Daddy, where do turbochargers come from?

How it's made features a turbo!

Upcoming Driving Experience

12/16 I'll be driving the Yas Marina Circuit in a 200 bhp Renault Clio RS. :D should be fun!



from Wikipedia
The Yas Marina Circuit is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, about 30 minutes from the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi. Yas Marina is the second Formula One track in the Middle East, with the first being in Bahrain. A two day GP2 Asia Series test was held to officially open the circuit, which was held a week before the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It also hosted the opening event for the Australian V8 Supercars series, the Yas V8 400, in February 2010.

Around the world in a couple weeks

Just left LA after working for a week. I'm now heading out to do some work in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Needless to say I'm a little nervous about going to one of these countries. They're pretty harsh on everything and I don't want to get in trouble for anything while there.

On a good note, I'll have a couple days off so I am definitely going to check out Ferrari World! I'm excited about that. It looks like its' going to be a lot of fun. I'll also be perusing the UAE Formula 1 track as much as possible.

Seems like Abu Dhabi is fairly involved in loads of international racing teams including WRC Ford and a couple of F1 teams I believe.

DISASTER!

So I normally park out back and well, we just recently had some rain after the longest drought ever and one of the stepping stones in the yard shifted as I drove over it and:

H²R Track Day 11-20 - Summary Video

Made a short video to get some passing and track footage in. :D I'm not good at this yet, but it was fun! Although let me tell you it's really hard to cut video that you think should be in! I'm experimenting more with sequences and whatnot in Adobe Premiere, trying to figure out the best way to do things. Anyway, enjoy the video.

H²R (Harris Hill Road) Nemesis Parody

I had this dude go off track in front of me and all I could hear was the Nemesis video. From my mind to your eyes. Here it is.

Track Day @ Harris Hill Road: Summary

So I don't know if it's the power or something else, but today was pretty much a disaster. Due to some sort of.. who knows what, Modern Automotive Performance didn't get my brake pads to me until Friday, which meant I had 1 day to bed them. I did the bedding procedure, but my first session out I had some pretty bad fade. I ended up cutting the session a little short to let the system cool after getting them pretty hot.

The second session I started strong and suddenly realized I was losing fuel while at WOT (Wide Open Throttle). My air/fuel was jumping up to 15 when it's supposed to be at 11, so I had to let off and come in. I wasn't sure what the deal was, but it was pretty annoying. Again, a session wasted.

On one guy's suggestion I swapped out my fuel relay (for the highbeam relay) and hit the track again in the third session. Things went well for about 4 laps. Car started to lean out again badly. Had to come in. LAME!

I started to think (after suggestion by a friend), that it was heat soak. After the third session I popped the hood and saw the filter was too hot to even touch. Hopefully this is the problem and not something with the fuel system. I don't think it's the injectors, but it could possibly be the fuel pump. We'll see I guess.

By the way, just got home, I'll start cutting a few videos tonight.

A future upgrade?

Just watched the video for this. Looks like an awesome product that I would totally want to buy!

New Track Pads

Well, I went ahead and ordered some new track pads. I'm going to be making the switch to EBC Yellows. They seem to have a decent reputation and the price is pretty good. Hopefully they'll last a few track days. Hopefully they'll be here by Friday. I got a great price over at Modern Automotive Performance.

I'm also overdue for some plugs and with the tuning and whatnot it'll be nice to have new ones. I'm scared to pull my current plugs. I should have these by Wednesday so we'll have some shots of this. I picked up my NGK plugs from Rock Auto for a really good price.

An old video, sliding around the old airport

I took this a couple months or so after I got the car. Just having some fun. :)

My Cobb Tuning Video

Kevin over at Cobb Tuning Plano makes pretty awesome videos showing off the tuning and parts. He asked what song I wanted and immediately Grounds for Divorce by Elbow came to mind.

Vanessa Phil

The lovely Vanessa Phil posing with my Evo at CCM X. She's an amazing import model.

Check her out on facebook

ゴランドスポト スピドワイ (Grandsport Speedway)

All I can say is I had a blast! This was a fun technical track and the people were really great. I made some new friends I hope to meet out at this track again. We ran five sessions and pretty much everyone skipped the sixth they were all worn out. I was more worried about running out of fuel than anything else.

Packed up.

I'm working up in Dallas this week and heading down to Houston on Saturday for Groove Union at Grandsport Speedway 10/30. Loading up all my junk pretty much filled up the car.
The basics for a track day:

1. Helmet
2. Jack
3. Wheels/Tires
4. Chair
5. Extra oil/brake fluid
6. Impact gun for changing wheels/tires
7. Various tools
8. Extra plastic tub for crap from the car (like floormats) this is nice in case it rains
9. Pop up tent, (always nice for a little shelter)
10. Gas cans (E85 should be sold everywhere)

I'd always rather bring too much than not enough I guess. People have borrowed stuff before and it's nice to be able to help out when needed. It'll be interesting to try out this track, but I have a feeling my buddy's S2K will be more fun to drive here since it's so tight. Also it's the first time with the Nitto NT01s on track, finally O.o

Switched to my track pads. Hawk HP+

These pads are such a pain. I mean they work well enough at Harris Hill Road and they should be fine at Grandsport Speedway, but they are so loud to drive around town! Check out the video, you can also see my new wideband.

