[jrgoffin]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Joe:

How much boost were you runnig when it activated? Do you still have the knobs set to pull timing with boost?

Not a ton of boost John, probably 12PSI or so, which will max out around 14 with the pulley I'm running. Keeping it conservative!

As for the knobs, RATE is turned all the way down, and START is all the way up. I had them opposite initially, but I think this is a decent setting now? I'll go look again sometime in the next day or so, but this was the last pic I took before bolting the seat back down (used a red sharpie to mark the arrow on the knobs so I could see them easier):

Thank you for an extraordinary product, John.

Ed

That is for sure - cannot be stated enough!!

 

[John@J&S]

Ok, that's how you set it to disable boost retard. With the Rate knob fully CCW, it retards zero degrees per psi.

I was just checking to see if you were still in boost when the unit detected something. Most engines have some piston slap in decel or low engine load, which will trigger false knock retard. To prevent this, the unit disables knock retard when it senses more than five inches of vacuum.

 

[4sdvenom]

Quick question, how many posts per page is your thread and table of contents set up for?
I went to use it to find info on the cast aluminum GT500 oil pan, and I believe mine is set to the max since it only went up to 17 pages for all 642 posts.

Thanks, and thank you for taking the time to document things as well as you have.
I plan to read it in it's entirety when I get the chance.

Ken

 

[eschaider]

Not a ton of boost John, probably 12PSI or so, which will max out around 14 with the pulley I'm running. Keeping it conservative!

As for the knobs, RATE is turned all the way down, and START is all the way up. I had them opposite initially, but I think this is a decent setting now? I'll go look again sometime in the next day or so, but this was the last pic I took before bolting the seat back down (used a red sharpie to mark the arrow on the knobs so I could see them easier)

12 psi w/o a retune - ::dwarf::busted::

You might want to set the Vampire to pull some timing when it sees boost just to be on the safe side, Joe. The other consideration is waiting for the right weather for the tune. Because the ECU is measuring IATs both pre and post blower and manifold pressure, it compensates for bad, good, and better air as the different air qualities present themselves to the engine. Soooo, if you were so disposed you could get tuned before fall and the tune would be essentially as good as the tune you might get in the fall.

A worthwhile consideration for tuning now instead of later is engine longevity. 12 psi is non-trivial boost and I would not want to see you hurt that engine unnecessarily. On the other hand if you turn up the sensitivity on the Vampire it will protect the engine but at the expense of a little discount in the torque and department. Be prudent don't put all those nice new parts at unnecessary risk.

Ed

 

[jrgoffin]

Not to worry, all - there is still a good tune in there (no heart attacks from Ed allowed)! I would definitely not get in to boost with an old tune, so other than some real minor tweaks, the one that is in could realistically be "the one". If I recall, this tune closely parallels one that was used with a ported Eaton running slightly more boost, so it's on the conservative side with this combination. I'm not sure how the bump in C/R has effected it, but I have no complaints right now as to how it runs. It will still get tweaked soon when I find the time, but I'm also curious how the power curve will change with the ported heads along with the other upgrades. With any luck, I'll be able to post a graph from a dyno sometime soon.

 

[eschaider]

I feel a little better knowing the tune is for a ported Eaton with 'slightly' more boost Joe, however ...


Ed

 

[jrgoffin]

It will definitely get up on a dyno soon for some massaging Looking forward to seeing the numbers even though I wasn't out chasing anything specific. Hopefully will have updates not too far down the road!

 

[jrgoffin]

Fall update: got in on the dyno for a new tune (one that I'd call ridiculously conservative - my choice!). Have to give a shout out to Jeff Chambers at CRT Performance in Norwalk, OH for getting me in and writing a real nice tune that has made the car even more enjoyable to drive - especially with the big weight reduction from the front end. Even better, the AFR is now a fat 11.3:1 (Ed had suggested this as well due to the 20% Ethanol in the 93 Octane around here), the idle is perfect and the power comes on so much smoother. Definitely was glad to get the overly-lean temporary tune out of there.

Even though I stopped short of a final pull that would have approached 7,000 RPM (and could have stepped up to about 21 or 22° of timing), the last one was close to 6,500 RPM and I was fine with that. With 18° for now, especially since the engine barely has 400 miles on it, I am real happy with it. In any case, the Aluminator did not miss a beat and was rock solid during the thrashing - a pat on the back for myself and this build! Standing back and watching the RPM's climb was still a bit nerve-wracking, but there was not one glitch the whole evening.

