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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.
2010 Camaro LT wheels and tires
LS1 12" disc brakes, rear end, and fuel tank
Every suspension component is new with 0 miles.
Aluminum driveshaft
Hooker mid length headers
Steering column and ignition switch/fuse box/chassis harness from a 92z
93 F-body LT1 with 95 ECM and 4L60E
I had the 92 set up with the 93 LT1, the 95 ecm and everything is almost the same. I've had to do and redo everything on this car at least a half dozen times. It's been a cpl years and my hands and fingers feel like mush. Sometimes I look at the car and I kinda hate it. I cant work on it all day, but I want this done and I'm sick of staring at it. It's messing with my head, I'm still fragile about this car I earned it saving people's lives and I'll kill someone if they wreck this car. 10 years since I lost my 92 rs to a schlick schlemiel in some sh#it mercedes throwaway piece of euro trash.
Last edited by CatmanFS; 09-30-2018 at 10:51 PM.
Reason: For Effect
most of the interior is in place. lucky that from 3 cars i have a complete set of undamaged pieces all black, and i have an intact non cracked dash pad. im going to use a 95 firebird dash cluster since it matches the motor and i can get accurate readings. i might have gotten lucky and got the v6 fuel pump in the 98-0? plastic fuel tank i got in there and the fuel gauge will work correctly.
the pcm harness is pretty much done, just got to put the obd 1 port in there. the large pnk ign wire supplies the ecm on, ign coil, inj 1 and 2, tcc clutch, and fuel pump through the little fuse box. i seperated that circuit and put them all on different fuses because i didnt like them all being tree'd off the same little wire bundle.
the body harness needs work, i deloomed everything and it turned into a giant mess of crap so i cut almost everything out aside from main power wires from the c100 plug going to ign switch and the fuse box. front and rear exterior light harnesses were left alone. eliminated all the courtesy stuff, the box, the buzzer, all those useless featues i dont want. ill wire up simple headlight, turn signal, reverse, and brake light circuits.
starter kicks, fans kick on, and fuel pump relay was hotwired to test fuel pump until i tune the pcm.
engine harness tied up for test startups, not loomed for any changes needee stuff tied up away from headers, boot protectors on plug wires cleaned up brake lines etc for good clearance also astro van solid steering shaft mod
Looking good,there is light at the end of the tunnel.Once you start driving it,the enjoyment will wash away all the time,pain,and suffering.I have really enjoyed my LT1 and the driveabillity of it. Mine was originally Tbi swapped to carb and when got it I swapped to LT1.I am glad to see another LT1 swap most guys go LS.
What do you lack from starting it up and are you going to run Mass Air or tune it for speed density?
Thanks for the support, when I had the 93 lt1 setup in the 92z previously it was a blast to drive and felt original.
Currently im in the process of figuring out how to setup the obd port so I can tune it.
95 had OBD1 but with an OBD2 connector, and I have the OBD1 style connector and tunercat, and I'm trying to ensure it's as simple as setting up the 95 pcm with an obd1 port.
If anyone has any experience with this it would be much appreciated.
Im in the same situation. I have a 95 engine which would have had a 16 pin connector but am going to use the existing in car wiring. I read on one of the Impala forums that you only need 2 wires to communicate with the ECM if using a USB - ALDL cable (ECM D30 to Pin M and Pin A to Ground on the OBD1 style connector)
ah yes, see this is exactly what ive come up with. i just thought it was odd that it only really needed one wire and a ground. ill be testing this and ill get back with you soon. thanks for the input.
Alright awesome, worked perfectly. Read the tune on there and disabled vats and put it in speed density mode. Now I'm wondering if there's a way to use the old paperclip method to pull the codes easily using the ses light. While testing out the car I noticed a few leaks and I'm working on those. The LS1 fuel tank mod has created a number of headaches but I'm slowly working through them. FYI don't try to use the stock metal female connectors on the fuel tank sender.
Oh and If you're going to do a fuel door mod for access to the pump you're going to have to cut your section a few inches back further than what the stock location would be. Either the evap canister pushes it further back or it's just shaped differently. I cut mine based on the old location now I'm wondering if I should leave it, seal it up, or cut again and make a larger panel. I'll post a pic later better when I go to drop the tank.
