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low dyno numbers??

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Old Jun 18, 2006 | 11:09 AM
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Unhappy low dyno numbers??

Recently awhile back i had my car dynoed an my numbers didnt make sense to me at first, 276 rwhp 307 rwtq, i was like something is not right, my mods at the time were a Hooker cat-back, FTRA, and an MTI lid. I thought my car was possibly running a little lean due to the FTRA an lid so i had it checked out by a local guy an he fixed that problem, but i then realized why my car had such low numbers, i was running crappy low octane gas, i can't remember the exact octane but it was the cheapest at the pump, i had completely forgotten that you had to run premium with higher compression, higher performance motors. well now after it was tuned i run nothing but premium in it but im worried now that i might have damaged my engine due to my stupidity. What do you guys think? could my engine be messed up for good or is this fixable? it burns a little bit of oil too so i think theres some buildup in the intake manifold thats not helping either, thanx for any input
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Old Jun 18, 2006 | 01:14 PM
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You could try using some seafoam cleaner that you spray in the throttle body to clean the buildup. Then get a catch can to keep it from comming back.
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Old Jun 18, 2006 | 09:25 PM
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Seafoam worked wonders for my car (w/ the old motor)
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Old Jun 19, 2006 | 10:18 AM
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yea i already had a plan to clean it out but im still curious as to if my engine might be damaged due to the low octane fuel, anybody???
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 08:26 AM
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come on guys, 91 views an nobody has any input?, somebody has to have something?
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 09:18 AM
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You probably didnt mess anything up by running 87, the car has low octane tables to shift to if you use low ocatne gas. Even so though, running 87 really wont lower your numbers much, if any. What kind of transmission do you have, was this on a Dyno Jet or Mustang dyno, what gear was used on the pull, also what was your Air/Fuel ratio?
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 09:21 AM
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What he said. You will maybe see 8hp difference with the 93 octane. In my opinoin, always go with the Highest grade pump gas. Stay away from ethonal if possible. Get yourself some LT headers and then you'll start to see your HP numbers climb.
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 09:31 AM
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Originally Posted by ICRAZY6
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What he said. You will maybe see 8hp difference with the 93 octane. In my opinoin, always go with the Highest grade pump gas. Stay away from ethonal if possible. Get yourself some LT headers and then you'll start to see your HP numbers climb.
That's not 100% correct IMO. While it's true running higher octane won't gain you HP magically, low octane is more likely to cause detonation triggering the KR sensor thus reducing performance.
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 09:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Daredevil_TA
Recently awhile back i had my car dynoed an my numbers didnt make sense to me at first, 276 rwhp 307 rwtq, i was like something is not right, my mods at the time were a Hooker cat-back, FTRA, and an MTI lid. I thought my car was possibly running a little lean due to the FTRA an lid so i had it checked out by a local guy an he fixed that problem, but i then realized why my car had such low numbers, i was running crappy low octane gas, i can't remember the exact octane but it was the cheapest at the pump, i had completely forgotten that you had to run premium with higher compression, higher performance motors. well now after it was tuned i run nothing but premium in it but im worried now that i might have damaged my engine due to my stupidity. What do you guys think? could my engine be messed up for good or is this fixable? it burns a little bit of oil too so i think theres some buildup in the intake manifold thats not helping either, thanx for any input
Rigth several things.

As already asked is your car M6 or A4? And what type of dyno where you on?

As for damage to the engine, well while possible it's highly unlikley. How long did you run 87 octane fuel and what sort of useage did the car see?

Detonation is the bane and low octane fuel is more likley to cause it, but LS1's have a knock sensor so should retard the engine.

Originally Posted by Daredevil_TA
i think theres some buildup in the intake manifold thats not helping either
Not sure what you mean by this statement? Build up of what exactly? If you are really concerned just drop the air box off and tube to the TB open it manually and shine a torch in there, and it'll be dark and a large void with little too look at.

As others have mentioned you could use Seafoam. I have no experience with it so I'll leave it for others to recommend or not.

As for buring oil, well that's pretty normal. Pretty all LS1's do, infact the vast majority of engines out there burn a bit of it. The thing is how much is it burning? Are you having to put a pint of oil in for every 100 mlies, 1000 miles or 5000 miles kind of thing.

Plus in most cases any oil being burnt is usually due to the PVC system where oil is pushed from the engine back into the TB. An aftermarket catch can could be used although it won't stop the oil loss but it will prevent it entering the TB. There are several other things which can be done to the PVC system to help prevent this, but it's large topic so you'll need to SEARCH.

