FSP 1st Gen Protege Project

[concealer404]

Dumb question... having a brain fart:

Do you have to retain stock interior in FSP? I'm trying to remember why i got bumped into F Prepared or F Modified.

[XelderX]

Dumb question... having a brain fart:

Do you have to retain stock interior in FSP? I'm trying to remember why i got bumped into F Prepared or F Modified.

You must retain the stock interior, but you can replace certain items. The front seats can be replaced with racing seats and the steering wheel can be changed. If the removed interior is the only reason you got bumped I would consider just putting it back in. It really depends on your intentions. The weight savings of the interior doesn't make a big enough difference to justify moving up a class. If not having some of the interior is the way you like to leave it though and you aren't really concerned about classing then do what makes you happy.

[concealer404]

Yeah, that was it, then. Interior was gross when i bought it, and when i put in the custom bracing i didn't both reinstalling most of it.

I'll have to read the rules... that's probably the same reason i'm not eligible for SM, either.

[XelderX]

I've had the car on the dyno twice now and everything appears to be in good working order. It looks like the power drops off pretty significantly above 5500rpms, but peak power is not that far off from the 2.0L. With a few more tweaks we should be able to match the power of the 2.0L motor, but for now I just need to drive the car and get a feeling for the new LSD while saving up some more money. I really need to get a set of adjustable cam gears installed. That is the last easy thing to do to gain some power before haivng to spend a lot of test time on the dyno playing around with intake designs. I'll be pulling the oil pan off in the next few days to fix the small oil leak. The first real test run of the car won't come until later this month.

[teqnyck]

Xelder, can I ask you what kind of spring rates you're using since you're running slicks?

[XelderX]

Xelder, can I ask you what kind of spring rates you're using since you're running slicks?

600f/450r w/ custom FSB setup and stock RSB.

[wheresthericego]

Ive been wondering what was going on with this car for some time now. Glad to see more updates after that craptastic rule book amendment.

[XelderX]

Yea...I disappeared for a while. I'm trying to be motivated today and go take the header off so I can drop the oil pan, but I'm feeling very lazy.

[XelderX]

Good things are happening now. I fixed my oil pan leak, wrapped the headers, fixed the idle, and installed a set of Flyin miata cam gears. I'm headed back to the dyno tomorrow to get those sorted out. I've got a short test event on Saturday to shake the car down and a local event on Sunday.

Right now she is down a little bit on torque from the old motor, but that was expected. I've got some high hopes for the cam gears based on other peoples experiences with them on the BP.

[FE3-323]

any results yet????

[viper_707]

hey why is it that u dont run the 6ul's on the front aswell?

[XelderX]

any results yet????

Yep, we gained an extra 2 whp which gets us back within just a few of the 2.0L motor. The 1.8L was about 10 ft/lbs of torque under the 2.0L and with the cam gears it is now only down 5ft/lbs over the old motor and the torque is much more linear through the entire rpm range. We ran it at two events this weekend. The first was just a test event on a short course. The car doesn't feel quite as "snappy" as the old motor. That is probably that small loss of torque. We were on pretty old tires too which was causing the car to be a little more unpredictable than normal. We slightly corded one of the fronts tires at the test event. I think I'm going to have to play around with the air pressures to get the handling back the way I like it. Most of that might have been the old tires, but I think the new LSD is making the front of the car feel a little different. We flipped the corded tire on the rim so we could run it on Sunday. I PAXed 3rd for the event which was a little disappointing, but the car works and it's just going to take a few more events and some better tires to set it back up to be as fast as it was before. The good news is that we are very close.

hey why is it that u dont run the 6ul's on the front aswell?

I'm running a 10" wide front wheel for the 275/35-15 Hoosiers. 949 Racing doesn't offer the 6UL in a 10" wide wheel and the 15X9 they have pinches the 275 Hoosiers a little which decreases their effective tread width. I would love for 949Racing to make a 15X10.

[FE3-323]

what kind of settings did you use in adjusting the cams?

[Mazda_Powered]

yea i'm curious too, also what numbers did you actually pull with the BP?

[XelderX]

what kind of settings did you use in adjusting the cams?

The exhaust cam was retarded 2 degrees. The intake cam is only moved 1 degree, but I can't remember if we retarded it or advanced it. I'm pretty sure it's advanced 1 degree. We were making a lot of quick adjustments.

yea i'm curious too, also what numbers did you actually pull with the BP?

The hp numbers are a little misleading since we used a Dyno Dynamics rig. They read very low compared to a DynoJet or Mustang. My old 2.0L motor made 127 whp on a Mustang dyno, but that was with a stock ECU and stock cam gears. With the Megasquirt on the Dyno Dynamics dyno that same motor only made 104 whp. The BP motor made 102 whp on the Dyno Dynamics dyno after all the tuning. I'm sure there is at least another 10 whp to be made out of the BP, but right now I don't have the resources to mess with it any more. I just need to put some good tires on it and drive it. From the driver's seat it doesn't feel any slower than the old motor.