Kyle86

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Thought I would share. My 383 was cool and all, best of 12.47@112mph, but I wanted to learn the new technology and start tuning with a laptop!

A little background on the build. I'm somewhat on a budget here. I was holding out for an LS1 dropout from an fbody or vette but the people around here want 2500-3k for one. Plan B, buy a truck motor and modify the accessories to clear my stock hood, and swap an ls type intake on it.

I want to get a baseline run with the stock 4.8, turbo 350, 3000 stall, 373 rear. Afterwards I will put it back under construction for a non-intercooled GT45 turbo setup with meth injection. I will be using the truck manifolds flipped forward. This all must fit under the stock hood.

Enough talking heres whats goin on:

This is a video of my 383 before pulling it out!


Here is the 4.8 engine out the junkyard. They sold it to me for $750 with starter, ps pump, and alternator, and brackets.



Bottom end looks good





Truck windage tray will work, but will have to be beat up wth a mallet and cut in a couple places to work with the ls1 pan and pickup





old engine out



new engine in



Now to make truck accessories work, the alternater has to be relocated to the passenger side, and an idler pulley moved to the driver side. I made my idler pulley out of the old tensioner pulley, and used a long bolt, some washers, and a spacer from tractor supply to put it in the old alternator bolt hole.







Then the alt bracket must be trimmed to make room for the ls1 throttle body. The power steering pump was easy, I just used the truck pump and stock thirdgen ps lines.

Kyle86

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Next obsticle was the truck waterpump hitting the throttle body. This was actually pretty easy. I just chipped the epoxy from around the waterneck and heated the ps pump casting around the neck with a little propane torch. then I took a mallet and tapped it to the side, simple. The throttle body cable part almost clears but I dinged the waterneck a tad with a ball pean hammer.



Next is the alternator moved to the ps side. For this I used washers, long bolts, and a turnbuckle, all cheap from tractor supply. I added a bolt to the turnbuckle so I could lock it down.





Now fuel system on a budget took some thought. What I ended up using was an 2000 s10 filter regulator wix part# 33100. Then I borrowed a doubleflaring tool and bubble-flared the quick-connect barbs for rubber efi fuel line and efi clamps so they wouldnt slip off. This included all 3 barbs on the filter/regulator and the ls1 fuel rail inlet. I osed no more than 12" sections so I could pass nhra tech. Oh yeah on the 33100 the inlet is 5/16 and return is 3/8. if you hook it up backwards you wont get fuel pressure.



Fuel pump is the jegs walbro 255 inline pump. I used my old carb filter as a prefilter with a piece of rubber hose around it. This way I can monitor to make sure fuel is getting to the pump. Basically I just spliced it into the factory fuel lines.



Now it took 3 tries but I got the right size belt and tightened it up with the turnbuckle tensioner. 74.5" belt





LS1 throttle cable is expensive!!! For the time being I used a piece of old bike brake cable.





Tried to make as much room for turbo as possible so I cut the rad core support some. Looks like my fat old griffin is not going to cut it here, I will be using a stock one but it should work fine since the ls1 cooling system is so efficient.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Well Since the junkyard cut my harness and did not give me a computer, I decided to go with a megasquirt 2 ecm. This is a DIY type universal controller people put on all sorts of engines. So I jumped in feet first and started soldering it up!

Stimulator board done, now on to the the big one!







all finished up!





Now on to the wiring! Whew this took some work but not terrible. I think the megasquirt made things much easier!



I decided to not use the IAC valve so I plugged it with some rubber radiator/vacuum plugs





Notice above some tool sold me a throttle body that had an extra hole drilled in it. I found out when the engine wouldnt idle under 1200rpm. I cut a screw, taped the hole, put superglue on the screw and peaned the backside with some vice grips so it wont back out. This is what you do on carburetor throttle blades when you replace the screws.

Anyways, now I had a problem getting the megasquirt to sync with the LS1 crank output signal off the crank sensor. The ls1 has an irregular toothed wheel, so a special patten decoder is needed. The megasquirt code uses only the crank sensor for tach input and the cam is not needed. This is exellent so now I can use the super cheap ls9 camshaft and not have to change front covers, sensors, gears, etc!

PS an osciliscope makes things much easier!!



Finally got it synced up!!! there are variable resistor pots on the ms borad that have to be adjusted to hysterisis and zero crossing to tune in the correct trigger signal. It should look like this when you log it.



