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Sherona (Ep82) Radioactiv Racin - The Culmination


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Its official. Sherona is one of 2 Starlets in Jamaica with a 5EFTE engine running on a Mitsubishi Evolution ECU.


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A lot of parts were acquired for the upgrade.


There were 2 reasons for the upgrade.

1) The turbo & manifold combo was wrong for this engine. The Borg Warner GM-5 had a 0.63 A/R turbine housing (forgive my terminology if i used the 'A/R' wrongly) as well as the modified Ebay Civic ramhorn manifold had runners that were too big for the exhaust flow characteristics of the E engine. That manifold also had a crappy collector.


2) The Greddy E-Manage was just not working out for me. It gave problems while tuning as well as it being a piggyback ECU left a whole lot of potential to be tapped into.


Enter the Mitsubishi Evo IX ECU & a TD05H-18G turbo.


The Evo 9 ECU is a fully programmable OEM ECU when paired with the appropriate software (dont remember the name rite nw). Timing & a lot of other features can be manipulated within this computer.

Stuff needed to work with the computer were: Cam position sensor, TPS, knock sensor, injector resistor box, coil packs, map sensor.


A Galant cam sensor was used. A Lancer knock sensor & TPS were used. Evolution 3 yellow 550 CC injectors & resistor box were used (injectors didn't have to be Mitsubishi though ::) ). A knockoff GM 3 Bar map sensor was used at first. These are notorious for giving trouble. Mine lasted a whole day before it kicked the bucket. I borrowed a OMNI 4 Bar unit to get the car running. I then ordered a genuine OMNI 4 Bar map sensor (Supra application) from Ebay, installed & good to go. Toyota 90919-xxxxx coil packs were obtained on a deal.


New ECU with new sensors (new to Sherona at least [cheeky]) would mean that my old hacked-to-death wireloom would have to be hacked even further. This was a no-no. Imagine my heartache wen i was instructed to rip the whole flippin engine wireloom out of the car [blackeye] [worried]. I did so with my heart in my mouth but i knew it was for a good cause. A custom wireloom was constructed wire by wire, splice by splice, connector by connector from cabin to engine bay. Shrink tubing was used in most places to give it that ultra clean look. The usual teething pains presented themselves. Modifying the cam sensor to replace the distributor included attaching the camshaft part of the Toyota distibutor to the Mitsubishi cam sensor, machining the cam sensor housing to fit the Toyota O-ring & a temporary cam sensor mounting bracket. The TPS was modified to fit the manifold also.


Seeing as the exhaust manifold is OEM, that aspect of it wouldn't require much work. The turbo had to be mounted to fit in the space of course & this was done by my master fabricator friend. One thing i did was to weld a guide or channel into the outlet area of the turbine housing as i mentioned in a previous post. One thing i refrained from doing was to mount the wastegate on top of the manifold as i see a lot of persons do with this 5E manifold. This is because, if you look inside at the 'collector' or merge area of the manifold, there is a proper '+' shaped divider at the inside roof of the manifold. I believe this contributes a whole lot to the proper flow characteristics of the gases in the manifold. When a hole is burnt through the top of the manifold to accommodate an external wastegate, this divider is effectively destroyed thus killing the proper flow of the exhaust gases. In my case, i placed my wastegate at the forward wall of the manifold so that the divider can stay intact while at the same time, it is still in the area where all the gases meet. The same steel braided oil feed line ( a very very good buy [2thumbsup]) from the TD04 days was reused & a piece of cord braided oil hose was sourced for the oil drain. No water lines were installed but i am now seeking the 4EFTE thermostat housing with the two little pipes for the turbo water supply & return lines. The setup looks neat without the water lines but for the sake of the life of the turbo, i will install the water lines unto it. The turbo was installed successfully with a brace to the block to support it's weight (every application should have one of these).


A LOT of work was put in before she finally sputtered to life. A few kinks were ironed out along the way to where she was driveable.


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Car was finished & given a road tune & all was well.


I already said a TD04 was a very good match for a 5EFE engine but i can now say that a TD05H-18G seems to be the perfect turbo for a 5EFE engine. The car is on boost by time you are finished reading this sentence. When cruising in high gear, almost everytime i glance down at the boost controller, i see -0.1, 0.0, 0.1, -0.8 Bars of boost. It boosts THAT easily [crazy]. Also, it has that spooling sound you would typically hear trucks make. This spool sound is heard while cruising at more than 1/4 throttle. It is INSTANT.


