Tuned In

Direct injection has many benefits for OEM applications, but it isn't as easily customised as port injection options on some platforms. Why is this the case, and what can we do about it?

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Due to the nature of direct injection and how it operates in a GM application, it simply isn't a matter of adding aftermarket injectors and turning up the fueling like we often can with port injection, given that DI fuel pumps in GMs LT engines are camshaft driven. 

Michael Sitar of TooHighPsi has an option for GM LT V8 owners that can take the LT1 and LT4 variates beyond their 600hp and 700hp ceiling imposed by the stock direct injection system without dealing with camshaft complications, and that is done by adding port injection and tapping into the factory GM ECU's CAN Bus data stream.

At this stage customers are up in the 1400hp regions with some drag applications with plenty of margin left in their injector duty cycles for future development and additional power potential.

If you have any interest in engines, there’s a good chance you’ve already come across this week’s guest — Driving 4 Answers of YouTube fame. With nearly a million subscribers, Driving 4 Answers is one of the biggest technically-focused automotive channels on YouTube. Today we sit down with the one-man-band creator, researcher, host, and editor to talk about his love for engines, how he breaks down complex engineering topics and makes them easy to understand, and, of course, we’ve got to jump into a huge stack of nerdy engine topics.

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Driving 4 Answers has a fascinating story to tell, and his passion for all things combustion engineering is very obvious. Despite his extremely in-depth knowledge and understanding, Driving 4 Answers has zero education in the subject and actually ditched a high-pressure career in the upper echelons of European politics to do what he loves — learning, talking, and educating people about automotive engineering, especially when it comes to motors.

On the technical side, we delve right into the weeds in this episode, discussing the complexities of horsepower and torque, the importance of engine balance and rod/stroke ratio, bike carbs, the joys of modern standalone ECUs, over-engineered old Toyotas, and everything in between.

In this conversation, we also explore Driving 4 Answers’ transformation from regular Bosnian car enthusiast to YouTube personality. If you’re interested in producing your own online videos, this conversation also covers Driving 4 Answers’ experience with content creation, the lessons he’s learnt, and how he deals with the inevitable trolls that surface once you start to gain traction.

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IG: @driving4answers
YT: Driving 4 Answers

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TIME STAMPS:
3:10 - How did you get into cars?
7:30 - Do you have a formal education?
9:50 - Learning without an engineering degree
16:00 - How did Driving 4 Answers start?
17:35 - Loving old Toyotas 
25:50 - Becoming a full-time YouTuber
35:05 - Dealing with trolls
39:30 - Misinformation in the performance auto industry
49:20 - Why Toyota's 4AFE?
1:00:35 - Aftermarket ECU discussion
1:14:00 - AW11 MR2 power figures
1:23:10 - Rod-to-stroke ratios
1:32:00 - Engine balance

No boost, no worries! This C5 Corvette is filling the trophy cabinet on displacement alone.

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Jake Rozelle's C5 Z06 Chevrolet Corvette is no stranger to the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational having taken victory previously in what is a well setup street driven race car. The 800hp (to the crank) 7.2L/440cu Lingenfelter Eliminator R Spec LS7 contains forged rotating assemblies, CNC-ported cylinder heads, competition-grade fasteners, precision balance procedures & hydraulic roller camshaft internally, as well as a Dailey Engineering dry sump, Performance Design intake manifold with some tuning being done to the intake runner lengths over time. With just oil changes over the last 2 seasons of racing it certainly seems to be a package that is working well for Jake in this application.

The hydraulic cam profile is in its element with the 8,000rpm redline being within the comfort zone and the 14:1 compression engine runs E85 via a flex fuel setup in street form and Ignite Ready 90 on race day. Engine management is done by a GM ACDelco E92 ECU from a later model vehicle of the Cadillac CTS-V & Corvette C6 ZR1 era.

While an advantage of retaining a OEM GM ECU originally was the ability to keep features like the stock ABS system, Jake has since gone the popular route of fitting an aftermarket/standalone $1200 MK60 ABS system with an off-the-shelf tune from CSL Performance and he gives us some insight into the installation and use of such an ABS system which are becoming more and more popular at club level racing despite the initial push back from the good old armchair racers we've seen over the years.

The introduction of drive-by-wire throttle has changed the game for what is possible when it comes to electronic engine control systems, but is it all as simple as just opening a torque request table and tuning everything to 11?

