It probably had shoddy workmanship and failed.

But I have a new unit installed now and the sounds all went away
And it should last for a considerable amount of time

[rmoltis]

Got married today.

Well I say it is today because it is just now starting to slow down.
It was July 11th which was the day we became boyfriend/ girlfriend.
And the actual marriage time occurred at 4:20 not intentional at all.
Have been together 6 years on our wedding day

It was a good day...

[red90festyonair]

Congratulations to you and your new Wife!

[Movin]

That is awesome! Best wishes!

[rmoltis]

Congratulations to you and your new Wife!

That is awesome! Best wishes!

Thx guys.

Everything went perfectly on the day of.
It was raining for days leading up to.
But then cleared up for a sunny 80+ degree day.
It was held outside.
My parents and her parents were there and our close friends (small ceremony)

Followed by photos in the park, then dinner and drinks.