Bad news however. The aim of the game was to get the car ready for the Drag Challenge #5. The proposed completion date of the car was supposed to be a couple weeks before the meet but as fate would have it, the car wasn't completed until the night before. The car was tuned on the Saturday night & all seemed well so we decided to put the car on the line. As luck .... or fate would have it, she damaged a bearing on the way to Vernam. The suspected reason for the bearing was that since the oil pump was changed some time ago for an aftermarket one, i have been experiencing low oil pressure at idle especially wen the engine gets up to temperature. I now know i need a genuine oil pump. Apparently the newfound vigour of the engine enhanced the wear & tear that was slowly occurring due to the low oil pressure. Also, an oversight caused boost spikes which resulted in the head gasket being blown. All of this wasn't evident until more than 3/4 of the journey to the drag meet the next morning. Dejected & frustrated, i just watched a few races & left. I was very disappointed but at the same time, glad it wasn't damaged to the point where i couldn't drive home.


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The car was pulled own the next day & repaired however. I am now modifying the tappets cover by adding studs to secure the coil packs as well as taking the opportunity to freshen it up with a coat of paint. Engine bay wiring is now being cleaned up & also, a cam position sensor is being fabricated in my spare time to replace the temporary one that was built.


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She drives ok now, just needs a slight re-tune & she will be at her optimum condition. Drag Challenge # 1 for 2017 should see me with a low 13 sec time-slip. Wish me luck.
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  • 3 weeks later...
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Everytime you step up its exciting! :D that mitsu cam sensor mod is common here but not the full evo ecu setup, good work!

Thnx man. It takes a lot of work but its all worth it. Its like a poor man's standalone ECU. It's runnin ok at the moment, just that there's a slight misfire / stutter at low rpm, probably 2-3ooo rpm. I think its the TPS though. Good times ahead man :)

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Edited by jiggaman_16
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  • 1 month later...

So ...... i bought a genuine Toyota oil pump as the O-ring behind it seems to be leaking again. It pestered me for years, had me wrongly changing the crank seal like foolishness until i did the oil pump O-ring & the leak stopped. For about 2 years now. Why change the pump when i can just change the seal & O-ring? I have noticed that sometime after changing the last pump (which i damaged due to a hard lesson learned - always prime or grease your oil pump when it is new) that the oil pressure has been a bit low at idle. It reads about 5 psi or thereabout when the engine is at warm idle. Specifications say this is the minimum amount required to lubricate an engine but i dont like it at that level. 5E crank is too hard to get. So im gonna change it. The oil leak killed the control arm bushings at that side of the engine so i'm just gonna custom poly bush both sides after the oil pump change in this week.



Aiming at Drag Challenge #1. Be there!
Edited by jiggaman_16
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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Dont remember all the details but as the story goes : :)


At the last drag meet, my late arrival allowed me to barely get a Q0 sticker. This only enables you only get one pass [worried]. No multiple runs in qualifying to iron out any issues or to correct any mistakes as TwinKam said. I made use of that one pass & lo & behold ..................................................... :thumbsup:


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The time was right in the range i knew it would be. I was hopin for a lower 13 but none the less. I had one main issue during that run.


My wideband sensor was located just behind the engine block on the exhaust pipe. My tuner had told me that it should be placed a little closer to provide more accurate, real time AFR readings. The appeal of an open exhaust system plus this overdue advice from my tuner prompted me to move the sensor further up the line. The first V-Band after the turbo was just in front of the crankcase. This was a bit short for the wideband sensor to be placed (i know, i know, at least 18 inches after the turbine outlet..... :p but that is where its at). So the sensor was moved to a point just before the V-band (Props to BarretFab for the welding work). This was done by removing the sensor, sourcing a nut to match the thread, drill a hole the right size for the sensing part of the sensor to go through the downpipe, & TIG weld the nut onto the downpipe just around the hole. The nut was later ground down to allow the correct amount of the sensor to protrude into the pipe. A matching bolt was bought, cut to length & installed in the old wideband sensor threaded hole.


Back to reality, due to the exhaust being off, the car was pretty loud as one can imagine. Note, i didn't have that much practice time with the noise of the open exhaust due to this being done a few days before the race meet. Burnout was done, car was moved off the line quite well but due to the increased noise of the open exhaust & the fact that the tachometer couldnt be reconnected after the ECU change, i didnt hear the shift point at the end of first gear & i banged on the limiter for longer than i should (probably a second or so), thus killing the overall ET. It wasnt a bad run though, felt darned good for the car to finally be running a time that is expected from the ingredients that were used in the setup.


I actually qualified 19th in the 13 second class. It seemed as if that was the end of the day for me ..... but as luck had it for me, not all those who qualified actually end up going back out to race. 3 persons dropped out so guess who qualified 16th in the 13 sec class .......


