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Do I spy a Super Ram going in? :y0!: I have one planned for my 90 Formula but it will be a couple years till it get to it -pretty much gathering parts and adding 91-92 style bumpers on it T56-Dana 44 too it will be second Firehawk I've cloned :) Edit: DOH! went back and re-read thread yes its a SR intake - nice build BTW third gens are way overlooked as GM finally built a car that could handle really well with a little bit of work Sad they never offered a HD diff 3rd or 4th gens-I know the Dana 44s are good answer but almost unobtainable, Right now there's one F/S on thirdgen.org for 3k |
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It was until the mini-ram came out. That's basically the same thing as an LT1 intake though. Easy to install and breathes great. Certainly nothing wrong with the Super ram though. It is a good intake also and will work very well for you.
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Quick update for tonight. My intake is on for good (hopefully!) so I gave the throttle body a quick clean up and stuck it on as well:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...64ca1b03_c.jpg All of the vacuum ports on it were plugged when I took the car apart, and I would like to get them all functioning again, but for now I'm going to keep it as-is just to get the car started. I then spent a little while getting my serpentine belt sorted. For those new to my thread, I'm retrofitting a serpentine system to my car from a later third-gen and have been taking a while getting all the small bolts and brackets together. I think I finally have it together though, and decided to put a small idler pulley in between the crankshaft and the AC compressor where to AIR pump would normally be. I bought an AIR delete kit from Hawks, but the pulley it came with was pretty big and had ribs for the inside of the belt, so I bought a new smooth idler pulley from Advance and swapped that out instead because I wanted it to ride on the outside of the belt. I think it should help keep the belt stable when I'm on the track with sustained RPM since it's a pretty long, straight shot from the crank to the compressor with no support otherwise. After a bunch of tries I settled on a 96.8" belt and it fits like a glove. The pulley that comes with the Hawks kit, and my new one on the right (well, the box at least): https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...85a331f9_c.jpg New pulley installed: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...80526a2d_c.jpg Clearance from tensioner pulley to water pump pulley looks good: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7af6f49d_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...748f5881_c.jpg A really like to clean look of the serpentine system over the old v-belt. Hopefully it runs nice and quiet! I'm getting very close to firing up the car for the first time in a couple of years, just tracking down some last minute little things and wrapping up some loose ends. Hopefully next post I'll have a running car! |
Looking good man! I don't envy you on the Super Ram, I did a few of those years back, real PITA!
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Keep chipping away @ it & posting your progress.
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BIG MILESTONE!! I HAVE A RUNNING CAR!
I finally got through my "before first fire up" checklist and was able to turn the key a few days ago. It certainly didn't start on the first try though. I changed and updated so many things I knew it would be a miracle if it fired up first try, but I was just relieved that nothing major went wrong. The first issue I ran into was my starter was dead. I first checked to make sure it was getting full power from the battery, and then also getting a full 12V on the exciter wire when they key was in the start position. With that confirmed, I took the starter off and tested it on the bench and sure enough it was dead. Luckily I have a guy in town that rebuilds starters and alternators and he was able to turn it around for my in about a day. He said some oil had gotten inside it and turned into sludge and a lot of the contacts were corroded. Makes sense since it was sitting on the shelf for 2 years. Here is a pic of the bench test: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3b501a7b_c.jpg After I got that figured out, my fuel pump was not priming with the key in the RUN position so I couldn't set the fuel pressure. I installed a new fuel pressure regulator so I really wanted to check this before I started the car. So, I first tested the relay and it seemed to only work when it wanted to so I replaced it with a new one and the fuel pump primed right up. Testing the relay: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...25f75147_c.jpg Setting fuel pressure... I set mine to 44psi before starting the engine. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...952f4161_c.jpg Lastly I swapped the 2 year old gas I had sitting in the tank for some fresh 93 using my transfer pump: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d6f5474e_c.jpg At first the engine turned over fine but wouldn't catch, so I played with the distributor a bit and got it to fire up! Hopefully this video works: https://youtu.be/gUDaUeyyz5A Even though it fired up, it was having trouble idling. I tried checking the timing with the tan connector over the AC box disconnected, but it was all over the place. I also checked it with the A and B pins in the connector under the dash shorted but that didn't help either. I need to look into that as a really wanted to get my base timing dialed in. I also noticed a slow coolant leak out of the back of the intake, which means I possible could have a big vacuum leak as well. This could definitely explain the rough idle, so looks like I may be taking my intake apart again to check that out. :doh: Other than that, super pumped to have a running car and that nothing blew up! |
Nice. Sucks on the intake leak though.
