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LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
You will really like having hp tuners. I picked it before I had mine running, but it was definitely one the best things i purchased for the car. And your car is coming along nicely.
Thank you! I'm about 3 hours away from building the booth and getting started on painting!
So, it was supposed to arrive yesterday, but my mailman is a scumbag-POS and never actually gets out of his truck to deliver boxes... he just leaves the stupid little cards saying "We missed you!", even though I was home all day... so now, one of my kids has to go get it from the Post Office.. grr
I'm glad people are actually looking into this, btw! Thanks for your input!
The laptop I've got that'll be the dedicated tuning platform had an issue with Windows 8.... okay, *I* had an issue with Windows 8... anyway, it was running like crap, and needed a refresh so reinstalled XP on it to use less resources, and will be updating drivers and installing the software later tonight.
Booth is getting built tonight as we finished up block-sanding the body last night, and I should be shooting primer tomorrow or early morning Saturday with the goal of having it painted by Sunday (hopefully). Then, we just have to shoot the hood, side skirts, mirrors, and gas door separately and on to reassembly! Then I get to drive it again and start playing with HP Tuners!
let the fun begin! im by no means a tuning expert, but if you need any help getting hp tuners set up or have any questions let me know and ill do my best to help you out with it.
I appreciate it! I'm sure I'll have tons of questions. lol
Laptop took a dump on me. Wouldn't let me install any new drivers so that's finished. Not to mention the battery wouldn't hold a charge. So, getting a new(ish) mini one on Friday.
I GROSSLY underestimated the time needed to build the booth. Ended up taking 9 hours . Had some structural issues I had to mend, and having your arms above your head for hours on end seems to take its toll.. who knew, right? Sigh. On top of that, when we started to shoot the primer Sunday morning, the brand new gun, that was all prepped, suddenly sprouted a HUGE leak from the trigger area... enough to where it splattered on the nose... fuuuuuu Only 3 drops, but damn it I didn't need that happening. The nose area that got sprayed came out pretty good, so hopefully the warrantied gun works...
Of course, I have to wait out this HUGE storm system rolling through Texas, which means at least another week before I can shoot again. Woo!
The red spots you see are spot putty to fill in spots I hadn't seen when I did the bodywork. Sanded the primer last night and it's pretty much ready for paint. Have 1 more small spot to do on the nose I just found, but Saturday is the day! Edit: If you notice the fenders being slightly off, it's because they are. I didn't bolt them down as I didn't want to put the bolts through the plastic that's over the engine bay, as well as I have a feeling I'm going to have to pull them off later.
If you look in the last pic, you can kinda see the booth I built. I'll try to take a better picture later. Worked pretty well, honestly. 3 intake fans with filters, 3 exhaust fans with filters. Couldn't really tell inside the garage that I had just primered. Fumes were pretty minimal.
Also grabbed a mini laptop from a pawnshop for cheap to run HP Tuners. Managed to guess the password, wipe the previous owners info off it, and got my stuff set up. Downloaded a stock LS1 tune to start playing around with it while I wait for the weather to clear up enough to paint. Really liking the interface... very user friendly.
Well, after many setbacks, I've finally painted the car with it's final coat. I painted it initially 2 weeks ago, but I had some serious issues pop up. Started laying the paint on the nose, and it was going on well, but then I brushed a wall and primer flakes fell into the paint, and it went all downhill from there. Fisheyes everywhere, orange peel, mottled look. Was a very bad weekend. Ended up sanding the whole car down (including 9 straight hours last Saturday) a total of 20 hours, and tore all the walls down off the booth, and rebuilt it from bottom up.
Sprayed this Saturday and it came out a LOT better. Still not a perfect paint job, but better than before. I'd say 85% of it is smooth. The roof was a nightmare and I know I didn't do it right, but I suppose I can live with it. Unlike last time where I had 3-4 runs, this time I only had 1, and it was on the final coat. But, it seems it flattened itself out as it cured. It was right on the fender crease on the D/S fender, so I can remove it and redo it if necessary. We'll see in the daylight.
I have to order one more gallon of paint as we ran out after 2 coats and I still need to do the hood, skirts, mirrors, and gas door, as well as do touch-ups, inner fenders and a few other areas.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. No training, no real guidance, $90 spray gun, and having never painted a car before (and learning on Satin, which I'm told is the hardest paint to do, followed closely by metallics)... I'd say it's a 7.5/10. Need to get this done so I can get back on track with the Swap stuff (TUNING!!!)
