Hey guys I haven't updated my build thread in some time but I wanted to share some changes that I made. I recently decided to go e85 and man has it been a badass way to run more boost safely. Ethanol is good, damn good. I have two stations near my home that have e85 and both tested out to be e95 and e90 respectively. I spoke with Brandon over at Fast Motorsports about my options and what would be the best route for me. Since I have a copy of hptuners, an e85 test kit, and willing to do some homework I decided that it was the only route to go for me. My existing tune was on 93 octane and running 20-22 degrees of timing at 12.5psi. I didn't really feel comfortable with the tune at that timing so I grabbed some 5 gal of e85 and dropped the car off with Brandon. My thought is that if I need to go 93 octane then I can run the tank really low, pull up to a pump of 93, fill it up and flash with hptuners/macbook with the 93 octane map. I haven't had to do it yet, but it's an option and honestly I carry my laptop everywhere I go for work purposes.
I had a pretty good fueling setup to begin with. It consists of dual in tank Walbro pumps, fuel lab BRFR, -8 fuel feed, and rails. The only thing I needed was to upgrade my existing 60lb injectors to 95lbers.
My Review of the Tune
So after I got my car back from Brandon all I can say is damn this car is so freaking responsive. He had completely rewritten many of the tables in hptuners and also adjusted some of the settings on the boost controller that allows the turbo to spool much quicker than before. The car just absolutely pulls and I have to baby sit the throttle because it will spin like no other. I've never had a car where going WOT was more of a death sentence than a dare especially on dusty back roads and that is only on 12psi
. There are some drivability things that Brandon and I have to work through, but I have confidence that these will be resolved shortly.
Car dyno'd at 694whp and 622wtq on e85 at 17psi SAE with converter unlocked. Not bad for a summer daily driver
I had some issues though along the way. First was going e85 loosens deposits in the fuel tank that ended up clogging my fuel filter. This I was expecting so I wasn't too surprised by it. Another issue was a small oil leak that was coming from the pcv valve. Not sure if I should just delete it but a quick trip to Ace hardware fixed that. Of course these are unrelated to the tune over all, but little things.
The other issue was related to my trans. I ended up throwing a code (P0757) when I started up the car one day. I really didn't know what caused the code to throw but it's basically a fault in the 1-2 shift solenoid. Well I decided since I didn't see this code previously I would just clear it to see if it came back. Bad idea, very bad idea. I went out with my brother in law to gather some data logs to see how the car was running with my new e85 fueling setup. Well everything was going well then all of a sudden we get to the top of second and bam we are bouncing off the rev limiter and going nowhere fast. WTF, well long story short and various bits of testing we figured it was the 3-4 clutches that got fried. Now I have full confidence that this wasn't something that Brandon did. I checked with Chuck from FLT and turns out that after that code throws and clearing it will fail the trans over to 3rd gear due to the looseness of the converter. Doesn't happen all the time, but if it does throw the solution is to delete the code permanently(along with the P0751 code). After checking my previous tune files I found that this code was never deleted previously. Just so happened that it through the code after getting the car back from Fast. Oh well, live and learn and I couldn't see myself holding anyone responsible more than myself. Time to pull the trans
Got the trans back and decided to install a trans temp gauge. Will keep eyes on my temps as the 4l65e is finicky when it comes to temps. I will be allocating some funds to a 4l80e trans and converter for next winter. For my power levels it just makes more sense.
I also went ahead and installed a KUP head vent system since the stock ls1 only vents the front of the heads. Just added insurance as it has been thought that heat builds up in the rear of the head and can cause failure of the #7 ring. Not proven, but every bit helps.
Now with more bracket and upward slope for the return.
I had a pretty good fueling setup to begin with. It consists of dual in tank Walbro pumps, fuel lab BRFR, -8 fuel feed, and rails. The only thing I needed was to upgrade my existing 60lb injectors to 95lbers.
My Review of the Tune
So after I got my car back from Brandon all I can say is damn this car is so freaking responsive. He had completely rewritten many of the tables in hptuners and also adjusted some of the settings on the boost controller that allows the turbo to spool much quicker than before. The car just absolutely pulls and I have to baby sit the throttle because it will spin like no other. I've never had a car where going WOT was more of a death sentence than a dare especially on dusty back roads and that is only on 12psi
. There are some drivability things that Brandon and I have to work through, but I have confidence that these will be resolved shortly.Car dyno'd at 694whp and 622wtq on e85 at 17psi SAE with converter unlocked. Not bad for a summer daily driver
I had some issues though along the way. First was going e85 loosens deposits in the fuel tank that ended up clogging my fuel filter. This I was expecting so I wasn't too surprised by it. Another issue was a small oil leak that was coming from the pcv valve. Not sure if I should just delete it but a quick trip to Ace hardware fixed that. Of course these are unrelated to the tune over all, but little things.
The other issue was related to my trans. I ended up throwing a code (P0757) when I started up the car one day. I really didn't know what caused the code to throw but it's basically a fault in the 1-2 shift solenoid. Well I decided since I didn't see this code previously I would just clear it to see if it came back. Bad idea, very bad idea. I went out with my brother in law to gather some data logs to see how the car was running with my new e85 fueling setup. Well everything was going well then all of a sudden we get to the top of second and bam we are bouncing off the rev limiter and going nowhere fast. WTF, well long story short and various bits of testing we figured it was the 3-4 clutches that got fried. Now I have full confidence that this wasn't something that Brandon did. I checked with Chuck from FLT and turns out that after that code throws and clearing it will fail the trans over to 3rd gear due to the looseness of the converter. Doesn't happen all the time, but if it does throw the solution is to delete the code permanently(along with the P0751 code). After checking my previous tune files I found that this code was never deleted previously. Just so happened that it through the code after getting the car back from Fast. Oh well, live and learn and I couldn't see myself holding anyone responsible more than myself. Time to pull the trans
Got the trans back and decided to install a trans temp gauge. Will keep eyes on my temps as the 4l65e is finicky when it comes to temps. I will be allocating some funds to a 4l80e trans and converter for next winter. For my power levels it just makes more sense.
I also went ahead and installed a KUP head vent system since the stock ls1 only vents the front of the heads. Just added insurance as it has been thought that heat builds up in the rear of the head and can cause failure of the #7 ring. Not proven, but every bit helps.
Now with more bracket and upward slope for the return.
