At last, the better side of 12.0 in the 14b powered Talon!!!

[rhamlinii]

Not a huge deal at all, I just never knew anything about your car being at a shop, so it was random to me.

My car? Hmmm. Not sure when I'll go back to the track to be honest. As you have read, I don't get to the track much. The rest of the month is gone unless I go this Saturday. But, I generally like to make significant enough changes before I go back each time. Although I think I might have another tenth in it right now with trying some driving stuff out, shift points, etc. The stock seat is back in the car with 2G seatbelt. That probably added a bit of weight to the car over the Sparco and harness---had to do it because of improperly mounted, harness too old, and only 4 point. NEVER had a prob in the past. They are cracking down on rules stuff lately, and good for all on that. With that said, I'm not buying a harness or sending one out to be recertified every two years, not for drag racing anyway.

On the flip side, I've countered that small weight addition with removal of the front swaybar, rear strut brace, and exhaust system, there is a 6" pipe off the turbo now. All hangers and brackets were removed as well. Now, the lightweight doors have to go on, that should drop about 80 lbs., POLK control arms should be on the car in a few weeks, said to drop 11 lbs. per side, and I still have lexan rear 1/4 windows to go in, but its a shitload of work for minimal weight savings so they will probably stay wrapped in bubble wrap this year. Also, I will be experimenting with the stutterbox as you have read. There may be a few other pneumo's own mods in there as well that will help. Collectively, we have decided to leave the balance shafts alone until the motor "needs" to come out of the car which might be never. So, that leaves a camshaft change as far as motor mods.

Other than the above, all that is left is tuning, more weight reduction, and improving on driving. That will wrap up my quest with the 14b. This year may be it. I can definitely make the car alot lighter, probably in the area of 2100 lbs. The money and time it would take just might not be worth it. I'm not spending $$$$$ on brake man unvented brakes for drag racing. They dont make a vented rotor for the 1G, only solid, so that kinda shot that in the foot. Although, I think the brake man stuff is sick, I would much rather buy larger Wilwoods from TCE for less money with roadracing in mind, however, I can't do that now as it requires use of 17" wheels. I've pretty much exhausted all the options other than what's listed above. I will consider carbon fiber doors and fenders as weight reduction options, but damn that stuff is expensive. I've got my eyes on those billet motormounts at MAP I think...a bit of weight savings, I think 3.5 lbs. over stock is what they advertise, and some bling for the engine bay, which I don't really care too much about anymore.

There you have it. As always, I open up the thread for suggestions and comments.

The light weight doors will be a great help. I realized back when I had my old 14b car. Whenever I took the exhaust off, it just killed the bottum end power and made the car feel slower. It's not like you have alot of power with that kind of setup, but I guess see what it'll do.

 

[Phil1320]

The light weight doors will be a great help. I realized back when I had my old 14b car. Whenever I took the exhaust off, it just killed the bottum end power and made the car feel slower. It's not like you have alot of power with that kind of setup, but I guess see what it'll do.

I've run with just the downpipe before and it made no difference in power at all. It's off just for the weight, that's it. The doors are stupid heavy in factory trim. Can't wait to shed that weight.

 

[DJ23GSX]

Where do you get your lexan windows? I'm interested if its not too expensive.

 

[Phil1320]

Where do you get your lexan windows? I'm interested if its not too expensive.

Pro Glass, but, they are not cheap, they are made with the actual curve of any factory window.....my hatch window has the same curve as the factory, it could be installed with factory trim and most people would never notice it was there. The rear 1/4 windows have severe curves both ways and the Pro Glass pieces were really nice. I think my hatch window was $295 if not it was $395! The rear 1/4's were $195 for the pair. Clear is a bit cheaper than smoke.....mine are clear

 

[Pirrofab]

Ever consider just removing the balance shaft belt? Its minimal but its something. Have you modified the driver side motor mount at all? Cut the end peice that goes around to the front of the block to help hold the power steering. I noticed the power steering bracket behind the water pipe has a little bit of weight to it too. I have seen a few pics of guys eliminating the front motormount and part of the cross member. I know there is some weight savings to be found in that too.

 

[DJ23GSX]

Pro Glass, but, they are not cheap, they are made with the actual curve of any factory window.....my hatch window has the same curve as the factory, it could be installed with factory trim and most people would never notice it was there. The rear 1/4 windows have severe curves both ways and the Pro Glass pieces were really nice. I think my hatch window was $295 if not it was $395! The rear 1/4's were $195 for the pair. Clear is a bit cheaper than smoke.....mine are clear

Whats the weight savings on the hatch window?

