Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 259
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Well, a tragic turn of events. I just finished re-designing the Rotrex mount to be in line with the serpentine belt. This improved belt slip dramatically as well as reduced the overall complexity and special parts required. Then the bottom fell out again.
A while back my mom developed bladder cancer. She is doing well and the future looks pretty good thus far. However, now my mother in law has been hit with Stage 4 lung cancer and it has already spread to her back, leg, and hip. My wife is probably going to quit her job to help take care of her in her last year or two with us.
That said, I very well may have to divest myself of all things Rotrex. I may end up not having the time to keep moving forward and I may also end up needing the money as well.
I'll give it a little time and see before I do anything rash.
A while back my mom developed bladder cancer. She is doing well and the future looks pretty good thus far. However, now my mother in law has been hit with Stage 4 lung cancer and it has already spread to her back, leg, and hip. My wife is probably going to quit her job to help take care of her in her last year or two with us.
That said, I very well may have to divest myself of all things Rotrex. I may end up not having the time to keep moving forward and I may also end up needing the money as well.
I'll give it a little time and see before I do anything rash.
Last edited by Web 3.0; 06-21-2012 at 07:03 AM.
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From: murfreesboro,tn
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Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Bill- Even though I drive an SRT I have followed your postings with great interest. I sorry to hear about your troubles and I wish you and yours all the best. I am going to miss you making progress but family and health are much more important that this. Good luck with everything. This is a great community and if you need anything please post.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 6,285
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From: Carmel, In.
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Very sorry to hear this, Bill. It has been a pleasure watching you make some great progress.
Hopefully sometime in the future you will be able to continue with your passion, but as others have said, we all know family and well being come first...
Hopefully sometime in the future you will be able to continue with your passion, but as others have said, we all know family and well being come first...
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 259
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From: Houston, TX
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Couple of sloppy iphone videos while testing my new 75mm pulley. You can really hear my BOV going off!
Nice run #1 with a 75 mm pulley - YouTube
Nice run #2 with a 75 mm pulley - YouTube
Nice run #1 with a 75 mm pulley - YouTube
Nice run #2 with a 75 mm pulley - YouTube
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 14,593
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From: IN
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Bill- Even though I drive an SRT I have followed your postings with great interest. I sorry to hear about your troubles and I wish you and yours all the best. I am going to miss you making progress but family and health are much more important that this. Good luck with everything. This is a great community and if you need anything please post.
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,822
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Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Man this sucks, I am sorry to hear about the family problems. Boosting NA crossfires just never seems to work out. I check on here or google every few months just out of curiousity to see if anyone has successfully done it, congrats on getting on running. Saw the video on youtube, very cool. I am such an old member I doubt anyone who was here when I was around even owns there car anymore.
Anyways, best of luck to your family, congrats on getting this thing running. It was alot of work, obviously (29page threads on this forum are pretty rare), hope everything works out for you. I really root to see a supercharger kit or turbo kit come out for the crossfire one day. I know it's hard for srt-6 guys to understand, and they see it as an excuse, but driving a boosted car with a manual transmission is just much more fun, so I'll keep checking in, and if it ever happens, maybe I'll get myself another limited. I miss the hell out of mine, sure was alot nicer to drive than my s2000, as a daily driver at least.
Till next year,
Mike
Anyways, best of luck to your family, congrats on getting this thing running. It was alot of work, obviously (29page threads on this forum are pretty rare), hope everything works out for you. I really root to see a supercharger kit or turbo kit come out for the crossfire one day. I know it's hard for srt-6 guys to understand, and they see it as an excuse, but driving a boosted car with a manual transmission is just much more fun, so I'll keep checking in, and if it ever happens, maybe I'll get myself another limited. I miss the hell out of mine, sure was alot nicer to drive than my s2000, as a daily driver at least.
Till next year,
Mike
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 259
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From: Houston, TX
Thanks for all the well wishes. We are still in wait and see mode. I tell you though, it is horrible how things can turn bad so quickly as well as go from bad to worse. We all just went on our first cruise together this summer. The next thing you know she has cancer. On her first trip to the oncologist where they start a fresh round of diagnostics before treatment they find that her hip is broken. She had surgery yesterday to repair and they said her other leg is just a honeycomb of bone. It is really a sad situation that makes you rethink your own life and priorities.
