From Hero to Zhiro (1999 Sixbolt_16g)

[SixBolt_16G]

Build Thread for Sixbolt_16g

 

[SixBolt_16G]

October 2004.
Alicia. DSM #2

It was just after midnight when I turned out of the Wendy's drive through and was sitting at the light waiting to make a left turn into the darkness. I was on my way home from visiting my wife, about 4 years before we actually got together and were just friends. Decided to take the long way home because it was getting cold and late in the year... good cruise nights were becoming scarce.The mile long street that runs past an abandoned hospital and an abandoned seminary, through a forest preserve area was not the kind of road that you would worry about a deer jumping out, but creepy enough that if your car broke down, you'd probably end up with a good ghost story.

Hit about 60 mph as i made it to the top of the hill that allows you to down on the intersection about a half mile ahead, with gas stations on either side of the street. The familiar outline of a late 90's Ford Taurus passed under the gas station lights, turned out of the lot and was making its way into the turn lane from the opposite direction. Downshifted to third while approaching the red light at the intersection as my car had been waiting in anticipation for me to cut it loose to fly over the bridge above the expressway and into the town where I lived. Stepping off the clutch and back onto the gas, it came roaring back to life as the street light turned green in the distance. The Taurus continued to wait in the turn lane as i got closer to the intersection until I was about 200ft away.... and decided it was a fine time to make a left turn.

The skid marks were long, the impact was hard. Everything went into this weird slow motion type effect. Everyone sitting in the other car was clearly visible as I slid towards them. They were laughing and joking amongst themselves, but didnt see me coming at all, despite the high intensity headlights, yellow fog lamps and hyper white bumper lights. There was enough time to watch my raspberry tea levitate out of the center console and explode all over my windshield, but not enough time to come up with some type of manuever without completely losing the control of the car as I was hitting the brakes. The Taurus was in mid turn and its body completely blocking both lanes. To this day, I still dont think I had a way out of that accident. There was simply nowhere to go. Also had enough time to remember my wife's broken wrist from the air bag deploy in her accident 6 months before as I leaned to the right a bit hoping to avoid the same demise.. Turned out to be an irrelevant thought because I didnt even get an air bag. Neither the driver nor the passenger deployed. Feisty bi*** of a car hated everybody, including me since day 1.

I woke up to a lady knocking on the window asking if I was okay... because I had "just ran a red light". I snapped out of the daze immediately and fired back "THAT f***ING LIGHT WAS GREEN!" As much as I wanted to go to the hospital at this point, I wasnt going anywhere. I could make out some shadowy figures inspecting the damaged Taurus as the intersection lit up with emergency lights from multiple directions. A police officer came over to talk to me and informed me that a witness was claiming that she had seen me run the red light, which confused me as to where she came from since the intersection was empty as well as both gas stations from what I could remember.

I asked him if it was the blonde lady, he acknowledged that it was the same meth-mouth lookin' wench that had knocked on my window. I told him that I distinctly remember her sitting in the car and that if she was wearing a red coat, then she's lying. Turned out to be the truth as the officer pulled a red coat out of the back seat of the Taurus, which she claimed as hers when asked whose it was and also responded with identification when asked for it by pulling her license out of the pocket of the coat. Could hear the officer in the background trying to explain to her for the third time why he no longer believed that she was some random witness.

I got out of the car and walked around to the front to see my car bleeding antifreeze all over the street but I was hopeful cause it really didnt look that bad for as hard of an impact as it was. Short-lived optimism once I saw it at the collision shop with all the front panels off. The damage was extensive. Total loss. Lost the first purchase of my adult life and engulfed in the middle of a battle between insurance companies. The story being told by the other side had morphed into me being at fault because I was driving with no headlights on, but was quickly shut down and defeated after I made them question how I would've been able to drive a full mile with no headlights... on a cloud covered night... through a pitch black, forest preserve with no street lights.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

June 2005

Carless... Depressed. Riding passenger in 240s and Hondas for the past couple of months. No more connection to the huge Chicago DSM scene that I discovered the previous year. Was on the phone with my friend who was asking what my plan was. That car had come through an auto broker that i met at a wedding that I bartended, who came across it and remembered me. It was a pristine, Tennessee car that had never seen snow and only had 26000 miles on it. I was sure that finding another one like that was gonna be some work. My friend told me that I should just buy his car. Asked him if he was serious because I would love to have it. It was the car I had helped him build on the side before I got my car. Had been 6bolt swapped a year before. He kept getting pulled towards this BMW 3 series that he passed every day on the way to work but ultimately ended up with a black 350Z.

