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LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
862's, ported & polished, with Manley Race series stainless steel intake & exhaust valves; 2.00" and 1.55" respectively. Reused my PSI 1511 springs, and he did a pressure test, flow test, and shimmed the springs for boost... I believe 160 lb's, but I might be wrong. Didn't get the water channels as clean as I would have liked, but it shouldn't really matter that much once it has antifreeze flowing.
Main caps torqued and angled and the crank spins freely which is nice. Cam comes in today, so I'm planning on installing it and the front 2 lifters on each side to confirm push rod length tonight.
Still waiting on some parts to come in.. mainly, windage tray nuts and oil restrictor for the back which will be here tomorrow. Cam timed, oil pump back on, and decided to start cleaning parts of debris.
So... the intake. I figured I'd have some metal pieces to get out of it since I found quite a bit lodged in the other pistons and head. What I didn't figure on was the quart of oil in it plus metal pieces.
This is what didn't wash away. 2 cans of degreaser and lots of water later, the inside is all cleaned up. Amazed at how much was inside of it.
Yes. While in the process of removing the sensor so that I could clean the intake, it snapped clear off of the actual sensor itself. I ended up pushing it inside because it wouldn't come out. Can you say warranty? lol
I put all the covers on loosely to keep stuff out. Still need to install push rods, and rockers, clean off the valley cover, and do another cleaning pass on the intake.
Ordered in the correct push rod checker as the one that I had bought wasn't correct. Checked #'s 1 & 2 cylinders and thankfully I caught a break! Don't need new push rod's.. the 7.4's are the correct length. I'll have it buttoned up tonight and ready to drop in on Saturday, with a tentative goal of possibly having it fire by mid-next week... not rushing though.
Well.. ladies and germs, I have an announcement...
She runs! Doesn't purr.. roars would be a better term. Still have some bugs to work out, but damn me this thing is fast!
Don't have video except for of it running, and it's not a great video but I'm planning on capturing some go-pro footage tonight or tomorrow after I give her a bath and clean the inside thoroughly. It's been well over a year since I've done that lol.
Spent every free night I had this past week working methodically on it. Did NOT rush this time, but worked until I felt I was at a good stopping point. I double checked every single thing as it went in. Got the trans stabbed in only 45 minutes this time, which was great. Spent a solid 3.5 hours finishing up almost everything Friday night, but decided I'd wait until Saturday to button up the last few things and fire it up.
Good solid 30 seconds of priming the oil, slipped the fuse in and she fired up first crank! What sucked was I couldn't do a solid 20 minutes of idle at one time as the break in because I was an idiot and had the nose pointing down the driveway and couldn't get the cooling system burped before it'd shut off due to "overheating". Flipped it around, and that fixed that problem real quick.
I've put a little over 50 miles on it now, and all I can say is the grin still hasn't faded away. When I say this thing is fast, it doesn't quite do it justice. Stock LS1 tune, with stock LS1 rev limiter, running open loop and my brothers WRX with STI turbo, downpipe, and top-end could barely keep up getting onto the highway.
Couple of bugs/things to do that are immediate:
1. Fuel pump still won't turn on from the PCM. I've swapped the relay to a 30 amp to see if it would work (the one in it was a 40 amp), but it's still not getting there. I have an idea on how to proceed, but in the interim I've still got it hooked up to a switch... I've actually reused my previous "go fast" switch and have it wired so that when the cover is up and switch forward, the pump is off and when the cover is down and switch back it's on. This way, it won't accidentally get turned off while driving, and it'll be easier to remember to turn it off when I get out of the car.
2. Passenger side O2 sensor is not registering. It's highly unlikely that it's the sensor itself seeing as it's brand new, but I'm fairly certain it's at the harness. I checked all the wires before hand (they had contact with the headers if you remember from the last engine), but not thoroughly enough so now I need to run some tests and possibly redo the wires if they check out as being bad. Any advice towards that goal would be greatly appreciated.
