66 Chevelle LSA/4L90E Conversion

[kwhizz]

The Education continues........LOL........Took the car up to the Wisconsin Dells over the weekend for a trial run before leaving for the Power Tour in a couple of weeks.....A couple of issues popped up........one of the issues was that after putting the vacuum brake system in the car I was having issues with the brake pedal being all over the place ( Low....High...and in between).....and when starting the car for the first time the brake assist was barely there.........I was told that these engines didn't make any vacuum but I thought that if GM ran them this way ........then I could too........LOL........Hydro-Boost is on it's way...........Second Issue was a slight vibration that was in the car.....I thought it was thru the drivetrain but.......I was looking closely at everything today and I noticed that the bolt that holds the brake line "T" fitting on the frame below the master was right against the header pipe and transmitting the vibration thru the frame..........Gonna take the header off and clearance it to eliminate that little annoying issue........anyhow........the car performed perfectly in this 450 mile weekend trip.....the ride and handling are spot on...........and the little extra horsepower is pretty cool also.....LOL......Here's a couple of pictures.......2200RPM @ 80 MPH.........Gotta Love it!!!!

[CURVES]

80 going by the state patrol headquarters, that a boy!

That car is outstanding.

[syborg tt]

Car looks great. I can't wait to see it on the Power Tour I will be in the yellow 2010 Camaro Bumble Bee

[aggie91]

Awsome to hear the good report from it first road trip.

Car looks real good!

[waynieZ]

Looks awesome.

[kwhizz]

A little update..........Since the Dells trip I was still very un-impressed with the brakes........I had a situation where the Brake pedal would vary where the brake action started.....sometimes it was just off the floor and other times it was all the way at full pedal........keep in mind everything was new and the brakes were bled many times.......I was getting advice all over the place and nothing worked........so......this is just Brakes and not Rocket Science........So.......I get fed up with this stuff as I didn't know what else to do.......I ordered a Hydro-Boost system takes the place of the Vacuum booster and is plumbing into the Power Steering system and uses the pump line pressure as the power source for the power assist...........Well......It shows up and the unit itself ......well......lets just say it wasn't in the best of shape for a Brand new unit..........LOL.....So.....Now I'm going round and round with them to get the new unit I paid for......(this is a Major parts supplier).........After the Dog and Pony show I still am waiting for a new unit........and time is getting short for the Power Tour.........So.......Saturday morning I couldn't sleep and I'm telling myself that this whole situation is getting so complicated I don't even understand what's going on anymore.......So......I decide to go back to basics again and start from the foundation again and pull the front tires off and Bleed the brakes again (for the 127th time)......They bled normal without any obvious air in the system, so I didn't think it would make any difference.......put everything back together and take the car out for a test ride............Bingo.........I guess there is a Brake God and he figured I was tortured enough..........Everything works perfectly..........Damm......That was hard......Hydro-Boost going back...........

I also got my Alarm system installed and changed the Oil and Filter today.........while under the car I noticed that the A/C compressor belt was eating itself up............I ended up talking to Stielow and we determined that the stretch to fit GM belt was not designed to be installed in a system like mine with a turn buckle arrangement for tensioning as they are designed to have a very defined tension..........So......Here we go again....trying to find an aftermarket belt that will fit........LOL.....I can hear it already........Sir......Year, Make, and Model of car please........So........I don't even try Advance Auto parts...........I drive over to NAPA and talk to a girl behind the counter and I explain my problem and what I'm looking for.........she comes back in a minute with a belt......Humm!!!!........I go home and 10 minutes later everything is installed and the car is running with Ice Cold A/C..........LOL.......Go Figure.........Power tour in starts in 11 days..........

