Tuner had a hard time figuring out how Nistune works but finally figured it out enough to make some decent numbers for a "first tune" of sorts. We're both still unsure that he was able to figure everything out and really fine tune it. He said the maps were "backwards" from how they should look but he went with it anyway.

He spent about two hours on it. He kept re-synchronizing after each change but I thought I read you only need to synchronize once after first opening up the program, as opposed to changing a cell and then re-synchronizing. Regardless, he said any changes he made did not "stick" until each re-synchronization, and he did manage to make the changes "stick" because the numbers and AFR's kept improving.

It ultimately did 280 whp and 340 ft lbs of torque at ~7 psi. I have a high flow cat and he said that is definitely choking it a bit and that removing it could easily add 25-30 hp. This was also done on a Dyno Dynamics machine which is commonly referred to as the "heartbreak dyno" because they read "low" (many would argue they actually read correctly, and others read high since the Dyno Dynamics machine is more like real road conditions with respect to load). I would bet if this was on a Dyno Jet or something it would be in the 315-320 whp range. Definitely some nice torque though.

Anyway, I'm getting an insane amount of blow-by or something from the valve covers. My PCV system is basically stock, with a catch can in between the stock PCV valve and the intake manifold. I also added a brake booster check valve in-line as an extra attempt to keep from pressurizing the crankcase. The tuner suspects those are failing and pressurizing the crankcase hence all the crap coming out of the breather filter. It starts to happen right about at the onset of boost. The tuner said this is about as bad as they've ever seen:



So any ideas on how to fix this PCV system?

 

I don't have my pcv connected to the intake at all but vc's just vent. not sure what's normal for a ve and what they make stock but delete the cat if you don't need it for emission, get a 4inch exhaust and turn the boost up to 10psi and you should be in the 350hp range easy

 

Since it is the stock motor, I would say the blowby is excessive and possibly due to worn piston rings. A compression and leak down test wouldn't be a bad idea just to make sure.

 

Wow how come you have so much more TQ is that normal for those engine's

 

I believe they are 87mm bore and 83mm stroke.
2960cc's

 

I need the cat for emissions, I have to do the emissions test down here in Texas for 5 more years. I wanted to just run the cat with the setup full-time so as to not have to switch out for emissions testing each year, but at this point I'm leaning toward going cat-less and just swap in the cat next May when I have to test. Of course, it still may not pass emissions even with the cat. So I will weld up a straight pipe in the next few weeks and see how it goes.

Definitely can't go 4 inch exhaust. Well, I could, but I'm not re-doing the exhaust now. I don't feel like doing all that work again and I for sure don't have room for a 4" downpipe. My 3" setup hangs lower than the crossmember already and 3" exhaust was a lot of work to get up over the rear sway bar.

So you say you don't have your PCV connected to the intake, how do you get any vacuum? Do you have the PCV gutted or something?

It's a JDM engine, I only have maybe 15k miles on it since I installed it. So I should hope the piston rings aren't that worn, but I guess you never know. I hope the tuner is right and that the bulk of it is since the crankcase is getting pressurized due to my PCV and check valve failing.

I don't really know why I have so much more TQ Not that I'm complaining, but I wish the HP number was a bit higher to the TQ number

 

Oh, and can any of you shed light on colder plugs? The tuner said I need to go to a "7" copper plug. Right now I have the factory spec platinum "5" series.

It looks like I should go to a NGK BKR7E-11, but he stated I will need to change the gapping. Any idea what they should be gapped to?

 

Sorry meant to say 3inch exhaust

 

Pretty much you run the colder plug to prevent preignition (fuel igniting before actual spark event, the residual heat comes from the metal of the plug inside the chamber). You lower the gap so it won't blow out under higher boost settings like around .38 or .35.

You could block off the pcv port and just run breathers on the valve covers or run them to a vented catch can. The pcv system really just recycles the blowby gases back into the intake. The minute oil droplets that come from the valve covers back into the intake under vacuum actually lower octane.

 

my valve covers just vent with breathers on them, as for the cat just put flanges on it so you can swap it in and out for testing

 

I run 1 step colder ngk coppers gapped to 35

 

Are you saying I want to run the gap between about .035 and .038?

OR are you saying at those gaps it would tend to blow out?