3. Passenger side header is now contacting the frame rail slightly. Wasn't before, so I'm thinking the engine/trans alignment is slightly off, but for the life of me I couldn't get it to slide over some. At particularly low idle/decel, it makes some very interesting noises, otherwise there are no issues besides the fact the headers are freaking hot. Would I be wise in taking the header off and massaging both header and frame rail some or should it be okay?
4. Speedo bounces occasionally. It's hard to pinpoint what causes it, but sometimes it goes absolutely nuts and other times it's smooth as can be.
5. Tach is no where near accurate. The needle moves and acts like it knows what the RPM is at, but it's about half of what it should be.
6. Need an alignment
7. Need to put the strut tower brace on
8. Need to repurpose some of the heat shield to cover where the filter/regulator is to add some protection.
9. Still need to swap rear shocks just so I keep it the same as the front.
10. Decided against trying to make the heater box fit. Just not going to happen. So, need to get a block off plate with blower motor mounts so that I can at least have some air movement.
11. 2nd gear grinds. Which really irritates me. I'm getting the hang of the friction point, but I still have to let the RPM drop before I can shift without grinding... which isn't conducive to... you know, going fast? Plan of action is to save up cash, sell this thing for a profit, turn around and pick up a already built 1k HP+ T56 and be done with it.
At least 400 is my guess. Except for the intake, this build mirrors Hot Rod's almost exactly and they got over 450 with theirs. Once I get the bugs figured out, and get it dyno-tuned it should be close to the 450 mark at the crank.
Pulled the PCM/FP fuse, and cranked it with the starter. Took about 2-3 minutes for the lifter chatter to go away, and I've got the dreaded sewing machine noise while running but I know everything is within spec... after all, I did the push rod check 10 damn times because I was terrified I did it wrong and was going to bend a push rod or smack a valve into a piston lol.
First drive to work today. She does NOT like low RPM's at all. I'm realizing I probably should have put 4.10's in instead of the 3.73's... Traffic is no bueno.
2 oil changes in. First one after break-in was a pretty pretty rainbow. The 50-mile one was toned down much more, but still slightly cloudy with a little bit of sparkles. Idle oil pressure sits right around 30, with higher RPM pegging the gauge past 60. Going to do another after 100 miles.
2nd gear grinding is going to really **** me off. I'm already irritated by it, but my tolerance will get lower and lower as time goes on. I have to let the RPM's drop to almost idle before slipping it into gear if I don't want any tooth-on-tooth action, which sucks if I'm trying to rip gears.
Gas mileage? What's that? lol After I get home, she's getting put in the air again until I can figure out the O2 sensor. Dumping fuel is not good for my wallet or the motor. Also, at higher RPM's (Near redline), I get a very slight oil-burning smell. Need to make sure it's not seeping from any seals or orifices.
In need of some serious help here, so if you have any idea how to proceed, what the issue is, or what I can do to further diagnose it, please PLEASE chime in.
Sitting right at .45 volts on the display. Even when unplugged.
So, I do some checks. I don't have access to an actual scan tool, so making do with Torque, as well as multimeter. Heater circuits check out fine, less than an ohm on the ground circuit, and getting battery voltage on the ignition wire.
Tried to do a continuity test on the signal high and low but no go. I then check the voltage key on, engine off and I'm getting 4.5 volts on the signal high wire (checked against both ground terminal, and against the actual battery), but then I'm getting 4.99 volts on the signal low wire!? I don't remember much in regard to the oxygen sensor circuits from my classes so please correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I don't think that's supposed to be like that.
If you remember, a while back I posted about how the conduit got melted to the header with the previous engine. Well, I went back over it again today, pulling the tape and conduit off all the way until it meets the main harness conduit, and all the wires look intact. In fact, they don't look melted at all... only thing was a tiny bit of melted conduit plastic on the signal high wire.
