This is an awesome build! I like the mix of parts from all the big names in the industry plus the top notch fabrication!

Do you have any race tracks that you can travel to?

 

Unfortunately, no racetracks in Bangladesh yet ....but plenty of spirited driving late in the night and the car always behaves very nicely.

So all my Artec parts have arrived finally. I'm blown away by the build quality. A big shout out to Anthony over at shift performance in Australia for getting the products ceramic coated and shipped out so quickly

Sharing hi-res pics below for everyone as I don't think many Evom members are using these:


The ceramic coating is absolutely top notch

The welds are beautiful and materials used for fabrications is top notch

Hmmmm.....

3.5" is HUGE. My entire arm goes through the bend easily :-)

Love the fact that I can install both my narrowband and wideband side by side for the most accurate readings for cruise tune.


DEI Titanium wrap is super ITCHY. I found out the hard way :-(

 

Now that I'm living with the HKS dual oil cooler setup for almost a month, I think I can safely post my feedback.

I'm absolutely in love with the unit. Even with the ambient temps around 85F in Bangladesh now, the car seldom crosses 195F even after long spirited driving on the road. Usually I test oil temp by doing 3-5 back to back 3rd gear WOT's and few 1-4 rows....the setup has really surpassed all my expectations.

Also, I changed my oil last month and the color has stayed exactly the same whereas previously it used to become slightly darker after 2-3 weeks of hard driving.

For all serious track users, I would highly recommend to try out the HKS OIL cooler unit.

 

My car had the FP race cast manifold and Tomei V2 O2 dump and front pipe before the Artec stuff arrived.

While installing the Artec last week, I took some side by side pictures.

 

So, the Artec install was a breeze. The fitment is spot on. Some pics below for reference

The manifold looks beautiful. Hated to cover it up later with the Monster heat shield...it fits very nicely Btw

Dual O2 sensors...Yay

My inner OCD driven wire management :-D

V-band clamp installs nicely without hitting anything

Cleared Moroso oil pan easily

A fellow GT86 owner Shafaquat gave me a roll of heat insulation wrap...so made the fuel temps a little more happier :-)

 

Inspired by a fellow Evo VI owner Zaer's enthusiasm for LED lights, decided to go full out and change all my bulbs for the headlamp.

Did a day's research on various brands and settled for the below ones. Note: I have HID headlamps

Osram XENARC 66240CBN-HCB D2S 6200K

GTR.LED732
9005/9145/H10: GTR Ultra Series 2.0
Quantity:2

GTR.LED733
9006: GTR Ultra Series 2.0
Quantity:2

Morimoto LED650
T10/194: XB LED 3.0 (White)
Quantity:2

The color temp matched very nicely. It's pretty close to 5300K as mentioned during detailed tests over at bulbfacts.com

Needless to say, the low beams now have superb visibly over the stock HID's...the Hi beam and fog's are brighter than the sun

 

Finally got around to some tuning on the road last few days to compare the performance of the Artec vs the FP+Tomei.

Before sharing the numbers, let me share my impressions first...

The Artec units sound amazing...feels like I'm driving a F1 car now. Turbo whistles are now more pronounced at low RPM and the car wants to rev all the time. Also, the spool is quicker even with much higher timing pre-spool and part throttle response compared to before is simply mind blowing.

Please consider following for the numbers:
- Bangladesh fuel is absolutely crap. We get 89 or 90 equivalent on a good day.
- I'm running 20% ethanol mixed with fuel and 50/50 water meth injection via aquamist unit
- Car is full weight Evo 9 MR with 6 speed transmission and a 10" subwoofer with enclosure at the trunk
- The FP numbers were recorded with ambient temp around 80F and the Artec numbers around 87F

First of all, let me share the WG duty cycle. I was able to achieve the same boost with much lower duty cycle till 7K. Post 7K slightly higher duty cycle was required. I have a feeling it's due to making all MIVEC advances 0 post 6000.
However, I like this new curve as it's much more flat



VD result below:

Red line is Artec, Blue is FP+Tomei

Sharing a screencap of the run from my log for reference....I think I'm able to almost run E85 timing till 6000



Looking forward to hearing fellow Evom members impressions on the Artec units and tune (specially areas where I can improve).

 

Thank you for posting your results and data Sir. I wouldn't get carried away with chasing timing as back pressure goes up after 7000. Not much to be gained.
Artec makes really nice stuff. Your results seem pretty close but temperature is a factor. I've thought about going to the Artec from Tomei and dyno testing it. Have to see what happens.

