Looking good Ian..Hoping to come over to the mainland once the weather gets a little better, Its our turn to treat you and Robin for lunch...Since your gas went up ill bring an extra 20 for a blast....

 

awesome..post some sound clips up so i can hear what my old exhaust sounds like with some power behind it..looks good

 

Looks great Ian, did you get a Mocal sandwich plate? You will have to make a trip back to cowtown this summer.

 

Looking good Eno. That oil cooler looks awesome.

Car is looking amazing. Cant wait to see the dyno sheets

 

Eh guys.

Well the boss and I got to head out for a drive yesterday and I'm not going to lie- I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew. The power is awesome and as she says "it feels like it's just waiting to pounce-" and I must admit she's right in her assessment. The grounding kit has really helped to tighten up the shifting and though I know there is some doubt on their usefulness by the AT and MT community with the stock transmission I'm quite confident that the built tranny benefits. I'm not sure there can be any question of it- actually... the difference is VERY noticeable.

What I'm having a bit of an issue with is the noise. Don't get me wrong, it sounds menacing on the outside and the exhaust does really well keeping the outside noise deep and bass-e. On the inside, I think I'm having some resonance issues which I had kind of anticipated but was hoping wouldn't be quite so noticeable. Between the most conservative of rpms and light to moderate lows there is a particular tone that just overwhelms everything and causes very distinct resonance in the cab. It isn't that it is particularly loud- like being inside a medium pitch obo. Very hard to describe.

There is also a higher flute style sound at low RPM just as I touch the gas at low / no load. Just the slightest touch brings out this higher pitch whistling noise that is probably more annoying than overwhelming.

The oil cooler does look pretty awesome in there but my whole FORM > FUNCTION mentality is kicking in. Unfortunately, because of the way the lines have to be run from the thermostatic controller in its current configuration, the cooler has to sit in its place quite crooked. And it's not unmedicated OCD crooked where only someone with a laser level and 10 minutes to analyze it would notice. It's very crooked. I pointed it out to the guys and they said the way it meets up with the grille it has to sit the way it is. I have to bring the car back to them to fix a bearing issue with the Quaife and a water collection issue with the catchcans. They've learned a bit about how the VQ works with the catchcan and have been finding the catchcans as they're installed with the VQ have a tendency to collect water in the colder months during operations.

Quite often people with the catch cans and a need for them don't drive during the winter months- but because the weather out here has been so nice throughout the season few guys have parked their cars. Most are driving and during maintenance are finding a lot of water building up. The answer has been to install some one way checkvalves- though to be honest we didn't get into too much detail about that. Obviously it's to get the water out- but I'm not sure exactly where they're installing the modification and exactly how it's going to work. That'll be a few weeks.

Gord- as for the mocal sandwich plate- I'm not sure if its mocal or not? Are there different kinds? What they showed me (and frick I meant to get a picture but I was so overwhelmed when I went under the car I plumb forgot) was they had A sandwich plate under there and plumbed in such a way as to make room for the larger oil filter. I've been reading about WIX filters in the Canada forums and then went on the prowl for more information. That sounds like THE filter to go with?

They also went a 300V route with the oil change. I had talked to them about the clattering sound I was talking about before in this thread- which we here concluded (with the help of my sound probe) was fuel injectors. They were quite adament that it was in fact the valve train- and when I asked them about it there was no hesitation at all.

When I was listening I put the probe against the fuel injector and heard the noise and pretty much left it at that- exploring a few different items but now that I think back I'm not sure I actually put it against the heads. Anyway- the move to 300V has almost eliminated that noise.

So to you guys I ask this:

I suspect the resonance issues I'm having are something to do with the downpipes- I anticipated increased noise but would like to dampen that med-high pitch frequency whistle. Are small resonators cut into the exhaust later going to help that or is this just going to be one of those things I'm going to have to accept with the custom pipes?

Second: The oil cooler sitting crooked the way it is... I'm tempted to have the guys take another look at how to make it work. I mean, let's be honest- part of the reason I went with that part and with that look was as an accent for the front end that was kickass functional as well. It draws the eye and really bears a lot of scrutiny being that it's all eschew the way it is. I've included a couple photos of how it's set up above the thermostic controller and the way the lines run. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I haven't really had a chance to go over some of these concerns (any, actually) with the shop yet so I'm not here looking to the community because the shop doesn't want to help... but I'd like to go to them with some additional feedback and have a few options to choose from when it comes time to start throwing money around again.


