[mav7]

Hey guys... I plan on taking my car to a track day at Watkins Glen sometime soon and wanted to optimize my map for long WOT pulls... What have some of you AEM guys gone to keep the engine safe while at the track? Obviously, I plan on richening the mixture a bit to 11.0 and dumping in a little race gas to prevent knock, but should I retard the timing a bit from where my timing is on the street, or will this only cause the engine to heat up even more? I won't really get a chance to put the car through the "test" until I actually get up there at the track, where I won't have any time to make adjustments to the map.

I'd appreciate any input

-mike

 

[mav7]

Thanks for the input. I forgot to mention, I'll be running 16psi, 18psi at the most.

-Mike

 

[mav7]

Quick,
I've read Andi B's writeups about all the cooling mods he has done... but I am hoping I will be ok with my rather stock cooling. I have a greddy 3-row, electric fans (which I may disable w/ the AEM at high speeds) and the PS cooler the 3-row comes with. It's located just inside the drivers side air duct on my bumper so I'm sure it's seeing plenty of air...

What I don't have is an oil cooler or an upgraded radiator. I never thought an oil cooler was needed for road racing, just recommended. I don't plan on beating on the car too much, and may end up running a hard lap an then a "cool" lap as to not push the car too hard...

Having boiled my PS steering in the past at a track event, I plan on replacing the fluid immediately before and after, as well as the engine oil.

Also being early in the summer, I doubt ambient temperatures will be that warm (most likely 60-70 degrees) so the conditions shouldn't be that bad.

 

[mav7]

Good suggestion. Too bad MKIV's didn't come with an oil temp sesnor already...

Quick: the car came with the electronic fans (I dont like them)... and a stock fan/shroud is in high demand so people usually pick them right up. I'm keeping my eyes open though.

I'll look to installing an oil temp gauge and keeping an eye on water temps..

Thanks everyone who commented!

mike

 

[mav7]

Will do... also, could you mention my name this weekend to the people at the gates? I plan on attending to watch you whip some butt at the track this weekend!

-mike

 

[mav7]

Interesting Bruce... 13 does sound a bit on the lean side. Of course, A/Fs can always change from the dyno to the street. I wonder if you could pick up a bit more power if you had an s-afc and added a little fuel?

Kale, thanks for the information. I do plan on having some type of safety feature, except I want to cut ignition if the A/F warning goes too lean. What I would like to do is have a light come on when A/Fs go slightly lean, say >12.0 on WOT. Then if A/Fs go above 12.5 WOT or temps get too hot, I'd like to trigger ignition cut. When on the race track, I tend to keep my eyes on the track and a little LED just isn't going to catch my eye, especially in a sunny day. The extra assurance of ignition cut on a warning indication would be beneficial to us I feel. Of course the latest firmware added the functionality to kill ignition if a pre-defined boost level is hit, I wonder if we can set up a trigger to do the same thing from other variables? I'll have to check with AEM, but they've been having problems with their forum lately.

As far as EGT's, I can use the warning on my defi gauge although that's hard to see as well. When I get a chance I'd like to wire my EGT outuput to the AEM but I am not sure how to do that since the defi uses a control unit... Time for research I guess.

 

[mav7]

While I didn't have a wideband when I road raced in the past, I can say that on hotter days my A/F would be richer than on cooler nights. So I would assume the car would get richer as it gets warmer.

 

[mav7]

I didn't realize the ECU would add fuel if it detected knock, I only thought it would pull timing? Anyway as a result of this, the car could get richer (and EGT temps get hotter).

Bruce: Water injection isn't such a bad idea although it adds complexity to things... one more thing to fill, one more thing to go wrong, etc. I'd rather get the stock cooling system as efficient as possible, and go from there if it isn't enough. People have been doing some interesthing things lately for cooling. A NSX that was in my area for a national NSX meet had the AEM with a single turbo setup (running 15psi) and water injection. It was a very neat setup and seemed to perform well (that car at 15psi destroyed my supra at 16psi). It also partticipated in a racing event at WGI and from what I've heard the car performed well with the water injection. I actually might look into that as a cooling mod... but after I get an upgraded radiator and an oil cooler. BTW.. that mr2 track car sounds mighty fun