I'm stumped. Is there a better way to test this? Do I need to pull the computer and check the wires from the main connector to the sensor connector or would the voltage on it be the indication that it has continuity? She's dumping fuel like a jet plane going down, and I'm now getting a random misfire code on top of the P0154, which I'm positive is related. Stock LS1 tune (with emissions off) doesn't help of course, but I need to get this sensor working.
Okay, after more reading it most definitely shouldn't be that high on the signal circuits. Why is the PCM supplying such high voltage on the signal circuits when it's supposed to be .450mv bias? Is it plausible that when the PCM was modified to remove the emission stuff, that when he did the Rear O2's, the tuner must have set the Bank 2 Sensor 1? It's about the only thing I can think of that makes sense...
Okay, after consulting with Pocket, and doing a large amount of reading I have a course of action tonight when I get home.
1. Check continuity of the signal wires. I believe the wire harness is sound, but one more check from pcm to connector will not hurt.
2. If the harness checks out sound, then I'll be swapping the sensors and seeing if it follows. I'm fairly certain it won't follow, but it's not a time intensive test so why not.
3. Get it to the dyno-tune as soon as humanly possible.
Again, I don't think the harness is the problem, nor do I think it's the sensor. Even with them being F-body Bosch sensors (after the reading I've done, I will upgrade to the Denso C5 rear sensors as soon as I have the $$$), the fact that it registers .45 volts with key on/engine off and the sensor unplugged leads me to believe it's something with the PCM. Most likely, the wrong sensor was "turned off" in the tune.
All wires from the O2 connector to the PCM connector ohmed out at .7... and had continuity. Swapped sensors across and the driver side immediately started to heat up, while the passenger side stayed cold. Started the car, and after a minute or 2 the bank 1 sensor voltage moved up to .9v, and the bank 2 sensor stayed put at .45v and didn't fluctuate at all.
I can only conclude that the tuner who deleted the emissions wasn't paying attention and turned all of bank 2 off instead of just the front sensor. Which sucks, but at least I know now.
I will be taking it to get dyno-tuned as soon as I can get the money together, and that should fix a lot of my issues with driveability, if not all of them. In the meantime, I'm just going to drive it so that it gets mileage. I want at least 500 miles before I hit the dyno, preferable more. I discovered last night that the O2 bungs are stripped somewhat so I need to take it back to the exhaust shop and have them fix their error as I need it to seal completely...
All wires from the O2 connector to the PCM connector ohmed out at .7... and had continuity. Swapped sensors across and the driver side immediately started to heat up, while the passenger side stayed cold. Started the car, and after a minute or 2 the bank 1 sensor voltage moved up to .9v, and the bank 2 sensor stayed put at .45v and didn't fluctuate at all.
I can only conclude that the tuner who deleted the emissions wasn't paying attention and turned all of bank 2 off instead of just the front sensor. Which sucks, but at least I know now.
I will be taking it to get dyno-tuned as soon as I can get the money together, and that should fix a lot of my issues with driveability, if not all of them. In the meantime, I'm just going to drive it so that it gets mileage. I want at least 500 miles before I hit the dyno, preferable more. I discovered last night that the O2 bungs are stripped somewhat so I need to take it back to the exhaust shop and have them fix their error as I need it to seal completely...
Don't you have the Racing Innovations headers? Are the bungs on those stripped, or did you have other bungs put in further down the exhaust?
The bungs on those stripped. When I had the exhaust shop build my exhaust, I think they removed the plugs so not to damage them since they needed to massage the header itself and the frame. Whoever put them back put the gut wrench on them and I can't get the O2's to seat fully now. Going to get them fixed before I take it to get dyno'd in 2 weeks.
4th Oil change done. Good until 500 miles now. Very little metal was visible, although the oil is a little dark thanks to it running rich and some blow by. Catch can is on the list now, as I get a very, very slight oil burning smell when I go WOT. Have the usual valve-train noise LS's have with big cams, although switching to 10-40 seems to help a bit. Haven't driven it enough since doing so to really confirm that it works, so we'll see.
