The "WildZL1" Build Journey

[FasNuf]

Originally Posted by Vicster

Thanks for asking, it was mostly the spark plugs, I bought a coil checker and all the coils operated great. I was using Brisk racing plugs. I have seen new plugs go bad in an hour, but never 4 at once. I went back to the NGK's one step colder and gapped them to 0.030". I also upped the coil dwell time by 10% to deal with the wild cam I installed, a little hotter spark cant hurt! The car fires right up and idles at 750 rpm.

Thanks for the reply. I had a similar misfire situation and still do to some extent. I changed my #4 plug and it helped a ton but I think I need to tighten my gap. I'm currently at .039" @ 14.5 psi boost. I bet if I tighten them up like you did, it'll help.
No issues with the 10% coil dwell?

[FasNuf]

Awesome! Thanks Vic

[brick59]

Originally Posted by FasNuf

Thanks for the reply. I had a similar misfire situation and still do to some extent. I changed my #4 plug and it helped a ton but I think I need to tighten my gap. I'm currently at .039" @ 14.5 psi boost. I bet if I tighten them up like you did, it'll help.
No issues with the 10% coil dwell?

As your boost go's up your gap needs to come down I'm at 14 to 15 psi and run mine at .030 with no misfires my tuner said I could go down to .028 to .026 if it starts to misfire but so far no problem's. I think I read somewhere in ttshovel's build thread he's down to to .018 to .020 gap with high 20s to low 30s boost. Hope this helps you guys.

[FasNuf]

Originally Posted by brick59

As your boost go's up your gap needs to come down I'm at 14 to 15 psi and run mine at .030 with no misfires my tuner said I could go down to .028 to .026 if it starts to misfire but so far no problem's. I think I read somewhere in ttshovel's build thread he's down to to .018 to .020 gap with high 20s to low 30s boost. Hope this helps you guys.

Thanks, I’ll give it a shot. I occasionally get a feeling like the power is breaking up near redline. I logged but never saw what was actually going on. I hate removing my plugs. I always seem to break at least one.

[fireman1153]

I hate to interrupt such an awesome thread just to ask a question but where did you get your 6 point roll bar from and can the cross bar be removed easily for daily driving? I’m in the market for one since my last power upgrade but don’t want to lose the capability of my kids riding in the back seat when I’m not heading to the track. Thanks man.

[fireman1153]

I actually have a harness bar already but have been looking into the roll bar since I’m now making just under 1k rwhp. I really need the roll bar at the track. Thank you for your quick response man and I will check into the options you provided.

[fireman1153]

Originally Posted by Vicster

You are welcome, good luck! If you are able to get the rollbar with the removable bar get it with one seat belt mount per seat, the outboard one on the double is really hard to use, that is why I made a connecting bar for them.

Thanks man. I really appreciate your help.

[bottletalk]

hey vic how did you wire your amp and speakers? did you bridge any channels and/or parallel any connections? 1 or 2 ohm? 4ohm?

[bottletalk]

looking great! curious why you never paralleled any of your speaker connections? that amp loves low ohms.

[bottletalk]

Originally Posted by Vicster

Hello,
It just never occurred to me, but I am very very happy with the way it sounds right now. So have no plans on changing anything. But thanks for asking, I may think about it doing it in the future...

did you do anything for power upgrades? Alternator?cap? with the amount of detail you put in I’m surprised that amp doesn’t have a fan wired to a stat lol.
great build, the info is valued highly!

[FasNuf]

Who's doing your dyno tune? Or are you just renting the Dyno?

I know Wong's is in washington as he did my first tune before I got HPTuners And started learning.

Look forward to more posts!

[FasNuf]

Originally Posted by Vicster

Hello,
I am thinking of going to The Mustang Shop (TMS) in renton again, they did a good job when I took my red ZL1 to be tuned. Prior I took it to wong's 3 times, he could not get my tune right. I know allot of people like his tunes, I am not one of them. I posted my tune from wong's on the HP Tuners forum without telling them who done it. They tore it apart, when I told them who had done it they were very disappointed. He had a very good rep on their site, I guess with everything quality comes and goes.

I have been working on my VVE and spark charts, I have my normal driving AFR within 1% so I have turned on my short and long term trims. I may have to adjust my spark a couple more times but I finally feel I have done all I can without a dyno in my backyard. I am including one of my latest tunes, feel free to take a look at it and compare to what you are running and your stock tune to see the differences.

I like your videos!

Yea, When I was there talking about his shop, he said it was just a job now. I guess he started it because he enjoyed cars and performance, maybe not so much now if it's just a job. Get em out the door as fast as you can is what most of them do now.

Thanks for the likes on my videos...much appreciated when a person of your skill set enjoys them.

[FasNuf]

Originally Posted by Vicster

Hello,
I am thinking of going to The Mustang Shop (TMS) in renton again, they did a good job when I took my red ZL1 to be tuned. Prior I took it to wong's 3 times, he could not get my tune right. I know allot of people like his tunes, I am not one of them. I posted my tune from wong's on the HP Tuners forum without telling them who done it. They tore it apart, when I told them who had done it they were very disappointed. He had a very good rep on their site, I guess with everything quality comes and goes.

I have been working on my VVE and spark charts, I have my normal driving AFR within 1% so I have turned on my short and long term trims. I may have to adjust my spark a couple more times but I finally feel I have done all I can without a dyno in my backyard. I am including one of my latest tunes, feel free to take a look at it and compare to what you are running and your stock tune to see the differences.

I like your videos!

Ok, well I realized your on the Beta. Interesting to look at your tune. I'm no pro but I see your running an all MAF tune, No E85, VVE looks smooth. The spark looks less than mine. I'm at 20* towards my full WOT so far without issue. Man you can really spin that motor up! 7300rpm? wow! I cutoff my stock bottom end at 6600Rpm. Thanks Vic, it's fun to check it out.

[FasNuf]

Originally Posted by Vicster

I spun my Red ZL1 to 6800rpm on stock lower end, the tuner at TMS wanted to spin it to 7000rpm. We did so on the dyno but HP never peeked, I still lowered it to 6800rpm to protect the lower end.
I have not turned on my VVE yet, want to get my spark table a little better. I have been monitoring my knock very closely, and I pull a little extra spark before smoothing it out. The engine makes plenty of power I do not want to risk damaging something because of being greedy.
I will lower my RPM after the dyno, set it up as a max limit for them.I think 7000rpm will be fine with the forged parts. Will have to wait and see. I also add 1 qt of Torco octane boost per tank of gas just as a buffer.

If you feel like it drop your tune into a zip and upload, I am always interested in checking out tunes. Everyone focuses in different areas to accomplish their goals. I like the start up VrOOOm, so I tweaked my startup air to allow it to rev up when engine is warm.

I always thought it was good planning to do a quick adjust of the VVE to be close or even rich just in case the MAF fails. I'de hate to see a MAF failure at WOT and the ECM falling back on a stock VVE. Might go lean, but hopefully the low octane table is still intact and useable.

I shoot my tune to your email.