Stock car- just getting started

[funatnight]

I have a stock car that I bought used. It only has a rice plate.

Looking to find the simplest and most reliable way to make some extra power.... nothing extravagant.

1. What can be expected from just using the DSP without any changes?

2. What is the next step after the DSP? WGA? Wideband?

3. What is the benefit of the WGA?

4. What is the benefit of the wideband? Does it work in conjunction with the DSP? How does this connect to the car?

I have built several old school V8 drag cars, but this is my first ever dealing with these new fangled computerized car thingies

Thanks in advance

[letxen3]

read some of the sticky post that are in here above very good information on there but i will try to anwer your questions in red....

Quote: Originally Posted by funatnight

I have a stock car that I bought used. It only has a rice plate.

Looking to find the simplest and most reliable way to make some extra power.... nothing extravagant.

1. What can be expected from just using the DSP without any changes?
~increased boost to 19 psi spike and 15psi hold and a afr of about 11.9. every car is different so these numbers can vary do to things like wear and tear on parts and or boost leaks etc.

2. What is the next step after the DSP? WGA? Wideband?
~once you get a predator your now going beyond your average bolt ons, ur in the tuning part and reliable monitoring gauges are a must yes get a wideband to monitor air fuel ratios.

3. What is the benefit of the WGA?
~stock wga is fine though the word is the foward motion wga (fm wga) is better for pcm controlled load response but try your stocker 1st if you feel you dont like it change it i guess.

4. What is the benefit of the wideband? Does it work in conjunction with the DSP? How does this connect to the car?
~benefit of the wideband is you can watch your air fuel ratios make sure your car is not running too lean nor too rich. wideband will be a separate gauge from the predator it will help you watch your afr's if you want to start to fine tune things incase the can tune from the predator is not doing it for you. the wideband has a sensor that gets installed in your exhaust system before your cat. the predator gets plugged in to your OBDII port and you flash the tune in and then unplug it.


I have built several old school V8 drag cars, but this is my first ever dealing with these new fangled computerized car thingies

Thanks in advance

oh and welcome to the world of computer controled cars and fuel injection

[funatnight]

GREAT response! I have been looking around here a lot, I have read through most of the posts in this section, but they all seem very technical, a little beyond my basic knowledge. Thanks for helping out with the basics!

I am assuming that we are trying to balance several things at once and the computer is doing it's best to fight us?

1- AFR
2- Boost
3- Timing

All the while we are doing our best to keep the knock sensors at bay?

It would seem that we can control 2 out of the 3, the 3rd is up to the computer.

Am I looking at this logically?

This is a world away from dual dominators and sheet metal manifolds with fogger systems!

[letxen3]

Quote: Originally Posted by funatnight

I am assuming that we are trying to balance several things at once and the computer is doing it's best to fight us?

i wouldnt say the computer is fighting us its more like projecting the engine. if it detects pinging (knock) with the knock sensors it will retard timing and or lower boost and or inject more fuel.

before it was all about hiding boost with external boost/air fuel controllers, now with using the stock computer we are now over riding the maps and telling the pcm to run more power, but at the same time the computer still does things to keep things safe to a certian extent.

[funatnight]

Quote: Originally Posted by letxen3

before it was all about hiding boost with external boost/air fuel controllers, now with using the stock computer we are now over riding the maps and telling the pcm to run more power, but at the same time the computer still does things to keep things safe to a certian extent.

That explains a lot of things to me.

Once we have control of the PCM via the DSP, what is the first roadblock that we come up against? Lack of fuel? Not enough boost?

[letxen3]

Quote: Originally Posted by funatnight

That explains a lot of things to me.

Once we have control of the PCM via the DSP, what is the first roadblock that we come up against? Lack of fuel? Not enough boost?

no road blocks except the need for even more power more parts and maybe a few speeding tickets and or needing to buy a bigger turbo etc.

[Bebo]

^^^what he said.
Yeah pretty much what you do is get a wideband & the Predator. Drive it with just the wideband & get used to how it works then (before you even load a tune) run a datalog with the predator so you know what things look like stock. Then, load the 93oct perf tune & datalog again. Note any changes in AFR (with your wideband) & compare the stock datalog to your performance tuned datalog (you'll feel a notable difference while driving). Read up on AFR's, knock, & just basic tuning. If you take it slow you will see what effect this has on that without it being so overbearing & boom.

Tuning will net you more of a speed gain than a HP/TQ gain (if that makes any sense). After you've figured out how to tune then you'll be comfortable enough to upgrade injectors & turbos on a tuning standpoint.

Also, don't waste your money on an intake unless you need one for a larger turbo.