Minisprint 4EFE

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ignitionautosport
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Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

edit: more info on the class can be found here: http://www.minisprints.co.nz/
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I got involved in this project to try and get the car competitive and run with the pack.

Currently the class consists of ex-Midget chassis with a carbureted 1300cc 8valve engine usually on methanol.
The engines are getting expensive for what they are, getting near $30k for a front running engine to be built and the old A12/A13 and 4K engines are getting thin on the ground these days.

So Speedway New Zealand decided to allow a trial of EFI engines and see how they went. The owner ran the car with the eom ecu for a couple of seasons and had a hard time keeping with the pack, mainly due to the lack of power and inability to pull enough rpm down the straight - which meant he had to gear it up and sat too low in the rev range to pull out of the corners effectively.

I have put my S80 on it for now, but long term it will run an S60. Tefzel/DR25 harness, logs the basics only plus Lambda.
Roughly 5% gain throughout and probably more at part throttle as he says it feels super responsive now. Quite conservative tune as I'm unsure of dead time table and runs total loss at the moment (no alternator) - which made it hard to tune on the dyno with jumper cables/chargers etc...

Changes to the oem setup are we fitted a 4EFTE (the turbo version from a Toyota GT Starlet) as the have 24+1 in Distributor (12+1 crank) to give enough teeth to keep the DTA happy. Also new TPS as oem is switch type, did a calibration for the oem MAP sensor and used Bosch Water Temp which was direct fit.

Image

Image

Image

MAP based load, 3 hours steady state and 2 power runs only before off to racing and this is what we ended up with.
Blue line is oem ECU which limits at 6k rpm, Red is DTA letting is rev to 7K. Some slight gain to be made there still as ran out of time but still drops off cam. Lets him rev it at end of straight though which helps immensely. The owner/driver says it feels completely different to drive even at moderate throttle so we must be on the right track.

Image
Last edited by ignitionautosport on Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
| '94 GSR Lancer | '96 Toyota Carib 20V | '83 Toyota Starlet | www.ignitionautosport.co.nz |
stevieturbo
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by stevieturbo »

Certainly a different project !

Is the OEM ecu te-tuned to suit the car ? Or what way do they make it work with methanol etc ?
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ignitionautosport
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

no this is the first EFI one, all the rest are carby ones but they are allowed methanol and any engine mods as long as single cam and no more than 8 valves basically.
http://www.minisprints.co.nz/

The class is getting expensive and the engines that fit those criteria getting rarer, so SpeedwayNZ have allowed testing of twincam 1300cc EFI engines to see how they would fit in. One of the few stipulations they had when he wanted to test was that it had to run on pump gas. We are allowed to do engine mods, but are trying to work out the easiest route for form a "Kit" which other competitors entering the sport can purchase cost effectively to get into the sport.

Never going to make the same power as methanol, but complete initial engine setup would be less than a third what the top guys spend on an engine rebuild, and less than $1k for a replacement engine from the local dismantlers if it lets go.

At the moment the engine is completely standard, never been opened up and has completed nearly 3 seasons. We'll see what the tune and raising the revs does to it's longevity....
| '94 GSR Lancer | '96 Toyota Carib 20V | '83 Toyota Starlet | www.ignitionautosport.co.nz |
stevieturbo
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by stevieturbo »

Sourcing engines should be easy enough. Then maybe a wiring kit and S40 ecu as a base entry to get people going ? No frills, just simple stuff.
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ignitionautosport
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

We're actually looking at S60 as more weatherproof, and can use the oem distributor trigger. S40 would require a custom crank trigger being made - possible option, just weighing it up... and also the logging in the S60 is very handy as they are allowed to log now in speedway here.

But yes, that's the general idea we're working towards :)

Engines are less than $600NZD at the moment as they never die in oem applications and no one wants a 1300cc engine as it's not exactly a performance upgrade.
2 more meetings this season to see how it goes.
| '94 GSR Lancer | '96 Toyota Carib 20V | '83 Toyota Starlet | www.ignitionautosport.co.nz |
stevieturbo
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by stevieturbo »

True, S60 does make much more sense. Didnt realise the S40 was less flexible with triggers, Ive never used one before.
And yes, logging is essential !

Might be more fun to have them use the efte engine instead :P It would save changing dizzy's lol
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ignitionautosport
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

yes but no turbo allowed... though I do like that idea :mrgreen:
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ignitionautosport
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

Re-evaluating this and going to change to an S40 on the off-season.
Will put a 36-1 on the front pulley and blank off the distributor and run Mitsi waste-spark coil packs.
Realistically the owner is never going to look at logs once we have finished testing, and the engine statistics screens give enough info to check peak rpm, temps etc.
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stevieturbo
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by stevieturbo »

Is that just this owner...or the series in general ?

Or will it be a fixed map deal where owners have what they have and that's it, all engine tuning is the same ?
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ignitionautosport
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Re: Minisprint 4EFE

Post by ignitionautosport »

I was talking series in general - though having the capability may change that perspective from competitors.

Not sure yet on locking maps, we make it completely locked - we can have an option to upgrade to S60 if they wish to log I think. At the moment it's all up in the air, basically we can set the rules but logging engine parameters is allowed.
| '94 GSR Lancer | '96 Toyota Carib 20V | '83 Toyota Starlet | www.ignitionautosport.co.nz |
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