Widebody VR4 Build

**futurevr4man** · 04-11-2018, 12:40 PM

Been working on this thing non-stop!

The car keeps overheating which is frustrating. I felt my bottom radiator hose and it was cold while the top one was hot... points to the thermostat not opening. I took it out last night and it opened fine when I boiled it so I know it's not that. I drilled 4 holes in it to promote some coolant flow regardless... I'm confident it will help but it's obviously a bandaid. Frustrating. I'm thinking my water pump is a POS. I'll replace it if and when the Fluidampr group buy happens. I am truly stumped as to why (with a funnel in the opening of the water neck) the coolant level doesn't go down (due to the thermostat opening). I'm open to suggestions on this.

I made 2 videos to show running conditions. Oil pressure looks fantastic (just using stock gauge... I will eventually put a sandwich plate on it and run another gauge), but E85 is proving to be a bit of a butthole. Just doesn't like to start and run when it's cold. I'll keep messing with the tune (only 4 flashes to this point and they've all been focused around idle AFR's).

Idle vid (taken before I messed with the thermostat)

Anti-lag test

Going to replace the fuel pumps and (hopefully) fix the fuel gauge all in one tonight. Still have lots of little things I'd like to get done, but I suspect a test drive sometime next week.

**DocWalt** · 04-11-2018, 06:51 PM

I bet there was a decent size air bubble by the thermostat and it wasn't seeing the hot water and therefore not opening...

**futurevr4man** · 04-12-2018, 07:54 AM

How do I get rid of said air bubble? I burped the system a lot, but no dice

**futurevr4man** · 04-12-2018, 07:57 AM

videos fixed. I know they weren't working.

**DocWalt** · 04-12-2018, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by futurevr4man

How do I get rid of said air bubble? I burped the system a lot, but no dice

Easiest is drilling some holes in the t-stat and you'll get some flow so there's no air bubble there, which you did. Have you run it since?

**futurevr4man** · 04-12-2018, 09:48 AM

Just once. I unplugged both fans when I did to see if the thermostat would open up and I could watch the level drop... never happened... I really think my water pump is shit, but we'll see. I'll definitely keep an eye on it

**j2k4** · 04-13-2018, 09:13 AM

Think it's worth a new WP either way, Gnate.

Sounds gnarly, I like it.

**futurevr4man** · 04-20-2018, 09:26 AM

Still chipping away at things. Test drive tomorrow!

**futurevr4man** · 04-22-2018, 12:16 PM

Got it on the ground yesterday!

And took it around the block!

No leaks, pretty uneventful (which is good). Clutch is surprisingly tame (compared to my spec stage 5), I can only imagine if I didn't have 2 race plates, I'll bet it wouldn't be bad at all!

Tune is way off and a few things aren't working (like speedo) so I gotta sort that out. All in all, I'm pleased. Makes a lot of boost real quick. Not much lag.