Sleeper in Seattle

Hey!
I live up in cloudy Seattle and my name is James. I have a '95 Gsr with Drag Turbo. I have been reading this forum for about 2 yrs along with the Forced Induction Integra. Reading all of Mark C's and other's kill stories convinced me to go turbo...
I dynoed my car with stock injectors and a Bosche fuel pump from Endyn and a couple missing bolts the week that I put it on (back in May- a friend and I installed it in a couple evenings) and only got 210 at the wheels. I had a Mugen exhaust, the new blitz Boost controller, and a Tial Wastegate. That is another story....
Sorry this is so long...
Currently, I have a custom 3 inch from about six inches down from the turbo back. I had a closed loop 2 piece blowdown tube from the wastegate enlarged to 2 3/4 inches. I got a two peice blow down tube so if I ever wanted to get a different manifold it would be easy to make everything fit. I also now have RC 310s, 8:1 calibration kit and a Vafc. I haven't made it to a dyno but I have tried to do street tuning with my Greddy egt (the probe is drilled into the first cylinder about 3 inches from the head) and Apex'i turbo timer/ a/f guage. My car feels really good at all times except idle. This is part of my problem...
I have the Vafc set at -30% at 1000rpm on narrow throttle- and that seems to be the best setting for my idle. The problem seems to be electrical. What happens is when I am driving I put the clutch in to coast to a stop and sometimes my car's idle will drop to 400 and then die- unless I blip the throttle and maintain a higher rpm- above 900 rpm. When I park on a hill and I have everything turned off and I turn my wheels towards the curb- the rpm will drop (if it were idleing somewhat smoothly) and the engine will die or stumble and then recover . If I turn on my headlights my rpms will drop- but my car hasn't died from that. The most common time for my car to die is to be taking a 180 degree offramp (turning)and I'll put the clutch in and the rpms drop and my car dies mid turn. I have gotten really good at not overcorrecting and starting my car again mid turn. Every once in a while my car will die just slowing down to a stop (without turning my wheel or anything. May car starts up perfectly evertime.
The most recent things I have done- right before my car started dieing whenever I would put the clutch in and let the rpms drop- are add the 8:1 calibration kit, and add the Greddy Egt guage. I took my car in to have the battery and alternator checked and they both check out fine. I also just had my 90,000 mile service and timiing belts changed- that's expensive!!!!! One of the guys at the dealership who has a custom turbo on his B18c (in a 95 civic hatch) with rc 270 and a cartech says it is all about fueling. He recommended I put my stock injectors and the 12:1 back in. I'll try that tonight after I get off work. My other friends think it is electrical. Maybe a short....
Again I apoligize for the length- I've never posted on any website before- I usually just read and find what I am looking for. Thanks in advance.
Your friend in Seattle,
James

JM Performance

My guess would just be that you need tuning on the Vafc. You probably just need more fuel at idle.

Damon B.

HHHMM, I wonder if I have seen you around. Do you ever go to the night races in kent? I remember seeing a turboed white integra back in spring at the races, was it you?

Sleeper in Seattle

Hey!
Thanks for the replies so far..... I know I am running really rich when at idle, if I add more fuel my car will get a check engine light.
I tend to stay away from the night races; too many cops. I used to go back in '99; now, I just go hunting on 520, I-90, 405, and I-5. The bridges are the safest places- fewer places to hide. I cruise downtown Seattle for races and Kirkland to try to get some cars to follow me onto the freeways- but with my car dieing everytime I come to a stop (unless I modulate the throttle- my car sounds like an old Chevelle SS with an untuned Carb when I try to keep it from dieing), I have been sticking to the highways.
I wonder if everyone else who has 310s and the 8:1 has idle problems? I never hear about them here on the board. That makes me think it is more electrical....
Anybody else have ideas?

maxim

Hey, I believe I have the exact same problem as you, though I don't have a turbo installed yet. I installed my V-AFC last weekend and decided play with it. What I did seemed to help a lot, in fact my rpms stayed around 700-900 without going down. This is what I did: I went to the first option in settings(wide open throttle) and on low side moved it +2@40,+3@45,+4@50 gradually increasing until v-tec point, then at the high side kept it even around +7 all the way through. At narrow throttle I moved gradually up to +3 and kept it there even through high side. (Keep in mind I had no idea what I was fooling with - I know it was stupid. I also did not mess with any of the rpm specific settings and the throttle(kept it at lo 10%, hi 50%). But I did move the correction point up 3%(both the Lo<<Hi and the Lo>>Hi). I did nothing else with the settings, except moved the v-tec point down, but that's not of any importance in this matter. Remember, I was just messing with the thing and had no idea what I was doing, because the instruction manual is screwy and vague, plus I am still n/a so you might have do adjust things a bit more than I did. Honestly, I believe it has something to do with the engine not getting sufficient air. Then again, I am still sort of new at this.

Did this just start happening after the turbo install or a while before?

Sleeper in Seattle

I have tried fiddling around with all the settings and per my a/f guage and exhuast temp guage the settings are right around stoich. My air filter is the one that came with the drag kit so maybe it is time to change it. I will take it off see if that helps. I have a K&N ordered. How stupid would I feel if I just needed a new filter...
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I'm off work now and get to go try putting the stock injectors back in with the 12:1- I'll try the filter first. My car seemed to start having idle problems about a month and a half after I upgraded to Rc 310s. About two weeks before I noticed the problem I put the 8:1 vortech calibration kit on my fmu. And about a week before the problems I hooked up the greddy Egt guage. Lack of air would be a really good explanation for the way my car is running. If my car is sucking air in it runs fine, but just at idle.....
Awesome! I will give it a try tonight.
Thanks again!
Your friend up in now dark but cloudless Seattle,
James

Damon B.

Who did you have put your turbo in? I will be installing mine as soon as I'm not lazy, If you know what your doing and did your own install, your welcome to lend a hand when the time comes.

Seraph0

It is a bit of a black art getting 310s to idle right. You will get it.

rtype11

your car dies because of vacuum problems, what does your boost gauge read at idle? if you are making 10 or less Hg of Merc then your car reads too much load and dumps all that fuel in to make it super fat, you need to your car to make a solid steady 15 Hg at idle or not under boost. if the above is correct write back and I will find a solution for you.
brgds,
Vadim

rtype11

in addition, the reason i guessed vacuum, when you use an accessory that requires vaccuum like brakes, clutch etc with the car not under load, it takes even more vacuum away making your car dump more fuel

Sleeper in Seattle

Thanks for suggestions! I am stuck at work right now, so I won't be able to fiddle around any more until tonight or maybe not until tommorrow night. Last night I tried the air filter- no luck. I didn't get to swapping out rc310s.
G suggested going with some DSM 450cc injectors. What do you guys think of that- it makes sense to me... I will check all my vaccum lines again also- I'll keep fiddling around....
Any other suggestions for me to check? Any ideas would be appreciated now. Right now you could tell me to hang a four leaf clover from my rearview mirror and I would be willing to try it..... Finding one would be a pain....
Thanks again everyone!

dbman96

This may sound stupid but my car idles much better on the DSM 450s than it did on 310s - I've seen side-by-side pictures of both injectors spraying and the DSMs create a very fine mist of fuel while the RC 310s make more of a stream of fuel, which is a lot more difficult to ignite when the engine is idling.