Binary Engineering Blog

I suck at updating this blog.

Car is rolling on some blue wheels now and doing great.  Had some issues at the end of the year with the bolts holding the turbo in place coming loose. Will replace those with inconel studs sometime soon.

I’m turning my garage into a machine shop it seems. Got a lathe, and a milling machine and large bandsaw.  The mill is under going an extensive CNC conversion which will allow me to make whatever I want in the garage.  Should be sick.

Plenty of parts READY TO SHIP! Binary brings the coolness to the braking system of your Mistusbishi Lancer EVO VII-IX. These stainless steel brake ducts bolt to the stock Brembo calipers and provide a robust and elegant way to supply your rotors with fresh airflow via 2″ diameter hose of your choice. Mounting a proper nozzle on the calipers is the magic behind a good EVO brake ducting system – Binary makes that easy, and allows you to source the hose and inlets of your liking.

READY TO ORDER HERE:

http://www.binaryeng.com/products%20-%20brake%20ducts.html

Stay tuned for data and graphs showing the brake pad temperature with and without the Binary ducts.

- CNC laser cut stainless steel flanges

- Tooling-Die formed nozzle

- 2″ diameter tubing

- TIG welded

CAD designed and prototyped on a rapid proto FDM machine.

I finished up the prototype proof of concept part.  Looks like it will work pretty well.  I’ve got a couple little things to tweak on the CAD model based on what I’ve found, but overall I’m pretty happy with it.  It fits like a dream on EVO 8, 9, and 10’s. I also test fit it in my Subaru daily driver which is a GC chassis.

There are two main ways that front seats mount.  First is like the EVO, the rails and brackets are pretty much flat and mount on a surface roughly parallel to the ground.  This makes the mounting bracket painless to install and have plenty of clearance.  The Second mounting method is to wrap the mount points around the chassis so that the mounting plane is nearly vertical – my Subaru does this.  This is a little trickier as the space below the mounting points is limited before you run into the floor pan.  But most cars with this style mount should still be manageable.

Here are the parts.  The attachment bracket comes with the fire extinguisher, you must get a marine or automobile rated extinguisher to get the metal bracket.  And the two strap bracket is better than the single strap, which is also available.  Some searching showed that Amerex and H3R are the main players for 2.5lb marnie/auto extinguishers.  They sell for between $55 and $150 depending on the chemical system.  And if you order on-line you pay around $25 for hazmat shipping.  I got mine from my local race shop.

Here’s the mounting scenario on EVO X seat rails, which I have in the garage.

Here it is mounted in my EVO 8.

And here it is mounted in my GC Chassis Subaru.

I’ll be sending out the drawing package for production quotes soon…..

In the immortal word of Leroy Jenkins…. “Let’s do this”. Time to start the motor.

Engine build and start-up from Jared Drinkwater on Vimeo.

It had a good idle when it was cold, but once warmed up it would die. My first trip was across town to go hang out at a local dyno day, I think it died 3 times on the way there. But JohnBradley helped me with some idle setting in the stepper lookup table and idle control valve and now the car is idling great again – it hasn’t died or come close.

I’ve got 20 miles on it so I’ll change the oil. I plan on following the AMS new engine oil changing plan of 20, 500, 1500.

I’ve got some little exhaust rattles and shakes, I’m going to try and sort those out.

I’ve also got the “Knock CEL” mod on my ECU and am getting knock, real or false, in the 3K RPM range at part throttle, which is the only throttle it has seen so far. I did some logs yesterday I just need to go and review them now.

I’ll keep the thread updated as I go through break-in and get started with real tuning and then a few dyno pulls, it’s nice to have the dyno 5 mins away.

Changed the oil after 25 miles, it was clean as a whistle – no metal to be found.

I’m going to put some more miles on it and do some work to try and understand the 3K RPM knock I’m seeing. Pretty sure it’s false knock. I’m going to build an electronic “det can” system to record the audio from the engine unto my computer to review with datalog files.

Anyone who does not look in the ECUflash area doesn’t know about all the cool stuff that is being worked on for the stock ECU. The understanding of Stock ECU Knock control made a major break through today. It’s looking like all the guys with built motors seeing false knock are going to be able to re-characterize their baseline engine noise. That will allow for the knock control to be valid again and offer protection in all the RPM ranges and loads even with a no balance shaft built motor. I’ll be working on using some of these new maps very soon…

Big CRAPPY discovery today. I’m leaking coolant. After looking around I’ve come to the conclusion that it is the threaded plug that is hidden on the end of the block where the transmission mounts. Great…

I was a little worried about it when I put it in, the allen key was a little worn and it made getting it really tight a bit of a problem.

