OK, here's the MR installed in my 'Bird. I ran all the wiring harness underneath the plenum, and removed the individual exhaust port AIR tubes as well as the AIR solenoid. My brand new AIR pump is running all it's output directly to the dual cats 100% of the time.

Here's my question:
How do you feel about the MAP sensor and AFPR sharing a vacuum port on the MiniRam?

With 4 vac ports on the MR, my only other choice is to run the PCV to the trottle body bottom port and put all that oil in the plenum (messy, would prefer not to have to do that). Currently the brakes have one port, the inside environmental controls and Orb of Power and cruise share a single port, PCV has a port, and the MAP/AFPR share the last port. The little port on the bottom of the BBK throttle body is currently plugged. I guess I could always come up with some kind of a catch can, but I'd rather not clutter things up....

 

I don't see a problem with doing that....

Some other brands of vehicles come that way from the factory.

In general, the larger the portion of the "circuit" that they share in relation to the part that each has to itself, the better off you are.

Also, those fittings just screw into the side of the MR; you can go get one that's a larger size and put it in there, and tee off of that neatly with 2 appropriate small lines, and it'll be no different really from having 2 small fittings straight into the plenum.

 

Thanks, sofa. I hate to admit this, but I wasn't smart enough to think about using the larger line off the plenum and then Tee-ing off that onto the right sized line for each of them.

Looks like I'll be slightly changing my current vac lines....

 

Did n't see this post before.
Looks good Vern

You needed more fittings anyway.
It's never done until you have at least two of every fitting available

 

LOL - Thanks, John!

 

Vern - How's the idle with the XFI cam?

 

I highly highly recommend NOT T-ing anything into the MAP line. Every time I've tried it, the MAP is sluggish, or the regulator isn't sealed well enough. Both bad news.

Also, you'll burn out the cat at WOT if you give it air. The rich WOT with 5% CO will quickly and readily oxidize right there at the cat, and blowtorch it. That's why OEMs divert AIR at WOT to atmosphere.

 

Need some Hi res pic's of that thing.... Looks good !!

 

A little rocky, frankly. Lumpier than I would have preferred, but we're still tuning it. I can live with it regardless - it's already showing a lot more power thatn the previous set up and is no where near being tuned yet. Thanks, Lou!

Uh-oh, sounds like I better not go that route then. Last thing I want is sluggishness. Guess I'll split them back out and run the Orb of Power, heater/AC vents, and cruise off the little port on the bottom of the throttle body. See any problem doing that?

Hmmm... that does present a problem. Since I'm not wanting to add all that plumbing and the solenoid, etc., back under the hood, I may just have to install that AIR Delete Pulley I had delivered from GM Parts Direct this week. I was just trying to still be as legal as I could be and running it direct to the cats. Seemed like a good idea no more often than we're running at WOT. Guess I was wrong since I value your expertise and judgement, Jeremy.

They'll be forthcoming as soon as I get a chance to replace the plug wires with something a more reasonable length and get my semi-polished 3.5" CAI put back on there. Probably middle oir late next week for all that. I'm waiting on looms and an extension tube for the CAI (due to the MR setting the throttle body back about 4" from where it was with the SR) to get here.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

Looks good... What timing did you initially set yours up with? Any change from w/o the MR?

 

Looking good Vern. Glad to see you are getting things buttoned up.

-Schultzy

 

Vern,
I'm very interested in your progress. I've been out of the loop for a while, did you do a cam swap recently? What size injectors are you running on the MR? Have you got to drive it yet?

Interested in the change from the SR. Let me know how it runs.

 

Thanks for all the good wishes and compliments!

As for initial timing - I used to use 6 with the SR, after talking it over with a good buddy of mine, we went to 10 degrees base timing for better start-ups, and that is reflected in the BIN.

I did a head and cam swap when I installed the MR.

I went from a 218/224 .495/.502 112LSA cam to a 236/242 .581/.579 113LSA cam. Rockers were also changed from generic 1.6 on the intake and 1.5 on the exhaust, to Comp Pro Mag 1.6RRs everywhere. I also eliminated the little factory V6 roller lifters my engine builder put in the motor to start with and put in Comp retro fits and new Comp pushrods.

On top of all that, I swapped out my 200cc Sportsman II iron heads for a new set of AFR 195 Eliminators.

So a comparison of the MR to the SR probably isn't valid. We're still tuning it, but I will say I notice a definite seat of the pants/butt dyno improvement already! And we haven't even started WOT yet.

I'm also using SVO 30# injectors at this point, hoping to not have to go to 36'ers.

I will be installing a Walbro 255 in the tank soon though....

 

Vern,
You've been busy since the last time we talked! Good luck with the upgrade, let me know how you like your new combo.

 

Vern-
30# should do it. I'm 1 step down (280 XFI) and running low numbers on my fuel map (Calmap 62, of all things). 383, 10:1, SR. I'm not near final tune, but have LOTS of room for more fuel with the 30s.
Idle? Maybe someday ;-)

 

Looks Great Vern!!! Did you run into any problems with losing your vents inside the car? I was told that switching between vents (between floor, panel & defroster) are operated by vacuum. there are a couple of loose end hoses under my hood still & I wonder what they are for. I lost my vent, no matter where I switch my panel to, air is always blowing out of the defrost vent.

If you have any input referencing your Mini-ram install to this, please post. If not i'll post it in the "tech forum." Thanks Vern!

 

Thanks for all the compliments and good wishes!