Alignment done yesterday and very glad of it too. Needed it badly. Guy couldn't get the caster perfect due to the strut mount plates, but camber and toe were really what I was concerned most with anyway.
Rear shocks installed. Ride is smoother now; both rear shocks needed to go. Passenger side wouldn't even extend after I removed it. Still not going to win luxury awards, but I don't really care lol. Hugs the road through turns, and it takes some serious trying to make the rear tires break loose enough to spin. It just wants to grip and go!
Tried putting the washer bottle in, but discovered very quickly that the routing of the air filter and tube make it impossible. I can try going to a smaller filter, but I'm not overly concerned about it. I'm tempted to wait until after I start my turbo build. I don't plan on driving it in the rain intentionally, and there are enough gas stations around I can always clean them there if I'm in a pinch.
Have a short in my turn signal/back up light wiring somewhere... every time I put it in reverse it blows the fuse. Need to find it, but until I have time to do that I'm just going to disconnect from the switch.... turn signals are more important than the reverse lights right now. This week, I plan on finding the issue with the fuel pump problem, although I'm starting to get used to having it on a manual kill switch.
All in all, I love this car. Best thing I have done, even in it's untuned, planet-destroying, angry state. Such a blast to drive! I can't go anywhere without someone trying to race, or making a comment about it/asking questions etc. Every single person is shocked when I tell them it's a 4.8. lol Vid soon, I promise.
When a problem pops up, and you've exhausted all attempts to identify it... it usually manifests itself as a face-palmer..
Well, that's exactly what happened with the O2 sensor problem. After talking to my tuner, and talking with Pocket, I went back last night and started rechecking the harness again. Checked the ground side first and of course confirmed my previous test... so before I went further, I grabbed my print out of the harness side connector and started verifying the pins. Checked driver side first, since I know it worked and of course it was good. Moved to the passenger side... and had a moment of mental face-palming. The terminals were in the wrong spots.. It literally mirrored the driver side, instead of being a copy. So, I moved the pins to their proper spot, double checked to make sure the sensor started heating up and started it up.
Lo and behold, it almost immediately went into closed loop. Idle smoothed out, the sensors started oscillating and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Drove about 10 mile last night, alternating between hard pulls and smooth acceleration and it didn't hiccup once. Before, if I had it in 4th gear or higher at sub-1600 RPM, it would buck and jump like it wanted to stall. Not doing it now!
All I've got left is to trace the short in the TS/BU harness, and puzzle out the fuel pump.
Car is still running strong. I'm half-tempted to pop the valve covers off and tighten the rockers up just a little more to see if it lessens the noise a bit. But, I'm only half-tempted. However, even in it's untuned, pedal-to-the-metal state with lots of redline pulls I still got 17 mpg out of my last tank!
Can't seem to get someone with a camera to follow me. Dyno in 2 days!!! So, hopefully this weekend afterward!
Installed my STB Monday night. I've felt some difference, but not a whole lot. Future wonderbar and SFC's should fix it right up.
Kinda disappointed, but it's still not THAT shabby.
340 RWHP and a little over 300 ft/lb's torque. Fuel issue at about 5.5k rpm though, so if I can get that figured out we can retune it and probably up the numbers some more. He had to set the redline at 6.3k because the flow wasn't enough. But, going to make a new thread in regard to that.
Fuel economy is way up, idle is perfect, he got the speedo dead on and the tach is only about 100 rpm off, which isn't bad. His exact words when I went to pick it up were: "She's a screamer. You've got yourself a fast b**** there!" lol. He seemed impressed with it, so I guess that's something right?
They are going to email me the video they took as well as the log sheet with the numbers, so I'll post them once I've got them.
The fuel drop off is an issue though. Should be able to make power to 7200 rpm. Going to get a fuel pressure testing kit w/gauge and check the rail pressure at idle, and while driving, to start my diag. This Walbro 255 should have more than sufficient flow for under 500 hp...
