You are probably right about the sound deadening. Would definitely help out then with road noise and drone.
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Steps in the Right Direction - Build Thread for my two Lightnings
- Thread starter FMOS Racing
- Start date
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Turns out that a massive upstream exhaust leak on a turbo vehicle not only makes it very loud, but also makes the response a little sluggish. Who knew? 
Apparently I blew the plug out of the "stinger" where the AIR injection normally attaches for the cats. All of the AIR injection hardware is gone on my truck because it was shot and modern cats really don't need it. But it did make for a big ol' open tube aimed at the floor of the cab.
I blew out the exhaust gasket at the flange, so just redid the connection with red RTV instead of a gasket. I discovered the plug was missing while examining everything else. She's much quieter and much more responsive now.
Apparently I blew the plug out of the "stinger" where the AIR injection normally attaches for the cats. All of the AIR injection hardware is gone on my truck because it was shot and modern cats really don't need it. But it did make for a big ol' open tube aimed at the floor of the cab.
I blew out the exhaust gasket at the flange, so just redid the connection with red RTV instead of a gasket. I discovered the plug was missing while examining everything else. She's much quieter and much more responsive now.
There were a lot of behaviors that I had simply associated with the mid-mount location and less-than-optimum pre-turbo piping that I had cobbled together. Sluggish boost rise at WOT, almost no part throttle boost, etc. This was all because of the exhaust leak.
I now see 6 psi at 2500 rpms and 40% throttle, 9 psi (solenoid setting) at 60% throttle. It's awesome. And much quieter. And many lovely turbo sounds instead of sounding like a strangled shop vac.
I now see 6 psi at 2500 rpms and 40% throttle, 9 psi (solenoid setting) at 60% throttle. It's awesome. And much quieter. And many lovely turbo sounds instead of sounding like a strangled shop vac.
My theory when I put this together was that plenty of displacement, an automatic transmission, and a ~2500 stall, it would be fine, even with the too-large headers and too-large pre-turbo piping. Sure, it's not optimum, but it would still make for a big improvement in the truck. I was pretty disappointed with the results, and assumed that the mid-mount location, the too-large plumbing, and maybe even the Comp Oil-free turbo were to blame. Combined with the noise level, I was feeling like I'd ruined the truck and was contemplating backtracking and putting the the muffler back on.
Every reason for that disappointment was wrong. It's downright perfect considering the ease of installation and the engine being a stock long block (except the little TFS roller cam).
I'm considering adding a Snow Performance water/meth setup to the mix to see what that does for the IATs (they hit just over 180 on a solid 2nd and 3rd gear pull). It's not terrible, but I'd love to knock the temps down about 60 degrees.
Every reason for that disappointment was wrong. It's downright perfect considering the ease of installation and the engine being a stock long block (except the little TFS roller cam).
I'm considering adding a Snow Performance water/meth setup to the mix to see what that does for the IATs (they hit just over 180 on a solid 2nd and 3rd gear pull). It's not terrible, but I'd love to knock the temps down about 60 degrees.
Engine masters did a good episode comparing meth injection vs intercooler vs nothing. Some interesting results.
I'm not doing an intercooler, so the options are water/meth or nothing.
I ordered a Snow kit this morning and will control it with the PxS. I'll do with-and-without Dragy runs eventually, after I get some tuning. I've always felt spraying wet nitrous on a dry intake was a bad idea, but here I am spraying really wet.... I'll inject well upstream of the throttle body and hope I get better mixing than they did,
I really want to drop the IATs a bit more than finding a bunch of extra power.
I ordered a Snow kit this morning and will control it with the PxS. I'll do with-and-without Dragy runs eventually, after I get some tuning. I've always felt spraying wet nitrous on a dry intake was a bad idea, but here I am spraying really wet.... I'll inject well upstream of the throttle body and hope I get better mixing than they did,
I really want to drop the IATs a bit more than finding a bunch of extra power.
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Methanol injection probably saved my stock motor many times over. Probably spent 70k+ miles with forced induction beating the heck out of it and methanol kept it alive. Though, once I switched to E85 I ditched it. I used the snow controller which was nice but the PXS should be able to do a better job of controlling it. I suggest spraying the highest percentage of methanol that your are comfortable with. On the street I mixed my methanol at 80% or so but at track I ran straight methanol. Water is only added for safety reasons as methanol has a clear flame if something bad happens.Besides IAT control, you will gain most protection just from the added octane.I'm not doing an intercooler, so the options are water/meth or nothing.
I ordered a Snow kit this morning and will control it with the PxS. I'll do with-and-without Dragy runs eventually, after I get some tuning. I've always felt spraying wet nitrous on a dry intake was a bad idea, but here I am spraying really wet.... I'll inject well upstream of the throttle body and hope I get better mixing than they did,
I really want to drop the IATs a bit more than finding a bunch of extra power.
