FJ Land speed racer

[fj1289]

We DID surprise a lot of competitors!

How about the guy I met as we waited to get our pits setup on Thursday evening -- he had a 2014 Kawasaki H2 (the street legal one) with "all the Brock's mods" as he put it.  His top speed: 185.2!

Or maybe the 2015 Kawasaki H2R (the race-only one!)  How about 187.3!

Or a 2005 Hayabusa Turbo - 189.7!

One other cool "old" bike out there was a 1986 GSXR750 (Mike was running a high compression 1216cc big bore 1100 engine on flatslide carbs with a shot of nitrous) 194.0 mph.  After we popped the motor we were trying to help him out - refilling his 2 pound nitrous bottles.  He was only using them in 4th and 5th gear since he thought he was going to run out of nitrous.  I filled a couple of his spare bottles so he could start spraying in 3rd gear.  The rain came in before he could run again.

The run I'm most impressed with is the 196.3 posted up by a 1998 GSXR600 turbo!  Holy crap!  It was from the same team that set the high speed for the event with a 237.9 from a 2003 Hayabusa turbo (seriously land speed race only). 

I know on Friday NO ONE expected the numbers we ended up running!  A huge thanks to Randy for putting together a seriously strong engine that took all the nitrous I could throw at it!  It took a serious setup error and riding error that caused a bad lean out on a large shot of nitrous to hurt it.  When I first starting putting this bike together as a drag bike many years ago I had several people warning me the crankshaft is weak and will break if you try to get too much out of it.  Well, I think we already got "too much" out of it -- and we're going for a fair amount more next year!   Note to self: need to buy bigger nitrous solenoid!

[jscgdunn]

Amazing to run faster than the new H2!  Great job!

[Dads_FJ]

Is there a date set for next years event?  As good as you are writing about your experience - I REALLY want to be there!

[fj1289]

Is there a date set for next years event?  As good as you are writing about your experience - I REALLY want to be there!

I'm assuming Labor Day weekend again -- so I'd guess Sept 1-3 (Fri - Sun) for 2017.  Official release should come out sometime after the first of the year if I remember correctly.

Come join us!  I'm sure randy will throw a T-shirt at you and put you to work!  Based on feedback from this year, next year there will be a lot more written checklists/instructions taped up for the various jobs so someone can "own" that for the weekend or the day.  

The researching and planning for the changes for next year are already underway!  Top priority is to fix what bit us this year so it doesn't happen again (fuel and nitrous control, shifting), improve some things that were problematic (datalogging, tach, shift light, nitrous bottle mounting), and figure out how to go faster within our original intent of keeping the spirit and appearance of the FJ intact! (more nitrous!  and whatever Randy finds to improve on inside the engine), and the sum of all the small changes and improvements we will make to everything we touch in the off season!  And that way maybe when the glass breaks on the exotic car parked behind us next year, it WILL be from the POWER we're putting down!   

[fj1289]

It's the "off season" so time to get busy!  I've been thinking through what needs to be improved on for next year.  Four things are top on the list: shift button, nitrous and fuel control, data logging, and tachometer. 
One thing that effects all those is the fuel injection ECU.  I want to stick with the megasquirt family since I am familiar with them, have experience tuning with them, and the latest versions - the megasquirt 3 lineup - are extremely capable and include features only found in high end race ECUs -- and even then usually only as extra cost add-one -- such as progressive nitrous control, traction control, sequential shift kill adjustable by gear, auto shifting adjustable by gear, in board SD-card data logging, etc.   