The fuel drop off is an issue though. Should be able to make power to 7200 rpm. Going to get a fuel pressure testing kit w/gauge and check the rail pressure at idle, and while driving, to start my diag. This Walbro 255 should have more than sufficient flow for under 500 hp...
Are you still running the stock intank pump and hard line? A warlboro 255 should be good for supporting your engine.
Are you still running the stock intank pump and hard line? A warlboro 255 should be good for supporting your engine.
Nope. Walbro 255 in-tank with 3/8 SSB fuel line/an-6 fittings front to back, feeding into a vette filter/reg. Racetronix hot wire kit with relay and power wire feed directly off the alternator. Same as most people that do this setup.
The tuner claimed that at 56-5700 rpm, when he commanded an additional 5% fuel, he said it couldn't do it even though the injector duty cycle wasn't close to being maxed out. He didn't give me hard numbers, and I don't have the software to check it myself currently. His words were: "the Walbro 255 is antiquated technology", yet couldn't offer up a viable replacement.
It's entirely possible that there's a hang up somewhere, or maybe possible vaporlock with it passing near the d/s header... but that doesn't explain why it has issues after a certain rpm range, especially since there is decent airflow. Need to get that gauge so I can take a look at the pressure.
Wow its been too long since I have checked this. Looks fantastic! Nice clean job! 340/300 isnt too shabby for a little 4.8L! My old 355LT1 hurt some feeling back in the day making 315/315. Ran constant 12.70's.
This was a fun read. Looks like you did good. I wish my project would move along quicker. Being a perfectionist is a real pain. It slows you down. Oh well. Thanks for doing this thread. We appreciate your time and effort.
This was a fun read. Looks like you did good. I wish my project would move along quicker. Being a perfectionist is a real pain. It slows you down. Oh well. Thanks for doing this thread. We appreciate your time and effort.
How well do I understand that... if I had it my way, it'd still be in pieces being meticulously gone over... as I, too, am a perfectionist. However, needed another vehicle just in case, and didn't need the city up my butt about it being in the driveway unmoving (yes, you read that right.. my own driveway with no view of the street!).
Also, the car is in really sound shape... 98% rust free leaves little that needs to be fixed.
Edit: Oh, and thank you! The compliment is greatly appreciated!
There is no fuel drop off. I have described what I did to test it in the other thread, but
TL : DR Pressure never goes below 58, no matter what the conditions. Sits at 60-62 normally.
Only thing I can think of at this point is the injectors aren't meaty enough, since they are stock 28.8's. Going to hold off on any more purchasing until I can get it on another dyno to see what happens, which should be early next month. In the mean time, going to continue to drive it and EVENTUALLY knuckle down and fix the fuel pump relay problem.
Next test'n'tune/fast Friday at my nearest 1/4 mile track is in November... specifically, 11/14. It's domestic vs import night, so my brother with his Subaru is going to go out with me and we're going to see what kind of times I get now compared to my stock engine/trans. I prefer 1/4 over 1/8, but I may give the 8's a try since they do TNT more often and I could use the practice going down the track.
Got it insured with Grundy as of today, which is awesome. I set the value at only $12.5k because the paint isn't the greatest, and the interior isn't completely finished yet. The premium for the year is amazing compared to what Progressive wanted.
I believe I just blew up my oil pressure gauge lol... High pressure pump combined with stock 60 psi gauge + high RPM = pegged gauge. All the more reason to upgrade to the digital set up.
Drives great still... bounced it off the limiter a couple times this morning getting onto the highway and I swear it doesn't feel like it's leaning out whatsoever... I've driven vehicles (both car and bike) that leaned out towards the upper range and were restricted back down to not cause damage before, and this doesn't feel like it. Definitely need to get the tune checked out.
