[snowmunky]

This may get long, bear with me.

Installed the alcohol about a month ago. For the first 2-3 weeks, I could not get the system to activate normally. Sometimes it would activate, sometimes it wouldn't. After exchanging notes with Bilal a few times, we narrowed it down to the pump connections. Reseated pump connections, and it has been working flawlessly ever since. I was finally able to get some good tuning done these last few days.

Mods before alcohol:
3.5
FWI
3" downpipe
3" custom catback
MSD wires
AC-Delco 41-932's @ .055
180*tstat
custom PCM tune

Before alcohol:

I ran the 3.5, I tuned it for 0* KR, still ran stock timing tables. Saw a max of 16.5* timing advance. It was on this setup that I ran a 13.6@101 last Fall.

Installed alcohol:

When I installed the alcohol, I also installed a ported '99 TB w/ a '99 MAF (my car is a '98). As you know, the '99+ TB's are different than the '97-98's. Shortly after "testing" and doing some prelim tuning on the alcohol, I noticed I was getting spark blowout. Swapped out plugs for AL104's @ .045. No more spark blowout. Installed a modular pulley system and threw the 3.3 on. This is where it gets good....

With the pump still set at STOCK setting (~60psi), I did not see any KR with the 3.3. Still running stock timing tables as well. Boost was 10psi when I stabbed it, building up to 11.5psi at shifts with the 3.3.

Since I didn't have any KR, I started adding timing (don't have any smaller pulleys right now). First run, added 3*. Saw a max of 19.5* of timing, STILL NO KR!!! Went back and added 2* more. Saw a max of 21.5* of timing, STILL NO KR!!! At this point, I'm getting pretty happy with the results, and decided to see how far I could push it. So, I went back and added 2* more. Saw a max of 23.5* of timing, and a FEW SMALL blips of KR. Turned the pump pressure up ONE full turn. NO MORE KR!!! 23.5* of timing advance, ~10-11psi of boost, NO KR!!! Car felt like a raped ape, it was absolutely insane.

I am still having some problems, however. At shift points, my car gets massive spikes of KR. At the 1-2 shift, I can sometimes see up to a 12* SPIKE!!! It slowly (KR recovery rate is 3.5*/sec) goes back down to 0* and stays there until the 2-3 shift where I get another big spike of KR. After the shift, again, it slowly counts back down to 0* (as fast as the recovery rate will allow). If I keep it in 2nd and stab it from a 45mph roll, I get NO KR (as there is no downshift) and the car pulls INSANE!! I'm still working on troubleshooting my KR at shift issue. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN BEFORE THE TB/alcohol install. Please remember that I installed a '99 MAF and '99 TB. When installing a '99 MAF into a '98, I obviously had to import the '99 MAF table. Last night, I put the 3.4 back on, retuned it without the alcohol to see what would happen (to make sure the alcohol wasn't causing a spike). Nope, not the alcohol...still getting huge spikes at shift. From all the people I've exchanged notes/ideas with, all symptoms point to the MAF sensor. I'm going to put my stock '98 MAF back into the '99 TB and put the stock MAF table in the PCM and see what happens. Once I get the car DIALED IN (NO KR AT ALL!!), I'll be heading to the dyno/track. It was because of this issue that I haven't pushed my current setup any further. I have no doubt that I'll be able to run 25* of timing on a 3.3 on a relatively stock motor with just an intake, downpipe, exhaust, plugs/wires, and tuned.

Future plans:

PEMs will be installed within the next week
3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 pulley's are on there way

Bilal's been bugging me about posting my results, so here they are BILAL!!! :cool:

Any questions/comments, feel free to ask.

[1badgtp]

I couldn't tell by your mods but how are you adding timing? I saw that you have a custom PCM tune so do you have a PowerTuner, happy knob or something else?

[snowmunky]

DHP PowrTuner.

[1badgtp]

Cool, I was just curious since I will need a method of adding timing later. Right now, the PowerTuner is out of my range so I've looking for other good methods.