I got alittle time to mess around today, so I took a few pics. Got my headers tourqed down, and throttle cable finished. Its alittle too long but it will do the job for now. Other than that im at a small road block.

Warrior stripes are back!


Interior shot, hopefully getting gauges soon


Throttle cables alittle too long

 

Well I finished up all the little random things today, and hooked up my battery to see if i could at least get lights and see if the pump would prime, but I got nothing.

I still havent gotten the cpu tuned, so could VATS cause me to have no power? The battery was out of my DD so I know its good. I just thought VATS would prevent it from turning over but I guess im wrong.

 

Lights are independent of the engine wiring. If they're not coming on, the whole thing isnt getting power

How is the power dist block hooked up?

 

Hope you get it figured out!

 

And hey what throttle cable did you use?

 

Its mounted right next to my battery, all connections on it are tightened as well

 

You'll get it figured out, especially with Pocket on your side. I can't help with electrical stuff. What throttle cable did you use? 3rd or 4th gen?

 

Did you add 12v to the power block? With my Pocket Wiring I just added a cable from the Bat to it.

@New2Chevy, Looking for a Cable? I used a 3rd gen TPI. Later model. With some trimming to the stock bracket it fits snugly. I plan to pickup Lokars TPI Cable for looks soon. The stock TPI cable is a bit too sensitive for my taste.

@CPR, What Fuel lines are you using. I see yours follow the frame rail down. Are those Purechoices?

 

Actually I didnt do that, I didnt know it was nessesary. There was already 3 positive connectors attached, and im pretty sure one was labeled 12V.

New2, I used a fourth gen cable from a v6, I had to do a little grinding to make the end of the cable fit properly on the throttle body.

Carlos, Yes their Purechoice lines, 30" to my stock hardlines, I flared some fittings on the stock lines, worked great!

 

Awesome might be just perfect to what I am looking for. I cut my lines and made a ghetto attempt to get the fuel lines done. Granted it wont leak or cause any problems but I figured I was screwed. Got Purechoices website? or did you call by phone? What did you tell them? I am afraid I will get told to go with the tpi adapters for an. Re-flaring my stock lines is what I need.

Also about the wiring. It does come with 3 already added. The 4th you add from the Battery. Atleast that is what I did. Having it unconnected gets the car in a dead state. Once connected everything comes alive.



You can see my 4th wire in this picture by the battery.

 

Yep, hook the battery to it and try again. 5th lug is for the alt output unless its connected somewhere else

 

Ok ill go ahead and do that. Are you refering to the wire that branches off the positive cable at the post? or should I just add a new one?

Carlos, http://www.performanceplumbing.com/
There number is on the site, give them a call they are really easy to work with, and they know ecactly what you need. I paid 100$ for 30" of line, fittings for the rail, and they included the fittings for my hardline flare. Dont be discouraged, they wont try to stew you in the other direction, they know what their talking about. Id give them a 10/10

Definatly adds a nice touch to your engine bay

 

I ran a wire from my battery to my power block, and now I have these


Never thought id be so happy to see my tail lights light up, lol. But one problem is I dont hear my fuel pump priming. I havent disabled VATS yet so could that be causing it?

 

Possible

Unplug the relay and jump it with a wire to see if it turns on

 

ok will do, thanks Jon.

 

Ok.. So I got the fuel pump to prime today, so I turned it over and needless to say it didnt start. Ive never heard a car make this sound before, it basically sounds like what you would use to prime the system with oil. The starter is ingauging the flywheel, but thats the only sound you can hear.

In the beginning I had a minor fuel leak from the braided lines to the rail, but just needed a few turns and it was all good. So atleast I know im getting good fuel pressure. So I pulled a plug, and it was completely dry. Didnt smell like gas at all, or have a trace of prior ignition. So I grounded the pulg, and no spark.. until the second time I tried to turn it over and it sparked for a second, and had a small flame come out the headers. I realized if you let it sit for about ten minutes it does the same thing for a second. But nothing after that. And it still sounds like an oil primer, is that weird or is it just me?

I think either VATS is causing this(but I doubt it), Somehow fuel is not going through my injectors, or something about my ignition/opti is very wrong. or 2 and 3, I guess im just confused. lol

Im gunna look around and see what I can find, im sure its something simple, but a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

I would check spark if some fuel is getting to the rail. What is your opti? Is it all connected? Is the Coil and module connected too? Grounds all there?

Check the basics, then go to see if you are getting full spark and then checking for full starting fuel pressure.

 

opti is a brand new GM unit, all connectors are connected including grounds.

