Beretta 2017 Autocross Spec D-prepared

[Money pit Beretta]

I hear you, living in the salt belt sucks. Undercoating helps, that is if there is no rust to start with. After it shows up all you have is treatment/removal and repaint. Undercoating after that is taking a chance. If the rust is stopped then you are fine. If not then it will rust without you knowing it.
You are on the right track, keeping it off the road in the winter is the only option. In Mexico they used Kerosene. Just an odd fact I thought I'd throw out there.

[Amateur]

Update time! My car saw some AutoX action and was horribly decimated by everyone and anyone. I actually had a good enough run to beat my brother's 2014 Mazda 6 on the course by a half second, so that's a plus. Obviously since I put in the limited slip differential and lighter flywheel, my class got bumped up from Street Touring to Street Prepared. Here are two of my worst runs via GoPro since I didn't bother to record my way better afternoon heats because the battery died on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgCY0sk ... e=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp2Qp_n ... N_9vnmuwQQ

As for driving the car flat out with my new upgrades, it was awesome. Don't get me wrong, my car is still slow as hell but the amount of speed I'm able to carry into a corner is phenomenal. This car definitely bites hard coming out of a corner courtesy of that LSD putting useable power to the wheels that would have otherwise been squandered off. On the initial launches after revving the car and dropping the clutch, There's an audible pop of the LSD suddenly kicking in forcefully which worried me at first (like I broke something in the tranny), but soon realized it's just doing its thing considering the situation I put it in.



I did manage to fix the broken vacuum line courtesy of a junkyard Cavalier. unfortunately there was a slight difference in end fittings so I crammed in an adapter and presto!




As of two days ago, my car almost decided to commit suicide while taking me with it. The tubing of the fuel rail assembly decided to pop out ever so slightly, some how, some way (seriously I still don't know how...the single nut that retains it is still attached, tightened to spec that holds it in place), spewing pressurized gasoline all over the engine bay while the motor was running at temp, while I was on the road. When I shoved the tube back in its place, lo and behold, there's an actual fracture in the metal itself...this time only spraying mist gasoline all over the place. Thanks car.


So naturally, I get myself a new fuel tube from the junkyard today, yet again from a Cavalier. The good side is that I got my goodies in the mail (most of them anyways).



I got 1.6 Comp Cams rockers with the roller tip. As nice (and pricey) as it would have been to have a roller fulcrum, I decided to save myself the hassle of clearance issues and settle with the good ol' trusty pivot ball. I also go the obligatory ARP studs so I can mount these puppies to the head.



I'm still waiting on my new pushrods from RockAuto to make the install happen. On that note since I only need 8 and this kit comes with 16, I will probably have the remaining 8 on the for sale section in a little bit for those LN2 lovers who would be interested.

That's about it for now anyways. Bonus images on my junkyard trip?

[Money pit Beretta]

http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/autom ... ake-shield

I have this on my Cavy's K&N WAI. Works great! You can get it in a 10ft length and cut it to fit. It's just for summer use, but man did it help.
When you are sitting just after a run your tube is heat soaking. This will keep all that heat away from your intake tube. Just remember to check your intake temps after running and then check them after you put this on(the next race).

[Money pit Beretta]

Well the best thing you can do is to shield the whole intake system. That link is to the hook and loop style so you could use two if needed.
Lucky me I have an ABS intake so the temps drop quick anyway. The wrap just makes sure the air coming in is at a much lower temp. Never did hear if you and Koots can use the 2.2 ABS intake.

[Amateur]

That heat wrap looks tempting for my intake. Mine just sits on top of the valvetrain and soaks up all the heat and it does get pretty hot.

[Money pit Beretta]

Don't think my Auto X ray is working right. I did plan a real test, but used some zip ties(wrap is 3in, intake is 2 3/4) and didn't want to take it back off.
I have seen intake temps on that car at 120F and more. The car had been sitting for hours after a short drive. The mail showed up and there was the wrap. Did a quick check and it was at 115F. After the wrap was where I wanted it the reading was 87F(locked at that after two checks).
To me it was the best bolt on for the money. At 60 bucks the power was up and so was the throttle responce. It had a better over all effect than the $275 K&N WAI. LOL that WAI is why I needed the wrap in the first place.

[Amateur]

Finally got around installing these magnificent rockers today. I can't say the same about my exhaust headers that I've had lying around for a year.

Ewww, stock stamped ones! They have served me well nonetheless.



New ARP studs (on the right) so that I can mount the Comp Cams:



Obligatory new push rods:



New pushrods and studs installed:



Old making way for the new:



All coming together nicely:



The sun was hitting the roller tips perfectly so that these things glisten:



Oil me up Scotty!