Last edited by CatmanFS; 08-17-2018 at 05:33 AM.
Reason: extra info
Glad to hear it worked! What are you using for tuning? I just got my ALDL cable the other day so ive been messing around with tuner pro just looking at engine data on my firebird. Its an 89 so I cant change anything without burning a new chip but its still neat to see.
I havent even thought about the fuel pump/tank yet. Im still trying to decide on transmission choice. Im likely just going to keep with the current tank. Used F body parts are hard to come by where im at, and when you do find them they are usually expensive.
ive got tunercat, cant read codes with it. my bud does have a code reader but now im looking at having an old obd port where there would be an obd2 port, though its an obd1 ecu.
would be nice to be able to just revert back to the obd1 port and retain the paperclip method. really i went from the 93 ecm to the 95 pcm setup for the electronic trans to change shift tables and more importantly eliminate the old TV cable that i was sick of messing with.
one more auto trans issue and im going manual.
glad to see setting it to speed density was a single check box. getting spark, fuel pump isnt kicking though, gona check my wiring. right now the pcm controls a relay to kick it on. hard to tell, the ls1 fuel pump is so quiet.
i like the plastic tank, mine was rusted to hell. quick disconnects are ... well i dont know but hopefully ill have that sorted later tonight.
I'm kinda torn between keeping my 700r4 or getting a 4l60E. pros and cons to both. What flywheel were you using? the engine i bought has a 4l80e flywheel on it according to the guy i bought it from. I did notice it has a weight cast in it for balancing.
Then theres a guy a couple hours from me selling a world class t5, full swap, at a pretty decent price. I have considered this, more fun but more work haha
flywheel is what came on the 93 lt1, the tc was already on the 4l60e, mated them up, slight gap, maybe 1/2" or so. used one 1/8" spacer per bolt to get the gap down. yeah i would feel a lot better trying to rebuild a manual and not an auto.
like i said, if the 4l60e doesnt do the trick thats where im going.
got it running today, i swapped in some autolite 106's like many people suggested, solved the fuel leak problem, added coolant, dbl checked everything, and it fired up with a vengeance! first try, roared to life and I killed it before it started getting choppy or anything from not running for 2-3 years. I tested it a few more times, didn't let it run for long, and it's sounding amazing so far with just the headers. I have some 1.6 poly locks in there and was worried about a few being a little lose or something like when I had the stock rockers on there but I didn't hear a thing and it didn't skip a beat. Smooth even firing, no noted misses or anything. Like I said I didn't let it run for long. Need to keep checking for leaks and making sure my levels are good to go, but it should be ready to drive very soon.
Only need to bleed brakes, wire up some lights and put the hood and back bumper on and I'm doing a road test. Might have a video tommorow or at least some more pics or an update.
I'm running a 95 B-body cam, 1.6 rockers, and 93 aluminum heads so some tuning is probably in the future and I'll try to post some updates and results from that as well. Thanks for the support everyone, and you can bet I'm just as interested in seeing what you guys are coming up with on your own. I'm a huge fan of the third gen LT1 swaps and I'd love to see more.
the b body cam i had was a 95 and worked without any changes with the later style vented opti. just put it in for that. its got more low end torque as well.
So, after working out a cpl things I patched her up and took a little test drive.
If you dont want to read all this skip to bottom paragraph.
The night before I found the PCV valve was too big and going into the upper port on the throttle body, was causing the right side to heat up and headers to glow red. Obviously fixed that before it became a problem. High idle persisted, I tried a number of different things, replaced the IAC with no joy, found some other issues, fixed them. Was running hard but sounded solid and mean. I decided it must have been the TPS, and checked it and it was reading incorrect values, called up to napa and had them send one to the store nearby. I was deadset on driving up there for a test run. I unplugged the tps or the iac i dont remember, maybe both, idle dropped down enough that I felt safe to drop it in gear. Messed around with that a few times in the driveway, shifted hard, but didnt hear anything break. Planned on bringing the tps screws with me so I could limp it up there and put it on and drive back.
