So I have been looking at timing with the help of our friend from Alberta
Comparing some timing tables of LSA combos to mine.
This one is Happel's G with the LSA 4.8 on flex. Basically 13.5-17 degrees between 2500 and 6500 at 1-psi ramping up as the RPM ramps up.
Here is my 'gas' table, basically 6 degrees at 2500 up to 11 degrees at 6500.
Vs. the stock 'gas' LSA table, 20-22 degrees between the range I am running
And looking at the low octane LSA table it's in the 4-11 degree range.
So I think what I (may) have done is copy the low octane table in to both low and high octane tables to keep it safe on gas. Which is fine because I don't care about power when I am running 87 when I am cruising 200 miles to see family/friends, but I think it's hurting me when I flip to E.
I add a 'flat' 2 degrees of timing from ethanol. I assume there is a blend internal so E0 is gas table, and E100 is this table, so if I am at E50/60 it's 1 degree add. This is what I saw one of Happels tune do so I thought that would be a good idea.
And this is what the stock flex adder is doing from the 02 tahoe tune. This is fine because it's adding 5-8 degrees of timing with E50 in the range I am concerned.
So what I think I did (which is wrong) is:
1. Made my high and low octane tables the same (low octane) to be 'safe' on 87 octane when I am cruising (this is fine IF I add enough timing with flex)
2. Made my flex adder table very conservative (which is fine, IF I make both my low and high octane tables more aggressive)
What I essentially did is made my low and high octane gas timing tables conservative AND made my flex adder table conservative. If I made my gas timing table aggressive and flex adder conservative, or gas timing conservative and flex adder aggressive I'd be fine, but I did both conservative and it's really bogging the engine down low.
I think the path forward is replace my existing low and high octane tables with a low octane LSA table and plug in the stock flex adder table from the flex Tahoe tune. That way am safe and low spark on low octane 87 gas, but that I actually add enough timing when I splash in some E85. I also need to get my knock sensors working. They are hooked up but I turned them off because there was exhaust to frame rattling issues years ago and I have since solved that.
In other news:
Boy I am dangerous now!
I posted it in the welding tips thread but I hunted down a 20 year old Miller TIG off FB a week ago for a decent price and Dad picked it up. We are going to 'co' own it since neither of us have a ton to weld but we both have enough that it's worth owning one. I need to stock up on consumables and buy an argon tank (I am just borrowing a friends to test this out).
The foot pedal and torch should also swap into Dad's Maxtron 450 big arse industrial (90 amp input) welder because they are both late 90 early 00's miller welders, so we can just swap the torch and foot pedal and he can do DC tig.
I have a few small tig projects to clean some things up under hood. It's an old transformer machine so it's a bit heavy BUT not as big as the refrigerator sized 70's/80's style. BUT it does AC and can be loaded in the back of a vehicle to transport. It's for sure a hobby focused machine with a pretty low duty cycle, scratch start DC and high freq AC but it will be a great tool to add to the fleet.
