|
So the story goes:
I've had the Wegner Accessory drive since Sept of 14, after the last phase. So, installing the Accessory drive the way i wanted it required moving of the plumbing, installing it under the fender/over the wheel well, thats were the computer was. So in August, I pulled everything apart, couple of weeks right? right. "While we're in here.....?!?" Keith and Josh both recommended heads n cam upgrade, so with Josh's history of doing the initial LS conversion, we're on our way,....took some time choosing a righteous vendor. While Texas Speed and Performance was the choosen vendor, the heads needed a little cleaning up. So Josh polished all of the runners... While doing that, we needed to move the computer, can't just leave well enough alone right?, So i decided to move the computer inside the car. That also lead to me rewiring the entire car with an American Auto Wire kit. We got done with that in October. Josh didn't have time to get to anything till 2nd week in Janruary, he didn't like the way i did the wiring, so out it came, re did everything. He is a wiring specialist like no other......we finished the harness saturday, the 19th of March, and with the click of a key, the car fired up an ran, every wire worked, thoughout the whole system. All i know is it sounded beastalicious.... Plumbed brake lines yesterday, used Ni/Co lines, great to work with, took about 4 hours with hime and I, got the car's brakes 99% done last nite at 10:15 ish, too late to fire and tune. So tonite, I'll lower it on its wheels (barring leaks, fingers crossed imogee here), get it ready for a test drive, work out the bugs and hopefully track/autox ready in the next couple of weeks (i'm gone the next two weekends, we missed a couple of events like Optima T-hill and the Goodguys Spring Get together)..... |
Good luck!
I know snow ball projects :) |
Get that car running again!!! Summer is a wasting!!
Good luck on the test drive, glad to hear it's finally getting close. |
we went to drive it last night and it's still suuuuper rich on startup. for the few seconds that I could keep the wideband working, it looks like I'm 7:1 for fuel mixture. Yikes!!! I haven't tuned it at all.. we pulled back in because it began to rain and there's a tapping noise in the engine.
I'm going to go over to Mike's house later with a stethoscope and possibly pull the valve covers. Maybe one of the rockers isn't set into a pushrod or something. Doesn't run rough.. just making a noise. |
Glad you were making progress with the car, Mike. Here's hoping it makes great power. What cam did you end up choosing?
|
Quote:
|
|
Car looks great!
|
The black wheels really do look good on there.
the cam is a 233/239 @ .050", lift is 595"/605", on a 112 degree lobe separation |
Sorry Trey bout the black rims, i know how much you love them lol....
I couldn't find anybody to do "black/smoke chrome"... does anybody know any bay area people who can do a smokey or black chrome? |
Looking good and getting close.
|
No worries, Mike, lol. It's your car anyway. I think it looks good.
I found this powder coat after seeing the red translucent wheels posted in the wheel gallery http://www.columbiacoatings.com/stor...cent-TGIC.aspx I ordered a pound of it to do my aluminum dash panel. I think it will turn out nice. You might find that it will give you the look you're after, too. You don't have to do a silver or chrome coating first if you're putting it on a bright metal base. You could also take their suggestion and try a different base color/coat all together and create a unique look. |
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Back to where we left on on the build part of the build thread:
Mike installed the front accessories and I got to working on the wiring harness. Mike had installed the dash harness and the lighting harnesses front and rear. It got everything measured up so I could cut out what we weren't going to use and plan out the additions like the fuel injection system, computer, vintage air and stereo head unit/amplifier. Dash harness initial http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ocked%20Up.jpg Replacing the old with new http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...y%20Lights.jpg Adding relays for the electric fan and the fuel pump http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...%20Harness.jpg and a completed piece http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...arness%202.jpg |
Those stringy bits in the middle are how the VHX by Dakota Digital wants to be plugged in. If I were to do it again, I think I would make a connector and make it disconnectable.
So the dash harness gets me to about here: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...talled%201.jpg Then I took off the radiator support and started on the front lighting harness http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...20Loosened.jpg and I'll skip to the good part. Here's the lighting harness done and laid on the engine: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...20Workflow.jpg |
I prefer the ultra cleanest install I can get. and I've never liked how the wipers came out of the engine side of the bulkhead. I always thought it would be a whole lot easier to disconnect the engine as a whole from the bulkhead. Besides that, Mike is considering doing a remote mount wiper since the firewall smooth sheet he made required a wiper delete. So I moved the wipers over to the lighting side.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...0Wires%201.jpg Speaking of ultra clean.. Here's what I did with the rear lighting harness. I included the fuel pump wiring and the stereo amplifier wiring and the gas gauge wiring right into the same harness. One harness disconnects the entire rear of the car. Nice. The former fuel sending unit ground was ran through the roof of the car. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...Ground%201.jpg So here's the leg bone being connected to the hip bone again.. the entire interior had to come out (less carpet) for the new lines to be run and the old to be removed. There were powers and ground running down the passenger side for the vintage air and speaker wires. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...Ground%202.jpg |
Engine harness pre assembly:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...%20Harness.jpg And here's partially through assembly: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ogress%201.jpg |
Here's a little section I had to redo because the sheathing wasn't long enough and pulled out the shrink:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...arness%201.jpg Here's what it looked like before it was finished: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ogress%203.jpg Lastly, I had to wait for a special tool to come in so I could finish the MilSpec connector that makes the engine truly disconnectable in a few seconds. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...nector%202.jpg Here's the mating side of the connector and where it plugs into the ECM and the dash harness http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...nector%204.jpg |
This got us to startup.
