...

Go Back   Lateral-g Forums > Lateral-G Open Discussions > Project Updates
User Name
Password



Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #231  
Old 04-22-2021, 10:29 AM
garage_engineer's Avatar
garage_engineer garage_engineer is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mass
Posts: 144
Thanks: 10
Thanked 40 Times in 26 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 69MyWay View Post
I love it!

Here is something cool (maybe) - My Dad was a GM brass hat back in the day. He also handled press cars for the media (1984-1986) in the N.E. Florida area.

He also got a new car every 5,000 miles or so from GM AND he bought one once a year on a special program.

In 1985...we had the very first IROC-Z off the trailer in Florida (production model). It was special order and purchase through his program for my Mom...AND, he also got a bright yellow one for his company car. We had a pair of IROC-Zs in the driveway for a few months in 1985. Hers was black with red interior.

One day while I was riding in the back, my dad thumped the throttle in traffic and ripped the tires...and leaned over and said...

"the muscle car is back...."

That made my day!

I got my driver permit and drove home at 15 years old...in that black Iroc-Z. I drove it a million miles in the garage listening to the radio and dreaming of being on the open road...when I was 15.

LOVE these cars....wish I had room and time for another. As much as I love the LS for many reasons...so glad to see the basic TPI (even with the ram you are installing) and L98 type V8 rocking between the strut towers.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cool story! Thanks for sharing... I've had a lot of people reach out to me saying how they always wanted an IROC in high school or when they were a kid. Seems like they had a big impact on a lot of people's hot rodding obsession!
Reply With Quote
  #232  
Old 04-22-2021, 10:30 AM
garage_engineer's Avatar
garage_engineer garage_engineer is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mass
Posts: 144
Thanks: 10
Thanked 40 Times in 26 Posts
Default

It seems like my updates are starting be on a monthly basis which is better than nothing.

The main focus the last few weeks has been dealing with a stubborn oil leak I was chasing all last year. I had oil dripping out of my bellhousing after a hard drive, and even some smoke coming up through the shifter hole after going full throttle from light to light. The starter was also coated in some oil. I am 90% sure the leak was coming from the back of the intake or a bad valve cover gasket but could never pinpoint it to a specific spot. I am changing my intake and will pay close attention to the seal on the rear china wall, but my OCD had me worrying about the rear main seal and if something was leaking there. I had put a fresh rear main seal on the engine last year, but maybe I had damaged it when trying to stab the input shaft into the pilot bearing? Anyway... out came the transmission just to be sure!





Everything looked ok when I got everything apart, and even the back of the flywheel was relatively dry. The only thing I noticed was the small gasket behind the seal carrier was a bit wet... which could have been contributing to the leak:



I replaced that seal along with a new rear main seal while I was in there. I hate oil leaks (and all leaks in general!) so hopefully now everything stays nice and dry:



So, onward with my Holley Terminator X install! I had sent my "universal" harness out to a member of the 3rd gen Camaro forum to modify it to integrate with the 3rd gen Camaro body harness. He typically does harnesses for people doing LS swaps, so we had to work through a few details to make the ECU work for my small block but I think we got all the details worked out. We went back and forth quite a bit on where I would be installing sensors, what inputs I wanted to use, where I wanted to mount the ECU and ignition box and he built the harness to my specs. I would highly recommend working with him for your harness needs, he was patient with all my questions and suggested a lot of good upgrades!

I just got the harness back last week and it looks great. Everything looks like it will plug in where it needs to go. To get my old harness out, I had removed a ton of stuff under the hood since I worked so hard to hide everything. Getting the new harness was the last piece of the puzzle I needed to start putting things back together as I again want to hide it as much as possible. What I had been doing in the meantime is mocking everything up on my workbench, ordering the parts I need for the intake install and generally trying to get ahead as much as I can. Sometimes this can be frustrating as it seems like I'm not getting anywhere, but it should pay off this weekend when I have a few hours to work on the car and parts can start flying on!



Hopefully I'll have some good progress to report at my next update... I should have all the parts I need to get it running again!
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to garage_engineer For This Useful Post:
Che70velle (04-23-2021)
  #233  
Old 04-22-2021, 12:41 PM
ScotI ScotI is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dallas TX
Posts: 623
Thanks: 68
Thanked 165 Times in 122 Posts
Default

All of the tedious & repetitive stuff can be frustrating but your outlook on the big picture is evident.

I think the hatred of oil/fluid leaks is pretty universal for the gearhead. They flat out suck when it requires removing 60% of underhood items to 'hopefully' fix the issue. If not, refer to the initial statement above.... The extra effort on the wiring should make things easier on the install/service end of the work.
Reply With Quote
  #234  
Old 04-23-2021, 08:16 AM
SSLance's Avatar
SSLance SSLance is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Peoria, AZ
Posts: 2,668
Thanks: 72
Thanked 337 Times in 211 Posts
Default

Good luck with the new parts installation... You are going to love that EFI setup once you get it dialed in. Hope you stopped the leak as well...
__________________
Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Reply With Quote
  #235  
Old 06-26-2021, 12:37 PM
garage_engineer's Avatar
garage_engineer garage_engineer is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mass
Posts: 144
Thanks: 10
Thanked 40 Times in 26 Posts
Default

Time for another update! I've been making some slow and steady progress since my last post.

