Finally got a couple pics (kinda suck)
I gave the car a name,cause not only isn't it running right yet, yesterday I picked up my son at a friends. On the way home, he asked if that "green stuff" was suppose to be on the floor.
AHHHHH, antifreeze.
This car was destined for the wrecking yard, when I got it a year ago. Some of the problems it's had were, cracked engine block and rad, tranny was shot along with the starter,fuel tank,MAF sensor and muffler. The rims were painted red and it had 205/55/16 tires.
Anyone need a set. (cheap)
Anyway, just venting a little. How bad can it be to replace a heater core.
Hence the name.

 

One step at a time eh ? left... right... left... right...

The heater dore is a pig to re & re but you gotta have one right ? Let us know how it goes and good luck on the way there.

RP.

 

lol lol lol lol lol jsut wait and see. they are a real bitch. you have to take most of the dash out.

 

I think you guys scared him off.... But it is a hard job, I personally haven't done it.. but i've heard horror stories.

Looks like a nice car in the pics.. any rust?

 

Looks like a nice job on the intake too.

 

The car has 117,000kms and hasn't been licensed since 97'
The paint under the hood is orginal and outside is a $750 job. (the pics do it justice, it's not the greatest) The only rust on it was under the battery, in the tray.
Think with the nice weather, I'm gonna whimp out on the heater core for the summer and by-pass it. Still need to do lots of other things.
SOMEBODY tore out the headliner, to hang speakers from the roof so, need to try and find that, plus center caps and aerowing (badly cracked)
Gotta question about the way it's running. Maybe I can get some opinions.
It seems to run fine now until I get to about 100kmh. around 1600 to 1800rpm and just cruise. Then it sputters. If I give it more gas, it smooths out. My question is, could the exhaust (stock manifolds) be chocking the motor.
Or, is it possible with the air intake and cam, the stock fuel pressure is to low.
I could be way of base here, just really like to figure this out.
I haven't been back to see that mechanic yet. Could be something to run by him.

 

Have you done a visual on the engine ? Are the vacuum hoses where they need to be ? Is the sensor array connected (eg: IAC, TPS, MAP, etc) with no (obviously) fouled up wiring ?

What I am trying to say is check for the obvious stuff first, check for anything hanging loose or where it shouldn't be.

Here is an easy test. Do a WOT (wide-open-throttle) run while the engine is cold and in open loop, say 0-70. This will give you feedback on the engine performance before the O2 sensor kicks in and the ECM tries to manage the engine. How does it run cold under WOT and in open loop ? Strong ? Fast ? If so then probably no major problems with the system. Let the car warm up to running temperature and switch to closed loop then try the same WOT run. Any differences ? If so what ?

The sputtering may be fuel pressure related which will lead you to the fuel pump or fuel filter. The filter is low hanging fruit so might want to try that anyway if the car has been parked for a long time. Might have bad or old gas too ?

Sounds like the car falters at tip-in at low rpms while in cruise speed. If you have solid power the rest of the time this makes me think of a MAF (if you have one check to see if the element is still in one piece) or TPS (try cleaning the contact arc) amongst other stuff.

A common problem on older f-bodies is dirty injectors from Ontario gas -- filthy stuff compared to the other regions in Canada. It might help to try some industrial grade cleaner which is the expensive stuff not that $4.99 nonsense at CDN Tire.

Let us know how it goes.

RP.

 

Nice car.
Thanks for the info. I'll try that open and closed loop WOT, see what is does.
The fuel pressure is not low, it meets the factory pressure. Just wondered if it may be to low for my mods.
The thing I can't figure out is,
I drove the car about 1000kms last fall and parked it for the winter. It seemed to run fine. I put in new plugs, new plug wires and the air intake. Nothing else.
When I first started it after these parts were installed, compared to now, it ran awful.
Just doesn't make sense.

 

Thx for the comp.

Good news about the fuel pressure. Takes a whole lot of troubleshooting out of the picture. Did I get it right about the cam ? Is it after-market ? If so then if your cam has too much intake duration then you might have trouble with calibration but this would show up pretty steady at either extreme of the power band, eg: at idle (too little vacuum) or to rich at high rpms. Any idea what the intake duration is at .050 ?

If you left your injectors fueled up like I did last winter, well I ended up replacing 8 injectors when I put it back on the road in spring. Freaking GM Multec style injectors are garbage. The insulating material protecting the windings gets dissolved by the varnishes in the gas which exposes the windings which results in injectors that short on themselves. My injectors read between 3 and 8 volts on 6 cylinders (should be 17) no wonder the car ran like crap and would not idle nor run well at tip-in.
Once I knew what the problem was it was relatively easy to fix. Have you tested the injectors for voltage yet ?