Zhiro. DSM #3

Back in a DSM. I went with my friend to pick up the car when the 6bolt was put in at DevoTuning which was a haul and a half from Northwest Indiana. We came upon an RX7 on the ride home. He was between us and then left us staring at each other as he stepped on the gas and hit light speed before we even had a chance to react. A year later, Im the new owner of this car.

April 2011.
If there is one lesson that I learned that will always stay with me is to never drive a car when you know that its not in a good state. These cars will be forgiving for a while, but when they do go down, they will definitely make you pay dearly for the neglect. I had to daily drive the car when I was forced to start my own Paintless Dent company overnight. Rear seal was leaking, car was smoking when id get to a stoplight and idling. Ultimately, front seal started leaking too....timing belt...bent valves....

August 2012
Hail season had been good to me. A June storm brought about a call from a former boss that needed help and a boatload of money to be made. Car was sent to Boostin' Performance while Red Demon was starting to make a name for its self. The goal was something different with this car. I really didnt have much time to get to a track and wanted more of a cruiser, but since stock parts were at a higher price than aftermarket parts, what I ended up with way more than i needed. This would be the one and only time Ive ever visited this shop as theyve moved further away than Im willing to travel these days.

Its a much different car than DSMs #1 and #2. This car doesn't hate everyone that rides in or works on it. Nor has it left me stranded over and over or break drivetrain parts. Doesn't blow the driver's side headlight every 3 weeks. The 6-bolt was rebuilt, ECMLink v3, 1000cc injectors, and an EVO16g turbo were added.

Feb 2019
Moved out of the City and back to the suburbs. Finally in a house with a large garage that use to house a boat by the previous owner. Car shares space with her partner in crime, Baby, my wifes 99 Prelude SH.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

June 2021

Covid freed up a lot of time for me. Working from home gave me a lot of time to work on house and car projects. One of my first projects was to do something with the interior. Coming from the two-tone tan and black interior from the last car, I found this interior quite boring. I found this double-stitch diamond pattern on Ebay that would ship from Ireland for fairly cheap and went with 3M Headliner and Fabric Adhesive. Still holding tight though hot summers and cold winters. Couldnt have been happier with the quality of the fabric and how straight forward the work was.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I enjoyed the write ups. Keep on keeping on.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

November 2023
Found a local guy selling his gray leather front seats. Picked them up in my truck and used found a video on Youtube that had a large discount on a Clyde's 4 step All in one kit to clean, condition and dye the cracks that had developed over time. The dark gray was a good match for the seats. Havent found a matching back seat locally. Wisconsin is the closest Ive been able to find and havent had time to cross the cheddar curtain to grab it.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

February 2023
Still working from home and its been a mild winter in Chicago. I really wanted to start learning more about working on this car after so many years because its been hard to find people who understand it. Ive never had any automotive training, but doing Paintless Dent Removal for a decade made me less afraid of taking things apart, leaving diagnosing an issue to be the biggest challenge. I have so many parts in my garage that just need to go because they were taking up a lot of space when they could and should be on the car. This Greddy intercooler has been on the car even before I owned the car and truthfully, ive kind of always hated it. I remember helping my friend cut the bumper support to install it.

Had an ETS intercooler sitting around for a number of years and picked up some CXRacing piping from a guy locally. These were the biggest offenders of taking up space. Actually found a 2gNT at the junkyard and was able to get the bumper support bar from it. It was at this point that i realized that junkyards are pricing themselves out of being worth it.

The CX Racing piping came fairly close to being a perfect fit, but the drivers side was causing some issues because it extended straight outward from the intercooler port to far. It prevented the bumper from wrapping around at a proper angle. I finally got it to barely fit, but i worried that I would hit a bump or notorious Chicago pothole and end up breaking parts of the bumper around the holes for the bolts by stressing it too much.