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Elated i lined up & waited for my turn. Intimidation is a hell of a thing. I was paired with a 11 sec evo from my camp which happened to qualify for 13 sec class on that day due to issues. Knowing i was lined up with a 11 sec car got the better of me & i ended up watching him in the other lane after move off & yall kno wat happens when drag racing & not being fully focused .............i missed 2nd gear & ended up running 14.xxxxxx


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Silly me, i'll rise again. The car is still in the same state of tune. No changes have been made. My objective is to run 13.0 with no changes except running with the full exhaust connected this time. By all means this is a step back, but i am challenging myself to run a certain time with the exhaust connected as i know she can do it. At the same time, i just happen to still have an old trunk & bonnet that i have been trying to sell from 2012 when the car was sprayed. [ponder] [ponder] [ponder] [ponder] [ponder] [ponder] [ponder] Why not put them to use? Its not a GT bonnet with the scoop or the GT trunk with the spoiler so nobody wants them : :) : :) : :). I had a old rear bumper but that is nowhere to be found as i had plans for that also :-[ :-[ :-[

So bonnet & trunk are being race prepared for month end.


I was having a lean-out issue recently. Once the engine approaches light vaccuum heading to 0 psi of atmospheric pressure, the wideband shows a lean condition. Changed the filter, same problem. Changed the pump same problem. I was advised to remove the pump strainer & Voila! Even though it doesnt show much physical signs, the plastic strainer seems to have done its time as the AFR is back to what it was before. I am going to order a pump filter but i dont know which is better, sock type strainer or plastic strainer. Any advice please? [help] [help] [help]


Sherona got some new shoes by the way


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I love this shot


Enkei RPF1 replicas. Always been one of my favorite set of rims. I hate multi-hole rims. The spokes dont have the exact curve of the originals but they're pretty good just the same. I'm not a Original part or Genuine part, diehard enthusiast junkie. Once they look good & the quality is pretty good, i'm good with it. I wouldn't spend the money on real RPF1s even if i had the cash anyway.










Will update soon .........

Edited by jiggaman_16
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  • 2 weeks later...
Fuelling issue was sorted out by changing the pump & strainer. Eventually found that the pump didn't need to be changed. Race-day bonnet was prepared & installed, didn't get the time to do the trunk & cant find my rear bumper :angry2: . All these parts were from when the car was sprayed almost 5 yrs ago. What else to do with parts nobody wants :unknw: With a non-scoop damaged bonnet & non-spoiler trunk ....... u stuck with those :(


Dyno tuned. Finally. 254 whp & 215 lb/ft of torque. C.A.R.S dyno is a NIGHTMARE wen it comes on to days before raceday. I was there 3 days before raceday & spent over 12 hours waiting ....... geez. Tuner did his thing & i got results.


Sherona is prepped & ready to go. A dozen seconds is well within sight folks ......... watch it ........ 8)

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  • 6 months later...

The welder wasn't able to make it to tack up the exhaust manifold.

Oil cooler was moved & is to b mounted horizontally (it was in the vertical position all along). It will now be in front of the radiator so it will now receive the draft from the radiator wen the fan is running.

The thermostat housing was modified to with an inlet & an outlet ports to allow coolant to flow to the turbo. I had neglected to run water to the turbo all along as i just don't like the sight of the extra hoses in the engine bay, but i guess good sense prevailed & they're ran now.

Also, this gave me the opportunity to install a thermostat as i forgot i didn't install one some time ago. A quality looking Ebay boost gauge  ::) was installed. It goes up to 30 psi & has Peak & Warning features.  

New EV1 injector connectors were installed as the original Mitsubishi ones had all the clips broken so they had to be held with silicone. It worked but i never felt comfortable with it.

Aluminum studs were installed onto the tappets cover for securing the coil packs. Steel studs were "welded" to the aluminum tappets cover sometime ago but one of them gave up the ghost some time after & the others would soon do the same. An aluminum bar was ordered online (less than $6 USD delivered to the local post office). It was then cut, threaded & welded in place of the older steel ones. by the way, approx. half of the rod is left over.

New 27" x 7" x 2.5" intercooler has been installed. Also, intercooler piping has been revised for shorter routing, one piece on the hot as well as cold side as well as the hot side piping diameter was changed from 2.25" to 2".

MAC solenoid to be installed tomorrow to facilitate ECU controlled boost as well as boost by gear.

A boost leak test some months ago revealed a few leaks as well as two 12 mm bolt holes in the back of the compressor housing where the stock actuator was bolted onto. The bolt holes went straight thru into the compressor housing  [blackeye]. Car was tuned, driven all along without knowing this. & here i was thinkin that the turbo just had an extra sweet spooling sound.  [sneaky]

 

 

Will update soon.

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