So now it looks like I’ll have to remove the transmission, clutch and flywheel to fix this. I’m bitter.

I’ve checked every other coolant fitting and plug. It’s pretty clear as all the coolant drops are hanging from the bottom of the transmission/engine joint and there is coolant present on the little metal dust shield at the bottom of the tranny.

I’m going to keep playing with ECU stuff and the false knock until Christmas break when I have 2 weeks off. I’ll pull the transmission then and fix the leak. So I won’t be doing any real driving until after I fix the leak.

False Knock = Dominated.

The Stock ECU has always been much more sophisticated than the aftermarket ones as OEM’s have MUCH larger budgets for development. And now some of the software engineer guys are really unlocking the more advanced stuff inside the stock ECU; from gear dependent 3D boost control, multiple tuning maps, full control of OBDII test functions and error codes (turning them off for good), and now being able to adjust/tune an extremely complex knock control system.

The Knock Control maps that were found last week have fixed my false knock as well as some others who have been plagued by it.

EcuFlash area of the forum {thumbup} {thumbup} :thumbup: :thumbup: {thumbup} {thumbup}

I drove the car to work today, so it will see 100 miles of highway/city driving.

Man, the thing is running awesome, I wish I didn’t have to rip into it to fix this coolant leak. It drives and idles SO nice, the help JohnBradley gave me with the idle settings really got it to purr like a naughty kitten.

I made some small acceleration pulls on the on-ramps and such and it’s building boost fast. My manual boost controller isn’t able to get it lower than 20 psi so I’m going to hook it straight to the pressure source and run off the wastegate spring, which I believe is 15 psi with the 2 springs I have in it.

So I’ve decided that I want to break the engine in with about 5 psi of boost available and that’s it. The guys at Wiseco recommended .0025″ piston to wall clearance with a typical low boost break in. They said to use .0035″ for a high-boost break in. Mine is .0025″ as stated earlier in this thread.

I had a red and yellow spring in place that combined created around 16 psi, yet running through my boost controller seemed to be around 20 psi on the couple dips of throttle I gave it on the freeway. So I’m taking out the large yellow spring which is a 10 lb spring and just running the small red one, which should net 5-6psi.

The car is running good with the 6 psi boost limit. Made a couple rips up to about 5K RPM at WOT on a few on ramps. AFR’s are mid 11’s, timing is pretty low, no knock so things look good to use this as my break-in tune.

I built a catch can for the car today.

The “lid” has a baffle around the breather tube so it doesn’t have a direct line for oil to escape under pressure.

Now I need to find a good place to mount it in the engine bay.

I got the new plug to fix the coolant leak {thumbup} – now I just need a few days to take the transmission out {thumbdwn}

I also got a JDM :mitsu: 3 Bar MAP sensor so I can log boost via the stock ECU in Evoscan or Logworks. This will also let me use the stock ECU to control boost based directly off PSI targets. So I will be able to generate a desired boost curve of any shape, and the stock ECU will get it done. So that should be a nice upgrade from a manual boost controller – and makes aftermarket electronic ones trival. If you haven’t heard me say it yet…. the guys in the ECUflash area of the forum dominate. Most of the boost control work has been done by mrfred {thumbup}

I’ve got a bunch of stuff taken back off and am hoping to pull the tranny today. I’m less than motivated though… Must go skiing………

The tranny is out and now I just need to remove the clutch and flywheel and replace the leaking plug. I’ll load some pics later.

You should be OK. The only reason mine leaks is that it was removed by the machine shop that bored and faced the block and they stripped the allen head a little. When I put it back in I don’t think I got it tight enough. There’s a small chance it’s the freeze plug on the end of the block, but i won’t know for sure until I remove the clutch and flywheel.

I removed the tranny on New Years Eve, and it’s just been sitting waiting for me to finish. Here are a few pics from pulling out the tranny. I’ll snap some of the leaky area when I get there.

Good times .