I ended up ordering an 11" 90 degree stainless pipe and a 90 degree coupler from Amazon that turned out to be a perfect fit. No cutting required. The coupler allowed for an immediate turn right off the intecooler pipe. Bumper finally fits without stretching

At this time, i also flushed the radiator and replaced the heater hoses and other coolant hoses with silicone. The blue HPS hoses that i had caused shifring problems because the lower hose took a strange route in front of the shift cables and obstructed their range of motion, so i ended up draining and filling the radiator all over again and reusing the Samco hoses.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

May 2023
Stumbled upon these gauges by Moman, a company from Poland, after the lights in my cluster went out. Shipping wait time was 2 weeks despite the Covid shipping challenges at the time. The cluster is simple to remove,

I ended up ordering it again after i found out that a mile per hour gauge could be had as a special order.

I was able to get the fuel and coolant temp gauges to work just fine. The stock boost gauge is a little off (dont really care since i have aftermarket), the oil pressure gauge was super complicated. I never got it working correctly again nor did I understand how it was suppose to go back together, but I have an aftermarket gauge for that as well so doesnt really matter.

But then I dropped my car off at a shop for some other work and they put a wideband in that required them to remove the plastic piece around the gauge cluster and f***ed everything up so that it no longer lights up. Gonna have to go back in during the off season and find out what happened.

I dont know how to convey to you guys, how terrible I am at soldering. Which is ashamed because my best friend has been installing car audio/remote starts/alarm systems since he was 14. Ive watched him do it a billion times, If he's there when I do it, everything is fine. The minute I'm left to do it myself... God help us. If me soldering something were to save all of our lives, I assure you that we need to start planning funerals.

This project...f***ed it up.... soldering in the resisters to stop hyper blink for the turn signals.... f***ed it up as well. Only soldering job that i didnt mess up was changing the plug on a Spal radiator fan.. probably because it was out in the open and I had all the room i needed. So needless to say, my buddy wired up a new Pioneer for me so that he only had to fix my partial f***up rather than it being completely f***ed.

Choosing a new radio was difficult. I knew that I wanted to stick with Pioneer and I originally wanted a double din, but I wasnt happy that all of the choices available had touch screen buttons and no volume dial. I dont want to have to take my eyes off the road to look and the buttons arent raised so that you can feel around for them.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

November 2023
Dropped the car off at the shop that I had been going to for the heavy duty work that I either couldnt do or didnt have time to do, before flying off to a conference the week after Thanksgiving. I was already aware that the axle nuts and LCA hardware were all seized. The car was also dragging along and after i put a Shopvac in the tailpipe, my assumptions were validated by the champagne of bubbles coming from the exhaust manifold/turbo manifold/o2 housing.

Car was suppose to be done by the end of the week, but when they went over it, there were a couple of issues. They said there shouldnt be a problem getting it running right.
I dropped off parts,
i had answers for their questions,
always answered when they called,

...7 months went by....

my phone calls went unanswered.
I was treated like I was a problem for stopping in to find out whats going on.
Tuner never came out to finish.

We parted ways that day. Regardless, they do good work. A lot of issues got cleared up.

New exhaust and turbo manifold gaskets, new o2 housing gasket
Axles and seals, front UCAs and LCAs, rear LCAs and tow arms.
Aeromotive 340
AEM Wideband
ACT 2600 clutch
cruise control delete

June 2024
The initial ride home from picking up the car was not great but decent. It was pretty obvious that they didnt even take the car for a single test drive during those 7 months while the car sat outside with the sun beating down on it....rain, snow, hail, . The car idled fine, drove fine, but when getting anywhere near boost, the revs would hang (if not, continues to rise) for a second or two and then drop like it should. A very loud squeaking noise was coming from the rear developed about half way though the drive. Reversed into the garage and the car started to smoke real bad and went super rich on the wideband. The strong smell of raw fuel in the oil when i pulled the dipstick.

The good news is that the car is back home.

The bad news. After all those months at the shop, there are still issues....Bitterness has set in that I dont have a running car and we're well into the season. Now its all on me to solve these issues.
.
List of issues that are preventing me from driving the car.
1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Rpms are staying high or raise between shifts.
6. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

But, before we get to those issues, I wanted to address two issues that are getting under my skin at the moment.

First up, fishing the lock cylinder out of the door.