The MS3Pro is their top level ECU - a small sealed unit similar to the microsquirt but much more capable and much more expensive.  It's tempting - but I'm not convinced it's the best bang for the buck.   Spend some more time studying the rest of the MS3 lineup - the "power" of the ECU comes from both the ECU itself as well as the tuning software that goes with it.  The rest of the MS3 lineup is based on the DIY kits (although pre-assembled kits are available too).  Turns out you can upgrade MS2 ECUs and some MS1 ECUs depending on the mother board used.  Hmmm - there's an MS1 I bought off Craigslist in the garage.  I bought it thinking it was an MS2 and tried unsuccessfully to get it running on the street bike over a year ago (after swapping the microsquirt to the race bike).  The ECU was built and customized by a builder in Canada.  Like many "custom" megasquirt builders - it seems like they start with great ideas, good work, and timely customer service.  Then life gets in the way and customer service wains.   I also experienced this with the first ECU I used (a custom built plug-n-play ECU for a Hayabusa).   



Good news - the MS1 was built on a V3.0 board -- its upgradeable.  Time to start digging and researching and reverse engineering the modifications made to the "stock" megasquirt.     



Two things in play - an adaptor for the industrial connector and  an add-on Input/Output (I/O) card.  The industrial connector is a nice mod compared to the standard DB37 printer cable type connector. 



The I/O card has a launch control (2 step), knock sensor input circuit, idle valve control, and possibly other functions I haven't figured out yet. 



So far I've removed the I/O card and two high-current coil driver circuits.  The high current driver circuits will be replaced by logic level circuits. 



From a lot of research and a few questions on the forums it looks like the MS3Base version will do what is needed.  The MS3X includes an additional I/O card that handles a TON of additional inputs and outputs - more than needed for this application. So no need for the additional complications at this time, or the bulk from  the additional connector and harness.  If I can get all the functions needed without the eXpansion card it will keep the install as simple as possible and not need a second harness. 
These are the functions I'm looking to use:
INJECTOR banks 1&2
IGNITION channels A&B
Shift IN
Shift OUT
N2O IN
N2O stage 1 OUT (progressive control)
N2O stage 2 OUT (progressive control)
VSS (front wheel speed)
Shift Light
Tach
Fuel Pressure (for data logging)
N2O Pressure (for data logging)

[racerrad8]

This came in the mail today.



Really cool stuff.

Thanks Chris.

Randy - RPM

[FJmonkey]

Priceless...

[Firehawk068]

Awesome stuff!

[racerrad8]

The engine arrived back for the autopsy. Chris updated the box...



Randy - RPM

[racerrad8]

Started the autopsy today, we definitely had a major failure in #4 due to the shifting/over-rev issues.

The head is no good. You can see the damage of pre-ignition between the exhaust valve seats.



Only a small sign of damage to the top of the piston.



But the heat and head pressure was more than the head gasket could take.



The head is trenched to the fin, about 3/16" if an inch. The screw impression in the head was from a prior build and was just like that when it was assembled.




It even trenched the aluminum of the cylinder outside of the steel sleeve, ruining the cylinder as well.



I was optimistic we might have escaped further damage by the top of the pistons. I was relieved when I pulled the cylinder and looked at the back side of all of the pistons; no scuffing everything looked great. I rocked the pistons over to look at the front and was disappointed.




The final step of the autopsy tomorrow to see how the bottom end looks...

The shifter $6.00 shifter button cost at least the top of the engine. But I am still impressed with the effort put forward and how close we got to the goal on the first attempt.

Randy - RPM

[PaulG]

F1 engines (and others of that caliber) are machined to tolerances so they don't require gaskets.  That eliminates gasket failure due to their extreme operating conditions.  Is that doable with the FJ head?  I wouldn't imagine there are too many shops that could do that level of work, or if it would be cost prohibitive.

My old Beemer '78 R80/7 air head had no base gaskets where the jugs met the crankcase, just a metal to metal fit.  It also had a much much (a lot more much) lower compression ratio so it was never a problem.

Would be intersting if that was an option.

[racerrad8]

F1 engines (and others of that caliber) are machined to tolerances so they don't require gaskets.  That eliminates gasket failure due to their extreme operating conditions.  Is that doable with the FJ head?  I wouldn't imagine there are too many shops that could do that level of work, or if it would be cost prohibitive.

My old Beemer '78 R80/7 air head had no base gaskets where the jugs met the crankcase, just a metal to metal fit.  It also had a much much (a lot more much) lower compression ratio so it was never a problem.

