Wickedrx7's build, L99-Magnum F, Ronin 8.8 - Finally enjoying the car!

[Cobranut]

Glad you got your gauge sorted out.

That's a nice looking deck.  I like the cable railings, but it does look like a lot of work to install.

PS:  That looks like one happy dog.   

[digitalsolo]

Cable rail looks fantastic.

[kinger]

So you fixed it?  What at the EM interference? 

Deck looks awesome!  I wanted cable but it's a severe pain in the butt and there are tons of options and they are all so damn expensive!  Looks great I bet your glad that is done.


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[wickedrx7]

Cable rail looks fantastic.

Thanks!

Glad you got your gauge sorted out.

That's a nice looking deck.  I like the cable railings, but it does look like a lot of work to install.

PS:  That looks like one happy dog.   

Thanks, I am pretty sure the dogs are enjoying it as much or more than us!

So you fixed it?  What at the EM interference? 

Deck looks awesome!  I wanted cable but it's a severe pain in the butt and there are tons of options and they are all so damn expensive!  Looks great I bet your glad that is done.


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Gauge is fixed enough.  It reads pretty accurate and not worth trying to get figure out why I am getting interference.  As for the cables, I figured out a way to tension on the super cheap, it is amazing what you can do with a welder... If you are curious, I can post more info.  Total cost was around $800 for the cabling.

So I got to track this weekend for the first time this year.  Was a great day and improved my PB by 1 second.  I am at the point where the car is working really well from a handling standpoint, I just need to improve my braking points and corner entry speed.  I am about 2-3 seconds off pace of where I should be.  There is also the the slight hesitation because I really don't want to crash the car.   

Only issue that is starting to creep up is 3rd gear crunches a little on downshifts if I don't get the rev match perfect.  It is totally fine on up-shifts.  I think it is becoming more evident that I need to step up to a Magnum this winter.  Water temps were great all weekend at 220 max. 

One question, I do see my oil temps creep up in the 240-245 range at the end of the sessions.  I have a 19 row Mocal mounted on the drivers side. It is perfectly shrouded on the front side but I don't have anything behind it figuring it would get the most airflow.  Could it be possible that I am getting a low pressure area behind?  Should I duct the back side to run air up over the fender to the stock fender exits?  I figure it should be closer to water temps...

Any finally, video from my two fastest laps in the last session.  I ran a 1:20.44, previous best was 1:21.38 I believe.  I should be in the 1:17-1:18's in my opinion. 

https://youtu.be/Lg6uIbBK1ik 

[4packet]

I've got a 25 row Setrab in the same location behind a non ducted 99 bumper (stock LS3). I exceed those oil temps fairly easily on track on a relatively cool day. I was hitting the same on the road going up the mountain passes in the alps last month.

[Cobranut]

250 isn't terrible for oil temps.  220 or so is ideal.   
Your oil temp will normally run a bit higher than water temp when fully warmed up, usually 20-30 degree difference when running hard.  It does lag water temp during warmup though.

On my Legends racecar I'd often see oil temps of 300, and I've seen it peg the 340 degree gauge on a really hot day.  This is with a 34 row Setrab cooler with a big fan, and a separate small cooler for the feed to the cams. Of course, this is an air/oil cooled motor so it stresses the oil cooling system a lot more.
I've never had any serious engine problems though.
I ran Mobil-1 15-50, then switched to a VP racing synthetic 20-50.

[largeorangefont]

Where are you taking your oil temps from?

I would not worry too much about those oil temps. Where is the air going once it goes through the oil cooler? If your radiator is shrouded the air is likely stacking up in the fender well. You may make the cooler more effective by cutting a window in your splash guard to let the air out into the wheelwell. You can rivet or glue a screen over the hole. I do t remember what is in the fenderwell of an FD, but the stock exits might work too.

Again, those oil temps are ok, I don't think you have to worry. I see 275-280 sometimes taking temps from the pan. Oil is coming back in great shape still but I change it every 8 hours or so of track use

 I need to create a bit of ducting for my 34 row cooler to make it more effective.

[wickedrx7]

My sensor is mounted on the improved block as it exits the block going to the cooler. And I should correct, I have a 25 row cooler, not 19. I guess those aren't too bad oil temps. It just seemed like a decent discrepancy between water temp.