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Congrats on getting it running. Might want to check our dipstick for high oil level and milkiness. There's nothing stopping coolant from getting into the valley and the crankcase if it's leaking from the intake manifold gasket.
How much was your timing bouncing around? RPMs steady during this time? Don't be afraid to hold the throttle open just a smidgen to get a steady idle. 50 or 100 rpms over idle won't hurt for setting base timing. Good luck! |
I hate those last minute gremlins but glad to hear you finally made heat!!
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Intake manifold is back apart so I can find that coolant leak. Turns out it was coming through the threads from one of the bolts that holds the runners to the base. This bolt passes into the coolant crossover in the back of the intake and I didn't have any thread sealant on the threads. Not too bad, I was worried the whole base was going to have to come back off! Now I just need to order another set of gaskets from Lingenfelter for $50 since they got ruined when I took the runners off. :knokwood:
Intake back apart: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0805ed46_c.jpg Leakpath: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c3c9ff01_c.jpg Since I had my intake apart I gave everything a fresh coat of paint since it had gotten pretty scratched up with all the parts getting installed around it. I used an engine enamel this time so hopefully it should hold up a little better: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ba79e834_c.jpg I also disassembled and painted my old Holley throttle body: Disassembled: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b692b0fe_c.jpg Cleaned and ready for paint: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...200a0b5f_c.jpg I love it when stuff is clean and freshly painted! Re-assembly is the best part! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...83d49676_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b4079368_c.jpg I was able to also pick up my brake calipers from the painter who did a great job laying down some red: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...829bb27e_c.jpg I went to install my rear calipers and ran into a bit of trouble though. (I have Delco-Moraine rear calipers.) I COULD NOT get the piston to go back into the caliper. Apparently this is a common problem on third-gen Delco Moraine rear calipers and GM actually issued a recall for the problem. I researched the many upgrade options there are for rear brakes, but in the end I decided to rebuild them for now. Yes, it would have been nice to upgrade, but I'm picking my battles here with balancing budget and getting the car done and driving. I used the proper "recall" rebuild kit so these should serve me well until I am ready to upgrade the whole rear axle, at which point I will do the brakes as well. A few pics from the rebuild: Cool vintage box the rebuild kit comes in: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ffdc3203_c.jpg Rebuild was pretty straight forward if you just take it step by step: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5b35fa42_c.jpg Ready to go back on the car: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1d81b486_c.jpg Next I figured out my reverse light situation... the previous owner that swapped in the T56 modified a 4-pin connector to fit on the 2-pin switch (after chipping away a lot of the plastic shroud.) It worked, I guess, but I soldered on a new, proper connector to go with my new reverse light switch: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...37e8baed_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3cc7de9e_c.jpg I'm currently working on getting my new wheels and tires stuffed into the front fenders (18x10.5" wheels with a 315/30 tire). Almost done and should have lots of info in my next post! |
OK here's my update for tonight. I am not yet finished with fitting my wheels under the fenders front and rear, so I will save that info for now and do a complete post on the process once I'm done.
