My adventures in n/a L61 tuning... mid 14s, here I come

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

So I have a mildly modded L61 2.2 eco in my 2002 cavalier.. i swapped over from an OHV

the motor with these mods made 142hp and 145tq on a dynojet dyno in february 06 and ran the quarter mile in 14.91 @ 90mph in march 06

intake, cat back, motor mounts, flywheel, clutch, trans mounts, aarm bushings, short throw

I then added an underdrive pulley... not sure yet if it made a difference

since i got HPT, i've been messing with limiters, and spark control trying to squeeze a lil bit out of the car without pushing too hard since i lack wideband and egt gauges

my efforts thus far:

raise rev limiter to 7000rpm
raise speed limiter to 145mph
lowered Power Enrichment delay to 0 RPM
copy and pasted HO PE table over LO PE table so car is always in HO spark

the car pulls hard, and definetly feels stronger than before... a couple hundred more rpm is all ineeded... I usually shift around 6800-6900 rpm now. It drops into a stronger part of the power band and pulls pretty much to redline.. tapers slightly

I've tried to further advance timing 2 degrees over stock on the PE tables (both HO and LO remain identical) and i've started to get the dreaded Knock Retard.

I have a feeling that even tho 13.0:1 is the preprogrammed PE air/fuel ratio, its running lean.

at this point, I'm unfortunately stuck.. however, I plan on redoing my exhaust and hitting the track on the stock timing (just HO pasted over LO, and raised limiters)

I expect to see the car drop about 2 tenths between tuning and basic exhaust... perhaps more? stay tuned i'll be updating this thread with my progress.

as I get a wideband, and egt gauge I'll be further advancing timing and pushing the stock internalled engine to its absolute limit n/a. then rocking a patriot stage 2 head, LZM triflow cams, and really advancing timing. I'm shooting for Ben Wenzel Jr and Owen Stampflee!

if anyone wants to see my hpt files or logs, just request i'd be more than willing to share.. stay tuned the car is going to get a lot faster very soon

[blackeco]

Ive also ran into a little KR in upper RPMs when I pushed advance a few degress over HO PE values. Seems like GM did a good job picking the upper boundary.

[L61Ecotec]

u wanna shoot me over ur file so i can compare? i did almost the samething but put it back to stock for now.

[Shifted]

Post it up!

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

here ya go guys

right click, save as

.hpt files
Stage 1-2 (.9 degrees KR max)
Stage 1-3 (KR problems... 3degrees and higher KR)

Log file stage 1-3

[L61Ecotec]

did u notice any difference between the 2 setups u have?

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

car pulled better when timing was advanced, but KR kills all the fun

I'd almost garauntee my a/f ratios are lean but i need a wideband before i can tune fuel

dammit need money!

[L61Ecotec]

later i'll try and upload my tune on here bc i tried ur stage 1-2 compared to my tune and my tune felt like it pulled harder. i dunno tho butt dyno is most likely off. i'll try and post it up for u to see.

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

groovy

i haven't changed much other than HO PE timing table pasted over the LO PE timing table and raised rev limiter

I need a wideband bad so I can start messing with fuel

its definetly next on my to do list!

[Mep_q8]

do your cars have a commanded AFR vs RPM in PE mode?? if they do, then just use that as a "guiedline" for where u want ur AFR to be at...

I completely changed all the VE tables in my I6 and left the PE Commanded AFRs as stock and set delay to 0. Car felt like it pulled way more (but i did have an WBO2 handy) I peaked at 224whp/226wtq

I went to the dyno, and the tuner their changed the PE settings to as follows in the txt files.

I peaked at 231whp/232wtq

Try these settings and see how ur car feels.. plus set ur PE enable to 2000rpm so it kicks in straight away... good for the strip

[L61Ecotec]

heres what i'm driving around with it feels real good just waiting for 2.1.12

[L61Ecotec]

first file is from a stop to 112 race with a scion Tc...2nd file is a hard first and pretty much full 2nd gear pull....2nd file has a little bit of spark advance in it (no more then 2*) it is a mix between Pj's stage 1-3 and my small tune and then i added some more spark advance to high octane in main spark advance. ZERO KR in first gear or 2nd gear. so i guess that means add some more degrees to the spark and PE tables?