I have read the higher the boost, the lower the gap should be, and many state a gap range for boost between .025 and .032. I can't remember where, but somebody said to start at .032 and work down as necessary. Would starting at .032 be too aggressive do you think?

What plugs are you turbo 4th gen guys running? Do you all run the NGK BKR7E-11?

*edit* t6378tp - what NGK line do you run and how much boost/power?

 

I run 6e-11, 28-32 maybe alittle agressive for 7psi. I would suggest starting at .038 and working your way down, if you have to plan to crank the boost up set them to .035 and work your way down

 

example I am gapped at .035 on 8-10psi but when I swap in new plugs they'll be to .030 as I plan to turn the boost up to 15psi and add water/meth injection

 

When I had my 3.0 I was using NGK BKR6E-11 gapped to .035 running 7psi then I kept turning up the boost I hit 12-14psi and was ok for me then I turned it up a little more was hitting 17-20psi and since I have a mevi anything after 5k rpm I would get hesitation throughout the rpm so I gapped them to .030 and there was no more hesitation throughout the rpm after 5k

 

But this applies for my application on my turbo setup so your car and turbo is different so your spark blow out will occur different than my setup

 

Thanks, I went with the BKR7E-11's and gapped them to .035, I'll have to see how it goes

 

As for my blow-by issues, I found this diagram online regarding boosted applications. My setup currently is like I said I just have the stock PCV hooked up with a catch-can inline and a brake booster check valve in there to keep from pressurizing the catch can or crank case. My setup right now is exactly like the 4 cylinder example below minus the extra catch can routed back to pre-turbo. At this point I'm thinking of just adding the extra catch can like the example below. Thoughts?

 

That setup will not work on a blow through maf setup, if your pull through then the front needs to be connected before the turbo

 

Oh, duh, the valve cover breather would need to see metered air. That's why you say it wouldn't work for me since I'm blow-through, correct?

Well in that case then I don't have any good options really other than just running to a vented catch can for the valve cover breather

 

just let the front vc vent and put a check between the pvc and intake or remove the pvc and let the front and rear vent to a oil breather

 

That's exactly how it's setup currently (except I have a catch-can inline)

Unfortunately at this point it looks like the rings or something must be bad

 

Is your check valve the in the right direction, disconnect the PVC from intake and see if the problem goes away

 

i just vent mine to atmosphere. maybe not ideal but i never noticed any ill effects.

you want to run as large a gap as you can without getting spark blowout. honestly at 7lbs you should be able to get pretty close to stock gap. i'd start at like .040 and go down if you notice blowout.

i have some NGK Iridium BKR7EIX available if you are interested.

 

Can any of you give any direct descriptions of spark blowout symptoms? Like I stated above, I went with two step colder coppers and gapped to .035 and even with that am getting some odd intermittent issues.

I've done one highway pull since that first drive home the night of the tune and it felt like it hit a brick wall up in the higher RPM range, can't remember exactly but want to say about 5k or so. It felt a lot like fuel cut, I mean it was that drastic/sudden. It's like the car immediately lost all power out of the blue

A couple more street pulls since then and have gotten a few more intermittent issues. One instance on a back to back run all the way through first it was fine, then once shifting into second it had the brick wall type sensation at about 4800 RPM or so. Next run it was fine except for a little bit of hesitation up near 6k in 3rd. It's really inconsistent. Half the time it doesn't do it at all.

Does this sound like spark blowout?

 

Do u have a wideband make sure ur getting enough fuel.at that point.if ur spark plugs ain't enough u would get some sperring while. On the gas.the plugs u got are not .035 gap the bkr6-11 is a .044 gap that's what --11 stands for in bkr6-11 u need to get the bkr6eix or bkr7eix. These are .032 gap which they also have these in bkr6eix-11 or bkr7eix-11 but u don't want those cause they .044 gap.

 

Yes I have a wideband, what do you mean by sperring?

Yeah, I gapped the plugs myself down to .035, I assumed people just gapped plugs themselves to whatever spec vs buying a pre-gapped plug - is that not copacetic?

Are the eix iridium?

 

Yeah I gap them myself, question does a 3rd Gen have coil packs or a distributor

 

The VE has coil packs, yes. VG's don't

 

You shouldn't have blowout then. What's your a/f, can you make a vid

 

I've been looking over his tune its got quite bit work needs done.