I finally took the clutch and flywheel out to look at my “leaky” plug… It wasn’t leaking {thumbdwn}

Turns out it was the freeze plug on the end of the block, which is accessible without removing the tranny. This was the hardest plug to remove by far; back when I was working on the block a few months ago. The passage behind it is not very deep, so you can’t spin the plug to remove it like the others. I ended up having to pry on it from the deck surface along with other prying moves, it was a bear. Some of that work may have slightly damaged the sealing surface – thus my current leak.

So I wasn’t going to try and remove it again, especially with the head blocking the passage which allowed me to remove it originally. So I drove it in a little deeper, cleaned it with acetone, and put JB weld around the joint. Hopefully it works {pcfreak}:crap::crap:{pcfreak}

Now I need to put the transmission back in and get it back on the road for more break in miles. That was a lame detour.

Transmission and transfercase are back in place – that was a beast. Getting the transmission in with the subframe in place is hard. It took a couple hours and alot of hmmmm, lets try it this way, or maybe that way.

Looking to be back on the road today.

Now that the motor is assembled it’s time to go back in.

I’m sore today, lots of wrenching, pushing and pulling to get everything back in place.

Shields back on the block.

Clutch on.

Nice little trick to pop out the plug that allows the clutch fork to be removed.

Engine supported at a good height to make the transmission mate back up.

Dropping the engine in place. This took a bunch of adjusting, up – down – left – right etc.

Trying to get things to mate back up to the transfer case. I ended up crawling under the car (which was barely possible) and guiding it in from below.

Bolting up various motor mounts.

Officially back in.

Now I just need to hook-up all the hoses and wiring again and then fab a few pieces of piping here and there.

I got the wiring harness routed back in place and all the connections made. I had tightened the fuel rail in place on the engine stand and when I went to plug in the injectors to the harness the connectors wouldn’t go on. The gap was too small between the injector and the fuel rail. So I had to loosen the fuel rail a bunch to slide the connectors onto the injectors. Here’s a picture of the injector with not enough clearance for the plug to go on.

I pulled all the tape off and test fit the turbo assembly.

No More wiring harness hanging out of the engine bay!

My outstanding to-do list:

- re-install the output shaft and drivers side drive shaft
- put oil in transmission, transfer case, motor
- accessory belt and tensioner
- finish turbo kit install (not just mock-up)
- fit intercooler
- build O2 housing
- build lower IC pipe
- build intake tube (I don’t like my old one, it’s ghetto)
- build new 2.50″ upper IC pipes (my old ones are 2.20″ and have a small fitting for the BOV)
- re-install radiator with slim fan, and add coolant
- build/check my base map for start-up.

I’ve got some other stuff like building a catch can, and sheet metal spark plug cover, new cat-back, bracke ducting redo, but that will be secondary.

I got the output shaft, and drive shaft back in.

I also fixed the wire coming out of the power steering pump which got busted inside the pump during the engine drop-in process. My Dad was on watch for things getting hung up on that side of the engine, I guess he missed it! I had to remove the sensor, which is an oil seal and solder it back together. I’m hoping I don’t need to bleed the power steering system because of it.

I got a nice new accessory belt put on last night, I also finished installing the turbo assembly. I got all the oil and coolant lines hooked up and routed and am pretty happy with how those turned out. Getting access to all the nuts that hold the manifold in place was pretty hard. A lot of them had to be done with box-end wrenches. The RNR manifold doesn’t make it easy like the stocker. I put some 10-40 in the engine as well.

I also test fit the intake a little (need to weld in a BOV return tube still), then I test mounted the IC. I was able to mark up my lower IC pipe as well. Tonight I should finish mounting the IC and build the lower IC pipe. I’ll also re-install the downpipe and start thinking about the O2 housing some more.

Drinking some good ol’ non-synthetic 10-40W

Routing of the coolant lines.

IC mock-up. Still have to fix the mounting tabs.

I thought if I got lucky I’d start the car today. But I ran out of time and argon for the TIG welder, so it’s looking like next weekend. I did make some nice progress though.

Cutting tubing for IC pipes.

Bead Rolling. I had to build a travel stop and clamp it on as this harbor freight special is designed for sheet metal. But once I figured out a good method it worked great.

