The Project Pad

So most of you probably know this car from Ed (Edigreg). I purchased the car from him back in early May and immediately fell in love with the car. I had a 93' with a built AAN by FRP along with VEMS and a 30R however i had a few issues with that car and unfortunately had to part it out and sell it before it became even more of a money pit.. With my shitty luck from the last car only 3 days after owning the car i ran into an issue. Basically the first time i went WOT with the car to redline i got a misfire. Took her back home and decided to test the coil packs as that seemed like my culprit, however that was not the problem. Next step was to pull the spark plugs and see what they look like and BAM the 4th spark plug looked very bad, showed signs of severe detonation and that was the worst feeling in the world.. Compression test came next and cylinder 4 had 0 compression, this told me one thing either the piston had a hole in it or a the valve was done... That night he head came off and bottom end looked great, pistons looked perfect however that was not the case for the head. Cylinder 4 the valve was seconds away from dropping and that would have made things 10x worse...

fast forward a few days later i knew i wanted to take the head to be done by the best, i decided to chose a local place SKSpeed who is known to be the best machine shop on Long Island. As soon as they took the head in they found a huge issue with the machining that was done originally. The valves were actually hitting against the head rather than the valve seats. I'm no specialist when it comes to engine internals but a brought a buddy with me who specializes in big builds and he was shocked by the poor machine work.. Basically the head was a ticking time bomb and it just happened that it went on me..

Still i wanted to make sure everything else in the car was good and didn't cause this so i had the Fuel System flow tested, and had everything looked over as well and sending out the injectors to make sure they're ok. Now I'm hoping to get the head back this coming week, get the car back together and hopefully have it driving again shortly after. The only other thing that got me thinking was perhaps the NY E85 was a diff mixture than PA so that could have also caused a lean situation however i had the E85 tested and it was 83% ethanol so i don't think that is the issue..

Ed sold me the car on a 25-26psi map and told me at that PSI i was about 430-450whp.. My goal with the car is to get it running mid 10's @133-134 which i'm thinking i'll need 560-600whp to achieve and low 500's tq. I think from what i've read and what Ed has told me (ed has been very helpful) i think hitting 600 safely shouldn't be a problem at all..

So i contacted Marc from EFI Express and as soon as i have it running i will be driving it down to him to get it tuned. I will have him write me a high boost E85 file and a base map 93 file to have in case i ever am in a situation that i can not find E85.. Hopefully that can be done before S Fest and i can make it down there and meet up with all you guys...

Only other plans with the car for me is a twin disc clutch, axles and maybe a carbon driveshaft as i want to make a bullet proof drivetrain.

For those of you not familiar with the car, here is the setup..

Engine
-VEMS Engine Management
-Saenz Forged Connecting Rods
-ARP Main/Rod/Head studs, MLS Head Gasket
-HTA3582, .82 A/R, TiAL stainless steel v-banded turbine housing.
-Iroz Motorsport Header - Equal length, tig welded back-purged 304 stainless steel, per-cylinder EGT bungs, v-banded for TiAL turbine housing, wastegate, and downpipe. Coated with Swaintech White Lightning thermal barrier coating.
-TiAL MVR44 Water-cooled, billet aluminum/stainless wastegate
-FIC 2150cc EV14 injectors
-Apikol Intake Manifold
-3B valve cover, powdercoated
-Gen 1 Apikol FMIC (24"x10"x3.5")
-Tial 50mm BOV
-034 High Output Ignition Coils
-Custom catch can setup
-Setrab 25row Oil Cooler
-Vanjen clamps/Samco Boost Hoses

Fuel
-IE dual 044 surge tank
-EFI-X billet -8AN fuel rail
-044 pump feeding surge
-Weldon adjustable FPR

Exhaust
-Iroz Motorsport 3" v-banded downpipe, heat wrapped
-3" Stromung Turbo-back Exhaust
-3" Electric exhaust cutout w/ side dump