 

[Gooberlog]

Ever consider just removing the balance shaft belt? Its minimal but its something. Have you modified the driver side motor mount at all? Cut the end peice that goes around to the front of the block to help hold the power steering. I noticed the power steering bracket behind the water pipe has a little bit of weight to it too. I have seen a few pics of guys eliminating the front motormount and part of the cross member. I know there is some weight savings to be found in that too.

Yeah Phil already moded his mount, after i saw this pic i went and hacked mine up and installed the poly mount i had in the garage, man was my stock mount worn!

 

[Phil1320]

Ever consider just removing the balance shaft belt? Its minimal but its something. Have you modified the driver side motor mount at all? Cut the end peice that goes around to the front of the block to help hold the power steering. I noticed the power steering bracket behind the water pipe has a little bit of weight to it too. I have seen a few pics of guys eliminating the front motormount and part of the cross member. I know there is some weight savings to be found in that too.

All done. Balance shaft belt has been out since 2000 after I found the original one accordianed up in there. There's an engine shot somewhere in this thread, probably page one where you can see all those brackets removed and motor mount modified. I'm down to the bare essentials and now weight savings will cost $. That's why I say I'm close to the end of the road with my 14b DRAG project. Money will be better spent on prepping the car for the road course with full roll cage, tranny and rear diff cooler, radiator, etc. But, if the car impresses me any more this year, depending on how much, will decide what it's fate is for 2010.

I don't think I would remove the front motor mount....just doesn't seem safe to me, again, for roadracing as well.....although my Focus was fine with three mounts.....

 

[Phil1320]

Whats the weight savings on the hatch window?

I don't know the exact amount. I could weigh my stock hatch and my fiberglass hatch with lexan...that's it. My hatch is not like the carbon fiber ones out there with all the factory bracing, it's just an overlay, so lighter than the carbon fiber piece easy.

 

[Phil1320]

Yeah Phil already moded his mount, after i saw this pic i went and hacked mine up and installed the poly mount i had in the garage, man was my stock mount worn!

There's the pic! Thanks Travis!

 

[black92_tsi_awd]

When I went to the stutterbox on my setup I started fighting knock when on the stutter. Enough to pull timing on the launch. Hitting the stutter rpm right before the last amber would help, but still drives me crazy. I'd rather just put on the stutter and cutting the light.

 

[Phil1320]

When I went to the stutterbox on my setup I started fighting knock when on the stutter. Enough to pull timing on the launch. Hitting the stutter rpm right before the last amber would help, but still drives me crazy. I'd rather just put on the stutter and cutting the light.

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Not sure I understand your last sentence?

 

[Pirrofab]

Yeah Phil already moded his mount, after i saw this pic i went and hacked mine up and installed the poly mount i had in the garage, man was my stock mount worn!

Yea I asked about the mount because I wasn't sure just what exactly was left. THe other night i had to do my timing/belt waterpump AGAIN due to a defective belt. So when I was in there I got a lil agravated looking at the ugly power steering and decided to rip it all out. My AWD has the mount cut down but not the FWD yet. It was midnight in the shop and I wanted to go home. As far as the actual condition of my mounts they were tore up pretty good and I fixed them up with some hard plastic and some window urethane.

 

[toofast82]

When I went to the stutterbox on my setup I started fighting knock when on the stutter. Enough to pull timing on the launch. Hitting the stutter rpm right before the last amber would help, but still drives me crazy. I'd rather just put on the stutter and cutting the light.

That's why I set my chip to completely ignore knock and not retard timing Not the safest thing, but if your car is tuned well, there shouldnt be a problem. I do monitor it as the old boost gauge, but i don't get any knock at wot

 

[Pirrofab]

That's why I set my chip to completely ignore knock and not retard timing Not the safest thing, but if your car is tuned well, there shouldnt be a problem. I do monitor it as the old boost gauge, but i don't get any knock at wot

Does dsmlink allow for knock to be ingnored during the launch? or is that preset?

 

[toofast82]

Does dsmlink allow for knock to be ingnored during the launch? or is that preset?

I don't believe they do
I'll also say my tuning setup costs well under $200
I also have a ecu table to use with a solenoid to run native boost control within the ecu. It would take a lot of fine tuning, but it is an option and i have played with to help spoolup!

 

[outlawdsm]

Have you considered any aero mods to reduce the drag co/ef? Fairly cheap mods if you do it yourself.

Next time you plan on going to Lebanon, post up and I'll come watch ya!