TIG welding the IC pipes. This was my first time welding thin walled aluminum tubing. I struggled. I’m pretty good with mild steel, stainless, and thicker aluminum, but this was tricky. I could use some pointers from a really good TIG welder. One of the reasons I choose to rebuild my IC pipes was to get a little practice, so that was a good learning experience.

Fixturing the intake tube. Not a bad coping job on the BOV tube for a guy with a file and a grinder.

Pressure testing the IC pipe. I found a couple pin-hole leaks I had to fix, if I was a better welder there would have been none.

I had to get slightly larger diameter T-Bolt clamps because the new couplers I got were thicker, and my old pipes were 2.20″ where these are 2.50″.

Lower IC pipe

Fan mounted on the radiator.

The IC pipes in and my airbox back in place for the intake. I had to make a new rubber gasket around the MAF/Filter because it sits in a different location vs the stock turbo setup.

I put the strut brace back in and am going out to put the hood on after this.

Intercooler all mounted (isolated from the chassis with some rubber spacers), my modified bumper beam back in place. I did that a few years ago to loose a little weight and still have some front protection.

The current scene.

Now I just need to get more argon for the welder and build the O2 housing. I’ve been procrastinating that:lol: That will finish the fabricating – kinda. I’d like to build new brake ducts before the bumper goes back on.

The chop saw dominates :thumbup: I use a high tooth count carbide blade and it rips through stuff like butter. I was a little leary at first, my Dad was the one who got me started with it when he said there were better choices than using a sawz-all. I’ve been doing it for years now. I only use it on aluminum, not steel, but it cuts through channel and everything with no chatter. the IC pipe tubing is so thin the blade barley knows it’s there.

I got some high horsepower add-ons yesterday from the guys at AMS… stickers. I test fit the radiator and bumper cover just to get a few pics of the complete front end.

My current to-do list.

I got the wastegate and boost control all plumbed last night. Check that off the list.

I also refilled the transmission with oil. Check.

I had to trim my center bumper cover support for it to go over the IC. This is the strip of metal that runs across the inside of the bumper cover, it hit on the edges of the IC. I didn’t recall that being the deal on Buschur IC’s but I had to do it. I might go in and strength what i had to cutout, it made the support MUCH weaker.

Tonight I should be able to swap out my race wheels and tires for the all-seasons, install the wideband, fill the transfer case, mount the fan control and build the extension tube for the upper radiator hose. I’m trying to finish all the little stuff so that on Saturday I can focus on the O2 housing, and dump tube the two required items outstanding for startup. I’d also like to do the catch can and new brake ducting while I’m fabricating, but only if I have time.

Well I did get some stuff done last night. I got the fan controller mounted to the frame under my airbox. I used some sheet metal screws and some red loctite. Then I cut the extension tube for the upper radiator hose, I used 1.5″ SS tubing.

I also made the first cut on the tubing that will be used for the O2 housing, and did a little test fit. It’s going to be TIGHT! I spent 30 mins staring and thinking :confused: :confused: {thumbup}

Tonight I’m thinking I’ll swap out the wheels, adjust the ride height and refill the transfer case. Then it will be go time for the O2 housing come Saturday. I’m getting excited to start this thing.

I didn’t get enough time this weekend to seal the deal, but I made some more progress. I wrapped up all the little stupid things: transfer case oil, took off the race wheels and put the all-seasons back on along with a ride height adjustment to the front. Then I could focus on fabricating.

First up was the dump tube. 38mm just happens to be 1.5″, so I used my tubing bender that is setup for 1.5″ roll-cage material. The stainless tubing is thin wall so I thought it may get crunched, and it did a little. But this was a lot easier and cheaper than buying a bunch of mandrel bends. Two bends did the trick. I put a mounting tab on the dump tube as well to keep the unsupported end from straining the manifold. The first cracks I noticed and had to fix were on the wastegate dump tube of the manifold. So leaving it unsupported was sure to make more cracks.

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Next up was the final part, the O2 housing, which is turning out to be an absolute bear. First hurdle was my flange to the down pipe. The hole spacing on the downpipe is much wider than a “standard” 2 bolt flange. So I had to uninstall the downpipe and modify it. I could have waited and used a milling machine to slot the holes, but I didn’t feel like the hassle of going to a buddies place, setting it up etc. So I did it the old fashion way. I drilled a couple pilot holes and then filled out the rest.

1 hours worth of filling on stainless – awesome fun.