Well, that was short lived. Driveability issues now pertaining to the clutch and/or transmission. I'm leaning more towards the trans now stemming from the 2nd gear grinding, but shifting has become... interesting.
It's really hard to describe exactly what feels off. I drove it to work yesterday and I goosed it a little when I had open highway and it felt off. Almost like it was slipping, but it really wasn't. Some difficult to pinpoint vibrations... and the exhaust being the way it is makes it REALLY hard to figure out. However, once I put it in neutral and coasted down the ramp I could smell a burnt clutch, but it didn't act like it was slipping at all. I took it home at lunch and damn near 0 issues on the way, except it was hard to get it into 1st/2nd. At a stand still, I had to put a little extra oomph into it to get it into 1st, and 2nd was like it has been: grinding if I force it right as I push the clutch in, but after I let it spin for about 10 seconds, it meshes and I can get it into gear. It also feels like the friction zone has changed.
I haven't dived into it at all yet, short of reading. I did glance at my reservoir, and while the fluid looks clear, I can see flakes of something floating in it. First order of business is flushing the lines completely. I also need to check to make sure the heat shield I wrapped around the line to protect it from the header is still in place and sealed up.
Would a used LS7 clutch do an adjustment on itself after 3-400 miles like a new one would?
She has more in her than just 340whp... I'm certain of it.
No it doesnt. Sorry to burst your bubble but its a 4.8. Its making good power for what it is. Also your Walbro 255 is more than enough for your set up.
No it doesnt. Sorry to burst your bubble but its a 4.8. Its making good power for what it is. Also your Walbro 255 is more than enough for your set up.
Okay, sure.
And I know, I've already tested that. The injectors are what's holding it back.
Well, that was short lived. Driveability issues now pertaining to the clutch and/or transmission. I'm leaning more towards the trans now stemming from the 2nd gear grinding, but shifting has become... interesting.
I know 99 and prior had the weaker second gear that they eventually swapped out in 00 for the viper gear. So that is a definite possibility. I plan on changing this while it is out.
I know 99 and prior had the weaker second gear that they eventually swapped out in 00 for the viper gear. So that is a definite possibility. I plan on changing this while it is out.
It will be rebuilt at some point, but hopefully not right now. $780 for the stage 2 rebuild kit is not in the budget just yet, but that gear is definitely getting replaced. After probably 5 hours of reading/research, I'm pretty confident I can rebuild this thing myself.. especially after all the stuff I've done in this thread.
I didn't have much time for anything yesterday, but I took a quick row through the gears with the engine off and felt no binding at all. Slipped into each gear properly. I need to check to make sure I'm not leaking fluid from it, but as of right now I don't think my issue is trans-related. Hydraulics are the next step. If I can, I'm going to try to bleed/flush the system tonight before I have to run off yet again. I have seen 0 fluid spots under the car so far. Hoping I don't have to pull the trans to continue to locate the problem.
It will be rebuilt at some point, but hopefully not right now. $780 for the stage 2 rebuild kit is not in the budget just yet, but that gear is definitely getting replaced. After probably 5 hours of reading/research, I'm pretty confident I can rebuild this thing myself.. especially after all the stuff I've done in this thread.
I didn't have much time for anything yesterday, but I took a quick row through the gears with the engine off and felt no binding at all. Slipped into each gear properly. I need to check to make sure I'm not leaking fluid from it, but as of right now I don't think my issue is trans-related. Hydraulics are the next step. If I can, I'm going to try to bleed/flush the system tonight before I have to run off yet again. I have seen 0 fluid spots under the car so far. Hoping I don't have to pull the trans to continue to locate the problem.
Just the rebuild kit is $500 and that gear is $185. It looks ridiculously easy, only real issues is pulling the 5/6 gear because you have to jerry rig a puller, then just spacing at the end to make sure you don't have too much play in the tranny once it is almost assembled. With the issues 2nd has I don't think you would notice much when it is not spinning since the issues it the teeth are too short to properly engage.