Of course I forgot. I was also going to put the back bumper and some lights on there but I think people should be able to not run into **** without big blinking lights all over them. Either theres a ton of air in the brake lines, or the booster is bad, I had to stand on the pedal most of the time just to keep it in check at a dead stop, even still the rear wheels would spin a little due to the rain if I wasn't paying attention. once I started down the road it didnt need as much to slow down. I just watched my speed and kept my hand ready to drop into neutral if needed. I went down the road a mile or so (I literally live inside a park they've built around me and its my street anyway) stayed in 1st gear, pulled into a little parking lot, did a little burnout, turned around and was going to head back home, and on the way there i got 2nd gear with a little coaxing and couldnt resist trying to make it up there.
Started that way, hit all the curves in this crazy park road they've built and I couldnt believe how smooth it felt. Ive never had a new car before, or even driven one. All of my suspension things are new oem or better and it was out of alignment and wanted to walk around a little, but in a turn it felt like liquid and had 0 body roll. I fought with the hard shifts and the dregs behind me acting like they've never seen a ******* in a camaro before. I had painted yellow arrows and red stop lights on the back just for good measure. The noise from the open shorty headers seemed to keep them at bay. Anyway after risking myself and everyone else, I got up there, got my part and went to get gas, I broke the little clip that holds the pedal to the brake booster linkage trying to pump up the brakes as I left. Obviously I couldn't drive without brakes so I hiked it to oreileys and got some c clips and other crap like that because they didn't have the real deal because obviously being on millions of cars makes it a special order piece of folded sheet metal.
So, after getting one to fit, I limped it back home and was impressed once again by the abuse this thing could take. It idled high the whole time, shifted extremely hard a few times, but didnt feel like enough to break anything major. With expired license, title not even transferred into my name yet, no registration, no insurance, and a blatant disregard for anyone who looked at her wrong I managed to accomplish my goal and managed to fix a catastrophic brake failure with a 15 cent part. Called it a day.
So, back to reality I fired back up with new tps and high idle persisted, but now with some angry sounds coming from in there that were getting more pissed. Checked volts on sensor and found them backwards. 5.0 at closed throttle and 0.0 at WOT. Found out that when I cut the wrong plug off thinking it was an AC or EGR or whatever BS thing and replaced it once I found it to be the TPS, I put a plug with the blue and black wires in opposite locations on the plug itself. Wires were correctly routed, but the plug I had put back in there was something else that fit exactly, had 2 of the 3 same wire colors, and I didnt notice that the 2 that were still the same color were in fact, backwards.
Moral of the story get freescan and see what the PCM is seeing from the sensors. That confirmed it, I swapped the plug out for continuity sake and fired it up, sound was still there, cut it off and started looking for damage. Since I wired up my starter, fuel pump, and other stuff separately I pulled fuses and was bumping the starter to isolate that sound. It turned out to be #7 exhaust rocker was completely off the stud, and the pushrod for #7 intake was bent and broken. I looked closer at the poly lock that was just sitting there and it seems like I just messed up the valve lash and only had about 3 threads holding it on to begin with, and after the high idle and other abuse it decided to set itself free. My thinking is that it did so on the exhaust stroke, instantly closing the exhaust valve and the pressure that put on the intake valve caused the pushrod to fail.
I did multiple other checks and found no other damage, rotating assy sounded smooth and damage was minimal, no shards or broken pieces in there. I had an extra poly lock and just replaced the one with the cpl threads ripped off for good measure, had another set of rods off the other lt1 sitting around and threw one of those in there. Reset the valve lash, checked for changes in resistance to rotating the crank by hand, found none, stuck the spark plugs back in, pressure seemed to build in each cyl evenly, no noted jumps in resistance to rotation, put it all back together, checked the sensor input with free scan, everything was good. fired it up, high revs almost instantly came back down to normal levels. And everything seems back to "normal".... so far!
Somewhere in all that the shift linkage I noticed was a little tight finally broke, but the car was not running. That could have been bad, I don't know what these little triangle wheel chocks are capable of, and with the 92 E-brake handle, and the 2001 weird as hell E-brake drum in rotor deal those aren't hooked up yet either.
