MACHO package w/13.6 comp. ratio + E85 = holy TORQUE!!!
 

Hello folks,

Customer Hollywood [nickname], watched as we put the tuning finishing touches on his MACHO beast. Sorry for the picture quality, he took pics with his cell phone rather than taking hard copies for ease of mail distribution. Below is an emailed copy sent to me for posting; he asked to post for him this weekend. I tell ya, the things I do for customers; I’m too nice:lol:

Anyhow, his car turned out pretty nice. First, I can’t say enough about the quality and performance of Richard’s and crew at WCCH heads. We turned up the juice a bit for this customer and the torque jumped! This car is sporting 13.6-comp ratio; .4 basis points more than my personal MACHO and man does it like it:crazy:

The beauty about these high compression E85 MACHO packages is that the engine becomes more efficient vs. stock. Meaning, even with E85 we’re running timing in the 21* to 25* range, 23* to 20* on top and still making this kind of power. Fuel ratio is in the 12.3 and 12.5 range with coolant and oil temps hovering around the 178* and 164* respectively…that’s nice and safe power there amigos:yesnod:

Here is his breakdown, 2006 22K miles stock bottom end
(He already had a clutch; KBII kit, ARH headers and VA scoop):
*Macho Cam and spring kit: $765.95

*FAST Intake kit: $1,829.00 (includes: porting, new rails, new Siemens 60lbs injectors)

*WCCH LS7 heads [vette-Air specs]: $1,475 (includes: angle mill, porting & polish, new REV SS exh valves, new guides, valve job, flow and so on). Compression ratio settings vary from 12.5 to 14.0!

Tuning notes:
As you can see, this car made big cubic engine like torque; I was speechless. Here is the funny thing; that torque dip on the bottom was not there with additional timing and less fuel, however, toque readings were less. So, I reduced the timing on bottom cells to 25* smoothed and carried adjustments right before torque peak, increased slightly after torque peak and smoothed out the rest of the RPM range. Bam, 632.3/581.8…we were like WOW:eek: Next, I decided to increase timing by 3* all the way through out and the car was not too happy vs. the previous settings: 625.2/576.9, not bad but we already had a taste for better. So I decided to go back to the first settings and this time reduced timing to 22*, 25* and 21* here and there, smoothed and them BAM: 637.2/582.3!!! Hollywood was so freaking happy, that fool darn near kissed me…really, no joke:o Yeah, there is a little bit of spike in the end but focus more on the gains under the curve; that’s what I look for, I don’t care about peak but regardless, it’s making great power and in the heat of Texas to boot.:D

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

Looks good. Not that it matters but what is the fuel milage normal driving with the E85 compared to 93 octane?

Wow that's mad power...

Any TT, Scharged or high compression application making this kind of power on 93 or E85 will burn more fuel vs stock or lightly modded...fuel is power and as you know, it takes fuel to make power.

To answer your question, the milage is not that bad. I typically tune these as lean as possible for very light cruise part throttle and idle to save on consumption. In return, you get a very nice crisp response and yet "lean cruise" settings for those stop and go drives and 2K and below highway cruise.

Despite it all, we are seeing roughly 3 to maybe 3.5 miles less per gallon but then again keep in mind that these cars are now making between 120 and 130 RWHP AND 100 to 120 RWTQ over their previous set up:eek:

The other factor is YOUR RIGHT FOOT. Guys see gains, feel the power and the moutain of torque and don't behave:lol: Then again they see these cheaper E85 gas prices [$1.82 per gal in the Dallas area] vs. $2.89 for 93oct and say to themselves, what the heck, lets play and play:crazy:

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

Thank you sir:flag:

Funny, that is the exact words (mad power) Hollywood used when we cruised on the streets.

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

That's :crazy:

Gracias homie.

Now I'm wishing I would have gone with 14.0 CR on my car.:crazy:

I will try it on the next macho E85 customer. No worries, if things get a little too hairy, we will swap for some TR7's and introduce deeper fuel mapping adjustments.

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

Carlos,
Awesome job as usual and thank you for sharing your tuning info. Many people would not do that. You truly put together a performance package. :cheers:

Sincerely,
The Rookie-In-Training

damn that is awesome, nice job.

Thanks guys.

That's right rookie, I decided to share some itty-bitty tuning tips.

Again, as the motor becomes more and more efficient, the less timing and perhaps less fueling in certain areas is necessary to accomplish great results.:willy:

As E85 is introduced, folks often find themselves with the need to increase timing, however, we are seeing more and more that these Z06’s do not fully fall into that pattern. The LS7 head is a pretty efficient unit out of the box and once they are operated on under the hands of a good surgeon with the right camshaft, they become even more impressive thus elevating the entire package level.:cool:

Bottom line, E85 with our high compression Z06 MACHO package may be a match made in heaven...okay, I may have gone a little overboard.:lol:

I mean, we are seeing almost forced induction like power with this MACHO N/A combo and doing so with cooler oil and coolant temps, less timing, cleaner internal engine components (less carbon deposits, cleaner injectors) and so on. Not only that, less weight, less under heat and perhaps less stress on the motor. We all know what happens to oil when it spends more time on the hotter side of the fence right? Viscosity breaks down and thus a not so happy engine for the long run. Anyway, I can go on and on but you guys know what I mean.;)

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

Damn, I want to do this soooo bad. I keep telling myself to wait. Nice numbers...sounds like this thing is going to destroy some tires.

That's pretty sick.

What would you say you would normally see from this package at 11.5:1 compression? 580-590hp and 520-530tq?

That has got to have a nasty crackle at idle with that kind of C/R. Very cool! :yesnod:

Nice results Carlos, thanks for pushing the envelope and sharing your methods. I wish e85 was available in NJ!!

I'd love to see some track videos of some of these E85 cars....anyone with a Macho car race at the track with one yet? Curious to see what kind of et's and traps you guys are seeing.

Kumar,

We tried this lower compression approach with a customer who came to us from another local shop who was already sporting a H/C package...he believes his CR was 11.5 or so.

As you know, I'll try anything so we decided to give a go and swapped injectors for the Bosh 60lbs then pour in some E85 and begin tuning. Final results were as follow: From 591/522 TO 602/535...gains of 11 and 13 HP/TQ respectively from 2,600 or so all the way to the top...not bad it all.:rofl:

This guy is seriously thinking about swapping cams and reworking the heads; we will see.:)

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

E85 changes the sound a little bit...the crackle seems deeper but yet with more force.:cool:

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

As many of the locals will tell ya, believe it or not, 95% of our local customers are road racers. The other 5% or so prefer racing in Jalisco Mexico.

I for one have gone to the track and can share time sheets and video if you like whenever you show up to the shop. I like keeping this info to myself because I don't like having to defend my times to the some of the "birds of hate" who unfortunately fly around this forum looking for something to flame about...no thanks, I've been there and it is not worth it!:flag:

Thanks,
Carlos:thumbs:

I might be interested in a similar setup for my 454.

Im really interested going with E85. but im worried about maxing out my 60# injectors...

Are the injectors pretty much maxxed out here? AKA, id need to re-do my whole system with 80# injectors, billet fuel rail, feed line, dual walbros...

Kumar75150 you have a pm:)