The quick update - the car starts and runs! However, that revealed a few issues that I am now dealing with. The biggest issue is my hood doesn't fit with the new Holley Stealth Ram intake... more on that coming soon. Working hard to try and get some test miles on the car soon. Yet again one of my "winter" projects is now slipping into July. :doh: Gotta do it right though!

I spent a lot of time getting the new Holley wiring harness laid out where I wanted it, wrapped and hidden. Scooter did a great job walking me through the install and getting everything where it needed to go, I just needed to re-organize a couple of things to get it right where I wanted it. Perfection takes a lot of time! One new skillset I've been picking up through this process is using nice, factory-looking Weatherpak electrical connectors in my harness. For less than $100, I was able to grab a bunch of connectors and terminals off Amazon along with a decent set of crimpers. I definitely screwed up a few crimps, but I'm getting the hang of it. Super happy with the results, it looks really professional.

I didn't do a great job of taking pics so here is just a few highlights:

MSD coil mounted on the driver's fender well:


Adding a connector for the ignition box:



New custom made battery cables:


Added an oil temp sensor to the harness:


Fuel and oil pressure sensors mounted behind the intake so they're as hidden as possible:



For the fuel lines, I had 2 options. The stock third gen Camaro TPI fuel rails have the fuel enter and exit at the front of the intake. For the Stealth Ram, it's at the back. I could either reuse the stock hard lines and run an adapter the a flexible line all the way to the back of the intake, or cut the hard lines and run new flexible lines to the back of the intake. I chose to go the harder (and better looking) route of making new fuel lines.

Again, I did not do a great job of taking pics, but I cut the stock hard lines underneath the driver's door and used adapters and new flexible fuel hose from RedHorse performance. You can see the lines in the pictures above of the fuel and oil pressure sensors.



Lastly for today I also upgraded the fuel pump wiring while I was at it. The stock third gen wiring harness has a small 10ga (I think?) wire providing power to the pump so my new harness has a nice big 6ga wire going back there so there shouldn't be any drop in voltage. I just had to wire up a small jumper harness to make it work:


That's all for now, lots more updates coming!
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to garage_engineer For This Useful Post:
camcojb (06-26-2021), LS1-IROC (06-28-2021), Roscoe03 (06-27-2021)
  #236  
Old 07-04-2021, 10:42 AM
garage_engineer's Avatar
garage_engineer garage_engineer is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mass
Posts: 144
Thanks: 10
Thanked 40 Times in 26 Posts
Default

As I got ready to fire it up for the first time with the new Holley ECU, I plugged in my laptop and starting going through the setup procedure. It's a pretty straightforward process of answering some questions about your engine (size, firing order, injector type, etc). I ran into an issue on the step where you set your throttle position sensor. This needs to be completed succesfully before you can start the car. I kept getting an error:



I started digging a bit deeper into the issue and noticed my TPS sensor was not getting the required 5V... not good! This set off a 2-week debugging session trying to figure out why I wasn't getting 5 volts to sensor. Here's the quick version of how I figured out the issue:

1. I started at the ECU and back-probed the terminals that supply power and ground to the sensor to verify I had 5V there. All looked good:


2. Next, I pulled the wrap off the harness and found the junction where the power wire splits to supply 5V to all of the sensors on the engine. (The orange wire in the picture below.) Again, I could probe this and get 5 volts.


3. At this point I had all of the sensors unplugged from some other checks I had been doing. What I did next was start plugging in each sensor that gets power from this junction 1 by 1 and monitoring the voltage. With the just the TPS plugged in I was getting 5V now... hmmm. I then plugged in the fuel pressure sensor and the voltage dropped by 1.5V. Plugging the oil pressure sensor dropped it by another 1.5V!

4. Looking a little bit closer at the harness, it turned out that the power and ground and those 2 sensors was reversed, causing the big voltage drop on the whole sensor 5V circuit. Popping the terminals out of the connectors and putting them back in the proper place got me the right voltage to the TPS and let me calibrate it correctly:


Once the TPS is set, you can cycle the key and the fuel pump comes on to get the engine ready to start. I found a big fuel leak from the fuel rail and was able to trace it down to a damaged o-ring on one of my injectors. Other than having to take apart the whole fuel system that one was an easy fix!


FINALLY after all that I was able to try and start the car for real. And as luck would have it, it fired right up on the first try! The engine ran smooth and sounded good! I was pumped to hit this big milestone!!

I didn't let it run too far, because I noticed it was idling high and the IAC was reading at 100% (meaning it was fully closed and trying to reduce the idle speed.) No problem, I just need to turn down the idle screw on the throttle body and then let the system learn from there. Well, that turned out to not be so easy as the idle adjustment screw on the throttle body has seized and snapped in half when I went to turn it!




I am now trying to repair this screw, and I luckily have a backup throttle body I can try.

