Well I just installed my stage 1 HRC kit and I'm very happy with it. When we were tuning it, however, I was running very rich under boost. On a few occasions my friends said I hit about 120 psi which I've heard maxes our injectors. So we unscrewed the side pin to lower the psi and we kept unscrewing til I was hitting about 90 in first, and 100-110 or 115 in 2nd and 3rd which comes pretty damn close to the Hahn specs. So we unscrewed a little more to lower it...and the pin fell out! lol what a POS. So right now I'm running right above the Hahn specs under boost. Did a monkey put that fpr together? I'll probably end up getting the super FMU soon. Stupid crappy regulator.

I know what you mean, we just took mine apart this weekend. OMG garbage.

If you're running in spec with the pin out that shouldn't be a big deal except for maybe sucking in shit under vacuum. Anyways, that proves you can't use a Cartech with bigger injectors/hi boost because the rise rate goes no lower than what? about 9:1?

I'm going to test my Cartech rise rate scientifically just for reference unless someone knows the lowest rise rate it's capable of? Then I'm going to sell it on ebay to a Mustang guy and laugh maniacally while shipping it out. }>

i've never taken mine apart, but i did have the same issue with not being able to get enough fuel at stage 2, the bleed valve would have to be screwed out until the dam thing is almost falling out. kind of pissed me off.

is the thing really made with little Mickey Mouse parts inside? i should take it apart someday to see how bad i hear it really is...

When I spoke with mike at cartech about it he said the billet unit should have no problem getting down to 4:1.



Jon

1997 Eclipse RS

14.21@101mph 10/4/02

MODS: 8.8:1 JE Pistons / Eagle rods / Stage 1 Hahn turbocharger / Melling Oil Pump / Autometer 5" tach / 4 JL 12" W0 subwoofers / Clarion 230w amp / short shifter mod / GReddy EVO exhaust / custom 2 1/2" downpipe / no cat con / CM Stage 1 / 30lb Mustang injectors / TurboXS MBC / 1G SMIC / Eibach Sportline springs / KYB GR-2 struts / GReddy 52mm EGT / A'PEXi Super AFC

>When I spoke with mike at cartech about it he said the
>billet unit should have no problem getting down to 4:1.
>

You can get the cast unit down to 1:1 if you want too..

infact you could probably go LOWER than 1:1 but not negative.. but that would be kinda pointless in most cases..

Read, research and learn..

Gus's old website would be a good start for this.. FPR works much in the same was as a wastegate does.. how do you prevent the wastegate from opening sooner.. or.. how do you make the wastegate open sooner..

;-) the car tech isn't a bad FPR.. it has a wandering issue but that could probably be fixed with a new spring that's less resilient to heat/cold changes. I think most people's problem with teh cartech is they don't understand how it does what it does.. and when it doesn't work for them, call it a piece of crap..

*shrug*

but what do i know..

-- WheatKing

The Vortech SFMU has all the same knobs and purpose as a Cartech yet we never hear how crappy it is...

Here's the article he mentioned (I assume), good stuff.
http://home.earthlink.net/~tmahon281/fuel.html

>The Vortech SFMU has all the same knobs and purpose as a
>Cartech yet we never hear how crappy it is...
>
>Here's the article he mentioned (I assume), good stuff.
>http://home.earthlink.net/~tmahon281/fuel.html
>

Here's my take.. the cartech isn't as well built, but it does work if setup properly.

You already own it.. so make it work.

If you want to lower the rising rate, you need to bleed pressure.

To do this you can do a few things.

Install a bigger bleed valve on the FPR..

Put an orifice on the signal line to the FPR (welding tips work great for this and come in a variety of sizes from .025 to .050)

I'm sure if you visit an industrial supply store you can get a replacement spring that's less susceptible to temperature change.

$5 and you got a better version of FPR it's not rocket science..

There is 2 ways to better performance.. modify what you have (if your turbo'ing your NA car your already doing this) or spend the money on something else.