In the meantime, I got to work putting my front bumper support and bumper cover back on the car. This was a huge relief to get this back on the car so that it not only started to look like a car again, but that I could get it off my garage floor! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...106ebc53_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b80778db_c.jpg Once that was complete, I double checked my headlights were working and ran into some issues. Throughout this project, I have gotten much better at electrical troubleshooting and being able to systematically work through electrical systems to find the problem. This really tested my skills however! First, nothing worked when I pulled the switch. I was able to track this down to a bad headlight dimmer switch on the column (the one that switches between low and high beams) by by-passing the switch altogether and confirming the headlights came on. So, drop the column and install a new switch: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fb78f3e9_c.jpg Then, only one light was working. Then both would work. Then just the other one. I tracked this down to a bad ground, after confirming that both lights were getting power and they would both work if I grounded them right to the battery with a jumper wire. So, fixed that and now I had headlights: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...df6bc6ef_c.jpg Lastly, none of my parking lights were working. Turned out one of them had a bad socket and one had a bad bulb, so all is good now with the lights! By the way... I have an older HID kit on my car and while I like the looks of the clear lenses, I don't like to blue bulbs. If anyone has a suggestion for a whiter bulb I can use, I'm all ears! :thankyou: Next I re-installed my intake with its fresh new paint job. I had been waiting around for a new set of runner to base gaskets from Lingenfelter as they are on backorder. I lost patience and ordered a set of Edelbrock gaskets for their high-flow TPI intake they fit pretty well with just a bit of trimming. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...59250715_c.jpg Once the intake was back in, I could get started on making custom spark plug wires. I personally don't like it when spark plug wires are too long and hang all over the place in an engine bay, so this is a project I was looking forward to taking on. Here is what I used: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0f166cee_c.jpg The MSD kit was really nice, and came with everything you needed to make the wires, including the tool to strip the right amount of insulation and then crimp the terminals in your vice. There are extra terminals and boots included as well in case you mess one up. I ended up using the double crimp style terminal, but they also include the old school single crimp style: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...91696fe6_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2d57e721_c.jpg The first couple of wires went a little slow, as I struggled a bit with figuring out where to strip the wires so they ended up in the right place. Once I got the hang of it though, I had my little assembly area set up and I was cranking them out! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...98f03216_c.jpg Here is the final look. I'm super happy with how clean it looks! I wasn't sure if the red was going to be too much, but I think it adds just the right amount of color to the engine bay. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9c8a3d0a_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...33501149_c.jpg |
I used those made4u wire clamps before and really like the clean look they give us center bolt guys. Nice job on the wires also.
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Looks great. The red wires on your black engine was a good choice.
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Big update for tonight on all the work it took to get my wheels and tires to fit.
For reference, my wheels are 18x10.5" Weld S71s with a 6.6" backspace on all 4 corners. The tires are 315/30ZR18 BFG Rival S 1.5. I did my fitting with a small 1/4" thick spacer in the front. EDIT: I am also running a front brake upgrade that replaces the stock rotor / hub 1-piece assembly with a separate hub and rotor. This adds an additional width to the track the thickness of the rotor flange. Mine are Corvette C6 Z51 rotors, and I can get an exact thickness for someone if they need it. My ultimate goal is to be able to drive this car without any compromises... so not having to go around speed bumps, avoid railroad crossings or have a huge turning circle. I want to be able to toss the keys to someone and not have to give a long list of things to worry about. A big part of this is doing your homework when installing new wheels to make sure nothing is going to rub or worse... cut a tire! With all of the autocrossing and road racing I am planning on doing with this car, I spent a lot of time here massaging everything to make sure I don't have to worry about tire rubbing. I will start with the fronts. I removed the sway bar, front springs and the bump stops so I could cycle the suspension through it's full travel. Here is where I would like my ride height to be: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dd70192e_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d483d5fa_c.jpg This is where I expect the suspension to be at full compression (maybe a bit higher): https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...acf9dde5_c.jpg In just moving the wheel straight up, there were 2 areas that needed to be addressed. The first was rolling the fenders. There was no way around this. I considered using the old school wooden baseball bat method, but ended up finding a fender roller on Amazon for about $40 so I just on it. The tool turned out to be pretty nice and worked like a charm. The tape was my guide for the area I needed to roll. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c46c8851_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6c6f91d1_c.jpg Next I trimmed a bit of material away from the pinch weld where the outer and inner fenders come together. If the tire were to get up into the fender well, this edge would definitely puncture a tire. I tried to get some good pictures but it was tough: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ba80e947_c.jpg After the vertical clearance was taken care of, I started turning the wheels lock to lock at different areas of the suspension travel (from full compression to full droop) and adding clearance or removing material where needed. All of the pictures below are from the passenger side so just mirror things for the driver's side (except the battery box, obviously). https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1bd923fe_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2d032b93_c.jpg Here is another look at the battery box interference from lying under the car: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...efb74808_c.jpg And with the final cut made: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7065bd0b_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9f1766a2_c.jpg I don't currently have a welder, so once I get the car driving I'll have to find someone to weld up that corner with a little patch piece for me. After, that things looked pretty good, so I painted to wheel wells and double checked everything: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...97b0bf5c_c.jpg The real test will come once I get out on the road but for now I'm pretty confident I've done my homework and will be OK. I'll post up the mods I did in the back next. |
Looks great! Did you give yourself enough clearance to account for tire flex?
