One of the other boards said I should repost here for more responses. Thanks

I just picked up the car tonight and drove it 50 miles home. The guy had the motor swapped in, put about 2K miles on it, then it's been sitting for over a year. He said it never really was tuned properly. I know the timing is advanced too far because it diesels when you turn it off. Things I noticed on the way home:
-Bucks at really low rpm when slowing for a stop.
-Kinda erratically misses when above 4000 rpm when accelerating hard.
-Takes off really strong, then it seems not to rev very fast to the upper rpms.
-Temp stayed about 170 cruising most of the way home, then a few blocks from the house had climbed to ~215. Shut it off, with just key on, only the driver side fan was running.
-SES light stays on.
The timing marks on the balancer are painted green marks. If your facing the engine there is a groove across the balancer, then clockwise, 4 green marks, large green mark, then 3 green marks. Which of these marks should I line up in the v groove attached to the motor? Is this normal?

What is the brass like ~3/4" nut with a wire connected, positioned midway on the block, pass side below headers? This wire was loose, and came disconnected with me just touching it.

What plugs should be installed?

I want to check the IAC and TPS, but I thought I would set the timing first. The car runs smooth as silk on the highway with AC and cuise control on.

The details:
ZZ4 w/TPI, LT4 hot cam, ported heads, roller rockers, Edelbrock TB, larger runners, ported plenum, headers, full exhaust, Crane Fireball, aftermarket chip(brand???).

Sorry so long, but this is going to take me awhile to come up to speed and get this thing tuned out. I've got alot of experience with mustangs and I've been reading this site for a week now trying to learn. Thanks for any help you give me!

Steve

 

to set the timing, use the grove in the balancer to line up with the timing marks. set it to either 6 or 8 degrees before TDC. to check why the SES light is staying on put a paper clip in the ALDL connector in the top right two holes on the top row. the ALDL connector is underneath the tach on the underside of the driverside hush panel. then turn your key to the on position but not start. the SES light will then flash once-pause-twice, which equals 12. it will flash 12 3 times then flash all the error codes stored. when it has showed each code it flashes 12 again.

 

When checking the codes, which pins do you jumper, 5-6 or 6-12? The tech article on this site says "from 6 to 12 (later cars 5 to 6)". What year is considered a later car?

 

O.K. STEVE-
welcome to the wonderful world of tuning a zz4 in a thirdgen. The bucking you experience at a stop or low rpm is that your torque converter does not have enough "stall" (slippage)to allow your motor to spin freely. I put a 2400 stall in mine and got rid of that !@#$!.

Get a marketting flyer from your dealer on the zz4 motor. This will tell you what plugs to use. Set your gap around .55. your HEI coil is plenty strong for this distance.

Run your fuel pressure around 55lbs.

Check to make sure someone did not put to big of injectors in. 22lbs. is plenty for under 400 horses.

Set timing at 6 degrees.
idle at 600-800 in drive, motor running.

idle should be bumpy, but not much.

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89 iroc,zz4/700r4/3:70 gears/koni yellows/herb adams bars/and alot of other crap to make it work!

 

That wire that goes to the plug between 1 and 3 plug is your coolant temp sensor for the dash gage.
I would say set the timing first, 6 or 8 deg will be fine. Problem is you don't know what chip you have and most aftermarket chips push the base timing up.
I ran my ZZ4 TPI with the stock L98 torque converter and it didn't buck when coming to a stop. I think that is a symptom of something else. However, a loose tq will help!
Glad to see you bought the car, I remember you asking about it. She's gonna be a screamer when you get it running right. Especially with the LT4 cam and 1.6rr.
Eventually you'll need to pull the plenum, runners and intake and clean them out. They probably are not allowing enough air into the motor at the upper RPM, especially with the LT4 cam. There are good articles on porting the plenum on this site.