My other big issue is my hood won't close! This one is totally my fault... I should have checked this earlier in the process so I could have made some adjustments before getting the car running and then having to take it all apart again. I did research on installing a Stealth Ram into 3rd gen Camaros and some fit great, while others needed some work to fit. I tried trimming back the inner hood structure, but it didn't quite get me the clearance I needed. So, my options were:
1. Lower the motor - I have brand new poly engine mounts which tend to raise the engine a bit over stock (especially if your old mounts are rubber and sagging). I considered going to rubber mounts, or even solid ones if they dropped the engine a bit, but decided to try a simpler solution below first rather than tearing the whole front end apart.

2. Space the k-member down from the body using some spacers - With my focus on handling with this car, I decided to stay away from this one, even though it was relatively simple. With the strut front suspension on these cars, any spacing of the k-member will affect alignment and that's not something I wanted to get into.

3. Modify the intake - This is the option I am pursuing right now. Yes, it sucks to have to take apart a nice running engine right after you finally got it together but in the long run I think this is the easiest solution. The Stealth Ram fortunately has some areas where material can be removed and I'm hoping there's enough there to solve my problem.

My next update will hopefully be a success story with a hood that closes and perhaps a test drive! Here's a quick teaser pic:
Reply With Quote
  #237  
Old 07-17-2021, 03:55 PM
garage_engineer's Avatar
garage_engineer garage_engineer is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mass
Posts: 144
Thanks: 10
Thanked 40 Times in 26 Posts
Default

We got a closing hood! Took quite a bit of work and it's a very tight fit but I'm happy with the end result.

I had my intake machined at a local machine shop and was able to take about a 1/2" height out of it my removing material from the base and also removing the ribs on the top of the air box. Any more than that, and I would have started having issues with the throttle body hitting the fuel rails and water neck. I'll have to get the air box re-powercoated in the future but for now I just need to get some test miles on this thing!




With the intake modified, I still need to remove some of the inner structure from my hood to make everything fit. So I was cutting, and cutting some more, and cutting some more... and it ended up being a lot more than I thought! At some point in the future, my plan was to install some functional hood vents on the car and since I already had the cut off wheel out, I bit the bullet and ordered a set from Trackspec Motorsports. The install was relatively straightforward with the templates they provide, it just took quite a bit of time to fine tune everything with the grinder and flap disk to get ill the cut edges nice and smooth to look like a pro install. I also had to trim back some of the fins to clear the intake and also the throttle linkage... don't want that getting caught up!

First take the old louver off:
[url=ht

Tape down the template after measuring and checking a few times:


Then cut it up!


Here you can see just how close everything is:


Once I was happy with the fit and all the cut edges were deburred and smoothed up, I painted the underside of the hood so it would all match up:


Final install... I love the look and should really help with underhood cooling:


Here's all the metal I had to remove... a good weight reduction up high on the front end!


Once that was settled I could finally go on a test drive. The first start of the car was uneventful and it fired right up! Everything looked good in terms of the gauges and vitals, and no fuel, oil or coolant was leaking. You can also lock out the timing and verify it with a timing light to make sure everything is where it should be. Fuel pressure is also easy to set using the sensor. Everything checked out so I ventured out on my first test drive. Obligatory gas station pic:


Everything felt pretty good on the test drive except for a couple of small things: the throttle was hanging up a bit (revs wouldn't drop immediately and I put the clutch in) and the idle was high. I had a high idle with my old ECU, but trying to fix it was a guessing game. With the Holley ECU, it's awesome to be able to plug in your laptop to see what's going on and actually fix the problem.


Turned out I had a big vacuum leak coming from my intake manifold. Turning the idle adjustment screw on the throttle body all the way closed and having it still idle at 900+ rpm turned out to be the giveaway. I found the leak between the intake base and the air box... I must have damaged it when I was shifting things during the installation. Next time I may use a gasket adhesive here:


Unfortunately it's taking a few days for the gaskets arrive so I can't get back to test driving but they should be here soon. In the meantime, I'm working on getting my interior back together and cleaning up this mess:


Pumped to be so close to having a running and driving car again! First autocross is next weekend!
Reply With Quote
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to garage_engineer For This Useful Post:
camcojb (07-17-2021), dhutton (07-18-2021), Roscoe03 (07-17-2021)
  #238  
Old 07-17-2021, 04:03 PM
ScotI ScotI is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dallas TX
Posts: 623
Thanks: 68
Thanked 165 Times in 122 Posts
Default

This build keeps getting better. As it does, I like it more & more (and I already had a thing for these Black & Red versions).
Reply With Quote
  #239  
Old 07-17-2021, 10:40 PM
Roscoe03 Roscoe03 is offline
Lateral-g Supporting Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Texas
Posts: 102
Thanks: 1,804
Thanked 28 Times in 24 Posts
Default

Your car is looking great! I dig the stance with those wheels.
Reply With Quote
  #240  
Old 07-18-2021, 08:31 AM
68454RS's Avatar
68454RS 68454RS is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Huntington Indiana
Posts: 263
Thanks: 203
Thanked 201 Times in 96 Posts
Default

I absolutely love this car
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright Lateral-g.net