So after some start ups, checks, tests, changes, and a test drive baptism of fire the high idle caused by the reversed tps GND and +5v put extra stress on one exhaust rocker that I miserably failed to adjust correctly and that caused the intake pushrod on the same cyl to break due to explosive pressure fighting against it opening, I think. I replaced the broken rod with one laying around, the poly lock that lost a cpl threads for good measure, and put it all back together, very carefully checking my work and for any other problems. I used free scan to ensure that the PCM was now getting the correct TPS input, was perfect. Fired it up and the high idle went down to normal within seconds. I didnt run it for very long. Sounded good but I didn't want to test my luck any further. I need to go back and readjust all the poly locks again, but for now I'm changing out the shift cable and going to gravity bleed the brakes to see if that helps my rear tires from slowly spinning when at a red light, even though it was pretty cool. I'm not giving up, I considered major engine damage the whole time but the old SBC blocks are pretty damn tough and I'll swap in a whole new block, heads, whatever it takes. I refuse to let this car defeat me, she's a little sore, but damn is she a mean b1tch and when that idle dropped down it sounded so beautiful.
Alright, some updates. I spent most of the morning reading up on tuning. I feel pretty confident so far and it seems fairly straight forward. Seems like someone has already been in this pcm, some things seem unnatural if you know what I mean. I'll try to find some specific examples when I get to it. So from what I understand it's best to sort out all the mechanical issues before trying to tune anything, so I've been messing with vac lines, pcv, opti breather stuff like that.
When I had the high idle issue I noticed that when I connected the pass side pcv hose to the valve cover and top port on the tb my idle was worse, stumbling, missing, pass side headers began to glow. Everything was hooked up like it was supposed to, but I thought the pcv elbow on that valve cover was supposed to be a true pcv valve, and the line was routed to the second port down on the tb. I swapped it to this and most of those issues went away. So i'm still somewhat perplexed by this and trying to nail down a simplified and efficient way to route all the vac lines.
This is what I have so far. I added some clearish lines so I could see any fluids going to wrong places, etc. I fired it up, was rough, sprayed some starter fluid around a bunch of places, almost all of them have some vac leak, most of the front of the intake, injectors, etc etc. So tonight I'll be doing that, changing the plug wires and prolly a million other things. I'm glad I'm finding things that are causing problems, it's so much worse when everything looks fine and you're still having the same problems.
Also got more body parts back on there. I've been messing with the alignment a little, seems alright, but not perfect. I noticed the front sway bar was loose, main brackets and the end links. Tightened that up and it's night and day different obviously. It's very smooth and responsive in corners, feels very tight and it's the best riding car I've ever owned so I'm very happy about that. Took my dad for a little trip up the street and he was absolutely floored by the whole thing. 25yrs as a police officer, high speed pursuits, etc I figure his approval is a good sign. Anyway I'm going to keep working on the engine, getting all the little stumbles out, kinks, etc etc. Theres more but I'm so scatterbrained looking for tools and parts and pieces all day every day I can barely think straight. I'll keep you posted.
glad to see you are making progress. I'm also going to do my own tuning. I'm a bit nervous but i'm sure ill figure it out. Are you going to use a wideband o2 ? You could compare the tune you downloaded from your pcm to a stock tune to see if something was changed. Was the pcm out of an f body?
Hopefully fixing up the vacuum leaks will help your idle issues.
Looks the same as before lol Each vac line is clamped and tightened, though still getting a slight leak from around the pcv 180 elbow + brake booster hose area. Coil module thing refurbed, lucky I had some artic silver just laying around.
I didnt know you could set up wideband with the 94-95 setup. I'm probably just going to stick with the upstream unless something demands more. I'm a little daunted by all the tables and charts and everything but I'll dig more into the tune when I'm sure i've got the mechanical side of things as good as they're going to get. Though I'm getting close, I'm noticing a few hiccups that feel like a hack got in there and messed with things and it's itching at me.
More updates. Last time I tested the car idling and driving and the KM was picking up too much noise and had the timing set back 5 degrees consistently each time. My suspect is a mix of vac leakage, some carbon buildup throughout, possibly some valve lash variations including the proform 1.6 rockers that I've been reading mixed reviews on, misc age related issues considering most everything is original (injectors, opti, most sensors, moving parts, etc.)