Sucks man, it is tough to clean up all your mess from body work before spraying. I usually staple up some plastic sheet on the walls, and then hose everything down so if there is dust it will be wet dust and stay on the floor.
Sucks man, it is tough to clean up all your mess from body work before spraying. I usually staple up some plastic sheet on the walls, and then hose everything down so if there is dust it will be wet dust and stay on the floor.
Unfortunately, even with putting up extra sheets of plastic over the existing walls, and wetting it down it didn't make a difference. Live and learn. Spent less time rebuilding the damn booth than I did sanding the car afterward lol.
The booth is 19.5 feet, by 10.5 feet, by 7 feet tall. I wish I could have had an an extra 2 feet in length, and 2 feet in width, but my garage dimensions were already pushing it. Still, the booth worked out pretty great... even if I had to push and pull the car all over to have space to paint lol. Once I get the car out of the garage, I'll take pictures of the setup I used. It won't be until this weekend though, as I want to make sure it cures perfect, and I still need to do the other parts.
I've learned quite a bit with this experience. It's absolutely not something I would do all the time, but now that I've done it I can be happy knowing I am capable of doing more than just mechanical stuff.
Thank you! I'm no stranger to adversity when it comes to whatever I'm working on. lol Always something.
Okay, so I relented and opened up the booth and pulled the car out last night while the sun was still out to take a look in natural sunlight. Observations include:
1. Total of 3 runs that I could find. The one on the fender is pretty much invisible at this point. I have 2 on the rear bumper near each corner that I didn't see. You have to be at a specific angle to actually see them though.
2. The roof is most definitely the worst part. I tried multiple different ways to paint it, but it still has lines, and my bodywork up there is somewhat... lacking.
3. Driver side door is somewhat wavy when you look at it from a specific angle. Not much I can do, considering from the body line down it is almost all bondo (as I found out the hard way).
4. There is still some texture, but it's not as bad as it was. If I had had another gallon of paint on hand to do a third coat, it probably would have smoothed out a lot more.
5. The nose came out pretty decent, considering it's past. Pretty happy with it.
All in all, for a first time painting a car, I'd say it's not bad. To see where I messed things up requires weird angles, I'll be generous and give it a 7/10. 5-footer paint job. There are some things I would like to be better, but at this point I'm worn out from all of the work and am ready to finish the small bits and move on. It's still way better than the faded/cracked clear coat/chipped/worn out factory paint.
I have a video of me walking around talking about it while it idles. I don't know if any of you would want to see it, but if you do let me know and I'll post it.
Some pics of my booth setup, as well as how tight it is in the garage.
Final 2 pictures show how cramped my garage is right now. Had to stuff everything I could on the right side, and I placed the booth as far over as I could. I'll be ready to take this thing down so I can rearrange my space again.
So, I made a video showing the car idling and the paint. I'm speaking in it, so if you don't want to hear me then mute lol. I... point out the flaws I found, and my wife told me to shut up and not do that as most people wouldn't see them. LOL! I know they are there, and I don't think I'm being hard on myself considering this is the first time I've painted a car.
Work is going slow. Weather has been completely unruly and not conducive for painting. I got the mirrors and side skirts done, although they aren't as satin as the rest of the car. In fact, they are a lot deeper black, but I installed them anyway, and if I don't like the contrast, I'll remove and try again later. Gas door got a coat, but it ran due to humidity so I've got to sand and try again. Hood has been waiting patiently, but the humidity has been over 60% the past couple of weeks, and I'm not wasting paint to try to get it to lay down right. It's suppose to rain/be over 70% humidity the next 10 days at least, so... I've just got to wait.
So, I've been puttering on the car, working on things, reinstalling stuff bit by bit. Fenders all bolted up cleanly, lights going in tonight. I really need to clean the engine bay, and install my A/C delete blower box. Interior is still on hold to be dyed because... rain. Also, have to install the weatherstripping and that's going to be fun.
Going to try to make it legal to drive (lights front and back, and wipers back on. Legal to drive without a hood in TX) by next week, so I can at least start data-logging to see some of my issues. I just ordered 42lb Bosch injectors yesterday, so I should theoretically be able to bump my redline up and have some serious fun. We'll see.
