mikey_b

iTrader: (1)

Well, I'm approaching the end of my 2000 LS1 / T56 swap into my 1990 Camaro. I finally took it on the road yesterday and blasted for a bit, it is going to be a fun car that's for sure. I definitely could not have gone this far without reading the immense wealth of information from the experts on this board. However, I still have a few issues and was wondering if you guys could help out with any possible solutions.

The tach is not working. I've read that connecting an ignition switched power source to the white tach signal should correct this though. So I will try that this weekend and hopefully this issue will be resolved.

The oil pressure gauge is not working. I am using the stock oil pressure sender from my 305TPI and installed it into the factory LS1 location on the rear on the engine. I purchased a new pigtail for the sender from GM which has three grey wires coming out of it and of course I have already got rid of my old setup. I'm pretty sure the middle wire was the tan wire which you connect to your factory gauge. I have done this already. Is one of the other wires supposed to be grounded or something? The other possibility is that I have no oil pressure, but I drove around for 50 miles yesterday and didn't spin a bearing so I don't think that's the issue... (I know, not the best way to test, but I was too excited to try her out). I could meter the sender to check it as well. What should the correct resistance readings be if I were to meter from the tan wire to a good ground?

The speedometer is acting a bit funky. What I mean is that sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not. I've checked my connections and it doesn't look like anything is loose, but maybe I should just re-solder the connection between my car and the LS1 computer? I doubt that is the issue though because a friend of mine who builds control panels for water plants did the bulk of the soldering.

The fuel gauge is also not working. I preformed the procedure as depicted on Aaron's team3rdgen website where you take the old sender and surgically attach it to the 4th gen pump (I have the 4th gen fuel tank setup). The gauge does come up just a hair over the empty mark. Is it possible that the 3rd gen float on the sender unit is getting caught on some portion of the 4th gen tank? Might be a good excuse to buy a Moser rear end with 4.10s if I have to drop it to pull the tank again, the stock 3.08 gears are not doing it for me...

There seems to be a procedure for starting the car. Put the key in and turn to the run position. Wait for the "security" light (which is very dim) to turn off, then crank immediately. If you wait too long, you will just get a 'click' and you have to start the procedure all over again. Is this normal?

My last concern is the routing the the brake and fuel line next to the tranny. I am using the Hawk's headers and those lines are about a 1/2" from the collectors. Have any of you had any problems with this setup (spontaneous combustion / boiling brake fluid?). I am thinking about drilling some small holes in the "frame" rail and feeding the lines through them as opposed to along the side of them. I have sub-frame connectors so I don't think the small holes will create any stress cracking or anything similar. Your thoughts?

Wow, that was a long list of issues... I know these are mostly vague descriptions that cannot be properly troubleshooted (er, troubleshot?) without seeing the car, but if any of you have had similar issues and can help point me in the right direction, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

cam-

Worked for me

Was the gauge working before? These things are dicey I've had a couple pack it in on me in other cars. No idea about the wiring I went with an Autometer Mech gauge. i like them best theres little that can go wrong and running or not if the engine is spinning you can see the pressure

If your running and LS1 tank the easiest solution is to run the replacement sensor the PN is in one of the links in the sticky. Easy way to test if its the gauge though is unplug the connector at the tank and use an OHM meter to see if you get a reading then you know its either the sender or the gauge.

A rear upgrade is likely in your future whether you like it or not the stock diffs have a hard time dealing with these kinds of power levels.

Very strange... How are you bypassing VATS with a tune or with a module? Something odd here..

I was concerned about this two but no issues so far. Three seasons, lots of heat and driving and all good.

Lastly congrats man I bet those drives felt good

screeminchicken

iTrader: (2)

I am guessing u already reprogrammmed the o/p in the LS1 pcm. TRy this


Why didnt u just use the LS1 sending unit. it should have had a single tan wire. connect it to the brown wire in your C100 bulkhead connector.

I read somewhere the VSS signal has also got to be adjusted in the PCM to match whatever gauge ur using.

Ur fuel level sender resistance should match whatever gauge ur using. Get a sender from a 90's grand am. its a 0-90ohm sender that drops right into ur LS1 housing.

