I was messing around with the xcal2 wot A/F options today. I was wondering if there would be a big difference between setting the wot a/f between lean and rich. Well here is what I experienced. First I tried 4% lean. My 0-60 time was 7.09 with the Intake Air Temp 71 degrees. Later I tried 6% Rich and my 0-60 time was 7.10 with Intake Air Temp 90 degress. These times were measured on my dashhawk. So I guess there really isn't much difference with power between going lean or rich. I just thought I would post my results. Not sure if it means anything or not.

 

You better quit playing with that thing ski----KAPOWWWWW--

 

you dont want to be lean at all. That will cause some major problems

 

the time difference you have is more to do with the intake temp I bet. Like was said.. don't go lean on WOT.

 

Just to add another note, right after I put my heads and cams on, i put it on the dyno. Well it ran lean, so I only did 1 run, I had to have my tune modified and it was made a little more rich, and I picked up 18hp because it was too lean. .01 of a second off your 0-60 could have been caused by anything. road conditions, wind, temp(as mentioned)

 

I put a set of reground cams in a track car I have thinking the chip I already had was ok for them. Ran an entire first practice session as is. After the session our local chip tuner was standing around and I happened to mention the cams. He said I was running very lean and needed to retard the timing. (easy to do on my car). Adjusted the FQS and took the car back out. According to his recommendations the car wasn't running lean anymore but I lost ~1.5 sec/lap. Running lean produced more power which I could feel and lap times reflected. Obviously running lean was very bad and I got lucky I didn't tank the engine. Thought is was interesting though that I could feel the difference seat of pants. I would def. never recommend this though and would strongly suggesting not even playing around with running lean.

 

that could be true, but did you dyno it to prove it was lean? You could have been just fine and by retarding the timing, you just lost power

 

I am betting you were relitivly lean... but still in a safe range. It is all a matter of perspective.

 

whta exactly can happen from running lean?

 

burn a valve, burn a hole in a piston (s)

 

The grinds on the cams I went with are a very common configuration for my car. Our local chip builder has done multiple cars with my exact pistons/cams/exhaust/throttle boddy setup. He said it was running lean using the chip I had installed. By retarding the timing 2 clicks it would bring me back into 'a safe' range. I still plan on taking the car to they dyno to get some pulls on my specific engine and have a chip specifically configured for my car. I def. left some power on the table but didn't want to risk losing the engine. In retrospect it was foolish to even run the cams without getting a chip designed before heading out on the track. Fortunately it wasn't an expensive lesson -this time

 

Running lean means you have to much air in your combustable mix, which raises your temps. You can run rich forever and only sparkplug life will be affected, but you'll be down on power. Run lean and you blow motors.

 

Well I went to Mike's today and boy was murphy on our backs. The power went out in the whole city area and we couldn't get my vehicle on the dyno. He did explain all about lean and rich. I know not to mess with that. I have to make another trip down to Mike's. Hopefully soon, but with my work, who knows when.

 

Hi Ski (and everyone),

Poor Ski - Murphy's Law certainly was on our backs - for the first time in the history of our shop, power went out for more than 1 minute - and it was out for hours & hours, for a 13 mile radius - it was apparently a big deal.

Poor Ski stuck it out, staying with us for hours, but finally gave up on it - I told him that if he stayed, the power would probably not come back on until we closed, but if he left, it would come back on 5 minutes later - which is *precisely* what happened, as I just told him about today in a phone call - D-oh!!!

It's so hard for Ski to get down here to us even though he's not far away, his work schedule is just very fluid & it's hard for him to get away.

I was delighted that he came down, but unfortunately he'll need to make another trip to get him dialed in -

I felt terrible when he left and then shortly after, the power came back on - just as Murphy's Law would have it.

Well, we did get the nitrous-huffing Mustang that was on the dyno finished, so I guess that was at least one good thing that happened that day.....

Thanks to Ski for his patience & understanding, & he knows he has a free dyno session coming when he gets back down!!

 

An oxyacetylene torch become a cutting torch when you start pumping the oxygen to it. The mixture is lean on fuel and rich on oxygen and temps skyrocket to practically vaporize metal. That is why when using a NOS system, you have to pump lots more gas when you turn the nitrous on. The increased oxygen in the nitrous oxide will turn your engine into a big cutting torch and go super nova.
I've seen lawn mower and chainsaw engines that were running lean due to a missing muffler or badly adjusted carb burn valves and aluminum blocks.