Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

Cheers Doug, will drop you a line when I fire the laptop up later (on iPhone at the mo)

Sadly, 187 g/s is as far as we're ever going to go on MAF readings, my me3.8 is totally different to me7.5, and 187g/s is actually the highest value the sensor can read! So I'm already clipping the maf limit, on just 1 bar I'm certainly surprised!

Unlike me7.5 though, the 3.8 ecu doesn't mind nearly so much and can extrapolate data way beyond the maf limit and keeps on fuelling well. The MAF saturates at around 320bhp, but Niki has tuned cars on this housing to 400bhp without issues, his only request is that when exceeding the MAF limit he likes to see a WB02 in the car so the owner can keep an eye on things should they start to wander.

So sadly from this point forwards, my only indication of power will be how soon the maf clips!
 
miserable day here today, want to crack on but can't!

Also, got a bit of a clunk from the front end since fitting the KW's, so I'll pull that apart again when the rain stops to investigate.
 
It was my understanding that its entirely possible to properly rescale the MAF on M3.8 so that it reads correctly, it has a voltage to g/sec conversion table just like MLHFM on ME7, HOWEVER scaling the MAF correctly then means you start to run into loads of other limits throughout the ECU and its presumably not worth the effort trying to fix all of them (or perhaps not even possible as they're hard coded). Instead, you just "hide" the extra power from the ECU, and fudge the ignition timing and fuelling to fit.

Interestingly the same thing does happen on ME7, just at much higher power levels. I've seen some of the really heavily tuned S4/RS4's on nefmoto needing MAF scaling to keep the load from exceeding the ECU's maximums for instance.
 
I have mapped 80mm MAFs and maxed them for years........... and they tune fine.
Also used larger MAF's to maintain realistic airflows, but when you are running > map sensor on BT's its all pretty arbitrary.

Lupos 292bhp on its 1bar boost... although its wmi controllers packed in (fecking AEM are doing my head in these days!) so we are reverting it to basic pressure switch on/off from my old aquamist system I had from way back when... whilst the aem controller goes back for replacement. PIA. zero timing pull, so more to be had but not when I cant trust the wmi to work.. grrrrr

K03 hoside on lupo limits its overall flow, and more more than this boost just turns into heat...
considering changing the core back into a k04 hotside and chucking on a V3 mani on, and seeing what I can actually extract from it banzaii fashion..
 
It was my understanding that its entirely possible to properly rescale the MAF on M3.8 so that it reads correctly, it has a voltage to g/sec conversion table just like MLHFM on ME7, HOWEVER scaling the MAF correctly then means you start to run into loads of other limits throughout the ECU and its presumably not worth the effort trying to fix all of them (or perhaps not even possible as they're hard coded). Instead, you just "hide" the extra power from the ECU, and fudge the ignition timing and fuelling to fit.

You're right Kev, Niki showed me how he's done it first and it was reading 240g/s+, it ran perfectly on WOT, but I think he started to run into issues getting the low throttle and off boost and reverted back to the 'traditional' method.

I did consider a larger housing again, but NIki is confident that it'll fuel perfectly even with the MAF limit exceeded, and I trust him with it entirely, so will let him work his magic!

Today was a horrible day, so for now I've abandoned removing the stud axles to shim things, and just done the coilovers.

The one thing I didn't like about the KW's was that the compression adjustment was in the top of the shock pin, so if you wanted to adjust them, you had to drop the top mounts to get to the top of the pin.

I spoke to several people about it, and they all said there wasn't a way around it.

I decided otherwise!

It turned out to be much more simple than I imagined, and 5 minutes with a drill had it sorted:

BD622F5E-B481-49E4-A3D6-9CBE535A2C6C-12341-00000982C34FCFCD.jpg


The allen key drops down through the hole and it's really easy to adjust it all in situ, I'm going to get some rubber grommets to drop in the holes, but I'm happy with how stupidly easy it was!

The sub housing was in the way a bit, but I soon fixed that:

EDC830C4-B047-4073-9966-2DCD84A77B5A-12341-00000982D5E5B56B.jpg


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Simple, but effective :)

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If the weather is looking OK after the F1 I'll tackle the camber / toe shims. We'll see!
 
So, it dried up, and I decided to have a go at the shims on the back end:

With the back wheels off, it didn't take long to strip the stud axle off using the eibach tool supplied:

0A185DB2-2727-4746-B842-D4DC68A694A5-13146-000009D50EBC64FA.jpg


All free from the car:

AA34AD0A-2A9D-4773-91E9-F805C8349FAA-13146-000009D5146EC1E4.jpg


Shims ready to go on, on this side (left) -0.13 degrees of Toe change, and -0.5 degrees of camber change.

