LocostUSA.com

It's been a while since my last update. The car hasn't run much this year. It broke in April, I fixed it and then it broke again after a couple of events. I decided to rebuild the engine correctly and sent the block of to be repaired and prepped for some custom made 14:1 forged pistons. Now time to get the engine up back together and set everything up to run on ethanol.

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2015 & 2016 EMod Florida State Autocross Champion
2013 & 2014 DSP Florida State Autocross Champion

Scrap Metal Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14558

Well the car stretched her legs for the first time in a very long yesterday. With the car being sat for a while it had a few issues. The started died, so I appointed my friend as my official push starter. After several phone calls I found a replacement from Advanced Autoparts, which already on the car. On the way home one of the trailer tires decided it wanted to be egg shaped. Thus the trailer bounced all over the place, fortunately not bad at highway speeds.

So here a little update of where the car is now. After my engine issues last year I decided to go big or go home. I replaced the pistons with custom units that give me about 14:1 compression at the 2.0L stroke The guys who made it really liked the challenge of "I want as much compression as possible".

Running so much compression I now have to run on ethanol. I bought a cheap set of injectors for the K24 motors which are 410cc vs the S2000's 360cc. They also have a better spray pattern. I had to modify the fuel rail to make then fit but they seemed to work. I installed a flex fuel sensor, which means I can run up to X98 (Canned race fuel that's 98% ethanol) or E85 pump gas. I plan to dilute some E85 with regular gas to get it down to around E60 (60% ethanol). The ECU the reads the amount of ethanol and merges the fuel and timing from two different sets of maps.

I have had lots of issues finding a tuner, my regular guy now has a full time job and doesn't answer his phone. Then various issues shops only doing American cars, can't do AEM, don't know Honda's or wont do the flex fuel. However I found a shop with the Mustang load based dyno (best type). I am going to do the tuning and they will run the dyno for my. However that is still about a month out.

I decided to take the car out to blow off the cobwebs and make sure nothing broke as soon as I got on the dyno. My local club allowed my to go to the back of the lot so I could do road tuning. Basically driving around a little and modifying the tables to make sure the AFR's were reasonable. Then did several WOT pulls to make sure she was safe. After a while I was reasonable happy so I set the redline low 8800 vs my target of 9500 and did a few runs.

The tires grip was really bad especially in the slalom but I was really surprised with the fast times I ran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wnRPD8cYlU I going out again today so hopefully the list of things I need to repair isn't too long and I can drive her onto the trailer at the end of the day.

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2015 & 2016 EMod Florida State Autocross Champion
2013 & 2014 DSP Florida State Autocross Champion

Scrap Metal Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14558

If you have your own tuning software and a way to do datalogging, a few test-and-tune evenings at a drag strip can be quite useful for WOT tuning.

Thats a good idea. I wouldn't mind seeing how she runs at the drag strip either.

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2015 & 2016 EMod Florida State Autocross Champion
2013 & 2014 DSP Florida State Autocross Champion

Scrap Metal Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14558

Do you still have the old injectors lying around? I've been looking for a set of stock S2000 injectors.

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Ford 5.0 into an M3
mikaelvroom.com | @MikaelVroom

Yeah, I actually have 2 sets of OEM if you want to make me an offer.

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2015 & 2016 EMod Florida State Autocross Champion
2013 & 2014 DSP Florida State Autocross Champion

Scrap Metal Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14558

I'm surprised that 410cc K24 injectors were sufficient. E85 requires 50% more fuel, plus you made other engine changes. I'm running 1650 cc injectors in my E85-capable turbo K24. Granted, it's a turbo, but still, I'm amazed you're getting good AFRs with injectors four times smaller. Said another way, I'm making twice the power but using injectors four times as large. Shrug.

Anyway, I run an AEM Infinity as well. Out here in SoCal, "the Guy" is Daniel Butler at Church Automotive in Los Angeles, CA. Even then though, expect to do a LOT of final tuning on your own to obtain OEM-like cold-start and idle, which took me far longer to achieve than setting it up on the dyno.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

I still have not dyno tuned it yet. Not sure if the injectors will be enough at WOT but it seemed to be fine doing my road testing. The injectors are about 30% larger and I figured the OEM ones are not maxed out. I destroked the motor too so it's the 2.0 vs 2.2.

The injectors only cost me like $40 so I figured it was worth giving them a try and if they can't deliver enough fuel I'll just buy bigger injectors.

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2015 & 2016 EMod Florida State Autocross Champion
2013 & 2014 DSP Florida State Autocross Champion

Scrap Metal Build Log viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14558

It was nice chatting with you a tiny bit when you walked out to station 4 at the Florida state champs. I am eagerly awaiting your video!
Mark

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Parts gatherer