As Paul Blamire of EcuTek explains, no, it is far from that simple but also not by any means unmanageable. 

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As every JDM fanboy knows, Nissan Skyline GT-Rs are fast — the question is, with the right knowledge and skills behind a GT-R, just how fast can these iconic 90s machines go? So far, the answer to that question is 6.37 at 224mph.

‘JUNII’ is the street-legal, AWD R32 GT-R that holds this record, and on this week’s episode of Tuned In, we get to sit down with the building and tuning force behind this insane machine, as well as many other record-setters — Con Tatsis of Croydon Racing Developments.

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Con didn’t start Croydon Racing Developments — he actually first walked through the doors as a work experience kid, before leaving school to take up a junior role at the highly-respected Sydney shop. Over the following years, Con would become a qualified mechanic and soak up all the tuning knowledge he could from the original owners, before taking over the business a few years ago.

In this conversation, we jump straight into some fairly intense discussions on everything tuning, including opinions on the drawbacks of rolling road and hub dynos, an interesting discussion on the best engine platform to learn to tune on, as well as the simple joys of tuning a simple NA motor to absolute perfection.

The chat then turns towards all things Nissan Skyline and RB, diving down a fair few rabbit holes as our host Andre tries to squeeze all the gold he can out of Con’s brain when it comes to building massive-power Nissan RB engines, 110mm turbos pushing nearly 100psi, dealing with 4WD launches at the sort of performance levels CRD is churning out, and more.

This conversation is a great look into the sharpest end of import tuning and racing, and with various record-breaking builds regularly hitting Sydney’s streets, dragstrips, and race circuits under his belt every weekend, Con is a voice well worth listening to.

Follow Croydon Racing Developments here:
IG: @croydonracingdevelopments
FB: Croydon Racing Developments

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Checking for boost leaks should be part of your routine maintenance schedule, but is it?

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Mark from Redline Detection runs us through how checking for boost/air leaks can help avoid misdiagnosis as well as ensure a job well done when reassembling an engine, helping rule out any unintentionally introduced errors while on the tools.

While these units are aimed at commercial users and have expandable adaptors to help with quick and easy use for mechanics and technicians, they do offer some home enthusiast-level options and of course, you can piece together your own kit for a specific vehicle too, or simply find a local workshop to do this for you on a routine basis instead.

While we do lean towards how to find a boost leak as our example in this discussion, such machines can be used to find any air leaks in your intake, exhaust and coolant systems, and even batteries for those working on EVs.

Are you sick of playing the guessing game when it comes to setting up the suspension and tyre systems in your race or road car? If you’ve ever felt like you’re throwing alignment adjustments, damper settings, and spring rate changes at the pit wall just to see what sticks when making changes to your or your customer’s vehicle, then this episode with Bruno Finco of Optimum G is going to be a perfect listen.

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Originally from Brazil and now based in Colorado, unusually for a guest of the Tuned In podcast, Bruno didn’t have all that much interest in cars growing up — it wasn’t until he went to university to gain a degree in mechatronics engineering that he joined the school’s Formula SAE team and began a life-long love affair with all things motorsport.

Walking out of university and straight into a role at Colorado-based Optimum G, Bruno has since gone on to become the motorsport tech company’s Lead Performance Engineer, and now spends his time travelling around the world’s greatest race circuits, gathering data, helping both race teams and OEMs optimise their vehicle dynamics, and teaching others how to do the same through the use of Optimum G’s highly-regarded software packages.

The bulk of this admittedly very tech-heavy episode consists of Bruno talking us through the many nuanced points of motorsport handling and performance, breaking down concepts into their many facets. This includes roll centre, tyre slip angle, Ackermann steering, anti-dive and squat, plus much more.

Bruno also explains how Optimum G’s software works, and most interestingly, despite how it first looks, how it’s not something you need to have a Ph.D. in order to understand and use to substantially improve your vehicle’s performance.

A more thorough explanation of Ackermann steering can be found here.

Find all the resources Bruno mentioned in this episode here.

Follow Bruno and Optimum G here:
IG: @optimumg, @bruno.finco
LI: OptimumG
YT: OptimumG
WWW: optimumg.com

Don’t forget, you can use “OPTIMUMG50” to get 50% OFF OUR Suspension Tuning and Optimization course: https://hpcdmy.co/suspensionb

It doesn't matter how much money you pour into the engine and electronics in your car, if the contact patch between your tyres and the track is not optimal then you're going to have subpar handling and results.

