Well I finally decided to put up a ongoing thread for the progress of my car, although I don't expect it to be as in depth and as interesting as the others on here. But what the hell why not, right?

First off I am sure some of you are wondering about the name. Well it's simple really. I's just a continuation on the theme of my screen name. That and the Black Emperor is on of the largest little creatures in it's family and like to hunt prey larger and more powerful than itself.

A brief history..........I purchased the car in February of 2002 for what at the time was a pretty good price although I could buy 3 pretty good ones for that price now. lol I did not make any mods to the car until right before the first SCDC in 2003 at which time I (with some help from akamiami and mitsu90) installed a 14b and a 1G TB. Nothing was done to it again until when in the middle of 2004 the timing belt went. After saving the money for a 6 bolt and the labor to have it done I entrusted her a person who seemed to be a savior only to turn out to be exactly the opposite. So long story short...after getting screwed around for approx. 1 1/2 yrs. (yeah, yeah, I know) I finally went and rescued the car from its living hell and began the long process of resurrecting it. It had the 6 bolt w/balance shafts removed in it but would not run and was missing a few items that it had previously. After sitting a few more months (for various reasons) at my place I was finally able to get it running barely good enough to be driven. Then after just under 200 miles of having it on the road again it jumped time due to a loose tensioner bolt. Another month or so went by until I got the money for the parts and this time I entrusted it to a very good stand up guy, AWD DSM 1 because I didn't want to take the chance of messing it up any worse than what it already was (BTW, Rob I just remembered that I still owe you some money for the Heet and gas) and he did a great and fast job.

A few months later and that finally brings us to the present day. A couple of thousand miles later and the car is still running like crap and seems to develop a new problem every week that makes it worse.

OK, now that that is over with.

Car as she sits right now........6 bolt w/balance shafts removed, new timing belt and tensioner, new (sort of) clutch master cylinder, newer 14b, stock exhaust w/cat removed, new plugs, new wires, new fuel filter, new brakes, mbc, no emissions, 1G intake, 1G IC, and the EGR is blocked off. Everything else on the car right now is stock 2G.

I just picked up an EVO 8 fmic, 3" GM maf (still need the translator), and a walbro 255 high pressure fuel pump. Hopefully within the next week I will be getting a 95 eprom, the translator, and 550 injectors. Then I will just be waiting on the mandrel bent stainless pipe that I can still hopefully get from a guy at work so that I can build my exhaust and IC pipes for the fmic.

My plans for this car are nothing extreme. If I can get it into the low 13's (which hopefully shouldn't be a problem when I get everything installed) or even the high 12's then I will be happy. At which time I will probably upgrade the turbo so that I can still run the same times with a little less stress on the motor.

Wow, that was a lot more than I planned on writing

Will update more as it happens.

I dig the name and what it relates to.

Keep fighting the good fight Scorp.

The name makes me think of the Emperor labeled car on Initial D. Sure that was a black Evo 4, but it was a sick car built for the togue.

Great name!

Well I have made a few logs of my car, but I still don't quite know haw to interpret the data. I linked to it here if anybody wants to take a look at it and give me you thoughts. You can view the file with word pad. From what I can figure out I am showing some knock but not sure how much. With it being a 2G you can't log knock (for some reason I thought you could) so that conclusion comes from it pulling timing. I also seem to be running a little lean (I think) because according to what I have read on the pocketlogger site the STFT and LTFT should add up to zero as a basic starting point for a tune. I logged from a stop going through 1st pretty normal eased into the gas a little more going through 2nd before putting it to the floor and running out second and third.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I also received my fuel pump yesterday and should be installing it by at least next weekend.

Well I decided to wait until I get a fpr to install my fuel pump. I would like to get a new fuel rail also but since funds are starting to get a little tight I figured I would just use my stock rail. Here is the best price I have found so far for a proven product.

Does anybody know where I might be able to pick one up for a little less or have any suggestions as to another product or setup. Like I said I would like to get a new rail but the setup above is about all I will be able to spend on this mod.

I used a Megan FPR on my 2g talon. Worked good. Also you cant log knock on a 2g. You need to tune based on timing advance. Now you say the car is running like crap. PLease explain. An EGT would be a great tool to see how lean you are running. how much boost are you running? Have you done a leak down test on the car. If you have a boost leak it will be hard to tune the car. Are you running a piggy back or any engine management? Without one you will not be able to change a thing.

PLEASE EXPLAIN RUNS LIKE CRAP!!!

