Do you offer installation and tuning services?

We "could" do installation but we are very backed up right now trying to get the new Rotrex kits built and in the customers hands. So we would not have time for installs at the moment.

We do have a Remote tuning option on the website.

Are there any limitations to remote tuning? Like would there be any benefit to tuning in person, or would remote tuning give you the full utility

I am interested in this kit, but mostly concerned about getting a bad installation and tune.

I am in washington, and could drive over to minneapolis for install and tune to make sure it's done right

Would feel better knowing it's been setup by the guy who built the kit

Other than you having to play the middle man, there's really no limitation. Any good tuner should be able to give you some logging parameters and tune it from those data logs. The benefits of tuning in person are letting the tuner see, hear, and feel the car while tuning.

Also some tuners have access to a dyno, which is a safer way to tune high performance vehicles. Not exactly smart to try and do 5th gear redline pulls on public roads :ugh: although you shouldn't need that log for tuning anyway.

As far as remote tuning goes, I paid for remote tuning by Sebastian, and the installer was familiar with Ecutek (although not a registered Ecutek tuner) and knows Sebastian personally. The installer said that the Ecutek software is not always intuitive, and if you've never done it before, is better to pay someone with tuning experience.

The installer I use races, and is an expert with forced induction engines. He said that tuning on a dyno gives an inferior result. Most of the time, the customer will never run into issues, but sometimes, it can be catastrophic...especially if you're pushing the envelope. He said open-road tuning gives infinitely-better data logs.

That may be so but when you have a 700 and up whp monster you can't get out there and go all the way to redline in 4th, much less 5th on public roads. It is just not safe. Get caught or have an accident, you are going to jail for a long time. Running just makes it worse. Just because you see people getting away on the YouTubes doesn't mean that always happens. Most of the time they get caught. Very few get away. Ask me how I know.

You’re wasting your breath.

Not again!!!!!!

By now. You should have great lunge function. :icon14: Or broken finger nails from pounding the key board. :icon14:

:rolleyes:

OK, so I haven't updated my signature, and I haven't had a dyno run yet to post exact results. But Sebastian gave me a "beast mode" tune for ambient temps under 80F, that probably nets me in the neighborhood of 630hp to the wheels on 93 octane, maybe more. Redline is only in 5-10 seconds in 4th or 5th depending upon starting speed, and certainly less than a quarter mile. Seems to me you can easily find a suitable space on a safe road for a good open-throttle data log?

I hear you about your concerns, and perhaps circumstances are not the same if you live in a large metropolitan area. I'm only sharing what the tuner told me...your mileage may vary!

Anyone experience near overheating on this kit?

I’ve had it on since November, and started running E85 somewhere in April; makes close to 700whp or more now. I had a run against a new GT500 and beat it uphill, but by the end of the run I was one dot away from overheating and was having a decent amount of white smoke coming out of my hood vents. The run maybe lasted forty-five seconds at full WOT. Car eventually cooled down but I almost thought I had something on fire until I noticed it was just whitish-grey smoke that eventually stopped. When I finally pulled over there was no spilled coolant, car went back to normal, and car has felt fine since.

Did I experience head lift or something? I cant even begin to figure it out; I have no idea if overheating caused the white smoke or what. My knock sensors are on, all safety parameters are set, but car is basically at maximum send with the E85 power tune.

Weirdest part? Car drives fine. It’s had numerous hard pulls and has been pushed a bit. No running or idling issues at all.

I had the same experience with getting pulled over. I picked up my supercharged and flex fueled 370z from Dynosty in mid-April, and the first day home I attempted to record my first data log. An Illinois State Trooper pulled me over at well over 100 mph, but he gave me a break by writing the ticket for 85 mph instead of taking my license (and possible me to jail) for reckless driving. He was not interesting in seeing my phone app or discussing data logging in general. I'll need to up date my info, but the car made 685whp and 495wtq on e85 and 630whp and 478wtq on 93. I've gone WOT several times without issue, and my 34 row Fast Intentions oil cooler and expanded oil pan are doing their jobs. I sent copies of the dyno sheets to Aaron.

Sounds like you lifted the heads. You have a headgasket that is leaking but it is not real bad yet.

What PSI are you making?

He mentioned 18 on Facebook, definitely over the threshold

If this is definitely over it, what's the threshold?

Weren't you over 17 for years?

Your sig states 19.5 and I don't believe that was built.

Just trying to normalize the data.

