supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

So, this past weekend I finally overcame everything and got the camaro back to running and driving. Seems funny since the last time it was legally on a roadway was over 3 years ago. I had several bugs that needed to be worked out, the most serious was I found on my initial test drive my brakes were constantly engaged due to a hydroboost retun line issue (I am going to make a post about it in the brake forum). Front brakes were good since they were already broke in, but in 4 miles I managed to turn my new rear cross-drilled and slotted rotors blue and fried my new ceramic pads. After I ran a new return line for the hydroboost, the car ran like a champ.

As far as the engine, I had it apart twice, all new bearings, new rod bolts, resiszed the big ends, polished crank, surfaced the heads, polished the top of the intake, and slapped it together finally. It would not start and sounded like it was out of time (It ran the first time I put it together, then started knocking). Backed the rocker arm adjustment 1/2 turn, no change, then figured some how I stabbed the opti wrong. So I pull it apart, put it back on real careful and left the waterpump off and she fired right up. Put everything back on..... no start again. Now I am pissed. Had an accel cap and rotor, so I pulled the pump back off, she fired right up again (bad cap). So now I am rocking the autozone special with a 5 year warranty and she runs good. No check engine light and idles smooth.

Took it out for a test drive again and OMG! I stabbed some 4.10 gears in it and I wonder if that was too low. But, I am running old, hard, 235/60/15's and they dont put up a fight (posi). It is almost dangerous at full throttle in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Will definately get squirrly hitting 4th. It also seems pretty docile when driven to obey the traffic laws. The magnaflow exhaust, dyno don headers, and no cat make it sound pure bad a$$ and hard to drive slow.

Now onto some questions....

Is clutch chatter normal with a kevlar clutch in a T56? (Flywheel was turned, new PP, new TO bearing, new pilot bearing) I have heard the T56's do tend to chatter, only really noticible in 1st and reverse. Only does it while at idle, a little tap on the gas (just above 1000 rpm) and it is hardly noticible.

I run a 160 stat and the PCM was programmed for it (elec fans adjusted as well), but while driving down the road, the temp sometimes will fluctuate up into the 200's then come back down while at a stop light or randomly while driving. Any ideas?

Firebat

iTrader: (7)

Hate to ask a simple question but sometimes the little things cause big problems. Does the car have the air dam installed and is it in decent condition?

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I am not sure what it is supposed to look like, but mine has obviously been in a few fights with parking blocks as it visibly worn and folding slightly backwards. Would that make a big deal? Can you get them new?

The fans run almost all the time one they kick on since they are set so low and it has been 95+ here and lots of humidity. In traffic it hovers just above the first line on the gauge (not sure about the temp, maybe 160ish), but once the outside temp hits the mid 90's, it will hover below the 220 mark (maybe 200ish) while driving and flucuate between that and the 160? line. Once I stop, it comes down usually before the light turns green. I cant seem to pin point what conditions are present when it warms up like that, I usually catch it when it is going back down.

I drove it for about an hour and a half during lunch today, oil pressure dropped a little from when I first started it this weekend. Seems to hold steady just above 40 at idle till it gets hot, then drops down just above the next lowest line. Still at 70psi when above a few thousand rpm.

I did notice that once I had driven it for a while, the rockers were tapping a little. I am assuming I need to tighten the lash up a 1/4 to half turn. I backed them off 1/2 turn while trying to figure out why it wouldnt start.

Firebat

iTrader: (7)

The oil pressure does fluctuate quite a bit with the rpm on the LT1's. I think that's normal.

The air dam makes a huge difference while moving because its what directs fresh air to the radiator. I don't know if they can be found new anymore. There are a few different styles. $20-$30 for a used one is reasonable.

I haven't driven my LT1 lately but the temps around 200 don't seem too horrible. I was looking at another forum and this is what they recommend fan temps be for a 160:

First Stage Fan: On 184 / Off 175
Second Stage Fan: On 195 / Off 186

So, it could hit 200 but I don't remember my 160 t-stat with my LT1 getting much higher than 200 in the summer unless I was redlining the RPM gauge. The 180s seemed normal.

Note that some of the dual fan setups for LT1 would have both fans turn on half power than full power for the 2nd stage, instead of one fan at stage 1 and 2 fans at stage 2 for cooling.

Klortho

My oil pressure pretty much stays in one place while driving, does go up and down when I hit the gas. As for the fans, when driving down the road mine stays at 190* whether I'm running 35 or 80 mph. The only time mine starts getting warm is in traffic and then at 220, the first fan comes on, if it gets hotter the second fan comes on. With 3.70 gears and 255/50-16's on the GTA, I can obliterate them if I want to through the first 4 gears so that sounds about right on that part. I have the stock clutch so I can't answer to that question.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Ok, well I do have the LT1 dual fan setup on my 3rd gen radiator. It is controlled by an aftermarket controller cause that is how I had it setup with my old crossfire motor. They only come on with one speed for cooling, and that is high. Should I raise the fan turn on point and see if it makes a difference?

I do have it wired to the fan switch on the high side line to come on at half speed for the A/C once I finally get around to getting that put back together.