Head
-7A Cams
-Ported & Polished
-.5mm Oversize Intake valves
-.5mm Oversize Exhaust valves
-High rate valve springs
-Titanium retainers
-Lightweight lifters

Drivetrain
-6-speed EDU transmission
-10.5lb JB Racing Aluminum FlyWheel
-SouthBend Stage 4 clutch
-Apikol Short Shifter
-V8 Torsen Rear Differential
-Apikol Rear Diff mount
-Poly snub mount/crossmember mounts/etc
-Solid front subframe bushings
-Poly engine mounts (mustang)

Suspension
-Custom Eibach coilovers
-Revalved Bilstein sports (+10% compression, +30% rebound)
-2Bennett Camber Plates
-Apikol/Hap big rear sway bar

Brakes
-993t front brakes w/ Porterfield R4-S Pads
-Boxster S rear brakes
-Custom Hydraulic Handbrake (standalone master cylinder)
-Stainless brake lines

Lighting
-Euro spec headlights w/ relayed 55W HIDs (4300k) & Headlight adjuster motors
-Hella Clear Corners
-Euro A6 center taillights / Euro corner lights

Interior
-CF trim
-VEMS LCD
-Custom hardwired V1 w/ concealed display in instrument cluster, and remote audio controller in center console
-Forge billet shift knob
-Sullivan Racing pedals

Nice! When Ed told me at Carlisle that it has burnt up a valve (or something, wasn't sure at that point) i was shocked, I thought omg Pete is cursed, lol.

Glad you'll have her back up and running soon! Vids!!

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Hope this one holds up to long term abuse for you

Ed is helpful anyway but I bet he wants rides so he is extra...

Good to see you here Pete. Here is the old thread BTW: http://www.theprojectpad.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5

I do still have some video from last year that I'll post up eventually.

Glad to hear you're getting it back on the road ASAP. Like I said via text, the head was built by AAN-specialist Dave Jones, and made perfect compression and lots of power for a long time, so it's hard to believe there was anything wrong with the valves or valve seats. Certainly possible but I'd really like to see more information on what this machine shop is claiming.

That said, did you ever pinpoint a definite source of the failure? I would hate to see it re-assembled and have another failure.

You can rule out fuel quality, since the other cylinders had no issues. I previously suggested sending the injectors out to be flow tested, I believe you said you sent them to FIC? I have never seen a failure like this - it seems odd that only one intake valve failed.

Injectors were sent out and I had the fuel system tested..

Not sure what else to look into bedsides that..

Only other thing I'm thinking is I hit a bump as I hit the limiter and the car free revved for a second. Not sure if it over revved?

I'm going to log as soon as it's back together and then bring it to Marc..

I will get an exact written cause from the machine shop as to what happened.

Nah, hitting bumps has no effect. Doesn't matter if the car is loaded or in neutral, the rev limiter will still function properly.

FWIW, Dave Jones doesn't build those heads. He has a guy that does all the machine work and assembly to his specs, parts, etc... I've met the guy and he knows the AAN head as he's done all Daves work. It's crazy that that only one valve had an issue. Possibility of a freak accident?

Sorry to hear this happened to you with a well sorted car like this. Glad to hear you're getting back up and screamin' ASAP though!

Same difference really, point was that the builder is very experienced with AAN heads. Of course there could have been a mistake, but I find it very hard to believe it wouldn't have shown itself until now - this car has been making 400-600whp for years since that head was built.

Looks like the valve bent somehow and beat up the head making it look like it was resting on the head instead of the seat. Maybe a really worn or failed valve guide?

The head is melted around the valve, and notice the small hole in the valve

DA Fridge is alive yet again

did you fire it last night?

Yup, fired right up. Didn't drive it yet. Just want to make sure all the sensors are correct before I drive it

nice!

Sweet!

Vids!

So after a few weeks of fine tuning i got her running like a lot better thanks to the help of Marc S and Nick S (AMDISTHEBEST)..

