Thanks, brian! given this new evidence, can i still run the car with the present memcal tune or do i need additional tuning?

after making today's video, i left the timing at 12*. when i start it later i'll let you know how it runs. i may also take a video of the timing measure to show you how the needle reacts.

 

I would run it the way it is. Since this is a unknown engine and alot of timing has been added just listen for pinging. The knock sensor will retard for it but its does not always pull enough timing and is not a 100 percent fail safe.

 

here's the video i took today depicting how the car acts when you first start it up:

 

not sure what you have going on with the hard cold start does the fuel smell very rank ? You can bleed some off the gauge line into a container.

 

not really. but the gas i did take out was pretty brown. i'm considering pumping some more out using the fuel pump. is there any terminal on the ALDL that has battery voltage that i can use to apply it to terminal G?

 

nothing off the aldl does your fuel pump relay have the test lead? some do and some dont.

 

i'll give it a look. i don't think so though from what i remember in the past. if not that's ok. i have a power probe 3 and will just have to recruit someone to drain it off the gauge while i energize it.

 

Here's a vid i took tonight. it shows my vacuum measurement at idle, engine cold, with est wire connected, at 12* btdc. note: didn't start on the first try. had to give it gas the second time for 3 seconds in the beginning and then it stayed on. I think i'm going to drain the gas next time.

 

what was the plug gap set too ?

 

pretty sure i put it at 0.035".

 

.035 is fine, This is a great video watch 1:38

 

yeah definitely that one! so ignition problem...gap is ok, can't adjust dwell, coil looks fine and is definitely sending spark, cap and rotor were replaced before parking the car, and wires came with this engine. i have a spare set of wires i can swap in to test.

i've pretty much sold myself on draining the gas. that has to be part of it.

 

Im not a big fan of multec's, hope its just stale fuel, pop off your return line and rig up a an to catch the fuel.

 

i don't think they're multecs. they look different than the multecs i took off my 305. i have a set of 350 injectors off another 350 i bought. they are blue. These injectors off the corvette motor are black and have a slightly different shape.

Here's a pic of one of the corvette injectors i'm using:

 

your right some other brand, just looked like multec's for the few seconds I saw them on the video.

 

one more pic of the injector from the bottom. I think they're 22 or 24 lbs:

 

Status report: i drained my entire gas tank today. Thankfully i didn't sell off my power probe III yet so it made the whole ordeal much easier. It just took a long time. the gas that came out was alot lighter than the first 5 gallons i first took out. probably because i diluted it with 5 fresh gallons. it kinda looked like the color of beer. like bud or coors. not so much yellow but a little more brown. on well, stale is stale. if only i had more room in the garage i'd take the tank down and replace the pump and check the tank. oh well. i'll fill it up tomorrow and see how she runs then.

Side note: i ordered centric brand rear brake rotors for $18/each and a ESC module for $47 from rock auto. plus got $5 off with discount code. the shipping can sometimes take forever, but you gotta love those prices. can't wait to get the brakes squared away!

 

status: put fresh 93 octane with fuel injector cleaner in the tank, ran the pump to fill the lines up with new gas, and there is NO change. i also had a new spark plug wire set laying around so i replaced those too with no change. Back to the drawing board...might start looking into data logging equipment if i can't get this thing running smooth soon.

received rear brake rotors in the mail today. took only 2 days since they were in a warehouse in NY state. ESC is going to take awhile because it's coming from Texas. Also, picked up a fuel pump relay because i've been meaning to change it.

Filled tires up with air to, hopefully, do the 1LE brake conversion tomorrow as i now have all parts needed.

 

actually, if anyone has experience with a Snap-on mt2500 scanner, can it get live data? if so i will buy the primary cartridge and ALDL adapter and get to the bottom of this.

 

i have a 327 that i need help finding what kind of trannys that will bolt up to it can you pls help me

 

You should start your own thread. Th350,th400, 700r4(4l60), 4l80E, saginaw 3spd and 4 spd, muncie m20,m21m22 ect...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...using_patterns

 

ESC came in today. no change. think i'm going to invest in some data logging software.

 

It might be worth waiting to see how the car drives. It might be easier to diagnose once you get it on the road.

 

pushed the car out and installed the PBR backing plates. went on flawless! thanks, brian! also tried to install my ls1 calipers, but the bolts that connect the caliper bracket to the backing plate were way too long. i saved one so i can take it to the hardware store and get a grade 8 bolt roughly half it's length. Otherwise it was great!

 

welcome

sorry they were so rusty

 

lol no problem, brian! you cleaned them up real nice and they look and feel like new! can't wait to get the lines installed and purged to see what these new brakes can do!

