It was a big milestone event yesterday in the Bugeye's life: its first dyno session and professional tune. Woot!
As I may have mentioned in a previous post, the engine for the car came out of a custom Model A (!) driven by an elderly gentleman. The builders of that car were worried he was going to hurt himself driving the high-power/low-weight vehicle, so they had the ECU purposely de-tuned, boost limited to 5psi, and the engine rev-limited to 5K rpm--primarily to give everyone a little peace of mind when the customer took possession of the car.
Fast forward to now. The engine and transmission eventually found their way into my car, including the de-tuned ECU and the 5psi-limited turbocharger. A few months ago, we got the car on the road, but it was clearly in need of a proper tune. I also wanted (needed!) the rev limiter removed. Plus I wanted to up the boost a bit.
This week I took the car into a tuner friend of Joe's. We originally planned to use the tuner's hub dynos, so I purchased some wheel adapters and brought them to the shop. Unfortunately, the wheel adapters weren't machined properly and wouldn't bolt on properly. Argh. Fortunately, the tuner also had a traditional Mustang roller dyno that worked out. In the end, we spent more than 3 hours on the dyno, getting the entire air-fuel and ignition maps setup. Here's a short clip of Steve Cole (tuner) making one of a dozen pulls on the dyno:
The goal of the session was not to maximize performance--far from it, in fact--but to create a base, reliable, safe tune with good, crisp performance throughout the rev range and boost limited to 5psi. We also wanted to "poke at" some higher boost (10psi) to foreshadow a future dyno session.
So, here are the tabulated summary results of the best 5psi pull and the one aborted 10psi pull:
And one of the 5psi money shots:
Nice, fairly flat torque curve with a noticable upward slope change when the turbo kicks in at 3K rpm. Horsepower just builds pretty linearly throughout the rev range.
From the table, you'll note that the one 10psi run we tried was aborted at around 5,500rpm because of the injectors saturating at 100% duty cycle. Assuming I buy/install larger injectors, advance the timing a bit, and run it up to the current redline 7K, I extrapolate max torque and horsepower to be around 220lbf-ft and 250hp, respectively, at the wheels. This would mean approximately 260lb-ft and 300hp at the crank, which is backed up by other people's results with this same type of engine. Sounds pretty promising to me, especially for a car that weighs just 1850lbs. And what if I crank to boost to 15psi, which these engines have been shown to handle with ease? And what if, what if....
Sigh.
I have to pause and just enjoy the car as-is. I'm not planning said larger injectors, increased boost, or further tuning, etc. any time soon. Instead, the goal is to get a thousand or more miles on the drivetrain and work out some of the various gremlins and issues that have arisen in these first few hundred miles of shake-and-bake driving. I have some nasty sheet metal buzz at certain rpm levels, for example, that requires attention. Plus sway bars to figure out, a parking brake to design, various electrical tweaks, etc., etc., etc..... Only then will I start to think about bringing the car back for round 2 of testing for more performance.
For now, the drivability of the car is greatly improved. Like night and day improved. Smoother idle, very crisp throttle, and very strong freight-train pulling throughout the entire rev range, etc... Not to mention no 5.5K rpm rev limit! The bottom line is I could not be happier with this first step toward full performance of the car. Woot!
Took the car to the local Cars and Coffee again. Just as I was leaving my house to go to the show (in the dark pre-dawn), I realized the front headlights weren't working. Long story short, got to the show a little late. I (think I have) diagnosed the problem as a bad connector on the dimmer switch.
The show was fun, and as last time, I got a lot of really good comments, feedback, and kudos. Joe even stopped by with his boy, so it was good seeing him.
After the show, I took the car on my big "round-the-mountain" loop to put another 50 miles or so on it. Rattles continue to drive me a little crazy, and the rear diff gearing is way too short, but otherwise the car is SO MUCH fun to drive. Love this car.