Someone at the shop tried to use the key in the door despite the keyless entry, pushed the lock cylinder into the door and didnt bother to do anything about it. Opened the door up, put the lock cylinder back into place and then used a DuPont Non-Stick Dry-Film Lubricant Drip Bottle to lube up the cylinder and the key. A couple of turns to the left and right and the cylinder now works as expected. Did the same for the passenger side and the trunk.

The second issue that was getting under my skin was the driver's door catching the edge of the fender and bending it before a popping sound that allowed the door to fully open. I loosened the fender bolts at the top and pulled the fender forward. Then I used a hammer a block of wood to emphasis the push forward by putting the block of wood close to the bottom of the fender and giving a couple of direct (not too hard) smacks.

One close to the bottom, one in the center and 1 closer to the top. Had my wife tighten the fender bolts as i continued to pull it forward. Fender no longer prevents the door from opening fully.

 

[Justin DuBois]

These cars love to have their issues. Your high idle issues will be throttle body and boost leak related.

You need to sort out your Fuel pressure issues before any tuning can start.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

June 2024
Back to the list.

1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Rpms are staying high or raise between shifts.
6. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

I previously has an Evo8 fuel pump, so there was no need for an afpr. After the Aeromotive 340 was installed, I had assumed that it wouldve been installed with an afpr. Of course it wasnt. Not sure how this slipped under the radar considering that they deal with a lot of Mitsubishis and are well aware of what the requirements are. So i ordered a Fuel Lab mini from ExtremePsi. It was my first time deal with fuel, but a simple install. Depressurized the fuel system. Drained the contaminated oil and new filter.

(^^^The apfr is not set to 24.. thats just what it was at when i took the picture.)
While I was in there, I removed the rest of the A/C lines that had been sitting there the last 12 years since the engine was rebuilt.

Started the car. No fuel leaks. Set the base pressure.Took the car for a drive. Reversed into the garage.
Problem solved. No more fuel delivery issues. Wideband no longer goes super rich.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

July 2024

1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Rpms are staying high or raise between shifts.
6. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

I didnt want to continue starting the car up at 2300 rpms. The shop mentioned that the high rpm cold start could be caused by the IAV. Bought a new one from Rock Auto. Tested the terminals on the old one, They were all within range. Tested the terminals on the new one before install.

Reconnected the battery and set the new IAV to 30 in ECMlink.
After this did not resolve the issue, I decided to block off the FIAV.

Decided to cut my own gaskets this time around. Everything back together and Voila! On cold start we raise to 1500 and then down to the ECMLink set 950 rpms.

However...

Doing a boost leak test exposed another issue.
There is a serious boost leak coming from the injector 1 seal.

From this point onward, I started burning at both ends of the candle. Working my job during the day and working on the car til like midnight.

 

[99eclipsegs-2t]

Glad to see your efforts paying dividends!

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Aug/Sept 2024

1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms.
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end.
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Fuel Injector 1 seal leak.
6. Rpms are staying high or raise between shifts.
7. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

This creaking from the rear is driving me crazy. Whenever I lower it back on the ground from looking around a couple of times, I get about 2 minutes of peace before the rear end start squawkin' again. Thought it might have been the spherical bearings, but with the KYB struts and Eibach springs that have never been changed since Ive had the car, staring me in the face, I had an idea of what needed to be done.

Since I was replacing those, I figured it would also be a good time to install the calipers that I had painted last year and the stainless steel brake lines.

This short intermission is brought to you by this "pain in the ass" moment....

f*** this thing. I made the mistake of trying to take off front sway bar because I just HAAAAADDDD to let my ocd take over and couldnt bare to see it looking raggity while everything else was new and pretty when no one was ever going to see it . Snapped the bottom bolt off on the drivers side . Snapped the bottom bolt off on the passenger side an hour later . Snapped an EZ Out off in the passenger side (I have never successfully extracted a bolt with one of those). It was also impossible to maneuver it out of there . Had to raise the car higher and I eventually was able to pull it from the passenger side by angling it back towards the door. As a useful tip for the future, the tungsten carbide cutter Dremel bit from Menards, chewed right through the hard extractor metal better than anything else i tried. A friend of mine was able to get them out without damaging the threads so I didnt have to Time-sert/Helicoil it.

