Amg63-

I thought the new tune improved over the renntech you had before it no?

Ralcbah

Delete

TTMerc

Do you know if it was hitting the boost targets and what those are if it was? Something is mechanically going on. I am wondering if your wastegate actuators need to be tightened

Ralcbah

Thanks much. Unable to log boost currently for some reason. Logged data, but boost values are all '0' in the files and were '0' in real-time data. Bad sensor or something; need to get that looked into.

How are the wastegate actuators' tightness evaluated? Difficult process?

TTMerc

Its kind of a PITA to tighten. But to check is somewhat simple. Get a vacuum gauge that has a pump.(sell at O'riellys and autozone) Take the vacuum line off the "Boost Controller" (Right on top of the motor) that controls the lines going to both actuators. Plug the vacuum pump into that line and pump (Creating suction) until the actuators stop moving (Hitting the stop). Watch the gauge and see if they hold the pressure. This will tell you if you have a vacuum leak in the lines or the actuators themselves. This would cause some loss of boost or not holding boost. Now release the pressure. Go to one side at a time and observe the movement as you apply vacuum and see if the actuators truly are closing the wastegates by pumping till they bottom out and feeling with you fingers the small hinge on top of the manifold that is connected to the internal wastegate. If there is still play there they need to be tightened. Also look at both sides at the same time and make sure they are identical as you pump and release. Starting and ending at the same time. Hope that helps lol

Ralcbah

Very cool! Thanks much for that. Will look into it next week

Ralcbah

Quick update on my journey. Checked for boost leaks...none. Checked for wastegate issues...none. Thanks all for suggestions, though! Much appreciated.

Acquired new tune and went to track.

best run was 11.18 @ 128.8. also ran 11.2x twice @128.xx.

was playing with meth/water settings a bit. tune itself is super dialed in, and feels great.

ran with 66% 100 octane fuel and 33% 93 octane fuel.

next time may add some pure methanol to the boost juice, per e65's datapoints.

DA was 2300, with 95 degree temps on track. Super happy with how the car performed.

Going to keep it going until it's a 10 second car on stock turbos. It may already be one....i didn't do a great job at shifting when I needed to...the shifting was new to me.

chiromikey

It's definitely a 10 second car if you can figure out the launch!

e65

One way to cool down your intake a little bit before the Run is to manually inject methanol using a test nozzle button if you have one. If you inject too much your car will stall. Works best if you can monitor your intake air temperatures. If you can bring iat low enough before you run that might be enough to get you into the tens.

another thing you can try if you have a progressive boost controller is to lower your start boost. The car will not run rich I have already checked short term fuel trims pull 30% fuel and the air to fuel ratio is Rocksteady when I'm at part throttle low boost and the methanol is injecting. If you do this your methanol will inject earlier after every gear shift vs methanol interrupted at each gear shift if your start boost is high. This strategy would probably work if your tune is quite aggressive and you are octane or intake heat Limited. I'm sure everyone is running high intake air temperatures waiting in line to run the quarter-mile so this might cool your intake charge even further

Ralcbah

Great; thanks much. Right now I have the boost controller, which is progressive, set to start spraying at 9 psi. With the previous tune, I did try at the lowest setting (5psi), but that resulted in misfires....maybe too much water? I'll try again starting at 5 just to see how it plays out. At what psi do you start spraying the pure methanol?

Rock

Great thread and props to Ralcbah for sharing his experience and progress. It's great to see you making some headway......keep it up.

My past and current experience with AMG cars is that they are generally a pia to launch (at least for me, the inept wannabe race car driver). I know people have referenced the RS7 in this thread and I agree that it's a much easier car to navigate the 1/4 mile with.....quickly and fuss free. I decided last week to put a Stage I APR tune on my otherwise stock RS7. Last night I decided to take it to the track. I drove straight from work and arrived with 3/4 of a tank of 93 octane. Then I ripped off two 10.9 runs at 126mph. Brake, mash the gas and hang on was about the extent of my involvement. Getting the RS7 to run low 10s at 135 just takes some down-pipes, a revised tune and some higher octane gas. Driving skill is optional.