Innovate Motorsports LC-1 Wideband & Gauge Installation on the EVO X

Well, the installation was pretty easy. I met at a friend's place this morning and while he worked to pull an engine from some old Pontiac to throw into a Malibu I pulled out some stuff from the interior to begin work on the LC-1 installation.
The engine swap was quite a bit of work.

By the way if you have any questions on any part of the install please leave a comment and I'll definitely answer :)

Groove Union

Looks like I am heading down to Houston 10/30 for Groove Union at Grandsport Speedway. It'll be fun to check out that track. Although on the drive from Dallas to Houston there's no E85 stations. Looks like I need more gas cans.

The Verdict is In!

So max power made on E85 is 373 HP @ ~6300 RPM and 387 TQ @ ~4300 RPM at 26.8 PSI. 93 Octane only went to 325 HP and 343 TQ
E85 is A-maize-ing! I've picked up a Flexfuel sticker for the car, to let people know I'm all about renewable resources of course. I'll do some video a little later. I can't wait to try this on the track. ^_^

Tuning Time at Cobb Tuning Plano!

I'm now at Cobb Tuning Plano getting tuned for both 93 and E85. I will say no matter what happens it's never enough. You always have a number in your mind and when you don't get that you immediately begin planning what you're going to do next.
I do have the results of my 93 tune, it's only doing about 326 AWHP on this dyno. Seems like a small boost compared to a couple other cars I've seen, but maybe there's something I'm missing. I'll have to go back through and reevaluate the differences between my car and others. I don't have a straight pipe yet, that's a quick upgrade.

Upcoming Schedule

I'm signed up for the next track day at Harris Hill Road 11/20. I'm also thinking about heading over to Houston for Groove Union at Grandsport Speedway 10/30. Depends on whether or not my buddy signs up. Although looking at my work schedule, I might be stuck in Dallas for a couple weeks and it's a long drive to Houston.

Looks like I'm getting brake pads and stainless steel brake lines for Thanksgiving presents. I should have bought new lines ages ago, I've just been too lazy.

It's a never ending cycle.

In anticipation of tomorrows and future upgrades, I just received an Innovate LC-1 wideband. I'll do the installation this weekend with a couple friends and test it out :) As far as other gauges go I've been told boost, oil pressure and temperature. I'd really love to just install a screen where the stereo is and run digital gauges for all that on a centralized computer. There was a company that did this (featured in "The Fast and the Furious in Paul Walkers R34 at the beginning), but they've gone bust.

I want the R35 GT-R display! I wonder what it'd take to produce a product like that.

Cobb & China Pics

I've booked Cobb Tuning Plano next week to get tuned on E85 and 93. My schedule's been non-stop. I got back from China Saturday night and then flew to Boston Monday morning. Good news is, by this time next week, I'll be pushing ~380 awhp. That's right folks, for the low cost of:

1. Turbo back exhaust
2. Intake
3. Injectors
4. Fuel pump
5. 3 port EBCS

You too can take a $27-$30,000 AWD family sedan to 380 AWHP. What's next? Probably some new wheels and tires for track days. I'm thinking Enkei PF01's with 265s

By the way pictures from China are up

China Update

I'm heading back to the states today. China was amazing. The Terracotta warriors were so awesome. Unfortunately the internet here is too slow so I haven't been able to upload anything yet. I'll get to work on that as soon as I get back. Meanwhile here's a few small pics.

Power!

So the injectors have arrived and I left my car with a guy from Cobb Tuning. Meanwhile I'll have a few non car related posts while I post up some awesome stuff in China! I'm on my way to Beijing and Kehan and I will hit up the Forbidden City and possibly the great wall again before we head over to Xi'an to see the Terracotta warriors. Pretty epic stuff. The rest of this year will be pretty awesome as I have at least 3 track days I plan on hitting up. Coupled with my new cameras and adobe premiere I should be able to provide some good video.

It's way too early.

Boost!

New boost solenoid has arrived. Injectors are on the way. I've ordered DeatschWerks 1000cc injectors, I was hoping they'd be here before I flew out to China but sadly no.

Cobb Tuning is taking my car in for some testing and offered me a deal on a fuel pump, so I'll have a Walbro 255 pump installed while I'm on vacation. Unfortunately they're not doing any installs or tunes until the end of the year as they're booked up with R&D stuff I'd assume (speculation). Once the pump, injectors, EBCS are installed, I'm going to go for E85. I'll also see what I can run on 93. I'm hoping for 340 on 93 and 380 on e85

Dyno Day 8/6

I put together a dyno day with some friends and had a good run. I've added a Cobb Tuning intake and intercooler piping. I was running really rich and sent in some logs and had one of the guys over at Cobb help me out with an eTune that leaned things out a little. So since I last dynoed (292 awhp/325 torque) I've added the Cobb SF Intake and the Spec 3+ clutch. I ended up running 309 awhp and 326 torque.

New Photos

Lots of new pictures after the break.

Updates

     Several track days have come and gone. I've moved to yellow group and reduced my track times by about 10 seconds. I've also aquired some Nitto NT01's but have yet to put them to the test at the track.

     The car's running an etune and pushing 309 awhp and 326 torque. Injectors, fuel pump, and electronic boost controller are on the way and soon I'll run E85. Hopefully make some significant power.

I've set up my youtube channel called The Exploding Evo. Hopefully I can make some entertaining videos of the different tracks I visit.