Anyway, on the Mustang Dyno, which I understand reads power about 10% less than a DynoJet (or does the DynoJet just come in at 10% or so more?), I was perfectly content at 469/444 (charts below). Interestingly enough, Jeff pulled up a graph from another car he had recently tuned that had a stock bottom end, along with a Steigmeier Stage 5 Eaton, and the same 2.93 blower pulley, and mine was about 40HP above it. That was about what I figured with the addition of the ported heads, '98 cams, and the slight bump in C/R from the Gibtec pistons.

From here on out, I'll enjoy the drives, and maybe will toss around the idea of a Whipple in another year or two. Otherwise, that essentially wraps this one up! Many thanks again to Ed and everyone that commented in this thread - I really hope it will continue to be a great reference for anyone that is planning to dive in to a project like this. I'll still be around - with a little less wrench turning - and as always, will answer (or try to answer) any questions that come up!

Video of the last pull (the FR-500 exhaust sounded amazing from this end despite the quality of the clip):

http://vid118.photobucket.com/albums/o108/jrgoffin/20161101_185442_zpsxim0qgmp.mp4

Just in case PhotoBucket isn't cooperating:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5mfnd40zt8p7ich/20161101_185442.mp4?dl=0

Scans of the charts:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: Totally forgot to mention that the Vampire was flawless and with this good tune, it didn't make a peep (John sent me an e-mail to ask!!). This was in contrast to the temporary tune where the lights were flickering occasionally, but the new tune was so spot on that the Vampire did its thing in the background and didn't have to step in once. Glad to have it there for sure and know it will do what it does if necessary!

 

[eschaider]

Very nice Joe!

That was a long road. I am particularly glad you got the tune. The Vampire will go a long way to protecting the investment but a good tune and a Vampire are even better.

I expect the car will provide a very satisfying driving experience and attitude adjustment vehicle whenever those sorts of thing might be required.

Awesome job, even more impressive documentation and a big thanks for sharing with everyone. :beerchug:


Ed

 

[P49Y-CY]

great job, joe! congrats and enjoy :beer:

 

[jrgoffin]

Very nice Joe!

That was a long road. I am particularly glad you got the tune. The Vampire will go a long way to protecting the investment but a good tune and a Vampire are even better.

I expect the car will provide a very satisfying driving experience and attitude adjustment vehicle whenever those sorts of thing might be required.

Awesome job, even more impressive documentation and a big thanks for sharing with everyone. :beerchug:

Ed

You aren't the only one glad about the tune, Ed! The driveability is so much better now: if it was like a whole new car with the new engine, it's like another new car yet again. To say it's an absolute blast to drive is an understatement. Even though the power numbers aren't through the roof, it is more than one could need on the street, especially with the sharpened handling thanks to the loss of weight from the front end. Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out!

Also, sorry I missed your call the other day - had a bunch of friends in and out of here all weekend, so it's been a busy few days. Will definitely give you a shout shortly.

great job, joe! congrats and enjoy :beer:

Thanks, Chris - it has been a fantastic project. Even better, one that ran its course without one hiccup from start to finish. How could one not dig that, especially if all the details help out those that undertake a project like this some day

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of projects, I did have one more item to add: a new oil separator.

I had been running one of the "popular" pieces that was mounted up on the cowl adjacent to the PCV valve, but I always though that location just didn't give the oil vapor the ability to condense out and stay relatively clear of the intake. I probably could have just moved it farther away, but I decided it was time for an upgrade to one that is larger and theoretically more efficient. In any case, I have to give my buddy Tony credit for this since it's modeled after the layout he has on his '01 Kenne Bell Cobra. He also provided the inspiration to dive in to my own Terminator website since he has his own as well: Taz Cobra. What can I say, great minds think alike.

Anyway, this new billet can is sold by a company called 360 Infinite USA, although it is from another company called Automotive Design Depot (ADD - not really a great acronym to use!). I actually purchased it through "360" off their eBay store since it's not on their site for some reason, but it was a great deal at $75. A search for "ADD W1" or "oil separator" brings up a lot, and in my case, I snagged the satin black version.

A couple pics of it first (note the dipstick - a nice feature!):

Mounting it was a cinch using a slightly modified 2" flat corner bracket, and the perfect location for it is up near the intake, with the radiator support bolt securing it.