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It's definitely going to be a work in progress to get the perfect fitment. |
It's definitely looking good! The clearance you did will make a big impact on the 'get in it & drive w/no worry' philosophy.
I have a g-body I'm working on that buzzes the tops of the fender-wells because of the drop amount. It is annoying when you have to approach dips & asphalt patches @ a crawl to minimize the buzz. |
Nice work! Pulling the springs and cycling everywhere is going above and beyond but also necessary to prevent troubles down the road. I've done quite a bit of that myself... :)
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What are you planning to do about the fender liners? Delete them entirely? Cut and modify? I really appreciate the specifics of you brakes and wheel offset. I'm planning on exactly the same and it's nice to see the results in detail. The thing I have decided is whether I'm going 275 on 10.5" or 315 like you did. Cutting the battery box at this point isn't appealing. |
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I'll post up some pics once I get them mounted! Regarding the 275 vs 315 question - not sure how much trimming you will save yourself but you will definitely save money! Depending on how long these 315s last and how many track days I get to, I may switch over to 275 myself. I doubt I am a good enough driver to even tell the difference. |
Any progress to share??
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Alright I'm back since my last post. Sorry for the delay but I have making a bunch of good progress on the car so I need to catch up on my posts. The good news I was able to get the car started! The bad news is I immediately had clutch issues:
Right after I got the car started, my clutch pedal was very stiff. It was so stiff actually that I snapped the rod going from the clutch master cylinder to the pedal. I was not happy when this happened! As with most cars the car is pretty much built around the master cylinder so I wasn't looking forward to taking everything apart that I had just put together. The show must go on though so I took off the brake master cylinder, the booster and everything else that needed to come off to get at the master cylinder. One positive though is I took the opportunity to upgrade a Tilton adjustable master cylinder. This helps a lot on these third gen cars retrofitted with LT1 T56s, as the stock 4th gen hydraulics bolt right up, but leads to clutch engagement really high in the pedal travel. I really didn't like this feeling and it made it hard to shift quickly, so this should be a nice upgrade. Tilton adjustable master cylinder kit from Hawks Motorsports: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...244ceba5_c.jpg Bleeding the master cylinder before installing in the car: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...56be3482_c.jpg One thing I did to make the installation 1000% easier was replace the bolts that come with the kit with studs. I struggled for a LONG time trying to line up the master cylinder in the engine bay and then thread the 2 bolts in from under the dash... talk about a frustrating experience! The studs made this so much easier because I could place the master cylinder in place with the studs through the firewall and then go underneath the dash and thread on the nuts. Worked liked a charm! I also needed to grind down the bolt holding the master cylinder to the bracket as it sat a bit proud on the mounting surface preventing the bracket from sitting flush on the firewall. You can see the grinding marks in the picture here: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...26b278e7_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...20773fc4_c.jpg Once I got the clutch master cylinder back installed, I devastated to still find a rock hard pedal. This meant something was wrong with the actual clutch. So, out came the transmission. What I found was my throw out bearing seized to my clutch disk and the throwout bearing was actually cracked: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6f1efda9_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d3f763f8_c.jpg It turns out I had my clutch disk in backwards, so instead of having clearance between the disk and the throwout bearing (which is what should happen), the disk was interfering with the bearing and eventually seized itself on there shortly after I started the engine.. The problem wasn't that I installed it incorrectly, but the sticker saying "FW SIDE" was on the wrong side of the disk! I found this out by comparing my old clutch disk to my now useless one: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e2d9505c_c.jpg So, I ended up getting a new disk and a new throwout bearing and, this time installing everything correctly, it should be working OK now. Just a pain in the rear to have to go so far backwards on the project! Now I can get back on my regular to-do list. |
Ouch! Sorry you ran into these troubles. Glad you were able to get it sorted though.
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That is messed up about the disc being labeled wrong. My Mcleod Street Extreme has a label that says "engine side". This is something that I'll always pay attention to now though...thanks for posting.
