Doward

Turned the timing from 8º BTDC to 14º BTDC... Definetly pulls harder now - will have to wait till I get to the track to see what differences it made!

2_point8_boy

timing is definitly one of the esaiest, and obviously free mods you can do. Just make sure that you don't start to knock. If you don't mind running some high octane gas when you go to the track, put some more timing in. that's how i beat all the civics that the guys had at my college. They all wanted to race all the time, and so we would set up a time and I would run 91 octane gas and hit 19* of timing. Gave me enough umph to beat 'em. Right after the race though, the first thing I did when I got home was put it back down to 10*. Was afraid of breaking something.

TekViper

heh its really bad that we need to work so hard to beat some civics. oh well. were the civics modified?

2_point8_boy

the only thing that the civics had that I knew of was the fart-cannon exhaust and a cheap-o intake. They also had like 100 lbs worth of stero equipment in their trunks. I was smart enought to take mine out before I raced them. I need every ounce I can get. I fair a lot better now that I have gotten really good at driving a stick though. Today for exapmle I took a 94-95-ish V6 stang getting on the freeway. Knowing where the powerband on my car really helps...as long as I don't get all crazy and go out of it. I can chirp the tires gettting into third now o a consistant basis.

Doward

What size tires are you chirping? OMG, the stock 215/65/15s would be shredded by now on this car. I'm having trouble keeping Z rated 255/50/16's planted :P

Me next track 'mod' list will be as follows -

Timing @ 14º BTDC
Remove Smog Pump
Remove EGR/Emissions Crap

2_point8_boy

stock size man. i learned where my engine makes it's power and stay there. My tires are toast...good thing it's getting to be summer cuz bladness is no good for wet roads

AGood2.8

Sorry but I didn't know turning the distributor was considered a "mod". I'm hanging around the wrong place I guess.

2_point8_boy

it's not really, but still adds power.

1991tealRSt-topGuy

gotta agree

thats "tuning" not "modding"

devianb

Yeah, Civics are much lighter cars and have almost as much power as our stock engines. Its too bad we have to do all these little mods just to beat them, but that is the reality.

Doward

Sorry, but I didn't know adding some ducting to a car was a "mod"

"Tuning" would have been putting that timing back to stock 10 degrees. "Modifying" it would have been putting it up above stock (14 in my case) - that's a modification to the vehicle, albeit a small one.

TomP

I do have to agree; it is more of a tuning than anything else. Same might be for someone who installed a high-pressure fluid pump, high flow injectors, and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator. They might realize in a month or two that they had to readjust the fuel pressure so they ran a bit leaner, and that'd be considered tuning. Installing the actual f/p regulator would be considered a mod; same as installing intake ducting.

But, then again, the timing was -modified-. Hm. I guess it depends on how the word was used in a sentence! We tend to think of a "mod" as something that was added on. This is probably one of those cases where everyone's right, and we're just all in "bitch mode".

Back to tech, do the 3.1's have knock retard sensors on 'em? I know the 2.8's don't...

Doward

Yessir, they do - part of the 730 ecu setup. The 302 (MAF) does not.

Doward

Prolly right on the bitch mode

I tend to think of anything outside stock, as a 'mod'. Some are bolt on, some are tuning, some are indepth engine teardowns...

2_point8_boy

my 2.8 has a knock sensor in the passenger side head. I know because I had to replace it when i put the new head on, I broke the connector off and that's what chevy said went in that head. Don't know if it's them of me that screwed that up, but they sold me the knock sensor, I installed it, and it fit in perfectly without throwing codes, so right on for me i guess.

TomP

What year of 2.8, 2_point8_boy?

2_point8_boy

1988

devianb

This is how I distinguish a mod from tunning.


A mod is something you bolt-on or add

Tuning is adjusting the settings of something you added or bolted-on.


Even though the timing has been modified, I call it tunning because he adjusted the time, and didn't install anything.


But hey, that's just my opinion.

Doward

I added timing rofl

TomP

You sure it's a knock sensor? There shouldn't be one, unless you changed the car over to speed density. Where was this sensor? Middle of the head? Rear of the head?

2_point8_boy

no speed density, but the sensor is in the rear of the head, kinda on the corner. The connector on the back of it was round and white. I broke off the lip that the wires actually clip onto, so I had to replace it. I took it down to Chevy and told thatm I needed a new one, They gave me a bax that had a label on it that said Knock Sensor. Looked exactly the same. even said Knock Sen... on the reciept. So I'm pretty sure it's a knock sensor. Dunno for sure because it wouldn't be the first time I bought something that wasn't in the right box. It installed fine and has been running on the car now for over a year, so hey, whatever.

I'll take a picture of my old head tonight so you can see the hole it went into. I have to unbury the head though, i now use it to keep my dog from digging out under the fence. He dig and digs and digs for like 6 inches and then BAM, right into a cast iron cylinder head. He doesn't like that too much.

TomP

Sounds like the fan switch to me... car would still run correctly, but the fan wouldn't come on when the coolant hit 230 degrees. Either that, or the fan would come on every time the knock sensor "heard" the engine knocking! Is the wire from the connector colored green?

That's as good a use as any for an old cylinder head!

2_point8_boy

you know what, it does have a green wire commin out the as$ end of it. The fan comes on normally right at 230, so I am thinking that I did get something just in the wrong box, wouldn't surprize me, my IAC came in a O2 sensor box. I don't think I'll be going back to that dealer anymore...

My Bad...

P.S. 200th post. WOOHOOOO