Project S2000: Part 31 – Oil and Fuel System Updates

I busted out the good ole Dremel and did a little slicing to remove the tab.

After a bit of grinding to remove sharp edges and making sure the remainder of the tab did not stick out, the stock Honda oil cooler (made by Denso as you can see) sits nice and flush on the Improved Racing remote mount. I was able to use the OEM Honda bolt to attach the oil cooler to the remote mount as Improved Racing uses the same M22x1.5 thread in the mount as Honda uses in the engine block.

More power means more fuel is necessary of course. I got these Injector Dynamics ID1050X injectors with adapter harnesses from Real Street Performance. I like plug-n-play, so it is nice to have the adapter harnesses already made. The ID1050s are plenty big for my 500 crank horsepower target.

To feed the larger injectors is a larger fuel pump. I bought a kit from Science of Speed with a S2000 specific kit using the AEM 340 LPH pump. I also got their big wire pump wiring kit with the goal to minimize voltage drop (i.e. get max power) to the fuel pump. The goal is also to reduce strain on the electrical system as I did add in the water pump and fans for the air-to-water intercooler system. Per the recommendation of Shawn Church who tuned the Hondata KPro in Project S2000, I got some heat range 7 NGK Iridium spark plugs to be better suited to boost.

To help control the boost, I got a Hondata boost solenoid and 4-bar MAP sensor. The plan is to use the boost-by-gear functionality of the KPro. To make sure the correct amount of fuel is being sprayed, I picked up an AEM wideband from Real Street Performance.

I am revising my oil catch can setup. As I will have an oil drain line dumping back into the engine, I figure I can T into the turbocharger oil drain for the oil catch can drain. Killer B Motorsport sent me a couple options to try. The black one on the left is for the FA20 engine in the 2015+ WRX. The billet aluminum one on the right is a new universal Air Oil Separator they are developing. Project S2000 AP1 inherited my old Saikou Michi setup.

The turbine housing and exhaust manifold have returned from Swain Tech with their White Lightning ceramic thermal barrier coating. We did the thermal insulation for two reasons: reducing the baking of parts around these hot bits and also for better power and transient response.

Some other little stuff I worked on was to bypass the clutch switch for startup. This takes the stress off of the crank shaft thrust bearing when starting up the car and there’s no oil flowing. I need a turbo oil feed location, so I checked out the wiring diagram for the stock oil pressure sensor warning light. The stock oil pressure sensor is really a switch, it is on/off. When there is oil pressure, it pushes the switch open which opens the electrical circuit and the dash light goes off. The circuit is closed when there is no oil pressure to hold the switch open. So basically, by the time the oil pressure warming light turns on, you are already screwed because there is zero oil pressure. Unplugging the connector just makes the circuit open all the time and nothing funny happens. So I  will ditch the stock sensor and use that port location for the turbo oil feed. Of course, I’ve been keeping tabs on my oil pressure for years with the ARK Design MFD2 setup.

I have most of the parts now for the transition to turbocharged. It is about time to put it all together and get it running. From this point, there is going to be custom fabrication required. For the exhaust, I will need custom piping from the turbo outlet to the stock dual rear muffler section. The idea in my head is 3″ piping, a GESI G-Sport Gen 2 UHO catalytic converter, a Helmholtz side stub resonator like the stock mid-pipe, and no inline resonator. The car will be plenty quiet, maybe too quiet, with the turbo and cat and stock rear muffler setup. I am going to recirculate the wastegate flow though because I can’t stand external dump noise. Those of you who track S2000s are likely familiar with the rattle coming from the stock cat after enough track time. Well, it happened to me where the front brick in the OEM cat came loose and was rattling around. So I got a GESI G-Sport Gen 2 cat for 2017+ model year cars with a 400-cell core which is EPA-compliant. An air diverter plate needs to be fabricated to direct all of the air coming off the radiator underneath the engine bay cross member, which the air to water IC will sit on top of. The plumbing of the cool air from the Baero front bumper ducts to this pseudo cool air compartment needs to be done. Oh, yeah, the air filter (I got a K&N) is going to live above/behind the air-to-water IC. I’m also planning to relocate the air intake sensor to the intercooler outlet pipe which will give a more accurate reading than the stock intake manifold location used on 2005 and older model years. Honda moved the air temperature sensor location themselves on 2006+ model year cars. Of course, all the intake and IC plumbing needs to be fabricated and I am going to recirculate the air coming out of the Turbosmart blow-off valve. And I need an expansion tank for the air-to-water intercooler coolant loop. I know I know… it is taking forever but it is getting closer!

 

8 comments

    1. The fans are only needed in low-speed operation. Once at speed, there’s enough airflow that the fans are not required. At speed, those shrouds just become a flow resistance and reduce cooling. That particular shroud you linked does have a couple flaps that open up when there’s enough airflow from vehicle speed. In my opinion, shrouds should only be used when the heat exchangers are placed in locations where they don’t get significant direct airflow. So one place shrouds are commonly used is on off-road racing trucks were the radiators are placed behind the cab.

  1. Killerbee catch cans are cool and all, but I can’t comprehend paying $375-$420 bucks for them. Especially when there are alternatives that work flawlessly for $150 or less.

    1. They do command a premium for their billet ones. They have been developing lower cost alternatives like the black one. I’m really digging this new compact AOS which should work well in my application. It seems modern cars with DI systems have much less oil collected in catch cans. The S2k does generate a fair amount, but because I’m planning to constant drain, I don’t really need much storage volume at all.

      1. back into the oil pan? I heard its not a good idea to do that cause it also collects moisture, any truth to that?

        1. I think it depends on the particular vehicle and how their PCV setup is configured. As a casual observation, basic inline and V engines, it’s pretty simple. Flat engines liked in Subarus and Porsches seem to have more complex systems which are maybe more prone to condensation. On my S2k at least, I only ever got significant oil in my catch can from track use and it came out looking like regular oil, no milky stuff. At that point, the oil is hot enough to boil off any water.
          https://motoiq.com/project-s2000-part-22-testing-new-goods-and-more-intake-mods/5/

  2. It’s hard to believe the Improved Racing remote filter mount doesn’t have dedicated additional ports for sensor fittings, especially given the price. Using that ARK adapter adds potential leak paths and bulk. It may be best to utilize the unused ports of the Improved Racing remote filter mount and install adapters for the sensors. You may be able to drill and tap into the top side as well.

    Will running the catch can return line into your turbo drain line overwhelm the turbo drain? You may need to increase the diameter of the return after the tee.

    1. On the remote filter mount, where I’m using two plugs, you can get the plugs with 1/8 NPT sensor ports. The sensors that came with the ARK Design MFD2 are most likely 1/8 BSPT. I decided to leave well enough alone for two reasons: I’ve been running the sandwich plate with sensors for over a decade with no issues and I think it will give me a bit more flexibility in mounting. I’m already claiming space for the oil filter and cooler, so stacking the sensor sandwich plate just takes some more space in the same direction. If I add the sensors to the remote filter mount, they will stick out the opposite side of the oil lines, increasing the footprint. For the turbo oil drain, I was planning to use a -10AN line, so it should be plenty big. I guess I haven’t shown it yet, but the timing chain cover was already tapped and welded with a -10AN fitting for the turbo oil drain return.

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