Swapped in HKS cams, now no compression / Cooling issue [BOTH RESOLVED]

[strokin4dr]

Hopefully its just a bad ignition module. That will cause the car to sound like a subaru too. I've had it happen a couple times on different cars.

Also, stock radiator should be fine. Mine is stock and I have experimented a bit with it.
If I run stock fans, temp stays where it needs to be. Even in the south GA heat sitting in traffic it is fine. When I rad an aftermarket 12" fan the temps would slowly start to creep up (even with it wired to stay on constantly). I tried 2 aftermarket fans and it was better but I would still see my 216* CEL (dsmlink setting) come on when I was least expecting it. I swapped the stock fans back in and everything returned to normal. For what it's worth I have a Stant superstat 180* thermostat in the car.

I have seen a buddy with a WRX go through all kinds of overheating issues with a fan setup like yours and it was only remedied by going back to stock fans.

If you swap to nicer, thicker radiator you may be able to solve your issue too.
I am a believer in leaving good enough alone now!

 

[92_talon_awd]

It's worth pointing out that water wetter has little to no effect unless it's mixed with 100% distilled water, that's when you should see the advertised 20 degree difference. Also, aftermarket fans usually don't cool as well as OEM until you add a shroud, that's when they really shine. I'm sure you know this, just that you mentioned running a little warmer than you wanted to be and those two things could make a big difference if you tweaked their application a little bit. Good luck bro, let us know what you find.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

I have a full shroud, and each fan is rated to flow 1150 CFM. That's a pretty good amount of air with both fans running. The reason I'm dismissing the fans is because the car runs warm even at cruise, where the fans don't even come into play. But, I wonder if the full shroud is hindering the car's ability to cool effectively at cruise? I still have the stock fan setup. Maybe I'll swap that back in and just see what happens. It definitely couldn't hurt, that's for sure. Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

As far as ignition issues causing the car to run crappy, IDK. It feels like I broke something, and it was a direct result of the last 3rd gear pull I did.

I didn't feel like screwing with the car tonight to find out. I'll do some tests and let you guys know what I find. It was starting to feel weird not seeing the car on jackstands everytime I walk through the garage anyways. At least things are back to normal now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Well, fixed the car. Check this out:

The #1 coil literally sh*t its guts out. I guess there's something in the wiring or in one of the coils shorting out the system. I swapped a new coil into #1, and the car ran good for about a minute. After about a minute, it started running like sh*t again and I shut it down. I popped the hood and felt the new coil I swapped in, and it was hot. Noticeably hotter than the other 3. I guess I have to tear down the COP system, and see what's up. After I figured out the issue was with the COP, I swapped in the factory coil and a set of plug wires. After that, the car ran awesome.

I went for a cruise to see how it ran, and it pulls hard. I have just a few issues:

Temperature- I'm STILL running around 210 at cruise. Is that too hot? I think I'm going to remove my Mishimoto shroud and fans, and swap the single stock puller in like it was before I put in the new motor. After Strokin mentioned swapping back to stock fans, it got me thinking. I'm wondering if the shroud is actually impeding airflow at cruise? Overall, I'm still not happy with the temps I'm seeing, and need to figure something out to bring them down.

Idle- With the new cams installed, the car wants to die under certain conditions. For example, if I'm pulling off the highway cruising down the off ramp and kick the car out of gear, the RPMs drop and the car acts like it can't recover from the falling RPMs before it dies. If I ease off the throttle and kind of buffer it myself, it will idle fine. But, the car acts like It doesn't have the buffer to handle the dropping RPMs on its own. It's especially bad when I'm on the brakes, stealing vacuum to operate the brake booster. It acts like it really hates decel while I'm on the brakes. Also, when I turn on accessories like the headlights, or the fans kick on it also affects the idle drastically. How do you guys get your sh*t to idle correctly with bigger cams? When I had the stock cams in the car, it didn't really have any of these issues.

 

[coyotes]

Glad it's not your cylinder head brett! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif

 

[strokin4dr]

I can't remember right off hand if you have dsmlink or not. If so, you can follow their how-to and get it idling perfectly as long as timing, boost leaks, etc are all good.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting coyotes:
Glad it's not your cylinder head brett! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif



Yeah, dude, that makes 2 of us. I still think my clearances are too tight though. The mark on the crank pulley is even off the mark a bit on the timing cover. I'm still trying to figure out how this is going to affect me in the long run. I definitely can't complain about how the car is running though. The motor is strong for sure, and I'm pretty excited to see how it does under a bit more boost.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting strokin4dr:
I can't remember right off hand if you have dsmlink or not. If so, you can follow their how-to and get it idling perfectly as long as timing, boost leaks, etc are all good.



Got a link for that?

 

[iceman69510]

I don't think 210 is too hot at all. If everything is working as it should and it doesn't get too hot at idle, you should be fine. Many modern cars run even hotter than that. Thermal efficiency and all that.

 

[coyotes]

I have been running between 90-100c, I need to redo some logs and see for sure and I'll let you know.

Pretty sure I have a 180 degree thermostat.

 

[strokin4dr]

Doesn't timing start being pulled at temps higher that 205?