Then, when I got home, I finished assembling the BendPak and with the help of my bride, we got the 1000lb beast turned and oriented under the car. I'm using the lift in a non-standard orientation due to the narrow track width of the Bugeye. It seems to work really well like this, and is stable and solid when all the way up in the air. Will make working on the car so much simpler. Need to order a rolling chair or inclined creeper now. Video:
Gassed up the Bugeye and took her for another 50-mile shakedown drive around the Tucson Mountains. Axles are (knock on wood) still holding up, but to be honest, I've not pushed them super hard yet. That will come. For now, I'm primarily just putting miles on the car and continuing to discover a number of little things that require attention. One of the bigger issues is vibrations and rattles. I *think* the worst offenders are coming from the dash area, but to be honest I need another set of ear-balls in the car with me to track 'em down while underway.
The passenger-side seat belt showed up yesterday, so I will try to find time this week to get it installed. These RaceQuips are so much easier to use than the Crowe units. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade.
In other news, I sold my old Quick Jacks on Craigslist this week and.... drumroll.... ordered a BendPak MD-6XP to replace it. I'm really limited by my dinky little garage space, as well as the incredibly small dimensions of the car, which render a lot of lift choices non-starters. I'm 95% certain the BendPak will work-- but only if I use it oriented sideways under the car. Going to be interesting...
Still nervous about the fix we made to the right-side axle, but the only real way to test it is to start putting miles on the car. So that's exactly what I did yesterday. I've got a favorite drive that encircles the Tucson Mountains. It's about 50 miles in total, traveling through the Saguaro National Park and the Tucson Mountain Park. Beautiful 2-lane rolling/twisty drive. The car behaved well on the drive, though I did jot down a half-dozen tweaks/fixes that occured to me on the drive. Most notable were the 3-4 sheet metal "buzzes" that occur at various speeds. Really hard to localize them with just one person in the car, so will need to bring along a passenger to help me diagnose the locations. You can't fix a problem until you identify it, right? Also need a dead pedal for my left foot, etc... Just various things that will consume my life over the next 6-9 months or so. At least the axles didn't break...
Before the drive, I installed my new driver's side 5-point harness, which is a HUGE improvement over the Crowe units that require everything to slot together. Happy enough that I ordered the passenger side harness, which should show up this week. Sorry for the crappy photo:
Here's the car parked on the side of the road just outside the National Park. Beautiful day for a spirited drive:
Finally, I'm looking hard at buying a shop lift for the car. I have a set of Quick Jacks, but they don't get the car up high enough to be practical. The problem is... well, the choices... and the limited space and height of my tiny garage. Single and dual scissor lifts, short 2-posts, short 4-posts.... argh. Just need to make s decision and get something ordered....
First the bad news: we broke another axle in the car. Previously we broke the left side axle when, we think, we over-extended it. I.e., the axle was just a little too short and, upon full droop, over-stressed the inner CV joint and blew it apart. We fixed that by installing a slightly different length axle and all seemed fine. It was good enough to put about a hundred miles on the car without issue.... but then yesterday, the right side axle decided to let go. Different type of breakage, but (perhaps) due to the same axle-length type issue. We're building a new axle today and will try it out. Fingers crossed. Argh. Aggravating.... but also not unexpected as this is essentially a brand new car, with a brand new, untested drivetrain. Things are bound to go wrong. But still... arghgh!
In good news, the brake master cylinders have been replaced with slightly smaller diameter units that provide more pedal feel/movement. I think I still need fresher/better brake pads, but for now this is a big help over the previous rock-hard pedal that took Herculean effort to stop the car.
We also built new intercooler ducting to force air through the IC rather than spill out around it.
And finally, the new plate is on the rear of the car. Love it.
After a couple of weeks of driving the car around and seeing what works and what doesn't, I drove the car back to Joe's shop to work through a few issues. These range from minor (loose turn signal switch and some wiring) to relatively important (rock-hard brake pedal that requires smaller diameter master cylinder) to annoying (very difficult to open/close bonnet, rock spray front front tires) to performance related (need sway bars, intercooler ducting...). The plan is to work through these over the next couple of weeks and then get the car back on the road for the next round of shakedown. My hope is to take the car to its first autocross in January. Fingers crossed.