we fired it with no issues. Ran pretty darn good, but super rich.. as stated before. All the lights, dummy lights, stereo and heater controls worked. Nice. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...Idling%201.mp4 We did have an issue with the electric fan not turning on.. but that's because the internet lied to me. Go figure. :EmoteClueless: I saw a GM ignition switch diagram that showed one more battery power slot than Mike's ignition switch actually had. So the previous modification I made to the brand new harness had to be done over. That's okay. I found a battery power terminal on the ignition switch and I had some terminals left over from modifying the harness.. so it was a quick fix. Also, I missed plugging in injector 7. Oops. No one has to know about that except you guys. :bitchslap: It was running fine, but not building oil pressure.. and my wideband was dropping out anyway. Mike and I both decided to call it a night and formulate a plan. Mike was sure it was the double roller timing chain rubbing on the oil pump. It definitely did not sound like metal on metal.. and there were no shavings in the pan. So I took off the valve covers to have a quick look see. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...0Top%20End.jpg Nothing to see here. So I dropped the pan and confirmed my suspicion.. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...Reassembly.jpg I had a bad oil pump pickup tube o-ring. http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...0Conformed.jpg Fixed that bad boy right quick and buttoned her back up. Ran and drove nicely. Spent a couple days a couple hours a day on the tune and DIStraction is good to go. |
I do think we ought to check the water level though. And possibly revisit the timing tables.
|
Looks good in there,glad Mike is ready to ride again,nice work:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
|
Good to hear you figured it out.
|
It runs good. Very good.
We did a driving dyno eve. third gear now pulls as hard as second gear did, if you know what i mean, so forth gear now feels like third. Should of done this years ago, but hey, i thought 400hp would be enough. Ugh, this car hobby.... We have almost a whole paper bag of wiring Josh pulled out while modifying and cleaning up the old harness. I'll have some ride reports and new pics shortly....now, to get her ready for da track & touring, then maybe a little cone running in there..... |
Sounds great, Mike! Have fun with it and be sure to post the dyno graph when you get it dialed in.
|
Quote:
Sorry, couldn't resist. Congrats on the newfound power. You will enjoy putting it to use! :drive: |
That paper bag isn't of old wiring. That paper bag is of brand new wiring that was auxiliary. :confused59: :gitrdun: weight savings and removing complication. Me likey.
|
Quote:
Of course the alliterative, if you're stuck with the automotive wire on some other part of the loom, is to do a butt splice for each and every wire leading to the connector, transitioning it to mil spec wire. That can be a lot of splices, each one a potential failure point, and it also gets bulky. So despite my better instincts I still stick automotive wire into mil spec connectors, I just figure I'm permanently dedicating the connector to that use, with no changes possible. It's all so much easier with compact and slippery mil spec wire though! https://gustave.smugmug.com/Trucks/5...0%282%29-L.jpg |
I've had extremely good luck using Amphenol connectors and getting gxl and txl wires back out. Amphenol gives you a new plastic tool with every connector. I plan fairly meticulously, so as not to have to remove the wires at all.. But it happens. I had the VSS wires out a couple times on this connector because I needed to move them. Then move them again.
|
Well, a little update. Since the heads n cam, accessories drive, aluminum firewall, Baer remaster (boosterless), Whole new CJ's Wired wiring harness, I decided to do a few more "things". Being that i missed most the driving events this year, i could of made this weekends American Auto-x event but decided to fore-go on beating the car as i'm driving it to Chicago from the Bay Area for the start of the Good-guys road tour, Chicago to Texas Motor Speedway, Sept 24-30.
So, while i had my oldest son's wedding in June, with the reception in our back yard, the majority of January - June was focused on the house and family. July went in a blink (did squeeze a trip to New York in with friends again) and August was vacation-thirty at Tahoe!! In the mean time, july to current, ordered and installed 6p Baer calipers in the front, helped greatly street driving with no booster, still looking forward to the track and see how it does, Hopefully October's Shelby event, if the Texas road trip is "uneventful" and the car is delivered in time...we'll see. Also ordered Dr. Sutton's secret sauce recipe Ridetech's for the front shocks (single adjustable) as the whole front end is "up in the air" with a possible change to the new Speedtech set up. Gonna wait a year or two for that too happen, in the mean time, the front end whoa's are cured (ended the "floaty" feeling i couldn't adjust out with the previous coil-overs) and installing the triple adjustable Ridetech's for the rear. I really wanted to support Ridetech, they've done alot for our community and provide some of the best service in the business for our hobby. Recharged the a/c, lowered it a bit more. To do, wipers, sort out the sound system, exhaust muffler change and rout the back exhaust over the axle and out the back, align, make a "modern" console, and a new trunk lock. Oh, then complete respray and body work and new interior LOL...Jk, well, not really, just not now...... http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...CAAF65546D.jpg http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...641EEED3AE.jpg http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...97D69CDBC3.jpg http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...08E80C8A40.jpg http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...0AC25CB62F.jpg http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...C1FCF77D5A.jpg Plus a new front spoiler on the P-car.... http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...26D3760677.jpg |
Mike the car looks great and I am really interested in the new updated shocks as my 70 has a similar floaty feeling in the front.
ps I also need to update my thread |
Sounds like good changes were made. Let us know how it feels, Mike. Have fun!
|
Looking forward to the console... I have something in mind for mine.
|
Badass car. I's so glad you ditched the old wheels. This car was begging for rims that it deserved
How do you like the DSE rear? Any updates? |
Did you get fries with the secret sauce? Lol
|
Quote:
The car is great to drive, just can't get enough of it!! |
Quote:
|
http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...09D52D19ED.jpg
http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/...17B013A064.jpg Had some serious adhesion issues, paint was lifting in many spots....was ten years new, bummer but she's a keeper for me, so :G-Dub: |
Car is looking good Mike.... it never ends huh. :ohsnap:
|
| All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:17 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2026, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright Lateral-g.net