I'm not 100% sure what the near future holds, but we'll see. If I can, I'm going to keep my setup as it gives me something to do and on which to focus my spare time.
I'm not 100% sure what the near future holds, but we'll see. If I can, I'm going to keep my setup as it gives me something to do and on which to focus my spare time.
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,577
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From: Houston, Texas
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Web3.0,
I'm old enough to be your Grandfather, but if you ever want to talk I'm in NW Houston. The reason I ask is that my family has had a lot of cancer over the years. It changes your life and how you react to things. My Mother and all my sisters had it. Only two left now. Having the Crossfire has been a great outlet for me. I know people must think I'm crazy, always polishing, cleaning, looking for something to fix, but I love doing little things.
I would love to see your car someday. Keep keeping on, you'll get by. Time works wonders. Let me know if I can help!
I'm old enough to be your Grandfather, but if you ever want to talk I'm in NW Houston. The reason I ask is that my family has had a lot of cancer over the years. It changes your life and how you react to things. My Mother and all my sisters had it. Only two left now. Having the Crossfire has been a great outlet for me. I know people must think I'm crazy, always polishing, cleaning, looking for something to fix, but I love doing little things.
I would love to see your car someday. Keep keeping on, you'll get by. Time works wonders. Let me know if I can help!
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Joined: May 2011
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From: Ridgecrest, CA
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 259
Likes: 0
From: Houston, TX
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Ok, so I have managed to spend a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Mainly in the evenings after work as we have been making the 3-hour trip to see the mother in law every weekend for the past three weeks.
In that time I have made significant progress that has me VERY excited albeit somewhat at a deficit to my pride. Since I installed the Rotrex, it has never quite made the boost I expected to see in relation to the pulley I was using. I had checked basically EVERYTHING and never nailed it down. Well, I went ahead and bought the smallest pulley possible and bolted it on to see what that would do. The result was a few unexpected noises and a stream of air that could be felt from the seam between the compressor housing and the head unit. Something I never noticed before nor do I think (or hope) I could at idle with the larger pulley.
The rotrex uses a machine fit versus a rubber o-ring. Apparently mine was not machined right or it just didn't go back together right after I clocked it for the original fitment. I pulled it apart, applied some RTV, put her back together and let her dry over the weekend.
When I bolted it back up and made a run, I made 35 more RWHP at the same boost using my last tune in the same weather. The same boost threw me off because it felt hellaciously different. However, looking at the logs I noticed the throttle plate was only opening to 53%!!!!!!!
My reaction was WTF! , then Hell Yeah!
I tracked that back to my IC pump not coming on. Well, it looks like something might have burned out in my SRT ecu as I double checked everything and I simply can't get the signal required to trigger the relay and turn on the pump.
That is when I decided I was better off going back to the stock ECU and making that work. The only real hurdle in the way there was being able to use Star Das to change the settings I needed to avoid CELs and the dreaded face plant at part throttle due to the load limit reached BAS/ESP issue. I had tried that once before and ran into issues so I was not elated at the prospect.
DONE!
I had decided tonight to come home and see what I could do to settle that issue so I could revert back to the stock ECU next week. It took a few hours but I finally got it going and can now use Star Das on my NA ECU!!!!!!
That said, I should now have the tuning solution for the NA. A star Das and an AEM piggy back
My plan is to work on it the second I get back to town. I'll first work on reversing the changes I made in order to run the srt ecu, get her running with my cruising tune, then start working her way up to full power.
This is awesome as I have reduced the complexity of this system once again by an exponential factor.
It is now down to the following:
AEM F/IC
Stare DAS
Injectors
Shift Solenoids
Rotrex
Single Plane Rotrex mount
a simple bracket and cable extension to relocate the cooling reservoir
New serpentine belt
IC pump and HE
Cold side plumbing with BOV
Tuning Aides - SPD, Wideband, and Knock Sensor
There is no reason this setup shouldn't make 325+ RWHP as long as the tranny can hold up. That said.
I don't want to get too excited because I don't have the dyno yet, but this is a well educated guess based on my last two years of experience with the car.
I am stoked to say the least!