Car sounds/looks good man. Normally you can wetsand and buff out most of the stuff your pointing out, but not sure if there is a process with Satin where it wont change the appearance. No biggie either way. My car had a few flaws after I painted it, but I did it myself, and I'm not going to point them out
Sadly, you can't really do anything about it unless you repaint the whole thing after sanding. And with satin, it's really hard to blend. So, it is what it is. The fact that you can't really tell without looking via weird angles is comforting. Plus, it's still 1000 times better than the bad factory paint. So, I'm fine with it.
Edit: Not only that, I'm done with sanding lol. I've put in over 40 hours doing it, and after the last round I said screw it. The paint lies, as the paint lies. The only crappy part is I still have to sand the hood. But, I can deal with maybe another hour or two... not 10+
Car is coming together bit by bit. Finally had some decent-enough weather to paint the hood and gas door (again). Still didn't come out the greatest due to it being breezy and sending trash into the paint over and over... not horrible though.. hard to see anything bad in it (love this paint). I'm not overly concerned anyway since I plan to get a different hood later on.
Tonight's plan includes: Hood is going on, putting the front turn signals in, and working on interior panels, as well as cleaning the engine bay! Decided to hold off on swapping the injectors until after next weekend as I have a big Third gen roundup going on Saturday, and I don't want to have issues with tuning prior. Won't have enough time to do decent driving and data-logging beforehand.
Found out my fiberglass AC delete box won't work... after I started drilling holes. It's meant for a Non-ac blower motor/fan, and I really do NOT want to have to go through the hassle of rewiring the harness, and get a different motor. So, it's going up for sale (much cheaper than what I paid for it.. darn inflation) and I'll be buying the correct delete box meant for use with the factory fan. It was a good thing I was working on it though, as I found out the loom on my harness was melting due to contact with the heads. I've started to rearrange it, but I may end up having to pull it off and move it around that way... but, I hope not.
I've ordered the wheels I'm going with, and I get one of them tonight! Can't wait to see it. Wheels and tires will hopefully be on the car before next weekend! Also picking up an aluminum driveshaft for a good price Saturday afternoon with good u-joints, which has me happy!
What I'm not happy about is I found out my driver door edge is catching on the fender lip and has already removed paint!! Which means now I have to figure out why and try to adjust it. And hope I can do a touch-up job that's not noticeable!
I should hopefully have some fresh pics next week and I'm really looking forward to get tuning!
So, I put the box in for the time being to clean up the holes, and be somewhere I can stuff the extra wiring while I wait to get the money together to get the correct box.
Got the door situation figured out. I unbolted the fender, and then I pulled it forward as much as I could and had someone else tighten the bolts down. Worked perfect. No more contact with the door.
Had to pass on the drive shaft for now due to lack of funds, but hopefully I'll be able to grab it in 2 weeks.
Now, to updates!
Old and busted (not really)
New hotness
Swapped all of the studs to the longer ARP ones. Took me about 2 hours to do all of the studs. 5lb sledge, a lot of swinging, and then using the impact, anti-seize, a lot of washers and wheel bearing grease, and elbow grease and all of them were done. I froze the bolts for about 6 hours prior to help with install. No real hang ups, except the driver side axle was a giant pain in the rear for some reason. Also got all new, longer open ended lug nuts.
I'm not going to show the wheels off just yet (only had one with tire.. others actually got done earlier today, but I'm at work), so I'm going to be a tease and just show the tire lol.
That's my wife's hand for comparison lol. 295's on the back, although now that I see how little over hang there is on the rim, I could have easily gone 305 or 315. But, this is what I have for now. Honestly, didn't require any real modification on the inner fender well, but I did it anyway. Massaging with a BFH is kinda therapeutic lol.
The other 3 tires should be installed tonight, and I almost have the interior finished. Weather has turned really crappy, so I probably won't have pictures until Thursday, if not this weekend. And, now I get to play with HPTuners... FINALLY!
Well, Saturday was the annual NTTGA Third Gen Round up, and I managed to get the car ready enough to go... and also got a great debut shot of the car!
We went to an 1/8th mile track after the meet up, and I learned a few things.