 

Hook this man up then cause it should take longer than to 2hrs for a tune from scratch and when the tuner was learning the software to bat

 

yes eix stands for iridium,Wat I mean is u hear ur exhaust like fartting cause not enough fuel.

 

Why do you say that? Is blowout not possible with coil on plug or something?

 

BUMP UP

Any Updates James...


How is she running?

 

Im supercharged running 2.87 pulley, 370 cc injectors, and with emanage Ultimate. 97 SE 3" Cattman exhaust, VB mod, Cattman headers and high flow cat, CAI

Im having the same issue with excessive white smoke mixed with oil mist coming out of my breather filter on the valve cover. Im hoping its not rods or anything with the engine. Im replacing PCV valve and adding a catch can, I found a few table spoons of oil in my manifold.

Im gonna get a compression test done once I have it running again,(currently working on small oil leak and sending injectors to get flow tested at Witch Hunters Performance ) was having issues of power loss during WOT and want to be sure injectors are working properly since I got my injectors used.

Im also getting the sputtering and hesitation your describing.. As stated earlier I think its a lack of fuel and needs fine tunning. I was running BRK6E-11 and when I switched to BRK6E which is a lesser gap ( i forget the exact number) I got less sputtering from exhaust and loss of power but I still need fine tunning which I will get done once I know Im not having issues with coil pack, injectors, and no more oil leaks. Let me know if you figure out your white smoke issue out of breather filter on Valve cover.

 

I believe the gap is .33 but don't quote me on that one. For colder plugs go with the NGK iridiums.

 

If your getting the psi that a 2.87 pulley would give you (13-14psi) depending on your setup, your most likely either maxing out those lil 370cc injectors or close to maxing them out. And that oil and smoke coming out your breather filter is most likely your piston rings that are probably toast.

 

So this is a really late reply on my part but I never realized there was any activity on this thread after my last reply in November 2013

I have come to the conclusion that my car simply was almost assuredly producing THAT much blow-by. In hindsight, even back when I was N/A, I remember always finding puddles of oil in my intake runners when I'd have the IM off. So even N/A I was producing considerable blow-by.

I never developed any oil leaks or anything so I still don't think my crankcase was being pressurized.

I also determined I have bad rings (low compression, adding oil to cylinder brings it up considerably).

I have been sitting on a brand new (rebuilt) engine for it to swap in which I will do over the next month or so. The car has just been sitting for months now awaiting my new engine to go in. I had just been really busy with my Civic for a few months which put my VE on hold. Now just waiting for it to warm up a bit.

Going forward, I will be replacing my check valve with a heavy duty unit from McMaster-Carr (# 7775K53). I also plan to run an electric vacuum pump (at 18 volts, which will achieve about 8" of vacuum) that will be boost activated that will pull on my VC vent once I hit boost. I'm currently looking into how to power the pump at 18 volts hard-wired to my car. A lot of drag guys run them off 18 volt drill batteries but I want something permanent. 8" of vacuum isn't a whole lot but it's better than nothing under boost.

 

Any boosted engine will get some oil in the manifold which will equal some loss in power and not over not good.

After doing a lot of reading on the subject, Im going with a Sikomichi duel catch can set up. 1 for front valve cover and 1 for rear Valve cover. Front Vcover will vent to catch can to catch any oil then go back into charge pipe line before SC inlet so its all metered air. The rear valve cover will come out of PCV into catch can then back into manifold. I think this is the best set up for a clean engine and proper tuning so you don't have any unmetered air going into the engine.

Going back to my original post, gapping my BRK6E plugs down to a .32 gapped got rid of some of the exhaust sputtering but not all. Im sure gap as well as proper AFR played a roll in the sputtering. Unfortunately I had blown pistons rings in my 3.0 and Im going with a 3.5 swap on 3.0 timing full 3.5 engine build. Gonna be running 560cc injectors with a return style fuel setup. I also switched from EMU to Nistune.

I'll be getting my car back sometime Late March early April and getting a tune will a Legit tuner.. probably Evans Tuning in PA. He's one of the best tuners in the East Coast, so hopefully this time Im in good hands.