2008.5 CWP MS3 - leifmadsen

[shift8]

Quick update since things have moved forward yet again. Everything buttoned up including the oil gauges. I've since installed a v1 PERM tuning PCV plate for dual port PCV with a new PCV valve. Still just running the single sealed catch can, but second port runs up to a T between the valve cover and intake. I'll eventually install this vented catch can I have sitting on my desk.

Got the dynotune with Vince of MSpeed done a couple weeks back. Unfortunately the car was running a bit hot after a couple of pulls. Long night of some debugging of where power was going, and it looks like the engine is basically running rich when it gets hot. This lead me to get a new Koyorad installed, and I'm hoping this helps with heat dissipation. I'm in a fairly unique situation in that I have both a heating core and A/C delete on my car, so we'll see if this helps to keep temps reasonable. In real world driving they haven't been terrible, sitting around 185-195F, peaking somewhere over 200F, but nothing crazy. Unfortunately the car doesn't seem to like WOT in 4th gear if the starting temp is 190F or more. Otherwise, turbo loves to spool fast, and we settled with my expected "track tune" number of 320wtq/320whp @ 19psi with 91 octane.

Signed up for Ian Law track school on Oct 6th, and hoping to get out for a couple rips at TMP mid-week in the next couple of weeks. Next year I'll try and get a bit more serious about heading out on a regular basis. My hope/plan is to run once a week at TMP in the evenings. We'll see how the wife feels about that

At this point, car is basically "done", at least for my current level of done. Only other things in the short term would be tweaks to the tune, addressing any additional heat issues, and basically just driver mods.

And hey, all of this is useless without pics I guess!

[MikeTheCheek]

Not sure if it's just a safe way of tuning these cars but my car doesn't like hitting full boost if coolant temps are up around 195~ on the street. On track I don't run into that issue at all.

[shift8]

Not sure if it's just a safe way of tuning these cars but my car doesn't like hitting full boost if coolant temps are up around 195~ on the street. On track I don't run into that issue at all.

Yea I can basically confirm that. If you do a pull (3rd gear or whatever) when your coolant temps are below 190F (start closer to 180F is possible), and then do another one right after that (if, like you said, temps are over 195F) then overlay that in virtual dyno, you'll see a significant power loss between the two pulls. In my case, my PSI actually stays pretty even, but the AFR tends to jump around a bit. All things being equal, the high coolant temps does seem to affect the overall power. I'm not sure this is really a tuning thing, but rather just how things are programmed? Fuel seems to get dumped in order to cool the cylinders or something.

I've only seen this really on the dyno though, and only tried this once on the street, but it was causing us issues when tuning on the dyno since between pulls the car would lose a fair amount of power when we started the 4th gear pulls over 190F.

Anyways, new koyorad is in, and it's not been so stupid hot out. I don't really have a direct comparison since it's so much cooler out than it was just yesterday, but I do agree than generally driving around at higher speeds with a lot of air flow moving doesn't seem to generally have the same issues. I won't really know for certain what is going on until I can get out for a track day and really get a lot of full throttle situations back-to-back.

[G ~ MINI]

...of course your car is running hot if you use Ontario Spring water in your Rad... haha
Btw...nice seeing you and your MS3 yesterday... had to leave early would have loved to talk shop some more.
Im actually thinking of signing up for Oct 6 Iam Law track school .

[G ~ MINI]

G-Loc R8 pads says not really recommended for street or daily drive or winter. How are they when cold?

[shift8]

G-Loc R8 pads says not really recommended for street or daily drive or winter. How are they when cold?

I've only had them on in the summer but they are perfectly fine when cold. I don't daily the MS3 but the primary issue with the R8 are they dust A LOT. They also are a bit noisy (nothing crazy) so they sound a bit like you have no pads left

I have the R8 on so that I only need to swap the fronts for the R12 on track days, but for this year I'll just run the R8 all around as they should be fine.

For daily I'd probably go to something else. The Mazda stock pads are actually really good. These R8 feel a bit like stock but a bit noisier.

[G ~ MINI]

Hey Thanks...
Im using R1 Concept oem size slotted drilled rotors with their street performance pad. I need to do a proper track test to really gauge them.
Next summer get some G-Loc ..

Another quick question ... Are you running Racing endlinks (front & rear)?

[shift8]

Hey Thanks...
Im using R1 Concept oem size slotted drilled rotors with their street performance pad. I need to do a proper track test to really gauge them.
Next summer get some G-Loc ..

Another quick question ... Are you running Racing endlinks (front & rear)?

Nope, just stock all around. I'm not very low so don't need adjustable endlinks.

[shift8]

Got a chance to weigh the car last night. After all is said and done, the car comes in at a smooth 3000 lbs (without driver). Need to do a bit of weight distribution to get everything ideal, but overall doesn't look TOO out of sorts.

Weight with 1/4 tank of gas and no driver (spare wheel and jack removed from the rear):

LF: 974 RF: 952

LR: 537 RR: 539

I also recently did some suspension plotting (see https://www.instagram.com/sleepy.ms3/), but need to do both the front and rear with weight on the suspension to get all the proper zero setups. First time through was mostly just learning _how_ to do the plotting, but now that I've been through it, should be faster and more accurate. I just need a good way to get the car up off the ground enough that I can reach under the car and get all the measurements. Unfortunately the easiest way to do this is going to be with some hub stands, but I don't have those...

Once the plotting is completed, then I'll know the corner weights and the motion ratios, and I'll be able to calculate the ideal spring rates for a natural frequency on the car. I'll probably go with 2.0Hz in the front, and 2.1 or 2.2 Hz in the rear and see where that gets me.

Can't wait for spring track days!

[G ~ MINI]

Got a chance to weigh the car last night. After all is said and done, the car comes in at a smooth 3000 lbs (without driver). Need to do a bit of weight distribution to get everything ideal, but overall doesn't look TOO out of sorts.

Weight with 1/4 tank of gas and no driver (spare wheel and jack removed from the rear):

LF: 974 RF: 952

LR: 537 RR: 539

I also recently did some suspension plotting (see https://www.instagram.com/sleepy.ms3/), but need to do both the front and rear with weight on the suspension to get all the proper zero setups. First time through was mostly just learning _how_ to do the plotting, but now that I've been through it, should be faster and more accurate. I just need a good way to get the car up off the ground enough that I can reach under the car and get all the measurements. Unfortunately the easiest way to do this is going to be with some hub stands, but I don't have those...

Once the plotting is completed, then I'll know the corner weights and the motion ratios, and I'll be able to calculate the ideal spring rates for a natural frequency on the car. I'll probably go with 2.0Hz in the front, and 2.1 or 2.2 Hz in the rear and see where that gets me.

Can't wait for spring track days!

Hey Leif
if i remember correctly you are at 320whp
so...about 9lbs per HP.
thats a nice ratio