VIR follow up

[jimmyracer]

Just thought I'd make you all aware of what we found. Sunday during qualifying the car lost quite a bit of power. We brought it in and looked it over but did not find much except a very lean exhaust pipe and the car was very low on fuel. We checked over a few things, including fuel filter, and decided the low fuel must have starved the injection system and thus the lean pipe. So we start the race and backward I go! Each lap less and less power until the end of the race when the car was hardly running. SO as it turns out...today we found the fuel injectors totally clogged with black muck. I have had this happen once before and the culprit was bad fuel from the race track. Perhaps we got the bottom of the tank? Either way my point is I suggest you all check out your carbs/injectors, etc. prior to the next event.

Jim Goughary

[helipilot04]

Very interesting..

I got an idea... how about not having to buy fuel at the tracks.. save money and get better fuel..

I know, people are worried about "hot fuel", but I for one, think the savings is worth the headache of testing. my 2 cents worth..

-Bob

[jim morgan]

Seen enough injector issues that maybe check/clean after each event. Moisture corrosion are also a problem with Zetec TPS I wouls stock an extra of each critical electronic component as well as injectors and change out at first sign of trouble.

[formulasuper]

Just thought I'd make you all aware of what we found. Sunday during qualifying the car lost quite a bit of power. We brought it in and looked it over but did not find much except a very lean exhaust pipe and the car was very low on fuel. We checked over a few things, including fuel filter, and decided the low fuel must have starved the injection system and thus the lean pipe. So we start the race and backward I go! Each lap less and less power until the end of the race when the car was hardly running. SO as it turns out...today we found the fuel injectors totally clogged with black muck. I have had this happen once before and the culprit was bad fuel from the race track. Perhaps we got the bottom of the tank? Either way my point is I suggest you all check out your carbs/injectors, etc. prior to the next event.

Jim Goughary

Isn't that an idication that you need a better fuel filter?

[Tom Valet]

Jim, thanks for letting everyone know what happened, we wondered what happened to you on Sunday, thought maybe you just had a giant hangover from celebrating Saturday's win.

[jimmyracer]

Yes it is strange the filter did not pick it up. Just wanted to make you all aware before The Glen so you do not end up with the same problems we had. I still think track spec fuel is a good idea because it eliminates almost any question of legality.

Jim

[Sean Maisey]

Jim,

I think I was experiencing a similar problem. My pipe was very lean looking and power was noticibly diminished in the Sunday race compared to qualifying. I had written it off as just the much warmer weather in the afternoon, but now I am suspicious.

So I will check my car out this weekend. But I am curious, how did you clean up the injectors?

Thanks,
Sean

[Mike Scanlan]

This is interesting, because my crew, Tommy, was curious as to how a lot of the Honda's were able to make their engine burn so lean, while ours wasn't. I did not have the same problem and never have and I've been burning 93 octane fuel bought all over the east coast for a year and a half. Two things that I was warned about and have been very careful about: one, not to run the tank down below a gallon (for the pumps sake and crude off the bottom) and two, the tank is often the issue here so I put new foam in it when I converted from leaded to unleaded and was really careful about attaching the bag filter at the bottom of the tank. As it came from HPD I felt it needed a little extra help being secured. You should also make sure that you're using the upgraded HPD in-line gas filter, I'm pretty sure that they sent them out to everyone.

[Sean Maisey]

I ran my tank close to dry two times.

Once in the garage before the first on-track outing. The car started to sputter and wouldn't rev. - almost out of gas.

Second time testing at VIR a few weeks befoer the F1600 race. I thought I was developing a miss, but sticking the tank at the end of the session showed it was almost dry.

So it is likely that I injected some crap. I would have figured that the inline filter would have it covered though and that it would get blocked first. maybe not.

I will post the results of my checks this weekend.

Sean

[RussMcB]

I agree with Mike - Extra care is needed when attaching the sock to the filter pick up. I used a screw (into plastic base) and tie wraps (sounds like a hokey fix but it was much more secure).

Perhaps the material that clogged the injectors was able to get through the filters and then solidified? That's just a WAG.

How can we Honda runners know if we have the upgraded fuel filter? This is the first I've heard of different filters.

[SOseth]

I don't understand the fuel issue. I used the track gas and pumped my cell dry after every session to measure fuel used. I guess I will also check the injectors this weekend after I sort out my grounding issues.

SteveO

[starkejt]

Are all the Hondas running the same fuel filter?

[SOseth]

Are all the Hondas running the same fuel filter?

Probably not. I am not using the standard HPD fuel system.

[jimmyracer]

We are replacing the injectors. The point about the material getting thru the filter and then becoming solid in the injector is exactly what we think happened.

Jim

[starkejt]

I found with Suzuki injectors, which have the world's seemingly tiniest holes, that the Aeromotive 10 micron filter was good at keeping the injectors from clogging. Using it on a Zetec as well.

It has also been my experience that even brand new injectors aren't always that consistent and benefit from being flowed and matched/balanced by someone with an ASNU injector machine. I liked to have 2 matched sets, one on the car, and one spare.