Hopefully it'll be smooth sailing for a while once again. You are in the home stretch now!! |
Catching up on some more updates:
Next up was cleaning up the spaghetti mess that was my brake lines. I am running a Wilwood proportioning valve, which requires different threads than the stock third gen lines. My plan was to re-bend the stock lines to mate up with the proportioning valve and then use an adapter to convert from a metric to a standard flare: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1feb8c8c_c.jpg I was able to get them reasonably organized, but in the end they were just too stiff and too long for what I needed. I ended up kinking one which was the nail in the coffin for these stock lines. And so began the rabbit hole of bending up custom brake lines... little did I know this would be one of the most challenging parts of this whole project! I bought some standard steel brake line from my local auto parts store and a couple of different bending tools: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...71bdbf43_c.jpg I first made some templates using an old metal clothes hanger and then tried to match it as close as I could in the real brake lines. This took me many tries to get right, but once I got used to the bending tools I got the hang of it. The lines definitely are not perfect but they seal up OK and will get the job done: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7485e978_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...96195eb7_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5b03b98d_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9a4efb5f_c.jpg I bled the whole system using ATE TYP 200 high temp DOT4 brake fluid. I've been using this for a while and really like it... I've never boiled and it's pretty cheap! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...45dcc938_c.jpg Next I made some custom spark plug wires using a kit from MSD: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0f166cee_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...98f03216_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...33501149_c.jpg Lastly for tonight, I finally got my fresh set of front Koni shocks delivered so I could button up my front suspension. I paired those with some new caster/camber plates from UMI and a new set of bolts from Spohn. I've been trying to be good about using new bolts in critical areas wherever I can, like the strut bolts, control arms, etc. For those new to this thread, my control arms also have Delrin bushings and QA1 tall ball joints installed and my brakes are C6 Z51 13.4" rotors I installed using a kit from bigbrakeupgrade.com. I also upgraded to larger 1LE front bearings. There are certainly a lot of nicer parts out there like tubular control arms and expensive struts but I think my set up is a pretty good compromise of budget and performance. As I get better as a driver I can always upgrade later! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...aa9c870f_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a117d094_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a08ecab7_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...86630241_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a7d645e6_c.jpg That's it for tonight, more updates soon. Getting close! |
Get out and drive that thing already!!
:D |
OK I need to catch up on some updates! Last time I checked in I had a running engine but a TON of little loose ends to tie up.
I used my very limited fabrication skills to whip up some brackets for both my ignition coil and my heater diverter valve. For the coil, it's a very awkward and relatively heavy piece so it was tough to find a good spot for it. Like I've been trying to do with most things on this car, I wanted to keep it looking neat under the hood but not so neat that I can't access or work on things when I need to. So, I found a spot on the backside of the driver's side fenderwell and made a little bracket to hold the coil there. It took me a couple tries to get it right and it's definitely not perfect but I think it'll work. Here is the coil: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...87f7958c_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...27af7952_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cd35ff55_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...883aae27_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f9ac6654_c.jpg The other very awkward thing I needed to make a bracket for was this heater control valve. Decided to mount it to the back of the AC compressor bracket. I'm not super happy with it and the fact that I had to use zip ties, but should hold up for now: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5333a7db_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dc249598_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...41eb1ca7_c.jpg For my fan wiring, I wanted to keep the stock strategy of having one fan come on with the AC and the high temp switch while the other comes on with the low temp switch. Having installed a 180* thermostat I used 195* low temp fan switch. The problem is that on the front of my intake, I now had to have the temperature sender for the computer, the temperature for the gauge, the fan switch and also have a way to attach a heater hose to the diverter valve I showed in my last post. There are only 3 outlets on the front of the intake, so you do