1. Definitely need to get me some slicks if I want to do any more straight-lines.
2. If I could actually get the tires to hook, it would be pretty quick.
3. Need to streamline the tune (and put the bigger injectors in ASAP).
Best time was 9.4 at 79 mph. Spun through first again, although I adjusted my approach and didn't spin all the way to 3rd gear like the first 2 runs.
Very true sir! And before I spend money on rims/slicks, I've decided what I really need to do is get on that rear suspension setup. So, the wife and I are planning out the next part which consists of SFC's, adjustable torque arm, LCA's, LCARB's, and adjustable Panhard bar.
I think the suspension goodies will make a world of difference for it. The only thing id suggest is when you get the rear pan hard bar, get one that is on the car adjustable. I didnt because I was trying to save a few bucks and really wish i had gotten one.
Oh, it definitely will! And I've set my mind on the Founders kits, but I'll double check to make sure.
As for the latest happenings, I've had 2 alignments in the past 3 weeks. Both of them, I've overseen and made sure they came out within spec. The reason why I've had 2? Within 2-3 miles, the steering gets extremely sloppy again. Makes driving a workout instead of being fun, and really isn't safe... especially on the roads here in TX. As shown earlier in this thread, I had replaced almost all of the steering components, except for 3.
Steering gear: I've adjusted my steering gear multiple times over the years, and I really am not comfortable in doing it any more as I'm sure I'll start stripping the worm gear inside. So, I ordered up a 12.1:1 ratio box to replace it. 2.5 turns lock to lock will definitely help with the response, and make it more enjoyable.
Lower shaft bearing upgrade kit: When I took my steering shaft out to move the brake lines closer to the frame, I look the lower bushing over but didn't really know what I was looking at, so I put it back in. Well, I ordered the upgrade and that will DEFINITELY help with any play that I've got at the end of the column.
Steering shaft: Same as above. Didn't really know what I was looking at. I was going to wait to do this until after I get the new box in and feel it, but I decided I didn't want to put it back on, then remove it again later as it's not quite as easy to remove with the engine in the car. Upon further inspection last night, I realized that my rag joint was the culprit for my horrible steering. Had my wife help me last night, and she turned the steering wheel side to side to where it started moving the tires, and holy moly... almost a full 90 degree's each way before it caught, and when I got down into the bay and looked at the rag joint, it was twisting almost as much before catching! No bueno. So, I pulled the shaft out and took a closer look and the whole thing is just fried. I could spin the rag joint end by hand with no effort and the upper ball joint near the column was completely torn up.
So, got the box from Rockauto for $125, got a rebuilt Astro shaft from a guy off these forums (he cleans, paints, and reclocks the one end and sets it up for near drop-in) for $70 shipped, and a bearing kit for $39. All in all, should completely fix my problem and let me get back to having fun again.!
Yeah founders makes some good stuff for the price. I may have to look into doing the same with my steering because ive had some odd issues with it to. Let us know ever you think after you get the steering box and shaft in.
I've meant for some time to checkout your build thread. Tonight I sat down and poured over the whole thing. It's really impressive the hardships that you've overcome with the build. The most discouraging thing in car crafting is to do you absolute best on something and have it fail. Coming back from that is what separates us from wanna-bes. Kudos to you.
Also: that car looks DOPE. I always liked the satin / primer look, and that car just came out awesome, especially with those rims.
Thank you! That means a lot. The way I look at it, each setback is an opportunity for someone else to not make the same mistakes I did, as long as I document it. I've learned a lot about this car, and myself, over the past year and a half. Still more to go! lol
Got the steering box swapped out on Saturday. Ended up having to make 2 trips to the store as the first pitman puller I rented required beating on it with a hammer to get it loose. No sir. 5 minutes of that and I took it back and bought the other style. 30 seconds with the impact and off it came. Steer shaft and bearing should be here today or tomorrow, so reviews coming soon!
Got the rest of my interior back in, finally. Headliner and trim pieces were all that was left, really. Still need to pull the door panels back off so that I can adjust the windows some more. On the look out for a good set of ebony 4th gen seats, as I still have my original driver seat in red fabric, and the passenger seat that was redone by a friend... well, needs to be redone again.
