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Craig - thanks for the nice note man! I'm thrilled! You're right - sometimes you stare at something too long from a single lens and all it takes is for a fresh perspective to come in and go "hey - why isn't your MAP sensor value reading any vacuum?" haha! I can't wait. If we have to get on a wait list or two for some dyno time no big deal, we'll probably do some mountain cruising and get some street tuning done so that the car is drivable and safe and from there we can fine tune whenever we can sneak in a good half day on the dyno. The last time I went standalone was on my 2jzge vvti swapped Cressida and it was an awesome experience with a truly terrific final result thanks to this same tuner. I can't wait to hear more about yours, and I hope the 86 is treating you well!
Exactly! ^^ I've lost count of the number of times I've had epiphanies like that in one situation or another with my SC
Fine tuning with the laptop reading the ECU in real-time as you get out on the road is the right way to do it after the initial dyno tuning/mapping. I can't speak from experience but this seems to be the case for every well sorted standalone controlled project car. I have no doubt you'll have it dialed in very well in short order
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No big news on the SC so far. I await what Tanin will tell me about the ECU I sent them. Hopefully it will be a straightforward and routine job for them and hopefully that also means it'll just plug in and work without issue once I get it back. I'm still sold on going with the Haltech 2500 Elite but right now but can't commit to ordering one yet. They're $2,700 with the MKIV plug and play harness once tax is factored in.
I'll be breaking out my GasTapper this weekend to drain out as much of the fuel in the tank as possible (which has been in there since January). I sampled a bit and it looks and smells fine... and it ran just fine when the car was last at the tuner shop being tested on a borrowed Haltech... but I don't want to risk it so once I can't siphon any more out with the tapper I'll refill it with as much fresh 93 octane fuel as it will take. I'd rather be safe about keeping mostly new fuel in the tank than ignore it until later.
The GR86 has been great! I just finished the strict 1,000 mile break in a couple of days ago, got the factory fill oil changed with new synthetic, had the dealer turn off the fake engine noise (good riddance to that!) and took it out on a road trip out of area. It's such a great driving car. It doesn't have the big torque and power of my SC300 but it has plenty of both for its size and weight. The aggressive 4.10 rear end gearing helps a lot and suits the car very well. It reminds me of the way I had my SC set up on a custom 4.27 rear end when it was still on the stock NA engine. Only since this car's manual transmission has a 6th overdrive gear it makes that kind of setup much better.
A 4.30 rear end was also made for the previous generation 2017-2020 GT86/BRZ and swaps right in. I might do that swap that in the future. Might. It worked for my SC after all Someone who owns a BRZ 2nd gen (99% the same car) did just that and demonstrated that it had a very minor difference in highway and city fuel economy from stock.
I'm very happy with it overall. It's a great daily and very sorted out in stock form. The only things I'd like to add to it over time is a mild exhaust system upgrade, a 30% shorter throw shifter (the stock shifter is already reasonably tight) and the factory Sachs shocks and Brembo brake caliper upgrade.
I miss driving the SC and will solve its issues but I am very much enjoying the new daily driver 86. For the individual at least it is a far more practical car than most people give it credit for.
Craig - you're absolutely right! To get a car dialed in on standalone (especially a turbocharged one) takes some serious time and dedication. A good combination of a little bit of street tuning and a good half to full day on the dyno is the minimum of what it takes to get things right the first time. I absolutely can't wait. And the fact that I've ditched my 20+ year old stock ECU, MAF sensor, and electronic throttle body I couldn't be happier. This car is now more reliable and serviceable than ever and that was my number one goal! Next up will be ditching the old rats nest of twin turbos, but I'm going to run those until they won't run anymore lol.
I'm so glad to hear your input on the 86. If I lived in a climate where I could daily a RWD simple car like that it would be between that and a Miata for me. It's so great that there's options for small lightweight sports cars yet again!
I can't wait to hear more about the SC. I hope life is smoothing out for you my fiend.
FINALLY I can get you guys some updates! Yesterday we spent a few hours diagnosing why the car simply seemed to have a mind of its own, even at idle... Long story short, on this particular revision of the ECU Master Black EMU hardware (revision "O") we learned that we do not need the inline resistor that's called for in the installation instructions. That solved our A/F ratios being off (we confirmed with a tailpipe tester as well while we tinkered). Lastly... and this was so dumb... We hadn't seen any vacuum being read by the built in MAP sensor. I had tapped into the nipple on the back side of the intake manifold on the driver side... Little did I know there's no vacuum at this port... LOL. Once we got those two things figured out we went back to our basemap, made a few adjustments, and low and behold we were out driving the car around the block last night! We've got plenty of partial throttle tuning to do, however, we're close enough now that it's time to make a dyno appointment to get this bad boy dialed in. The dynos around town seem to be booked out a few weeks, however, once I have a chance to strap it down I'll be sure to update with first impressions and final power numbers.
