Turned my Rex into a tractor...

[andyrose]

hi-jacking thread.
Turned into a TRACTOR - ooops
Mine sounds like one and has done for a while now although it seems to be running ok as it pulls quickly with no hesitation, normal boost pattern, starts ok hot or cold.
I changed my outlet gaskets (block to manifold and manifold to turbo) as i thought i was getting blow by, fixed a pinhole leak in the mid section of the exhaust but the noise is still there. My mates all think its a gasket somewhere but none of us can locate it. Maybe i have lost a tip. would i still get proper boost etc if its broke.

a short while before the \'blowing noise\' occured (which started quietly and has gotten slightly louder since) i let my battery go flat and the car was running in limp home mode.

I knew nothing of \'limp home mode\' and spent days trying to find the reason why it wouldn\'t boost beyond 0.4 psi and felt like it had hit a brick wall.

would that have been fuel cut, could that have caused me to loose a tip/seal/rotor
and have i lost all the skin off my knuckles for nothing (don\'t forget dropping the car on my arm in the process aswell)

Cheers

[nikp]

Dropping the car on your arm!?  

[andyrose]

yep
i did it (call me plank)
had car on axle stands fitting rear wheel and the car stand collapses crushing my left forearm between the top of the drivers side rear wheel and the rear wheel arch. its suprising how much you can compress flesh before it splits!
you can all see my scar at JAE

[ScuttleRX]

ouch, similar thing happened to my friend at work, had his finger in between a suspension spring for a rail wagon when the jack slipped, flat finger!

[Oedipus Rex]

oouch that gotta hurt

[nikp]

Ow!

Ok, if we\'re talking embarrasing things, then....

While i had my gearbox out, i thought i\'d drain the oil. So i stuck the gearbox on my front step and a trolley jack, and stuck a contained underneath it. I then went at the drain plug with a 3 foot knuckle and started undoing it. I was there for a couple of minutes wondering why it hadn\'t come off yet. I looked at it at it was still flush with the base plate of the gearbox - turned out, cos i was doing it from above, i had turned it the wrong way and stripped the thread out! doh!

Fortunately, it\'s only a plate that makes up the gearbox, so i was lucky enough to find RX Motors were willing to strip a broken gearbox for me for that plate! It arrived yesterday and now i can complete the putting back together of my rex!

Sorry - long story!

[iaint]

Nearly forgot, tuned by panspeed in japan, although standard ecu, optimax fuel, BIG intercooler, no overheating problems, was running 82ish deg.

These 2 combined could be a problem-in-waiting.  In Japan they use 100RON fuel.  Here, at best, we have 97/98RON.  Could well be a fuelling related issue but I wouldn\'t expect detonation to happen at 1/2 trottle.  Lets hope it\'s something simple.

Usually the stock ECU can cope with any 2 out of de-cat, cat-back and induction.  

If you want to do all 3 or enlarge the intercooler you need an aftermarket ECU as minimum.  If you\'ve got a big i/c and the other mods then you\'ll almost certainly need to uprate the fuelling side too (pump, pressure regulator and secondary injectors)..!

You\'d also be wise to uprate the ability of the red to shift extra heat generated and the breaks to slow you better...

A systematic approach is pretty important to building a safe rex and it\'s pretty much endless!

[nikp]

Yup, i concur with Iain. I have cat back and induction. I want to get a bigger intercooler, and therefore and waiting to get ecu, fuel pump, injectors and regulator.

[dandan]

right, well first of all, can i just say Iain, you appear to be a mechanical guru, if you dont already make a living from all things mechanical, you should do so immediately.
Secondly, i forgot to mention i have a three inch stright through from the manifold, as it is a 92 i dont need the cat.
so you reckon this, along with the large intercooler would require at least an uprated ECU and probably other stuff too? I would agree except the standard ecu was put in place of the panspeed one on the insistence of WGT, saying it would not warranty the rebuild with the panspeed ECU installed.
Surely this means either WGT made a silly mistake in running a standard ECU with other uprated bits, which would suprise me, or there is a british spec uprated ECU under there somewhere? can I see the ECU without ripping the engine to bits to find out? surely if it is a damaged rotor caused by WGT ran a standard ECU it\'s pretty negligent on their part? i\'m only assuming things, no blame is being made here, just thinking out loud. any comments?

[nikp]

Well, i\'d like to know how you knew what temperature your water was running at?

You seem to know it very precisely, which suggests you\'re running it off a hand held device: like the power FC. If it is a hand held device such as the PFC, then you\'re most likely running an uprated ECU. Infatc, if it is the PFC, you\'d be running the Apex\'i ECU and power FC.

[Oedipus Rex]

right, well first of all, can i just say Iain, you appear to be a mechanical guru, if you dont already make a living from all things mechanical, you should do so immediately.
Secondly, i forgot to mention i have a three inch stright through from the manifold, as it is a 92 i dont need the cat.
so you reckon this, along with the large intercooler would require at least an uprated ECU and probably other stuff too? I would agree except the standard ecu was put in place of the panspeed one on the insistence of WGT, saying it would not warranty the rebuild with the panspeed ECU installed.
Surely this means either WGT made a silly mistake in running a standard ECU with other uprated bits, which would suprise me, or there is a british spec uprated ECU under there somewhere? can I see the ECU without ripping the engine to bits to find out? surely if it is a damaged rotor caused by WGT ran a standard ECU it\'s pretty negligent on their part? i\'m only assuming things, no blame is being made here, just thinking out loud. any comments?