For the headliner, it was pulled by a junkyard out of a nice late 90/91 trans am. I got it, and the 4th gen seats out of it for $150 I think. However, when they pulled the headliner out, they weren't careful and ripped 2 of the metal brackets in the front out, and tore up 1 of the "ears" on the D/S where the seat belt goes through. So, with a little bit of "screw it", I gorilla-glued the metal clips in place, and found a suitable reinforcement bar to fix the "ear". That bar was a foot long ruler that I bent to take on the shape needed lol. See below.
It's not pretty, but it IS effective. Underside looks bad, but it's in much better shape than my original. One day, I'll get a proper one redone. This will work for now.
Finally got it dialed in almost 100%. Got the shaft and bearing in on Monday (WAY quick... since they both shipped out last Friday) and when I got home, I got to work.
Grinding with the engine in the car isn't impossible, but it isn't a walk in the park either. Ended up having to use my dremel with multiple diamond-tipped discs to get the notch in the lower end of the column done.
This is mostly done. Ended up having to cut a little deeper, and wider to make it work. No biggie though. Just time-consuming. And yes, I cleaned all of that gunk off afterward lol. This also still shows the original lower shaft bushing.
Next, I swapped out the bushing for the bearing. Still not AS tight in there as I'd like, but it's really not bad. Far less play. The old bushing was pretty beat up and worn. See below.
Couple shots of the new bearing. Please forgive the blurriness as I was dripping with sweat and wanted to hurry up and finish. lol
Really, really easy install. Would recommend it to anyone.
And finally, new steering shaft. Quality, quality work. I tested the u-joints in all directions before I installed it and found 0 play, all smooth rotation and I feel it was totally worth the money. Guy knows his stuff!
Everything installed. Forgive the mess of the bay. The grinding and horrible weather we've had lately hasn't been kind to the bay, but I'll be cleaning it all up soon.
After I got it all installed, I was eager and not thinking and tried to drive it and discovered there was no powered assist. Got really irritated trying to figure it out, when it dawned on me that I hadn't bled the system yet. Doh! /facepalm So, up in the air she went again, and I went lock to lock with the engine running a good 25 times. Fluid was still milky, but definitely not as bad. I let it sit for a day, repeated, and now all's well.
I have a little more adjusting to do to the gear as it still has a slight bit of play in it, and the alignment is out again (I shimmed the rest of the lower steering components, plus all new box etc.), but I took it out last night and OMG what a difference. Even with the toe being way out, it still drove straight and almost required no effort from me! Halle-frickin-lujah!
Not a whole lot going on in my LS world right now. Been stuck on fixing all the other 3rd gens in my life lol... My step-daughter bought a 91 305 that needs some work... but runs/drives. And my youngest bro bought an 89 that.. well, it drove home. But, after doing a complete tune-up/overhaul of it, decided it didn't want to live past driving 15 miles and I've been building a 350 for it instead. Been a long time since I've messed with a SBC, but we're almost done with it now; just need to hook everything up now that it is in the engine bay.
As for V, I've had some set backs. Finally broke down and bought the $250 tuning DVD from Summit. I'm glad I did, because it has a TON of info, although I'm not fond of the fact he does all of the tuning on a steady state dyno. Going to have to figure out how to do it without renting a dyno as I'm already way over budget on this. Also, now that I know how it's supposed to be done, I'm even more pissed that I got screwed over by the guy I gave $450 to tune the car... waste of time, money, and air! Sigh. "Stock LS1 tune was pretty close, so I just had to tweak it" my ***! lol
Once I get the other cars buttoned up, I can swap injectors and dive in. Need to watch the DVD again so I can make notes, as well as borrow or buy a wideband. Really going to need one of those.
Only other thing I'm working on is swapping in the correct A/C delete box. The one I ordered that takes the stock A/C blower motor doesn't fit, of course. Corner doesn't squeeze past the ground bolt on the head, which means even more modification is needed beyond drilling holes for the blower/resistor. I already painted the dern thing too! Now I get to learn how to fiberglass. lol
No pictures just yet, but I finally got done with the A/C delete box. What a PITA!
Not designed for LS swaps at all, even though it was advertised as such. Bottom corner of the box ended up catching on the ground bolt in the back of the passenger head, as well as having a hard time fitting into the compartment at all... had to remove the coils, and valve cover just to install it! Of course, I found all this out after I painted the darn thing. Dumb me. Proceed into my first fiberglassing experience!
