Fair

Update: Transmission Cooling Fan Mod



After the first "baseline stock" track outing (ECR, Oct 11, 2008) in a new 2008 EVO X "MR" we noted that after 2-3 hard laps the transmission would overheat during each 20 minute session. This was with a totally stock suspension and drivetrain - so why didn't any of the million magazine articles praising the EVO X's flappy paddle semi-automatic "DSG" style transmission mention this after their many on-track tests? Well apparently it only happens when 1) driven harder the most automotive journalists can muster (yes, that was a jab!) and 2) when drivers employ Left Foot Braking. But ... with no clutch pedal, what sane racing driver wouldn't use LFB on track? That's one of the big pluses of these 2 pedal transmissions - the ability to let each pedal have its own foot. Colin McRae said it best about LFB use (video).

We soon found out from talking to a local Mitsubishi dealer (big props to Don Herring!) that when the brake pedal is even lightly pressed ("covering the pedal", which is what you do when you are using a Left Foot Braking technique) the clutch is semi-disengaged... allowing for clutch slip and potential transmission overheating. One automotive journalist did in fact have this happen during the press testing barrage, but it was overlooked. Well, Hanchey track drove the car like it should be driven - using LFB technique. That could have caused some of the overheating problem, but we wanted to improve transmission cooling just in case it reared its head again at the next track event (less than 5 days after the first event was run) or at the next autocross, where he WOULD be using LFB, by damn. What's the point of buying a $40K performance car if you have to drive it like Mr. Magoo??


L: EVO X with fog lights covering up the oil coolers. R: Fog light housings removed and coolers exposed to more airflow!

The EVO X "MR" models' trans overheating woes are well known on the interweb with track drivers already, and even acknowledged by Mitsubishi dealers and Mitsu corporate. They promote the Super Sport transmission mode "for track use" but didn't quite get the cooling right on their first iteration (and even had a production halt in February on the MR to address this). We aimed to improve that instead of waiting for a "factory update".

So, after that initial track day where 3 hot laps was about the limit before "trans over temp...SLOW DOWN!" alarms would chime, we knew something had to be done to the cooling. There aren't a lot of solutions yet, so Hanchey decided to come up with his own.



After a look at the shop manual he noted problems in the ducting and location of the SST transmission cooler, and thus where some of the problems probably stemmed from - insufficient air flow to cool the heat exchanger, which was buried behind a fog light assembly, a wonky looking air duct, and cooling air that exited into the left front wheel well. Brian suggested adding a cooling fan to the back of the cooler and I suggested removing the fog lights - in the end we did both.



After Hanchey sourced a stout looking 5.2" diameter fan from Spal that was made for this type of use, we tore into the installation late one night at the shop. We thought we might be able to get away with a quick 30 minute install, but access to the front of the cooler was very limited, so off came the front bumper. I wanted an excuse to take a look under there for large lead weights or other ballast - something to explain this 3600 pound curb weight! - and we did indeed get to uncover a few things about the EVO X with a look under the skin.



The front bumper removal was the hardest part of this project, but a glance at the shop manual helped us track down the thirty or so fasteners that held the bumper cover and lower shrouds in place. Once it was off we could see that Hanchey had chosen the perfect size fan from Spal, and it went on with the included fasteners, plus a few washers and some rubber hose used to make a compliant seal between fan and heat exchanger. This was a "sucker" fan, so its mounted on the back side of the cooler. There was ample room to the fender liner to fit the fan in there, no worries.

Once the fan was in place, we removed both fog light assemblies. Good riddance to unnecessary bling - we don't have "fog" in Texas and their dead weight was covering up a good portion of two important oil coolers (engine and trans oil). We put together the wiring for the fan quickly. This included a relay and fuse for the higher current fan circuit, and a switch under the dash for the "low power" side of the relay. There was an unused 12V switched circuit in the factory fuse panel under the hood, right above the cooler & fan.



Total costs: About $100 for all of the parts, about 2-3 hours of time (possibly more if you are not familiar with removing bodywork and doing 12 volt wiring).

Another open track event was run the following weekend (same track, same format, same ambient temps; BMW at ECR). This showed the results we wanted to see - ZERO trans temp problems and improved lap times. At the end of each 20 minute lapping session the new trans cooler fan was run for several minutes while the engine sat at idle, and heat was POURING out of the heat exchanger - so the fan was definitely moving some air, and helping.

