522 whp on E85 --- Mellon tuned!

Tsurugi-san · Oct 14, 2009, 12:47 PM

Let me start by saying that I’m a repeat offender (return customer of Chris Turman’s, aka: Mellon Tuning), and have gone to him for a re-tune at every significant step in the “evolution” of my current Evo 9 MR. This time around, we were going to transition the Evo into a leaner, meaner, GREENER machine by switching to E85 (which we currently have an excellent supply of in northwest Arkansas). To do so, I purchased a double-pumper from Buschur Racing (props to Nick – great guy), PTE 1200’s from Nolimitmotorsports (Chris is the man there), and the Sparktech non-cdi COP setup, as well as fresh iridiums, and an AMS fuel rail (a gift from my buddy Quy). These parts were to be installed when I arrived in Memphis, and would all work well with my existing engine mods:

Buschur Racing built 2.0 block
Buschur Racing stage 3 race head
Cosworth M2 mivec cams
Forced Performance Red turbo (63mm with oil line upgrade)
Ported and Coated stock Ex. Manifold
Ported stock intake manifold
WORKS Aperture II throttle body
WORKS Cast O2 housing
WORKS 76mm downpipe
WORKS resonated test pipe
Tanabe Touring Medallion Catback
ETS upper and lower intercooler pipes
Perrin FMIC (bug-covered)
APS twin-vent (recirc) --- I actually was tuned on the Synapse, but switched back
Apexi cone intake on Cusco intake pipe (stock MAF)
Hallman Pro RX manual boost controller (heavy spring)
and finally, the Stock ECU

Armed with these components, a few of my own tools, and almost 25 gallons of local E85, I set off for the Memphis area to complete the build with Chris’s help. Upon arrival, we started installing the parts almost immediately (after the car cooled down). Chris was already set up and ready to drain my remaining fuel from the tank and refill with E85 when we completed the fuel pump swap, so after a couple of hours of installs, wiring, injector fitment and fresh plugs, we had a car idling on E85 for the first time. We went for a run to scale the injectors and work on the idle (solid motor mounts + race engine + large injectors make it tough to get a clean idle, but at 1100 rpms, everything felt good).

Chris invited me out for dinner with the guys from the local race scene that night, and we had some great food and laughs at the local Memphis Benihana’s (you MUST try the Las Vegas roll --- sooo good). After that, we went for a bit of late-night tuning --- the weather, btw, was in the high 80’s during the day, and high 70’s at night. It had been raining all weekend off and on, so the humidity was extremely high as well. As we went through the normal cycle of third gear pulls that evening, Chris leaned the fuel in spots, added timing across the board, and added even more fuel in some places --- all to take advantage of the excellent anti-knock properties of the E85. AFR’s were solid and we had maxed the turbo out at 38.9 psi (according to Chris’s Greddy Profec B).

Sometime after midnight, we blew a bolt out of the 02 housing at 7500 rpm. HORRIBLE sounding exhaust leak! I was about to despair, but Chris knew exactly what happened the instant we heard it --- and he was right. We drove back to his house, jacked up the front end, and waited for the engine to cool. Thinking back on this, it was a comical experience, but at the time I was freaking out. You see, we found a vacant bolt hole on the top of the O2 housing and replaced it --- fired it up, and the exhaust leak remained. So we found ANOTHER bolt on the side of the O2 housing that needed to be tightened. Tightened THAT bolt. STILL had the exhaust leak. Finally --- right when I get extremely spiritual --- I’m praying in earnest now --- Chris says, “Hey man, there’s another bolt hole back here!” So, we find a bolt that works, and we use all of our socket extensions to attack the bolt on the ass-end of the O2 housing from underneath the car --- and FINALLY --- no exhaust leak. It was 4:30 in the morning.

Does anyone else have a tuner that will go to such lengths for a single customer? I’ve never heard of such sacrifice before, especially on an individual basis, but I know that Chris’s customers will all attest that he consistently goes the extra mile for them. Truly exemplary behavior, that’s all I can say. Ok, fast-forward to the next day --- we’ve got some sleep, and after some breakfast, we headed out to finish up the tune. Another hot, humid day, but the Evo is loving the E85, and we extract 528 whp out of the beast, but back it down to 522 for safety and consistency. The car idles great. You can’t even tell it has large injectors. A truly amazing difference from a simple change of fuel. Chris, once again, never fails to impress. Even though he worked an extra 4 hours of labor IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT --- he never asked for more compensation, and even offered to tweak the tune free of charge as they make the change to winter E85 in my area.

THAT’S what I call an excellent tuner.

THAT’S why he gets my return business.

End of Story.

Enjoy the graph!

gsr0801 · Oct 14, 2009, 12:55 PM

Congrats man..

But I have a TUNER that will match and beat that....

kpr · Oct 14, 2009, 01:20 PM

"Congrats man.. But I have a TUNER that will match and beat that.."

"So you have a Tuner that doesnt charge Anything if he has to fix your car before he tunes it? He works for a couple of HOURS for free?

EvolvedGTI · Oct 14, 2009, 01:29 PM

Congrats. Chris goes above and beyond for his customers, that is for sure!

Tsurugi-san · Oct 14, 2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsr0801

Congrats man..

But I have a TUNER that will match and beat that....

You must be your own tuner!

Kevin@MellonTuning · Oct 14, 2009, 02:04 PM

Congrats Brandon. I hope you're enjoying the car. Looking forward to you coming back with a 35r this time haha

ozzome · Oct 14, 2009, 02:51 PM

how do you run e85?

gfng · Oct 14, 2009, 03:09 PM

lots of power man , mellon ftw

norcalSRTrida · Oct 14, 2009, 03:09 PM

cool story, and awesome #'s.

thnks for sharing man.

bambooi · Oct 14, 2009, 03:11 PM

Nice write up. I enjoyed reading it. Did you sleep at mellon's house? Congrats on the numbers. It must spin first gear when you go WOT...

SparkTech · Oct 14, 2009, 03:27 PM

Nice results...Glad to see the non-cdi working well for you.

Congrats on your new found power

Lowness · Oct 14, 2009, 03:31 PM

how much boost are you running? 38.9psi?

zeus1 · Oct 14, 2009, 04:32 PM

wow that car must be a beast!! nice

Mellon Tuning · Oct 14, 2009, 07:03 PM

thanks for the kind words Brandon, always a pleasure to have you here and thanks for the gift, that was unexpected and very cool of ya

send me some fresh logs when you get a chance and we'll dial it back in for the e85 change you guys are noticing in the area.

Tsurugi-san · Oct 15, 2009, 09:08 AM

Job well done, in my opinion!

Now that the weather is turning colder, they'll be weaning us off of the "good" E85, and onto the E70 stuff, so we might need a tweak here or there, but nothing as of yet. One thing I have noticed though --- and I'm sure a ton of you guys have experienced this --- is, now that the car is capable of neck-snapping acceleration, the interior components complain alot more in the form of rattles and squeaks, and the like. Especially with the colder weather, and there's more cold on the way! Looks like I'll be turning up the stereo.