Took 1837 to the track today

[GST with PSI]

Well, took the Galant out to Capitol Raceway today. I figured since it will be going away for the winter soon, I might as well take it out and try to break it. Despite my efforts, the car held up like a boss.

It's been years since I was in the pilot's seat at the track, and my first few passes made that blatantly obvious. I made an epic 14.8 pass at one point
Also, my tuning skills are far from pro, so I think there's much to be gained there as well. Overall though, I got the car running decent, and starting driving decent.

I made 7 passes, the best of which was a 13.6 @ 100mph. I was running all day on 93 pump @ 17ish PSI. I was struggling to tune the knock out of the car all day. Toward the end of the day, I felt like I was getting the car fairly dialed in just as the track was closing. I'll do some work on the street, and hopefully make some improvements for next time.

I went with my buddy Dan in his 1GA Talon. His best time of the day was like 13.3 or so. There was another DSM there running mid 12s on E85. Aside from us 3, just ton's of muscle heads there. It was a great time, and I'm hoping to make another trip there before the close for the season. Here's a photo dump of the day, as well as vids from my 2 quickest passes.

13.6 Pass
13.8 Pass

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[Pipnorcali]

Nice vr4... 127mph in the 1/8th you where flying..haha

is it pretty stock under 100mph is pretty weak

 

[GST with PSI]

Thanks for the kind words.

I was screwing with the tune all day, so there's a lot of ground to be made there. The car has the mods to support a faster run, but without a tune to match I'm stuck with the 13.6 I ran today. Today was more of a preliminary, to see what the car would do. Now, I'll fine tune things, and hopefully get it dialed in by the next time we head to the track.

 

[Maes]

I love the gvr4!! wish I could find one for a decent price. Keep it clean I like it

 

[AlwaysSunnyOhio]

I'm sorry you guys are so angry with each other. I guess in the race world you have more enemies than friends.

Those vr4's are sweet treats for sure.

 

[gofer]

Keep it clean or it gets closed, guys. This is GST's thread about HIS VR4's results, either post positive comments/suggestions or don't post.

Nice times, GST. Hitting new PB's before the end of the race season is always a plus.

 

[GST with PSI]

Thanks, Corey. I really need to sort out my tune, which I think will help a lot toward getting my time down. I cut some decent launches, but kept coming up short on the top end. A tune with less knock and more boost will hopefully get me into high 12s.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Absolutely love your GVR4. Clean, well put together, not hack-jobbed. Give it a solid tune and iron out any issues, and it'll be the image of the old DSMer adage of "Going fast with class".

 

[ErikTande]

That thing is gorgeous!

 

[GST with PSI]

CrackedDSM and Erik, thanks very much for the kind words. I appreciate your positive feedback.

 

[GST with PSI]

Well, took the car to the track again last night. The results were less than impressive. I was fighting the clutch and transmission all night. The car would just not shift at high RPM. From 1-2 and 2-3 I would just hit a block. The car absolutely refused to go into gear. I couldn't get a decent launch to save my life either. I never cut less than a 2.0. Out of 5 runs, I should have accidently cut a better 60' for god's sake. The clutch didn't feel like it was slipping, but it also didn't feel like it grabbed solid a single time. The clutch and trans felt like shit the whole night, and it really killed my morale early on.

When I was having issues with the clutch fork, that should have been my sign to replace the whole setup. But, I went against my better judgment, and installed it anyways. I figured with the resurfaced flywheel, it should be plenty grabby. I'm not sure if the issue is with the disc itself, or the pressure plate, or both. Either way, I was cutting better times last year on less boost, skinny tires, a cold track, and a shitty tune. I tried adjusting the clutch pedal rod at the track, and it didn't help at all. One run, I tried real precise shifts, making sure the clutch went all the way to the floor before passing the shift gate, which didn't do shit. It still wouldn't release at redline. No grinding or bitching synchros, it just simply wouldn't go in gear.

The car ran really good overall. I had a solid tune on about 21 PSI with no knock. The track was pretty hot, but I had time to cool between runs and my IATs looked good all night. I was REALLY hoping for a high 12 last night, but couldn't even get close. My 60's were shit, and my ETs were down as well. I just felt like I couldn't get the power to the ground through my garbage drivetrain. I reviewed a few logs from the night, and looked at my TPS signals between shifts. I was averaging over half a second between gears. I only needed another 6 tenths from last year, which I definitely feel like that car has. It just wasn't going to happen last night, especially after I started getting frustrated.

The best pass of the night was a staggering 14.403 @ 97.76 mph. I had another run that was 14.455 @ 99.59 mph. Both runs I spent significant amounts of time fighting the gears. I got the 14.403 run on video. I think this was the 4th run of the night, and at this point I was f***ing fed up with the car:
14.403 run

Outside:
1837 going slow

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I'll admit, I'm a bit discouraged. I thought with the few additions I've made and the better tune, a 12 second pass was definitely in the cards. I had high expectations for the night, and just couldn't meet them.

So, back to the drawing board. I'll get everything figured out eventually. Always do

 

[BoostedBeaver]

Glad to hear that the car is running well, I just hate you can’t seem to get the power to the ground.

You mention that its not grinding, its just not going into gear so just curious but are you still running the MT90? Never looked at the recommended step height for Centerforce but I’m assuming its still .610?
It’s odd that the trans just locks you out without grinding at all Good luck on finding the issue and let us know what you find.

