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09-24-2002, 08:30 PM
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 Welcome to the DARK SIDE: PART ONE Welcome to the DARK SIDE PART ONE: Vacation in Miami NOTE: Those of you who have inside information regarding the current status of the car, all shall be revealed in time. J Background: Show dynochart of supercharger setup. (In the case that the attachment does not appear it shows 363 hp and 303 ft-lbs torque on a dynojet. Those of you who are familiar with the car will find this redundant. For those that are not, then this a little background information to better understand the situation. February 2000 – A normal 1998 E39 528iA goes under the knife for an ESS Powerdyne 6psi blower kit. After 36 hours of intense labor, out comes out an acquired taste for pure evil (power). It is raining during my first ride in the new setup. Immediately my first reaction is, “Hmmm not what I was expecting…” September 2000 – Upon the success of Jon Sibal’s transmission swap, talks regarding a 5-gear manual transmission swap begins with Michelangelo Motorwerkes. My reasoning was simple: Slush box vs. clutch; doesn’t take a mental giant to know that manual trannys put more power to the ground. In addition with the automatic being only 4 gears, and the manual being a closely spaced 5 gears, acceleration was about to change from night to day. December 2000 – I discover an RMS Stage 2 E46 3.2 liter car will soon be dismantled. In one fell swoop I acquire everything under that hood. Inline 3.2 liter E36 M3 engine, Vortech S/C, Supersprint headers, RMS stage 1 aftercooler, OBD1 wiring harness, and M50 intake manifold. March 2001 – the transformation is complete. The first time I’m taken out in the car it is raining again. The car is strong. However the aftercooler tank as well as aftercooler radiator is not complete and I’m advised to stay under full throttle. I learn to mix my own gas August 2001 – The aftercooler is complete. Upon installation of the aftercooler I try full throttle and discover what engine knock is (hereon referred as ping). Thus begins my year-long crusade to eliminate ping. I suspect the RMS software is not performing. Months of dealing with only Michelangelo Motorwerkes are mostly fruitless. I attempt to search farther in terms of geography September 2001 – Trailer my car up to Sonoma’s Sear’s Point Raceway for installation and tuning of Unichip. It is discovered that there are unknown limitations on the car causing the car to lean out above 5500 RPMS. This is my “ghost” that I must find and rid my car of. November 2001 – Talks with Karl from AA begin regarding larger HFM as well as custom tuned chip. Installation of chip and HFM do not solve detonation. The existence of the “ghost” is confirmed. January 2002 – Car enters SHO Shop under Vadim’s care. After 2 months and thousands of dollars spent, the car is returned in virtually the same condition it was given. I am getting desperate. Software solutions are not the answer to the problem. There’s something else wrong with the car. May 2002 – Talks with Active Autowerke go into full effect. Through a personal friend and countless stories I learn of their abilities and solutions to all problems. Frustration gets the best of me… A long introduction, and this is where my story begins… It’s a hot afternoon and the truck appears outside my front door. It’s a lot larger than I’d imagined it to be. A 53’ Fully enclosed big yellow 18-wheeler with the words “Exotic Car Transport” written on the side of it. It’s tall enough to brush up against the trees on my front lawn. In less than 30 minutes my car is among some of the most exotic cars in the world. 996TT, Ferraris, and one-of-a-kinds I’ve never heard of. Destination: Miami Florida, headed for Active Autowerke. My goal is simple: Let’s get this thing running the way it should be and hopefully make as close to 400hp to the wheels as possible through custom tuned software, cams, upgraded pulley, etc. I’ll tell you it was the strangest feeling in the world watching that trailer leave with my baby in it. Then again in my heart, part of me was saying “Good riddance” since so much frustration and anger had resulted in my endeavor to undertake a task greater than the abilities of a few west-coast tuners put together. My feelings regarding the decision I made: I read the DTM boards in addition to the bimmerforums.com quite often and I see the nightmares people have with problems with their cars on an almost daily basis. Occasionally the nightmare takes the form of a faulty part that is BMW’s fault. Sometimes the nightmares are misunderstandings between a customer and a vendor but more than often it’s the result of someone being “unable to deliver”. Let’s face the facts. Regardless of what the problem or situation is, when you turn to a “specialist” to solve your problems, there is a certain level of expectation that actions will be taken to remedy the problem, right? Let’s leave the politics and courtesy at the door. When the shit hits the fan all that matters is, “Can you walk your talk?” It all boils down to