3 bar tune

Brucelinc said:
I am an idiot!  Somehow, my simple brain got the readings backwards...I was thinking negative meant knock detected and timing retarded.  I need to do some more testing and look for positive numbers.
I was here before also, my brain runs on large doses of common sense and this distorts that. ^-^
 
SHOnUup said:
Brucelinc said:
I am an idiot!  Somehow, my simple brain got the readings backwards...I was thinking negative meant knock detected and timing retarded.  I need to do some more testing and look for positive numbers.
I was here before also, my brain runs on large doses of common sense and this distorts that. ^-^

I know!  Hard to get my head around a minus ADDING something and a plus SUBTRACTING it.  Anyway, I will do more testing and report back.
 
Brucelinc said:
I am an idiot!  Somehow, my simple brain got the readings backwards...I was thinking negative meant knock detected and timing retarded.  I need to do some more testing and look for positive numbers.
Easy to get twisted up!  Yes positive knock retard reading = timing being pulled.
 
SHOnUup said:
Hill is the variable here I bet. Land yacht up hill protecting itself.

That gauge setup is sweet looking BTW Larry
Thing is if the hill gets beyond the slightest hint of a mini-grade, the throttle is called into play enough to reduce the knock retard reading. Seems to show up in a very specific narrow situation where one would think it's not likely to hurt itself.....but still....don't like it at all!

Thanks for kind words on the display. Kind of hard to see as an icon, but It's my fav so far. I can't imagine how many variations it's gone through in it's evolution. I probably have maybe $400 in overall cost in the set up but I've gotten a few grand worth of entertainment setting up and working the bugs out of and that's not saying anything about the enjoyment in everyday use!
 
Larrylu said:
BiGMaC said:
If you flash back to stock you will see the same changes.  Moral... Don't lug.... Give enough throttle to get a downshift...  Safer.... And quicker.  The 3.5TT apparently was meant to accelerate fairly hard by design.
Just so you have an accurate visualization, my 7 reading was attained at highway speed on cruise. We are talking very slight uphill and minimum throttle. If you drive interstates and use cruise or drive as smoothly as cruise you could not avoid my experience.
Keep in mind this is the same scenario blowing up Mazda 2.3's

I drive like this every day and I'm in the negatives so I would keep a close eye out.

I have yet to see actual knock on the gauge but it has recorded a max of 1.5

I have a theory but I'd need to find some time to datalog to prove it.
 
FoMoCoSHO said:
Larrylu said:
BiGMaC said:
If you flash back to stock you will see the same changes.  Moral... Don't lug.... Give enough throttle to get a downshift...  Safer.... And quicker.  The 3.5TT apparently was meant to accelerate fairly hard by design.
Just so you have an accurate visualization, my 7 reading was attained at highway speed on cruise. We are talking very slight uphill and minimum throttle. If you drive interstates and use cruise or drive as smoothly as cruise you could not avoid my experience.
Keep in mind this is the same scenario blowing up Mazda 2.3's

I drive like this every day and I'm in the negatives so I would keep a close eye out.

I have yet to see actual knock on the gauge but it has recorded a max of 1.5

I have a theory but I'd need to find some time to datalog to prove it.
Do share!!!
 
Went for s little ride after golfing yesterday and got about same results.  Full wot from a stop pulled .5 degree of timing for a moment. But when turning onto a street and waiting to get to to full throttle by easing into after straightening the car out pulled 1.5 degree of timing on a a seemingly easier on the car situation.
 
I get timing added much more easily than timing retarded.  In what I consider a light "lugging" condition (6th gear, lower speed, moderate acceleration) I get negative .25 - 2.00.  If I give it a lot more throttle, but not kick-down, it will go positive but less than 2.  I tried the cruise control set at 75 and it stayed on 0 until I came to a little hill and it went negative but less than 1.  I don't have a hill steep enough around here to require a heavy throttle to maintain speed.

I don't know quite what to make of this but I am not going to worry about it.  When Darrell Waltrip was still racing, a reporter asked him how he could have time to monitor all the gauges in his race car.  He replied, "I never look at them.  I just run the b*itch 'till it blows up, anyway." 
 
Knock gauge seems to be our way of just making sure the tune is running right on each of our cars as they all vary a bit.

 
I have seen this effect of WOT/lift on mine occasionally. Never more than .5. I have however after a good heat soak on light -2 pulled under light acceleration, and this happens  sporadically.
 
There does seem to be some variability.  I suppose fuel quality, terrain, weather conditions, coolant temperature and probably other things come into play.  It was cool this morning when I was trying different scenarios so I didn't even have the A/C on.  My coolant temp was around 180.  On a hot day, sitting in traffic with the A/C on and coolant temps nearer 200, things might be different. 
 
Brucelinc said:
Yes, that is a characteristic of it  - a "whonk" noise.  Someone referred to it as a dying duck noise.  I haven't heard a good explanation for it but everyone with the 4X/3bar tune has it.

That would be my reference..... haha.  That about summed it up for me.
 
SHO-TYM said:
Brucelinc said:
Yes, that is a characteristic of it  - a "whonk" noise.  Someone referred to it as a dying duck noise.  I haven't heard a good explanation for it but everyone with the 4X/3bar tune has it.

That would be my reference..... haha.  That about summed it up for me.
Bums me out a little that the small whistle you could create with a touch of the throttle has turned into a WTF is that look getter...oh well its faster, and they don't hear much from that far back...lol
 
Took the SHO to Milan Dragway today to test 3 bar tune. Great night as the temps were just under 70* with little humidity. Right off the street after an hour drive there I put down a 12.71 and then a 12.66 before parking it to cool down. As I sat, I thought why not flash the tune to get some harder shifting to chip away at that 12.66. I was wrong, car didn't seem to like the re-flash. Ran a 12.80...12.81...12.83 to finish the night a little disappointed in myself for flashing tune.

Best prior to this without the 3 bar tune was 12.75 in about the same conditions.

Last time I ran same 2 runs right off the street and let it cool and ran consistently lower without a re-flash. Maybe next time it gets 12.5 area.
 
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