My oil pressure is always great 40+ at idle after a hard session. I guess I should start sending my oil in for analysis.

[kinger]

Just curious what is your oil PRESSURE when running hard?  Mine can spike over 80 psi at redline normal?

[wickedrx7]

Yes, I get around 80 at redline (my warning is set at 90 which I have hit before). I'm running 5w30 oil. Even at the track, I still see 40 psi at idle even when my oil temps are high - 220ish.

One thing to note, I am running stock ported L99 oil pump which is a higher volume pump.

[wickedrx7]

While at the track a few weeks ago I locked up the rear wheels going in to a high speed off camber turn and my ABS didn't kick on and the light went on after that happened.  It went out after I turned the car off.  I figured I better check everything out to see if i can figure out why my ABS didn't kick on. 

I went through the manual, checked resistance on all the sensor back at the ABS and everything tested fine.  Then I moved on to the voltage test and figured out that I was only getting around 20mV on the front right sensor.  The rest read around 200 mV while spinning relatively slowely. (the manual says they should be around 50-60 mV which I was only able to get when having my wife spin the wheel REALLY Slow. 

I went and started inspecting everything and found this:




It looks like it came in contact with my headers.  It is totally my fault as I had removed the zip-tie holding it back and never replaced it. 

My question is, can I cut this section out and shorten the wires.  I will solder everything and keep the joint as small as possible knowing that this section wont be shielded?  Or do I just replace the sensor?

Thanks.

[Cobranut]

I doubt it would hurt anything to shorten the leads a bit and reconnect.
I think the leads are a twisted pair.  Make sure they're twisted the same direction when you splice it.
A short straight section at the splice is fine.
Twisted pairs help to cancel out EMI and make for a cleaner signal.

[wickedrx7]

I doubt it would hurt anything to shorten the leads a bit and reconnect.
I think the leads are a twisted pair.  Make sure they're twisted the same direction when you splice it.
A short straight section at the splice is fine.
Twisted pairs help to cancel out EMI and make for a cleaner signal.

Thanks!  I cut out the bad section and soldered them together and twisted them before I did the heat shrink on the outside. It seems to be reading exactly the same as the others now so everything is back together.  I need to go do a test drive still, would prefer to test in the rain rather than locking up my tires in the dry....

[wickedrx7]

Went and tested the brakes and ABS is working again. At least the fronts. I couldn't get the rears to lock up.

The bad news is I waited too long to sign up for the track day this weekend, advanced group is full. So it will be a couple weeks before I can get the track with the corvette guys.

[wickedrx7]

ABS update - The ABS light is still coming on occasionally, I am not sure why.  It will come on when I turn the car on and if i turn it off, it will be off.  Not sure what is going on here....

On to some less frustrated updates... I finally had a chance to take care of some little things that I have been planning for some time. 

First, I installed my Racingbeat dual-tip I have had for some time.  I am super impressed with the sound, it is much quieter than my Vibrant with almost zero drone.  It makes the car much more pleasant to drive on a day to day basis.  I still have my vibrant setup so I can switch them out if I need slightly more power.  It is hard to tell how my HP I lost with the 3" vs the 3.5...

Next I worked on my trunk carpet. Because I have the sub and no spare tire (substituted for a pump and fix-a-flat) I needed something with some strength and that I could cat around my sub.  I used 1/4" fiber-board with a piano hing down the center so I can remove it.  I will be covering this with carpet and backing with foam.   I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. 

Cardboard Template:



Fiber-board with hing installed:



Next up was something that might seem insignificant but I hated the look of the stock bin lids.  Instead of just recovering them, I decided to make new, smooth one's and cover them in suede to match my bins. 

First I traced the bin lid and made a template and cut it out and sanded it on my disc sander.  Fitment was decent but not perfect so I made some adjustments on the next one.  I got it perfect and then routed a lip.  I used nutserts to make sure I have a good/strong connection point as MDF doesn't take screws very well. 







Final fitment is pretty spot on.



Next up, cover them in suede once I get carpet so i can do it all at once.  Then i will have my wife make two suede handles/pulls for the top.