There is one 3rd gen left at the local pull-a-part, I will go see if it has a better air dam then mine does.

Klortho

I'm using the LT1 radiator with the fans, and I'm using the PCM to control the fans. If you still have the C100 connector on the LT1 harness, you might want to run the fans through it for better control of them.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

My car actually runs cooler in traffic, so I guess that is a good thing. My temps and oil pressure sound just about like yours.

I know my car will go through 1st and hit the rev limiter usually by the time I get the pedal on the floor. It goes through the gears much faster than I thought it would. It is going to take some practice to launch this thing good and not have too much wheel spin. Better tires will help quite a bit.

I will be putting on my GTA rims (then I can finally put my LS1 brakes up front) when I get the money for new tires, so I will go wider and get a better compound, maybe some drag radials or something.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I have both of the pig tails for PCM fan control coming out of my harness near the PCM but I am not using them. I had my PCM programmed for the 160 stat. I tried to use them to adjust my fans, but once they ground, then never unground so I guess it never gets cool enough according to the PCM. I dont know what the on and off temps are set at, but the low speed wire grounds before the high speed wire.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Here is a pic of the motor install.

92rs85berlintta

iTrader: (1)

you did a very nice job on that build. your plumbing is much cleaner than mine is. Is your lt1 stock? In regards to the tire cooking.. They are very impressive little engines. put some 18s with low pros on it and see what happens to them when you fire on it.. haha.

what intake setup is that? looks good.

newZman

Sweet! Now that's inspirational.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Internally, the engine is mostly stock. All I did was have the crank polished, clevite tri-metal bearings, had maxalloy rod bolts installed, big ends resized, and the heads were shaved .010 with felpro 1074 headgaskets. That bumped the comrpession a little.

Externally, it has dyno don headers, no cat, egr delete, magnaflow catback exhaust, mail order tune, and my cold air intake.

The rear axle has a posi, 28 spline axles, 4.10 gears, and everything in the rear suspension except springs is after market.

The intake I made myself with an aluminum elbow I got from ebay, a 3.5" to 4" adapter from pep boys, a 4" k&n fliter from auto zone and some thin wall sewer pipe and 45* elbow from the local ace hardware. I cleaned up the casting marks and sprayed it semi gloss black. I am still going to make a heat shield for it and work on a fresh air pickup through the fender.

chevyowner02

iTrader: (3)

Clean looking swap you have there.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the comments.

It has become a work in progress since little things keep popping up. I have been working out issues with my power distro near my battery. I must have gotten a bad batch of connectors, I replaced one that had an intermittent bad connection for a fuse box feed wire, and on the way to work this morning it started running hot when I got to the gate, by the time I got it parked it was just starting to boil over. The stupid cooling fans werent working, wiggled the feed wire and they popped on. So I cranked it back up to cool the motor off. Guess I will have to fix that this evening.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

OK, so I have finally seen when it suddenly gets hot. It only happens after about 15 miles of driving, and only when I decel at a stop light or something, then all of a sudden the temp shoots up, fans kick on, it stays hot (220ish) for a few minutes of idling, and then cools back to where it normally is.

Anyone got any ideas?

92rs85berlintta

iTrader: (1)

how are your hoses run? Seems like when the circulation slows its heating up too quick.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I got the upper hose from the thermostat housing going to the lower pass side outlet, and the the hose from the water pump is going to the upper drivers outlet. The heater hoses are ran from the same size to the same size.

I watched it real good today, and sure enough, I turn to come on base, the temp rises up till the fans kick on, then as I putt through base at 20mph it climbs to about 200 to 220 then will slowly come back down to the first line. I am not sure if that is normal or not.

92rs85berlintta

iTrader: (1)

what size thermostat do you have.. It might be sticking on you.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I am running a 160 degree Bosch. I replaced it when I put the motor in. Should I get a 160 Stant or something?

92rs85berlintta

iTrader: (1)

you could take it out and test it or just replace it they are pretty cheap.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, if I am going to pull the stat to look at it, I guess i will just replace it. Advance sells stant so I will swing by there after work and see if I can get one.

Should I stick with a 160 degree one? Or should I get something a little higher?

When the PCM was programmed the guy programmed it for a 160 stat, I know the computer commands the fans on pretty early.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Looks like advance only carriers a 180 degree thermostat. Would that cause issues due to the PCM programming? I run a seperate fan controller so I can adjust fan on/off where I need to.

New2Chevy

iTrader: (11)

I wish I had an answer for you. So the fans never worked, or they just stopped working?

Also, your lower air dam is in place, correct?

I ask because I took my air dam off of my 87 one time, and I forgot to bolt it back on, and it ran WAY hotter than usual, something like 45 degrees hotter. Just checking.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, I broke down and took out the aftermarket fan controller and made a new harness with some GM relays and am using the PCM to control the fans. It has yet to get over 160 even when 95+ and high humidity. Once the fans turn on, they never turn off so I am going to have to talk to the guy that did the programing to the PCM and see what I can do about it.

The new harness I soldered everything and used 10 and 12 gauge wire for the fan motors. They actually run faster and smoother.

Other than the on/off temp, I am happy.