Having trouble tuning my new SMC alky kit.....HELP!!!

[rb68rr]

Turned the boost up to 19psi, Thrasher 100 chip, turn on point 14, pump speed 8, fuel pressure 45 static. Running 65mph in third then wot the car pulled pretty good. Scanmaster showed 1.6 knock and 800. The problem is in the lower gears. It pops, sounds like through the intake, and starts bucking when the alky kicks on! Can't get a reading on the Scanmaster because I get out of it really quick. What's happening? By the way I'm running 70% isopropyl. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, R.B.

 

[blackbuick87]

What boost level is it popping at? Is it at part throttle or WOT? Check your plugs and try turning the pump speed to 10. The increased atomization may help if the alcohol is flooding the fire.

When was the last time you had the boost turned up? I assume the car ran good before the alky kit install

 

[Evans Ward]

I agree w/ blackbuick87. Was the car in optimum tune prior to the alky install? Cut you boost back down to 15-16 PSI max without alky and let us know if the car still has the problems? I might try another chip too if I were you to see if the problem still exists with the popping in the lower gears. You may want to consider having that alky come in earlier when setting it up than the later setting you have it on now? At what PSI does your spray on light come on? I run straight denatured in my SMC (with alittle pump lube) and had no problems. 24 PSI boost with less than 2 degrees max KR. Pump speed at 9 max and spray on at 12 PSI. Hoping that the little KR I have will decrease with the installation of the powerplate I have that I haven't had time to put on yet. I'd check those plug wires too with what you've described. Steve's set up instructions with the kit worked for me as to getting within the ballpark with tuning.

 

[rb68rr]

Thanks for he help guys. First of all the car ran perfect without the alky. I put in a JC 93 chip and turned the spray on point to 10psi. This helped a great deal. I also turned the volumn down to the 5 setting. Now when I go wot from 65mph I get 0 knock with 800mv. The only problem I'm having now is from a dead stop the car runs great in 1st gear all the way through. But in 2nd gear around 50 to 60mph the car will buck 3 or 4 times before shifting into 3rd and then it's great again. What do I adjust to get rid of this? Once you get the turn on point correct do yo leave it alone or when you increase boost will it have to be changed also? Fuel pressure is set at 42psi static and boost is 18.5. What's the next step in reaching 20 to 22lbs of boost? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks, R.B.

 

[blackbuick87]

This is the EXACT thing that happened to me. My car ran great at 16psi. So I put on my alky system and turned up the boost. Once I turned the boost up my car was bucking at first, eventually started stalling, etc. I blamed the alcohol system for flooding my plugs and I changed plugs like four times. Turned out it was not my alcohol system at all, it was my ignition system was marginal, and when I turned up the boost it made it act up.

So, turn off the alky and put some race gas in. Turn the boost up as high as you can get it without knock and drive it for a couple of days. If you dont get any bucking it is your alky settings. If it bucks you have a different problem that is rearing its head when you crank the boost. In my case it was a bad O2 sensor (bucking) and ignition module (stalling)

BTW what size jet are you using

 

[rb68rr]

Thanks for the help guys. I put on a new set of spark plug wires and cured the problem. I also put in a JC 110 chip and got lots of knock in 3rd gear at wot. running 20# of boost. Turned the boost down to 18# and still got 4.7 at around 85-90mph with 02's at 808. Turn on point was 14psi and pump speed at 8. How do I tune this knock out to be able to run more boost? Running pure denatured. Thanks, R.B.

 

[bigz]

You might try a lower timing chip. I have a custom alcohol chip burned by Jay Carter that works pretty well at 23 lbs of boost. I also added the power plate which helped get rid of the transitional knock I was having. I lowered my turn on point to about 10 PSI. I have recently been experimenting with adding a little water to the mix which also seems to help. My car was running really rich when I was running straight denatured. There are a lot of good threads in the archives on alcohol tuning.


Mike