My new license plate arrived for the 1959 Austin Healey:
Took the car to its first C&C meeting. We have a half-dozen different C&C's here in Tucson, but the one I enjoy the most takes place on the first Saturday of the month at the local TopGolf facility. Here are a few observations and lessons learned from the trip, in no particular order:
Get there early--but not too early. The meet ostensibly takes place between 7am-9am, but everyone said to arrive early. I left the house at 6am and arrived a good 30 minutes early, which was a) good, in that I could park anywhere I wanted; b) bad, in that it took another 30 minutes before most cars showed up. I could have left at 6:30am and been fine.
Wear gloves. The bugeye doesn't have heat (yet). It was about 40F when I left the house (wearing a warm jacket and ski cap) and the cockpit was surprisingly comfortable. But, I forgot gloves, and my hands quickly turned into frozen hams.
Darkness is a challenge. The little penlight I carry in my sling bag died about 30-seconds into use. When it's pitch-black dark outside, it's a challenge to get the 5-point seat belts on and the car ready to go.
Get the damn keys out first. I carry the car keys in my front pocket. After getting fully strapped into the car is not a good time to remember where the keys are.
Need better mirrors. Really not pleased with either of the car mirrors. The peep mirror on the A-pillar needs a lot more adjustment. The dash-mounted rearview is a vibrating mess. I'm going to keep the peep (with alliteration), but find a better rear-view mirror--preferably one with a dimmer built in (see the next bullet point).
Don't go blind. When you're basically sitting on the ground, tailgaters at night with high-beams produce TERRIBLE glare reflected off the rearview.
Bring a chair--and use it. I brought a foldable camp chair with me, but literally forgot to unfold it and use it for the first hour or so I was there. Literally stood the whole time--but that was OK, as I spent A LOT of time standing anyway, talking to people about the car (see next bullet point).
The car was a hit. Probably spoke to 50 separate people about the car, all of whom said incredibly nice things about it, took tons of pictures of various bits and bobs, and asked tons of questions. People ranged from "This is a '59, right? I had a '58 and the taillights were different..." to "Damn. Damn. Damn!" to "Is this a kit car?" to "Is this a midget" to "An Ecotec? Turbocharged? Are you crazy!?" to "This is the coolest car here...." But it's all also just a vanity exercise. I was standing in line for coffee at one point, and overheard two guys behind me: Guy A: "Did you see that Lamborghini with the roof rack? Insane!" Guy B: "Fuck that. Did you see the wicked turbocharged Bugeye Sprite? You gotta go see that thing!" Very, very cool to hear....
First time filling the gas tank was interesting. I filled up the tank with premium at a local QT on the way home. Only got 7/8 of the tank full, according to the gauge. Not sure if it's a calibration thing with the gauge or I just can't fully top off the tank. Hmm...
The car is freaking fast. Got into a little, umm, spirited driving contest on the way home against a new Camaro that had (at least) an exhaust put on it. The guy maneuvered hard to get alongside me at a stoplight just outside of town, gave me a big thumbs up, revved his engine hard, and then took off like a bat out of hell when we got the green. I started relatively slow and relaxed, but a micro-second later, my inner teenager kicked in and I said what the hell. Foot to floor, bouncing off rev-limiter throughout the gears-- simply walked away from the guy about 100 yards into the little race. Backed off north of 90mph and let him catch up. Another big thumbs up from him. A huge grin on my face. I'm suddenly 45 years younger....
Scraped something. On one of the big dips on my 2-lane driving home, I briefly scraped something underneath. Gotta get the car up on a lift today and see what's what.
I love this car. Yes, it's tight in the cabin, rearward visibility sucks, the brakes need a lot of help, everything is raw and unfiltered and both cold and hot at the same time, there are a ton of little things need addressing, it needs interior and paint, etc.... but it is SO much fun to drive this car. Can't wait to get it tuned and dyno'd in a few weeks.
The only photo I took of the car, 30 minutes before the next 200 cars showed up:
