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12/26/15 Streets of Willow & Tune+ Review

Pete

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#1
So last time I was at Streets of Willow was last month on the 15th of November. Since then I changed the BOV to a turbosmart, the Wastegate to Tune+ version, and a tune from Adam for e30 and 91.

Before I get to my track review lets talk about the tune and wastegate. When installing this wastegate you need a tune to compensate for the difference in spring pressure. Adam was very quick to get me a revised tune So quick that every morning I had a new file and some days I got a new file 3 times in that day. I was blown away by his response as I had sent a datalog to Randy from Mountune under their 45 day period for buying a new Accessport and I have still yet to receive a file what seems like 2 weeks later. (I am not going to go with Randy's tune as I am extremely happy with Adam's). The first tune was a baseline I didn't really feel any difference nor see any gains in boost or timing when I looked at the data log. But what is there to expect it was a safe tune to make sure everything is operating correctly. From there boost went up a little bit more and with every revision (5 total for 91 fuel) I could see not only the boost gain for peak boost but at redline as well. After all was said and done I was super happy with how the car felt. It feels as if it is just pulling all the way to redline. I was getting 15 psi around redline before this tune and wastegate and now it is around the 18-19 psi on the final tune after the timing has been set. On one of my revisions I did see 20 psi at redline but that was before the timing was being adjusted.

Now E30 is a different monster on the street. My goodness I thought that the 91 tune was fast but the E30 blew me away. More so when you remove the rear seats and spare tire (prep for the track day). To me it feels like being donkey kicked in the back and then being pinned to the seat. It was a bit overwhelming for street driving to be honest for myself. On the track it was wonderful but my plan was to use the E30 tune for track day only, or if gasoline becomes a little too expensive.

Now for my track review. This time around we were going counterclockwise whereas last time we were going clockwise. First thing I will point out at my last track day I got 10MPG from my MP215 tune wiht turbo transformer. This time around I got 7.1MPG with E30 and the wastegate. I will also say last time my best time (I double checked my times online) was a best of 1:34.4 and averaging around 1:35-1:36. This time around I did a best of 1:32.2 and averaged around 1:32.6-1:33.1 and was very consistent at being in the 1:32 times (I take out the times that there were cautions or other reasons to slow down significantly). There were not a whole lot of cars in the class I was running, a total of 8 of us. You can see some of the cars I was on the track with here https://www.caliphotography.com/photos/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=45906#page=thumbs
Some of it was very unfair and a lot of it was a fun challenge. I had the most fun going toe to toe with the e46 M3. We would be passing each other at least twice every lap as both cars had strengths in different area's. He would usually get in front of me on the main straight where I would get in front of him on the back straight braking into the Bowl. On that back section of track the lightweight of the fiesta shined and was able to gain ground (not much but it was enough) where as putting the power down on the last 2 corners seemed to be my issue as coming out of those corners and onto the main straight the M3 would gain its advantage. The power of the E30 tune helped and the car was very happy at the top of the rev range. I didn't feel like I need more power but more that I needed more traction coming out of certain corners. I am going to invest in a dedicated set of wheels and tires for the track before I pull the trigger on an lsd.

The viper was stupid fast, the tires were 355! almost twice my 205's. The driver wasn't taking the driving line but that car had so much grip and power that it didn't matter. I can only imagine what a car like that car really do with a professional driver behind the wheel. I defiantly set the bar that day for the other ST owners that were there. But it was all fun and great to meet some new faces and see other set ups and where their strengths and weaknesses were. Like a Focus ST Big Turbo, that thing was getting up to 110 on the main straight where I was getting to 90-95 depending on how late I braked or how I can out of the last corner. I don't remember his time per say but I think his best was around 1:36 give or take.

Also if you guys/gals want datalogs I can't remember the site to use to upload them for everyone to see. So help me out and remind me please!
 


OP
Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #4
A guy was there with his focus ST running wilwood brakes. He ended up melting his brake pads that day lol
Yup same guy with the big turbo and nitto racing tires. He jad the bp10 pads on his wilwood brakes. I run wilwoods too but switched my pads from the bp20 to bp40 and didn't have an issue with brake fad.
 


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Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #5
Datalogs removed per request of Adam. My bad don't want him to lose any business from competitors, or give away his tuning method.
 


RAAMaudio

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#6
Great report and results:)

Unless you want an off the shelf BBK then go for 16" wheels if you can find what you like and make sure they fit.

Or, a bit of DIY, with some help sorting it out, a bit smaller rotor size, some fit under 15's with 11.75" rotors instead of the above 12.19" rotors, get 15" wheels to save a bundle and get some very stick street or race tires in 205 or 225 width, depending on wheels and the particular tire.

I have sorted out most if not all options that work for us, glad to help with advice if needed:)

Rick
 


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Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #8
Great report and results:)

Unless you want an off the shelf BBK then go for 16" wheels if you can find what you like and make sure they fit.

Or, a bit of DIY, with some help sorting it out, a bit smaller rotor size, some fit under 15's with 11.75" rotors instead of the above 12.19" rotors, get 15" wheels to save a bundle and get some very stick street or race tires in 205 or 225 width, depending on wheels and the particular tire.

I have sorted out most if not all options that work for us, glad to help with advice if needed:)

Rick
Thanks I was debating on 16x9 but the weight of the wheel got the better part of me not to mention having to roll the fenders. So I think for my dedicated track wheels I am going to look for 16x8 for he front and 16x7 for the rears. I already have the wilwood big brake kit on the front and will be soon ordering the larger rotor for the rears with the proper adapter for the stock caliper. With this set up I was hoping to go 225 front and 205 rear, but unsure as from what I have read track tires tend to come wider than normal tires. I have a wheel in mind that meets these specs but are 4x100 or 4x114.3 so there will have to be some fiddling as you know to make those work. 12.1 and 11.1 pounds respectively. Desmond Regamaster evo wheels.
 


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Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #9
20 PSI seems low. Stage 2 Cobb OTS is like 21-22 PSI. Are you on the stock intercooler?
My max boost is 24psi then tapers down to about 20-19 psi at redline. I have the Mountune intake and intercooler on my car.
 


OP
Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #11
im guessing your "mp215" tune is the moutune ots tune? not the mtune programming?
No it was the mtune programming, I went and bought an accessport to overwrite the carb legal tune. I know spending more money then I should have but the track bug bit me hard and I wanted more power to compliment the handling of the fiesta.
 


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#12
Thank you for the review, I looked at your logs and made a bunch of changes. How did you mix for E30 as it looks like you were a little short on ethanol.

Also, charge air temps were extremely high.

You have email.
 


RAAMaudio

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#13
You may be able to fit 16x9 with just loosing the front fender mounts and pulling them out a bit, might have to trim a bit at the front mounts. In the rear no way unless a camber change and likely roll and pull all you can unless you use two different offsets if available.

I recommend running the same size wheels and tires front and rear if you are going to autocross or track the car it becomes even more important, you can adjust the grip with tire air pressure and then can rotate and get much more use out of the tires and not have to carry spares or as many to the events.

Some will use narrower wheels on the rear than the front but same size tire to help adjust grip even more but that seems to be an autocross thing more than HPDE track use.

For drag racing you can save a bit of weight with more front wheel and tire than rear but it will look a bit skinny from the back of the car:)

Those wheels are cool but $$$$$, I did not see what they weigh, 4x100 conversion(4x114.3 will not fit our hubs) spares are costly and hard to get so should get one or two of them.......the price per oz saved is considerable with those wheels,

For the cost you could spend the money on the 4x100, new caliper mounts to fit 11.75 GT rotors, 15x8 roll formed wheels and a spare or two, track tires and some money left over.

11.4 lbs, 15x8, +36mm, roll formed, $159 each.