I guess we can chalk this on up as a successful mod. Here's the step-by-step install guide picture gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6321704_Wm79c



We will go back and add a new/improved duct to the trans cooler (sheet aluminum), as well as make some protective mesh coverings for both fog light openings soon. I will update this thread when we add those final bits.

Cheers,

Fair

Update: First autocross write-up - the last event on stock suspension!

Amy and Terry (me) ran the EVO in its first autocross event last weekend at Le Grave Field in Ft. Worth, TX. Sure is easy to take this car to events - hop in, drive there, air up the front tires, and race! No tire swapping, no loading truck and trailer, just go - very nice compared to our normal load the truck + trailer + car +tools + trackside junk process.

The early cold temps warmed up considerably and we were borrowing water to spray the overheating Dunlop Star Specs on on the front after the 2nd runs (5 runs each w/ 2 drivers). The rears just barely got up to temp (55-60°F ambient). The stock suspensioned EVO X was a huge marshmallow but it was still two tons of fun to drive! The only mod on the car - the 245mm Dunlop Star Spec tires - was the biggest contributor to these DL-1 data logged numbers (98% percentile, not peaks):

Lateral Grip: 1.00g (left) / 1.04g (right)
Braking: 0.98 g
Accel: 0.60g

The numbers were still pretty good, considering the MASSIVE pitch, roll, drive and camber loss the under-sprung stock suspension allows. It was hilarious!


Look at the massive lean in Cornering!


Accel and Braking made for big pitch and dive!

It was like driving a big parade float... except it had a LOT of acceleration, good brakes, and the auto shifting S-Sport mode was FLAWLESS. The car would use 3rd and 1st gears where no other racers dared shift, and the data logging shows seamless acceleration during upshifts where our manually shifted cars always have a big dip in speed and acceleration. The SST magic is NOT A JOKE - this semi-automatic dual clutch business is the Real Thing. You never have to even THINK about shifting, don't even have to flick the paddles, you just mash the throttle and it is ALWAYS in the right gear. Amy and I were both Left Foot Braking everywhere, and it helped considerably.

The course had a heavy emphasis on slaloms (3), but the stock EVO gobbled them up with ease. The active yaw control system seems to actually work - you have to be somewhat violent with the wheel but it sticks better than you would think. There were some long sweeping corners that the car didn't like so much, due to the lean and camber loss, and we lost a lot of time there to other cars and classes we gauge by. The maximum 1.02 g avg lateral grip number is pretty low for STU cars on 140-200 treadwear tires, as we usually see 1.15-1.3g lateral in our prepped STU and STS cars. The braking numbers are OK, about what we saw in our STS prepped E30 and the old STU classed STI, but nothing like the 1.1g braking we saw in our STU E36 M3. Even with massive 2-piece rotors and Brembo calipers, you can't make up for that much dive.

The acceleration was pretty impressive, considering this thing is still bone stock and pushing 3600 pounds of puddin' around. The slower corner exits were helped dramatically by the SST's use of 1st gear. Due to a weird starting light placement that occurred in a braking zone right before a corner, far away from the actual starting line, we didn't mess with launch control as it would have been pointless.

With two driver's using LFB we assumed we might be adding extra heat to the transmission so the custom trans cooler fan was used between each run. With 2 drivers in a somewhat small run heat we were a bit pressed for time, but we did manage 4-5 minutes between drivers to swap numbers, spray the front tires, swap data cards for the DL-1, adjust the seat, and give the trans time to cool. It never had a single fault or overtemp warning, so that problem seems to be licked, even with heavy LFB use. Glad we had removed the fog lights and housings, as another EVO X driver attested to their fragility - one cone and POW they're gone (mounting tabs on the housings can break easily). We will not have that problem, of course. Although Amy did have some cone issues...


The car is very wide, much wider than her M3, and she took a few runs to gauge the corners of the EVO

As you can see the other, prepped STU cars didn't have as much lean or dive, but they were already on stiffer aftermarket suspensions.


L: Jason in Paul's 2005 STI (KWs; this car has trophied at Nat's). Right: Shawn in another EVO X (BC coilovers)


This is the last time this car will have this much lean!