Just the rebuild kit is $500 and that gear is $185. It looks ridiculously easy, only real issues is pulling the 5/6 gear because you have to jerry rig a puller, then just spacing at the end to make sure you don't have too much play in the tranny once it is almost assembled. With the issues 2nd has I don't think you would notice much when it is not spinning since the issues it the teeth are too short to properly engage.
If I rebuild it, it'll be at least stage 2... that way I can get most of my money back when I sell it off to upgrade to a Magnum lol.
All easy stuff. I've rebuilt several transaxles already, but that was when I was working in the shop.
As for the grinding, it goes into gear and stays there.. but what the issue seems to be is that the synchro isn't working and takes longer to match speeds so that getting it into gear causes grinding. I can go WOT all day with it IN gear and it doesn't so much as act like it wants to pop out. Granted, with a few of the shifts I've done the gear is probably chewed up some, let alone what the guy before me did to it.
And I know, I've already tested that. The injectors are what's holding it back.
You can get a lot more out of 4.8's, lol. Just because it's down 32 cubic inches doesn't make it some dog of an engine. It can rev higher, you can raise the compression more with new heads because of the flat top pistons. A cam that is considered mild for a 6.0 is pretty aggressive for a 4.8, so you can get these things up to some good power.
You can get a lot more out of 4.8's, lol. Just because it's down 32 cubic inches doesn't make it some dog of an engine. It can rev higher, you can raise the compression more with new heads because of the flat top pistons. A cam that is considered mild for a 6.0 is pretty aggressive for a 4.8, so you can get these things up to some good power.
All of that has been done. The heads weren't milled down a whole lot, but they were still worked over.
So, update. 700ish miles in, and boy did I have a surprise. Drove 54 miles home yesterday, but right before I started the trip back I developed a misfire. Took the PCM about 15 miles or so before it went from a random cyl misfire, to Cylinder 3 misfire. Was nervous about driving it so far with it misfiring sporadically, but she did okay.
As soon as I got home, I ran a few tests. Started with checking the injector ( since it was hot, and easy to do), checked out fine. Checked all the wiring and it was fine, so I pulled the plug off. Keep in mind, out of all the primaries, Cylinder 3's wire/heat sock was the only one that had contact with the header. It really wasn't much, but apparently it was enough.
Disappointed in the hardware, but it is what it is. Just ordered some MSD 32829 wires. Hopefully the ability to bend the plug boot will prevent this from happening again. Going to see if I can fab up a bracket to help as well.
I'm just glad it was this and not something internal!
MSD's installed. Quality of the boots/wires was on par. Not 100% happy with them though... after bending the boots slightly, it felt like they were loose on the plugs. Let's hope they don't twist during driving. But, having the ability to bend them away from the headers is definitely a nice touch.
Ohmed them out before I installed them and they were right on par with what MSD claimed, and other tests have shown. Lowest was 31 ohms, and the highest was 42.4 ohm's. In contrast, the Dragonfire wires I pulled off were anywhere from 182 ohms all the way up to 599 ohm's.
Didn't drive it, but I ran it for a while in the driveway while I monitored the ECM's diagnostic tests. Seemed to idle far better than it did with the Dragonfire's. Smoother.
Been awhile since I've updated this thread. Lots going on, but not necessarily swap-related, which is why it's been quiet. I do, however, have an update on the swap, so bear with me lol.
First, what I'm doing right now: Doing a complete paint job, bodywork, color-change, etc. out of my garage. I was initially just going to do some scuffing and then spray, but after really looking at the car, I couldn't bring myself to do such a half-assed job... the whole thing is red! Every bit of it. And I want a different color, so I knuckled down, and started stripping the car.
Fenders, doors, hood, and hatch were all taken off.
Found many chips, several hail dents on the roof, but surprisingly no rust anywhere (just like the underside). 18 hours of work into the doors, around 8 hours on the fenders. Almost done with the hatch, and all we've got left to do is the hood, block sand the car, and reinstall the D/S door, and both fenders.