Long story short, I used a halved toilet paper roll as a mold, and then cut a slot into the corner of the box so that it could seat easily behind the head, and still bolt up. Seems to be holding up perfectly, but isn't overly pretty. I did run into an issue where the blower motor wasn't EXACTLY lined up with the rimmed hole in the firewall, and was scraping/forcing the hamster cage against it... so out came the box, grabbed the dremel and proceeded to cut the rim/edge off. Cleaned it all up, seated the box back on, and voila! I have air again!. Now... NOW I can finally move on once I button it all up. I'm ready to tune this damn thing!
Got my WB ordered! Will be here on Sunday. Hopefully, next week will be the week I can finally start tuning this monster!
Went with AEM (30-4110) UEGO Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge with Bosch's latest 4.9 sensor included. $178 on Amazon, free two-day shipping. Can't beat it! Going to just swap out the D/S sensor for the idle tuning, and look into getting the bung welded on, but probably not. Won't have a permanent WB until the turbo build.
Finally got around to installing my new 42lb injectors. Been meaning to do it for a while, but... side tracked. Anyway, got that install done, and pulled the tune to start messing with it. Lo and behold, what do I find? I find the reason (partially, anyway) why I was running so damn rich all the time. Turns out the guy I paid a lot of money to tune the car either accidentally, or on purpose, put the lb p/hr numbers in the gram p/sec tables. So, instead of having maybe 3.1 grams per second of flow, it was reading it as 31.5 grams per second of flow. I'm amazed the damn thing even ran, let alone drove decently. smh.
Got all of that fixed. All of the injector tables are calibrated properly. Going to burn it to the ECM tonight and see how it starts up. Also raised the rev limited up to 7k. Still need to do a MAF calibration to make sure the PCM is reading that correctly, as well as get the wide band set up. Then, it's just drive!
Also, finally got my windows adjusted properly and sealed up my roof rail weatherstripping. Since I got the windows adjusted right, I could finally try the idea I read about in regards to the moisture barrier. I could have forked over the $30 to hawks for the set of precuts, but no. Instead, I went and got a thick shower curtain that was mold/mildew resistant, used 3M strip caulk, and cut to fit. 1 shower curtain was enough to do both doors. Didn't take pictures last night since my hands were messy, but I'll update with pictures tonight. Seems to seal up pretty good, and will come right off if I need to access anything behind it.
I'm glad I didn't have them in there... that would have washed the motor!
I went with Bosch green tops. Got a really good deal on them, otherwise I wouldn't have upgraded as I will eventually need 80-100 lb injectors with the turbo's. I don't like spending money on temporary solutions, but I figured I can just throw these in the wife's car after I swap it lol.
As for that question, depends. The 4.8 has a much shorter stroke, so it's fully capable of being a high revving motor. My cam's power band is 2200-7200, and I can attest to not having any power drop off towards the higher end. The limit before was 6100, so this should definite bump me up some. Only thing holding me back was the stock LS1/LS6 injectors (and a guy who couldn't apparently tune properly). Once I'm comfortable with how it feels, I'll probably up it to 7200 just for S&G's.
Got my WB ordered! Will be here on Sunday. Hopefully, next week will be the week I can finally start tuning this monster!
Went with AEM (30-4110) UEGO Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge with Bosch's latest 4.9 sensor included. $178 on Amazon, free two-day shipping. Can't beat it! Going to just swap out the D/S sensor for the idle tuning, and look into getting the bung welded on, but probably not. Won't have a permanent WB until the turbo build.
Have you had a chance to hook up the wideband and use it yet? Just curious what you think about if you have. Im getting ready to get one myself and this is one of the widebands I am considering picking up. Figured since my motor is being rebuilt I might as well be able to tune it correctly when its running again.
Have you had a chance to hook up the wideband and use it yet? Just curious what you think about if you have. Im getting ready to get one myself and this is one of the widebands I am considering picking up. Figured since my motor is being rebuilt I might as well be able to tune it correctly when its running again.
I have not, actually. Been busy with a lot of other car stuff/house projects. I need to get it wired up for mobility first, then make the parameters in HPtuners for logging. Then, I can install it and go from there. lol.
I did, however, load up the tune and fired the car up last night. Idles WAY, WAY, WAY better. Still rich, but that's probably due to the MAF not being calibrated properly. However, it's definitely not as rich as it used to be. After 10 minutes of idling, the LFT's went from -20% to -7%. I also raised the idle up to 850, just to see how well it did, and it held it like a champ so I'll drop it down 25 and see how well it does there.