They have 15x10 and soon 15x11's and you can get up to 275 wide track tires though need flares and the offset it not the best for the geometry but the track width will help a great deal to make up for it, if real performance flares become available I might go that route.

For now, 225 race tires and Rival S tires on ten wheels in 15x9, 13.4 lbs, roll formed, Konig Helix, fits my DIY BBKs, $1240 shipped for the wheels!

I have setup quite a few track oriented cars, full race, street/race, HPDE, autocross, etc....and always liked the same size all around when I could do it much better, I have had 17x11 F and 18x13 R setups down to 13x7 all around back in the 70's:)
 


RAAMaudio

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#14
All that said, the bottom line it is your car so do as you will of course, just want to let you know of some alternatives:)
 


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#15
No it was the mtune programming, I went and bought an accessport to overwrite the carb legal tune. I know spending more money then I should have but the track bug bit me hard and I wanted more power to compliment the handling of the fiesta.
Ahh I always wondered if it was possible. I should of kept my apv3! Have you tried reflashing the carb legal one back after the protune? This opens up some opportunities for me if it's doable
 


OP
Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #16
Thank you for the review, I looked at your logs and made a bunch of changes. How did you mix for E30 as it looks like you were a little short on ethanol.

Also, charge air temps were extremely high.

You have email.
I drove up on 91 gas and while filling up before the track poured 4 gals of Ethanol into the tank. I did have a slight leak on my fuel can so while pouring in the ethanol a bit leaked out. I was wondering if it was enough to make a difference.
 


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Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #17
Ahh I always wondered if it was possible. I should of kept my apv3! Have you tried reflashing the carb legal one back after the protune? This opens up some opportunities for me if it's doable
I believe if you uninstall the AP the MP215 tune will remain for smog reasons. As the AP saves the ecu data to then put back when removed. At least that is what I understood from it.
 


Siestarider

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#19
Love the information dense format, great post. I googled Streets of Willow, from the info dump, your lap times are better than respectable. Hard to run a fast lap, running them consistently is really something.

Any cooling mods? Think E30 tune runs cooler than gas on track?

I tried to go E30 route last spring and my tuner failed to produce, sounds like Tune+ is the solution.

I hope you post about tire/wheel combos and tracking. My conclusion on 16x7 OZ and 205/45 BFG SC was that LSD was needed to get power down out of turns. It would be great for community tracking if I was wrong, and better tires can do it with factory TVC.
 


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Pete

Pete

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Thread Starter #20
Love the information dense format, great post. I googled Streets of Willow, from the info dump, your lap times are better than respectable. Hard to run a fast lap, running them consistently is really something.

Any cooling mods? Think E30 tune runs cooler than gas on track?

I tried to go E30 route last spring and my tuner failed to produce, sounds like Tune+ is the solution.

I hope you post about tire/wheel combos and tracking. My conclusion on 16x7 OZ and 205/45 BFG SC was that LSD was needed to get power down out of turns. It would be great for community tracking if I was wrong, and better tires can do it with factory TVC.
Only thing I have done to effect cooling is opening up the grill with a modified crash beam to allow full airflow, changed the coolant to water and purple ice, and added a skidplate which changes the airpressure under the hood. No overheated here but I am still going to order that new radiator from mishimoto!

Not sure if e30 runs cooler as I am having an intercooler problem with my charge temps being up in the 130's! On a 45 degree day. My engine temps were about the same as last time I was on track.

The tires I am running right now are 16x7 205/45/16 re71r and they are great tires. I just want a dedicated track set up as I am tired of buying tires every 2 months since I also daily my current set up. I want something wider for track days but I don't want to gain too much weight doing so.

Thank you for the compliment! I am sure a racing harness would help improve my times as well because I have to hold myself in my recaros when I am braking. Its also my second time at streets and was my first time going counter clockwise. I was trying to perfect the racing line at the bowl but that is seriously scary as you feel like you are going to launch your car off the track. Haha
 




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