I found this gem on the vfaq, Stuck Brake Rotors, before I even got started with removing the rears and not only did I magically have the correct size bolt, but it was also the first one i pulled out of the spare bolts can. This made removing the rear rotors super easy and required minimal effort. I dont know the last time these were changed

The rear brakes still had padding, so couldnt have been too bad.

Picked up these Fortune Autos for super cheap some time ago. They were supposedly never installed before. Dont think they did because the preload was way off on one of them. So i reset them all.

The install was fairly easy. As expected, nothing was seized since most of the hardware had come off while at the shop getting the other suspension work done. Trying to push the rear hubs down far enough to slip the bottom of the rear coilover onto the spout mount on the knuckle was about the hardest thing.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

September 2024

After taking a week off to go to a conference in San Diego, I was back at it, focusing on the brakes. I had painted the calipers back in '22 using Dupli-color Metalcast Orange and 2k clear. Not sure if its gonna hold up but the color came out nice.

Cleaned the hubs with a drill and a wirewheel attachment and painted the rotor hubs.

Not the color scheme I would've voluntarily chosen, but at least they aren't clashing colors.

Surprisingly, as seized as some of the suspension components were, the brake lines required just a little penetrating fluid and a line wrench. All four lines broke free easily.

Set the car down on some rhino ramps to put some weight on the suspension so that i could torque the lower control arms.

No more creaking from the rear.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

October 2024

1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms.
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end.
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Fuel Injector 1 seal leak.
6. Rpms are staying high or raise between shifts.
7. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

...and we're back on the ground.

I was having issues with the new clutch dragging after bringing the car home. I tested it the day that I got it back and the car didnt move, but after a few times driving it to test the afpr, The car was inching forward around 6k rpms. There was also an issue getting the car into gear after like 5 minutes of driving and crunching into reverse. I noticed a puddle of clear fluid had dripped from the lowest part of the transmission during the cool down, long after I parked the car in the garage and walked away, so I always missed it in the process of leaking.

Clutch, brake and transmission fluids were all full. I was originally angry because i found the passengers side axle seal was wet, but was relieved when I traced the leak back to an antifreeze leak from the bottom side of the lower radiator hose at he engine and finding different paths down the transmission to the ground. The shop had a deal with AMSoil for fluids and their antifreeze is a yellow color which i mistook for clear instead of the typical neon green that im use to.

While looking for the leak I remembered the stainless clutch line that Ive had for a while. Trying to crack the nut loose was harder than what I encountered with the brake lines, but eventually got it.

Followed the Jack's Transmission method of adjusting the master cylinder. Bled the clutch, bled the brakes .

Almost ready to take it for a drive. Time to boost leak test since I hadnt done so after closing the FIAV. Loosing a lot of air from somewhere on the driver's side...

 

[SixBolt_16G]

November 2024

1. New fuel pump is overrunning the stock fpr.
2. Car still cold starts at 2300 rpms.
3. Excessive, loud creaking from the rear end.
4. New clutch is dragging.
5. Fuel Injector 1 seal leak.
6. Rpms hang/raise during shifts or any revs close to 3000 rpms or above..
7. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished.

Checking the throttle body for leaks after reinstalling exposed a major leak from the first injector.

Ordered seals from Extreme PSI, depressurized the fuel system and took off the fuel rail. Old o-rings at the top of injectors were disintegrating. A little surprised that it was the first injector seal that was leaking considering that there were others in worse condition. New o-ring on the feed side. If I would've known what I know now, I would've sent them out to FIC to be cleaned and tested. Since, we're going into the off season, Ill probably still do it now. But otherwise, no fuel leaks.

I plugged that leak... and then the leak in an intercooler coupler....and another coupler... and a third coupler...and a small one at the BOV.... and the J-pipe...makes me concerned that the shop tuned the car with all of these leaks. Id only driven it maybe 5 times, including bringing it home and stayed out of boost this whole time, so cant imagine that these leaks appeared with the little driving Ive done. But Ive BTL 'd like 5 times now and it seems to be holding the pressure just fine.

Not sure if its a side effect to plugging the injector leak or from blocking off the FIAV or maybe even something in the tune, but when I cold start the car now, it starts up and idles just above my target idle, maybe as high as 1100, whereas when i had started it to test the FIAV, it had cold started at what I thought was normal, about 1500 and dropped to 950 when warm. Its been so long since anything other than a 2300 rpm start up that it may very well be that I just dont remember what normal is.