If you have a large straight though and a large intercooler, I would say you definitely ned an aftermarket ECU. With no backpressure on the system and nothing to control the boost, chances are it would

a) run lean
b) boost would go through the roof.

Causing detonation on 2 fronts.

1. the stock ECU would boost cut when the boost went over stock (which it would

2. The engine running lean due to not being mapped for your modifications.


I know this because it happened to me. First boost cut and I didn;t drive it again until I had an PFC in there.



I\'m very surpised that Pip would send a car out like that to be honest, I\'ve always found him to be over cautious if anything.


Getting to the ECU is easy, you want to take off the trim in the passenger footwell, that is on the wall of the car, just engine side of the door. It unclips pretty easy and gives you direct access to the ecu.

[nikp]

I suspect it os an after market ECU. Maybe it\'s not, but how is the coolant temp going to be known so precisely - not the stock temp gauge, that\'s for sure! Maybe an after market gauge i suppose, but i still reckon its after market ECU. As like you say, Pip would never let that go out with those mods and a standard ECU.

[iaint]

right, well first of all, can i just say Iain, you appear to be a mechanical guru, if you dont already make a living from all things mechanical, you should do so immediately.

Just regurgitating what I\'ve learned from people who know their stuff - posts on here and FDUK, conversations with tuners and people who know rotaries.  I\'m no mechanic or tuner and should probably stay doing what I know well - being an IT prostitute (er, contractor!).

Secondly, i forgot to mention i have a three inch stright through from the manifold, as it is a 92 i dont need the cat.

so you reckon this, along with the large intercooler would require at least an uprated ECU and probably other stuff too?

From what I know you\'d need aprogrammable ECU for that lot

I would agree except the standard ecu was put in place of the panspeed one on the insistence of WGT, saying it would not warranty the rebuild with the panspeed ECU installed.

The panspeed ECU is (I think) a pre-programmed chip that would suit their mods on their 100RON fuel.

I wouldn\'t imagine Pip warrantying the engine on a stock Mazda ECU with those upgrades any more than he would the Panspeed ECU.  In all liklihood (as Nik mentioned) you will have the Apexi ECU (and possibly the commander that displays information on it).

Surely this means either WGT made a silly mistake in running a standard ECU with other uprated bits, which would suprise me, or there is a british spec uprated ECU under there somewhere? can I see the ECU without ripping the engine to bits to find out? surely if it is a damaged rotor caused by WGT ran a standard ECU it\'s pretty negligent on their part? i\'m only assuming things, no blame is being made here, just thinking out loud. any comments?

I would think (although not being a lawyer or knowing all the facts, this is speculation), that the car - on a stock ECU - would be runnign at risk.

You can see the ECU by removing the plastic covering from the left hand side of the passenger footwell.  I would expect you to find the Apexi unit in there as WGT do know their stuff and Pip wouldn\'t risk a warranty claim on that spec with stock ECU

I\'m assuming all this was done by the previous owner?  You could always ask them or WGT about the history.

Iain

[dandan]

well i know the temp so precisely only from a well incremented after market gauge in the double din slot.
As far as the PFC goes, the only apexi kit I have is an apexi manual turbo timer which looks a bit cheap and cheerful, i assume the PFC is some sort of in car data display and adjuster? i definately dont have one. kind of wish i did though.
I knew that modifying one part of a rotary, (or any engine for that matter) requires modification in other areas, but the car seemingly had such a good pedigree that i assumed it was all well matched.
I will take a peek at the ecu tonight, and check out the WGT receipts i have, i must be missing something, as everyone says, this Pip guy seems pretty dependable.
who knows, i might get to Reworx and they will tell me it is a popped hose or something! thanks a lot for all the help though peeps! i\'ll keep you all updated, can\'t leave you on a cliffhanger like this!

[Freddy]

From a good source within Panspeed. Their mapping is excellent. Recently I had taken a car for Apexi power fc and re map. It was running a stock ecu and F con V pro tinkered with by Panspeed.

We had the car on the rollers and realised it was running perfectly well on optimax and jap spec ecu set up. Car made 360 at the hubs. No power fc needed and no re map. The panspeed ecu may well have been equipped to take on mods you have. However, the standard ecu probably did not register most of the modifications done to the car. I would highly doubt that the ecu in the car is stock if Pip at WGT ordered for it to be. I also doubt you had over boosted. Just how much fuel were you on when this happened? Attached picture shows somewhat the location of the ECU. If you remove the trim which is under the glove box and runs besides the passenger door speaker. You can see the ECU located behind it. Take a picture or let us know what it says if anything.on the ECU.

davegttph1 - Changing plugs is relatively easy. You could do it from above with the option of throttle body hardpipe taken off. Or if you could get access to a ramp. Then changing from under, is easier. I personally dont think any is worse than the other. Both will ensure you knuckles get scratched.