 

[pneumo]

When I went to the stutterbox on my setup I started fighting knock when on the stutter. Enough to pull timing on the launch. Hitting the stutter rpm right before the last amber would help, but still drives me crazy. I'd rather just put on the stutter and cutting the light.

I remember having knock while on the stutterbox. That's the reason I set up my chips so knock is forced to zero whenever the clutch is pushed down. This feature is activated by the same wire that controls the stutterbox. It's nice! Knock is reset to zero whenever you shift. There's no real knock when shifting anyway. If you happen to pick up any knock during a run, it's reset each time you change gears. The knock control still works like normal once the clutch is up and the engine is making power again, so all safety features are still doing their job.

Phil, I forgot to tell you about that mod. Suprise! You got a bonus mod!

 

[Pirrofab]

I don't believe they do
I'll also say my tuning setup costs well under $200
I also have a ecu table to use with a solenoid to run native boost control within the ecu. It would take a lot of fine tuning, but it is an option and i have played with to help spoolup!

Its not like I have the money for it but I'm interested to learn about this. Obviously needing an eprom ecu I couldn't do it anyway but I just like the know how on it. I'm assuming you would stil need an safc to fine tune from what the chip does.

 

[black92_tsi_awd]

I remember having knock while on the stutterbox. That's the reason I set up my chips so knock is forced to zero whenever the clutch is pushed down. This feature is activated by the same wire that controls the stutterbox. It's nice! Knock is reset to zero whenever you shift. There's no real knock when shifting anyway. If you happen to pick up any knock during a run, it's reset each time you change gears. The knock control still works like normal once the clutch is up and the engine is making power again, so all safety features are still doing their job.

Phil, I forgot to tell you about that mod. Suprise! You got a bonus mod!

That sounds like exactly what I need...want to burn a chip?

 

[toofast82]

I'm assuming you would stil need an safc to fine tune from what the chip does.

I don't have one in mine and solely tune off the chip. Its definitely been reprogrammed quite a few times though
If you were to buy a DSMchip, i would get a safc for fine adjustments to fuel to avoid having to send the chip back a bunch of times

 

[Phil1320]

Have you considered any aero mods to reduce the drag co/ef? Fairly cheap mods if you do it yourself.

Next time you plan on going to Lebanon, post up and I'll come watch ya!

I have for sure BUT: I just cut a portion of the front bumper for intercooler flow, which I'm sure hurt aero a bit. And, as I've said elsewhere the car is destined for the road course at some point and alot of the front end aero mods would have to be removed to let air flow to coolers, brakes, etc. So, I've not gone any further with that. I wont have mirrors on the car the next time...that's about as much aero advantage as I will get.

I will definitely post up with as much advance notice as possbile before I hit the track the next time. It would be great to have you stop up there. That White 2G in your avatar looks pretty mean....I always liked the white 2G Talon....add slicks......mean!

Thanks for writing...

Phil

 

[Phil1320]

I remember having knock while on the stutterbox. That's the reason I set up my chips so knock is forced to zero whenever the clutch is pushed down. This feature is activated by the same wire that controls the stutterbox. It's nice! Knock is reset to zero whenever you shift. There's no real knock when shifting anyway. If you happen to pick up any knock during a run, it's reset each time you change gears. The knock control still works like normal once the clutch is up and the engine is making power again, so all safety features are still doing their job.

Phil, I forgot to tell you about that mod. Suprise! You got a bonus mod!

Nice, more bang for the buck! That's great! Like you said, if you posted up here there would be a few that would chime in with some ECU talk. I'm learning......

 

[pneumo]

That sounds like exactly what I need...want to burn a chip?

Sure, I could make a chip for you, too. Shoot me a PM with what you want, and I'll give you a list of available mods to choose from.
Just don't tell anyone who you got it from. If word gets around about the extra speed and power locked up in the ecu code, I'll never get any sleep.

 

[outlawdsm]

I have for sure BUT: I just cut a portion of the front bumper for intercooler flow, which I'm sure hurt aero a bit. And, as I've said elsewhere the car is destined for the road course at some point and alot of the front end aero mods would have to be removed to let air flow to coolers, brakes, etc. So, I've not gone any further with that. I wont have mirrors on the car the next time...that's about as much aero advantage as I will get.

I will definitely post up with as much advance notice as possbile before I hit the track the next time. It would be great to have you stop up there. That White 2G in your avatar looks pretty mean....I always liked the white 2G Talon....add slicks......mean!

Thanks for writing...

Phil

Are you doing anything to help the air escape out from underneath the car? That wouldn't hurt the car on the roadcourse either.

Thanks, thats my car in my avatar. Its back home in CO. I have my 92 with me here in NY while I am in school.