I was told getting above 16 psi is getting into the danger zone. Of course there's no magic number. I think a lot has to do with how often you're in that zone. I was making 17 for a couple years but I don't put a lot of miles on my car and I wasn't at peak boost that often. Since I haven't torn apart my blown motor yet, I'm not sure what caused the bottom end failure but I'm pretty sure it would have lifted the heads if the bottom end didn't fail.

What psi was your rotrex build making when it lifted the heads?

22.5psi

There's lots of guys running 16 psi or more. Do the heads lift over time? I wouldn't think so. I'd imagine it's discrete.

The head lift issue is over my pay grade. I don't know if the heads can lift over time or not. I do know that head gaskets can fail over time. Did the heads lift on your first dyno run at 22.5 psi? I was just told when you get over 16 psi, it starts to be an area of concern for head lift.

Read and watch all of the video's in my thread. It will take 2 weeks or so. Lots of information in there.

What's the primary failure on headlift (headgasket, head bolts)?

Were you going 500mph? How do you do WOT for 45+ seconds?!

The guy that had 22psi failure was due to head lift. The other one that started to overheat was due to the cylinders moving around. That eventually will wear down the headgasket and cause a failure. There are 2 problems going on.

1.) The open deck cylinders moving around wearing out the headgaskets which creates an appearance that the head is lifting due to the decrease in clamping force from the wear.

2.) Actual head lift where the cylinder pressure is greater than what can be held by headgasket, Head studds, etc.

Both combined together is very unpredictable of what the actual cause was. That is why there are only 2 methods that are working at the moment. I made it 7k miles with mostly 17psi of boost before my first engine cut loose. That was an open deck block.

I hope this makes sense.

Yep, makes sense. I appreciate the explanation :tiphat:

The cylinders still moving around after an install of the RJM closed deck system has been confirmed. I am not going to mention any names because I don't have his permission to do so. It was confirmed the first of the year in 2020 when I was searching for a solution. I ask him to look.

I have seen someone do the following to try and get the headgaskets to hold with no success.

RJM closed deck
LA sleeves that protruded higher than the deck. How much I do not know.
Headgasket, unknown.
ARP 625 head studs
Fire ringed head

So in short, the problem is in the open deck block itself. There is an inherent defect that allows the cylinders to move under higher than stock cylinder pressure. Is what it is. Any more questions, just ask. I may or may not know the answers.

Didn't I read that closed deck blocks are getting head lift also?

Yes, the only way to fix it is to do the SOHO solution or Mazworx solution.

Yup. Personally saw once let go few weeks back on the dyno.

You can't get the CSS or RJM closed deck's in tight enough to keep the cylinders from moving. They move. I knew that the first of 2020. The SOHO mod allows it to stay alive with the CSS system. RJM is a lost cause.

Boost Help Needed
 

Hey Guys,

When I first had my kit installed I was seeing 11-12 psi of boost on my gauge and now the max I get is 10 psi. Not sure if I have a boost leak or getting belt slip. I did notice belt residue on the hood. Not sure if that is normal or not. I had my first SC service at 2500 miles and they installed a new belt at that time. I have about 4000 miles on the kit since then. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

You've got bad belt slip. From the looks of the residue on the hood, it appears to be coming from the serpentine side. Is that correct? Do you have Togunz's extra tensioner pulley?

When I close the hood it appears that it would be coming from the belt in front of the bracket closest to the nose of the car. Not sure if I have Topgunz's extra tensioner pulley. RT Tuning ordered the kit and did my install. Maybe you can tell from the pics?

Correct. The belt in the front is the serpentine side. You do have the extra tensioner pulley also (see the pulley I circled in red). I'm not sure why you're getting so much slip. Have you contacted Aaron (Topgunz) to see what he thinks?

Thank you for your input. I have not reached out to Aaron yet, but I will.

There are 2 length belts that are used with the a2a kit. Your's might be the one that's a little longer. Changing to the shorter one may help. Depends on if your stock tensioner is maxed out. I'm amazed that you're getting slip at such a low psi. In the 4 years I was supercharged, I never had belt slip on the serpentine side and I was running close to 17 psi for a few of those years and 19.5 until I blew my motor. :rofl2:

Yeah that's a TON of belt slip, especially considering you have that better tensioner position than I think most of us have.

I thought the ACE kit came with RPM belts but both of yours appears to be the non-RPM version. Did they downgrade the belts when they changed them or you have always had the non-RPM version?

Edit: I just noticed the tensioner is in a different spot between the two pictures, why is that? What's the difference between the first and second pictures?

Did the ACE kit come with a serpentine RPM belt? I thought it was just the sc belt. Good catch on the tensioner pulley, I didn't notice that.