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

once again, we're getting drowned in rain, but i intend on checking out your logs and your tunes when the weather breaks and hopefully stays dry for more than 4 hours.

I'm also toying with the idea of taking my spark plugs a full step colder than stock (NGK TR6IX) to hopefully combat knock... I've also heard that relocating our knock sensor helps to eliminate any phantom / false knock.

The weird thing is, my KR is seemingly random. It happens part throttle sometimes, and upper RPM others... occur at 6100rpm but be gone by 6800rpm O_o

at this point, I think the sensor is just crying wolf. I tried desensitizing my sensor slightly, but it didn't seem to work. I'd love to just turn it off, but thats a risk i'm not willing to take right now. I was thinking about moving it to a port higher on the engine ala sun_cavi, but the rain has made progress on my tuning come to a stand still.

my new exhaust set up should be going on this week however.. shooting for a track day this friday

4-2-1 header, to a 3" resonator, eliminated cat, remainder of system 3" diameter piping.

Yes, I know its too large for ideal n/a application, but the overall fate of my car is boost and I don't feel like bending up and welding several different exhaust systems. When I do go boost, i'll just make a DP that mates up to my already existing 3" exhaust.

frankly, what i lost in torque i should gain in HP and I still think the car is going to put down some damn good numbers in less than ideal conditions (read: hot and humid)

[L61Ecotec]

i cant save my tune with my advancements in spark. downloaded 2.1.12 and i cant save my tunes on my laptop or my pc. so i cant post up what i been working on. and i'm out of gas right now so i have to wait to test tunes out.

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

rain sucks. if my car had swimmies, maybe I could be logging/tuning right now

maybe I should start building an ark? this blows.. i need some more time to work out my timing issues.. stupid rain

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

hit the track last night with hptuners for the first time. Times were crappy, first time racing on BF goodrich Drag radials. only got 3 runs in, but I started to get the hang of it.

I turned of my knock sensor and advanced timing 2* from 3600RPM and up in LO and HO PE tables. I'm not sure if it was because I got a good launch, or if it actually made a difference but I went from two 15.3 runs to a 15.1 @ 90mph (90 was the trap all day... first race was a 91mph pass).

keep in mind, this is all on stock manifold and stock catalytic converter. today that crap comes off for a 4-2-1 header, and 3" catless exhaust.

I also think 1WD is killing me... I need an LSD bad..

I'll post up a vid of my runs even tho they suck... and expect more updates as I put every n/a mod on the car you can think of (not touching pistons or rods)

I think next as far as HP goes is patriot stage 2 head and LZM triflow cams

stay tuned...

oh and btw.. who needs 4th gear? I don't =P held 3rd gear until 7100RPM.. roughly 95mph

[L61Ecotec]

what was track temp? must been a huge difference since ur 14.9 run

[PurplePiss]

Looks like 9-60 mph in 9.5 seconds. I would expect it to be less, then again the only 4 cyl i ever had was a XR4Ti :lol:

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

what was track temp? must been a huge difference since ur 14.9 run

14.9 in march temp was around 50 degrees

15.1 in july temp was around 70 degrees

both traps were around 90mph.. so I just suck lately


again, my launches as of late SUCK.

my best 60' is a 2.09 on street crap tires and I didn't beat a 2.1 on drag radials this time out... I need more practice and get back into my groove.

I've really slipped off my pace and I think my diff is taking a dump to boot...

I'm still in work, leaving in about 30 minutes I'll post up the vids of my runs with HPT vs my runs before HPT.

the skwirl's new exhaust is almost finished.. the muffler and positioning originally planned out isn't going to work so I have a new muffler coming in tomorrow. Track probably a week from this weekend... planning on ordering up a wideband before then and possibly tuning for richer air/ fuel ratios.. which will hopefully solve my 'knock' situation and allow me to advance timing another 3 degrees for a total of 5 degrees over stock (i'm going to have it ramp up in stages from 3600 rpm and up).

vid later today

[DaFlyinSkwirl]

RIGHT CLICK SAVE AS


My 3 runs this weekend