Now it was time to cut some tubing and figure out how big of a problem I was faced with. I was hoping to build the O2 housing with 2 sections of tubing. Well one test fit and that was out the window. It’s just way too tight. With this RNR manifold a 3 inch O2 is a nightmare. Right now I’ve got 3 pieces started, which all have tightened radius’s by cutting. I’m still not where I need to be, I think it will take 4 pieces, maybe 5. If I had a band saw and a big metal belt sander things would be easier. But I’m roughing everything out with a die grinder because the cut-off saw can’t hold the tubing for these weird angles. Anyway This is pretty damn tricky, I ‘m hoping I can get it to actually work.

The black lines show where I still need to remove material. Then I need a piece to turn it back down and hit the downpipe!

I did some looking around at turbo kits. Everybody includes new downpipes, I don’t think I can make this work and leave the downpipe in a “stock turbo” location. So I think I’m going to cut my downpipe and reposition the flange in a more friendly location. I hope I didn’t burn through too much tubing, modifing the downpipe really changes the whole approach.

So I cut up my downpipe last night and made some adjustments to it. I’ll upload some pics later. I was able to cut an inch out of the vertical section, which lowered the height of the flange. I also cut it down under the oil pan and clocked the whole 90 degree bend away from the turbo a few more degrees. So overall the flange now sits lower and at a better angle, which gives me more room to work on the O2 housing.

All these changes make my dump tube a start over. The new position for the downpipe flange will route the O2 housing through the area where the dump is. So once I finish the O2 I’ll need to go back and modify the dump tube pretty drastically. I’ll probably cut it in a few places twist it around and weld it back together. I liked that it was a single bent part, oh well.

I’ve learned so much about the geometry constraints of all the components that I could design my own turbo kit at this point! I have no desire to design a turbo kit though – it’s played out and plenty of good stuff out there already. I’m just cheap and didn’t want to buy one so I pieced it together. Fabricating a good manifold is still a little out of my skill level anyway. Most of what I fabricate is just done the old fashion way with test fitting. But I did use Solidworks to spec out IC pipes a few years ago. And when I was pissed at the O2 housing I modeled the turbine flange, downpipe flange and AC compressor and fooled around with routing until I came to the conclusion I was going to need to modify the downpipe to make things work.

So I got the O2 tacked together! Tonight I’ll weld it up solid, reroute the dump, install the radiator, Reflash the ECU and get ready to start. I have a feeling I’ll finish everything kinda late so I’ll probably hold off on starting until Friday.

My downpipe hacked up with an inch cutout.

Welded back together.

General view of the scene, kinda hard to see, but it’s burned into my mind

More weldage. I hope I don’t run out of Argon again, my tank is baby sized.

A good weld for this guy.

I used some cardstock to mockup the final piece of tubing.

Then traced the pattern on the tubing. Code Red pwns BTW.

Here it is tacked together. Overall I give it 7.2 out of 10. It’s 3inch, which is way better then the 2.25 incher that RNR used with their manifolds. If if could start over it would be cleaner with less pieces, but this evolved as I figured things out. There’s one big gap to fill. Yes it’s 5 pieces of tubing.

Here are the problem I ran into:

- Hitting AC compressor. Even with the tight radius bend tubing. I had to angle the joint directly off the turbine flange.

- That made it impossible to get the lower bolt in place for the flange to the turbine housing

- Then I added a spacer and clocked the first bend out toward the radiator to make the bolts fit, plus add a chamfered lead-in.

-Downpipe flange too close to turbo. There was no room for bends or transitions. So cut the downpipe, lower the flange, clock it the right direction.

I finished all the fab work My wife regulated and made me go to bed at 11PM, so I didn’t get everything bolted back up yet, but that is all that’s left.

Tightening all the O2 housing bolts, along with the turbo support bracket is no simple task because of the space constraints, but it’s possible. So I just need to get everything (O2 housing, turbo bracket, downpipe, dump tube) torqued.

Then pop the radiator back in, fill with coolant, re-flash ECU and turn the key.

Hotness.

I’m going to raise my rating of the O2 housing up to an 8.7 now that it’s all welded together.

Kinda hard to see but here’s the final deal.

Work must end….
Must go home…
Must start EVO…

All ready in the garage….
Just need to make a stupid update to some ECUflash xml files and flash in my base map.