Its just weird that I get that much fuel pressure to the rail, and that EVERY injector would be clogged, so that doesnt seem right.

A friend of mine said i should shim my starter(wasnt shimmed origionally). He said it sounds like theyre meshed really tight, but that seems errelivent to the situation.

 

Dang what a pain man. You'll get her fired up soon!

 

Did you get the sucker running?

 

Not yet. Ive narrowed it down to VATS though so I just need to send out my PCM for a tune. Still deciding where I want to send it, dont worry when she fires there will be a start-up video that day.

 

I'm sending mine to PCMforLess. I've heard nothing but great things about them. Hopefully it is just the VATS. Can't wait to see a video of your car running!!

On a side note, I am pretty sure to tune it for other than wide open throttle, a guy needs some software and some practice and needs to do it himself, but I could be wrong.

Also, are you using the third gen throttle cable or the 4th gen throttle cable? I am using the 4th gen cable and had to make a little "bracket" for the firewall to hold the darn thing in there properly, but it should work beautifully. You can see it in my swap thread a ways back from the last post.

Also, my builder started measuring the crank journals so he can order the bearings he wants for it, and he's supposed to have started the block machining a few days ago. Yay!!

 

Good to hear your builders finally making some headway on the long block! Thats going to be a monster!

Its a 4th gen cable from a 3.8 liter, its way to long so im not even bothering with a bracket yet, gunna find something shorter/cleaner soon.

Dont worry, im not gunna send it to "some guy with a scanner" lol, Im leaning twards pcmforless.com, just exploring my options.

 

Just a thought but mine started and run for about 2 seconds before VATS kicked in and terminated the system. From what i read VATS is not keeping it from starting up.

 

good luck i hope that you can get it going.. i hate all that wiring crap.. i might also be adding a turbo to my build.. just an idea.. figured since my wife doesnt want me "modding" the GTO i would go a lil crazy on the trans am.. lt1s are pretty cheap compared to the lsx motors.. twin turbo lt1? ebay?? maybe?? we will see.. again good luck

 

Yeah I can't wait to get it going either. Its been at a halt this winter since work has been slow. This summer I'm HOPING to drive it to third gen fest in Crete. Well see if not ill just take my truck and go anyway. Boost would be awesome! My thoughts are sell your LT1, and scrape together a 5.3 and go from there. You can find one for pretty cheap, and after front acc, oil pan, intake you could almost break even if you found the right buyer for the motor. Not that I don't think the lt1 can't take boost, but if I was going to dump over 2k on boost I would make sure it was ls based. But I'd love to see someone on her slap a turbo on their lt1 and make it go!! A T72 front mount would be awesome.

Thanks for the good wishes, and also thanks for protecting our county

 

ive been looking threw the pages and from what i read i will be going into an lt1 m6 base with the newly acquired 86 iroc z m5. it will be fun to get another lt1 on the road to replace the 96Zm6 that i foolishly sold long ago. new2chevy, i hope to see a video when you get your camaro started and pocket you are going to be a big help. now to find a $1,500 dollar POS and get to work.

 

the reason i wanna do the turbo to my lt1 is well because i already have the lt1 and im determined to make it run and drive.. i was going to do a cheap ebay turbo kit, and upgrading all the main parts, turbo, bov, ect ect.. then when the lt1 finally goes boom ill have the all the parts i need to out it on the ls motor.. im hoping to get it running soon after i get home then later on do the turbo.. i just wanna drive the damn thing for the first time!! good luck on the vats problem i always hated that and i hope it doesnt happen to me

 

I hear you loud and clear, I just wanna drive the damn thing.

 

Ve been reading up on VATS and I know I can get it tuned out, but from what people are saying the real problems are in the individual resistors in the VATS. My questiion will the tune do away with VATS entierly, or should I remove the actual VATS module under the dash aswell just for good measure?

 

I would tune it out and see if it gives you any issues if it does take it out and see what happens

 

any updates???

 

No man sorry no updates yet, been workin a lot and starting to save for a trans. Ill be shipping out the PCM next week to get tuned and hopefully she fires. Next step is drive the damn thing. I know its been awhile, but ill have updates soon

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GM-VATS-PASS...item3372e276f3

If your low on cash this did the trick for me man, hook it up right and it will run forever.

 

My vats is still intact, all i did was trick it into thinking it was working with this piece of heaven if you don't have a tuner. Just remove the lower left floor panel and the sticky s!!T and splice the green and yellow wires together. Done.