So I took everything off the intake, re-tightened the intake bolts and was very careful to eliminate every possible source of vac leaks. I checked for leaky injectors, primed them, no leaks I could see or smell. Inspected the tb again, checked each passage way for proper airflow or lack there of. Repalced the coil and ICM with some new old stock I had laying around. The ones I had on there were looking a little ragged. Also replaced the stock plug wires. I noticed the IAC's little plunger seat wasn't exactly like the one I pulled off the TB, so I put the original back on there.
Put it all back together, ran some checks, fired it up, and it again sounds and feels way better. The idle has once again toned down, I noticed it sitting around 775, keeping within the 750-825 range. Much narrower margins than before, sound smoother and more consistent. I'm still running only the headers and can very clearly hear everything going on in there. It's got some rough spots, but it's much less obscured and easier to pinpoint. Sounds about what I would expect from a 93 thats never had the heads off. This time no knock retard, timing was advanced somewhere in the mid to high 20's iirc.
I was also able to make out a bit of a wobble coming from what seemed to be the flywheel/TC area. I'm guessing it's imbalace between those parts. and I'm going to unbolt the tc and rotate it to the next bolt hole and see if that helps. But before I did anything else I wanted to test drive it and it is doing much better, more power, smoother acceleration. I was taking it easy but as it warmed up everything seemed to be in good shape so I gave it some gas here and there, up some hills, varied driving, etc. Is doing much better throughout. I was only out for about 30 mins but it's working itself in nicely.
So following the simplest things first, next on the list is to go back and recheck valve lash, I've read up more on it and I'm probably going to adjust with the car idling. I've still got stock springs and 1.6 rockers, but I'm using the b-body cam so hopefully that saves me. After doing more research I'd like to get a new set of springs and something else besides the proforms. That's going to have to wait until I take the heads off and redo the entire valvetrain. Not going to waste time replacing a single component at a time. I might consider just putting some stock rockers back on just for some peace of mind. Unsure, but the B cam, the 1.6, and the headers make a big difference, much more aggressive than before and seems to have a lot more torque, I also believe the last time I drove the car I had 2.73 gears and now I'm running 3.23 I think? I'll have to check but it feels like I could rip the tires off at any second. I'm still using the old prop valve on the brakes so theres less pressure back there as well. It's a blast to drive, though i'm still taking it easy for now.
Are you running the stock knock module? Or the Corvette module? I'm looking at 1.6 rr for mine, with new springs and a lt4 hotcam. I was reading on another forum that the extra noise from the roller rockers could cause the knock module to retard the timing, but now yours seems to be fine now. Might be worth keeping in mind down the road though
Did you use the flex.plate that came with the lt1 ? The flex plate that came with my engine has a large balancing weight on it .
I believe it's the flywheel that was on the 93 lt1 originally. If I cant seem to balance everything I'll know it isn't lol. Stock LT1 KM, down to 2 degrees is better, but hopefully getting the valve lash just right will eliminate that, gona try with the engine running. Drove around for about an hr today. Im still overly impressed with the amount of torque Im feeling over what I had set up before. the 1.6 on that b-body cam, the headers (still open for now), and I believe 3.23 gears make a huge difference. Finally got it up on the highway and let is breath and it felt very right somehow. btw the b-body cam with the 1.6 rockers has lift on both exhaust and intake extremely close to the stock f body cam.
I did more research into the tune and it seems like its got a tune for a 503 cam, 32lb injectors, porting, other mods matching that cam, but I cant quite be exactly sure. The sheet ive got says it was set up for a 355, but the cyl volume constant was still set at 350. I looked at almost all of the tables and most of the differences seem to be running more rich than stock at the higher rpms, it pulls timing at the lower rpms with higher vac, which would make sense if it was setup for the higher flow cam etc etc. Also seems to have changes to the shift tables and a lot of other changes that would indicate more of a drag strip type tune.