25th - yep, you need to hook up the litle vac line that goes into the firewall to get the vents to work. The default location when there is no vac feed at all is defrost.

Flip - yeah, the 30's look like tey're going to be plenty so far...

If anyone's interested, here's a little (5 secs) dark video clip where you can hear the idle on the new set up.

http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...t=MVC-003W.flv

 

Hey Vern, running your cruise vaccume line under the TB works great. Ive had mine there for years now, no problems as of yet. Just got a AS&M 58mm TB and I lost that vaccume port, so now I gotta find another source for the vaccume.

BTW what are you pulling for vaccume at idle? My ZZ409 and 1.6 rockers with 6* base timing gives me 13 in hg.

 

Thanks, that's where mine is moving to - THANKS!

As for the vac, I'm sitting at about 55-60 KPA at idle not in gear (manual tranny)

 

hey Vernw, is that 383 puttin out over 500hp to the wheel?
and i read that you had a shortened pro 5.0 shifter how did you do that and how much did you take you got a picture of it in the car?

 

Nope - that's the crank figure from DD2K, not made it to a dyno yet. As for the shortened shifter, I replaced the arm the leather **** mounts onto with one that was much shorter. Here's pic of the MR

 

Vern - How close is your tune? Have you made any full throttle runs yet?

 

Still working on it, but getting close on the "normal" driving. AE and PE needs work, plus got a couple of rough spots when accelerating thru. Did one short blast up to about 6200rPM, felt great! Running too rich though, but at least no knocks. Hopefully the next week will show more improvement.....

 

UPDATE - still working on the tune, got side tracked with a job change and an 83 TA I picked up. Here's some updated picks, and I've also got a question I've not been able to find a straight answer to about the MR:

Which vac ports go where? In other words, do all the vac ports go to the main plenum, or are some only going to a part of the cylinders? Asked TPIS, which was a waste of time. I just want to make sure the PCV is feeding all cyls, map reading everything, etc....

 

AFAIK they all go into the plenum... I'm too lazy to get up and look, but it seems like there's about 3 of them on the pass side, and a couple on the driver's side; all of them are just regular manifold vacuum. Plus, there's one on alot of TBs too, which might be straight manifold vac as well.

 

Vern - I have my FP going to the front vacuum port on the passenger side of the plenum. Next to that is my MAP sensor. On the drivers side I have my brake booster plumbed into the rear and my PCV into the front. I hooked a breather into the upper tube on the passenger side of the throttle body.

Overall though Vern, are you happy with the MiniRam vs. the SuperRam?

 

Thanks - and YES!!!

 

You need to get rid of that factory air intake! When I dyno'd mine I got like 18rwhp and tq by putting just a throttle body filter on. The miniram doesnt want to be choked! lol

 

I am using the same heads,cam,intake setup on the 383 build I am doing. What type pistons are you using? Also what cc AFR 195 heads are you using,75 or 65?

 

They're valve reliefed hypereutics that are .010 in the hole. Gave me 10.5 compression with the former Sportsman II with 64cc chambers. So I went with the 65cc AFR 190 Eliminators and .027 Cometic head gaskets to keep the compression and a decent (.037) <forgot the term - duh!>. Had to get new pushrods with the different lifters/heads/rockers set up. Dynamic compression ratio if I remember correctly was a little over 9.

 

One other quick question - has anayone ever noticed any difference if the PCV was plumbed into the passenger VC as opposed to the usual driver's valve cover? Just curious, seems I read somewhere on here that the engine rotation direction made the driver's side the best place for the PCV, just trying to confirm that and if it is factually needed, or just hearsay....

 

(.037)----Quench
The tighter the better, until piston rock and rod stretch
causes head contact.

Later

 

Sorry,
Double Post.

Slow cable day.

 

Quench, yeah, that's it! Stupid Brain Pharts/Senior Moments....

 

Here's a bad picture of mine.
All the good pics are over the 1 mg forum rule.

Later

 

Sweet!

Who's strut tower brace is that?

 

Mine,

Didn't like the hinged bars and figured solid give a
little more support.

Also with the MR could run it straight across without
the arch and less flex.

JMHO

Later

 

Figures! I really like the looks of that but have no welding or metal fabrication skills...

 

I did the fabrication and stick welded it in place
but took to a friend who tig-ed it.

Twelve pac and I drank half of them

Later

 

Vern,

Here's a better pic of the MR and the Strut Bar
if you want to copy it.
Reason its gold is to match the black and gold Iroc
trim. Probably go back to black, (To noticeable).

Later

 

Man, that sure looks sweet! Wanna make another one? LOL

I'll give a BMR with mounting brackets and an Edelbrock 3-pt without the brackets for one of those!!!! (dreaming, I know!)

 

Getting lazy in my old age and a couple 3rd gens
are going to copy it in my area.

I don't mind, a hobby, not a business.
Going to triangulate it to firewall when I get time.
Running coilover front end and like running our mountain
roads (Slightly) over the speed limit from time to time.
Figure good bay and strut tower bracing a plus.

Computer tuning this thing is main priority.
Cheap pipe bender, torch and grinder all you need.
Go for it.

Later

 

I know this is a little old thread but I'm finishing up my Miniram install and I also purchased the EGR kit. The EGR takes up a vac port. Question is can I install a Y connector to the 1/4 in fitting in on the driver side port to run brake booster and PCV.

 

The Booster should use a larger id than 1/4 inch.
Would'nt put Map and fpr on the same 1/4 connector.

You can always drill manifold for more vacumm outlets.
Unless its already on the motor and don't want to take it off

Later