Also got rid of the stock spoiler and used metal-filler to fill all of the holes. Still have some more work to do on those to make them smooth, but almost. I want something that actually works, but I'm not going to show what yet... most of the diehards on here would probably end up just insulting me for it. lol. It's not Fast & furious junk, so don't worry about that.
Progress:
I'll be building a collapsible booth with ventilation and filters in the garage once all the prep work is done. Hopefully getting started on that portion this weekend, with paint following not to far afterward.
Now, swap-related:
I'm buying an HPTuners Pro this weekend. The last few months, while driving, I've been having issues with my tune. The tuner won't work with me on it, and quite frankly I'm pretty pissed with how he did it based on how it feels while driving. Now, idle is back to being sporadic and always seems to hunt once it's warmed up. I constantly get rich codes after about 100 miles or so, and I'm not happy with some of the other things he did. Plus, I am going to upgrade to 42lb injectors in the next month or two, and I'm tired of paying someone to do something I know I can do. For my future plans, I need to know how to tune and I can't think of a better way than to just get what I need and dive in...
I've spent some time reading up on it, and while I know there's a LOT I need to learn and understand, I have an idea on how it basically works. Plus, with the tune that's already on there, I can do an in-depth look at what was changed, and use it as a base for any tweaks I need to do.
Point of interest: All the pics above were the most recent ones I took. I'm a lot farther along, just haven't taken any new ones. Also, got the windshield replaced, and all the small rust pits sealed. A wider seal was used, which makes me very happy as the factory seal was TINY in comparison.
Thanks! It's challenging... I've never done actual bodywork before, or paint that wasn't out of a rattle-can, so the learning curve has been... interesting.
So far though, I've learned some good things involving my spray gun, and except for one area where I sprayed too heavy and it ran, everything I've done has turned out pretty great. I'm painting it Hot Rod black, which is a single stage satin (built in UV resistance, only requires a hardener) and is the same paint I used on the engine bay. The area's I've already painted look pretty good, and this paint, once it cures, is hard as all get out. Flashes in under 10 minutes, and cures in about 18 hours or less.
HP Tuners Pro ordered. Stepping off into the land of the unknown (for me) with this one, but if I'm to do everything myself then this is the next big step... and one that I want and need to make. Super excited to start really learning the intricacies!
Also, I know I said a ways back that I was keeping track of my expenditures, and making a list of all that I bought seeing as that was one of the things most people are curious about, but very few modders actually take the time to put together. I'm still missing some things on mine, since I was forced to redo the whole engine again, but all in all this is pretty close. I'm going to go back and edit the second post so that people won't have to go through 4 pages just to find this link if they need it.
I've set it to view all, so if it's not working please let me know.
HP Tuners Pro ordered. Stepping off into the land of the unknown (for me) with this one, but if I'm to do everything myself then this is the next big step... and one that I want and need to make. Super excited to start really learning the intricacies!
Also, I know I said a ways back that I was keeping track of my expenditures, and making a list of all that I bought seeing as that was one of the things most people are curious about, but very few modders actually take the time to put together. I'm still missing some things on mine, since I was forced to redo the whole engine again, but all in all this is pretty close. I'm going to go back and edit the first post so that people won't have to go through 4 pages just to find this link if they need it.
I've set it to view all, so if it's not working please let me know.
I've got it organized by group, and I have it automatically calculating my cost of parts vs what I've sold to offset.
That's not too far off of what I've spent on my swap so far. I haven't been keeping track lately, but last time I checked I was in the $6K range and I've purchased a good amount of more parts.
You will really like having hp tuners. I picked it before I had mine running, but it was definitely one the best things i purchased for the car. And your car is coming along nicely.
08-05-2015, 09:02 AM
You will really like having hp tuners. I picked it before I had mine running, but it was definitely one the best things i purchased for the car. And your car is coming along nicely.