------------------
Rob P
89RSconvtZZ4TPI
Edelbrock Hi-Flow Intake
SLP Dual Cold Air Intake
1 5/8" Headers
Semi-Siamesed Runners
MSD6AL/AdjFPR/IROC frnt@rear swaybar/wonderbar/steeringbox/alum drvshaft/ Alston SFC/3:23posi disc rear/MAC LCA/H.Adams Panhard Rod/KYB struts/ shocks/
92Z28convt5spd
71Impala convt 402BB
BETTER DRIVING THRU SUPERIOR HORSEPOWER!

 

Got the timing set where there is no pinging and replaced a badly corroded dist cap (the source of my high rpm miss). Got the temp sensor connected. After two days of owning the car and after cleaning up some of the problems I'm all smiles! I can tell traction is going to be a problem...punch it at about 20mph and the tires light up. Bigger problem than that is that it doesn't want to shift out of 2nd at WOT manually shifted or just leaving it in drive. You have to let it come back down to ~3000rpm before it shifts. Boy, when cruising about 60 mph it's amazing how fast this thing accelerates to 100 without even downshifting. I've got to make some decisions about the tranny as far as what stall to go with. I also noticed today that the lower intake is an Accel. He told me he thought Scroggin-Dickey had upgraded everything except the plenum, which they ported. I plan to install the AFPR tomorrow...this thing should respond pretty good with more fuel. I still have to fix the exhaust leaks also, thats always a pain.



[This message has been edited by Steve10 (edited June 03, 2001).]

 

Gotta love that LT4 Hot Cam!!!!

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1987 GTA L98 MD8 GH3
355 '97 Vortec 4-bolt block, TRW(suck) forged pistons 10:1 CR, TFS 23*, LT4 Hot Cam, Ported plenum and intake, SLP Siam Runners, Edelbrock TES, gutted Cat, Flowmaster, Home-made cold air system w/ K+N cone and AFPR, TB bypass, AirFoil, !AIR, !A/C, !EVAP, 2300 stall.

"Stop Lights timed for 35Mph are also timed for 140Mph"

 

Wow, sounds like things are going well. Plus finding an Accel intake to boot. You got one helluva deal on that car man!
Amazing how much an impact the CTS has on all computer functions.
IROC Daddy:
How did you arrive at 55lbs of pressure for fuel? Is that with 22lb injectors? Just curious as I have my SVO24lb'ers set at 42.
I have a LT4 cam coming from a buddy and then some crane gold 1.6 or GMPP 1.6 and either I'll be breaking loose at 20mph or my 700R4 will depart this earth!

------------------
Rob P
89RSconvtZZ4TPI
Edelbrock Hi-Flow Intake
SLP Dual Cold Air Intake
1 5/8" Headers
Semi-Siamesed Runners
MSD6AL/AdjFPR/IROC frnt@rear swaybar/wonderbar/steeringbox/alum drvshaft/ Alston SFC/3:23posi disc rear/MAC LCA/H.Adams Panhard Rod/KYB struts/ shocks/
92Z28convt5spd
71Impala convt 402BB
BETTER DRIVING THRU SUPERIOR HORSEPOWER!

[This message has been edited by Rob P (edited June 04, 2001).]

 

I'm still playing with the idle. Last night I had the lights on with AC runnning...talk about loping at the stoplight. I probably need to bump it up a little, but it never tried to die and with a quick blip of the throttle it picks up and starts spinning the tires. This is going to be fun with a ~2800 stall in a solid tranny.

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'87 Formula WS6 - ZZ4 TPI, ported heads, LT4 hot cam, 1.6RR, larger runners, Accel lower, ported plenum, Edelbrock TB, pulleys, headers and full exhaust, Koni yellows.

 

Yeah, with a loose stall you will need to bump the base idle up a bit.

------------------
Rob P
89RSconvtZZ4TPI
Edelbrock Hi-Flow Intake
SLP Dual Cold Air Intake
1 5/8" Headers
Semi-Siamesed Runners
MSD6AL/AdjFPR/IROC frnt@rear swaybar/wonderbar/steeringbox/alum drvshaft/ Alston SFC/3:23posi disc rear/MAC LCA/H.Adams Panhard Rod/KYB struts/ shocks/
92Z28convt5spd
71Impala convt 402BB
BETTER DRIVING THRU SUPERIOR HORSEPOWER!