So, I have the car back on the road, finally!
Picked it up from Mercury this afternoon. I had a word to the guy doing the tuning, about how the car went, where it can be improved, etc. Surprisingly, he said that the head is flowing quite well, as I was worried that it being the older generation of head, it would be affecting it. He said going to a new head would definitely give more power, especially with aggressive cams etc, but the biggest issue right now is the turbo. It is limited to 16 psi being a ceramic turbine, which is great for response, but top end power could be better.
He also said the charge cooler isn't that effective. Going to a front mount intercooler would be much better, and would be a must if I ever upgraded the turbo again. It's still better than the air to air that was on there, but could be better.
However, it is still putting out what I think is fairly acceptable numbers for a stock (albiet later model) turbo. As you can see with the graph below, the turbo held boost all the way through to redline, which is something the old CT26 would never have been able to do. The old one was maxxed at just below 15 psi, and would drop off well before redline. It also doesn't creep - showing that my new dump pipe and ported wastegate are flowing well enough.
The response is a LOT better. Driving the car, the instant spool up and acceleration the car has is so much better, due to the ignition timing of the new ECU, and the bigger turbine wheel of the CT20b turbo. It also feels a lot stronger all through the rev range. Doesn't splutter or miss any more
I'm very, very happy. I have to get used to the new sounds. You can actually hear the wastegate actuator opening and shutting now, its a strange sound! Although there are 2 minor problems. The first, is as I was driving away, the ECU diagnostic light came on. I called the tuner, he said it happened on the dyno, but everything was working ok, and that he forgot to follow up on the cause, but that he would look up the logs and have a look. When I got home, I fired up the laptop and connected up to the ECU, and I saw it had some kind of warning for the MAP sensor. I rang him again and told him, he said it doesn't sound like a big deal, but just bring the car in when I get a chance and he'll plug it in and have a look.
The second issue, was that they noticed an oil leak, around the oil filter attachment area. This concerned me, as I KNOW I didn't have a leak before. I checked the oil level and it appears fine, but I can see the oil on the block where they are talking about. I'm going to degrease it later tonight, wash it off then keep my eye on it. Hopefully it isn't a major, I doubt it is.
Anyway, here's the graph - 157.8 kW at all four wheels...
Edit: Degreased the block, went for a drive, had a look. Looks like the oil is coming from the head gasket. That's not good. There doesn't appear to be coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, so it just looks like it's seeping out the side. So I'll keep an eye on it but looks like I'll be splitting the engine and changing the gasket.
I was on a high but now I'm on a low. Why is there ALWAYS something, seriously? At least it's something I can do myself. Not a small job though.
There's always a lot of excitement around when a car is about to get back on the road.
