Ok, finally made my first dyno run. The car is a 2001 USDM ITR with a Spoon 2-ply head gasket (235psi on all 4 cyls), Comptech IceBox, AEM pulleys, Mugen thermostat and radiator cap. Timing was set at 19 which was probably a little too high. The car also has AEM sprockets but these were at 0,0.

I got a 160.6HP @ 8140RPM and 103.6ft-lbs torque. My tuner tells me the car is leaning out which is why I'm not seeing higher numbers and I'll be working on that. Also, I know I have to adjust my timing in relation to the higher compression of the Spoon gasket (any suggestions on this ??). Lastly, I lost a little over 1HP on a second run. I was told this is due to increased intake temp and that a good way to solve this is to run the throttle body coolant bypass and use a Hondata intake manifold gasket; any opinions about this ?? This is Puerto Rico so freezing is not a problem but it does get hot !!

All in all, I expected a little more power.. 165-167 would have made me happy. I'll scan the plot and post it so you can tell me what you think.

 

What dyno was this performed on? A dynojet?

 

Yes, what kind of dyno? VERY low tq, imo.

And as you said, your head gasket has retarded your timing, adjustable cam gears/tuning would help the situation.

 

interesting you did the head gasket before less involved power adders like a header.

 

Yes, the run was on a DynoJet Research facility. And Yes, I felt the torque was waaay low. As for the head gasket, I agree this was a little premature but it was given to me as partial payment on a trade and I figured I might as well install it.

What do you guys think about the timing issue ?? Too high ?? What kind of torque should I be seeing ??

 

post your a/f ratio chart... you could be dangerously lean.

 

your car must be slow as hell now

you should be making 125 tq STOCK

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Big Phat R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your car must be slow as hell now

you should be making 125 tq STOCK</TD></TR></TABLE>

at 160.. he should be making way less then 125tq.. 125 is if dyno records 175
althought theres something way off with torque/hp.. adn dont cams need to be adjusted because of headgasket?

 

The gears should be adjusted to maximize the power of the increased cr and timing, but it *shouldn't* drop power to where it is. I sense something else may be wrong to have those low tq numbers.

 

Hmm... I don't have the a/f ratio chart. Regretfully, the run did not use an O2 sensor. I will check the rich/lean issue asap but I am still concerned because, as you guys mention, the car feels very slow. I don't think with the few mods I have that I should be leaning out as much as to lose so much power and torque.

There is one thing I should mention. When I first checked the compression on the engine, I got 235,235,235,196. I re-checked it and got 235 across the board but, checking again after a couple of days I got a low compression on the #4 piston again. Nonetheless, the compression went back to 235 after another reading on the same piston. I am reading 5-cranks, with a warm engine, fuel injection disabled, and at wide-open throttle. Could this be a valve-adjustment problem ?? I am not burning any oil (other than expected for ITRs), no smoke at all on my exhaust and no leaks anywhere on the engine which makes me think its not a gasket problem. Also, the car has only 27k miles and is still too new to be a piston ring problem either.

 

Do you know how much you were making before the gasket install? That would really help.

 

Nope... no idea where I was before the gasket. I know I should have taken a reading but I didn't.

 

double check your timing

 

The car is very advanced right now at 19degrees BTDC. What is a good starting point, timing-wise ?? Where I should set it, at least until I figure out what's wrong ??

I will be double-checking the compression issue tonight. I don't think my valves are bent or damaged (I avoid rev-happy passes) but could an out-of-spec valve cause a loss in compression ?? My feeler gauge isn't the best and I'd have to get a full valve job to get this checked. No big deal but I'd really like to know if it could account for the loss in compression on the #4 piston.

I TRULY appreciate all your comments. I really want to get my R back to spec so please keep the ideas and suggestions coming.

 

I came up with a possibility. When was the last time you reset your ECU or disconnected your battery? The 19deg timing may have caused some knock which in turn made your ECU retard the timing a bunch. That could explain the horribly low torque and power. Just beacuse your distributor is at 19deg, does not mean your ECU is running it.

 

BTW, I've been looking at dyno plots on the web and I see that for ~160HP most people get anywhere from 113-120 ft/lbs of torque. To me, this simply confirms that something is wrong in my setup.

Good point about resetting the ECU. Its been a while since I've reset the ECU. I'm not sure to what extent this might help but I will do the reset after I bring the timing back to lower setting. It definitely can't hurt. Thanks !!

 

Judging by your trap speed maybe your motor was down on power already? I trapped at 96mph stock (just a filter) and just recently put down 171 and 121 with intake only. Hook it up to a wideband and check the a/f's and back off your base timing and start from there.

Any reason the #4 accidentally always messes up in your readings?

 

when i do my compression checks i always crank untill it doesnt go up any higher... also reset your ecu and lower your base timing a little bit..

get it on dyno with a wideband, and tune it

 

it may be possible that your mugen thermostat is opening to soon causing the ECU to think the engine is still cold so it might be dumping extra fuel to compensate........

just a thought.........

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coptzer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also reset your ecu and lower your base timing a little bit..</TD></TR></TABLE>

no.. you can not adjust base timing with ecu

 

Pull your plugs and take a look at them...Take a look at the color, check for a white substance on the tip. That would indicate that your running to lean.

 

OK guys, here's the dyno plot. The picture is a little crappy (my trusty scanner just became untrustworthy so I had to snap a pic using my digital camera) but it is very legible. I got home pretty late from work yesterday and I really didn't feel like messing with the car at 10PM. I'm shooting for today afternoon to check under the hood.

A friend also told me I should mind the Mugen thermostat. He suggested that, as long as I am using the Mugen t-stat and radiator cap, I should also install the thermoswitch. Although installing the switch would be a "nice-to-have", I don't know how much it would help.

Anyway, here's the plot. You'll see a second run where the car does 158HP and 102ft/lbs. This run was about 5 mins after the first and supposedly shows less power due to the car being warmer.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94goldjungsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">post your a/f ratio chart... you could be dangerously lean.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, the stock R map is way rich, he is definitely not lean, even with the compression bumped up a whopping .5 ...........

An R with an intake and timing (pulleys give you about 1 whp if you are lucky) should be in the 165 range typically. Torque is WAY low ........ may have some issues going on.

You need a header, and then get the cam gears tuned. Should be in the 170-175 range then.

 

18 degree timing is within range, but would 1 degree over cause such drastic performance difference?

 

Yeah, I don't think 1degree would make that much of a difference unless it has to do with the head gasket which, as we all know, alters the whole timing issue. I noticed something else which I don't know if is normal. With the engine running, if I take the oil cap off, I see a WHOLE LOT of compression coming out. Is this normal ?? There was so much compression shooting out of the oil cap opening that it was hard to hold my hand over the hole. Can someone tell me if this is normal ??