Want to learn how to set up the suspension on your car properly? Here's the place to do it: https://hpcdmy.co/handleb

At Sema, Tom Chan from DSC Sport runs us through how their TracTive Suspension controllers can help drivers and teams get better results with a setup that adapts on the fly to changing driving and weather conditions as well as pre-empting requirements via g-force, vehicle speed, brake line and velocity sensors.

Interestingly a system like this can be as simple or as complicated as you wish with plug-and-play options that are tuned from the 'driver down' to simplify the process with the ability to dive into features such as an electronic bump stop which will be a much-loved feature for any car running a lot of aero such as Time Attack.

What’s the difference between a high-end professional motorsport ECU from Bosch and the consumer-level stuff we’re more used to dealing with from manufacturers like MoTeC, EmTron, or Haltech? Does your race car really need motorsport-specific ABS, or will the factory equipment do the job just fine? And why does the European hill climb scene consistently produce some of the coolest race cars in the world? All these questions, plus many more, are answered by this week’s Tuned In podcast guest, Mikko Kataja of VHT Racing.

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Being Finnish, it’s not much of a surprise that Mikko grew up around motorsport, and rally in particular. Some of Mikko’s earliest memories involve helping his father and family friends in the pits at rally events across Finland. It seemed pre-ordained then, that Mikko would find himself stepping into motorsport as a career once leaving high school.

After training in two motorsport-specific schools, running his own tuning business, and working for various race teams and OEMs worldwide, Mikko found himself living in Germany and working for Bosch Motorsport as an engineer, where he still is today. This all puts Mikko in the perfect position to answer our burning questions about all things motorsport electronics and European hillclimbing — an arena in which he has competed for many years now.

This conversation begins with a dive into the Finnish motorsport scene, attempting to answer the age-old question of why so many legendary drivers come from this big country with its tiny population. We cover Mikko’s early days competing in rally, circuit racing, and rally sprints — the very flat Finland’s version of a hill climb. This next brings us to Mikko’s faithful hillclimb KP Toyota Starlet, a car that he’s been campaigning and developing for over two decades now.

Mikko talks us through the many iterations that the Starlet has seen over the years, and all the learnings he’s gained from trying different setups in the suspension, driveline, and engine department — from pushing a 4A-GE just about as far as you could possibly go, to the Radical Precision Engineering Hayabusa V8 setup that he’s currently using to great success in the European Hillclimb Championship. This Starlet has a fantastic development story, going from a 2K-powered hack to a monstrously fast, big-winged, screaming weapon bristling with the latest ultra-high-end Bosch motorsport electronics.

As you’d expect, this brings us to Mikko’s work at Bosch Motorsport, where we take a deep dive into what sets pricey Bosch ECUs apart from more consumer-grade offerings that we’re all more familiar with. We also take some time out to really understand motorsport ABS, as this is something that Mikko works with on a daily basis and uses in his own race car.

Follow Mikko here:
IG: @vhtracing
FB: VHTRacing Engineering
YT: VHTRacing

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No competent driver likes a car that moves around under braking and is lazy to turn in or out of a corner for no good reason, so they throw many OEM suspension components in the rubbish bin, including factory rubber bushings. Why?

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James Bourn of Powerflex explains that while rubber bushings, aka bushes, provided by the OEM are good at cutting back noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), they are not made to last, nor are they made to perform. They are made to tick the right boxes for the price without compromising handling so much that they get land vehicles with poor safety ratings, as well as lasting just long enough to not be a warranty claim.

For better performance, one alternative is to remove as much compliance as possible using solid bushes, mounts and spherical bearings etc., such as you find in many dedicated motorsport applications. But this, 100% without fail, introduces incredible NVH that is white noise on a race track and permanent hearing loss inflicting, or divorce, territory on the road.

Instead of solid mounts or rubber, we can have our cake and eat it too with polyurethane options instead which offer less compliance than OEM rubber bushes along with a longer lifespan, to the point they come with a lifetime warranty (but only for road and classic car use, NOT the BLACK SERIES aimed at motorsport sadly!), along with levels of NVH that won't give you PTSD from a 12-hour cross country road trip.

On top of that, polyurethane bushes will give you, the driver, more confidence in the vehicle leading to more consistent lap times and pace, making better use of all that time and money it takes to get your car out on track in the first place.