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by kwhizz

A little update..........Since the Dells trip I was still very un-impressed with the brakes........I had a situation where the Brake pedal would vary where the brake action started.....sometimes it was just off the floor and other times it was all the way at full pedal........keep in mind everything was new and the brakes were bled many times.......I was getting advice all over the place and nothing worked........so......this is just Brakes and not Rocket Science........So.......I get fed up with this stuff as I didn't know what else to do.......I ordered a Hydro-Boost system takes the place of the Vacuum booster and is plumbing into the Power Steering system and uses the pump line pressure as the power source for the power assist...........Well......It shows up and the unit itself ......well......lets just say it wasn't in the best of shape for a Brand new unit..........LOL.....So.....Now I'm going round and round with them to get the new unit I paid for......(this is a Major parts supplier).........After the Dog and Pony show I still am waiting for a new unit........and time is getting short for the Power Tour.........So.......Saturday morning I couldn't sleep and I'm telling myself that this whole situation is getting so complicated I don't even understand what's going on anymore.......So......I decide to go back to basics again and start from the foundation again and pull the front tires off and Bleed the brakes again (for the 127th time)......They bled normal without any obvious air in the system, so I didn't think it would make any difference.......put everything back together and take the car out for a test ride............Bingo.........I guess there is a Brake God and he figured I was tortured enough..........Everything works perfectly..........Damm......That was hard......Hydro-Boost going back...........

I also got my Alarm system installed and changed the Oil and Filter today.........while under the car I noticed that the A/C compressor belt was eating itself up............I ended up talking to Stielow and we determined that the stretch to fit GM belt was not designed to be installed in a system like mine with a turn buckle arrangement for tensioning as they are designed to have a very defined tension..........So......Here we go again....trying to find an aftermarket belt that will fit........LOL.....I can hear it already........Sir......Year, Make, and Model of car please........So........I don't even try Advance Auto parts...........I drive over to NAPA and talk to a girl behind the counter and I explain my problem and what I'm looking for.........she comes back in a minute with a belt......Humm!!!!........I go home and 10 minutes later everything is installed and the car is running with Ice Cold A/C..........LOL.......Go Figure.........Power tour in starts in 11 days..........

So here's the $64 question ---- did ya bleed both sides of the big ass calipers starting with the passenger rear OUTSIDE bleeder valve first??


And ASSume you bench bled the MC before the install??


I've written before about my personal feelings of power vs Manual and that if the manual is working properly -- I don't understand the need for anyone to go to power... but maybe I just have brakes that work well. But regardless - I'm glad you got 'er solved!!


I think that Hydraboost thing is the ugliest brake system in the entire Universe... big ass hangin' booster -- and a bunch more plumbing. I don't get it at all. But that's just my personal opinion again. Maybe somebody loves the looks of all that crap hangin' off their firewall. Call me stupid what do I know. LOL

[kwhizz]

Yes and Yes!!!.............LOL

[kwhizz]

The Story continues.......Moral of the story..........one thing touches another and another and so on......LOL..... (But......We are very close).........When initially putting the driveline together........I had an issue where the driveshaft shop installed the rear universal with the grease fitting and bulged area for the fitting towards the rear of the car.......I didn't notice that the raised area of the joint was hitting against the threaded area of the pinion shaft where the nut is..........to go back in the process......I had the car raised up and sitting on jack stands on the frame.........so....I started the engine and added trans fluid .....when I put the car in gear to get the trans fluid pumped thru the trans.....the car scared the hell out of me as it almost shook itself off the stands......took me a while to find that interference issue......Pulled the driveshaft out and took it back and they put new universals in installed the correct way..........so.....Fast forward and as I was driving the car I had a slight rear end howl...........So .......we are leaving in 3 days for the Power Tour and last night I was thinking about how that rear end shook so violently at that time and the rear end howl.........Hummm!!!.......You know when you get that Knot in your stomach???...........Time is getting very short and this little mis-adventure was coming back to "Haunt" me.....So......I called Jimmy at Chassis Service (who did the rear originally) and asked him if he could put my mind at ease and check it out.......He laughed and said "You need it when"???...........Bottom line he fit me in this afternoon.........He just called me and said I was Lucky I didn't take the car the way it was as the bearings had started eating them selves and the Ring and Pinion were worn to a point of him not being comfortable with them...........So........He said he was on his way down to Strange Engineering to get all new parts and he would have it back together tomorrow afternoon.......Sheesh.........One little error by the driveshaft guy is now getting $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.............Cars...........LOL

On another note......I went to a little car show on Sunday and the original owner of the car who restored it was there and read me the "Riot" act for ruining his car...........It was an Interesting conversation to say the least........LOL

[GregWeld]

When you paid for the car - it became YOURS and not his... Who cares what he thinks. WE all think it's friggin' better than awesome!


Interesting that such a short run of the bassackwards zirc fitting would ruin bearings... I'm not understanding that scenario -- but, oh well.