Thanks. Been so busy trying to get sponsors for the VW Jetta Cup, that I haven't had time to work on my car or get on this forum. We couldn't make it to Devens last Sunday, since Theresa had her first race at VIR. (A real learning experience -- her first ever track racing!)

I see that you mopped up at Devens, by a huge margin. Nice times.

I did finally get a new triple-adjustable suspension installed by DSG this week, with the proper spring rates for BSP. All I could afford was Stance, given Theresa's racing expenses, but man it feels good to have the right springs, and shocks that were designed for them. I'm guessing the car is about a second faster at Devens now, but I won't know till the next event I run there. Probably going to SCCA up at NHMS this weekend, since I couldn't get into the NESHOC event at Devens.

There are only two Ethanol stations in the Boston area, one at the airport, which only sells to service vehicles there, and the other in the warehouse district (Chelsea) about 20 min from my house. Doesn't look too good. Meanwhile, we get race fuel at a discount from Theresa's sponsor, Hyperfuels, so I'll stick with Sunoco GT+ this year.

When will you next be up at Devens? We should compare cars again.

Mike

 

Same here, but with original stock flywheel. After 6 years of wear it's probably as light as John's prolite! :-)

 

I am having some heat issues with my car that are concerning me and I want to add an additional oil cooler to my set up. I have already upgraded to the AMS oil cooler and have a CBRD radiator. I reread the rules and know I can add another oil cooler, but my question is can I run a line from the top of the turbo to the cooler and then from cooler into motor? This would eliminate small metal line that is used now. The cooler would be mounted in front of radiator to metal bar that is right in front / top of radiator. I don't have air conditioning so there is plenty of room up there.

 

Mike, the oil line coming off the head going to the turbo is a lower pressure line, I don't think it would be a good spot to feed an oil cooler from. Adding a fan to the back of your current oil cooler might be an idea to consider if rules allow for it...

Did you log temps on Sunday and was the car pulling timing on you? I would've thought the fact that you're on racegas, and only running HARD for 60-70 seconds, that the heat wouldn't really be an issue for you.

 

Adam's got you high strung boy!

Nice driving on sunday Mike. You guys practically had a NT for your local event.

 

I did not know it was a low pressure line, it was Adams idea to address oil cooling issue. I could just add another oil cooler and run them in tandem. Is there a better way to go about this than that idea (about to order a Setrab oil cooler overnighted to my house)? I was running at 240 oil temp. on my last 3 runs, so I think that is about 20 degrees to hot. I do not think a fan will get temps down that much, maybe I am wrong.

Thanks Jon, it was like an NT! Wish you could have made it, I think it was the best course we have had there so far. You coming down for the Holbert?

 

yeah sure, blame it on Adam... you sure we're talking about the same line? the one that comes off the head, right by the thermostat housing, and is the supply line for the turbo.

If you're running a full synthetic 240 is not that hot. T1 guys don't bat an eye at anything less then 300, seeing 240 after a run isn't unusually high at all. Unless you're getting knock from excessive heat, which I HIGHLY doubt, why add the headache of installing another oil cooler and the potential for another leak.

Personally I think a fan would work very well in your (our) situation. you aren't getting a whole lot of air flow over the cooler when you're done your run or sitting in grid waiting to run. A small puller fan mounted behind the oil cooler wired to a switched 12v signal just might do the trick and is a fraction of the cost/weight of adding another cooler.

 

agreed. Spraying water on the oil cooler between runs is also quite effective.

 

My car is getting a bath between runs, I have a pretty big water spray bottle

Marc you make some good points, I thought 240 was to high because my car used to never get hotter than 225 (prior to all the changes I made this off season). I run Amsoil 5w30, so its synthetic oil. The car has been misfiring / sputtering on my last runs the past few events when I hit oil temps of 240 and over, so I assumed the car was getting to hot. I think it may be a fuel issue because it happens the run after the fuel light comes on, so its probably fuel starve. We have not seen any knock, but my AFR ratio's were screwy at Englishtown (my water and oil temps were as high as I ever have seen them) so that is why I was considering a second oil cooler. I put the CBRD radiator after Englishtown so my water temps are spot on, but oil got to 240 on Sunday for my last 3 runs (had a total of 6 with reruns).

I know I read a thread on here where someone hooked up a little Spal fan to the back of the oil cooler, so hopefully that will be helpful. I will try that and see what happens, Thanks!

 

Just guessing here, it is a possibility that your engine isn't happy with the hot fuel. Once you get the light on it's about 3 gallons and we have a recirculating system. So all that fuel is being pumped forward (gaining heat from the pumping) and then circulating through the fuel rail (getting hotter) and finally some of it back to the tank.

FYI, I've run quite low on fuel and watched the relay on my defi's and haven't seen any real fuel starve. These things (evo's) will pick up gas till about 2 gallons.

I had my fuel pump get very loud on me a couple weeks ago when it was hot. Same fuel level. Added more and it went away immediately. Didn't have any driveability issues though.

If I were you I would run 1/2 tank+ all the time and avoid this issue. Your car is a trailer queen now and only runs race gas anyway. You're not at a skill level (myself included) that will take advantage of the weight loss of running a couple less gallons anyway.

Another note for the DC Pro. You have 6 runs back to back with launches in between, so if you have heat issues with spaced out runs they will most likely be more prevalent with the increased pace. Also with the hills there you'll want more fuel in the tank.

As for the Holbert I'm still up in the air. My rear dampers are having issues and are currently being rebuilt. I don't know when they'll be back (supposed to be Thurs). If I get word they'll be here Adam told me to beg and plead with Dave to let me in. Otherwise I'm not going to prepay for something I can't get to.

John

 

Oh yeah..forgot to mention. Turn your heater on full blast and the temp knob to full heat. This effectively increases the volume in your cooling system and will help with high water temps.

 

Just guessing here, it is a possibility that your engine isn't happy with the hot fuel. Once you get the light on it's about 3 gallons and we have a recirculating system. So all that fuel is being pumped forward (gaining heat from the pumping) and then circulating through the fuel rail (getting hotter) and finally some of it back to the tank.

Now that is something I never new about the Evo! That would definitely explain the screwy AFR's and misfiring on those hot runs. Problem with me running a 1/2 tank is that Q16 should not be left in the car for more than a day per VP website. There are 2 reasons, one affects older cars with carburetors and the other is when the gas makes contact with air it loses its octane or something so it turns bad real quick. I will run double what I run now, which would be a quarter tank, I normally run around an 1/8 tank or about 2-3 gallons per 4-6 runs. If that doesn't work I will increase the amount of fuel I am using until problem is corrected. This weekend's Holbert event will be a perfect test ground for me. If I have the heat issues I can increase amount of fuel I am running on second day and see what happens, hopefully I can find a sweet spot. If that does not work with the addition of an oil cooler fan I guess I will have to add a second oil cooler.

 

FYI, we also fuel starve 1 lap after the fuel light comes on. From our 'calculations', when the light comes on we have 2 gallons left in the tank.

 

What do you run for a normal event? I assume you Co drive that car so we can divide your total in half?

 

My 3 gallon assumption is based on this:

For NT's and such where I run race gas I will plan (fuel strategy baby!) to run the car about 35-40 miles past where the light comes on before adding race gas. Based on the uber wonderful mileage my car seems to get this would indicate I have more than 2 gallons left. otherwise my car lives on pump gas.

Of course there is most likely some variation between sensors and linkages within the tanks and could be some production variance between the early 03's and your 06.