You may have to play with the settings in the tuning software to get it to work. Mine had to be set to rising edge under the tach input settings.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

OK got it all together and wiring loomed up!





Stock radiator in



Here's my fuse block, distrobution block (off the truck harness) main 12v acc power relay, and fuel pump relay.



Proposed to my GF! (hopefully still have $ to finish turbo stuff)



So I'm goin turbo, no way I want to waste money on 2 exhaust systems. I'm runnin open manifolds to the track! I ghetto welded 2 pipes on the stock flanges... yes it leaks, yes there are no manifold gaskets on the head, but who cares it's open header anyways!!!!

Kyle86

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Yes that is a ghetto tinfoil heatsink I ziptied to the nylon fuell pressure line. I can't have that burnin up!

Kyle86

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Here's a video of my LS1 4.8 running in the car!!!!!


Got my turbo btw, straight out of china! This thing is pretty big and lots of folks making 600-700hp on their v8s with it. There are import guys making 1000 horsepower with it. I think it will be okay and for $250 if it breaks I'll just buy something else!



Took it apart everything looks real good, no metal shavings or burrs.



Will be working on this turbo setup within the next couple of weeks.

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

Looks awesome man! good write-up for using the truck acc

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Hey thanks!!!

The megasquirt was giving me a little issue earlier today that is causing the crank signal to come in distorted which results in the car not starting intermittently. I believe it is related to a bad opamp IC on the board from what I have researched. I contacted DIYAutotune to check with them on getting a replacement so it looks like I won't be taking it to the track this weekend, but hey better than trying my luck and getting stranded. I was hoping to run a 13 with the bone stock 4.8.

Might just skip the N/A tune and slap on the turbo

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Decided not to bother with the N/A setup even though it did have a good bit of pep to it.

Started building turbo stuff



Flipped truck manifolds, had to grind on them so park plug boots would fit













Needed some tubing for my wastegate.....

lunati397

looks really good I like what you did with the alt relocation also if you want more TB clearance you can get dirty dingo waterpump spacers and use a camaro pump or get a water pump from a 2008 6.0 1500 hd it kicks out to the side more

that turbo should do great on that motor

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Wastegate dumping to fenderwell, will eventually reroute through wheelwell back into downpipe, used stick welder to blow holes through sheetmetal



For time being using 5/8 heater hose as turbo drain





truck dipstick wouldn't work, cut bracket and mounted it to valve cover, works ok, Also using rubber efi sae30r9 high pressure fuel hose for the time being.



Original plan was to run new plug wires to the side of the head and underneath to plugs.. Then decided to just wrap manifolds and use spark plug wire socks with the stock truck plug wires.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Hey thanks! Good tip for the water pumps

Kyle86

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Got a lot of work done on the car, here are some pictures and a quick video of first startup...

Got charge pipes welded up





Wastegate hose hooked up to charge pipe with npt fitting



Got o2 bung welded in for lc1 wideband





Intake air temp sensor put in charge pipe



Here is how my gauges will be. Other than oil pressure, trans temp, and wideband, all gauges will be viewed on a 10" tablet mounted to the dash. It can read coolant temp, injector pulse, rpm, mph, afr, and on and on the list is endless. It is connected via bluetooth from the megasquirt.



Here is a quick video of the first startup/run since adding the turbo and showing how the tablet dash works..


Still a few things to do before I drive it on the street such as hooking up IAT and wideband sensors, fixing oil leak, and some slow rpm tuning. Also found a couple pinhole leaks in some of my pipes so I will painstakingly check every weld/joint and fix that when I get some more time. Also a little oil leak from my t fitting I will have to fix that but little things like that are to be expected, so movin on along.

I know the factory injectors will not get me far so those are priority on the upgrade list as soon as I get a little more funds, they are pricey!

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Update. Driving around making ~3-4 psi. The cheapass 38mm emusa wastegate is holding boost down like a pro even with the less than ideal placement. Spool is almost instant too and it sounds pretty awesome. Right now I have no BOV so it just surges the compressor. I can prevent it by just slowly closing the throttle however most things I've read says it doesn't hurt anything. I think I'm blowing through the converter since it does not shift at the same rpm my 383 did. In fact under boost the th350 won't shift on it's own at all it just hits the limiter.

My injectors are maxed out, over 100% duty cycle and the AFR raises very quickly when it starts making boost. I have to get new injectors ASAP. Up on the list are $350 set of siemens 80lb or 60lb injectors.

Also I burnt up 6 plug wires even through the boot protector and wrapped manifolds.



