AEM IGN-1A

I am in the process of replacing my wiring harness with a low mileage one so I figured now would be a good time to make the switch to these coils.

nice, might go this route instead of a twin power. seems to make more sense.

Love your car! how far off the ground is the GTC replica bumper? i'm looking to do the same bumper but wondering if its something you'd want to daily.

Wow, its been over a year since an update...

Its been a busy year, but the car has not changed much. I have still been attending track days with the car, however not nearly as many as I would like. Aside from swapping out the occasional turbo cartridge on the twins I have simply been enjoying the car.

I recently had the opportunity to purchase a set of Ohlins DFV coilovers from Sakebomb Garage for a killer deal so I could not resist. I previously had Stance GR+ coilovers with 12k front and 10k rear spring rates. The ride was pretty stiff, but aside from that I did not have any major complaints. However I have been drooling over Ohlins for years so I did not hesitate to make the switch.

These coilovers are pure mechanical art. I would have almost preferred to hang them on my wall they are so beautiful. They came in multiple boxes and required assembly. This was ok though because they had the most detailed instruction manual I have come across. They provided exact measurements for spring pre-load as well as height adjustment and even damper settings for the ideal starting point.

Big weight savings with the Ohlins as well. They are all aluminum with the exception of the piston, spring, and hardware. The springs weighed more than the damper!!

Front Assembled: 9.2 lbs (each)
Rear Assembled: 8.2 lbs (each)

For comparison the Stance fronts were 12.8 lbs each. Did not weigh the rears yet.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps4172aee8.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps936253d3.jpg

I took the time to safety wire the dust boots on to help keep them in place.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps28c36462.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps19aff72e.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps0eccc7b6.jpg

The new spring rates are 11k front and rear. I will be curious to see what that does to the balance when i get a chance to take them to the track. I suspect it will be quite good. After my first road test I was absolutely blown away. I had known that the Dual Flow Valve tech in the Ohlins would make for a more comfortable ride, but I did not know what I was missing out on as far as handling. The ride is firm but not harsh, potholes and bumps are soaked up very well. The handling is outstanding, I took it out on my favorite backroads and I found myself going a lot faster without even meaning to. The car actually feels lighter in the turns.

I should be able to update after Nov 10th with some on track impressions... I cant wait :D

Please do update on your feel of the Ohlins. I am currently on the fence right now between those and a set of Quantum coilovers. I've seen 4 people on this and the other forum purchase them (i too would be going through Sake) but no one has said how they truly feel with them on a day to day, and old versus new on the track basis. So far it's just been, "i love them" with no tangible thing other than "i can drive to the market and back and love it"

I can't justify $2800 to be comfortable to and from the market. . . . unless the track was inbetween :rofl:

Please, and thank you :)

do you feel any regret against your old Stance's? Like, is it worth every penny to upgrade? Ohlins is one of the best companies, I just wanted to see honest answers since the cost is pretty steep (for me)

it sounds like you are 100% sold on the Ohlins, yes?

I completely understand what you are saying as I was in the exact same boat. However now I am on the other side of the fence and can relate to the other reviews. Its honestly hard to put into words how good these feel.

Lets put it this way, I rarely ever drove my FD on the street simply because it was uncomfortable and not very enjoyable for me anymore. The weekend I installed these I drove to the grocery store THREE times just for an excuse to drive the FD... " oh, we are out of salsa? Be right back!"

To be more specific, I can say that with the 11k spring rate the car is still "firm", but they soak up bumps extremely well. Its not like a Cadillac where you didn't even know that you just drove through a sinkhole, but its not kidney jarring when you hit bumps either. The car feels very supple now for lack of better words. It feels a lot like my buddies BMW.

My next track day is on the same track as my most recent track day (about a month ago). I have data from the last track day and I will be taking data on the next so I should have a good comparison. I am not the best driver so it will be pretty subjective, however if they give me the confidence to push the car harder which results in lower lap times then I would call that an improvement.

I can honestly say they were worth every penny even without the track experience yet. They have really changed the car. I stuck my gopro in the wheel well over the weekend and got some cool video of the shocks in action haha I'll post that up tonight

that is awesome. I know every time I had to drive my FD anywhere, it always felt "jarry" . . . like, a bump was a major thing where i'd have to play minesweeper on the street :( that was with the old Zeal Function X i had. It's great to know these Ohlins are better valved to take up bumps. Even reflectors (only thing i could think of that's universally the same size state to state) in the middle of the roads were annoying and a point to be avoided when changing lanes.

Its great to know that these brings back the want to drive the car, where as previously it felt borderline "track only" (though not literally) if that makes sense.

I would LOVE to watch the bound/rebound of these coilovers in action. Please do share when you have a moment to upload.