Savage212

Wow! Great job. That is moving, you have 10's in it no problem.

e65

my default was to start at 8 and Max at 25. Right now it's starting at 5 and finishing at 19. I don't use any water. Every setup is different ultimately play with it and don't go lean. If you experiment on the experiment by adding methanol

my car cuts power if I use the launch control I don't know if its clutches or spark plugs or tires or what. It's much happier off a roll all vs starting from zero. if I can find all the Gremlins and get rid if them, I would be happy getting 1.8 with the race start and just getting one run in my life without the power cutting out.

TMC M5

Very nice traps in less than ideal conditions! Can you tell us more about the new tune? Was it geared towards the meth/water injection?

Ralcbah

Sure thing. This is the sixth non-OEM tune I've had on this car, and it's by far the strongest (butt dyno and track confirmed). 1st and 2nd gears are massively different on this one; must've removed more of the torque limits, which is fine. I'm game to upgrade the trans if it starts to fail. Throughout the mid and upper ranges, car also feels stronger than ever. I haven't trapped 128s since winter and before the meth. Now it's trapping those speeds in less than ideal conditions, as you mentioned. Now to get the meth/water content dialed in and the controller settings a tad more dialed in. Would love to have a consistent 10sec car, regardless of weather. I think we'll get it.

Meth/water at this point is used mainly for cooling.

TMC M5

6 tunes?!?! You are a patient person! Would you mind disclosing the tuner of the current one?

TTMerc

Awesome results Ralcbah! Glad you're getting that beast dialed in!

e65

Are u running factory exhaust?

Infiniti

Fantastic thread man, i read it all LOL. When i went to meet akram and check out EC orlando i saw your car there much props on your persistence and patience man. Jerry and the EC crew are top notch! I know what it's like to get to OSW and become disappointed and frustrated with results, Track prep is optional and you really only get a prepped track if your lucky or just be real cool with one of the dudes and ask for them to hook you up with how many times you've been going I'm sure you get some kind of treatment LOL. Weather has been completely awful man. I know its frowned upon and I know you want the slip but using the correction calculator the car is in the 10's i sometimes wonder if i should go out to the track and just mess around but weather is so awful its a waste of time and the frustration isn't worth it. Good luck man!

Ralcbah

Catless 3" coated downpipes (not turbo back) are not stock. All else is factory. Have you found power in additional exhaust mods?

Ralcbah

Thanks man! Appreciate it. Yeah this car has been a ton of fun. Everyone I've worked with from EC has been great....the Houston folks and of course the orlando team. I run one of the EC maps on the street, as its still a 128mph trap map, and more than enough for the street. My newest map has fantastic driveability as well, but Ill mostly use it for the track, or when I feel like driving a bit more aggressively and have some space to do it. I can swap ecus in 30 seconds, which is quite handy.

PeterUbers

you are the one person that has successfully done two ecu's and lives to write about it... you were not assassinated by Mercedes-Benz.

well done

e65

I have full exhaust including the turbo back pipes. The bigger turbo back pipes should allow a lot more airflow but I haven't seen any improvement in quarter mile trap speed, at least for oem turbos, nobody exceeds 130mph with or without the turbo back pipes. A back to back comparison would be nice, except that engine must be dropped and suspension taken apart.

takes me more than 30 seconds could swap the ECU because everything is so hot i can barely touch anything

Ralcbah

Cool deal. Yeah, thought about modding the exhaust a bit further, but not going to unless I do a turbo upgrade, which is not likely to happen on this car. Pretty good with it as it stands now.

ECU swap....gloves my friend, gloves. Kept forgetting to buy some better gloves. Finally did...one of the best mods.

Thanks much

cocobeex

Just one stupid question....

Doest RT effect 1/4 mile numbers ??


First time on 1/4 mile track, but my RT is like 1.5 - 1.8 s
I think i was too nervous...lol