Now it seems strange that it would have been running as well as it did, but looking around at some other specs, the 98-01 fuel tank I have is supposed to have an in-tank regulator that sets the fuel pressure around 60, 15 more than the stock lt1, and I am supposed to take this out running the lt1 fuel rails with that regulator.
Heres the deal, with the stock 93 injectors at 22, the fuel rail pressure a constant ~60ish, the 30lb injector rating that was in the tune would have evened out to be about right.
60/44 = 1.36
1.36 x 22 = 29.92
And I believe with the vac line not hooked up it's not getting any additional fuel at the higher MAP range, but the tune is pulling some timing in that area, plus there seems to be a lot of little adjustments in the more extreme areas that will either pull some timing, add more fuel or both to keep this other guy's car from blowing up when he went drag racing. Plus the B-body cam has less duration so there's not as much air getting in there and creating a more lean situation.
So, somehow by sheer luck and coincidence everything seems to be working together very nicely so far.
Theres a lot left to do but I lucked out and I think with my list of small oversights if things hadn't worked out like that I would have been looking at more significant issues and avoided more serious engine damage from tps miswire and the rocker popping off.
It's **** like this that reminds me why I have this obsession with the camaros and the tech in the 80's-90's. Everything seems to flow together so nicely.
alright, so i dropped the injector rating to 28 before going over to a buds place and it seemed to make it worse, seemed like it was running lean, etc. very choppy. so ive reverted to a bone stock 95 z28 tune and im going to adjust the injector rating a little at a time to find a decent middleground.
the in tank reg negates the one on the fuel rail so pressure at the rail is a solid 60, start, idle, and part throttle, so it should be very rich and im just going to lean it a little at a time until i get a good middle ground. going for middleish of the stock lt1 rail pressure, so 42ish.... 60 / 42 = 1.43, 22lb injectors on there, so 22 x 1.43 = 31.xxx so in a perfect world that should set the injector pulse width to level out the increased rail pressure.
its an idea, i should just remove the in tank regulator but a part of me wants to eliminate the vac adjusted fuel pressure reg so i can adjust the tune without fighting mechanical adjustments. im going to read up on it more and make some slow adjustments and see what i can come up with.
Running the stock tune then tweaking for your add ons might be the best bet. I'd definitely remove one of the fuel pressure regulators, one less thing to go wrong and as you mentioned it would be one less adjustment to fight with. Ill be keeping the LT1 fpr since im keeping my 3rd gen tank and just adding a new pump.
youre spot on. when i had that tune running it was mostly tolerabe, and then i changed the fuel inj rating to the actual ones and it was running way worse so i was scared to deviate from it. i misinterpreted the compare values in tunercats and basically i had everything backwards, so ignore everything else i said previously lol.
hey i appreciate you reading through my insanity. That's the whole reason why I do this kind of stuff I like messing with things and figuring stuff out and trying stuff. And if I can post up on some of the weird issues and mistakes that I make and the corrections to them, it might help someone else get another 3rd gen, lt1, or sbc out there on the road again where they belong.
somehow I missed the fact about the regulator in the fuel tank and I'll figure out something to remedy that but for right now the seems to be running exactly like it should, just a little rich obviously.
inj rating is set to stock 95 24.xx and its 22.xx actual. i think i could go up to 26ish range and keep in the middle of the expected fuel flow range. ill have more updates.
My plan is to use a base tune for caprice (im using an LT1 out of a 95 caprice), before startup i'll remove Vats, EGR and any other emissions stuff, and all the auto trans stuff (I decided to go t-5). From there ill tweak as needed for the mods im going to have. I'm still undecided if im going to keep the MAF or just go speed density route.
This will definitely be helpful for me when i go to do my swap. Im glad to see someone who still sees the value in an LT1 swap. Most guys now just go LS. By the time i rebuild my lt1, add a cam and rockers and buy the fuel pump and other things i need im still coming in quite a bit cheaper then a very basic LS swap. The LS engine and trans are cheap, its the rest of the stuff needed thats $$$, especially here in Canada. 4th gen part cars are hard to come by.
Is the tank FPR adjustable or is it preset to one level?