Close up of it mounted (my buddy Tony also has a similar KB CAI and placed his here as well):

The hoses are a bit of an eye sore, but function before form, so they'll work. I may, at some point, run them behind the strut tower using the openings that already exist, but for now, this will be fine. I picked up about 12' of 3/8" ID fuel line, and then needed one 3/8" coupler to mate the end to the intake tube that originally connected to the PCV valve, but it isn't complicated to figure out. Another view of the whole layout:

A view from further back - the complete finished project to officially wrap up this thread (I think!):

Unfortunately, winter is right around the corner, but the weather lately has still been nice enough to get the car out (and as we all know, they love the cooler air). Since my registration expires in just under two weeks, that was usually my indication that it was time for winter storage, and it may still be the case this time. If so, I'll definitely be looking forward to a fresh oil change in the spring (again, I will be switching to the Mobil1 0W-40 European formula at that time) and a whole heck of a lot more fun next season!

 

[oldmodman]

Hi Joe,

I looked under all the names you listed to find the catch can but could not find anything. Tried looking in 360, ADD, and Ebay without luck.
Do you have a link that goes directly to the selling source?

 

[jrgoffin]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ADD-W1-Blac...servoir-Tank-Ver-1-/201600784538?hash=item2ef057d89a:g:IEMAAOSwmtJXWa62&vxp=mtr

That's a link for the black one like mine. but looks like there is blue, red, purple, and polished aluminum as well. Weird that it didn't show up, but "ADD W1" did the trick. I probably should have mentioned that the eBay vendor ID is 360infinite-usa as well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: Another perfect option is to just search eBay for "oil separator" or "oil catch can". There are a lot that come up, especially like mine, and plenty others with some variation. Since the bulk of them are billet aluminum and are priced around $50 or so, they are a great bang for the buck.

 

[jrgoffin]

Looks like in that link I posted, they just jacked the price up to $90.

I did find what looks to be the identical tank, but with no graphics for $60. It comes from China, unfortunately, but I imagine that may have been the source of mine anyway. Had I known, may have just scored this one, but the price difference wasn't enough to make a big deal:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-C...oir-Breather-Black-/322314757697?hash=item4b0b74e641:g:O7kAAOSwB09YGa-P&vxp=mtr

 

[jrgoffin]

Just a quick note now that winter is officially here and my Cobra is tucked away in the garage for a few months...

As a follow up to the new oil separator, I wanted to add that it is fantastic and has collected a noticeable amount of oil in a very short time, more than the previous JLT version did in an entire season (or more). Although the original "ADD" version is all over the map in prices, the second one mentioned above seems to stay steady at $60 or less. This one is from the eBay vendor "kyostar888" and comes in a few different finishes:

My buddy Tony liked my new one so much that he ordered one for his own Cobra and has been very pleased as well. I've also received plenty of e-mail from guys that have picked up these tanks and really like them. For the price, they can't be beat.

 

[eschaider]

Those are easily the nicest units I have seen Joe and the price is very, very attractive.


Ed

 

[sparky1562]

The steel backing plate goes back on easily on the actual Shelby pump and the screws get torqued down to 89 in/lbs. Before mounting it, I also added a small bead of anaerobic gasket maker around the port just to keep it completely sealed with the block (some "upgraded" pumps will have an o-ring here):

View attachment 135681

Is the gasket maker necessary? The assembly instructions do not mention anything other than cleaning the surfaces?

 

[eschaider]

Not always called out in OEM literature, Herb but always good practice.


Ed

 

[jrgoffin]

Is the gasket maker necessary? The assembly instructions do not mention anything other than cleaning the surfaces?

As Ed mentioned: just a good practice. Since some of the "upgraded" pumps have o-rings, a little sealer on the flat surface "just because" isn't going to hurt.

As an FYI:

 

[jrgoffin]

Quick question, how many posts per page is your thread and table of contents set up for?
I went to use it to find info on the cast aluminum GT500 oil pan, and I believe mine is set to the max since it only went up to 17 pages for all 642 posts.

Thanks, and thank you for taking the time to document things as well as you have.
I plan to read it in it's entirety when I get the chance.

Ken

Completely missed this post...from a few months back - my apologies!

The ToC I added was inadvertently based on 15 posts per page which was my setting. Once I realized that could be different for everyone, I updated the list with hyperlinks. That should make it much easier to jump to any section.