I'm also not the best driver, but if these coilovers make you feel more confident and in control versus your old, that's enough of a sale for me. Having confidence on a track is worth more to me, than going faster as there is always someone faster. I look forward to your track update. I'll also tell Dan and Heath your review is what sold me, maybe they'll give you some sort of kickback or discount next time you order? :)

thank you for your honest response!

Ask and you shall receive!

The FD has a perfect little cubby hole to mount the GoPro, I just wish it was a tiny bit wider so I could see the bottom of the tire. Also, there is a lot of grain from the low light. I want to find a small LED light that I can mount in there as well to see if that helps for these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_hIY...ature=youtu.be

Love the Ohlins and the picture quality! :icon_tup: I really need to get a real camera :lol:

Here you go.

^ haha thanks, I fail at the internets.

In addition to the Ohlins, I also just installed these! The (US) driver side is perfect, however the passenger seat has some holes in the bolster that will need to be recovered. I intentionally hid them from view in the pics :squint:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps5babc4a1.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps19914595.jpg

Attempted to replicate Mazda brochure photo with this one, only had my 50mm lens though:
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps1eb10dc1.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/EY...wnw=w1254-h496

Dammit man, you're gonna make me take out a loan for these coilovers lol. I've been wanting these things for a long time now and I'm planning on them being my next big purchase. I have some of the original STANCE coilovers that came out and your review just confirmed what I hoped, that I would love the DFVs. The drive on the street is exactly why I want to swap. I was planning on getting them already, but now I don't have to wait to know for sure that they are better.

That's what sold me, because I am in the same boat. Now I can't wait to get these.

And this I can't fully agree with...

I definitely understand your point, and $2800 is crazy, but if it makes me want to drive the car more, it's worth it to me haha.

So sexy.

I find that interesting you mention a horrible ride, my function xs seems to ride fairly well. I will have to go for a ride in Jhnrx7's car to compare the difference.

Did you buy them new or used? What were the spring rates you had.


John, the car is looking real good, I cant wait to join you out on track next year.

I never got to let the suspension fully settle. I drove maybe 200 miles tops. Bought them new, 11/10 spring rates. They were with the first 10 units Rishie brought stateside many years ago.

then they were stolen off my FD when it was stolen and stripped (still hurts). :( :(

When you get a chance to ride with John, can you please chime back in or PM me insight compared to the function xs, if you don't mind? I would genuinely appreciate it (though i'm pretty much sold on the DFV's when its time).

Lovely work mate great engineering :)

Chris,

I rode in Johns car last weekend and the ride is very plush, quite comfortable. It is smoother than my zeals however I have 13k springs compared to the 11k springs John has. I also rode in goodfellas car which has the same suspension but has the settings stiffer (to rich good handling comes with a stiffy) than what John had his set to and the ride was obviously much stiffer.

Overall they are definitely a good streetable coilover that is also great for the track. If I was in the market for suspension I would get the ohlins over the zeals because they are basically the same price, and the ohlins are ohlins.

The expansion joints on the highway are much smoother than my car is but I normally drive them on a stiff setting because I live on long island and want to prevent the car from bottoming out on bumps because I drive my car with it pretty low to the ground.

I would not hesitate to get them even at their price point.

As promised, I had a chance to try out the Ohlins on track :driving:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps49222098.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps19474272.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps336ddc26.jpg

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...psd509a149.jpg


So my last track session was about a month ago at NJMP's Thunderbolt track. That session was on the stance suspension. This past Sunday I got back to Thunderbolt with the new Ohlins (and seats). However, I did not end up running the same track configuration. This time we ran WITH the chicane so lap times would generally be slower... Even with the chicane I shaved 3 seconds off my previous best!

Here is the data overlay. The red line is with the Ohlins, and the blue line is with the Stance. Notice my MPH is significantly higher through all the corners (except the chicane section).

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps092caeff.jpg

1:46.85 Before
1:43.82 After

I think its safe to say these are better on track :biggthumpup:

As far as feel, they absolutely inspired more confidence but I think the higher cornering speed just came naturally. Another big improvement was rumble strips. They are so smooth now I can ride way up onto them without unsettling the car.

I have edited a video with data overlay I will be posting tonight.

Video with data!

GPS lap time info recorded via Racelogic Performance Box. ECU data from internal data logging during session. AEM Series 2 ECU.

I can't wait to ride in your car again. Lots of stuff I want to check out. Wish you could have made it down last weekend with Rich and Dan.

Agreed, I need more instruction! I know the car has a lot more in it. Will your car be ready for next season? I really want to get back to VIR and even more so I want to get on Road Atlanta.


Testing out a new diffuser for SBG... I think I like it, just need to add rear skirts now to match sides.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5540/1...7d40aea7_b.jpg

john, very nice car. i am jealous.

also, i have the exact same stance coilovers you previously had, even with the 12k front and 10k rear springs. the ride is hard as hell, but they felt fine on the track (i'm probably too novice to even notice a difference). i'm overpowering my stock size tires (RS3s) so the shocks probably aren't getting the same workout as they would on your setup.