Just curious, have you checked the spark plug wires ? How about the timing. Eg haven't accidentally swapped 6 and 8 plug wires type of thing ? I have screwed up more times than I can remember just changing dist cap, rotor and plug wires.

If the car was running well only 1000kms ago I'd bet you are dealing with some oversight or otherwise minor problem.

RP.

 

My cam specs. are 210/220 - .480/.480 at 112deg.
The engine does idle to low, but I wouldn't think 210 intake dur. would cause this.
The injectors were cleaned and metered with the engine rebuild last summer, but the voltage hasn't been checked.
Thanks, gives me something else to look into.

 

what your timing set too. the problem you seem to be having is the same that i had. i ended up setting the timing back 2 deg. and fix the problem that i was having at light throttle check you base timing to be sure. your cam is almost the same as what i have.

what is your idle speed?

 

My timing is at 6 and the idle is around 450rpm.
The odd time, it will stall.
I'm really not up on this computer stuff, but I've had people tell me to just drive it. That it take's time to see if the computer straightens things out.
Is that possible?

 

16th Owner, were you in London with that car on Sunday? Looks like the same colour as one I saw...

 

No, it wasn't me. If it was that nice, I wish it was

 

when checking it be sure to have the advace diconected otherwise you could be set way back. sometimes its the litle things we tend to miss that makes all the difference.

450 is way to slow. if your timming was set back to far it would bring you idle down to about that speed. and your milage would be bad also.

the computer will take some time to map out how the car is running but will not help your idle or the other problem you have.

it still seem like your timing to me. it sounds just like what i had.

 

Looks like the car gets the once over again. I seem to spend more time trying to get it right, then driving it. I just have to much invested and don't wanna take a chance of breaking anything.

 

I got the cam specs, thx. 210 degrees on the intake will map to a the stock chip with neglible effect on driveability. Base timing for the TPI 305/350 is 6 degrees accordsing to GM manuals. Some run it up to as much as 12 degrees. I run my 305 at 8. One thing to consider, are you certain you got the base timing right on the cam on installation ?

450rpm is wayyyyy toooo low. The ECM won't like it, the catalytic converter won't like it, the EGR won't like it. Your tip-in hesitation may be related directly to the low rpms. When you clean the TPS try removing the Idle Air Control valve to inspect the pintle for gunk. It may need cleaning -- if it is gunked up it will effect the idle, typically you get a low or hunting idle.

Your ECM should reset itself after 20 minutes on time and with the vehicle in motion. The BLM or block learn mode is responsible for variations and adjustments after that.

Have you tried any of the other recommended tests yet ? What is the outcome ?

RP.

 

No, I haven't done anything on the car myself for a couple weeks.
( except wax it ) When I got it home from the shop, the mechanic told me, it was as good as he could get it. It is much better, but not as good as it was last fall.
I took it in because I really don't have time though the week to work on it and my knowledge of these computer cars is not very good. ( Give me an old car with a holley and it's a different ballgame
When we put the car back together with the new motor, I didn't spare expense and changed every sensor. We changed some of the plug-ins as well. The car ran great.
I hate the idea of taking it to the GM dealer, cause of their shop rates, but in a small town, choices are limited.
I probably won't get it out until the weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to do some tickering.
Thanks for the info. The timing seems to be the thing that people are telling me to check. That and vacuum leaks are the first things I'll consentrate on.

 

16th owner:
did you ever solve your problem?

 

I've been talking with Palric. So far we've got the idle much smoother. It's still to low thou.
Also still has that jerky motion. Just can't figure it out. I'm thinking it could be the torque convertor, although I'm not sure if thats possible. Just feels like it. Like in a standard trans car, pumping the clutch in and out.
I'd like to come to GB, but this problem has got to be hard on the drivetrain, so I'm not sure I'll risk it. The RPM is jumping up and down, up to 500 RPM. Not all the time, just once in awhile
Sure is frustrating.

 

1. Reset the IAC

2. Verify your idle speed. Their is no way that engine, with that cam, is idling at 450rpm.

3. Check your TPS voltage

What is this "jerky motion" you're talking about? When does it happen? Without a PROM change, the engine will surge a little at idle with that cam. My idle is deranged

 

I need to spend time trying to figure out whats going on.
Maybe I'll meet some of you guys at St Thomas next weekend.