In that time I have made significant progress that has me VERY excited albeit somewhat at a deficit to my pride. Since I installed the Rotrex, it has never quite made the boost I expected to see in relation to the pulley I was using. I had checked basically EVERYTHING and never nailed it down. Well, I went ahead and bought the smallest pulley possible and bolted it on to see what that would do. The result was a few unexpected noises and a stream of air that could be felt from the seam between the compressor housing and the head unit. Something I never noticed before nor do I think (or hope) I could at idle with the larger pulley.
The rotrex uses a machine fit versus a rubber o-ring. Apparently mine was not machined right or it just didn't go back together right after I clocked it for the original fitment. I pulled it apart, applied some RTV, put her back together and let her dry over the weekend.
When I bolted it back up and made a run, I made 35 more RWHP at the same boost using my last tune in the same weather. The same boost threw me off because it felt hellaciously different. However, looking at the logs I noticed the throttle plate was only opening to 53%!!!!!!!
My reaction was WTF! , then Hell Yeah!
I tracked that back to my IC pump not coming on. Well, it looks like something might have burned out in my SRT ecu as I double checked everything and I simply can't get the signal required to trigger the relay and turn on the pump.
That is when I decided I was better off going back to the stock ECU and making that work. The only real hurdle in the way there was being able to use Star Das to change the settings I needed to avoid CELs and the dreaded face plant at part throttle due to the load limit reached BAS/ESP issue. I had tried that once before and ran into issues so I was not elated at the prospect.
DONE!
I had decided tonight to come home and see what I could do to settle that issue so I could revert back to the stock ECU next week. It took a few hours but I finally got it going and can now use Star Das on my NA ECU!!!!!!
That said, I should now have the tuning solution for the NA. A star Das and an AEM piggy back
My plan is to work on it the second I get back to town. I'll first work on reversing the changes I made in order to run the srt ecu, get her running with my cruising tune, then start working her way up to full power.This is awesome as I have reduced the complexity of this system once again by an exponential factor.
It is now down to the following:
AEM F/IC
Stare DAS
Injectors
Shift Solenoids
Rotrex
Single Plane Rotrex mount
a simple bracket and cable extension to relocate the cooling reservoir
New serpentine belt
IC pump and HE
Cold side plumbing with BOV
Tuning Aides - SPD, Wideband, and Knock Sensor
There is no reason this setup shouldn't make 325+ RWHP as long as the tranny can hold up. That said.
I don't want to get too excited because I don't have the dyno yet, but this is a well educated guess based on my last two years of experience with the car.
I am stoked to say the least!
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 6,012
Likes: 516
From: Central South Carolina
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Ok, so I have managed to spend a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Mainly in the evenings after work as we have been making the 3-hour trip to see the mother in law every weekend for the past three weeks.
In that time I have made significant progress that has me VERY excited albeit somewhat at a deficit to my pride. Since I installed the Rotrex, it has never quite made the boost I expected to see in relation to the pulley I was using. I had checked basically EVERYTHING and never nailed it down. Well, I went ahead and bought the smallest pulley possible and bolted it on to see what that would do. The result was a few unexpected noises and a stream of air that could be felt from the seam between the compressor housing and the head unit. Something I never noticed before nor do I think (or hope) I could at idle with the larger pulley.
The rotrex uses a machine fit versus a rubber o-ring. Apparently mine was not machined right or it just didn't go back together right after I clocked it for the original fitment. I pulled it apart, applied some RTV, put her back together and let her dry over the weekend.
When I bolted it back up and made a run, I made 35 more RWHP at the same boost using my last tune in the same weather. The same boost threw me off because it felt hellaciously different. However, looking at the logs I noticed the throttle plate was only opening to 53%!!!!!!!
My reaction was WTF! , then Hell Yeah!
I tracked that back to my IC pump not coming on. Well, it looks like something might have burned out in my SRT ecu as I double checked everything and I simply can't get the signal required to trigger the relay and turn on the pump.
That is when I decided I was better off going back to the stock ECU and making that work. The only real hurdle in the way there was being able to use Star Das to change the settings I needed to avoid CELs and the dreaded face plant at part throttle due to the load limit reached BAS/ESP issue. I had tried that once before and ran into issues so I was not elated at the prospect.
DONE!