the math! I ended up using 2 of the ports for the computer and gauge senders, and then some plumbing tubing I picked up at Home Depot (I know, I know... not ideal!) to combine the fan switch and heater outlet. After I painted it black I don't think it looks too bad: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d9276b40_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cd928833_c.jpg The radiator I am using comes from Cold Case and I picked up the matching shroud and dual fan setup. So far it looks like a nice piece, the only issue is the connectors on the fans. They look like the universal fan connectors you can get online but one of the pins is a bit offset, which forces you to by their matching fan wiring kit. I didn't want to do this, so for now I wired up some female terminal connectors that are working for the time being. The proper permanent solution will be cutting the connectors off of the fans and soldering if some different 2-pin connectors. I mounted my fan relays to the side of the radiator core support near the battery but can't find a picture! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...52c902d0_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...894eaf01_c.jpg My next little issue was a coolant leak coming from the back of my intake manifold that I could not figure out for the longest time. It turns out, one of the bolt holes for the TPI runners was leaking coolant. Now, this bolt hole is not supposed to thread into a coolant passage but it looks like at one point someone used too long of a bolt and cracked a hole in the bottom of the bolt hole. So after figuring that out, I put some thread sealant on the bolt threads, re-assembled the intake and thought I was good. Unfortunately though it didn't work... and I wasn't happy! I started the car back up and was greeted with a big puddle of coolant on the garage floor. Taking apart a Super Ram takes some time! The second time, I cleaned the threads out as good as I could with a tap, filled the bottom of the hole with a bit of grey RTV and then added a bit more grey RTV on the threads. This time, instead of installing the whole intake manifold, I rented a coolant system pressure checker so if it was going to leak, at least I wouldn't waste a day putting the intake back together. Luckily, the system held pressure over night and seems to be doing ok so far. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...408e292c_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...31d908db_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c1041ac7_c.jpg |
More updates! Sorry for the lack of posts but I've been using every minute I have to work on the car and get it ready for the UMI autocross at the end of the month.
The fix for my coolant leak seems to be holding up so that's good news. I've had the car running and up to temperature a couple of times and no sings of a leak yet. On to the next thing! Next I started working on my exhaust system. My thought process for the exhaust was to re-use my old system, which was Hooker shorty headers, a y-pipe under the engine and then a single pipe back to a muffler with 2 tips. As I went to mock up the system, I ran into a big issue though.... the Summit road racing oil pan I had installed did not leave enough room between the front of the pan and the crossmember for my y-pipe. :bang: This was completely my fault, as I didn't think of this when I bought the pan. Lessons you learn when going through your first big car project. So I figured I had 2 options... I could scrap the y-pipe and have a custom dual exhaust fabbed up for me OR I could install a new oil pan that would allow my y-pipe to fit. I took a look at doing the true dual exhaust and thought it would be very tricky with the transmission crossmember I have (Spohn I believe). Not an impossible job, but I could see it leading down a long road of custom fabrication, new trans crossmember and whatever else. So I decided to swap out my oil pan. In the end, I'm happy with this decision as it let me keep a nice clean exhaust system with good grand clearance and what should be plenty of flow for my little 350. If you've ever swapped an oil pan on a third gen however, it's a big job! I dropped my k-member and pretty much had the whole car apart for what seems like the 10th time!https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9a056225_c.jpg To replace my Summit pan, I went with the Canton road racing pan made specifically for third gen Camaros. It's a really nice piece, with trap doors to keep the oil in the sump and kick outs on the side to get more capacity as opposed to the kick out on the front on the Summit. I needed to grab a new oil pump and pickup to go with the pan as well. It came in a zinc finish, so of course I had to paint it black to match the rest of the parts on the car! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...731ce70e_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...76050fc1_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b88c7b18_c.jpg After I got the car back together I tied up a few more loose ends and it was off for an exhaust system and an alignment: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fc0caa8c_c.jpg |
I went through the whole thread. Great build, I have a soft spot for third gens since I was a teenager in the 80s.
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Ok here is another update.
