A day(ok,days..) at SMG dyno shop with my Harrop equipped Atom

[NormLarson]

Now, somebody from the Kansas City area needs to be tuned by Area ....

[Area47]

Is there any of em in the kc area?  I have yet to see one

[Radowick]

See reply #94 here:

http://forum.atomclub.com/index.php?topic=5115.225

Some people with way, way more knowledge than us, came up with this chart to help us to understand this engine's limitations. I can be satisfied with 283 hp. Just wish I didn't have to pay for it twice.

And a friendly reminder to all: don't forget about the maintance/replacing of the suspension rod-ends. This topic has not come up in a while. I hope some of us have not forgotten about this. 


 

[Area47]

the lsj can handle a lot more than what some of you give it credit for.  it's all in the tune.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

SMG tuned it for a nice flat torque band starting at 240ft.lbs at 2.5k rpm peaking at about 5.5k rpms at 265 and falling to about 245ft.lbs at 7200rpms. The HP moves up from 200 to a peak of 300@7200,nice and smooth line. No detonation,about 17 degrees of total timing, A/F ratio no higher than 11-1,coolant temps around 200 degrees. He has done a dozen Harrop LSJs and a few twin charge cars as well.Plenty in the high 300s and a few in the 400hp range.In all ,he has tuned about 100 LSJ cars. He has had two spark plug failures/valve and a cracked piston (mine).

[NormLarson]

Area, I know that you have been very successful tuning these engines.  I wish that one of us was in your region and got the "Area" Tune.  I really would like to read the feedback on it.  Your car has been one of the highest power producing supercharged LSJ's for quite a while.  The pictures of your motor apart when you put in the forged pistons and the ported head said it all.  Stock engine, almost 100,000 miles, 340whp and in a car twice as heavy (luxurious) and it looked like normal wear to me.  Do you ever make it to Seattle?

Mark, you are right, sometimes things break.  Unfortunately it happened to you.

[Gage]

[quote="Norm"]
Area, I know that you have been very successful tuning these engines.  I wish that one of us was in your region and got the "Area" Tune. 
[/quote]

If I happened to get an Atom again, I'm only 8 hours from Kansas City.  I would do that in a heart beat for a good tune.   

[Heywood-Yablowme]

My car broke because I pushed it way beyond what it was designed to take. Sometimes you get lucky and get away with abuse..but not often.
Push any engine to twice the standard horsepower over what it was built to take,bone stock, is asking for trouble. Take it out on a road race track and expect it to last was wishful thinking.  I knew this and took the gamble. From the beginning I figured I would have to build a proper HP engine to take racing use.

That's why they make stronger parts.Even then,sh1t happens.

Edited once sober.

[Gage]

[quote="MadMaxAtom and company"]
Gage,why don't you buy an Atom just so Area 47 can give you a "good" tune? WTF? Do you assholes think I just fell off the fuucking tuna boat yesterday? Until Area 47 tunes a real 300+hp road racing Atom or two successfully, all this talk about a magical tune is nothing but bullshit!!
I RACE my Atom,on a real RACE track,against other RACE cars,at 100% throttle.,,and I win. I push the car HARD.
I didn't add hp to my car so I could brag about it every opportunity I get, driving around on the street "racing" canned out ricers.....!
My car broke because I pushed it way beyond what it was designed to take.Get it? Sometimes you get lucky and get away with abuse..but not often.
Push any engine to twice the standard horsepower over what it was built to take,bone stock, is asking for trouble. Take it out on a road race track and expect it to last was wishful thinking.  I knew this and took the gamble. From the beginning I figured I would have to build a proper HP engine to take racing use.

That's why they make stronger parts.Even then,sh1t happens.
[/quote]

Madmax, while you are an automotive adventurer and a pioneer spirit, your hair trigger sense of personal insult/offense and the resulting overblown reactions never leave any room for boredom.  

But please consider this:  I think nearly everyone understood your situation (and I for one sympathized) and no one was trying to criticize you directly or indirectly, even before you started swearing to make your position clear.  


No one here believes in a magical tune.  We all want the best possible tune for our own application.  A little thread hi-jacking occurred.  oops

I think you make great contributions to the forum and I hope you are more successful in the future and have less bad luck.  

[NormLarson]

Mark, I was giving props to Area for first posting here and for what he has done and I have an honest desire to see what he could do with an Atom.  I don't see anything I said that was an affront to you.  What you have said is true, a track run car stresses parts harder.  A weak piston is a weak piston and will more than likely break regardless of the tune, unless the tune is seriously weak low stress kind of thing.  I have had an engine blow on me in the past and it sucks!  I do feel bad for you.

[Area47]

i do road race my car.  not in sanctioned events.  i drag race my car. i daily drive my car.  the tune does NOT change for any of these.  my engine saw 98k miles before the tear down.  box stock factory issue.  3150lbs of weight to drag along.  other cars i have tuned either get drag raced or road raced.  one major road racer i tune/tweak on a regular basis beats the holy duck out of the car.  it gets road raced once a week.  a track/street prepped ion redline.  stock motor as well.  the last time i road raced my car i was on a 330whp tune.  pump gas and meth injection.  second session the meth tank ran dry.  20 laps, give or take a few.  no laptop.  dumped race gas in the car.  didn't change a damn thing.  12.6 afr average.  from 20mph to 140 mph.  zero issues.  drove the car home.

what difference does it make on the object surrounding the engine.  same drivetrain.

do you know exactly what the egt's were?  what exactly the afr was? exactly what iat2 temps were?  dyno afr and timing vary greatly to street afr and timing.  this is why there MUST be a street tune after wards.  you MUST dial in the maf.  log after log after log.  you HAVE to monitor these things.

i will say that weird sh1t does happen, but to jump my ass without knowing where i stand in this game is a bad move at best.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

 Some diffeences on the Atom;  exhaust is different..our intercooler system is different,our intake system is different.The car is lighter and rear wheel drive with different aero,and MUCH more traction.      

  We monitored A/F ratio,IATs,coolant temp,knock retard,injector duty ccycle,boost,etc etc. SMG has dyno tuned HUNDREDS of LSJ's,twin charge equipped and Harrop units as well. We made over 30 dyno pulls over two days,and changed the tune accordingly.They are a professional shop and have an excellent reputation. It was the best I could find..

This was not a brand new motor in my car,but one that had seen a lot of hard racing already. sh1t happens,even to brand new parts.

[Area47]

You think just because it is an atom it defys all normal laws that apply to internal combustion engine?  Really?  You can't answer my questions because you do not know the answer.  ON THE TRACK.  Not the dyno.  Great variances here.

You can make 400 pulls on the dyno for all i care.  It is that one time on the street at a different load that can kill the engine.  Stock or built.  Does not matter.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Edited while sober. 

[Area47]

The lsj destruction i have seen falls into a couple catagories.  Too lean, runaway knock. Or stuipidity.  The kr ties into three things.  Iats, afr and timing.  No tune in the world can save an engine due to the owners blindness.  If one of those is out of wack, its a nasty downward spiral from there.

Bigger, better, stronger does not equal bullet proof.  sh1t will break.  That. We all know.