31st August 2007. Finished---For now! So How fast is it?
Spent some time getting the ignition timing set up, was able to all but eliminate the leanoff at low rpm by playing with the rate of advance, bringing it up earlier definitely helps. Also reduced the idle advance to help with the overheating I am seeing, thats the beauty of this Megajolt!! The car is definitely on the limits of the cooling system, It never boils or actually blows water but I was unhappy with the gauge going above 3/4 and staying there. The electric fan holds it but cannot bring it down even when I am moving, 97 degree days with humidity dont help!. First I added a Hellmans Overflow system, Thats a Hellmans Mayonnaise Jar in the wheelwell!! Works great.. Next I tried a heater core but it just won't fit because of the engine tilt. I suspected the oil cooler is not doing much so I took the car out and thrashed it, checked the oil temps and the cooler isn't even kicking in.. So I decided to get rid of it especially as I will be going to synthetic as soon as the engine is run in. That opens a nice hole for a 13 row cooling rad! Now when I am under way the gauge stays just above 1/2. It still climbs at idle but the fan holds it at 3/4 and on a 97 degree day thats good enough. Did some final tweaks, an annoying exhaust rattle amongst them and did a final idle setup and it sounds great. It felt so good I decided to do a few 0-60 runs. Bugger... I have lost a second somewhere! its around 9 secs not great esp as I saw low 8's earlier. One thing that has changed since removing the engine is the sound, before I could just hear some compressor chatter when changing gear, now it makes a Plughhh sound. I suspected the safety valve in the Plenium which is supposed to vent at 10psi but why didnt it always do that? Well after opening the plenium I think that I got some RTV on it and it was stuck for a while, hence the change in noise. Its just a spring loaded valve and the old spring is probably weak so I stiffened it up with some dimes and found my lost power.
So off I went with my G-force meter and here's the numbers..
0-60 7.86 seconds
1/4 mile 16.24secs @ 87.7mph
Not bad!... I messed up first gear on the 1/4 mile run a bit, Its hard to control the wheelspin in first and I'm still learning, I'm sure I can easily get into the high 15's.