 

Well I finally have an update actually worth stating. I recently purched a T56 trans with about 200k on the clock... but i only paid 500 for it so it suited my budget perfectly, so im gunna slap it in and see how long i can stretch it. it came with a stock shifter, new stock clutch with 1K on it, new clutch fork. Seems like an Autozone clutch but it seems to be in ok shape. Also I picked up a stock rubber mount and im trying to work out a deal on a crossmember.

My cameras not working so i dont have pics, but ill work on that. Ive also repainted the intake black and yellow to match the hood, turned out really good!

Just feels really good to finally see the swap pick back up, sorry its been so long but you guys know how it goes.. Anyone have suggestions on a slave/master kit? NAPAs got it for 165 "ready to go".. So if anyone has a suggestion on something else im all ears. Hopefully drive it by the 4th of July!

 

ok so installing the trans went pretty well but im having a few issues as far as fittment... it looks like i have to cut out more of my shifter hole which is weird because the t56 is 2" shorter than the T5 and i havent heard of fitment issues before. looks like i have to cut about an inch off the back of the shifter hole. also I cant get the crossmember to line up properly for some reason. Tomorrow im gunna loosen up the motor mounts and wiggle it and try my luck. But i wanted to check with you guys before i hack the shifter hole up. am i overlooking something?

 

Ended up cutting alittle of my floorpan off for the shifter clearance. just about an inch back so nothing extravigant. Just weird that i had to cut more off but whatever. also got the crossmember lined up after alittle persuarion with the dead blow hammer. lol.

Still trying to figure out why my camera wont upload pics but ill work on that so you guys can see the progress.

 

Ok I got my PCM back today and tried to fire up the motor but still nothing.....

Its making the same sound only louder. Ive got fuel, starter is engaging the flywheel, but no spark. The sound is scaring me because it sounds almost like i have no compression but i think its because of my valves opening and closing. I dont know guys ive never heard any motor sound like this so im hoping you guys can shead some light on my situation. Ive got a video but please excuse my brother, we were both expecting it to fire right up. lol

 

Well I think I diagnosed it as no compression. Ive looked at alot of videos on line and they seem to sound just like that. But I have no idea what could have gone wrong I replaced the head gaskets and everything. Could I have over tightened them and stripped the head bolts?

 

So Ive done alot of reading and I think I over-tightened my rocker arms. I didnt torque them down, I just did finger-tight plus a quarter turn. Then when I went back around I realized some of them were loose so I snugged them up alittle bit..Aparently, thats a big "no-no".

So I took my valve covers off, and none of my push rods appear to be bent, and from my experience when they bend, they bend alot and its hard to miss. But it appears most of my valves are all the way closed. So what I want to do is take the rockers and push rods off and re-do the preocess. I really dont want to take my heads off again if its a simple fix

 

Man, from that video, it almost sounds like the engine isn't even turning over. Kind of strange. You said the starter is engaging the flywheel, but is the flywheel actually turning? Maybe try verifying that too. I doubt your head gaskets or how tight your head bolts are have anything to do with it.

Here's a link that might help you understand valve lash adjustment. I used it to set the lash on my LS1. http://www.cpgnation.com/forum/comp-...ment-2076.html

 

Its the pushrods, i did the tightened them alittle too much and its holding almost every valve in motor open. Just need to take them out and re adjust them, and make sure their not bent. And pray to god theres not valve problems

 

Ah, I see. Yeah, let's hope not. That would seriously suck!

 

Your tellin me. lol

I was thinkin about updating to 1.6 roller rockers, but being that im completely stock i dont know if it would be worth it. Anyone else running just rockers with no cam and gettings some good results? Thinkin about hardened pushrods too

 

The motor was spinning over so fast it sounded like it wasn't getting spark? I hope you the best of luck man pretty motor btw.

 

Yeah I pulled a plug and I actually wasnt getting spark. Ill have to trace that after I finish the push rods. Just one problem after another..And speaking off, I found a puddle of oil under my car. Looks like my rear main seal is bad too, lol.

Thanks for the compliment man! Just repainted the intake to match the hood, i love the way it turned out

 

Well I got it all put back together this morning, turned it over and this time i had compression, which is a very good thing.But still no spark.. So I went and picked up a new ignition coil, now ive got spark but still no fire. I took a video but cant figure out how to get it posted.

I havent check anything fuel related but i know ive got atleast fuel pressure to the rails. I know that because it sprayed everywhere last time lol. But i dont know if it is adiquit pressure. It almost fired once, and sometimes the starter slows way down like its about to fire, then it speeds up again. And speaking of the starter, and one point there was smoke pouring out of it, and alittle out of the headers, weather thats good or normal im not sure. Maybe you guys can help me out alittle bit. Im so damn close!

 

Got it

 

Have you checked fuel pressure?