Solution is to either reroute them around the side of the head using a custom set with lt1 boots, or to try another stock set and keep them from touching. This is what I came up with.





I took a 1/4" threaded rod and wrapped it in exhaust wrap then safety wired it tight. Then I wedged it between the manifold and the spark plug wires to keep them from touching. Seems to work ok, we'll see how long they last.

Next up I mounted the tablet to the dash, so I can cruise around with all my gauges. Works pretty good! and Looks frikkin awesome and high tech in the 80s dash. Plus I saved a ton of cash and labor on gauges. I can monitor all sorts of stuff, injector pulsewidth, duty cycle, ignition advance, KAP, MAT, AFR, MPH, etc etc. It's called Shaddow Dash by EFI Analytics. I can also log with it as well. My girl also has something to mess with while were cruising. Eventually I will hook it up to aux on my cd player so I can shuffle through songs!

lunati397

you stole my tablet idea except im doing it with Holley dominator and it has to be a windows based and I have to figure out how to integrate it into a 4th gen dash


looks good

92 BBC Z

The whole thing looks like a hack job.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

That's the look I'm going for. Thanks!

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Lol thanks. I saw some youtube videos of people using their phones and I was like hey I shouls just get a tablet instead of buying and wiring all these standalone gauges. Honestly I've used alot of other people's ideas on this project so I can do this on a budget. Right now I am only $4000 invested in everything, engine, turbo, tablet, megasquirt, etc etc. I prob had twice that in my 383 after rocking the caps and I have way more potential with this setup. Not to mention I actually got $2000 for my old motor so I actually only have around $2000 in it and hopefully with some injectors can get to 600 crank hp.

STREETDEMON

really?



OP great job working on a budget. should be a quick car when you get everything ironed out, i'm sure it will shock plenty of unsuspecting motorists.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Thanks dude! I really want to keep it looking bone stock on the outside. I've even got a pair of slicks mounted on IROC wheels LOL,

Heres an update too, I've got new injectors. 80lb siemens deka injectors to be exact. These are pretty hard to tune a lean idle with. Best I've gotten is ~13.0 AFR. Anyone know if there is a trick to these besides lowering the fuel pressure?



Fits stock fuel rail like a glove!!! I was prepared to add spacers or something but these are direct replacement and only $330 shipped from ebay.



Also got everything wrapped up and painted





Lifting the hood after running it hard, it is noticeably cooler. Also put the 8psi spring in the wastegate and went out for a tune. This car is getting pretty fast now that AFR is stable at high rpm. It spools pretty fast with the wrap on too, from vacuum to full boost in about 1 second. Appears to start making boost around 3400-3500 rpm when hittin it from a roll. I have a 3000 rpm stall converter if that makes a difference. I havn't tried to launch it yet. It just won't stop raining at all! Seriously it's rained every single day for the past 3 weeks and next weeks forcast is rain every day LOL!

Right know I know I have either a bent axle or bent housng so I will not be taking it to the track until I replace the axle. I already have the replacement just need to borrow a slide hammer and have my buddy press in the studs. I felt like I won the lottery a couple weeks ago when I was looking through the ding and dent sale section at summit racing. Found a pair of hardened 28 spline axles for 3rd gen camaro marked down from 220 to $80 out the door! Hopefully will have some track times soon. Then I plan on swapping the 3.73s for a pair of 3.23s. I'm excited about being able to drive it on the interstate again ha.

V6canvas

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a great budget build! Hope you get some good times on it. I'd love to do a turbo, but as a wedding is coming up soon, and other things keep sucking up all my money, time and energy, that seems non-too-likely.

anobii

You need to install a check valve in the vac line to the trans modulator. The low vacuum (boost) will hold the trans in gear longer. There is a certain way to connect it.

The correct way is to use a mechanical modulator instead. Something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TH350-TH400-Cable-Operated-Modulator-350-400-/360688570135?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item53fab6cf17&vxp=mtr
I'm digging the way you cut the alt bracket. I have a very similar setup, but i cut much more off.
Hows the Lowes turnbuckle holding up? I looked at the very same thing, but decided against it because the threads looked pretty weak. I Didn't like how they crimped the hex tube around the threads.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Thanks V6Canvas! I've been saving up and dreaming of this build since 2010 so I know all about being tight for cash!

