dmhenderson's Nismo '12 GTM supercharged build thread where I freak out a lot

[dmhenderson]

Re-opened. E85 conversion is a go.

[dmhenderson]

So we're 6 months in and I've seen only minor issues with the supercharger:

-Had to ugprade my tires and diff. Stomping on the gas in 1st prior to the upgrade resulted in hilarious "1 wheel peels" that would end up sending the car sideways on occasion.

-Car would break loose accelerating through turns. I love ~doriftu~ as much as the next guy but I'd rather not do it unintentionally.

-Small oil leak near the SC oil cooler found and corrected. Had a hell of a time finding it (Frank at Hill's found it eventually). The leak was very small and would only appear when the engine was hot (hot-hot) which made it difficult to track down...and the last thing you want to do when you find a puddle of oil under your FI converted car is to push it hard again to figure out where it's coming from.

-The clutch is beginning to go. It simply can't hold on under WOT in 2nd and 3rd and will slip. I've only had it come completely loose on me once but that was in 3rd at ~6000RPM. Not getting that burning clutch smell but it just can't grip hard enough when the car really wants to go.

[dmhenderson]

Up next: Full E85 conversion.

I am lucky enough to have tons of E85 stations around me so I'm going to run around on the stuff. The car isn't a DD so I'm not worried about being stranded, plus I will have an emergency pump gas tune to fall back on just in case.

-Upgrade Bosch 645cc injectors to Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors

-Upgrade 255lph fuel pump to 340lph. Not sure which brand yet. Was going to go with Aeromotive but apparently they have corrosion issues so with E85, they're out. Probably either Walbro or Deatschwerks.

-Aggressive re-tune for E85 and re-tune for pump gas as well.

What I'm expecting:
-Minor power bump. Since I'm running static boost with the SC, I'm not expecting a huge bump in WHP like the turbo guys do when they dial up the boost.

-Lower ambient engine temperatures = less power fade over time = fewer heat concerns.

-Most importantly, detonation-proofing the engine.

[carlitos_370z]

sound great dude!!! can wait to buy a sc or turbo kit to my Z in the future

[theDreamer]

Well once you have the e85 tune, unless someone jumps on here tomorrow, you will be the first known e85 SC.

[ModBargains]

Meanest headlights ever!

[dmhenderson]

Cliff Kim at Daedalus Customs is responsible for the headlights. I love them too.

[future370zzz]

Where did you hear that the aeromotive pumps have corrosion issues with e85? Interested because I'm on the fence with e85 and have an aeromotive pump installed.

[dmhenderson]

Originally Posted by future370zzz

Where did you hear that the aeromotive pumps have corrosion issues with e85? Interested because I'm on the fence with e85 and have an aeromotive pump installed.

Frank Hill (Hill's Garage). Was initially the pump we were going to go with but said he did a little digging and they have problems especially with E85.

As far as I'm concerned, Frank is the word of the almighty when it comes to these cars so I'm gonna go with whatever he recommends.

[dmhenderson]

So the car is at Hill's still. I dropped it off a little earlier than they would have liked but I was concerned about the oil leak. In the meantime, I spent Friday afternoon was slow so I spent my time polling local E85 stations to figure out which ones don't change up their E85 mix at all.

Found 2 less than 5 minutes from my house, bought 3 five gallon canisters at Home Depot and filled them up today. Should be enough to tune the car and get it home afterward.

[dmhenderson]

Fun with E85 conversions:

Originally Posted by Frank

We are having a couple of issues tuning the car. First we have abnormally high fuel pressure. We should have approx 50 psi and we have 70 psi.I suspect the new higher flowing pump is overwelming the factory pressure regulator and siphon plumbing driving the pressure up. The problem comes in when you get enough load on the fuel system the volume drops enough to let the regulator take over and hold pressure at 50 psi. The 20psi fuel pressure drop off is tough to tune a fuel map around. Its kind of like hitting a moving target. You chase your tail around, one minute its rich next its lean with no user input. I need to figure out what I need to do to get the pressure stabilized at 50 psi.

We also were getting air fuel ratios that would shift from one pull to the next. I have a G37 with stage 2 kit at the shop doing similar things with erratic a/f ratios and we found the bypass valve sticking. We have not performed the repair to confirm yet but I did verify the valve was not fully shutting at times causing large boost leak.
unfortunately yours is not so easy to get to to check in its current location behind bumper. I may need to check this if stabilizing the fuel pressure does not solve the erratic a/f ratios.

The saga continues. Wu-tang.

[mikey1600]

Hey mate, theDreamer sent me here haha.

just installed the Stillen kit myself and had it tuned on Monday, I'll be watching your thread closely as I was wanting to pull the trigger sometime on E85 as well

all the best hope it all works out well!

[dmhenderson]

Word of advice on the E85 thing:

Don't.

So quick update:
-Synapse Engineering (owned by Porsche lol) BPV being welded on today.
After a meeting of the minds between Frank, the guys at CJ Motorsports and the guys at Z1 Motorsports, they determined the entire factory fuel system had to go.

-CJ Motorsports stage 1 fuel return system being installed tomorrow.

-Afterwards, we all collectively hold our breath when it goes on the dyno.

Here's a bonus shot of the (semi functional) car in question this past weekend at Hill's charity show:

[dmhenderson]

Update on the valve. The correct P# is DV001A.006

[theDreamer]

So any final word on why the need to go full return system? Seems like the TT guys are able to bump power with just a larger fuel pump & injectors (with e85) and be fine, curious why the SC is not liking it.