---------results---------

I ended up 4th in STU in the stock EVO, .3 seconds back from Paul in 1st. The other 2 cars ahead were also prepped and driven by Nationally Competitive drivers, so we were happy with the EVO's performance, to say the least.

http://autocross.com/texasregion/

1Tm STU 166 Paul Magyar Subaru STi Silver Dunlop 56.158 56.101+2 56.409+1 57.112+1 56.470+1 56.158
350983 Vorshlag Motorsports -
2Tm STU 66 Jason McCall Subaru STi Silver Dunlop 58.474+DNF 56.390+2 56.015+1 56.261 56.476+2 56.261
358922 Vorshlag Motorsports 0.103
3Tm STU 91 Wayne Atkins Honda Civic Si Black Bridgestone 57.545+1 57.479 56.423 56.422 56.261+2 56.422
282424 Atkins Design Group, Inc. 0.161
4 m STU 193 Terry Fair Evo Black Dunlop 55.751+DNF 57.481+1 56.440 56.855 56.636 56.440

--------data analysis---------

OK, lets discuss the magical "SST" transmission. Are the shifts as fast as they say? The data will tell us - we can compare 2-3 upshifts in a manual transmission car (our STU prepped E36 M3) vs 2-3 upshifts in the EVO X MR with the SST in Super-Sport auto mode, all data logged using the same DL1 system. These graphs say it all....


E36 M3 shift. This is time vs. mph. Red, purple and black runs all have a 2-3 shift.


Evo X MR, black line represents acceleration from 1st through 3rd (starting in middle of graph). Red is longitudinal acceleration.

There was a cone in the middle of the section on the EVO data, hence the dip in acceleration, but its not by much. Speed peaked at 65mph. Possibly the two flat parts are from the upshifts, but it is a little hard to tell since this data is on an autocross run and not a straight line, ruling out other variables. Regardless the car never stops accelerating and the slope of the curve only changes slightly. It has no dip in the speed vs time graph like the M3 does on an upshift. The EVO took advantage of the SST auto mode to do multiple up and downshifts where other racers stuck it out in 2nd gear only. Advantage: EVO MR.


(click to see video of data logging of Terry vs. Amy)

That's the screen capture of the DL1 data showing Terry's (me) vs Amy's best runs. There is a 2 sec difference - we're normally only a tenth or two apart. She has 2 Nat'l Championships in STU-L. Basically I'm just faster everywhere and braking later, but I tend to do well when you need to drive a sloppy car violently like this. Once we get the floppy chassis settled down with a real suspension, the gap narrows.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...180_6dMyn-M-LB

----------up next---------------

The AST 4200 double adjustable shocks are already here and the last EVO X camber plate part we need is due later this week. We've got a gaggle of exhaust parts here too, so we'll begin the custom 3" after-cat system tomorrow night.

Fair

Update: Mesh Foglight Opening Covers, Nov 18, 2008

A previous cooling mod (see posts above) left the EVO X MR's two foglight openings now completely unobstructed - begging to ingest a rock or giant bug into the pricey and essential engine and transmission oil coolers that nestle inside the front bumper cover. With track events on the schedule anything can happen if there's an "off", and our local tracks do have some rocks when you (or someone else in front of you) get off pavement. We regularly see gravel and debris slung on track and Hanchey was holding his breath at the last ECR event that none of that made its way into the oil coolers.

This project was undertaken by Brian to put some protective mesh in place of the foglights, which allow unrestricted airflow but will stop a rock or other foreign object larger than 1/4" diameter. He ordered some stainless steel "rock protection" grill mesh - he used #4 Mesh/Extra Course from HRP World (24"x36" sheet was $35). This gave us enough mesh to do the foglight openings on the EVO and the main radiator inlet + two brake duct openings on our LS1 powered BMW E36. Keeping rocks off the SST trans cooler on the EVO X MR was the reason for project. We removed the foglights and factory ducting from both sides when doing the SST cooling fan mod, shown above.

The mesh is stiff and holds it shape, yet still bends and cuts easily. Its stainless steel but we painted it semi-flat black to somewhat match the factory grill mesh. We didn't put it on a 45° angle like the stock stuff, but hey, its close enough and the final project still looks damn good in person.


(click all pictures to see larger versions)

Of course we "cheated" and used the lift to make the work easier. First step once you have the car in the air is to remove the two plastic lower engine cover panels for access to the back of the bumper cover - there's no need to remove bumper cover from the car for this project. There's about 1.7 million screws and snap clips hold these two panels in place.



Each side uses approximately one rectangle that is 18" wide by 8" tall. You can go a little smaller, but there's plenty of room behind the bumper cover, so be conservative and make em larger. Use a black "Sharpie" marker to draw a line on the mesh then cut - You'll need a good pair of tin snips to cut it.