Would be intersting if that was an option.

I doubt it. There are a couple of other things that would be problematic with the lack of a head gasket. We would loose .040 clearance to the head. That would require a longer cylinder to not have contact issues with the head. Then there is the lowering of the compression ratio for the nitrous usage. At the end of the day, gasket or newer technology that doesn't use them still would have a similar catastrophic failure.

Randy - RPM

[Pat Conlon]

Re: Headgasket failure: On our boosted Miata engines, to handle the extreme pressures, builders have O ringed each cylinder....is that doable?

[racerrad8]

Re: Headgasket failure: On our boosted Miata engines, to handle the extreme pressures, builders have O ringed each cylinder....is that doable?

Not sure what the need would be to do that. The head gasket is properly sealed on all other cylinders. If the head gasket would not have failed it would have just continued to burn out the aluminum between the exhaust valves and the top of the piston.

This was a catastrophic event that was going to damage engine parts no matter if the gasket failed or not. It was not the fault of the gasket seal, it was a result of dumping too much nitrous in the motor without the proper amount of fuel due. That occurred do to the over-rev and reset of the ECU during the run which resulted in the not enough gasoline for the nitrous.

When I didn't make the shift to 3rd gear, the RPMs went to 10,850, disabling the nitrous above 10,500 RPM, then reinstating it when the RPMs fell below 10,500.  The ECU added fuel (gasoline) back in for 40% of a 150 HP shot, but the nitrous controller resumed somewhere around 80-90% of 150 HP.  

The only thing I can compare this too is this...https://youtu.be/MkrSZOIKMCY?t=45s

Without the failure, there would have been many more passes on the engine. So far other than the upper end damage, it looks fantastic, does not smell cooked. i thnk this is a strong enough foundation to achieve the goal.

Randy - RPM

[fj1289]

This was NOT a gasket failure per se -- it was a rider/tuning/equipment failure that caused extreme detonation - the gasket was just one of many fatalities.

Here's a quick, simple discussion on normal combustion and detonation (this is taken from an airplane website - so some of the advance #'s may be different from what we use):







Per Smokey Yunick - "engines run better on fuel than aluminum"

If we had lost the head gasket while working up to our max nitrous levels then we'd need to do something about it - o-ringing may be the only option for the FJ engine.  For some engines, stronger studs can be used to increase the clamping loads on the gasket.  But for the FJ the weak link is the case where the studs screw in -- Randy says he routinely finds the APR studs loose in engines he disassembles because they have pulled the threads in the case. 

With nitrous (or turbos or superchargers) you are increasing the cylinder pressure during combustion.  In this case enough to increase horsepower nearly 250%!  So, on the fist picture, I don't know what the cylinder pressure would be for "normal" combustion on nitrous - 1000 psi?  1200?  The key difference between the added pressure from the nitrous and the added pressure from detonation is the UNCONTROLLED sudden violent rise in pressure with detonation vice the CONTROLLED increase with nitrous (helped with appropriately rich mixtures and timing retard).   

I'm impressed with the engine Randy put together and some of the counter-intuitive things he did to help it live at those levels!  I'm also impressed the stock sized valves did not flow limit us - the engine just kept making more power the more nitrous we threw at it.  I wish I knew and understood 10 years ago what I am learning now about the level of quality of the stock parts!  Randy said the valve train still looks great - no signs of heat damage!  I'm not sure we talked about this before - we used the stock shim over bucket setup - just opened up the clearances a little over stock to allow for the anticipated increased heat. 

Anyone have a stock cylinder head they'd be willing to sponsor for the effort?  Randy informed neither of the spare heads I have are suitable - one of the heads I have is a paper weight and the other has been milled too much for this application.  We are pushing the goal up a bit higher for next year - looking for 215 mph.  The highest documented speed for an FJ we can find is 214.285 mph for the 1380 turbo nitrous FJ in the Oct '93 Sport Rider UFO article.