Im well aware that this tune is most likely half-assed considering the inputs (especially my AEM wideband) were never set up to log. I think that not understanding why the RPMs were hanging was one of the reasons the shop blew up at me that day...just wanted to give me the car back and not deal with it anymore.

So adding an idle log from right after fixing the injector boost leak. All that I really want to know at this point is whether something in the tune could be causing the cold start issue, whether that should be considered a normal cold start, or if I should be looking elsewhere. Id rather get these rpm issues resolved before I focus on fixing the tune itself. Anything past idle tuning might have to wait til Spring since its suppose to snow today and theyre gonna salt the roads. Vehicle profile is up to date.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Throttle body stuff...

900 RPM is your target and you get close. Your log shows low coolant temp (145deg). You can't evaluate your idle targets and ISC position until after the engine is fully warmed up - 180-200 deg.

Normal cold start is a high idle point up to 2000rpm, and then the FIAV slows things down as the temps warm up. You modified the FIAV start point to close it down so you may not hit 2000rpm cold anymore. The FIAV start point needs to be open enough to start without dying. Usually people close down the FIAV after all leaks are addressed and when you still get cold starts higher than 2000rpm. Closing down the FIAV start point too much will cause you to need to hold the throttle plate open when cold.

Setting up your TB.
The ISC (when the ECU is in closed loop mode) will try and hold your RPM target, but it has a narrow range, so the BISS and FIAV need to be close.

When the temps are warm, your ISC target position should be about 30. Adjust your BISS when warm until it holds 30 at your target RPM. I recommend enabling the diagnostics feature in ECMLink that holds the base timing at 5deg when setting the BISS for ISC position 30.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Also note - the Throttle Position Sensor (with close position switch), Throttle Cable, and Throttle plate full open stop - play a roll here.

I like to have all the cable slack on the closed side of the throttle plate range. Do this by loosening the throttle cable position, and then jam the accelerator to the floor. Set the throttle cable position to hold the throttle plate open against the full open stop with the accelerator all the down. This will prevent you from breaking your throttle body jamming the accelerator to the floor.

Letting off the accelerator, the TB plate should go full closed. The closed position can be adjusted - but if it closes all the way without sticking - then you are good.

After this - you can set the Throttle Position Sensor position so that - the TPS closed switch is closed, and you see about 0.63v in link.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Thanks for the reply

Throttle body stuff...

900 RPM is your target and you get close. Your log shows low coolant temp (145deg). You can't evaluate your idle targets and ISC position until after the engine is fully warmed up - 180-200 deg.

I included another, more recent log. This one was while the car was warm. The throttle activity in this log was just me pressing the accelerator / revving at the butterfly trying to determine the criteria for what is causing the hang, but should be enough to see the car idle while its warm. I had also set some inputs, but couldnt get the voltage for the wideband. It reads 0.00 despite physically working in the car.

Normal cold start is a high idle point up to 2000rpm, and then the FIAV slows things down as the temps warm up. You modified the FIAV start point to close it down so you may not hit 2000rpm cold anymore. The FIAV start point needs to be open enough to start without dying. Usually people close down the FIAV after all leaks are addressed and when you still get cold starts higher than 2000rpm. Closing down the FIAV start point too much will cause you to need to hold the throttle plate open when cold.

I closed it all the way (I did not use a block off plate) because I think the walkthrough I followed says that it would create a boost leak if I didnt. I did also reroute the coolant hoses from the throttle body. Havent had any problems with stalling and havent needed to give it gas to keep it running.
1. I thought the need for holding the throttle during warmup was only if both the fiav and the isc were both blocked off, no?
2. The car still seems to warm up as usual, but does starting the car at a lower rpm eventually cause other issues? Seems like it is being given more gas on start up to run rich, without the RPMs to justify it. Not sure if or how much that matters.

Setting up your TB.
The ISC (when the ECU is in closed loop mode) will try and hold your RPM target, but it has a narrow range, so the BISS and FIAV need to be close.

When the temps are warm, your ISC target position should be about 30. Adjust your BISS when warm until it holds 30 at your target RPM. I recommend enabling the diagnostics feature in ECMLink that holds the base timing at 5deg when setting the BISS for ISC position 30.