Done. Now for my driving impression of them. First and foremost, they are very chatty. A lot more valvetrain noise than stock ones and I've poked around a lot of forums and it seems to be the norm for roller tips.
I also think I need to better nail down my adjustment/valve lash to get these right where I want them, so I'll take care of that the end of this week .

Is there a noticeable difference jumping from the stock 1.5 to 1.6 rollers? Yes. yes there is. I drive my car day in and day out so I'm more tuned to sensing any difference with its characteristics. The car definitely performs better than before. Did I get any bump in horsepower? maybe. maybe not. If I did, It probably isn't high enough to be perceptible. The difference is how my car reacts in the powerband. The engine just feels better, noticeably anything 3k or above on the RPM range. Below 3k, it feels the same, above that, the car feels more "athletic." It's hard to describe but the car feels less restrictive when pushed up there which is exactly how I want it.

[3X00-Modified]

These should have a slight preload on them, you should not have any lash... your running hydraulic lifters.

Stupid question... please tell me those pushrods are hardened...

[Amateur]

These should have a slight preload on them, you should not have any lash... your running hydraulic lifters.

Stupid question... please tell me those pushrods are hardened...

Well I obviously have my terminology wrong. I always assumed valve lash was the point where the wiggle room on the rocker ended and the resistance came on before I did the quarter turn finisher on them. I stand corrected. (I actually looked up what valve lash was, I wasn't even close).

They are OEM spec pushrods for the 2.2 so to answer your question...probably just regular mild steel. I would assume they are tough enough to withstand the guide plate as that is what they were designed for and my stock ones lasted well over 180K miles. The springs are the same and the engine cuts off at 6400 rpm so I don't really see any additional stresses to warrant hardened ones or any kind of crazy pushrod deflection due to an extreme change in geometry. This upgrade is new territory to me so I welcome all knowledge.

[Money pit Beretta]

Did you change the stem seals?

[3X00-Modified]

Hardened is necessary if you have guide plates... but if they are OEM spec and the guide plates came OEM then they should be hardened.

If they aren't you'll wear right through them. I had a friend who didn't know about that when building his ford engine..... talk about a mess in the motor.

It would look like this after a while.

[Amateur]

Did you change the stem seals?

I most certainly did not.

Hardened is necessary if you have guide plates... but if they are OEM spec and the guide plates came OEM then they should be hardened.

If they aren't you'll wear right through them. I had a friend who didn't know about that when building his ford engine..... talk about a mess in the motor.

It would look like this after a while.

Yikes! It's like the equivalent representation to what you see at Gyro joints:

[Money pit Beretta]

Sometimes when you change ratios you end up burning oil. The old stem seal is worn in to the 1.5. The 1.6 can widen the seals hole just enough to leak. Really it's the samething for the valve guides. It's all about angle/loading, rockers don't push the valve down in a totaly perfect way.
With that said it seems to happen more often with non roller tip rockers. The roller tip has a "give".

[Amateur]

Sometimes when you change ratios you end up burning oil. The old stem seal is worn in to the 1.5. The 1.6 can widen the seals hole just enough to leak. Really it's the samething for the valve guides. It's all about angle/loading, rockers don't push the valve down in a totally perfect way.
With that said it seems to happen more often with non roller tip rockers. The roller tip has a "give".

The car already burns up some oil on its own because the motor is up there on the mileage, if it burns just a little more, I'm totally o.k. with that. I took the budget route with these rockers and did just enough to get by.Once this apparently indestructible 2.2 croaks, a new long block is going in. Next upgrade in the pipeline is getting those headers put on.



So today I went back to the valvetrain. I undid my work the other day with the preload and all. I got my torque wrench and tightened everything down to an OEM spec of 22 ft lbs of torque and left it at that. There is a little more wiggle room in the rockers than last time but it all checks out fine. The valvetrain sounds as quiet as stock now and the car runs smoother than before so success!

Of course knowing how my car loves to give me trouble, I went to investigate some weird noises coming from the passenger side. It seems like the vertical control arm bushing has gone to hell and there is a lot of play in the spindle. It was more than just a bad ball joint. The conclusion is, I need a new spindle altogether because the ball joint completely remolded its hole in the spindle to an out of spec shape. Thanks car.

[Money pit Beretta]

Ok I understand, if there is a new build then who cares.
That is good news on the rockers. In a way that is.....I've never heard of them making noise.
Did you get any warning on the ball joint? Boy you put some fear in me!

Sorry for the chop talk, so very tired. That and my car is on the road and shouting at me. Do this, I need that....forget about what the other cars need. One of them is not yours! Oops... by the way I have a condensor leak. Why do you need brakes?
Damn.