I went to the LT1 from a 305 tpi mostly for the instant 50hp stock to stock increase, the advantages of a distributor that required no physical timing adjustments, and greater possible power output. After feeling the how accurate the opti is and how it's still a physical timing system, something based on physical connections, not simply magic sparks floating around in silicone land. It's an obscure tech, reminds me of the complex inner workings of a finely made watch, or something like that.
Plus it fits right in the engine bay like it was made for it, and in 92, 25th anniversery of the camaro, it got slighted a bunch of intended improvements and instead got some badges. Lt1 in a third gen is like correcting a mistake history made and then kicking a little vette to the curb with a broken heart and banging the chick rough around the edges that deserved and wanted it so much more, and gave so much more in return. The hard edges and sweeping profile that made these cars iconic screams don't mess with me or ill cut you btch, or we can just ride off into the sweet california sunset just like in those sweet late 80's posters and look cool as hell doing it.
The electronic improvements made with this iteration are leaps and bounds above the previous, the 90's was the era of the tech boom and ive got a huge soft spot for tech from those years. LS1 can speed off into the new millennium and I'll be staying right here with the chick who played wolfenstein 3d and whose favorite band was type-o negative. I'll swap an ls1 if someone dies and gives me a ford. =P
No idea on the fpr, theres not an electrical connection for it so I'm stuck until I drop the tank.
( The most common specs for the fuel panel cuts are about 6" off from where the plastic tank sender sits)
I got a great deal on the engine, harness and PCM. (500 CDN). I couldnt find a tpi 350 swap at that price so i jumped on it. It was a 95 too so that was a big plus. It didnt need a rebuild but i intend to keep the car for a while so i figured i might as well
It should certainly be a big difference from my 300k 305TBI currently in the car haha
It was an extra expense but i think the manual will be worth it in the long run! I got the whole car for parts so ill sell off everything I can to recoup some costs.
Getting a VSS signal for the ecu from the T5 is the only roadblock I really see causing any headaches.
drove a good 45 mins in heavy rush hour traffic, didnt really skip a beat, still dumping fuel, still set at 24.91. tried running at 26 but got some kr so i set it back. my friend was on a mission to get the car primed at least temporarily. weather cut us short. i got to say im liking the lighter tone, really brings out the edges finally have some lights. took out the dash and cleaned up the wiring. finally looks manageable. finally got the alignment in good shape, very straight. getting some wheel hop but most the roads in louisville suck and im a little too agressive anyway.
Got more primed up. It's weird how much better people treat you on the roads if your car is clean cut looking at least from a few different sides. The dark muddy green hack paint job that was on it hides a lot of detail in the hard edge body lines. Put GFX on, fills in nicely but I'm going to lower the front an inch and mess with that.
Got back in the tune, set the injector flow rate to what the 93 22lb injectors had, 23.8 I think? Reset the speed calibration to 3.73, and trans points all crisped up significantly which solved that question. I haven't pulled the diff cover yet so I was guessing. The injector adjustment seemed to smooth out the power band significantly. Runs smoother through mid to high rpm and up there somewhere it seems like it wants to backfire, maybe min. inj pulse length I'm thinking.
But seems like it would be dumping fuel since the rail pressure read 60 constant last time i checked. I do get some backfire/burn-off when decelerating quickly from a higher speed/rpm, I've read this is common and mostly due to exhaust leaks, and I have no exhaust, so that explains that. It has me confused but it's working fine so im leaving it alone.
Still adjusting alignment, just eye-balling it. Steering wanted to tighten up, lose deadspot, and wander the least when the toe-in was only about half a degree or almost 0. Each wheel in the front is out further about 1.5 inches further than stock so maybe wider wheel base = less toe in.
Drove around for a few hours tonight. Everything is running just like it should. Getting some miles on it to work everything in. Starting to loosen up a bit, feels more and more like the old 92 I had, except better in just about every way. 10 years since I lost that car, and it's been worth the wait. Funny thing is that there's still lots of work left to do, but I'm running into the same issues I had with the original. Body pieces not wanting to fit exactly right. Hood getting stuck. Gas pedal sloppy. Hates stop and go idiot traffic. It sounds bored, like it's about to pass out from the idiocy.