I had decided tonight to come home and see what I could do to settle that issue so I could revert back to the stock ECU next week. It took a few hours but I finally got it going and can now use Star Das on my NA ECU!!!!!!
That said, I should now have the tuning solution for the NA. A star Das and an AEM piggy back My plan is to work on it the second I get back to town. I'll first work on reversing the changes I made in order to run the srt ecu, get her running with my cruising tune, then start working her way up to full power.
This is awesome as I have reduced the complexity of this system once again by an exponential factor.
It is now down to the following:
AEM F/IC
Stare DAS
Injectors
Shift Solenoids
Rotrex
Single Plane Rotrex mount
a simple bracket and cable extension to relocate the cooling reservoir
New serpentine belt
IC pump and HE
Cold side plumbing with BOV
Tuning Aides - SPD, Wideband, and Knock Sensor
There is no reason this setup shouldn't make 325+ RWHP as long as the tranny can hold up. That said.
I don't want to get too excited because I don't have the dyno yet, but this is a well educated guess based on my last two years of experience with the car.
I am stoked to say the least!
In that time I have made significant progress that has me VERY excited albeit somewhat at a deficit to my pride. Since I installed the Rotrex, it has never quite made the boost I expected to see in relation to the pulley I was using. I had checked basically EVERYTHING and never nailed it down. Well, I went ahead and bought the smallest pulley possible and bolted it on to see what that would do. The result was a few unexpected noises and a stream of air that could be felt from the seam between the compressor housing and the head unit. Something I never noticed before nor do I think (or hope) I could at idle with the larger pulley.
The rotrex uses a machine fit versus a rubber o-ring. Apparently mine was not machined right or it just didn't go back together right after I clocked it for the original fitment. I pulled it apart, applied some RTV, put her back together and let her dry over the weekend.
When I bolted it back up and made a run, I made 35 more RWHP at the same boost using my last tune in the same weather. The same boost threw me off because it felt hellaciously different. However, looking at the logs I noticed the throttle plate was only opening to 53%!!!!!!!
My reaction was WTF! , then Hell Yeah!
I tracked that back to my IC pump not coming on. Well, it looks like something might have burned out in my SRT ecu as I double checked everything and I simply can't get the signal required to trigger the relay and turn on the pump.
That is when I decided I was better off going back to the stock ECU and making that work. The only real hurdle in the way there was being able to use Star Das to change the settings I needed to avoid CELs and the dreaded face plant at part throttle due to the load limit reached BAS/ESP issue. I had tried that once before and ran into issues so I was not elated at the prospect.
DONE!
I had decided tonight to come home and see what I could do to settle that issue so I could revert back to the stock ECU next week. It took a few hours but I finally got it going and can now use Star Das on my NA ECU!!!!!!
That said, I should now have the tuning solution for the NA. A star Das and an AEM piggy back
My plan is to work on it the second I get back to town. I'll first work on reversing the changes I made in order to run the srt ecu, get her running with my cruising tune, then start working her way up to full power.This is awesome as I have reduced the complexity of this system once again by an exponential factor.
It is now down to the following:
AEM F/IC
Stare DAS
Injectors
Shift Solenoids
Rotrex
Single Plane Rotrex mount
a simple bracket and cable extension to relocate the cooling reservoir
New serpentine belt
IC pump and HE
Cold side plumbing with BOV
Tuning Aides - SPD, Wideband, and Knock Sensor
There is no reason this setup shouldn't make 325+ RWHP as long as the tranny can hold up. That said.
I don't want to get too excited because I don't have the dyno yet, but this is a well educated guess based on my last two years of experience with the car.
I am stoked to say the least!
WOW, simply WOW...
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 787
Likes: 1
From: Boise, ID
Re: Project Crossfire - a Rotrex Supercharged Limited!
Glad to hear you are keeping the hobby up despite your recent hardships! Also excited to hear promise from using the stock ECU.
Just a quick question for you. What are you having the AEM do for you? What functions are it controlling/modifying/etc. to the signals for the stock ECM? No need for in depth, that is all your hard work after all, just kinda trying to get the big picture of how your system is working together.
Just a quick question for you. What are you having the AEM do for you? What functions are it controlling/modifying/etc. to the signals for the stock ECM? No need for in depth, that is all your hard work after all, just kinda trying to get the big picture of how your system is working together.