New rides entry: 1995 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4 Sport "widebody"

[kunev]

I mentioned before, that I use Ecumaster Data Master software to make custom calculation channels first for turbo speed and later for boost pressure as this is not possible in the software for Ecumaster EMU Black. I also made some for current fuel consumption. There is system channels from ECU for "Fuel usage" in liters/h and "Fuel used" in liters, from which 2nd one is not working in the logs currently unfortunately, it is always 0. So I used "Fuel usage" and vehicle speed, which is configured and calculated in ECU from VSS signal frequency, to calculate uncorrected (for variation of differential fuel pressure) current fuel consumption. In ECU's software is defined fuel injector size in cc3/min, which is at rated for fuel regulator base differential pressure, but if differential pressure changes from rated one so does fuel flow from injector. In my case, pumped fuel during low load is much more than used one and fuel pressure regulator become overwhelmed, so differential pressure increase than rated one. I doubt that system "Fuel usage" signal is corrected for available fuel pressure and respectively delta fuel pressure, so I made also corrected (for variation in fuel pressure) current fuel consumption custom channel. Not long ago there was question in one group for Ecumaster EMU Black about possibility to see fuel consumption with this ECU and this intrigued me and I look more into that in Data Master software. As a kids we have interested what is the max number on the speedometer of cars and now people are only interested how how much hp, how much it cost, and how much it consume ... so look like important aspect to consider putting more effort . During that goal I implemented custom channels for total fuel used corrected for variations in differential fuel pressure (using fuel usage and delta fuel pressure), trip distance (using vehicle speed) and average fuel consumption corrected for variations in differential pressure (using calculated fuel used and trip distance). I think that mathematics look sound (trust me I'm an engineer ), results look reasonable and I'm very pleased with my "achievements" .

And now something maybe more interesting and easy to assimilate - some new photos and video of the car
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[kunev]

It is time for a first post for this year in this thread, better late than never as they say
Before the start of this season I bought something, which I already have bought before as a spare - original Q4 badge.
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When I first saw it for sale in one fb group I wasn't sure that want to buy another one and especially in unofficial, unsecured way there. But when I saw it again listed after some time decided to try my luck. The guy happen to be a passionate alfista with big alfa history and we have good alfa conversation Now I have two new original, sealed Q4 badges as a spare, so can say that I'm prepared for the future in that respect haha. But still I hope that current one on the car to stay there and in that condition . I have probably already mentioned it in this thread - this badge is the only visual outside identification of this model unfortunately ... yeah and the wheels

And now to the technical aspects and preparation for the new season. With some recent local stories about problems with modified cars and police in some cities I start to think about making the car to attract a little less attention. One aspect of this is by making it quieter and probably better term here will be less noisy. But I also don't wanted to sacrifice performance too much. This can be achieved with exhaust control, which changes exhaust gases path depending on condition or command as is used in modern performance cars. So we start to look for exhaust valves options on the market. We look only for simple variants without any electrical control and hence less parts to fail. And I bought the following exhaust valve, which open on boost
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Butterfly body is at 76mm/3", normally closed and start to open on positive pressure. There are different variants of such valves - normally closed or open and controlled by vacuum or boost. So different variant will be appropriate depending on mounting scenario and goal. By bench testing was seen, that this valve start to open at around 0.2bar and is fully open at around 0.5bar. Our idea is when the car is pushed and on boost to open more straight through exhaust path and in normal driving, when valve is closed path to be a little more indirect. Here I should mention that available space is a limitation to what can be done. Addition muffler was added and here are some pictures after instalation
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I don't say that it is like a standard car now, but it definitely have an effect in that direction, which was the goal The tune was also touched a bit for this change as VE changed a little in the low load conditions mostly.

Other aspect, which I planned in regards to unwanted attention, which the car can attract, was making the front mounted intercooler a little less noticeable. I'm not so big fan of DTM or GTA replica bumpers, because I like this car's fog lights haha and they don't have provision for such. And also I have yellow fog lights waiting for installation at some point in the future . So, I first thought about painting just the end tanks in black as a compromise between making intercooler a little less visible and not hurting its efficiency. But at the end full front side of it was painted and it look good that way and it "hides" inside the bumper. I will show pictures with "new look" in the next post, which will be from one event where I go with the car and also because post become very long again .

There was also other activities around the car during this visit to the mechanic - oil and oil filter, timing belt, brake fluid, battery, modifications to crank case ventilation, prop shaft u-joint, cv joint at the back, air conditioner refilling, annual technical inspection and some touches to the tune.