 

[EfiniX]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:

The #1 coil literally sh*t its guts out. I guess there's something in the wiring or in one of the coils shorting out the system. I swapped a new coil into #1, and the car ran good for about a minute. After about a minute, it started running like sh*t again and I shut it down. I popped the hood and felt the new coil I swapped in, and it was hot. Noticeably hotter than the other 3. I guess I have to tear down the COP system, and see what's up. After I figured out the issue was with the COP, I swapped in the factory coil and a set of plug wires. After that, the car ran awesome.

I went for a cruise to see how it ran, and it pulls hard. I have just a few issues:

Temperature- I'm STILL running around 210 at cruise. Is that too hot? I think I'm going to remove my Mishimoto shroud and fans, and swap the single stock puller in like it was before I put in the new motor. After Strokin mentioned swapping back to stock fans, it got me thinking. I'm wondering if the shroud is actually impeding airflow at cruise? Overall, I'm still not happy with the temps I'm seeing, and need to figure something out to bring them down.

Idle- With the new cams installed, the car wants to die under certain conditions. For example, if I'm pulling off the highway cruising down the off ramp and kick the car out of gear, the RPMs drop and the car acts like it can't recover from the falling RPMs before it dies. If I ease off the throttle and kind of buffer it myself, it will idle fine. But, the car acts like It doesn't have the buffer to handle the dropping RPMs on its own. It's especially bad when I'm on the brakes, stealing vacuum to operate the brake booster. It acts like it really hates decel while I'm on the brakes. Also, when I turn on accessories like the headlights, or the fans kick on it also affects the idle drastically. How do you guys get your sh*t to idle correctly with bigger cams? When I had the stock cams in the car, it didn't really have any of these issues.




210 seems high.

Idle - My journey, for what it's worth. The steps I took in this thread sorted out 95% of my stalling. Wrapping the FP manifold and intercooler piping with heat shielding seemed to sort the rest out.

(my thread on this same issue)
click

 

[turbowop]

Yeah, I would want the car cooler just based on timing maps. Over 206 and a degree gets pulled. And then again at a higher temp that I can't remember off the top of my head. Anytime you can run the stock puller fan, do it, IMO. I ran mine all the way up until I installed a 4" intake pipe for the FP3052. I had to finally go to a slimfan and the cooling performance just isn't the same, even with a high quality FAL shrouded unit. I was able to run up to a 3" intake without clearance issues.

Good to see your other issue was simple. I like the clean look of COP setups, but I have a hard time getting away from the reliability of the stock coil/wires ignition setup.

As for idle and 272's, I bump it up to like 800rpm and just get the tune dialed in. My car never dies even with the AC on. Definitely not as smooth as with stock cams, but the extra power is worth the tradeoff. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[prove_it]

^800 OR 850. I set every car to that. 750 is way too low to acheive a stable idle with cams.

Brett, that coil looks crazy. Looks like you burned one of those snake fireworks on it. 210 is a tad high. Have you swapped in the 180 thermostat yet? It really makes a difference. I'd do that asap.

Get the car running good then address your cooling issues. Don't try to take on multiple issues at once. One other thing you can do for cooling is to build ducts to force more air through the radiator.

As for the KOYO EVO 3 radiator, you can find them. I got mine off here in DEC. I love it. It solved all my problems. It's about 1/2"-1" thicker which takes up more room and you will need slim fans. Check ebay. They are out there, wish I had a number or a source, but I bought it used.

 

[vr4play]

210 is about when the stock cooling fans come on so it would be fine at idle. It may be a little high for cruising. With the 180 thermostat and a Koyo racing radiator I cruise at about 190. Car never gets over 205 unless it's idling. If you want to buy a Koyo evo 3 racing radiator I can have one drop shipped to you from one of my distributors.

 

[strokin4dr]

^ My temps are roughly the same, but with a stock rad and 180 thermostat. I have an ets fmic too and even with that air flow restriction it cruises fine.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Hey, guys. Thanks for all the suggestions thus far. Today I swapped the stock puller fan back in the car. I took out the dual slim fan setup, and the Mishimoto shroud. It seems like that helped some.

Currently, it's about 78* outside, and drizzling. I took the car out for a drive, and the highest temp I saw was 206*. At idle it would run about 200*. Cruising on the highway about 65mph the car would stay pretty steady at 203*, sometimes dropping to 200*. If I ran it through the gears, it would jump to 206*, but drop pretty quickly back down to 203*. I'm much happier with those numbers. So, what do you guys think?

As for my idle, I'm still trying to sorted that out. I feel like I get it dialed in one minute, and the next min the car stalls. I am only seeing about .21g/rev at idle. My ISC seems to want to chill at 120 as well, so I'm trying to get that dialed in. I'm still running a stock GVR4 MAF, so should I even be making adjustments to the MAFComp? And, when the ISC is at 120, is that fully open, or closed? Thanks, guys.

 

[strokin4dr]

That is better but still a little higher than I like to see on my cars when cruising. Did you ever change to a 180 thermostat?

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Yeah, 180* Stant SuperStat is currently installed.

 

[G]

Try a 160d >> click