2018 EBPP Upgrades - A Slow Read

[TicTocTach]

I’ve got a short list of mods - at least at this time. Intercooler and tune are about it because this is my daily with an extra warranty on it, so I’m going to stay pretty mild. However, I do want the car to be the best it can be within those parameters.

I’ve already got the parts that will eventually make their way into the car - an ATM intercooler, and the FRPP tune for 18+ cars. Anything else I do will be in support of that foundation. To that end, I have already installed one-step-cooler spark plugs. That’s it, though, the power train is totally stock right now.

With the baseline established, I went down to my local speed shop - Speedtek Performance - and put the car on the Dynojet rollers. First and last runs were in 7th gear, or 1:1 in the A10. The middle test was in 6th, and also about a minute after the first run, so hotter than hell. Density altitude was also miserable at nearly 4100 feet... actual was around 600.

Results
Best WHP = 261 @ 5000
Best WTQ = 311 @ 3700

The test is a little unusual because the pulls really start around 3500 rpm, so I’ll have to consider that as I install upgrades. Road speeds started around 65mph and ended about 145mph.

So that’s the start. Will take me a while to make progress the way my work schedule has been, but I had to start somewhere.

Thanks for reading along, and more to follow...

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[Cardude99]

Good numbers for stock. Especially in a TX summer. We're you running 93 or 91?

 

[TicTocTach]

93 only from day two... not sure what swill was in the tank when I bought the car, but it only had 17 miles on it. Even though that's about 18% off of the advertised HP, I'm sure the temps and DA were impacting the results. I'm sure the new IC will help some, but it won't be a miracle.

 

[Cardude99]

The ic will make a huge difference, not in the numbers but in power delivery. I still can't believe how strong the car feels this summer compared to last. I don't even know what to expect for winter, but I can't wait to find out. Throw it on asap.

 

[Deleted member]

After your intercooler and tune, look at doing a catch can and pcv baffle plate combo. I'm running a UPR dual valve catch can with a Radium engineering PCV baffle plate. Most people will tell you one or the other is just fine, but i would still have oily residue inside my intake manifold with just the catch can. Then I did the PCV baffle plate as well and now my intake manifold is dry as a bone.

Both these supporting mods will help prevent LSPI from oil vapor being sucked through the intake. Which is the biggest risk once you start modding these cars. Gotta keep the stock block as happy as possible. I'm just about to crack 80k miles and 65k of that has been tune and full bolt on, no major issues here.

 

[TicTocTach]

The ic will make a huge difference, not in the numbers but in power delivery. I still can't believe how strong the car feels this summer compared to last. I don't even know what to expect for winter, but I can't wait to find out. Throw it on asap.

Looking forward togetting some time free from work - nights and weekends have been killing me lately. Well, for the last couple of years, really. Hired a new guy last month, so hopefully he'll take up enough slack to let me keep more normal hours.

Wife got me a membership at a local auto hobby shop where I can use a lift or any odd tools I might not otherwise have, so hopefully that will make the job go quickly. Probably going to be mid-October if I'm optimistic... DA will be calming down by then, so the IC will probably look great pre-tune.

 

[TicTocTach]

After your intercooler and tune, look at doing a catch can and pcv baffle plate combo. I'm running a UPR dual valve catch can with a Radium engineering PCV baffle plate. Most people will tell you one or the other is just fine, but i would still have oily residue inside my intake manifold with just the catch can. Then I did the PCV baffle plate as well and now my intake manifold is dry as a bone.

Both these supporting mods will help prevent LSPI from oil vapor being sucked through the intake. Which is the biggest risk once you start modding these cars. Gotta keep the stock block as happy as possible. I'm just about to crack 80k miles and 65k of that has been tune and full bolt on, no major issues here.

Thanks for that info, I've been considering a catch can, but have just not gotten a feel for what really works. I was even thinking about building my own, but it's not a small amount of work. This falls right in line with the cooler spark plugs by preventing things from going wrong before they do...