Anobii, good tip on the vacuum modulator! I will call the dude I get my trans stuff from and see what he can get me. I'm having a hard time finding vacuum check valves big enough for these lines (pcv too)

As for the turnbuckle, it's holding up great! This one is actually machined with driller/tapped holes, I got it from tractor supply. I actually liked it so much, I went back and bought a bigger one that I used as a "torque strap" to pull the driver side of the head down to the frame. That way it does not torque the polly motor mounts and put extra stress on my hot piping and flex couplings.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Since my one of my axles had to be beat in then pulled out with a slidehammer to be removed, my transmission guy said the axle was bent and would eventually break. It looked fine to the eye but to be safe I switched it with a fresh summit axle.



I'm having difficulty with my injectors. Since they are so large for a 4.8 to keep it idling the pulsewidth has to go very low and even at cruise a pulsewith of just 1.2-1.3 ms which is outside of their linear range. This caused an occasional studder/stumble resulting in the afr shooting lean then going back rich. I think my deadtime on the injectors is not correct so I switched to the old injectors to test and make sure it is actually the injectors and not igniton related.

Megasquirt has a neat test feature tht allows you to command the injectors to squirt a certain pulsewidth for a certain amount of cycles. While 1.3ms pw gave a nice little shot of fuel, 1.2ms gave practically nothing. When cruising the PW would go down below 1.2 and the car would stumble, now I am fairly certain tht some injectors would just not open, so I will be playing with the settings some and hopefully take the car to the track this weekend.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Driving around, making a little boost!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK6L9...ature=youtu.be

1986chevycamaro

just wandering if your truck motor mounts work for the swap im getting ready to start my ls1 4.8 swap and been following your swap up close thanks

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

No, I used my stock SBC mounts and used the 1" set back conversion mounts from ebay.

OK I'VE GOT TRACK RESULTS!!!!!!!!
Best pass so far 11.67 @ 123 mph, with a 2.0 60'


and here is another video

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

BTW this was on 13 psi and 93 octante pump gas!!! 11.5 AFR and 12 degrees timing. Car weighed in at 3615 with me in it, so according to the calculator this BONE STOCK 4.8 is putting out over 600 fwhp. Stock cam, stock valve springs, stock head gaskets, stock fuel rails. Only change is a $100 ls1 intake!! I am completely amazed!

Now I just have to get my 60' down, get some weight out (spare tire, back seats, etc), maybe add a couple psi and it should be a 10 sec car.

BTW this car now has 3.08 gears in it too which make it so much funner to drive!

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

STREETDEMON

great numbers, glad you have been enjoying the car!

bungy74

pretty impressive ! nice work.

34blazer

LOVE it.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Thank you!! It has been a learning experience that's for sure. Finally feeling like all the hard work is paying off.

I've tested the megasquirt's 2-step capability to build boost and I think I may be able to build around 4-5 psi on the footbrake which should help my 60'. Now I just have to build the launch control circuit on the board and wire it to a switch. I was going to use the old cruise control brake switch but that isn't working. Thought about puting a pressure switch on a brake line but that might be more hassle than it's worth. I think for the time being, I will put the 2-step on a toggle switch or push button and just release it when I take my foot off the brake.

According to my datalogs, it takes me 2.5 seconds from launch till full boost. It takes about 1.5 seconds to go from launch till 4 psi. So if I can leave at 4 psi from the getgo, I should hopefully be at full boost by 1 second into the launch, well before the 60' mark.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Check out this datalog of the fastest run. Notice max rpm for the whole run is only 5770!!! These motors are absolutely amazing!

Jay_rich

iTrader: (4)

Awesome work, Love the budget builds!

I would change where the Wastegate dumps personally.

Have you had any problems with belt slipping? Almost looks like It could use another tensioner or idler pulley on the passenger side to get more meat on the crank.

Any plans to swap the cam out down the road? I pick my 4.8L up tomorrow. My plan is ls6 or ls9 cam, lightly ported heads and just ARP hardware. Went nuts on my old Iroc with a build 6.0L and sunk way too much into it.

PS May eventually pick your brain on the megasquirt lol

Jay

vortec350s10

I've always wondered what a budget 4.8 would do. Do you have plans to go much higher with the boost? Its cool to see what the MAT does on the data log. I've been thinking if I ever go efi I would try a megaquirt. Looks like it'd be fun to mess with. Nice work!

Z28FAST1

Great job!!!! If I could only find a low mile L33

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the replies!!!