One of the things I noticed in comparison to before, was that with the other tune/injectors, if I revved it up and let off, as the rpm's dropped it would stumble and almost stall itself out before catching, and would seesaw back and forth for a short period before finally becoming stable. With the new injector data, and minor adjustments I did, it had 0 issues with coming down off of revving up. More testing needs to be done to confirm it's going to stay good, but I consider this a win for my first foray into tuning.
Quick pic of my green tops. Please forgive the myriad and abundant wires in the way. One day, I'll clean it up lol
Also, pictures of my moisture barrier. It's not exactly pretty, but it's not supposed to be. It's going under the door panel after all.
Showing the strip caulk.
Blurry, but still legible. I have 2 boxes of the stuff thanks to thinking I lost the first one I bought. Didn't even use up one box, so I have a lot leftover for every other car that I do. lol
Today marks the 1 year anniversary since my first 4.8 blew up. Kinda crazy it's been a year already. A lot has happened/changed since then... Ah, memories.
Now, on to the fun! (I PROMISE I will update this post with pictures when I get home)
Finally finished re-dying the door panels (the red carpet was faded as opposed to the brighter red handles themselves), and got them fixed/installed. I didn't take pictures of the process, so for that I'm sorry. But, here's what I did. As with all Thirdgen panels that are old, the cardboard up at the top where the top trim piece is "bolted" on by inverted lock nuts, the cardboard ripped. On both panels. In every... single...slot. lol. So, because I already have some damage on the back, and because time, what I did was take some large craft sticks and I trimmed them down. Cut the rounded ends off, and split the sticks in half. Then, I made each area damp, and gorilla-glued the sticks to the cardboard backing. One on bottom, and one up at the top to give it structural support. Let cure, and voila! Screw the nuts down on the trim piece until they were pressed into the wood, and install! Doesn't seem strong, but it held with me moving it around with ease!
On to the nitty-gritty: I have a LOT more reading/studying/learning to do with tuning. Broke down, and on Saturday I took the car to the shop that did my cheap exhaust setup and had them weld a bung near the collector on the driver side. Installed the wideband, made sure all of my parameters were set, and started logging idle for MAF calibration. Trying to find the AFR error, because the AEM doesn't do Lambda.. go figure (makes it WAY harder, fyi). Spent 3 hours Sunday fiddling with it, going back and forth and all I ended up doing was setting it back to what it was before I messed with it because NOTHING I did made it run better. Kept getting worse and worse, no matter which direction on the spectrum I went.
I had an engagement that evening, so I drilled a hole in the pinch weld for the connector to lock into, looped the cables up over the mirror and then over the column and started logging as well as watching the AFR gauge. Wouldn't you know it... the whole 30 miles up there it was keeping a pretty steady Stoich, except for when I went WOT of course. Anyway, I need to change my approach and start on the VE tables before I move to MAF. It's not running as rich as before, and throttle response is WAY better, but I know it needs to be fine-tuned. As I said, I need to read, read, read. lol
Getting the tint redone tonight/tomorrow. I decided to save myself some money and remove it all myself. Well, kinda. After removing all of the tint on the hatch, and scraping glue for an hour, I threw in the towel and I'll pay a little extra to have them finish it. The angles SUCK! Worth it to get rid of the bubbling, awful look.
Taking her on her first long distance road trip this weekend. Driving down to Austin and back, so should be a good 450-550 miles in one go. Kinda nervous, but not really. Mainly, just concerned with what my mileage is going to be. Going to bring along my laptop and logging equipment so I can mess with it some while my wife does her thing.
I've been a horrible person and not updated with pictures like I said I would, and you who follow have my apologies!
But! I want to comment on my road trip. Because it was pretty damn great!
Drove down to Austin, and got about 23-24 MPG. Mostly cruising, but towards the end I had a Hemi Challenger messing with us, and my wife turned to me and told me to smoke him.. so I did lol. Fast forward to the return trip, and I got 27.6 MPG! That's while still throwing rich codes (after about 180 miles into the trip back), and also while going WAY over the speed limit. I thought we were cruising at 75 (speed limit) the majority of the way, but I had a feeling so I activated my GPS speedo on my phone and found out it's off by 11... we were going 86! How I didn't get pulled over by the troopers along the way, I don't know... but, I was getting 27+ !!! Can't even tell you how happy that makes me.