Thanks again you guys!

Oh- and Tyler... I tried getting some sound files for you from my Iphone but to be quite honest listening to the file after is like the difference between listening to an orgasm and having one. Simply doesn't do it justice.

 

I am not sure what you think is off on the cooler? I thought it looks like it slants down slightly towards the passanger side. Not enough to bug me though, the pictures you posted it looks like you think it pushed back toward the driver side? I wouldnt worry about that maybe it is more noticable in person. I was more wondering if you used a thermostatically opening sandwich plate than if it is an actual Mocal brand. I wish i never sold it because it does look bad azz and it is functional

 

on my z with the vortech i had an issue with my nismo exhaust for a little while so i had it off and left my non resonated test pipes on and put the stock cat back on and i had a crazy whistle like u are describing if i was slightly on the gas (very high pitched whistle). It only did it when i had the stock exhaust on with the test pipes, as soon as i switched back to my nismo exhaust it didnt do it. i suspected it had something to do with the pipe size change and added flow from the vortech. Maybe thats ur issue with the pipe size change or maybe not idk. good luck..

also with the oil cooler it seems a bracket could be made or something to get it straightened out

 

Thanks guys... Yeah Tyler that's exactly what it sounds like. While I was writing a note to the shop I thought about ceramic coating the downpipes. I know the ceramic coated berks help eliminate similar sounds from NA cars with HFCs etc... maybe that would dampen the vibration inside the pipe... or at least dampen the sound from resonating through the cab?

As for the sandwich plate... the configuration they went was with a separate themostatic controller- so the sandwich plate itself isn't, but there is one. It's that silver box located directly beneath the oil cooler. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong but I think it's two separate pieces.

We agreed that in the predominent temperatures over here if we didn't go with a regulated cooler it would take FOREVER to reach optimum operating temperature... so it IS temperature controlled... and I was under the impression the temp controller was separate from the sandwich plate.

And yes, it is more noticeable in person- I photographed it in such a way as to make it look as close to how I wanted it to look as possible.

Dustin: Thanks again! I should have the dyno sheets pretty soon- keep in mind this dyno here is a heartbreaker and reads very, very low. I'll be lucky if the thing reads over 400... As they said the pipes didn't help with the top end but did have an impact on the bottom. That's okay to me because the bottom is where all my time is going to be spent anyway.

 

ian, still coming down in march?

 

Yes indeed! Won't make it as far as kent though I dont think. We're doing the firefighter stairclimb at the columbia center downtown Seattle on the weekend of the 9-11. Probably stick around that area.

Not bringing the car either unfortunately. Just caused too many problems last time.

 

Understood, my friends were talking about the stair climb, we may have to meet up. Plus kent isnt too far from there.

 

Fair enough! I'll keep you posted

 

Eh guys...

Dyno sheets as promised. Again, VERY low reading dyno but it is what it is.

I talked to the guys about my concerns and it sounds like things are under control. Simply teething problems.


They had noticed the whistling on light throttle and said there's a chance it's just a leak. They'll smoke machine it when I bring it back in and double check. The mid range resonance was likely the Quaife bearing issue they were going to fix anyway. Though I'd have pinned it on exhaust- you all know how much I know about anything so I'll trust that they understand the issue better than I do. If replacing the Quaife bearings (not 100% sure exactly) solves the issue then yahoo.

Jurie from MNR also said they'd take a look at the way the oil cooler is mounted and adjust it if it's practical. I know it's just a form thing- but... like I said. I'd prefer it be centered and squared properly (if possible).

 

What the hell kind of dyno is that? No HP reading? Max 4kRPM? No crossing at 5200rpm?

 

To be quite honest I was kind of leaning on the hope that someone else could interpret it better than I could... I think because we were focussing on torque numbers most of what's included is torque related down low- as it doesn't seem to have affected much up high.

Also, most of what the shop and I have ever talked about was picking up "the dig" which I think this does show. I'm a bit confused as to what the old numbers are on the old tune / baseline were versus the new ones... and if HP is on the one graph as well as boost and it's all boost on the other... And now I'm at work for the week so probably won't get a chance to approach them about it and get a walkthrough until at least when I get home.