It's still only on 25PSI and wastegate pressure so the boost comes in late, but when it hits, it sure hits alright...

After the first drive i had severe clutch slip in 2nd gear and on as soon as i hit boost, however somehow it now started to grab hard again.. I'm thinking maybe coolant or something somehow might it onto the clutch during the head install..

Now after an adjustment to AFR at idle and a new wideband the car ran pretty flawlessly however now after 200 miles of driving and some occasional rips it has now started to idle and drive funny again.. idle was dead on at around .98-1.02 LA but now its starting to drop to the .7x range and out of no where while i try to drive i get a 0 LA reading and the car starts to run a little rough.. Not sure what the problem is yet, but it was perfect for 200 miles and even has a new wideband.. Confusing..

I was planning on taking it right to Marc at EFI Express to get it tuned, however now that the clutch was slipping at first I'm kind of hesitant to rent a trailer, rent a truck waste 100's in gas and tolls and rental fees just to get it on the dyno and find that the clutch won't grab so as of now I'm gonna hold out to get it to Marc until i swap out the clutch...

I want to however do some street tuning and at least get the car running good.. Just these random rich conditions that the car tends to keep hitting is really getting me nervous.. not sure why it keeps happening.. In all the logs i took of 3rd, 4th, 5th the car is running good and AFR are spot on.. Now however out of nowhere I'm getting back to square one again.. agghhh.

Hmm, that's a bit weird. Not sure what to tell you. Try disabling EGO control (closed loop EGO control I beileve it's called), set the first two values (rich and lean limits) to 0. I guess it could be that ti's trying to compensate for something, but taht might point you in the right direction somehow.

Which clutch you going with?

Soaking the injectors in gas to get rid of some gunk and new plugs going in since these were in during the rich first starts.

Hope that does the trick..

034 Twin Disc flywheel and tilton twin disc clutch. Might do E85 pistons and axles over the winter too. Going for 700whp next year

Awesome to hear this car is out on the island now! If you're ever in Queens with it feel free to hit me up and come by my garage and check out my Coupe Quattro project!

Never had even a hint of clutch slip, especially not at 25psi... even at ~600whp/525wtq it never ever slipped. Are you sure its slipping?

The wb02 sensor was relatively new...doubt it needed replaced.

You get a "0.00" lambda reading? I've never seen that on a VEMS ECU. Usually the LCD will display "???" if there is not a sensor connected or while it's still heating up. If it is out of range it will just display .7 or 20.2 (max lean is around there somewhere).

Honestly the car shouldn't need any tuning at all with the tune that was on the ECU. I was daily driving it with that tune and it was rock solid. I would look to hardware causing the issues, not the tune. You had the head off and obviously a lot of things disconnected. Your symptoms sound like an intermittent vac leak to me

The clutch is definently slipping- however it only slips in the first 15 minutes of driving- once I get it warmed up the slipping stops. Not sure how or why but it's weird...

Mind you I've never launched the car, quick shifted or anything and before the head was out it didn't slip not once. First drive in boost after the head install and it slipped...


Figured out the issue with the AFR. The cam sensor which I had to solder and get a new connector on was loose, redid the solder, taped it nice and zip tied it nicely and the car is running like a charm again...


I'm thinking the tuning was slightly off based on different weather, altitude, fuel and the fact that the head no longer has leaky valves. All that together caused the tune to be slightly off. However with some minor adjustments and with some help and pointers from my buddy Nick we got it running pretty damn good.


Basically still plan on swapping for a twin disc this winter and hopefully make my way to mark and get this biotch back to 600whp

Fuel is the only potential variable, and the fact that you removed the head. You're only ~300ft closer to sea level on Long Island than in Pittsburgh - that is not enough to make any significant difference. And the valves were not "leaking" at any point under my ownership - last compression test ~6 weeks before you purchased the car was 170-180psi across the board.

Sorry to hear about the issues with the clutch.

A Compression test wouldnt show a valve issue would it?