Where to start tuning wise, procharged 340

Hey guys, it seems like there are a lot of boosted mopar guys here (well, more than anywhere else anyway) and I could really use some help finding a starting point for my boosted 340. Setup is as follows:

340, factory forged crank, eagle H beams, Hughes stud girdle, Speed Pro forged Pistons milled down a few thousandths to drop C/R, ported W2 econo heads flowing 295cfm@.600, Comp spec'd solid roller (246/242 .609 lift, 112 LSA). cometic gaskets, ARP head studs.

D1SC procharger, home built kit. CX racing 31x12x3 cheapo front mount intercooler, FITECH 1200, EV carb hat, Magnafuel 750 pump/aeromotive boost reference FPR,

MSD pro billet, MSD 6AL, FITECH controlling timing (dust locked, FITECH controls the curve/advance).

The pulley combo I have on the car now made 8 PSI when I was on E85, but no matter what I did I couldn't get E85 to work (dozens upon dozens of logs and talks with tuners/FITECH with no results, couldn't even get it to work N/A).

I have since switched back to 93 pump gas and the system works fine now N/A. Adding the 8 PSI of boost back but I'm terrified about going to lean and burning the motor up or going to rich and busting ring lands. I just want a safe starting point so I can iron out a few of my blower belt issues before paying for dyno/tuner time.

I was going to use a BR8ES plug and start with 11.5 target AFR with 20 degrees of timing total timing (-1.5 per lb). I also have a SNOW performance meth kit enroute with 4 jugs of boost juice (50/50 meth water blend) so I wasn't sure if I should set target AFR a little leaner while spraying meth.

What do you guys think?

go here. The Turbo Forums a lot more guys who are boosted that can help. my 2 cents is your weak link is the fitech and it will never work 100% just read so much stuff about not being able to tune them properly and fitech being no help.

Thanks Chris, I actually did post this on the turbo boards but didn't get a lot of help. Basically just guys telling me not to rely on the meth for colder IAT's or as a fuel, but I was really hoping to bump into someone who has a similar setup (boosted small block mopar on pump gas) that could give me an idea of what may be a safe starting point.

I hear you on the FITECH, but on the FITECH Facebook page there are dozens upon dozens of guys that are running boost without any major problems. On pump gas, it runs great now part throttle. WOT N/A it is nailing AFR's most of the time but having some troubles with lean tip ins at the hit and again at the shift that throw things off a bit. It is nowhere even close to the "plug and play" "self learning" BS they advertise. With how much time I have spent tuning, I wish I just worked some O/T and bought a FAST direct port system instead and could have dropped it off to any one of a dozen tuners around here familiar with FAST to tune it.

Not looking to change a whole lot though as I am actually planning on ditching this setup next year to do what I wanted to do in the first place: A hellcat swap. I just want to get it to go down the track and beat my friend's 11.90 vette to shut him up. Don't mind if it doesn't run like a new EFI car, or if I can't get every ounce of power out of it...I just want it to be able to make a few passes without burning stuff up and be able to sell it as a complete, working combo.

IMG_2771 by Kris A, on Flickr

Pic for attention lol

This looks like a great start. Pretty similar to my setup. 8 is a good heat range for plugs. At 8psi, 20* timing and intercooler you shouldn't see any detonation. Spray a little meth for extra precaution and you should be good. You said you lowered C/R but what is your overall compression?

I really feel your frustration dealing with the FITECH. I've had mine for I think 3 years now and I'm still trying to exorcise all of the demons out of it running e85 on my turbo, but it's a lot better now. I followed your threads on the FB page and made a few suggestions. I really wish you could have got E85 to work. I hate being one of the few running this combo. If you ever want to give e85 another shot, I can send you my .cal file to try on your setup. I would plug it in as-is and see how it responds just normal cruising and maybe lite boost. Let me know.

I love your setup. Very sexy. Do you want to keep using gas or make e85 work? If you do e85 you can crank up as high as that blower likely puts out boost and forget using meth. You’d be pushing 600 torque.

Are you having startup problems or lean-out at WOT on e85?

I’d say 11.5 is too rich for you. Try 12

The cxracing intercoolers are very good quality, had one on my srt4 and was putting 30psi through it with no problems, and the least pressure drop of some name brand manufacture ones. If you look at the srt4 kit that was my car they used lol

Thanks for all the input guys! Sorry for the delayed reply. Been busy but have gotten a lot of work done on the setup.

