Let me give you a little history:

Back in '03 when I was 16 years old, I decided to upgrade my 88 LB9/A4 Iroc. Immediately I swapped in a complete L98 from a '90 firebird w/90,000 on it and did the following modifications myself in the process: New SLP cam, ported and polished heads with upgraded springs, TPIS Big Mouth intake w/Large Tube Runners and port matched plenum, 2200ish Lingenfelter torque converter, AFPR, and Edelbrock Shorties. The intake did not allow for a cold-start injector, but I wanted to keep my MAF wiring and set-up, so I swapped in the computer from a stock 89 L98/A4.

Less than a month after having everything sewn up, I moved to California to go to school, driving over the mountains leading through Yosemite. Well, the steep incline proved too much for my tranny - I lost 3rd and 4th gear for final 100 mile leg of the drive. In addition to my tranny going, I noticed that the oil pressure guage was reading extremely low once the engine was warmed up. To say the least, I was dejected. I talked my parents into fronting me cash for another car and sad to say...the car has sat for 4-1/2 years.

I've finally decided to resurrect the old beast. I have just swapped in a freshly rebuilt 700R4 (kept the old converter), new engine oil, and fresh gas with the plans of seeing how long the engine will hold up.

After getting everything sewn up this past weekend, I attempted to crank the old guy over, only to have a disgusting screeching noice emanate (I can recall the sound from when I had originally put the car together years before - in my infinite wisdom as a teenager, I didn't place much importance on it as long as the car fired up). Jumping underneath the car, it looks like one of the starter mount bolts was missing?!, not allowing the starter and flywheel to come into proper contact. Putting in a new bolt and trying to add/remove shims has reduced the noice, but it still does not sound as it should - I can hear what almost sounds like a clunking. The flywheel appears to still be in good condition, although some of the teeth look like they have had their edges beveled by as much as 1/16". I'm headed to the auto store this morning to grab a new starter to see if I can get a better result.

Despite the nasty noise, the engine had been cranking over with little sign of starting (an almost catch at first, followed by nothing but cranking).

I've made one other observation: the AFPR is registering at around 50lbs immediately after cranking, despite how much I back off or screw in the nut.

Any suggestions as to (1) the clunking, (2) the starter squealing, or (3) the super high fuel pressure? Am I crazy for keeping that old stock L98 block in there?

 

Clunking: Probably going to require another set of hands, and one cranks, while the other tries to isolate where the noise is coming from. Could be any number of things.

Starter: The screeching is more than likely caused by misalignment. Slam a new one in there, and experiment with shims, you should be able to get it to start the way it should.

Fuel pressure is about right. Not sure why adjusting the regulator wont reduce it. Backing off the screw should reduce pressure.... should.....

After sitting for that long, you probably have a fair amount of varnish buildup in the fuel system, and some flavor of injector cleaner sure wouldn't hurt. You are getting pressure, so, that much at least is working. Might try some starting fluid to see if the engine will fire on that... See what happens.

 

The right way to shim a starter is to remove the solenoid (2 bolts, twist) and manually engage the pinion. Then use an 1/8" drill bit to set the proper clearance with shims.

 

Right - I threw in some Lucas injector cleaner with the new gas. I didn't mention that I tried to siphon out the old gas...only to discover my tank was bone dry. The AFPR guage wasn't securely screwed in, so the only thing I can figure is that it was loose enough to allow all of the gas to evaporate out(??? )

I've never used starting fluid in the past. I've heard that you can sometimes get some pretty bad side effects using the stuff, so I was hoping to stay away from it.