Above, left - Hanchey test fitting the mesh before painting and final attachment. At above, right the painted mesh is secured to the factory threaded stand-offs for the foglight assemblies. #8 x 3/4" long button head Phillips drive sheet metal screws threaded into the stand-offs to hold the mesh in place. Brian made some large, square surface washers to spread the load of the screw head over the surface of the mesh.



You can see the mesh in these photos above - the hand is there for contrast to show the black color. The stainless steel look would be OK if the factory grill mesh weren't black.



The final mesh covers secured before the lower engine cover panels are replaced.

OK, onto the exhaust...

Fair

Update: Custom, Lightweight after-cat Exhaust Project (Part 1)

We plan on using the COBB Tuning downpipe, O2 housing and cat, but we wanted to make a lightweight after-cat exhaust ourselves... we have the tools... we have the technology... The Six Million Dollar Exhaust is born!

OK, so its really only about a $200 Exhaust, but who's counting? Unlike most of the off-the-shelf offerings out there (which are still few and far between for the new EVO X) we wanted to get a lightweight system with a low buck, home brew solution. No, its not titanium, or even stainless, but it is thin-wall 20 gauge (.049" wall thickness) carbon steel tubing with smooth 3" diameter mandrel bends, sourced from SPD Exhaust. We've built systems for our race cars before using SPD bends and they are very, very high quality. Not cheap, but you won't find thin walled 20 gauge bends for less (the cheaper bends are all .065" wall, or thicker).


(Click pictures for larger versions)

We used three of the 45° mandrel bends (SPD 3" ID, 4" bend radius, .049" wall thickness = thin and light), 3' of straight pipe (3" ID, SPD .049" wall) and the two mufflers shown. The U-bend and 4th mandrel 45° were not used. Since the SPD parts come from California and have a 3-4 day lead time, we ordered everything in advance and got a few extra bends, just in case. The mufflers were 3" ID low cost DynoMax "straight through" units bought from Summit Racing (you don't get much cheaper than that). And instead of the uber-light system we built for the BMW E30, which is LOUD AS HELL (16 pounds for cat + exhaust + muffler), Brian chose a larger case 3" chamber main muffler + resonator for this multi-purpose daily driver/autocross/track car. And instead of a simple dump after the rear axle, this system runs all the way to the factory rear exhaust outlet opening. The main muffler came in at 10.8 pounds and the resonator at 5.2 - the muffler is heavier than we like, so we might go back and add a flange and section of pipe to allow for quick swapping of the muffler with a lighter weight "straight pipe", to drop 10 pounds and lose more back-pressure for race use.



First step (after sourcing all of the parts) was to get the car in the air and yank the stock after-cat exhaust system off. This took literally about 90 seconds once the isolators were loose - its too easy when you have a lift. A tip for faster removal - lube all of the rubber exhaust hanger isolators with WD40 (shown above, left) and then the three exhaust hangers will pop right out. A little leverage with a prybar helps if they are stuck on.



Once the factory after-cat exhaust is off, its straight to our trusty 150 pound digital scale (+/- 0.1 lbs). I delicately balanced it on the flange with the lightest touch, and the system tipped the scales at 45.1 pounds. Our goal was to drop at least 20 pounds in this portion of the exhaust upgrade. The stock system is shown above, on the left.



We started at the OEM flange at the back of the catalyst and worked our way back. An aftermarket 2-bolt 3" ID exhaust flange was bolted up to the stock cat flange and then the system was started from there. A 3' section of straight pipe was followed by the resonator, then another 3' section of pipe (later cut down a bit). Our hydraulic transmission jack worked well as an adjustable height exhaust stand. Both the 3" ID resonator and muffler allowed for a slip-fit to the 3" tubing, which gave us 2-3" of wiggle room as these joints could each be slide in and out by that much. You can see above that one of the 45° bends was cut in half and extended in the middle to give a slight jog laterally and another jog downwards, to clear the rear diff housing. Once it was all laid out where I liked it, each section was tacked together.



OK, everything is tacked in place. Neglected to get a good picture of the system installed in the car at this stage, of course. Work up to this point took 2.5 hours - that is fully laid out, tacked-together and ready to final weld. That's where we stopped last night and I'm heading out the shop to finish the welding. Once its welded up we'll re-fit it one last time and add the exhaust hangers (oops!) then remove it again for JetHot thermal coating.



Here's the new exhaust on the scale and laid up next to the stock system. The new bits are weighing in at 23.8 pounds, so we've got a pre-coated savings of 21.3 pounds. Big thanks to DaveB for help during the entire fabrication!