First, my exhaust. I did a LOT of research on what exhaust I wanted to run. When I first bought the car, it had no mufflers at all and just straight pipes out the back and I hated it. I don't mind a loud car, but there's a difference between sounding good and just being plain loud. So shortly after I bought it I had a local muffler shop throw in an off-brand performance muffler. It definitely quieted it down and it sounded good around town. However when I went to the Optima event at NJMP before I took the car apart, it was the quietest car there! What I ended up deciding on was a GMMG chambered exhaust. Definitely not a cheap system (especially for my "budget" build) , but it's a full stainless 3" system (from the y-pipe back) and it should sound a little different than the typical Flowmaster or Magnaflow systems out there. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...da08bc8f_c.jpg I had my car taken to a speed shop local to me to connect up my y-pipe to the GMMG system. It was a tight fit putting the y-pipe under the oil pan but I'm really happy with the results. The system is also built into 3 sections with nice stainless clamps so it's really easy to remove if I ever need to. For tips, I wanted to keep with the subtle theme and just had them weld on some turndowns right before the rear bumper. You almost can't even see them when you're standing next to the car. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e1dc8c7f_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0fc94ae0_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...64f47e83_c.jpg No videos yet so you'll have to believe me when I say it sounds awesome! It might actually be a little too loud for my taste but in the future if I decide to add a resonator upstream I can do that. While at the shop, I also had them check the wheelbase, rear axle centerline and do a full alignment. For alignment specs, I used UMI's recommended settings for an aggressive street car. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...45aac727_z.jpg Picked up the car and decided to take a chance and drive it home. Keep in mind the furthest I had driven the car before this was down to the end of my street and back to make sure the clutch and brakes were working OK. The shop is about a 30 minute drive home and about halfway home I ran into some big issues. The car overheated so bad it pretty much drained the entire radiator of coolant as it steamed away in a Toyota parking lot I was able to pull over into. Another tow truck ride home! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dc92e598_c.jpg So, once I got the car home I started digging into what happened. The first thing was why my temp gauge wasn't working.... every since I had the car back running my gauge would either be at 0 or pegged. Didn't think much of it at the time but obviously I paid a price for not getting it worked out before driving the car. I made sure it was grounded correctly, verified the wiring was OK and ended figuring out that I had installed a switch and not a gauge sender. Duh! Must have ordered the wrong part number way back when. So, once the gauge was working OK I could actually tell when my car was overheating. The car was ok idling in my driveway and holding steady at 190, but as soon as I started driving it would over heat very quickly. As in under 5 minutes my gauge would be in the red. I re-bled the coolant system and still had issues. I then thought the water pump might be an issue, as it had come with the second hand serpentine setup I picked up used. The serpentine setup requires a counter clockwise pump and I really didn't know what kind of water pump this was and it very well could be the wrong one. So, I picked up a new one and installed it... no help! At least I know I have a new water pump now! I then started thinking the worst... was my timing way off and running too retarded? Was there a blockage somewhere? Do I have a head gasket issue? I ended up getting lucky and finding out the issue by chance. I was walking in front of the car while it was idling and felt the fan blowing on my leg... I had them wired backwards! That explained why it would stay cool at idle, but when I started driving it would be fighting against the incoming air trying to get through the radiator. A simple swap of the wires and everything seems to be staying cool now. Time for some test miles! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...46f13bc9_c.jpg |
Glad to see you have it back on the road, long journey but you stuck with it . Looks great, can't wait to see the video/audio. I have enjoyed following your build.
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Add a performance catalytic converter instead of a resonator. You'll quiet the sound and clean the exhaust while you're at it.
Glad you're out putting miles on the car. Great way to social distance. Good luck |
Good to see you have the cooling issue covered...great looking ride by the way!
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Stupid little things like that drive me crazy while trying to dial in a new build. I've been fighting a small coolant leak on my car ever since getting the new engine in and running. I'm trying to work on the EFI tune but the car keeps throwing puddles of coolant on the ground every time I park it. Yesterday I finally found a split rubber cap on an extra port of the radiator as the culprit.
Get some miles on that thing already...glad to see it getting out and about after all this time in the garage. |
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Car looks KILLER! |
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OK more updates. I keep driving, finding issues, fixing them and then driving it harder and repeat. Scrambling to get the car in a good place for the UMI Autocross coming up next weekend!
