I have a few things I wanna run by you guys.

1. As you can see by my mods below a few things are in immediate need. I want to get a Haltech E6K, HKS FMIC, bigger turbo, upgrade the fuel system, and rebuild the engine in the fall(my baby's become a blue smoker ).
That said, which one should I pay most attention to and in what order shall I pursue these expensive mods?

2. I want the Haltech cause I hear good things about it(especially compared to any SAFC). My one concern is my lack of tuning facilities. Is it possible to tune the E6K with an A/F gauge, wide-band O2, and a knowledgable guy in the passenger seat, or am I dreaming?

3. Any estimates on my current flywheel and rearwheel HP?

BTW, I just got her on the road this weekend after 9 months of mods, inspection, and repair. She runs STRONG at 11psi.

Thanks fellas

 

most attention to? that kind of doesnt make sense to me. actually, it just doesn't. buying the Haltech and necessary sensors etc is important. finding what turbo fits your wants is important. finding fuel you need for the want (turbo) is obviously important (very important). rebuilding the engine by a competent builder and ported to your liking is, well, probably the most important since the longetivity of an engine is important. oh yea, and some nice intercooler.
a knowledgable guy in the passenger seat should be enough to get it running well. i've been in the car with BDC as he drove and stopped to adjust settings on the laptop for the Haltech. i'm sure some dyno tuning would come when you have the car broken in as much as necessary.

 

Let me rephrase my question 1
These mods are pricey so I can only do them one at a time. Some would say that I'm WAY over due for upgrading from the stock ECU. Is this the most crucial mod at this point, or something else?

 

wow, that makes it much easier..
some people say that a standalone should be the first upgrade. i think its a toss-up between your rebuild and the standalone, depending on A. how long you think your engine will last, B. how long it would take you to save up for the engine if you bought the standalone first (depending on if it will last before the rebuild), or C. if the porting done to the engine will be more extreme than you think your ecu can take (and your fuel for that matter).
i would start with the standalone if my engine would last the extra needed time. that way, you can have the rebuild done and conservatively tune it so its easily driveable. upgrade the injectors if necessary, then save for all the fuel-system components you'd need for the turbo and install those at the same time. you can run on the stock intercooler, though i wouldn't want to for very long, so that and the other turbo parts may want to all be purchased at once.
someone i know with ~400whp in parts said it cost around $6000. i believe that was the full ecu setup, turbo setup and rebuild.

 

i'd go for the haltech
then engine
then turbo (and bigger injectors)

when i tune in the car, i just make whoever drive, and i datalog with the wideband and make adjustments on the laptop.. dynos are becoming obsolete--except for bragging rights these days.

 

oh, btw....
i think you setup fully tuned with the haltech should get you 250-260 at the wheels (before the big turbo)

 

Good sh**
I know Ryan's order of mods would require the Haltech next too.
Keep the responses coming guys(I should have created a poll, cause I wanna make sure I get a lot of opinions)
I'm going to bed, I'll catch up in the morning before work.

Thanks again guys.

 

bed? man, its 8.40. the sun is still out. geez, i worry about going to bed before the sun comes back up. you crash before the sun goes down.

 

Thats how I would do it. But Id probably just save up and get the engine and turbo setup in one sweep.

 

Keep in mind that you may get your standalone all installed and find out you may not be able to tune it like you plannen. You may wind up paying out the *** to have it tuned on a dyno and then have it retuned. As long as your very confident with your abilitly to tune it and either own a wb or have access to somebodys wb then you have nothing to worry about.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the worst I could do is tune the fuel curve lean, right?
Have any of you guys ever "tuned the E6K with an A/F gauge, wide-band O2, and a knowledgable guy in the passenger seat"?

 

double post

 

What I find amusing, is that everybody nowadays thinks they are a tuner, just because they can drive around logging AFR's with their WB02.

There is much more to tuning than just that. That is where guys like BDC and Steve Kan make a difference.

 

No one ever said that they were a tuner. I, specifically, was asking for opinions/explanations on whether myself and say, a mechanic of 30 years, could do it.
I'll mark your opinion down as a "no"
No smart @$$ remarks required.

 

I would go haltech, rebuild, IC, then turbo/manifold/wg. Unless your engine is blowing a lot of oil smoke, then I would switch the rebuild and the haltech.

 

The smoke is not noticeable while riding in the car, but an observer behind the car can see it.

So if i got an A/F meter and tuned it to 12:1, would I be ok, or should I just cough up the cash and have it dyno tuned?

 

12:1 AFR is probably too lean for your WOT map. You want to tune for low to mid 11's. Some people tune for high 10's, but that is too conservative.

On a dyno I'd tune for low 11's, on the street I'd tune for 11.5.

13:1 to 12:1 is fine for your vacuum/boost transition points and your first few boost bars.

 

yea, but we're talking budget -friendly upgrades.. that's pretty costly to do all at once.

that may be true, but when you're logging afr's, boost, air temp, egt, AND have a lab scope reading a ford 2.3 knock sensor (they were notorious for being WAY too sensative), i think you could probably get things done in a relatively safe manner.



that depends a lot on where the timing is and where the intake temps are. i've got mine setup to dump a whole lot of extra gas in when the intake temps get above 130.

 

hmmmm..... anybody closer to lansing, michigan than rx7store.net that wants some cash in exchange for me watching them tune my car? Maybe even some of you Canadians..... My parents live right near the border of Port Huron and Sarnia

I'll come to you.
(we're talkin mid-late july)

 

fly me out and feed me beer. (after...of course)

 

haha, i'd get you a barrel and show ya a good party..... but plane tixs aren't cheap enough yet

 

double post....

anyone else willing?

 

probably 250ish--which is still cheaper than having a shop do it, but i dunno if i could really take the time off work. funny idea anyway.

 

sux bro,

cause I would really prefer a teacher, so I don't have to keep paying to have it retuned..... plus, my ultimate goal is to know how to do everything on this car myself.... otherwise, I really don't know what's wrong with it when it finally does break....

haha, I'll let you know when I get the EMS anyway, and inquire the slim chance of your availability.

 

well, if work slows down for a week, i'd do it. dunno how the airline would like me bringing all the wire cutters and stuff like that onboard, so you may end up buying a few tools.