I actually built a separate muffler in the fender well for the wastegate and it dumps into a 1.75" glasspack. Now it's super quiet when it opens! No belt slippage so far. It did squeel but tightening the alternator bracket fixed that. ! As for more boost? I know I could get even more power out of it by cranking it up, but what is scaring me is the pump gas only. I did swap in an LS9 Cam and some valvesprings and it did not seem to perform as well for some reason. I did get the 2-step launch control working also and burnt a piston while testing it on the street. So right now I'm in the middle of a rebuild and if I can't get it right will just buy a new junkyard motor.

Honestly I think I got a bad batch of 93 and it shook the rings letting oil in. It blew out the pcv valve and sprayed oil over everything from the blowby. I'm pulling the engine and replacing the broken pistons. I might ditch the ls9 cam in favor of a 220/220 duration if I can get a good deal on a used one.

Anyways more to come!! I'm DEAD SET on getting a 10 second time slip out of this.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

I understand the budget part of these builds (almost done with mine), but not the Microsquirt and self-tuning. Sure the engine might be less than $500, but when you blow 2-3 of them before you figure out what you're doing with the tune, you could have SAVED money having someone with experience get it right.

bottledbird68

In for updates. About to start on my 87 bird. 5.3 with flipped truck manifolds, a gt45 and a t56. If I can run the same as your initial times I'll be thrilled. Mid 11's is all I'm after. Nice to see its well within reach

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

LOL speak for yourself. I had my tune dialed in long before I broke a piston. Just look at my datalog above. It's not rocket science, and I would much rather blow it up myself than take it to a "professional" and them blow it up on their dyno. If junk's ganna break, junks ganna break. These motors were never meant to handle 600+ horsepower or boost for that matter so breaking them comes with the territory. After paying for a computer, harness, dyno, and several tunes (who leaves stuff alone?), you could have bought 2-3 motors and learned a valuable skill in the process.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

Microsquirt... LS9 cam... You're not denmah. Stop using the parts he recommends and you won't blow **** up like he does.

Stock PCM and harness can be had for less than your MS setup. Initial tune is $500 and touch-ups cost less than 1/2 of that. The tune makes or breaks (literally) these boosted budget setups. You don't damage a ringland on these engines unless your tune is WAY off, especially with a VERY MILD setup like yours.

Finally, LMAO at 600hp. You barely hit 500hp at the crank. You only went 123mph!

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

Wow that is offensive; where to start.

Copying a proven combo is nothing new to hotrodding so I'm not going to even bother with that comment. Lets say $250 for harness and computer, $500 for initial tune, then another $200 for just one "touch up". That's already around $1000 and you still wouldn't understand jack about tuning and still have to keep on paying another $200 or $300 every time you change injectors, cams, gears, etc.

I'm doing this for the experience, knowledge, and fun. This thread is to document the adventure and give other people ideas for their own builds. Second, if my tune is "way off" and that's why it broke please look at my datalog above and tell me what's off about it mr knowitall. I'm not going to debate tuning with you, since we know you just pay other people to tune yours. This setup was beat on for weeks on the street before it even hit the track so that alone kills your bad tune theory. I prob made over 50 hits on this tune once I dialed it in so shove it.

Wow you think "bad tunes are the only reason these motors break ringlands"?? That statement alone shows how misinformed you really are. These motors hae a very common problem of butting rings which cause them to drag the bores and pop the lands. It doesn't take a lot to heat them up and the factory tolerance on these engines can be pretty tight. Lots of things can cause pistons to break other than the tune. A bad tank of gas, oil in the combustion chamber, fuel delivery problems, truck coils dwell protection prematurly sparking, rings butting from heat, wastegate failure, etc there are many other possible reasons, so please open your mind some and think before you jump straight to bashing someone's tune. I tuned carbureted engines for years before going to the laptop. I don't need a "professional" to do what I can already do myself and just because a "pro" tunes your car doesn't mean something else can't go wrong.

500 crank horsepower? LOL virtually every online calculator says you need 520 hp at the WHEELS to push a - 3600 lb - car 123 in the 1/4. I guess next time I should just PM you instead of using a calculator. Btw This is a "VERY" MILD setup???? Now you're just being silly. How is pushing a bone stock engine, stock compression, on 13 psi on 93 octane pump gas "very mild"?? Very mild means putting a cat back on your 305. "only 123" wow considering these cars ran 15s and 16s from the factory at like 95mph, I imagine your car must go at least 150 with a comment like that.