One I solved the overheating issue I was able to get out and take the car on some longer drives, but keeping close to my house in case something were to let go. The next issue that popped up was a loud ticking noise from my passenger side valve cover. Since I had been having some driveability issues I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought maybe I was getting a sticking valve or a lifter was not fully pumping up. If either of those was the case, I wanted to get it fixed pretty quickly because they can cause some major engine damage. So I pulled the valve cover and took a close look at all of my rockers and pushrods on that side. All the pushrods were straight, none of the rockers were loose and nothing else seemed out of place. I also pulled the plugs to see if one cylinder was behaving differently than the others but they all looked the same. The next possible thing that could cause a ticking noise is an exhaust leak. So next, I pulled the headers and found my problem: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...70037927_z.jpg As you can see, there was an obvious mark on the center exhaust port where the exhaust was leaking. Digging a bit deeper into this, my heads have D-port exhaust ports and my headers are oval port. Another thing I didn't quite check when I put the car back together and just assumed the previous owner picked the right parts. This makes it tough to find the right size header gasket. If you look closely in the pic, you can see the sealing area is a bit off center which doesn't help but even if it was centered there would no be much sealing area. Being in a time crunch, I didn't have time to swap headers and re-do my y-pipe, so i replaced the gasket with the same part number and did my best to center it better. So far it seems to be holding up. While i was working on the passenger header, I checked the wires nearby and noticed that some were starting to melt from being too close to the headers. Glad I caught it in time as re-soldering the harness way down there would be a tough job. I did my best to hide as many wires as I could during the build, but sometimes functionality takes precedence over appearance. Here are the wires that were getting melted... this is looking down at the passenger header with the AC box on the left: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...df01d71f_z.jpg I would have liked to have routed the harness higher, but was only able to raise it up a bit and wrapped it in DEI heat shielding, Should be OK for now but I will keep an eye on it: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...743dce97_z.jpg Next issue to address was a rough idle I was getting while out driving around. Sometimes the car would idle OK around ~700rpm, but other times it would be up around 1200 or 1500rpm. When it was idling high, I would try adjusting the idle speed screw but nothing was happening. Weird. Digging into it a bit deeper, I found that one of my throtlte blades was hanging up on the inner bore of the throttle body. This was preventing the blade from fully closing, essentially keeping the engine at part throttle. I loosened up the screws and let the blade self-center which helped a lot. I then reset my idle speed a bit and made sure the TPS was in spec. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ddc0090d_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0d40c16a_z.jpg So, after getting all these issues figure out I was back out to driving. Driveability seems to be improved but still needs some work. There seems to be a big hole in acceleration between 3000 and 3500 rpm and not much response down low. I think I may have maxed out my abilities with tuning using just base timing and fuel pressure and need a custom chip to get me the rest of the way. I am currently running a stock chip which I'm sure is struggling to keep up with the increased air and fuel required by my AFR heads, cam and big intake. That'll be on my list soon. SO everything seemed to be going OK and I started making some harder pulls on some on-ramps and taking some harder corners which revealed a couple more issues. First, I had some rubbing on the driver side rear which just needed a bit more persuasion with the big hammer. My strategy to find rubbing issues has been to fix the area with either a hammer or removing some material but then the key part is making sure I paint it before going for another drive. If the tire rubs again, it will take off the paint and makes it very obvious where the issue is (and if I fixed it or not). In the front, I did a nut and bolt check and found my wheel bearings were a tad loose so that was another thing I was glad to find. Tightened those up a bit and snug up some other bolts in the suspension as well: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9d9a70ca_z.jpg Alright, so back out for another test drive. Everything in the suspension feels great, but halfway through the drive my exhaust gets SUPER loud so I pulled back home to check it out. I found that the bolts on my header collectors had backed out and some were even missing. When a bolt loosens up on a header collector, the gasket really doesn't stand a chance as the hot exhaust gases blowing by it just destroy it: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...456f3f13_z.jpg So, I didn't think much of it and popped in these aluminum ones which supposedly can stand up a bit better to heat and seal really well. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...da338372_z.jpg Installed, went for a drive and same thing... the gaskets blew out within 20 minutes of driving. Look at the melted aluminum! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bc13a556_z.jpg So obviously I had a bigger problem here, I pulled off my y-pipe to take a closer look. It looks like my flanges are pretty warped... which explains why the exhaust was able to leak out despite my tightening the bolts as tight as I could: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bf5929e7_z.jpg So we are totally up to date now.. I just dropped my y-pipe off at the exhaust shop to straighten the flanges last night. Should be done today and I can hopefully get the exhaust installed and tested by tomorrow. After that, I think this is as good as the car is going to get for now. I'll see how it goes at the autocross, I might go a little easy at first and ramp up from there. If I come in last that's ok, I'm just happy to be out there! Back out to the garage... |
All of this sounds SO familiar... lol...
I have had many of these same exact issues with my build. You'll get through them and trust me, once you do, the car will be rock solid and stand up to whatever you put it through. Keep on plugging away and have fun at UMI. So many of my car family friends will be up there, sure wish it wasn't so far away from me. |
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