Also why are you waiting to install the fuel pump until you get a FPR. Your stock FPR is putting out 43psi. Put in the fuel pump now and maybe to a rewire on it too.

Runs like crap =

Idle varies. Not constantly up and down but it will vary between 800 and 2500 at different times. I can start the car and it will be at one rpm and then when I stop it will be at another and then the next time I stop it may be at yet another.

Seems to be "cold blooded". After first stating it most times when I go to take off it will stumble and sputter threw the first couple 2-3 gears unless I am barely touching the go pedal. Every once in a while it feels like there is a miss also when just cruising.

Those are the main problems that I can think of right now.

When I was talking about knock earlier the reason I said that was because from everything I have read when a car starts to retard timing under acceleration it is because of knock.

As far as tuning, until I get my gm maf set up I was just planning on doing as much as I could with timing and the mas calibration screw, and also boost settings under WOT.

I am currently only running 11psi.

I have not done a leakdown test but I have done a boost leak test and there are none that are noticeable.

And as far as waiting on the fuel pump install, I know you don't have to have an afpr to run a 255 but I have been reading a lot on the effects of running one without an afpr. With the problems that I am having right now I don't want to be over running the stock fpr and dumping excess fuel into the cylinders. Plus I don't want to add to the tuning difficulty right now as I currently of a lack of available means to tune.

Ok every car is different and your idle problem could be caused by messing with the mas screw. My car also did the cold blooded thing. I think that is normal. Also your injectors determine how much fuel goes into the car. If u think your are running lean then your stock fuel pump cant keep up. Do not worry about too much fuel with stock injectors

Actually, increasing FP will increase the output of the injectors. The injector controls the duration of the spray, increasing the FP puts more fuel through the injector opening in the same duration. So without a AFPR and a 255, you can make the engine run rich.

try blocking the FIAVC and use only the BISS to control the idle. Most of the time they go bad!! Slowboyracing.com sells a blockoff plate or you can make your own out of a alluminum can!!!!

motion 2nd'd

He said that the car was running lean so the 255 will only help.

Not necessarily.

A stock car on stock injectors, fuel pump, fpr, etc..... (everything stock) will not need a larger volume fuel pump installed just to get the right air to fuel mixture. A totally stock car will run fine with totally stock parts on stock settings. Now, that said, if you've done anything to the car to increase the amount of air coming into the engine then that's a different story.

Since you're unsure exactly what is going on, the best advice I can give you is to do what I wished I would have done with my car in the first place. Get a wideband 02!!! They may look expensive but they are extremely cheap for the value you get from them. Logging with a wideband is the only true way to know what the real-time air to fuel ratio is. Any of the older members here will tell you, a wideband is priceless when it comes to tuning for a target a/f ratio.

It sounds like the other guys already may have your solution for the idle problem. Try some of this stuff and keep us updated.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I have not yet done anything to the maf screw, just throwing it out there as an option. I think I am going to replace the entire throttle body with a 1G tb since the one that came back on my car was a 2g.

Also I just purchased a set of fic 550's, a 2G eprom and I am waiting to hear back from someone about shipping costs on an AEM UEGO wideband. After I get all of that stuff in I think I will be done spending for a while, at least a few weeks to gets some funds built back up.

Again thanks for the advice.

Don't put the throttle body on until you get your tuning problems fixed. Wideband first, a tuning tool next (GM MAFT, or if you must, SAFC), and THEN start throwing the performance parts at it. After you get an idea of what it needs (too rich or too lean) you'll know what you need to buy next based upon what you've maxed out so far.

I received my 2G (of course) eprom today. I am going to throw that in for the drive to SCDC and see if maybe that solves any of my problems. Not likely, but one can hope.

I didn't get lucky enough to have a new ecu fix any of my problems but the idle problem has sort of worked itself out, at least for right now. Even before I put the new ecu in it had lowered to about 1100 and no higher than 1500. That is a ton better than 2500

I received my 550 injectors today. Just waiting on a couple of more parts before I start putting everything on her. Namely a maf translator and my wideband.

It also appears that I need to pick up a new mbc. I was not able to get more than 10 psi at SCDC even though by the time I left I had turned it 4 full turns. The last boost leak test that I did didn't reveal anything so I am assuming that the mbc is the reason that I was only able to build 10 psi.

The best #'s so far for this car in it's current setup (basically stock)

60' 2.080

1/4 15.10(didn't get a slip)

mph 89.65

These were not on the same run but the best from different runs. Hoping for approx 2 full seconds better by Slo Pony day but will be happy (for now) with 1.5 seconds better.