Great! more things to add to the list!
In reply to MetroMPG,
Valve springs... well it's a good idea, but that one is going to take some research. The electric water pump and bumping the ignition timing can be done. The ignition curve is fully programmable and is one of the basic things I need to develop. The current ignition curve is a hodgepodge set of data points and is not optimized.
in reply to 2000MC,
Oil temp and oil brand will get added to the list. Something to conceder is this dyno engine was kept "loose" by not replacing the piston rings and bearings when it was disassembled and cleaned. I suspect most of the premium synthetic oils will work but may also be consumed. I won't be able to track the consumption in a short term tests.
The ignition system is something I also want to develop further. The dyno is equipped with a stock Festive distributor, however the Miata has a custom coil pack ignition. For base line testing I'm going to use the stock Festiva distributor but eventually I'll swap in the coilpack system from the Miata. Once the coil pack is evaluated, I'll take a look at other systems.
in reply to Chrysler kid,
Using a Mazda Miata as a test vehicle is based on my own flawed logic, but it's the type of car I prefer. Front engine rear wheel drive, real suspension and excellent brakes. I'm a car guy and I don't really like FWD econoboxes. While there are better cars and better engines the Miata is the car for me.
In reply to old tele man,
I wasn't aware of aftermarket knock sensors until I just googled them.... Cool! I have to do some more research but that looks like a winner!
In reply to Cobb,
The intake air temp ranged from 140F at idle and maxed out at 170F in cruise. At the time I was running a Megasquirt II and I had disable ignition retard based on air temp. The trouble I encountered was the engine ran really lean and pinged under moderate load. I remapped the volumetric efficiency tables to accommodate the higher air temp and the fuel consumption went up and the car still ran poorly. I didn't spend a lot of time experimenting because this mod borderlined total engine destruction and I figured it would get sorted out on the dyno. Eventually some sort of active control will get developed to allow cold air on acceleration and warm air in cruise.
In reply to JRMichler,
Point taken, the experiments will be conducted for maximum value in regards to published data. I'm sure I'll screw up something and folks with an eye for detail will hopefully chime in and point out my mistakes. I'm open to re-running tests until I get it right.
Something for everyone to consider, This dyno is currently set up for Megasquirt so the results will vary. When time allows, I'll add the factory Festiva ECU for comparison and may need to revisit some tests. This is a very ambitious project for a hobbyist but I think we can get some cool data.
Ultimately my goal is to squeeze 50 MPG out of my project car in real world driving. In the right hands the Miata is certainly capable of the magic 50 MPG but I want to try to do it without a handful of driving tricks.
Thanks for the comments and ideas!
Jim