Chat: Eddie FourFather Hill Atom II Ecotec Performance Upgrades

[FourFather]

[quote="silver"]
Eddie, I'm curious will you be using Tom's intercooler or fabbing one up on your own...........or using stock?
[/quote]

Right now I'm planning on running my intercooler system as-is and check results before more upgrades in that area.

But many of the motorcycles and ATV's and UTV's that we sell have very nice aluminum radiators in many different sizes. So that may be a possibility. Heatsoak has not been a problem, so far as I can tell, with the way it is now.

My 1:19.6  lap (career best for me at Hallett) was lap #8 of that session, so it did not seem to be slowing down like I think it would if the intake temp was too high.

Tom's deal sure looks good!

[silver]

It sure does, he does excellent work.

I'd be interested in seeing what options you have in the smaller radiator sizes however.

I have reversed the flow, added the bigger pump and installed a bleed valve to the factory intercooler where the temp sensor was, that works fantastic.

We attempted to purchase a 8X10X 2.5 core but it didn't show up in time and the manufacturer is now claiming their machine is broken so I cancelled the order and decided like you, might as well do the supercharger upgrade first then see what's what.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

 I  see...22 alterations.   Once I start doing..other things to my engine setup,I will do the Hptuner pro. I do have the ability to add or take fuel away now,but that is about it.  Should be fine.     I'm still working on the driving,so I don't need every Hp available...if it ain't broke..

[FourFather]

[quote="MadMaxAtom and company"]
I'll take less weight,better brakes and tuned suspension over HP any day.(sorry Eddie.. )
[/quote]

Absolutely no apology needed!

And, by the way, I'll take less weight, better brakes, lower C/G, more downforce, tuned suspension, better tires, more TraqMate analysis, much more track-time practice, AND more HP!!

After all, "There's NO SUCH THING as TOO MUCH horsepower!!"

[FourFather]

From Silver-"might as well do the supercharger upgrade first then see what's what."

The more efficient Harrop should have lower intake temps, for equal boost. So I'm hoping that, on my deal, that I can run more air through mine without getting too much intake heat, since I did not seem to have a heatsoak problem as it was. But I am getting the 70 MM pulley with mine, instead of the larger ones, so we'll just have to wait and see--

[silver]

Exactly, I'm sticking with the 3.14 inch pulley which is about 80 mm so you're going quite a bit smaller, I really don't even need that much but since it's what it comes with I'll take the extra horsepower too awe shucks.

[NormLarson]

I think the 70 is a good place to start with a ported head.  Can't wait to hear how it works for you.  Mine is still at the head shop ....  I am waiting on the port results to select a cam myself.  The results the guys on the Cobalt forums were getting is the 80 was about the lowest you could go without porting the exhaust side.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Starting with less Hp has helped me get the most out of my Atom..at my pace.    

Some of us have never been strapped to...7000HP....for 4.9 seconds......     Top Fuel!

Eddie..if you need more boost...( ).....the ATI SuperDamper for the Ecotec is about 15% larger (in diameter) than the oem crap balancer(and it fits the Atom)   If you are going for 8K....

[FourFather]

The ATI SuperDamper is a good call!



I shredded a couple of the six-rib belts while running hard at Hallett, after I had developed the 252WHP tune I showed. So part of my reason for the ATI was to get the 8-rib belt, which cured my belt-shredding.

[silver]

Can you comment on what you have seen internally during the dis-assembly of your motor as far as wear or any issues or perfection.

I'm just curious since you've probably seen the inside of more engines than any of us, how does it look?

[FourFather]

I have a bit over 6,000 miles on the car, and probably more than half of those have been track time. I am frankly amazed how NICE the rod and main bearings are, and I'll probably just put them back in. The crankshaft and camshaft appear perfect, as do the cam followers and lifters.

The chains and sprockets for the cam drive and for the balancer and water pump drive appear unused. I don't have the valves out yet, but nothing on, or in, the head looks to have any distress or problem.

The pistons, rings, and cylinder walls all look great except #1. It had a broken section of top ring land, about an inch or so long, that had broken off the piston and was just riding along in place, but not supporting the top ring. This was at the top ring gap, and the unsupported end of the ring, grooved the cylinder wall. GM spoke the truth about these CAST pistons being the first failure point. I didn't see any other problems anywhere.

I'll be putting Diamond FORGED pistons in. Even in my Top Fuel engines, with estimated horsepower of 6,000 or more, a broken ring land of a FORGED piston was practically unheard of. We often had the piston domes sink down, or the ring lands squeeze down enough to lock the piston rings in place, if the engine got a bit lean-but it is almost impossible to BREAK a good forged piston.

[silver]

Thank you that's really good information

[positron]

Did you ever get anywhere with Comp Cams? They took a good long time to grind mine.

[FourFather]

What are the odds on this?        While I was typing an answer to you about Comp Cams- my general manager here at my dealership walked in with the Comp Cams that had just come in! 

It did take a while to get them, and they had to order some steel cores that they did not have in stock when I placed my order. And a word of advice to anyone wanting cams for the Ecotec- be very specific about which ones you need. There are many variations, apparently, and I needed both cams to be the long ones, with the internal hex to drive the cam position sensor. Some Ecotec cams are shorter, and without the hex.

More on the cams later, after I have a chance to unbox and look at them.

[positron]

Be sure to check the exhaust hex for correct orientation. They ground mine from two intake blanks and did not reorient it. It'll run 1/2 flat off if you +1 the sensor but it'll throw a code and disable your rev limiter and who knows what else.

Best to use a 12mm allan socket and a big cheater to reorient.