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Thanks for that information, that's really helpful to know! I ordered a couple of cases of the Snow Boost Juice with the kit. It's about the same price as washer fluid from what I could see and it's a 50/50 mix instead of 30/70 like the -20 degree fluid.
I'd like to put a pressure safety switch in the system instead of relying solely on the level switch to determine if the system is running.
Right now I'm trying to figure out if I can use Tableswitch triggered by the low level switch for both the fuel/spark switching and the low level pump shutoff. If not, I'll use a relay, mount the switch low in the tank, refill the reservoir every time I get gas, and see how all that pans out over time.
I'd like to put a pressure safety switch in the system instead of relying solely on the level switch to determine if the system is running.
Right now I'm trying to figure out if I can use Tableswitch triggered by the low level switch for both the fuel/spark switching and the low level pump shutoff. If not, I'll use a relay, mount the switch low in the tank, refill the reservoir every time I get gas, and see how all that pans out over time.
On a happy note, my '94 has turned 30, and thus is no longer required to have state inspections. I find it funny that in NC, all of the smog equipment has to be present, even if it's not functioning. All of the factory equipment on the truck had failed long before I got it. I put cats back on it but ditched the AIR injection hardware. I could get it inspected because I knew a friend of a friend (And because Mr. Bartley helped me out), but it'll be nice to not have to worry about it anymore. Along with the "too dark for NC but not very dark" window tint.
Lol virginia is a little better at 25 years old. Glad I could help. If I ever get caught up you can keep me straight on pimpxshift and boost!
You will find with the 50/50 mix that it will tend to put out the flame if you try to spray too much. That water doesn't burn lol. I honestly think they recommend the 50/50 for 2 reasons. One they don't want a chance ever of there being a fire and two they don't want you to have to trim so much fuel from the tune to accommodate pure methanol just in case it failed. If you get to playing with it you will see best performance overall with pure methanol. It will clean everything as well which is a plus.
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The water actually pulls more heat out of the intake charge than the alcohol (it requires more heat to vaporize). The alcohol is a supplemental fuel and octane booster. Without an intercooler, I definitely want both.
Oh I definitely know the water can pull out more heat but what I was getting at is by the time you spray enough water to get it to drop temp often times it will put out the flame front. Also water sucks for making power. Basically just increasing your density altitude. That's why I said I would go with highest ratio of methanol as possible especially when racing. I was using I think like a 625 and a 375 nozzle at the time and found even at same A/F ratio that anything more than 30% water would start to make it misfire. Going straight methanol would keep it lit. The difference in IAT will be negligible and the gain in detonation suppression will be much greater. In my head it made most sense when I watched all the real racecars running straight methanol. No need for intercoolers or water cooled engines due to the cooling... Though I know you won't be near that amount of methanol. Again that is just my experience but if just using a small nozzle to somewhat help on the street then it should be perfectly fine.
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The white truck developed a sudden-onset case of the "Death Wobble," so I finally got around to replacing the ball joints. The passenger side was in good shape, and I think the upper might have been the factory piece. Driver's side were both aftermarket and were very shot. I've had XRF Million-Mile joints sitting on a shelf since I bought the truck, just needed to wrestle them in.
I also added a little muffler to the wastegate outlet side. That tamed the WOT exhaust volume a bit.
New shocks are on the way (I had put the OEMs from my red truck on the white one).
I also ordered a rebuilt PSOM. I had the one in the truck rebuilt a couple of years ago, but it's always had a temperature problem. Too hot, or too cold, it gets very erratic. I'm sure it's a cracked solder joint somewhere, but I can't find it.
Hard to believe I've put 40K miles on it. Overall it's been an excellent beater.
I also added a little muffler to the wastegate outlet side. That tamed the WOT exhaust volume a bit.
New shocks are on the way (I had put the OEMs from my red truck on the white one).
I also ordered a rebuilt PSOM. I had the one in the truck rebuilt a couple of years ago, but it's always had a temperature problem. Too hot, or too cold, it gets very erratic. I'm sure it's a cracked solder joint somewhere, but I can't find it.
Hard to believe I've put 40K miles on it. Overall it's been an excellent beater.
Finally sending these into the sunset. They were on my '95 for ~100K miles, and then on my '94 for ~40K miles. I put Bilsteins on the '94 yesterday.
I also replaced the PSOM with a refurbished one with something nearer to the correct mileage.
I had to put RTV behind the mediocre LMR hood seal where it goes across the wiper motor. In the deluges we've had the past week, the water would leak past the seal, drip onto the valve cover, and then drain off right onto the top of the plug in #8. It would develop an annoying miss above ~2000 rpms.
Positive note, the splash guard and filter sock seem to work great for keeping the filter dry. I've been worried about that with the filter being under the truck,
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It wasn't as night and day as when I replaced whatever junk was on the truck when I got it with the OEM parts. It's a little "crisper".
I mainly did it as part of a shotgun approach to curing the "death wobble." The ball joints and shocks were both aged. I'd replaced everything else in the front end with high quality stuff when I bought the truck (3 years ago yesterday).