I have a complete grand am housing. No sender. If u already cutup ur LS1 housing. Just need to get a 0-90 ohm sender from local parts store ($20) cut the bottom and transfer the LS1 pump. and attach the regulator to the top. but this has no provision for evap.


I would take cam's word

mikey_b

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm not going to get a chance to work on the car until tomorrow. I found another oil pressure sender from the wreckers and I'm going to try swapping that to see if the oil pressure situation cures itself. I didn't use the sender from the LS1 because I didn't realize that it would work until it was long gone...

I will also check the resistance from the fuel sender with a meter tomorrow to see what the situation is. Cam, you said the easiest way is to run the replacement sensor from one of the stickies? Is that the 90s Grand Am sender that Screaminchicken is talking about?

As far as VATS, all I did was set it to "none" in HPTuners. Everything else is hooked up like normal.

Screeminchicken, in your sketch you have a note about adjusting the o/p in the LS1 prom. In HPTuners it has them set to 6 and 3 from the factory. The LS1 works on a 4-banger signal (I think that's what I've read), so do they get adjusted to 12 and 6? Also, the only adjustments I can see in HPtuners for the speedometer is where you input your tire size and rear gear ratio. Am I missing something?

Thanks again for your help guys, I hope to post some pictures of the final setup once all the bugs are worked out!

mikey_b

iTrader: (1)

Update from some troubleshooting and a 6-pack yesterday...

If I bypass the starter enable relay, my strange starting issues disappear (not really a surprise but a step forward regardless). I am beginning to contemplate removing VATS all together.

Checked the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge, all is well. Put wrecker sending unit in, same issue with the gauge. I metered the sender and I am getting 96ohms. What should this be putting out on the gauge? Is it possible that I am missing a ground or something in my dash? What about the C207 connector? Is there a ground in that connector for the dash? No idea...

Fuel gauge is similar. 76ohm reading from the connector at the tank. What should this equate to for level? I'm guessing I should be at roughly 3/4 full or so right now.

Your thoughts?

Aaron91RS

iTrader: (2)

It's very sensitive to how the metal rod is bent.
At first I had it only coming up to 1/2 even when it was full. Bent it a little the other way and it did a full sweep but had like 1.5 gals left when it was at 1/2.
Good thing about the 4thgen tank in mine. I can pull the gas tank out in 10 mins by only removing the two straps.
I don't have to unbolt a darn thing from the axle.
The rubber(bendable) 4thgen filler neck is the best invention ever.

cam-

First off add grounds. All over the place. This can do nothing but good for you there is no downside and with wiring issues in autos 9/10 times its a ground related problem. I mention this in the sticky too

Fuel gauge bend the rod trick sounds reasonable. You have some reading at the tank so the sender is sending something

mikey_b

iTrader: (1)

What is the metal rod you are talking about? Are you talking about at the all-weather connector? If the fuel sender is 76ohms, I'm guessing the gauge should read 3/4ish full right?

Cam, where do you suggest adding grounds? Do you know if there are any wires from a 1990 C207 connector that are supposed to be grounded? I cannot find the pinout for a 1990 to confirm. I used the one from the Austin3rdgen website for a 1992...

Jaysz28

iTrader: (30)

I beleive the guages ground through the C100 connector, but I don't recall which pin it is.

-jason

cam-

I added grounds alllllll over the place and three years going strong its all as it should be here.

I added ( meaning extra not required ) ground straps from my k member to my block, from my fender to my neg- battery terminal, from my trans to grounding block ( if you look in sticky you'll see my grounding block pics ) and on and on.

for a 2000 PCM pin #'s; 1, 40, 54, 60 have to be grounded too. Again my thinking when i did mine was to ground them all at the same location so if there were issues with anything I could start there. Plus there is at least one wire that goes to ground from your stock third gen C100 connector as well.

When in doubt add a ground. Think about it. These cars are old and a lot of the ground connections made between parts bolting together have rust and crud in them now so helping things out by adding some wires here and there between everything only makes things work smoother