I hope so. My biggest constraint right now is time. Work takes up a lot of my time right now and it's a big deal for me to travel more than a couple hours away. I'm going to try to put something together at RA or VIR again in 2014. It'll probably be later in the year.

So my FD is down for the winter and its time for some long overdue motor work. The last time the current motor was out of the car was in 2004. I have not put a ton of miles on the motor (maybe 35k), but they have been hard miles. I had been having smoking issues over the past year so I finally decided to pull it and tear it down.

Seeing as I built this motor when I was 17, there were quite a few things I would have done different had I known better. It appears that I had ported slightly into the oil control ring causing the front oil control rings to wear well past spec. I believe that, combined with using the original (now 120k mile) metal control rings ultimately led to the smoking.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391480266

There were other issues I found while I was in there, chattering from the 3mm seals, a dented rotor, and poor side seal clearance on the rear rotor just to name a few. The rusty coolant passages were from years ago when I lived in FL I made the mistake of running the system with little to no coolant.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391480266

See the blow by here… this explains why my catch can was filling with fuel!

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391478056

I have cleaned everything and stacked the parts away on a shelf until I decide what to do. I want to start over with a 2mm motor, and polished stock ports. For now, I am focusing on other projects.

are the rotors still usable? If so, I might be able to take them off your hands :)

…other project such as a redesigned, overbuilt fuel system! :fawk:

I recently had the opportunity to tune an E85 FD and I was very impressed with the capability of the fuel. Not only the knock suppression, but mainly the cooling ability! The coolant temps on that car were rock solid despite the fact it had a completely insufficient cooling system (greedy FMIC, no under tray, etc).

I have always liked the idea of water injection, but never installed it because I don't like the idea of installing additional mechanical systems on the car. My ECU has full Flex Fuel capability so it seemed to me E85 was the obvious choice. Once everything is all setup and tuned I just need to go to the gas pump. The ethanol content will dictate the power the motor makes by automatically adjusting between the 93 map/boost settings and the E85 map/boost settings.

I don't have lofty power goals. I am not using E85 was a way to achieve a big number. Truth be told, I will probably be running 93 the majority of the time. I simply want to take advantage of more capabilities of the ECU and I wanted an excuse to overbuild the fuel system :rofl:

This past weekend Mr. Ambrosio (RENESISFD a.k.a "Hard Line Master") came down to lend a hand in bending and flaring hard lines for the entire car. I used 3/8" 316L Stainless along with an assortment of tube nuts and fittings. With John's assistance and his fancy hydraulic flaring tool we were able to complete all the motor lines as well as the under car lines.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391479236

Injectors will be ID1000 primary, ID 2000 Secondary. Seeing as E85 requires 30% more fuel I upped the stock 5/16" lines to 3/8" which should be plenty for my goals. I maintained the original in series fuel routing. The primary to secondary hard line is my favorite. It fits within a groove in the water pump with thousands of an inch to spare on all sides!

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391479423

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391479461

We replicated the OEM under car lines which was not an easy task. 13 bends in each line and if any one was off the whole thing would not fit! I am no longer running a purge control valve so the charcoal canister will vent at the rear of the car. Luckily, the 3/8" lines were able to fit in the OEM clips and everything bolts up exactly as stock :biggthumpup:

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391479596

I picked up the newest 2013 GM flex fuel sensor. This sensor is also made by continental like the others however it is smaller and has improved electronics. "Outputs ethanol concentration and fuel temperature within 250ms after start-up" as opposed by 500ms with the older sensor… not sure how much that matters, but I like that it is smaller.

http://rotarycarclub.com/rotary_foru...1&d=1391479990

I have yet to determine what I am going to do between the under car lines and the fuel pump. I need to figure out a fuel filter solution first. I plan on running the AEM 320lph E85 pump in tank.

Im not ready to give them up just yet until I figure out what i am going to do with the motor.

That said… you need 3mm rotors? The clearances all check out, but one is slightly dented.

That's pretty good considering the type of miles that your car has seen. What so you think caused the chattering? Hurley, 3mm or what are you using for oil injection? Straight stock or premix in the tank as well?

What are you going to be running for seals in the new motor?

I like stock ports.... they have their place depending on application. The 'vert engine I built was originally supposed to be just a stock engine with a stock turbo making 270rwhp. I didn't change the port timing at all, just cleaned everything up significantly and spent some time in the bowls.

I've since changed my mind and will be doing WM injection, building a mani for it, running either a TO4 something or a BW S360. New power goal is 450. All I'm going to do is crack the keg open and replace the Apex seals... that's it.

VERY sexy...