7C71A61F-231E-4785-81CA-896A74FF8A12-13146-000009D5197E6E7B.jpg


This should take it from +0.17 Toe and -1.70 camber to +0.04 Toe and -2.2 camber.

Shims in, and everything ready to bolt back up:

3AF031A8-C08F-4A59-A39D-F1A1CEB32474-13146-000009D51EA5FFF5.jpg


I found I had to space the caliper carriers slightly to suit the shimmed stub axle, as the carrier wasn't sitting square over the disc, but a few large flat washers in the right places have squared it up nicely.

On the other side, I've fitted shims of -0.25 Toe and -1.0 camber, which should take it from +0.26 toe and -1.2 camber to +0.01 toe and -2.2 camber, so fairly even side to side :)
 
Exciting times ahead!

TNT suggests that my AEM AFR setup has been delivered to a Mr Maul, who apparently lives in my road, so hopfully my lovely lady will sort that out for me and it'll be waiting for me at home. That'll be fitted friday now.

On the rollers at Bills this weekend for a bit of fun and a bench mark figure, and I'm now booked into R-tech on November 20th to see what it can really do!
 
the shims... from eibach?
do they come in different "flavours" in terms of camber & toe

others I have seen have been plastic affairs which you rotate on each other to dial in the required numbers. Was not a fan of plastic knowing how hot my brakes and everything get
 
From Eibach yes Bill, I was dealing directly with Ben at Eibach: ben.thompson@eibach.co.uk

Sizes available:

[FONT=&quot]TOE
Part No. / Change
71520 / +/- .13 degree
71521 / +/- .25 degree
71522 / +/- .38 degree
71523 / +/- .50 degree

CAMBER
Part No. / Change
71530 / +.50 degree
71531 / +1.00 degree
71532 / -.50 degree
71533 / -1.00 degree[/FONT]

They are some sort of plastic I'm afraid, but I questioned this and he was very sure it absolutely would not ever melt or go soft at all, it seems like an incredibly hard plastic. I'd assume they looked into the material properties before speccing it in such an area!

Some plastic ones I've seen have been very typically soft and questionable though!
 
LOL had to double take on the dials behind! Thought you were redlining whilst taking pics of gauge on your wheel haha
 
Looking good bet you can't wait till you go for mapping.
This is a photo of my boost gauge I made out of a MKIV Newsouth gauge pod.
1dbf8ed5.jpg

I think you've made the right choice to put the gauge.
 
LOL had to double take on the dials behind! Thought you were redlining whilst taking pics of gauge on your wheel haha

Not possible in the french diesel coupe! Because the cheese eating surrender monkies insist on being different, it has a yellow line instead!

Looking good bet you can't wait till you go for mapping.

Your gauge looks good mate! I'm VERY excited about mapping yes. Installing the AFR tomorrow then I'll get an idea of how it's running currently. Dyno day at Bills on Sunday, then up to Rtech next tuesday to unleash the beast!
 
Are you gong to the R-Tech day on the 18th?
 
Haha that really issues poo! I need to choose one soon so I'll be watching closely
 
Good day today :)

Started the day by changing my top mount bearings. I had a knock when I installed the V3's, and the only thing I didn't change was the bearings, so I decided to replace them as well, I simply forgot last time around!

5800E5E3-9FCA-4AAD-A2D6-B10507575006-349-00000020386163D3.jpg


When I refitted the top caps, I decided to modify them a little to make them more robust.

The eibach top caps have a little pin welded on that goes down into the lower part of the mount to stop the two rotating together. One of these snapped off when I first fitted them, as the pin wasn't perfectly square and hit the lower plate rather going through the hole in it. D'oh!

I decided to remove the pins from both top caps and cut a thread into them, and drop a bolt down through so I know it's held securely, and I'll also know straight away if anything moves :)

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You can see the angle I've set them at, diagonally backwards and inwards so as to increase both camber and caster :)

I then moved onto installing the AEM wideband 02 gauge, and jacked the car up:

BC87DD40-6BCB-47D2-A43B-095D1FA7D9CA-349-00000020652F349C.jpg


and immediately hit a problem:

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The second lamda bung on my exhaust was FAR too close to the tunnel, it'd never fit!

92290A8C-8677-4396-A946-C2517DB280DA-349-000000204FC4B657.jpg


Thankfully, if you remember back to last week, I'd cut this part of the Decat section off to make it straight:

F20AB4FF-939B-4BD4-B10E-53B17BFC3658-4746-000003733936CCC3.jpg


Which allowed me to flip the decat section over :) The flange on the end was at a SLIGHT angle, but it was slight enough to be taken up in the flexi joint on the downpipe.

All refitted and the wiring ziptied up, I know it's an outdoor plug on the WB sensor, but I wanted to tape it up anyway for peace of mind!