 

[GST with PSI]

I'm currently running MT-90 in the transmission. I was having some issues with the clutch fork position: http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/check-my-clutch-fork-position.492148/

You can see in the video, it doesn't really grind..It just refuses to go into gear.

The flywheel was turned down by JAM to .608". I verified the measurement myself.

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[Ferp]

I was having a similar issue with my Evo 4. Last summer I had been running about 14s, my best being a 13.5. Last week I was there and my clutch would catch, but it just felt slow. My best time was a 14.6 at 96. Two days later my clutch was dead. New one is in now and I'm hoping that'll get me back to mid and hopefully low 13s. Clean VR4 man. I hope you figure out your drivetrain issues.

 

[BoostedBeaver]

That is pretty far to the right. That should only increase the movement and help in your situation. The downside of the fingers being over extended is the only concern I see there.

Have you tried checking for clutch drag? If that checks out, how about the shifter assembly and shifter cable bushings (the set on the transmission brackets and the ones connecting to the gear selectors?

 

[GST with PSI]

Robert, thanks for the reply.

The shifter assembly has been gone through. Solid bushings, JNZ short throw, the works. On the trans, I have actual bearings on the shifter cables/arms rather than bushings. The cables seem fine, and I don't see any reason there would be an issue there.

As far as clutch drag, I did the 7k with clutch in test. The car doesn't roll. Outside of that, how else should check it?

Something just doesn't add up here. I'm definitely making more power on a MUCH better tune than last fall, and am somehow running a second slower overall. Something just feels wrong with the clutch/trans. The shifting issues just further increase my suspicion that something is awry.

PS, I can post a long of my 13.6 run last year, and the run I did yesterday if that helps. Maybe you guys will see something I don't.

 

[BoostedBeaver]

The logs would be nice to take a look at. It never hurts to have a second set of eyes look them over.

When you checked for drag, did you do it with the car on a level surface? The only other way is to put it on jack stands to take the load off the tires.

If the clutch is not dragging and you can compress the slave with your finger and it “grows” back the hydraulics are behaving as expected.

I’ll take a look at those logs when you post them.

 

[keltalon]

Nice looking car! I would check to make sure the shift cables are in good condition..

 

[GST with PSI]

The logs would be nice to take a look at. It never hurts to have a second set of eyes look them over.

When you checked for drag, did you do it with the car on a level surface? The only other way is to put it on jack stands to take the load off the tires.

If the clutch is not dragging and you can compress the slave with your finger and it “grows” back the hydraulics are behaving as expected.

I’ll take a look at those logs when you post them.

Yeah, level surface, 7k, no movement. I could put it on jackstands though, just to make sure.

I can push the clutch fork in toward the slave, and it returns on it's own as expected. Seems good there.

Here's the log from when I ran 13.6 last year. Tons of knock, MAF was all dicked up...Etc. How I ran 13.6 baffles me. (log.2014.11.15-06track3-13.6.elg)


Now, here's one from yesterday. Of note, I'm up 5 pounds of boost on this log as well. I have pretty much zero knock, AFRs are where I want them and the MAF is calibrated well overall. I did notice my TPS was acting funny at the end of each gear. Also, can you take a look at the baro and battery voltage and see if they look funny to you? Thanks.
(log.2015.06.26-03.elg)

 

[GST with PSI]

Nice looking car! I would check to make sure the shift cables are in good condition..

Thanks, Kelvin. I was hoping to run times closer to your recent ones yesterday

 

[Devilsfutbol17]

I was having issues shifting into 2nd gear at the track and someone told me to shift between 1st and 2nd a couple times while staging and that did the trick. I think he said it lined things up so it will make that shift better. Regardless, it worked very well for me, it may be worth a shot.

 

[bastarddsm]

As a quick and cheap test get a slave cyl from a 3kGTvr4, and try that on it. You'll need to bleed it before you mount it to the trans.

 

[BoostedBeaver]

The tune is much better than a year ago. The car stays planted and never spins during the pass, so the power is making it to the ground.

Your getting a trouble code for your TPS (0014).

Something seems wrong with the GM 3 bar. Its only reading to -14.7 inHg. You have the MAP assigned to the front 02 but you our not simulating the WB?

As for battery voltage, your loosing .7 volts. What alternator are you running?

 

[GST with PSI]

I knew about the TPS, and I'll look into that.

For the GM 3 Bar, I was playing with it a bit at the track. I'm having issues with the sensor, and was trying to troubleshoot it at the track. I didn't care about swapping back to the O2 since I was just making a pass and shutting the car down. I'll sort that out as well.

For the battery voltage, I'm not sure. I'm running a factory remanned alternator with is less than a year old (probably less than 1,000 miles on it). Although, this is my third alternator. I have heat shielding in place on the lower O2 housing, so not sure what else I can do. I was looking at the pass I made last year, and the voltages seemed comparable. My battery is relocated to the trunk, so I think I'm going to replace the factory output wire on the alternator with something heavier.

Thanks again for the reply.

As a quick and cheap test get a slave cyl from a 3kGTvr4, and try that on it. You'll need to bleed it before you mount it to the trans.

Yeah man, at this point, I'm done trying to make this clutch work. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[rhamlinii]

What clutch do you have and can you explain how you Launch it? I have something together finally, and it should be out in a week or three..........