competence. But this is not a post for me to complain about how I was wronged by so-and-so. I brought that stuff onto myself in attempting to do something that had never been done so let me deal with it. However when good money is spent for services that aren’t delivered then there’s a “slight discrepancy” with what you wanted compared with what you get (to say the least). When I sent my car to Active, I caught the first glimpse of hope I’d seen in a LONG time. I get regular reports from Karl and it has never been difficult to keep up with exactly where the project is and what has been done to solve the problems for the car. Within the first 2 days of inspection, Karl Hugh found my “ghost”. The “ghost” was a 2nd fuel pressure regulator that someone escaped the attention of many who have looked through this car. Apparently when the engine swap with OBD2 to OBD1 swap took place, OBD2 left an FPR in the car, and the engine came with an FPR as well. It makes me rather sad that an FPR can go unnoticed for an entire year on the west coast yet be resolved in the matter of 3 days on the east coast. I have the utmost love for the westside, but come on now. I’m at a loss of words when I think about the amount of time, money, and effort I put in (and not being a mechanic it’s like searching for a needle in the haystack trying to find my “ghost”), between March 2001 and May 2002. The amount in thousands would unfortunately be an understatement. Perhaps that is a harsh lesson learned as well when undertaking something you don’t understand quite well enough. I hope I don’t come across as preaching because I feel that if just one person learns from my mistakes then I’ve saved someone a lot of trouble. I put off sending my car to Florida for the longest time because I figured the cost of the transport wouldn’t be cost effective. But instead I wasted a lot more money, time, and effort messing around with incompetence. If you’re going to do something, have it done right the first time. You reap what you sow. Not wanting to end on a negative note, in the span of 3 days the car was tuned for 340+ hp and 310 ft-lbs of torque on AA’s Mustang dyno. Considerable gains were made in torque though not too as much for horsepower. Thus the saga continues and we’ll see what the car can put out with cams and a new pulley… Attachment below is a dyno of the car on a dynojet during testing before being sent to Florida. Last edited by SC5-Charles : 09-24-2002 at 08:31 PM.      |
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09-24-2002, 08:35 PM
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| Muahahahahahahaha. For those who dont know, Charles is one power crazy guy. Just how much, I guess we will find out soon.......  Ernie 
__________________  ernie-2 dremel tool-0 richard is my hero Last edited by ernie : 09-24-2002 at 08:38 PM. |
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09-25-2002, 05:23 AM
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| Charles, Cant wait to see the finished product. Hope everything works out and I hope all is well |
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09-25-2002, 06:35 AM
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| Score one for AA... That puts an end to the question on who's doing engine work when I get some money together... -Prince |
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09-25-2002, 06:48 AM
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| Hey Charles! Glad to hear things are going better. Believe it or not, this is not the first time I have heard "specialists" forgetting about a FPR. In fact, when I asked several specialists if our cars come stock with FPR's, many of them don't know. Unbelievable. As you know, I have a ton done under the hood as well. The car is going in for "final" tuning soon and I want to send it to a competent place. Are you saying that you couldn't find anyone out here, including Evosport? They might tune the car and I want to find out your opinion. They will be tuning through a TEC3. Bottom line, I'll pay for results. Even if that means sending it to the Eastside on a trailer. I just know the motor is capable of much more than it is currently putting out. |
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09-25-2002, 07:42 AM
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| I'm shocked at the amount of support from the enthusiasts. I look to many of you for advice and/or just to throw around ideas. I'll try to respond to as many of your comments as possible: E36M3: I honestly don't want to do any finger pointing. All I can tell you is what I have experienced. The car was at Evoport for way too long and they didn't really solve any of my problems. I would strongly suggest you to take this consideration seriously for tuning your TEC3, I thought you were going to send it to RMS though... Ernie: Give me a call tonight, we have to finish talking lol Again, tranmann, PrinceE30, alen, nima, Mr. Caldito, 740idogg, chase265, typejr, etc. thanks for showing your support for this ridiculous adventure hehehe |
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