So i did follow this method. I disconnected the battery so that the lrndidleadj would be reset to 144 and then turned the BISS til it was around 30 while the car was at operating temp with no electronic or the fan running. Cant remember if I had done that for the previous log, maybe it will be reflected in this new log. If not, I will try again. I remember I had some problems with trying to get a steady 29/30/31 because it kept wanting to dip down towards single digits. But I didnt do the base timing lock that youre recommending so i will try that. But I did actually get it to hover around 30, so i thought i was alright.

3. How do you tell in the logs that the ISC isnt set correctly since that number seems to move around constantly when i look in my logs? Is it suppose to settle at 30 for an extended amount of time during idle when it is set correctly and just move around when you give it some gas? I dont know that ive ever viewed the logs of a properly running car to know what normal looks like.
4. Is this the setting that you are referring to that holds the base timing at 5 deg?

I like to have all the cable slack on the closed side of the throttle plate range. Do this by loosening the throttle cable position, and then jam the accelerator to the floor. Set the throttle cable position to hold the throttle plate open against the full open stop with the accelerator all the down. This will prevent you from breaking your throttle body jamming the accelerator to the floor.

I think it might be the cable itself that is sticking. I followed pretty much the same procedure that you described. Ive tried adjusting it both when the car is hot and when its cold. Sometimes the adjustments made the hanging rpms slightly better/worse.

A few other reasons why Im suspecting the cable:
-Throttle body was rebuilt a good number of months before the rest of the work was done and I didnt have the hanging rpms issue. Drove the car every weekend within that time.
-Throttle position goes from 0-100%
-TPS goes from 0.63 to 5.00 when stepping on the accelerator pedal.
-Throttle cable is the new piece that has changed. Was bought new, but sitting in garage for about 8 years. have a replacement here that im going to try swapping out.
-If I physically step on the accelerator up to 3000 rpms and let off, the revs will come down to about 1500 or so and hang for a second or 2. Consistently. If I rev at the butterfly, it never seems to hang. It seems like when I step.on the pedal, cable is too long and doesnt snap the pedal back into position, like the cable never gets tight enough on the pedal side.

 

[Justin DuBois]

I closed it all the way (I did not use a block off plate) because I think the walkthrough I followed says that it would create a boost leak if I didnt. I did also reroute the coolant hoses from the throttle body. Havent had any problems with stalling and havent needed to give it gas to keep it running.
1. I thought the need for holding the throttle during warmup was only if both the fiav and the isc were both blocked off, no?
2. The car still seems to warm up as usual, but does starting the car at a lower rpm eventually cause other issues? Seems like it is being given more gas on start up to run rich, without the RPMs to justify it. Not sure if or how much that matters.

Are you removing the coolant to the FIAV? I've never heard of someone needing to close the FIAV all the way to prevent a boost leak (unless the valve is broken and leaking coolant into the intake) If you are not going to control the FIAV with coolant, then - yes - closing the FIAV to prevent uncontrolled air (vacuum leak) from bypassing the throttle plate is correct. This is a workaround to a good FIAV, but not ideal - see below.

Removing the FIAV from the system this way will not always work. The ISC is only working in closed loop, so there is a time at the beginning of a start that is open loop (no ISC) and that will not work for all ambient temps. Your start today was with 47 deg ambient temps - good dense air. This may stay running without holding the throttle open today, but when it's HOT out you will have a different situation.

So i did follow this method. I disconnected the battery so that the lrndidleadj would be reset to 144 and then turned the BISS til it was around 30 while the car was at operating temp with no electronic or the fan running. Cant remember if I had done that for the previous log, maybe it will be reflected in this new log. If not, I will try again. I remember I had some problems with trying to get a steady 29/30/31 because it kept wanting to dip down towards single digits. But I didnt do the base timing lock that youre recommending so i will try that. But I did actually get it to hover around 30, so i thought i was alright.

3. How do you tell in the logs that the ISC isnt set correctly since that number seems to move around constantly when i look in my logs? Is it suppose to settle at 30 for an extended amount of time during idle when it is set correctly and just move around when you give it some gas? I dont know that ive ever viewed the logs of a properly running car to know what normal looks like.