It's exactly what I've always wanted I hope I have this car until I die, and I hope I die in it. I know it. No mysteries, no crappy useless amenities. I'm leaving the headlights on when i run in a store, and can turn them off whenever I want. It tells you what's going on, like, fix me You know you want to. It deserves to be loved. It smiles back at you, especially if you're getting on it, getting aggressive, kicking it around a little, it takes it likes it loves it and it does. It bends and shifts around a little, starts to look like you and how you drive, like a best friend who steals your style cause he's a true friend, and he'll be there wherever you want to go.
Sorry, skimmed your post. Looks great. I noticed you ty-rap'd your throttle cable to the motor. I welded then redrilled and then filed the hole square to use my factory throttle linkage. after a coat of black you can't tell. It didn't take very long.
hey thanks for skimming i was going to do the same just havent gotten around to it. found a slight miss at idle and running temp after driving a good stretch today. timing moving from around 17-22 at highest and lowest at a smooth transition. cooled down and not doing it. thinking a small intermittant vac leak. am happy to be dealing with such issues
I started messing around with some tables in tunercats, I adjusted things like open loop coolant temp rpm afr, Idle speed vs coolant temp, a bunch of other random stuff trying to just tune back the car. It seems too aggressive on fuel and seems to have high rpm at mid throttle. I messed with the shift points a little, scaled them back to hit at lower mph, looked like some of the shifts were tuned for 118mph+ and i don't really see myself ever getting there on highways and things like that. I did feel an improvement in shift response in the throttle. The car seemed to coast better and just seemed to eat less fuel to cross the same distances and sections of road.
I was just guessing and using the scale and add functions and it seems to drive a lot smoother. It's more "power conservative" I noticed that with the stock setup a lot of things were set at absolute most efficient power usage, but with these motors it's wanting to rev up to 3k and shifts based on max speeds lol and Im trying to make the car more street friendly and hit all of the different gears and etc within the scope of realistic driving scenarios. I messed with the DFCO and softened it up and did some other things but it's almost right where I want it to be to do it's job without dropping a cpl k rmp to kick on and **** like that.
I took a screenshot of a cpl things i adjusted, it's running smoother and seems happier overall. I'm trying to match the third gen chassis and keep it reasonable and let it glide like it wants. I read somewhere a guy called the stock 3rd gen handling "legendary" and it is.
got the rest primered up, still running excellent. im proud of myself for going in there and messing with the fuel tables and etc. seems like its right on, i went back to change some things but ended up just leaving it like it is.
Last edited by CatmanFS; 09-21-2018 at 10:25 PM.
Reason: my license plate was on there lol
Alright, so after a few days I noticed that there were strange issues at different rpms/temps/map/tps/mph so I went back in, started all over. I put a vac gauge on the brake booster hose to help. Took a stock 95 A4 3.23 bin file, reset the speed scalar for 3.73 gears, disabled vats/o2s/egr/etc, set it to speed density, and disabled closed loop. Ran rough, started surging. Set the injector constant to 23.79, which kept coming up as the stock 93 value, still ran rough.
So I kept looking for exact data on the injectors, looked up a part number ( 17087325 ) and found this site Stan Weiss' Injector Info. So with that info I used the formula I found somewhere about finding injector constants ... sqrt(your fuel pressure/the rated pressure) X injector size sqrt(60/50) x 19.88 and got 21.77. Plugged that in and voila, everything seems dead on. Ran some seafoam through, held a high idle beautifully, vac was way more stable and increased smoothly with throttle. Road test, WOT pull, everything seems spot on.
Fixed all my problems, should have seen it sooner hah.
Nice project you got there. Looks like you've got it going pretty decent. What's the power potential of the lt1? Haven't looked it up. Kind of a dick move of your buddies for accepting help and not giving in return...
08-03-2018, 05:51 PM
glad you decided manual. its on the long term upgrades list. nice deal btw. 
You know you want to. It deserves to be loved. It smiles back at you, especially if you're getting on it, getting aggressive, kicking it around a little, it takes it likes it loves it and it does. It bends and shifts around a little, starts to look like you and how you drive, like a best friend who steals your style cause he's a true friend, and he'll be there wherever you want to go. 