It felt... SO GOOD to drive this thing after just staring at it the past couple months. I'm also quite relieved as it's taken hours just to get it to this point. Patience is always the name of the game when it comes to big changes like this, but nothing beats the feeling of driving something for the first time after a LOT of tinkering lol.
Good morning Rudy,
That is the best looking 10 footer I have evert seen lol. I am glad for you that you have accomplished this mountain of a project. What is next for your beautiful 300?
Hey when is the baby due. Do you know if boy or girl? Good luck to you and your wife.
Bill
Thank you Joe, and thank you Bill! This car may be far from perfect but it is an absolute riot. These cars are so few and far between that it still feels cool to drive something down the road that you just don't see all too often. Right now I'm waiting patiently to book some dyno time to finally finish tuning this thing on the new ECU Masters standalone. However, from there, I honestly don't know at this point! I'm trying to drive it and enjoy it as much as I can until something fails and then upgrade it from there. If my stock turbos hand in there I'm hoping I can pick up some lighter/sportier reclinable race seats and start dropping a bit of weight without sacrificing too much comfort.
On another note...Our baby girl has arrived!! We had a bit of a crazy weekend last weekend, emergency c-section, etc... However - my beautiful wife and our little girl are safe, sound, and back home!
I'm so over the moon I can hardly put it into words... I hope you guys are well out there in the world! I may not be posting as much as usual in the next few weeks but I'll be back now and again to make sure to update on the SC and hype up your guys' threads! ha!
Hey Rudy,
Congratulations on the new addition to your family. Not anything like having two pretty girls in the family. Me, we had two old hairy legged boys.
Rudy I know that when you wrote this message you were so excited that you did not tell us the name of the beautiful little girl. Surely you don't want the club to name her lol.
Congratulations to you again and the best of luck for years to come.
Bill
Oh my goodness! Congratulations to you both on becoming parents!!! She looks beautiful!! I know you and your wife are so proud!! : )
I couldn't be happier for you two and am excited for this new journey you'll be on with the little one! Please rest now and we'll hear more form you in the near future I am sure!
LOL Bill you are too much! Thank you guys all for the kind words and wishes. My wife and I are so proud, and I'm so grateful for both of their health after a bit of a scary experience. Little "Rebel Rosalina Runnings" was in there with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times. Thankfully the c-section went well, but my god, what an experience you guys!!
I can't thank you guys enough. Speaking of which - I'm going to bother my tuner right now about where we're at with some dyno time LOL!
Rudy,
Thank God for modern medicine and what the Doctors can do in our time. Give little Rebel a small, very small hug for us and we look forward to more pictures as she grows. Have you started a college fund?
Bill
Bill - my god isn't that the truth... 50 years ago my wife and/or this little angel may have not made it. She only came out at 6lbs 6oz and is such a small precious little thing! I'll be sure to give her a little squeeze for you!
My father and grand mother were kind enough to set up a college fund for me that put me through engineering school here in Denver. Believe it or not there still a good chunk of money in there (I didn't go out of state, never stayed in a dorm, etc) so that will be a beautiful start to a college fund for little Rebel!
I never thought I'd share something like this on a forum but this place is truly special in that regard. I hope all of you are well today and thank you for blessing us with your kind wishes!
Rudy,
No wonder you are a smart business man. I just wish you were selling items for SC's also. You just keep up the good work and ya'll take good care of that little bundle of joy.
Our best to the new mother also, we can't leave her out,
Bill
You know Bill if I had the chance to either run a little SC only business or shop I'd certainly do it... I just don't think there's enough of them around and/or enough people willing to pay for it to make it worth it. However, I'm sure grateful the glass business is good to me and I'm also grateful that I was raised in such a way to work hard for a nice life and can hopefully pass that ethic on to this little one as well.
We'll be sure to take good care of her and my wife always giggles knowing how much I love this forum and speaking with y'all!
Looks like both of our cars are on the backburner for different reasons! Haha. Will love to see your updates come winter and spring, next summer we'll be out strong no doubt.
LOL Bill you are too much! Thank you guys all for the kind words and wishes. My wife and I are so proud, and I'm so grateful for both of their health after a bit of a scary experience. Little "Rebel Rosalina Runnings" was in there with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times. Thankfully the c-section went well, but my god, what an experience you guys!!
I can't thank you guys enough. Speaking of which - I'm going to bother my tuner right now about where we're at with some dyno time LOL!
My grand babies (twins, boy and girl) had the same deal, but came 2 months early. Spent their first 2 months in ICU. Today you couldn't tell, they are perfect. So someone out there commensurates with you. The future looks very good for you, wifey and the little ones
10-12-23, 12:44 AM
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