An engine bore is simply an air cylinder storage container.
You can add more air by stroking the engine=the piston going down more to allow more air storage in the cylinder, and when you get a spark, the extra air and fuel makes more power.(more displacement)

But a xkr adds more air by FORCING AND COMPRESSING it into a small cylinder bore.

The normal spark plugs emit a weak single patterned spark and they are fine for regular engines, this is why videos of the E3 plug only makes 9-11 HP on 7 tested natural aspirated engines that are 380-400hp.

The XKR having compressed air into a small bore with a weak spark from a standard plug is not acceptable performance wise,fuel wise and knock retard wise, as the ecm will throw in extra fuel and retard timing to keep the knock away, and burn that mixture all day long,no codes, smooth idle and all, you will never know lol because the converters simply burns the excess fuel so you can't smell it.

The E3 plug creates a spark SOONER with hundreds of multi path electrical current at once, all across the cylinder bore extremely powerful and cannot be compared to any plug in existence for this purpose.


Add compressed air on top of this,and bam, a very powerful explosion. The ecm will learn it does not need as much fuel as it once used to keep the knock away and will stretch its legs a little, less timing retard,leaner fuel mixture.

In the xkr's case, expect a big smile on your face.

To take advantage of this powerful plug, get maf cleaner and clean your maf, and coil packs before installing to ensure accurate metering of incoming air, and a good spark connection.The car will never be the same.
Be aware, most negative you-tube comments are from internet junkies that do not own vehicles or know how to work on them, not actual mechanics or performance oriented automotive enthusiast.

 

Yes and also why not strap a few magnets across your fuel line and pour bottles of slick 50 into your oil while your at it! That would certainly put a big smile on the face of the snake oil salesmen who are only too happy to take your money.

 

Pertaining to this spark plug

 

Am not at all convinced the E3 plugs are good quality units, I would stick to the oem type ones, and for serious higher boost pressures go for a colder heat range and make the gap a bit smaller.

 

You know I try snakeoil now and again and have a few positive experiences. Keep in mind Im an engineer and tend to question everything..However sometimes I don't bother looking too deep nto things..ANYWAYS


Slick 50. Now I had a built small block ford engine with a blower and nitrous....During a race I started to get a bunch of lifter noise....Pulled it over and all of my rockers were loose...Hmmm..Tightened them up...Was a little better...Drove about 10 miles home. Next day started her up and felt a vibration...That's when I noticed..NO OIL PRESSURE...Anyway I had run slick 50...This is when it first came out. Coincidence..Perhaps.


1984 Rabbit diesel...Black smoke out the wazzooo...Put a can of engine restore in the oil. Don't ask me how but the smoke was not only significantly reduced...It was like practically gone..


Spark plus/ignition....Most say a plug is a plug and many argie that factory ignition is fine on most modern cars. Oen fact is fo rsure if you get flam eblow out you loose HP. If you reduce gap of a plug when not needed you will loose proper burn characteristics and loose power. So again on a factory ignition blown SBF with EFI I was getting flame burn out. I swapped in a different coil and ignition moduale from DUI and keeping the factory gap no longer had flame blow out. The same manufacturer claims you can increase gap to .060.....Well I use dteh same setup on a naturally aspirated sbf fuel injected and picked up 3 tenths of a second in the 1/4. Now that was just with adding coil/ignition moduale and regapping the plugs already in their.


Lastly I was having flame blow out on one of my high boost 6cyl cars. Already had a colder plug and closed up the gap. Swapped out to a colder range iridium plug instead of the platinums.....No more blow out.


AND LASTLY....I threw an E3 plug in my weed wacker....Starts every time now!


Anyway...Im always up to trying out new spark plugs....Easy enough to do...But will it make a world of difference...Likely not if all is well and your naturally aspirated. But things may be a bit different when you throw in some boost with a possibility of not igniting...Ive settled with autolite xp's...Not living on the edge here

 

did you use the maximum upper pulley output along with the lower pulley ? I assume the lower pulleys are all the same i see them on ebay.

 

Yes, I purchased the 2.5 upper and lower pulley kit from Mike at Eurotoys. The difference is very noticeable but not extreme. I highly recommend Eurotoys as Mike's customer service and support is top knotch. I did the install myself, ran into a couple hiccups and Mike was always quick to respond to emails and/or answer the phone...and same day shipping on everything. If you haven't read yet, the smallest upper pulley requires grinding down the SC snout to accomodate the smaller inner diameter of the new pulley. Its not difficult; just a little tedious. There are other threads that outline the process pretty well. I highly recommend renting or buying the puller/installer tool. Makes things so much easier.

 

Hi I was thinking of going with the 1.5 upper pulley and a 4.5 maximum lower pulley or larger if there is a larger lower pulley. I am a little nervous about grinding the snout for the 2.5 upper pulley. What did you use to grind it? also did you do any mods to the the cooling system or intercooler?