Concerning your HID blub change. Is there any chance it will warp the factory headlamps?

 

Hi Abacus,
I'm more or less done with ignition tuning...don't have the heart to try out anymore

It's been about 2 weeks now since I've replaced the bulbs and so far so good. Don't think it will damage the headlamp lens as it replaces the same D2S Osram bulb with same wattage that came from the factory. Only the color temp and Lux rating is different. For detailed comparison, please visit the following link:
https://www.bulbfacts.com/hid-oe/chart/

Few things on my list for testing out before calling it a day with my current setup (tuning-wise):
- MIVEC advance post 6000 and check for gains
- lower boost slightly from 7000 onwards to see if power remains the same

Very excited to test out below stuff over the next couple of months. Wish parts didn't take a millennium to reach Bangladesh
- Intense 5656RS Turbo
- Full Radium fuel setup (Hanger, lines inline filter etc.)
- Link EVO9X Ecu (most likely in 2023 as I have to make the time to learn link platform)

 

What would have been really cool is if you were measuring backpressure all along.
To see how it changes , and how significant it is?

Stock frame turbos suffer from backpressure, but on E85 for short bursts drag racers do not care. E85 allows it work reasonably well.

Road and road-racing where you continuously for prolonged period of time maintain high-load, worst yet on low octane-fuel (like California 91 and your 89-90) are sensitive to backpressure. We would all be curious to know if manifold and O2 housing/downpipe++ help to alleviate that, or if the stock-frame turbine housing is the dominant force?

Your data is suggesting some improved spool, but it's hard to compare tests performed under different conditions. Presumably you optimized timing a bit?

What is really curious is that spool, mid range, is affected, but top end is flat.
Intuition would suggest that larger O2 housing and downpipe would have lowered backpressure and allowed more top end.

Regardless, we enjoy enjoy tremendously your updates and the parts you are using.

 

I like that you take pictures of everything

 

@rustykan: I do take a lot of pictures . Easier for me to come back to this thread and compare mods / performance gains and changes.

@alpinaturbo: I have a feeling car has gained a bit more than what VD is showing because of the heat. Specially in the 2000-4500 area. The lower WG duty cycle and much higher fuel requirements in the 3D VE table indicates a much more efficient engine. Timing was optimized from 120-250 load (up to 20 psi). Previous timing resulted in about 200 rpm earlier spool but the car seems to drive better with the updated timing in that region even at the expense of spool. Also, I used to face knock in that region with higher timing, but now the car seems happy. Might be a better batch of fuel from the pump this time round though and nothing to do with the hardware change.

Sharing a side by side VE table snapshot below for reference:

 

My very first attempt with heatshield products....turned out pretty well I think. Product quality of the heat shield and the anchors are very good. Took ages to test fit and make sure access to bolt tooling right. The end result is pretty decent in my opinion. Engine bay is now super cool...literally


Cast stuff needs to breathe, so left the bottom part open.

Header Armor stuff is very easy to mold.

Tooling access was difficult to get right.

Ready to assemble finally...after many test attempts.

End Result...without the valve cover heat shield. Put on after taking the photo :-)

 

The Radium stuff is finally here. Build quality is excellent and everything fits like a glove. Took about 6 hours to install as I got the fuel tank down from the car and repaired couple of old worn out threads and also routed the 8and and 6an huge hoses properly.

The walbro 525LPH pump was used in the OEM hanger and had to cut off the nozzle at the top by one barb to fit. This posed a challenge for the Radium as it is machined to fit the Walbro exactly. My machinist made a very nice adapter to make it right again.

Car started right up in first attempt with 0 leak all around. Idle fuel pressure seems to be 1 PSI higher than before for some reason. Didn't get to do any logging as work finished around 12am yesterday and today is a weekday





The silver base was made by machine shop to make up for the shortened Walbro.

The machinist exceeded all my expectations with the base :-)

Opted to connect the Walbro directly to the base plate. Radium provided all the accessories to do so. Quality is excellent.

OCD wiring in me :-)

 

I am modestly concerned with lifting the pump "upwards" - because fuel pick up ability may change. I.e. our cars suffer from fuel surge when tank is below 1/3 of fuel, some cars may actually be pretty stable down to 1/4, but it's a challenge on circuits.

Perhaps it is not an issue at all.