mattipuh

Very cool looking exhaust! Works well.

Noahs944

Some quick pics showing the exhaust fitted in place. Slips on quickly & fits like a glove.

I am relatively new customizing exhaust, however the BEST advice is from a 20 year old I work with. "Fit it & tack weld it on the vehicle before you weld fully". When you plan to measure, fit, cut, re-fit, tack, remove, fully weld, reinstall... you know, plan on quickly double checking by actually re-installing then you get a sure thing & everything just fits like it should. Very pleased with this. And I'm guessing I just picked up (who knows) 1-3 hp with opening up the pipe.

The plan for this car is over time, if I feel inclined then I can gradually continue to add 3" pipe rearward, section by section. But I suspect the sound will become worse out the tip. AND I'LL LOSE GROUND CLEARANCE near the rear suspension which is a negative.

When Wilson is back on the road, I'll post a video of the noise.

Noahs944

THANK YOU for your comments Elitethink, SloMo & Matti. It's a privilege to be on the board with many enthusiasts of these little cars. They just feel so "right" to drive, don't they?

Hopefully within 10 days Wilson will be driving again. I can't wait to hit the roads & maybe get my *** kicked at a few autocross events before winter. That would be fun!

SloMo228

They certainly do feel right. I haven't driven anything else that I like as much.

Have you weighed your car, BTW? I notice you've done quite a lot of removing things from it. It's looking good - helps that you got the fastest color!

Noahs944

Yes, white is the colour of true race cars, hehehe.

All glass & steel for the time being. Weighs 2500lbs / 1134 kgs. (with half tank full of gas & pass side seat removed).

Noahs944

Taking matters into my own hands. COUNTER ATTACKING this cam housing problem. Step1: drain oil, scrub with sos pad & brake clean. Look up specs & use straight edge & feeler gauge on parallel, perpendicular & both diagonal angles. Results: appears to be in spec, but I can catch a finger nail & see some minor burrs along the perimeter.

Noahs944

Step 2: Now this my alternative to shaving the cam box. I can't afford to loose valve to piston clearance as I'm already on the ragged edge. Plus I don't think that is a better solution than what I can do in 30 minutes in my garage for free. Lastly, machining can leave contamination.

A small fine bastard file (flat) and round or triangular fine file used gently on a 45degree angle to take the high spots off.

Noahs944

Bevelled. Have to stay focused as too not scratch the flat. That aluminum scrubs off very quickly compared to steel, so caution.

Noahs944

Been pondering RAM AIR and intake manifold design. Planning on building ram air ducting. ANyone know the pro's and cons of short vs long intake runners on a NA?

V2Rocket

Ram air, in the sense of a big scoop or inlet at a high pressure zone, only works at higher speeds.
You might be able to realize 1-2 hp boost past 100mph. But there may be a tradeoff between added power and extra drag caused by the inlet.

Intake runner length is the same idea as the exhaust pipe length - longer runners before the plenum lend themselves to low rpm power...high rpm power from short runners. Varied runner length vs equal length, same thing as the exhaust, wide powerband/shorter peak versus narrow powerband/higher peak.

If you really wanted to experiment with runner lengths I'd switch the car over to ITB's or side-draft carbs and have easily-varied trumpet/runner lengths and tune length to suit.

Google "runner length calculators" and you will find lots of neat programs to play with and make up your mind. I don't remember if you still have the AFM or if you have a MAF/MAP yet, but you will definitely want to start with that before going ITB's. Ditching the AFM is priority #1 for added power.

Noahs944

Thanks for the informative answer V2. Ummm yeah STILL have afm. Wanting and waiting to upgrade... There is a rumour you can lock the afm flap all the way open & use the afm's temp sensor to operate. Dunno if that's ok for a daily driver. I am curious if I could do that and tune with the MOTRONIC tuner program on Rogue's site... until I get a piggyback or stand alone. My last piggyback experience with powerprom was extremely confusing & frustrating.

V2Rocket

the spring in the flapper is designed to open fully at a certain RPM.
on contemporary BMWs it was around 4500rpm, i suspect the 944 is the same way, which means most of the time the flap is partially closed to some degree.

I don't think the temp sensor would be sufficient to control fueling needs based on that.

Lindsey Racing should be carrying the MAF sometime soon. Or, there is a good amount of information courtesy of sausagehacker/Dougs951S about converting to MegaSquirt which really gives you the widest range of tuning options/MAF/MAP conversion.

There used to be files available to download that would allow you to edit the tune on the standard DME, using the Ostrich emulator, and keeping the AFM. I don't know where to find those files though, but I might still have them somewhere. But for not much more you could have a fully-tunable megasquirt setup.

Hell, you might even get sausagehacker to build you a setup if you pay him...he's a starving college kid, he'll work for peanuts :P

Noahs944

Need *good* advice on my proposed balance shaft & housing deletes. I know some of you have deleted the entire housings. That's what my aim is. So here's what I see in terms of oem oil passages. Am I missing something?

Middle/rear oil drain back ports:




The only pressurized oil feed:



Front oil drain back port:




V2 mentioned I can tap & install a plug in the oil feed, but how can I delete the oil drain back ports?




********edit: I found the original thread where it has welding as a suggestion***** Unfortunately I don't have aluminum welding capabilities at home.

Noahs944

Hahaha... I do like to take advantage of the young & willing. Oh, that's might not sound so good.

Noahs944

RS... "the Growler". Sick.