 

If you're at all comfortable with hand tools, I wouldn't be too nervous. By no means am I a master technician and the procedure, although a bit time consuming, is pretty simple.

I started off with a dremel (w/ a right angle attachment) and tungston carbide bits and then switched over to a supershear hand file for aluminum. Honestly the hand file was more efficient at removing material and controlled the shavings better. Took about 4 hours of filing to get it perfect. This is the file that I used.

I have not yet modded my cooling system (other than a 170* t-stat) as I'm currently chasing down a suspension issue which takes precedence at the moment. I will be installing an intercooler fan as suggested earlier in this thread...for less than $50, why not? Water/meth injection is in my future as well; but nothing until I find the source of this pesky suspension noise. I'd really like a twin screw...but that's another story...and in another league.

 

Are you getting 70 HP with the 2 pulleys Im going to do the 2.5 on top ill use the extra fans also

 

I haven't put it on a dyno (yet) and while the extra power is noticeable, I suspect that 70hp may be wishful thinking. However 70hp might be realistic if supplementing the pulleys with a 3.5 intake, a Maxbored throttle body and 92mm MAF along with water/meth injection...all of which is on my agenda.

 

Majik,
Does the 170* thermostat make much of a difference to operating temperature, power or gas mileage?

My 03 runs right at 200 with the an OEM thermostat and it doesn't much matter what the outside temperature is. Will rise to 215 on a long pull uphill and fall to 185 on a long coast downhill.

That seems a bit high, but is repeatable like clockwork and seems to be normal for this car. Just wondering if the different thermostat has any real world benefits.

 

Your car will overheat and blow hoses if your cooling fans to your engine's radiator are not working.

So how do think your blower feels without having any fans on its radiator(inter cooler) at all ???

I have first hand experience prior with Eaton's and spark plugs, and mods etc and modular engines. I know what makes the numbers on the dyno's for our cars. That is running more boost while keeping the knock sensors happy and cooling levels normal. You can go past 45-50HP in the mid range by ordering a even bigger pulley than whats normally sold,but you have to do something about the heat.

I am the only person to my knowledge of E3 spark plugs for $56, forget the internet hype, THEY WORK and the jag loves em ! ! Case closed.

I got an email from a aftermarket performance company for our pulleys. The guy said they make the lower pulley bigger than what is normally sold for even more boost, BUT HEAT GENERATED BY THE EATON WILL SACRIFICE GAINS.

I replied, "then why don't I just put a fan or two on my inter cooler to restore things to the way they were?" He replied"I never thought of that! in fact no one has"!

 

Well that tells something about the reseller’s knowledge, ehum…. Pusher fan’s have been around long time, and some have already done it on our cars.

Another option is to use an extra buffer of a gallon or so, then it will take a bit more time before the intercooler coolant gets heated, so it takes more time before power drops. I have had this, but with my driving habits and ts setup, it wasn’t needed, so took that one out.

My preference for our cars with street driving stays with just a larger intercooler, am using a 600x380x32 core (so not the thicker and smaller ones you can get!), have closed the sides between this and the condenser to have even more air flow go thru it, next to that updated to the latest 4.2 bumper and used a smaller bumper beam, to allow more airflow. This puts more emphasis on the intercooler, and leaves less airflow for the engine radiator, but even with Evans coolant that has not been an issue with my way of driving.

Our cars have already some good engine radiator fans, which turn when the airco is on, ensuring some extra flow for low speed driving, so no need for a pusher fan (with the above setup). A negative about the pusher fans would be at higher speed driving as there they are become more obstructions for airflow. You could consider a switch to control the engine fans, but for my setup that’s not needed, even though I have considered this in the past.

 

I don't think it's significant. My coolant temp patterns are similar to what you describe. I haven't seen 215* yet, but I have seen it spike to 210; typically between 200-205 in traffic and 195-200 at anything above 45mph.

 

which company is selling the larger pulleys? im going to use fans to cool it down

 

Thoe hobbs switch only activates the fans at boost

 

eurotoyslimited ebay.com tune $895, lower pulley $350? 81 HP gain with the fans.The may negotiate a little, not much. They have a very good tune with the lower pulley option, 3 xkrs were already dynoed the gains here in miami, ohio with our 4.0 !

powerhouse uk lower pulley and optional sizes $350+/offers no tuning.

 

That is a way of course but imo it would be to short, you want the fans on until the intercooler coolant temp is down again, so that for the next run you have a cool start ;-)

 

We are talking fans of heat exchanger not an actual IC...So really a hobbs switch is useless. Fans either need to be temperature controlled or manually turned on.


Avos did you run a separate circuit for the heat exchanger once using the evans in the engine? I have a few cars that utilize both heat exchangers and evans however I never use evens in my heat exchangers. Just water and an additive.


Again as far as E3 plugs are concerned. The only issues I heard with them is that quality is not all that good. Not that they don't work. But that they have quality control issues. Anyway a good thread on heat exchanger and circuitry setups would be great. Im adding a few things to my xkr in the next few months and would love to address this.