If blue oil smoke is coming from the exhaust then yes it's burning it and it's probably a bit of a worry, worn piston rings and/or valve guides would be potential candidates.

All in all I doubt there's anything really wrong with your motor though.
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 10:06 AM
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guessing by the spec clutch i would say its a 6 speed car. Those are low numbers for a 6 speed car with a catback and a lid. I dont think ftra really shows on the dyno, but i could be wrong. I would of guessed around 305-310 rwhp easy. Did you ever think to check the small stuff? Plugs and wires? fuel pressure? condition of your converters? Put on some long tubes and some high flow cats or !cats and i bet you'll jump right up there. good luck
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Old Jun 21, 2006 | 10:33 AM
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Yeah I did notice Pro 5.0 listed in their sig also, I just didn't amend my post.

Those numbers do seem a little low, but if it was on a Mustang Dyno corrected to SAE and using sensible graph smoothing combined with running 87 octane (assuming KR also) then those numbers could probably be bang on.
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Old Jun 22, 2006 | 09:43 AM
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hey sorry ive been gone for so long, yes my car is an M6-and it was on a dynojet, i think i did the pull in 4th gear because i maxed out at 130mph at the end of the pull. By buildup i meant carbon buildup in the intake manifold because it does use a little bit of oil but by the time i usually need to add a quart, its time for an oil change anyway, the car is a daily driver that saw occasional track time. I know all about the PCV system an what can be done about it, but my car only had about 35,000 miles on it when i dynoed so i wouldn't think the carbon buildup would be that bad yet. I did run 87 octane in it for quite awhile but when i came to WA, i started putting 89 in it, not much better but still cheap. I'm not sure what my AFR was when it dynoed but when i went an got it tuned by a buddy of mine he did an in car scan while i was driving an it showed it was running lean. Which i sort of suspected because of the FTRA an lid. My MAF wasn't compensating for all the extra air coming in so i had it recalibrated, the car runs stronger now but i haven't had it dynoed since then. basically i was just wanting to know if i could've damaged my engine running that low of octane for so long--i did use ethanol but im from iowa an i feel for corn farmers an i was always told it was good for your engine--but to wrap this up, i just couldn't figure out at first why my numbers were so low i was hoping to get at least 300rwhp. thanx for the replies guys
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Old Jun 22, 2006 | 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by 300bhp/ton
Yeah I did notice Pro 5.0 listed in their sig also, I just didn't amend my post.

Those numbers do seem a little low, but if it was on a Mustang Dyno corrected to SAE and using sensible graph smoothing combined with running 87 octane (assuming KR also) then those numbers could probably be bang on.
KR will not rob 30HP, he should AT LEAST be at 300RWHP.
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Old Jun 22, 2006 | 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Trust
KR will not rob 30HP, he should AT LEAST be at 300RWHP.
yes it will. a mail tune i got had MAF so screwed up (or rather ignored when it should've been ) that the car knocked 4* pretty much at any moment. just disconnecting the MAF made the car gain probably 40-50hp, the difference was HUGE, not just wot but even at just cruising on the highway.
if it's just knock (as in too much timing) then the power loss wont be that bad, but it's dangerous. if it's a result of more bullshit going on with your car like running lean, then the power loss can be very significant. figure out what's going on first.
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Old Jun 22, 2006 | 11:00 PM
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i'm in Iraq right now so i can't do much, i come home for leave in a few weeks an they're having a dyno day in my hometown on the 28th. I was gonna get it dynoed an see where i was at after the tune an running on premium.
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Old Jun 22, 2006 | 11:11 PM
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Originally Posted by RedHardSupra
yes it will. a mail tune i got had MAF so screwed up (or rather ignored when it should've been ) that the car knocked 4* pretty much at any moment. just disconnecting the MAF made the car gain probably 40-50hp, the difference was HUGE, not just wot but even at just cruising on the highway.
if it's just knock (as in too much timing) then the power loss wont be that bad, but it's dangerous. if it's a result of more bullshit going on with your car like running lean, then the power loss can be very significant. figure out what's going on first.
He said he was tuned, if he was running 87 he should have been tuned for it.
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Old Jun 23, 2006 | 04:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Trust
He said he was tuned, if he was running 87 he should have been tuned for it.
well if it was tuned for 87 then the timing would be well retarded so a fiarly significant amount of HP could be lost. On such a motor I can well believe ~20rwhp.
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Old Jun 23, 2006 | 08:25 AM
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I got it tuned AFTER i ran it on the dyno, so i was tuned to run premium, not 87 octane--he did something with the octane tables to where i can ONLY run it on premium, nothing less.
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