Finally got my car to the dragstrip this weekend, at the newly renamed Thompson Raceway Park in NE Ohio. Sunday was hot, humid, and miserable from the standpoint of trying to get a good ET. The air was just awful -- 90+ degrees, and over 90% humidity. The sweat pouring into my eyes (with contacts) didn't make matters any better.
One minor problem -- it's easy to uncover the fuel pickup in the tank, resulting in a momentary loss of power, with less than 1/3 or 1/4 tank of fuel. I'll probably need to come up with an in-tank pump setup, or sump my current tank. I managed to run a 13.08 and 13.09 @ 103 MPH. I've run high 12s on my carb setup, but I don't think the carb would've run this well in the heat. In fact, my last time out with the carb was in cold October air and I couldn't hit 12s then, either (which bugged me at the time). With the weather the way it was, I considered this outing a 100% success. Fuel pickup getting uncovered not withstanding, the car never missed a beat. I think the Stealthram has more top-end power at the expense of under-3000 torque than my Performer RPM/Holley 750 VS combo. I think I'm gonna change the pill in my MSD box and try shifting around 6200-6400 RPM. So, for those keeping score at home, my Megasquirt install has been a homerun. It was a bit of work to install, but the drivability is fantastic and the ease of tuning is great. If anyone is on the fence about going EFI, do it. You'll be happy. I am! -Dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Studly Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 12:07 AM To: 'The Chevelle Mailing List' Subject: RE: RE: [Chevelle-list] EFI finally tuned Yep, it has run near perfect so far. Engine Temp never went over 190. I had one minor issue tonight where it didn't want to idle without a slight bit of throttle. I believe it's a problem of the IAT (Inlet Air Temp) sensor getting heat-soaking since it is mounted in the plenum, the computer is thinking the incoming air is hotter than it truly is, and is leaning the mixture. -Dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 9:22 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Chevelle Mailing List Cc: Chevelle-List@Chevelles.Net Subject: Re: RE: [Chevelle-list] EFI finally tuned Dave, How did the car run in the 90 degree super Ohio humidity? Stay nice and cool for ya? Walt ----- Original Message ----- From: Dave Studly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, June 10, 2005 6:07 pm Subject: RE: [Chevelle-list] EFI finally tuned > Thanks, and I will. I tried to take plenty of pics along the way > with the > intent of writing it up. > > I drove the car to work today and it really runs great. I'm > definitely a > believer at this point. Once I'm comfortable with it, I'll tackle > electronic timing control. > > At times, this project has been very frustrating, but very > rewarding now > that it runs well. :-) > > -Dave > > > -----Original Message----- > From: mike f [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 3:32 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Chevelle Mailing List > Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] EFI finally tuned > > Take some pics and write it up. I love reading all > this leading edge stuff. I want to say a BIG "Good for > You!". > > mike f. > > --- Dave Studly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I finally got my car into a good running state and > > got one of my buddies to > > help me do some tuning on my Megasquirt controlled > > 406 tonight. > > > > > > > > In a word, wow. In two words, friggin' cool. > > > > > > > > We went out on the freeway with Mark driving and me > > riding shotgun with the > > laptop. I had him just roll-on to full throttle > > while I watched the O2 > > sensor and noted what parts of the VE Table we were > > running in. He made a > > run, you could feel it was lean, as well as see the > > O2 sensor showing lean. > > We richened up that part of the table, and made > > another run. That felt > > better. Adjust a little more and try again. Within > > 5-6 runs, we had it > > running pretty solid. The Megasquirt is pretty easy > > to adjust. It beats > > the hell out of changing jets. > > > > > > > > The Stealthram, combined with my 406, 487X heads, > > 234/244 .488/.510 cam > > really runs strong. Granted, it's been a while > > since I've driven it (Oct > > 2004), but it really felt strong tonight. It felt > > at least as good as it > > ever did on the carb in terms of response and WOT > > power. I'm going to the > > dragstrip on Sunday to see if it translates into > > 60ft, ET, and/or MPH. > > Being the first time out with the setup, I wonder > > what'll break first. :-P > > > > > > > > I won't say that I didn't have a bunch of hassle > > getting my car to run > > initially, but exactly as in the Car Craft article, > > none of them were > > related to the Megasquirt malfunctioning - all of > > mine were ignition > > related. The next step will be to get the > > Megasquirt controlling an 8-pin > > HEI so it can run the timing, too. It currently has > > an MSD pro-billet with > > VR sensor and only mechanical advance, no vacuum > > advance. > > > > > > > > I've probably put close to 100 miles on it in the > > past 2 days without a > > hiccup. Woo hoo! > > > > > > > > -Dave > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > Discover Yahoo! > Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and more. Check it > out! > http://discover.yahoo.com/ > > >
