With the day spent on the dyno, it was time to pack up our new engine and get it to UMS Tuning and Xact Dyno in Tempe, Ariz., for installation into our DB8. Big thanks to Tony Szirka and Kevin Nichols at UMS for not only installing the engine once, but twice. We learned the hard way that these tall Dart blocks can be very tricky to set the correct cam belt tension on. Larry didn't warn us and we turned the crank clockwise (normal rotation is counterclockwise) to checking something. This caused the belt to skip a tooth, something we discovered at start-up when the idle was really bad.
We alerted Endyn, and Larry wanted the engine back just to make sure nothing had gotten bent or was off. So out it went and in a box back to Endyn. That gave us some time to go through the car and get it ready for the chassis dyno and the dragstrip.
In addition to the BBK 70mm throttle body, BBK also supplied us with a 255 liter per hour in-tank fuel pump. A stock pump in perfect working order would have been OK, but we had precision balanced RC Engineering fuel injectors. The stock 240cc injectors would not have been capable of the 300+ hp the Endyn engine produced.
The added power and a new 10,000rpm redline also meant a stock clutch wasn't likely to keep up either. Centerforce came to the rescue with one of its Dual Friction clutch systems. The Dual Friction system basically lets the clutch behave like stock at engagement, but still holds at high rpm by using a different friction material on each side of the clutch; perfect for this engine. We also got an aluminum flywheel weighing in at just 7.1 pounds, just what a high-revving engine needs.
A pair of companies handled the engine electronics. First, Hondata and its S300 engine management system. What's unique about the S300 is the fact that a daughterboard replaces the typical chip in the Honda ECU. The S300 has a simple USB connection letting you program it instantly. It also features enough onboard memory for up to 20 minutes of continuous data logging. The S300 is in a class of its own when it comes to engine management.
We also engaged PLX Devices for a wideband. The PLX R-500 wideband computer not only gives you air/fuel measurement from 10-20:1, but an EGT and a knock sensor monitor. Knock or detonation could quickly do damage to the Endyn Dart engine and running a 12.2:1 compression ratio on pump gas means detonation is only a bad tune away. Getting air/fuel right as well as being able to listen directly to the knock sensor is our main reason for choosing the R-500.
PLX had also just released its award-winning Intelligent Multi-Functional Display (iMFD). This cool piece looks like the standard circular gauge, but in reality it's a full color display featuring OLED technology. Capable of connecting to PLX air/fuel pressure and temperature monitors, you can program the display exactly how you want it using PC software.
Our new 10,000rpm redline also presented us with another problem-a tach. An Integra Type-R dash reads to 10,000 rpm but we'd seen countless factory dashes that were a bit optimistic and the tach needs to be right on for this car. There was also no way we were going to stick a 6-inch Fast and Furious style tach on the dash. The whole idea is to be somewhat low-key here.
Racepak, maker of professional racing dashes and data logging equipment, just happened to have a street dash that would fit perfectly in the crescent-shaped Integra dash. For only $725, the 250-DS-UDXSR shows everything you need in a street car dash, from turn signals to an odometer and more, but it looks like a $10,000 Indycar dash. You also get oil pressure and temp sensors, the rest tap factory sensors. This should be an incredibly cool addition.
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