 

[SVO MkII]

93 only from day two... not sure what swill was in the tank when I bought the car, but it only had 17 miles on it. Even though that's about 18% off of the advertised HP, I'm sure the temps and DA were impacting the results. I'm sure the new IC will help some, but it won't be a miracle.

Keep in mind you measured "wheel HP", vs "crank HP", which is the advertised number. Conventional wisdom is that WHP is approx. 15% lower, due to drivetrain loss. That puts your HP/TQ at 307/365. Pretty darn close to advertised.

The larger IC will allow the motor to maintain max boost longer at higher revs without heat soaking. This probably won't increase your peak TQ number, but should increase peak HP some, moving it up slightly higher in the rev range. I have not dynoed my car, but it used to die out above 5K, as your chart shows. With the larger IC, it pulls strong to 6K. Everything else is stock, including the tune.

 

[TicTocTach]

Keep in mind you measured "wheel HP", vs "crank HP", which is the advertised number. Conventional wisdom is that WHP is approx. 15% lower, due to drivetrain loss. That puts your HP/TQ at 307/365. Pretty darn close to advertised.

The larger IC will allow the motor to maintain max boost longer at higher revs without heat soaking. This probably won't increase your peak TQ number, but should increase peak HP some, moving it up slightly higher in the rev range. I have not dynoed my car, but it used to die out above 5K, as your chart shows. With the larger IC, it pulls strong to 6K. Everything else is stock, including the tune.

I'm pretty OK with the numbers - I'm not looking at them as an exact representation of what it going on, but as the starting point for everything going forward. The shop does a lot of business, so they have a handle on the dyno work they do. I wish I had something to back up the 15% drivetrain losses, that's been the rule of thumb since 3-speed non-lockup slushboxes ruled the world. THat said, it does look like - at least in this instance - 15% is pretty close for the HP. TQ is closer to 12% lower, but whatever. Trick will be to see how each update changes the results.

 

[TicTocTach]

Lol, 2+ years later, an update. A slow read indeed. 18 months after I got the FRP tune installed, I made it to the dyno again.

Weather conditions weren't identical - significantly cooler with the tune, and the air density altitude was much better as well. With that said, the differences are pretty obvious at the low end and top end, but less than I expected to see through the mid range.

Down low, torque was up a max of nearly 80 lb-ft @ 2900rpm, with pretty fat gains from 2200-3500. Similar gains - more than 50 lb-ft - were seen from 5500-6500 where the stock 2.3L falls on it's face.

Horsepower increases of 30-50 HP did occur from 2800-3700, but the peak gain of 76 HP came in at 5700rpm. There was an additional 45+ HP available from 5400-6300rpm, again opening up the top end over the stock tune.

All in all, it's a pretty decent result, even if it feels like there is still something that needs to wake up. For now, I'm happy with the extra power and I need to get it out to a drag strip to verify how she runs in the quarter.

 

[TicTocTach]

I had about 16k miles on the car for the first dyno, about 35k for the second. I was relatively gentle with the car on the 200 mile drive home from the dealership - varied speeds & loads, plus trailing throttle from time to time to keep oil up in the rings. Didn't do a real full throttle run until 1k miles. As good as she runs, she has always been significantly slower than other EB results noted here on M6G. I haven't run her through a quarter mile yet, but I expect my times with tune to be only marginally better than some of the times for stock cars... not sure what's up with that. Some cars are just happier than others.

Seeing that I didn't post peak numbers for the tune, here they are:

Stock Results:
Best WHP = 261 @ 5000
Best WTQ = 311 @ 3700

FRP Tuned Results:
Best WHP = 270 @ 54=5700
Best WTQ = 355 @ 3100

The peak numbers don't really tell what's going on with the tune, but hopefully I can figure out what else might be holding this car back.

 

[TicTocTach]

In my first chart you can see just that - 100*F ambient temps, stock IC and two full pulls back to back lost about 50 lb-ft and 50hp across the board. The large IC and a 4-foot box fan ducted into the grille solved the problem this time. I think the larger IC would have solved most of the problems alone, but the fan was much better this time.

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