With more tuning, and smoothing of the fuel tables, and fixing the speedo and cruising the speed limit, I think I can expect over 30mpg with this setup.
Thanks! It was spot on before, but when I was messing with the tune, I probably adjusted some values wrong. All I have to do is go back in and fix whatever it was I did lol. Probably gear ratio/tire sizes. I noticed the previous guy set my ratio at 3.41, and I think I changed it to 3.73 since that's what I've got. Minor fixes.
Thanks, I just checked mine it has a small amount of play. Not what I would consider really bad but I don't know what would be considered bad. I will remove it this weekend and look at it since everything is out of the engine bay it is easy to get to.
How have you liked the Rock auto steering box? I'm going to have to replace mine soon. Amazingly, I don't have any play in the shaft, but plenty in the box. It's getting tedious herding this thing down the road.
Glad you've persevered through all the setbacks, amazing the mileage you're getting too.
I have absolutely zero complaints! Very responsive, doesn't take much effort to go lock-to-lock. I still have just a little bit of play in it, but apparently it's common with reman units. I just haven't gotten around to tightening it yet. But, I don't wander the road anymore, so plus!
Thanks! I don't give up easily... my wife and mother agree that if I went up against a mule, I'd win. lol
Got my Founder's Adjustable LCA's and Panhard bar kit, and my GC weight jacks installed. Went with 850 lb/in up front, and 175 lb/in in the back for now after talking with Tech support for a bit. I'll probably end up going with stiffer springs later on after the turbo's, but for now this will do.
I didn't get a before pic because I had the battery out and wanted to get to work, but this pic right here really shows how high it was sitting. Side note: entered a car show my work put on and got first place in my category Pre-94 Camaro's (whoo), but sitting next to the other cars really showed me just how high off the ground V was.
Here's where she sits now. Stock measurements before were 28 inches in front, 29.5 inches in back from ground to fender lip. After adjusting, I set the front at 26.5 inches, and the back at just a hair below 27.5. Driving the car around settled it some, and now the front is at 26 inches, and the back hasn't changed.
Before driving
Front
Showing my pipe clearance at the lowest point. Shockingly, the only time I scraped was exiting my alleyway. I drove it around on some of our really bumpy roads, and not a single issue. A LOT stiffer than 24 year old stock springs, but surprisingly a lot more comfortable. Really hugs the road a lot better. And before anyone says anything, these pipes are just a temporary solution until I build my turbo setup. I didn't want to spend a ton on exhaust to not be able to use it, but it's a moot point anyway as I'm ordering my SFC's next week and I have no clue if these will even work with them.
Panhard bar.
LCA's
Relocation brackets. These were the only thing I had issues with. The rest of the kit is gorgeous, but these brackets were just off. Probably my car and not Founders, but the hole where the shock mounts through was WAY off as compared to the rear end. I had to grind, drill, dremel the holes out a bunch to be able to actually fit the shock through it. Minor inconvenience at this point.
With my getting my SFC's and tubular torque arm ordered next week, I am done with my suspension mods. Need to get an alignment this week to make sure I've got the rear lined up, and the front set up right and I should be good! Only other things after this are saving up for the 9" rear, and brake upgrades... then on to turbo's (kinda).
Ha! Sir, I'll have you know I've been a member of that club since my 79 Camaro days when I had side pipes lol.
Before I went to the bigger wheels, I scraped these pipes on every dip I went over. Bottoms are flattened and pretty gnarly. With the bigger wheels, I stopped scraping... that is, until I went with the weight jacks! haha.
Either way, I don't care as long as it's just the pipes. I think this is stiff enough I'd have to hit a pretty good bump/dip at a good clip to be able to really scrape the pipes. They are stiff enough I doubt the k-member will every touch anything.
Also, thanks! I REALLY like the look now. Before, I could put my whole hand vertically through the gap between the tire and fender in the front. And I have "pretty meaty" paws. Now, it's just right.
03-01-2016, 10:22 AM
You will really like having hp tuners. I picked it before I had mine running, but it was definitely one the best things i purchased for the car. And your car is coming along nicely.
