After going to the U.S 2 weeks ago and bringing back a new Paxton Novi 1200 I booked the car in for mapping with Romain.

The old charger was a Paxton Novi 1000 running a 3" pulley generating 16 psi, the new novi 1200 is larger/ more efficient so the will be running a 3.2" pulley, but should generate about 18 psi....

As the new charger wasn't compatible with the old mount plate a new mount plate and vtec oil block was also fitted ( the SC is engine oil fed via the vtec block for reference).

So..... I drove the car down from Hull to Eurospec with the blower attached only using light throttle to avoid boost. Strapped the car to the dyno and started as normal.

We did a full run of the rev range so Romain could see how the new unit was performing (blue line on graph)..... Car made good power 368 at the wheels until the AEM V2 cut boost at 1.54 bar @ 8.5k.

So on to the second run..... Started good then we saw some belt slip... No issue, we was expecting this as its brand new belt and pulley. I tightened the belt and then carried on.

Run three, starts as normal, vtec come in around 4000 rpm then at 5500 it like the car hits a brick wall.... Engine starts to struggle, power starts to fade, then it slowly dies up till you dip the clutch then the car returns to normal and idels fine. No smoke oil, misfire noises, boost looks good torque is good up until 5.5k

Power runs 4,5,6,7 etc are all the same.

Our first thoughts are that the exhuast had collapsed or there is an intake blockage. So we check the intake manifold, aftercooler, SC all seems ok. We then strip the exhuast and all looks clear...

We then did a few runs with no air box or filter or exhuast (just the manifold installed) and they are all the same??? Gets to 5.5k then bogs down until you engage the clutch.

So vtec engagement is played with as you can see on the graph, when it is set higher it comes on..... You get a rush of power then just fades away!?!


We checked the AEM connections and found some slight corrosion on the 12v and ground pins, we clean these and I'm going to replace them but I think this would be low down on the list of suspected causes.

We then called it a day put the old novi1000 map on and I drove it home, light throttle with. No issues.......

Does anyone have any ideas?

I'm going to reinstall the old charger and run it to see if the problem goes ways although a simple swap of the SC, vtec block and mount should do this?

Any thoughts anyone? Could it be vtec oil pressure? Electrical issue with AEM? Sensor?


I'm booked to go to the Ring a week today so I'm pissed to say the least

(Spark plugs were also changed as I had a spare set with me.)

 

 

My first thought is something fuel related.

 

What fuel are you using, what did the timing look like around the top? DO you have a fuel pressure sensor? I assume the vtec solenoid was plugged back in?

With a retune, just a swap should not do this. When I made the upgrade, it was an easy bolt up and retune... instantly made power.

Have you checked valve clearance lately, oil ok? How did AFR look through the pull?

 

Fuel is UK 99Ron Shell Vpower.

Fuel mixture is rich when it happens.

 

I've just fired the old blower with the original vtec block and all is good, revs out to 9k no problems.

So it's either the oil starvation to the Vtec solenoid or faulty blower.

I'm going to fabricate a bracket to the mount the old N1000 with the new vtec oil mount to see if it cuts the power then I will be able to confirm which is causing the issue.

When I bought the blower a few weeks back Nate @ CT engineering said that Paxton recommended leaving the OEM stork/nipple in the blower as CT historically they replaced this with there own. If it's oil starvation to the vtec then this will be why!

Has anybody else had this issue when upgrading? The new oil line is allot longer than the old one and feeds to the bottom of the blower to Paxton OEM oil stork rather than the top.

 

Bingo.... it should still feed to the top. Feed on top and return on the bottom. IIRC I reused the larger of the feed connectors. Still not exactly sure how there would be starvation or a rich condition.

Double check the pictures I sent you, the oil feed is still on top of the blower. You can see straight through the VTEC sandwich plate, it should not be obstructing anything. You can even remove the plate and blow air into the oil feed line and feel it coming out inside the sandwich adapter to be sure there is no obstruction.

How rich did you observe AFRs to be? TOO rich will rob power as well

 

Nate told me to leave the oil squirted mounted at the bottom! I'll ring him in the next hour.

Re: the rich AFR, it's only rich after 5.5k so that's when the vtec should engage, which it does but then the car bogs down, which I assume is due to the vtec dropping out again.

The spikes on the graph show that, every different coloured spike is when vtec engages

 

Oil should definitely feed to to the top of the blower and drain from the bottom. I also updated a 1000 CT kit to a Novi 1200. When I received a new Novi 1200 from SOS I had to move both the drain fitting and the oil feed fitting. There are multiple ports on the blower to allow this. I believe I only have a 12" feed line going to the blower which you can clearly see in my picture below:

EDIT: You can clearly see it on the SOS Novi 1200 kit as well: https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/100...t-with-extras/

 

Definitely top feed bottom drain for the 1200