You already own the cartech.. so make it work. If your into spending more $$$, get a GST instead of turbo'ing what you have.

-- WheatKing

>;-) the car tech isn't a bad FPR.. it has a wandering issue
>but that could probably be fixed with a new spring that's less
>resilient to heat/cold changes. I think most people's problem
>with teh cartech is they don't understand how it does what it
>does.. and when it doesn't work for them, call it a piece of
>crap..
>
Hehe, i'd have to disagree. The actual parts used in the Cartach are cheap. Plain and simple. HRC needed a cheap, simple FRP that did the job. So thats what they use. Too bad it only works for a year or less before the cheap parts start to wear out. When i took apart my FPR, i was shocked. Cheap came to mind. Now inside the Vortech SFMU, Quality comes to mind ;)

In my experience, one of the worst parts to the Cartech FPR, is the diaphram. That rubber is of an extremely cheap variety and gets easily worn into a particular indention thereby preventing future adjustments made to the FPR. This setup is very much unlike the diaphram of the Vortech unit which uses some sort of modern type of material for its diaphram that doesn't seem to either get imprinted into a particular shape or indention or wear out.

That diaphram is probably the single most important piece to the FPR and Bell appears to have gone the cheapest on it. :nono :wary

The thing that pissed me off the most with my cartech, was the rise rate. When I was runnin 10-12psi, I couldn't get my fuel pressures under 120psi for the life of me. As far as fluctuating idle pressures, I just got used to that and pretty much ignored it. But now that I am putting in the 440's, I picked up a S-FMU as well :) I knew it was just a matter of time......

i have faith and i'm working with the cartech and the 450's soon.


Jon

1997 Eclipse RS

14.21@101mph 10/4/02

MODS: 8.8:1 JE Pistons / Eagle rods / Stage 1 Hahn turbocharger / Melling Oil Pump / Autometer 5" tach / 4 JL 12" W0 subwoofers / Clarion 230w amp / short

>That rubber is of an extremely cheap variety
>and gets easily worn into a particular indention

Jamesman graciously donated an extra blue Vortech diaphragm to my Cartech billet FPR. Don't have pics unfortunately, but he just trimmed it to fit with scissors and a hole punch. Works MUCH better now. Going to be looking into lowering the rise rate too, but I have an SFMU on the way because the idle press. still fluctuates.

When I was running 15 psi for a while I was using the cartech fpr and I have 440's and s-afc. It was doing great when I datalogged it. I was getting a .94 air/fuel ratio. Now that I am only running 8-9 psi due to not having a msd yet I am running extremely rich. I cant get the fuel pressure to stay lower than 95 psi at full boost. It is way to high and my car shoots out black smoke whenever I floor it. It also feels slower. When the car is building boost it feels very fast and then once its floored for a second or so it starts to feel like its dieing out. I really need to get the sfmu and an msd but I have had many other things come up that have stopped me from spending money on them. But I will have it running good with all the right stuff pretty soon. Bottom line is ditch the cartech and get the sfmu.

>When I was running 15 psi for a while I was using the cartech
>fpr and I have 440's and s-afc. It was doing great when I
>datalogged it. I was getting a .94 air/fuel ratio. Now that
>I am only running 8-9 psi due to not having a msd yet I am
>running extremely rich. I cant get the fuel pressure to stay
>lower than 95 psi at full boost. It is way to high and my car
>shoots out black smoke whenever I floor it. It also feels
>slower. When the car is building boost it feels very fast and
>then once its floored for a second or so it starts to feel
>like its dieing out. I really need to get the sfmu and an msd
>but I have had many other things come up that have stopped me
>from spending money on them. But I will have it running good
>with all the right stuff pretty soon. Bottom line is ditch
>the cartech and get the sfmu.

???

You just need to bleed some of the pressure off the back of the FPR. Open the brass bleeder needle further, and make sure that your check valve installed on the exit side of the bleeder isn't clogged with oil or something.

The less pressure on the diaphram, the less the rising rate.

-- WheatKing