Please stop insulting other people's accomplishments to make yourself look better. It only makes you look like a tool. You like to build your junk and have someone else do the tuning, that's totally fine. I like to DIY, breaking things comes with the territory and I knew that before I even started the build. I like learning from the mistakes because in the long run it pays off. To me the price of a longblock is well worth the valuable learning experience of tuning an efi computer, to rebuild an LS engine, to gain expertise on soldering, electronics theory, engine theory. It's pretty easy to bash other people when your car isn't even done yet. Sorry if this is being a little harsh but you struck a nerve with me. Please leave the thread if you don't have anything useful to add. I'm not looking to clutter up my build thread arguing with you any further.

34blazer

that's a hell of a rant

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

LOL

Here is a better datalog of a soid run


Notice:
Max RPM ~5800
Max KPA - 191 (12-13 psi boost)
AFR stable in Low-mid 11s
Timing flat at 13 degrees
Max duty cycle 59%
Max MAT 158 degrees

BTW when I broke the engine I was going about 10 mph. I had just got the 2-step rev limiter wired up and I was behind a grocery store getting the settings where I wanted for about 5 minutes hitting it on and off. I think what happened was since the launch control retards timing to -10 degrees btdc (10 deg atdc), and cuts spark only, the heavy testing and fuel washed oil off the bores causing the rings to heat up. Then when I made the last test I hit the switch on 5-6 psi and did a huge burnout leaving and I believe the stock rings butted from the heat and dragged the bores causing it to crack the piston ringlands. Will never know for sure but that's what I'm going with after looking at the possibilities.

Here is datalog of a 2-step hit right before it broke.



That being said here is some carnage pics.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

I've got the engine apart right now rebuilding it so will be posting some more updates and pictures soon. Engine is getting head studs (might as well while their off), fresh head gaskets, pac 1218 valvesprings, and I'm going with a bigger cam than the ls9. I wasn't happy with the ls9 cam so going in will be something along a 220/220 on 112-114 lsa. Hopefully make it sound pretty cool too. Used of course, well see what I can get my hands on.

Some more pics...







Kind of neat here, you can visually see the duration difference between the ls9 cam left and stock cam right. Stock cam will be getting made into a nifty table lamp, and zr1 cam going to a new happy home.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Did your bores make it through ok or do they need clean up?

Loved reading this build! I swear...every day, especially now that I own a turbo car, I get closer and closer to doing a very stripped down and basic turbo build with a 4.8 or 5.3 auto car. Essentially exactly what you've done except probably skipping the megasquirt because Ill probably invest in HPTuners at some point.

Looking forward to your rebuild and new results!!

J.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

Street and track load the engine differently, especially with tirespin.

Don't change my wording. I VERY CLEARLY stated that "The tune makes or breaks (literally) these boosted budget setups".

No argument with this. It's why the higher mile engines typically take more abuse... ring and bore wear.

On a mild build, a tune that is done correctly should account for most of these unless it's something quite extreme that would affect even a completely stock engine.

[quote]500 crank horsepower? LOL virtually every online calculator says you need 520 hp at the WHEELS to push a - 3600 lb - car 123 in the 1/4.[quote]

Stop with the calculator, please. My 3700lb 4th gen goes 124 in good weather with 420rwhp, 122ish in 90+F humid summer air. I expect low 140s from my 3000lb ~600rwhp 5.3 turbo 3rd gen build that should have the interior and paint work done by spring (powertrain is done).

Just offering some advice. It seems you spent quite a bit of time with your setup only to blow it up and run poorly in the process. I've seen too many of these lately do this since denmah started posting up his shenanigans, including a good friend who wasted a LOT of time and money going down the same road you did. Perhaps I shouldn't have vented that frustration on you.

The MS is a very capable system, but it has a steep learning curve and the turbo junkyard engines aren't the best to learn on.

Kyle86

iTrader: (1)

The bores look great, they are just a little polished/glazed, but I am going to run a dingleberry hone through them since there isn't a lot of crosshatch left in them. I actually slapped everything back together right after it broke just to see if it would work. I used some stock pistons and new rings but they did not seat correcty since anything above 7 psi boost was causing some blowby (it was a gamble.) So just waiting on a decent cam to pop up for sale and back together it will go.

I would have used hp tuners myself since it basically does the same thing with less headache! But on my pullout the harness was cut and no ecm came with it so I decided to try out the squirt. No regrets but it did add a lot of complexity with the setup to start with.

I'm glad you've enjoyed reading the thread! More updates soon to come.

RaverRacerX

have any airflow reading logs?

btw, it looks like you had the ring ends come together.