 

ok, so today i did some tuning and, knock on wood, i think it held. i set it up while it was hot, i think i set it at 8* this time and it liked it, and i let it cool down and it started great! it wasn't dead cold, but it was hot enough to register at the lowest temp on the gauge (digital dash). i'll try it again tomorrow and see if it's still good. cross your fingers.

i also messed around with the idle speed and i think i fixed that too. it's definitely an improvement. it's idling around 1000 and doesn't want to idle any less than that, even with the idle screw all the way off. probably because of the different cam.

after tuning, i installed the new, shorter caliper bolts and they worked like a charm. tried putting the axle lines on but forgot my diagrams in the house. checking them now, i have the passenger side right. i just have to get the driver's side sorted out then i can bleed the system and see if i need to change out my master and/or combo valve.

actually, here's a question: i went to bleed my clutch the other day, i went to push in the pedal and it was really hard. so hard, that the rod for the clutch master keeps popping off the pedal stud. is this because i'm trying to compress air in a hydraulic system or is there something wrong with my clutch assembly? also, where can i get a new clip for the clutch master cylinder rod?

 

Something is wrong if the clutch is hard to depress. If there is air in the system it will make it mushy or easier to depress.

 

tried the car today. no progress. car still runs bad when cold. considering bringing it to a tuning shop.

focused on the clutch. gravity bled it for what seemed like an hour. finally got good feeling in it, but after letting it sit for a few minutes it got difficult to push again and popped the rod off.

If i wasn't bald already i would've ripped my hair out because of this darn thing!

 

What year vette motor are you running again? Does it have a 9th cold start injector? If you do is it working/hooked up? That would cause it to run very lean until it heated up.

 

the motor is out of a 1990. i'm not using the 9th injector and the function has been removed from my memcal's programming. brian from tunedperformanceinc did the programming. he used a 89 corvette calibration.

 

OK sounds good it was just a thought. I'm not well versed on the factory computers as I don't use one.

 

no problem. can you guys give me other aspects, besides timing, that would make a motor start and shut off immediately when cold?

actually now that i'm thinking, here's something that concerns me. when the motor is finally running on it's own and i'm checking out my vacuum gauge, if i press the button on the gauge to relieve the pressure the motor doesn't act any differently. what does this mean?

 

pressure button on a vacuum gauge ?

 

yeah, it's the button that releases pressure.

 

how do out get pressure out of vacuum ? so it a button that releases suction in the gauge ? not sure

 

exactly.

 

um ok don't know

 

Let's try this again. What I'm trying to say is that when I release suction, effectively making a vacuum leak, the car does not run any differently.

 

If the exhaust ports aren't D shaped then they aren't '90 Corvette heads. They use the same '113 casting that the ZZ4 engines do.

If they are aluminum heads are you using the right spark plugs? They usually take a 3/4" reach flat gasket seat plug.

RBob.

 

It will bolt in. Transfer everything over from the 305.

 

Hey Rbob,

Thank you for coming in to help out! The heads are most definitely aluminum. I had to drill a hole in the passenger side head for the serp belt and it's definitely aluminum. I could've swore they were circular but maybe were D shaped. i didn't really pay attention to that as i had to get the engine ready to install in a very short time ( a couple hours). The engine is a 350. it says it right on the back of the block (5.7L GM). checkout the pic below.

I forget what plug i used. i will check tomorrow and get back to you. they definitely have a flat gasket on them, that i remember.

 

question since you haveing correctly set the idle yet and you only moved the tps sensor to .54
im guessing that when you hit the key it starts then dies i had that issue when i installed the zz3 i had to open the throttle more ie maybe the .38 the tps was reading really needed the throttle screw turned as you watch the voltage move to .54

there is no reason an engine would run on 12 but not 6 unless its not getting the air it needs ie 12* will raise the idle
try turning the idle screw up till it cold starts at 6 * then adjust the the tpis down to .54 you will also find this problem is cause by not letting the ecm learn the base idle and it wont properly learn the iac steps causing the iac not to move as much at start causing the stall also why giving it gas helps

 

any news on the hard starting ?

 

Hey Brian,

Much of my time recently has been spent getting the clutch slave cylinder rod to stay on the pedal when i press it, and on getting the rear brake lines on so i can get the brakes functional so i can get the car rolling. Just finished both of these today and just need to get some crush washers for the flex lines so i can it all bled out.

I have started it up here and there. starts the same as in the video. i have sprayed around for vac leaks and haven't found any yet. once i get it road worthy i want to see how she performs. was thinking about getting 24# injectors and an AFPR so i can baseline things because there's a few variables with this engine. also wouldn't hurt to put in a new fuel pump and pulsator because it's probably as old as the car.

 

pm me if you want

 

question , What did you do about your egr? did you remove it, and does this new engine have the 9th injector ?

 

I removed the EGR. This engine i got out of a 1990 corvette does not use a 9th injector and has no provision for it. I'm not using it.

 

Would you mind pulling a valve cover and telling us the casting # on the heads?

I think your '90 corvette engine is an '86-'87 corvette engine, that was in a 90 before you got it.

You don't have D port heads, and the valve covers are the wrong color for '90.


A '90 would be a 113 casting head, whre 86-87 is 128 casting.

-- Joe

 

sure, joe, i'll pull one off today and see. What color were the valve covers in '90? What is the difference between '86-'87 engines and the '90? as for the ports being round, i thought they were. i didn't really notice their shape while i was tearing down the engine as i was in a big hurry to get the engine in the car because i couldn't leave the engine out side (was going to rain and have very nosey neighbors that like to start trouble). i'm sure hoping these are the 113 heads though.