E89BCF1E-4F15-4432-A61C-27FE1C75D770-349-000000206B38DDAE.jpg


Then onto installing it inside, the new pod needed opening out slightly on the back to take the AEM loom plug:

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Done:

39DD90FA-7461-45E4-9537-AE40E3995FA6-349-00000020762C538B.jpg


Onto mounting the pod base, I first tried it with sticky pads, but the thick pads were still visable and white under the base plate, and it just didn't look good enough, so I removed it all again and drilled it to bolt the pod down instead.

47DAEB0D-0B2F-4BB7-A363-E5A988F2261E-349-000000207B165495.jpg


few nice dome headed bolts and it's solid:

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The bit I hate most, wiring it up!

Behind my lower dash panel, I have the wiring for my boost gauge, my parrot bluetooth, my N75 boost switch, my water meth injection, and now the AFR gauge as well! Basicly, it's a nightmare under there!

FDA53388-CF34-4F1B-85AD-073ADD5335C7-349-0000002092392CF3.jpg


Far left stud on the main rail comes live with igntion on (the one with the feed already attached is permanent live or the WMI):

D02A58B1-FFA3-4EFE-BB1C-5A4C25B6600A-349-00000020976CAAAA.jpg


And it's in, so I turned to key to see what would happen, and was greeted by this!

89E36F09-CAE1-46F7-BA7C-F8D77442D110-349-000000209C0C2B1E.jpg


What a load of poo ;)

I'm actually really happy with how the finished install looks:

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Even close up it's reasonably neat:

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So, I went out for a drive, and decided it was about time I reset the rear ride height, as it has been sitting pretty low. so I went to an industrial estate nearby where I knew of a lit area with decent flat concrete surfaces.

God knows how, it may even have been like it before (I hope not but can't figure out what else), but when I started adjusting the RHS rear spring platform, I noticed that the spring was sat at a crazy angle, and not in it's seat at the to at all, it was just resting against the chassis rail!

No pics at this point, but needless to say, I wasn't impressed! I tried to get it back into place, but ti wouldn't go, so I gave up, locked the car, and walked home and jumped in the megane with my tools!

B58F3183-D372-41D7-9A88-7EF46894F985-349-00000020B6800CA8.jpg


I had to remove both rear wheels, and drop the rear top mounts to let the beam drop enough to get the spring back in. All in a semi dark carpark behind Pets At Home :laugh:

All finished:

A541C07C-379A-4BD9-A33D-04121CBD0557-349-00000020BB4B1872.jpg


So, time for a PROPER test drive. Car feels fantastic now, the suspension has really changed the way it feels. I've got a long way to go on setup still, but it's an amazing start. The more aggressive geometry is really obvious too, it turns in MUCH better, and I can keep applying more lock or more power mid bend and it just pulls it round. Very happy :)
 
somehow I managed to forget these night time shots last night:

I'm really pleased with how the gauge blends into the stock dials, it stands out in the pictures, but when driving it feels like it's always been there :) Only problem I've found is that on boost, the car is simply TOO fast to look at the gauge when flat out!

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Readings all seem very good too, idling around stoich 14.7 as you'd expect, then running around 12.4-12.6 in the midrange, tapering down to 11.9:1 at 7k rpm. Not bad for a pre historic ECU that everyone said I should bin :) it's clearly mapped well!
 
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Fcn Jardo hacked into your account again....;)

haha, thanks Dave :laugh:

When it's dark outside, and damp, and cold, and I've switched back to semi slicks so I can look cool on the B5 RR day, 3rd gear for the first time on full boost is pretty terrifying :laugh:
 
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haha, thanks Dave :laugh:

When it's dark outside, and damp, and cold, and I've switched back to semi slicks so I can look cool on the B5 RR day, 3rd gear for the first time on full boost is pretty terrifying :laugh:

And there's the adrenaline kick :D
 
Whats the odds on Badger Bill wanting to try and eeeeeck a little more out of it once he gets on his rollers ? he dosn't strike me as the type of chap who would be happy to just do a power run on your particular car.... hope you have a great day down there and take plenty of pics and video...
 
Zero odds :p is just for fun man, Bill has dynod the car before because he was interested, you can't use Uni settings on mine so it's a full map or nothing.

At Rtech on the 20th anyway :) just want to get a comparison between new and old, and RR days at Bills are always fun.
 
A quick pic with the wheel on to show how it doesn't obscure any of the clocks :)

664D1E77-1D62-4335-ACCD-5A159459F041-1944-0000014F7022E353.jpg


Can even see all the top half of the DIS where the alerts come up, so it's win win!

All cleaned and ready for tomorrow:

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First time I've cleaned it since the crash
 
Looks awesome dude, really is a lovely car .

Would be you be able to get an rr video tomorrow Prawny :thumbup:
 
How will you fix the rear end damage? Bash, fill and spray? Or a more refined version of that anyway !!
 

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