Yes - when the idle is stable, the isc stops moving around

4. Is this the setting that you are referring to that holds the base timing at 5 deg?
View attachment 750954

Yes that is it

I think it might be the cable itself that is sticking. I followed pretty much the same procedure that you described. Ive tried adjusting it both when the car is hot and when its cold. Sometimes the adjustments made the hanging rpms slightly better/worse.

A few other reasons why Im suspecting the cable:
-Throttle body was rebuilt a good number of months before the rest of the work was done and I didnt have the hanging rpms issue. Drove the car every weekend within that time.
-Throttle position goes from 0-100%
-TPS goes from 0.63 to 5.00 when stepping on the accelerator pedal.
-Throttle cable is the new piece that has changed. Was bought new, but sitting in garage for about 8 years. have a replacement here that im going to try swapping out.
-If I physically step on the accelerator up to 3000 rpms and let off, the revs will come down to about 1500 or so and hang for a second or 2. Consistently. If I rev at the butterfly, it never seems to hang. It seems like when I step.on the pedal, cable is too long and doesnt snap the pedal back into position, like the cable never gets tight enough on the pedal side.

A sticky cable will cause high idle hang. You will know its the cable if there is no slack and you can resolve the high idle by manually closing the throttle plate by hand. If the cable is totally slack with a high idle, then you need to see why the plate is sticking open on its own.

 

[Justin DuBois]

I looked at your speed density map, and I have questions.

Did you make this map? How did you get here?

Same question for your direct access timing table and your Max oct table - How did you decide on these maps - they are really far from stock maps. Other tables in your DA are modified as well.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

I looked at your speed density map, and I have questions.
View attachment 750989
Did you make this map?

Nope. Not I

Ive mentioned a couple of times through the build thread with the more recent posts, that my car was at a shop (One that actually deals with DSMs/Evos frequently) and they screwed me over for reasons unknown to me. Their tuner was suppose to come back out and do a few more things, but the shop got frustrated with the car breaking on the dyno (clutch and fuel pump), interactions between me, them and the guy they have tune all the Mitsubishis. I showed up one day to supposedly pick up my car because they told me i would be ready, but instead they blew up at me for coming there after keeping my car for 7 months. I am unsure as to how far the tuner actually got which is why I have the #7 description of problems that Ive started all of these post with 7. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished. That is why Ive been doing all the work myself to get it running well again.

Only things Ive ever really done in ECMLink is view logs and set the idle in the past, but even I can tell that there were some questionable things going on with it.
-None of my inputs were set
-My wideband works in the car, but wasnt set up to log in ECMlink.
-My airperrevs are high at like 0.40+ while idling
-Fuel trims look to be running rich

This is why I was trying to focus on fixing the low start up rpms and hanging rpms before i start asking people for help with tuning it. Because frankly, I dont understand how they did any tuning at all with all the boost leaks Ive fixed so far or with the rpms hanging between shifts, especially getting anywhere near boost.

 

[Justin DuBois]

Nope. Not I

Ive mentioned a couple of times through the build thread with the more recent posts, that my car was at a shop (One that actually deals with DSMs/Evos frequently) and they screwed me over for reasons unknown to me. Their tuner was suppose to come back out and do a few more things, but the shop got frustrated with the car breaking on the dyno (clutch and fuel pump), interactions between me, them and the guy they have tune all the Mitsubishis. I showed up one day to supposedly pick up my car because they told me i would be ready, but instead they blew up at me for coming there after keeping my car for 7 months. I am unsure as to how far the tuner actually got which is why I have the #7 description of problems that Ive started all of these post with 7. Unsure how much of the tune was actually finished. That is why Ive been doing all the work myself to get it running well again.

Only things Ive ever really done in ECMLink is view logs and set the idle in the past, but even I can tell that there were some questionable things going on with it.
-None of my inputs were set
-My wideband works in the car, but wasnt set up to log in ECMlink.
-My airperrevs are high at like 0.40+ while idling
-Fuel trims look to be running rich

This is why I was trying to focus on fixing the low start up rpms and hanging rpms before i start asking people for help with tuning it. Because frankly, I dont understand how they did any tuning at all with all the boost leaks Ive fixed so far or with the rpms hanging between shifts, especially getting anywhere near boost.

Yeah - its not tuned. Whatever they were doing with ECMLink, it wasn't finished. I can help you get reset.