More soon once I finish weld the exhaust and get it coated. Our new EVO X camber plate parts are days away, and the AST 4200s are sitting on the shelf...

BlackTrack

iTrader: (25)

Awesome to see some guys working on some track oriented parts! Cool idea for the MR guys. Good luck on the rest of the project, and nice write-up guys.

Fair

Thanks, Ryan. I hope our project updates don't get too boring; we've done long build threads like this on other forums for previous project cars and people liked seeing the added detail.

This should be a lot more fun on track with the new suspension and exhaust - but we don't plan on moving into TTA and messing with you and your car! This is still being built to compete in SCCA's "STU" autocross class, with only a few quick changes for TT use, so the lack of R compounds and boost should keep it squarely in TTB.

hancheyb

Yeah, I drove a STI with a side pipe (no muffler) for a while. So the two muffler idea was for me (and my ear drums). That collector-straight pipe should allow us to get to that familiar Evo open exhaust note we all love so much.

BlackTrack

iTrader: (25)

No man, the more detailed the more interesting! I'm curious to see how the MR ends up, looks pretty cool so far. I actually wont be in TT-A any longer, I'm prepping for TT-U

If you could post up here or PM me your plan for TT-B I'd appreciate it, Im just curious as to what you plan to do. Thanks guys and good luck!

hancheyb

Meet our TTU car.



It's getting the 500 whp motor built right now. Should still weigh 2550 or so since we're running a 275mm tire. We'll tune the motor to match the weight. That should be a cool match up. Light weight/rwd versus awd/big HP.

We're going to run it in ST1 as well. Getting the final safety equipment in it while the motor is down. Then aero, digital dash, diff cooler, more brakes. The never ending to-do list.

BlackTrack

iTrader: (25)

Ohh god.....not happy to see that.

Fair

Meh, its not that much faster than the stock EVO X... about (edit) 14 seconds a lap at ECR's ~2 minute track. (you can see the TTU car passing the TTB EVO at 0:35 to 0:45)


(click for video)

Granted, that's with the old 330 whp motor (bone stock junkyard special), not the upcoming 500 whp motor. With the old motor on straights it could just keep up with a modded C6 Z06. We hope that will improve...



Still, Danny Popp seems to be the man to beat in TTS and TTU both!

hancheyb

Hey, get it right, you were 14s a lap faster than me.

Having driven both cars, I was shocked by the closing rate of the LS1 car. Doesn't seem that fast from the driver's seat. Crazy.

goforwand

iTrader: (132)

Great Thread!

Looking forward to hearing more about your suspension solutions for the X

goofygrin

iTrader: (5)

Hey, great writeup! Makes me wish I had a lift for sure!

Just one clarification:
1. it's Sean
2. I'm actually on Stance GR+Pro SSD coilovers (14kg/14kg) (http://stance-usa.com/sus/index.php?...d=32&Itemid=44)
3. That's actually a picture of Jason McCall driving my car

Jason's last run was in my car. He was only .2seconds off his best time in his STi (although he hit two cones). I still am having setup issues on my car (learning how to set the tire pressure and coilover rebound) and the car was overly soft by the time I got through messing it up.

Of course, I was 1.5 seconds behind the STU winner so I've got some learning to do (but 1.5s is about 3.5s less than it was 2-3 months ago, so that's a + -- and I beat Paul in his STi at the last event! [by like .040]).

Fair

Exhaust update: Too Quiet?!

Well we got the exhaust finish welded and prettied up and then fire the engine... too quiet!?! Yep the MagnaFlow 3-chamber "straight-thru" is just too efficient and was about the same volume as stock. Part of the reasoning behind our lightweight exhaust was so we could actually hear the engine note, to help with shifting when in manual mode (as it is now we have to watch the tach - deathly silent).


L: On the car with the massive MagnaFlow R: Seam welds ground down for coating


L: After driving the car for a short stint the steel turned bronze colored R: outlet is on left side only

So now we're going to make an interchangeable straight pipe to replace the (11 pound!) MagnaFlow for track events. Then we can change it out quickly at the track for more engine noise and power. Ordering some 3" V-bands and will knock out this new optional piece, then get all of it coated. This way we can also dyno with and without the muffler quickly...


L: Brian's EvoX at the Cobb Show. R: Vorshlag Test Pilot Mark Berry's EVO 9 weighs 2320 pounds!

Pics from a car show today, at the Cobb Tuning grand opening in Plano, TX. More: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/6623846_gJkMg

More soon,