Very sexy indeed.... my only concern would be heating of the SS line in that area being that close to the WP housing. But then again, with the amount of fuel flowing through it, I don't think it will be that much of a problem.....

Been there, done that, more than a few times.... I get quicker each time, but I like it less each time as well :lol:

are you going to run any type if surge tank or anything of that nature given how much you track the car?

Yeah, I was running Hurley 3mm seals. The OMP system is stock. I did not start premixing until a few years ago. However I have always changed my oil religiously.

TBD

This is a valid concern. One I had not really considered... The flex fuel sensor also measures fuel temperature, I will have to monitor fuel temp to see how it is affected as the car warms up. Worst case, that is an easy line to re-do.

This is part of the reason I did not finish off the rear of the car. I am seriously considering a radium surge tank or the setup Ambrosio has (just not welded in the tank). I want to mount it under the car to maintain a stock appearance.

Hardlines look great!

The Radium surge tank is a sexy piece.

How does the Radium tank work, is there a pump in it, after it? or does it just fill up after the intake pumps and retain the pressure?

There is a pump (or two) in the surge tank. The Pump in the main fuel tank feeds the surge tank filling it with fuel. Then the pump(s) in the surge tank feed the fuel rails. Fuel from the rails returns to the surge tank ensuring the level inside the tank never drops. Excess fuel in the surge tank returns to the main fuel tank. This allows you to run your fuel level down to 1.5 liters (the volume of the surge tank) without any fuel starvation issues.


http://radiumauto.com/media/techarti...e-Tank-work-79

But what if the 2 (or 3) pumps in the surge tank outflow the in tank pump? I know it would take a while for it to deplete especially with the fuel return going to the surge tank.

But what about in a scenario like the texas mile, not saying I want to do it, but could this potentially starve if you are flat out for a long period of time?

I believe once the surge tank is full, the return flow from the injectors going back to the surge tank combined with the tank pump pumping from the main tank is enough to keep the surge tank full so you do not need to match your in tank pump to your surge tank pump. If you had some extreme requirements (like the Texas mile) they sell larger surge tanks.

I wonder how much of that was because of insuffiecent OMP injection or the seals or the 3mm. I had to tear down my engine after about 15k because of a broken exhaust sleeve. I had been running the RA seals with the RA adapter for 2 stroke and about 1/3oz/gal in the tank. After about 15k miles I had chatter marks. When I put it back together I doubled the premix in the tank. and mixed 128:1 in the tank. After about another 15k miles I tore the engine down again and the chatter mark were gone. Now I just mix ~75:1 in the tank and call it good.

You know my rec :D

I wonder what the difference would be between the temp at the sensor and the temp in the rail? Do you have the ability to trim based on fuel temp and can you put another sensor in the fuel rail? More for curiosity than anything else.


I know.... so when are we going to finish up designing our variant and get one cut?

Like John said, it works exactly like the surge tank I built into the fuel cell that I built.

An Aeromotive 340 is rated at 340lph @ 3B. When operating as a lift pump there is basically zero pressure and the flow will be ALOT more. On the order of 450-500lph I would assume. So unless you're running some MONSTER fuel system, the 340 as a lift pump should run just fine.

EDIT... after finding the flow chart and extrapolating the curve with my calculating eye, it looks like ~ 450/lph

http://aeromotiveinc.com/wp-content/..._FlowChart.jpg

Ok cool, didn't think about the pressurized vs. no pressure difference. I have the hyperion baffle installed, so if my car ever runs and it doesn't work all that well I may make the switch.

Because I showed you ;)

Have you even looked at the model I sent you?

Kewl.... It's my strong belief and recommendation that every turbo rotary regardless of street or track needs some kind of surge tank. Be it the traditional type or something like the Radium

Of course I have!

I can, and will do this. I can also trim for fuel temp.

So drilling and tapping the secondary rail is easy enough, however the Flex Fuel sensor will already be in the return line so I will have that temp. I need to know the DeltaT so I will get one of those AN to AN adapters with 1/8th NPT in the middle. I'll install that at the engine before the primary rail. I have the extra 1/8th NPT sensor I was planning on using for the Diff already, I'll just borrow that.

looking forward to test this out... I like data.

Very cool. I'm waiting on Aaron and Jayson @ FFE to come out with their new rails before I dive into redoing the fuel system and adding the fuel temp. I'm not going to get the DeltaT just the temp in the rails.

I would also like to add a pressure sender before the filter, pulling a log will let me know when it's starting to clog up.

What temp sensors are you using that are 1/8" NPT? Most of the temp sensors that I'm seeing are 1/4 or 3/8" NPT?

Diff temp you say? Intrigued I am.... I may have to borrow this idea and put a sender in my tranny

Indeed... I'm putting a PS2000 in my vert... I have so many inputs that I need to move the to a CAN EGT setup and I might even look into the CAN I/O Expander