I took it out for a part throttle test drive the other day, got in it a few times at maybe 30-40% throttle, hit 5 or so PSI and it felt GREAT. Looking at the logs, it looked like a lean tip in and AFR's bounced around a little after that attempting to make it back to target but for the most part it seems to hit the targets on the dot. I set it up to try to hit total timing of 20 degrees at max boost (8ish PSI) and 11.5 just to be safe for not before I hooked the meth up. Hard to tell on the logs because I was only getting into it part throttle but at 5.5 PSI at 5300 RPM the Fitech was at 25 degrees timing and a target AFR of 11.59 so the curve seems to be somewhat appropriate. Actual AFR was 10.9 at that point because it was overcompensating for the lean tip in (13.1 for the first two or so cells when first getting into boost). I'll post a pic of that point of the log and see what you guys think but sometimes the part throttle logs confuse me.

I would have loved to go back to E85, but it was just so much trouble and ever since I switched to gas I could actually drive the car. On E85, I couldn't even cruise it part throttle...it load up and sputter coming off idle from pegging rich. When I switched to gasoline I also did a few other things like resealed the intake because of an oil leak (but saw no sign of a vacuum leak on the gaskets and had no idle issues) and shimmed the rocker arms to clean up side play which seemed to control the lash a lot. I wonder if it running so much better when switching to gas may have also been something to do with one of the above, but now that I already purchased the meth kit and got it running half decent on gas, I don't think I want to spend the time taking a step back to try E85 again right now. I spent probably a year messing with the tune never getting it half right. For now, if it runs, I'm leaving it alone so I can enjoy it.

I also didn't like the gas mileage on E85. From what I have seen, most FITECH guys aren't seeing much better MPG vs well tuned carbs unlike multiport counterparts. With the big cam and boost the setup is probably pretty fuel inefficient and on E85 it felt like I had to fill up every time I took the car out for a cruise. It probably didn't help that it was running pig rich, but it's much nicer now not having to keep one eye on the gas gauge during a long cruise.

Here is a video my friend took with a Go Pro of the last cruise so I could see if the latest revisions to my garage built procharger setup were working. So far so good, belt is staying on, tensioner seems to be taking up the slack nicely with no wrap up. Belt stretches a bit but it's a cheap parts store belt for testing (got tired of throwing $40 belts during my first few versions of the setup). Get into it a little a few times, at 1:20 and a few more parts.




Anybody know how I can download a full log here?

IMG_4886 by Kris A, on Flickr
Well I pulled the plugs and it seems like the majority of them are fuel fouled. A few look not so bad, none of them look lean as far as I can see.I guess I need to pull some fuel out of it, definitely on the idle and part throttle but I'll still keep the target AFR's where I had them on the top end till I can clean up the base ring. I have to figure out that point where it over-corrects rich. it looks like a lean tip in, but adding accell pump just makes it sputter, so I don't know what else I can do.

I'm kind of lost here. I have the snow performance stage 1 meth kit sitting next to me, but thinking about it I am really hesitant to add more voltage draw to the car.I have a GM 140amp 1 wire but it's running on a single V belt. Between my huge Aeromotive pro tuner 750 pump, old headlight/taillight wiring, the fuel injection, two big electric fans, old heater blower motor etc... I am scared I am going to tax the system when the meth pump kicks in and cause a power drop to either the meth pump or the fuel pump. Plus, it's just adding a few more potential failure points, more weight, more clutter.

I was thinking of MAYBE trying E85 again. I even ordered the plugs. This time I'll lean everything out like I plan to do with fuel and start there (but keep it fat on the top end under boost). The E85 was a little annoying having to fill up all the time, but I feel safer than using the meth.

The other option is just roll the dice and see if it works on pump gas without meth or E85. It looks like i'll see about 7-8 psi at my redline and we have 93 octane here in NY. IF I keep timing out of it, do you guys think it would be possible? In the few 75% throttle hits I did on those rich fouled plugs I see no sign of detonation. Timing was very low and tons of fuel obviously, but maybe I can get this to work and be safe?

If you need another alt go to High Output Alternators & High Torque Starters, I have one from them single wire, stock type billet, i have their 200amp one, for all my electrical needs for my build.