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    Results 701 to 720 of 808
    1. #701
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Ok, time for an update! I've mostly been driving the car and tweaking my tunes to get the car to perform how I want it. I'm no professional by any stretch of the imagination, but I've got the car running pretty good. One little detail was just not right for me however. The engine wasn't building boost the way that I was expecting and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. It didn't want to build any boost over 100 kpa (0 psi, WOT, or atmosphere) in gears 1, 2, or 3. It would start to build about 4-5 psi in 4th gear, and I would see full boost 11-12 psi (180ish KPA) in 5th and 6th. While glad to see the boost numbers, the upper gears aren't ideal for building the boost on the street. After spending hours reading on the internet and the owner of Boost District, Roshan and I did a video chat. Can't say enough good things about that customer service, especially since I wasn't even a customer of his! Would direct anyone to his site if you are thinking of an LSA supercharger, or parts for one.

      During the chat he had me do a few diagnostic checks and confirmed that everything was functioning correctly. I was leaning toward it, but he was convinced that it was a weak bypass valve that was causing the issue. Basically anytime the vacuum drops below about 70kpa, the motor should be building boost. That generally comes on right off of idle around 1200-1500 rpm.

      I bought a new Bypass valve and compared it with the old one. While the old one looked to be in good shape, the spring tension on the new was noticeably more stiff and did hold the vacuum better. I got it installed Saturday afternoon and took it around the block for a test drive. Now, with the old bypass the thought went through my mind, "What is all the fuss over these superchargers?". After the new fully functioning bypass installed I totally understand what the fuss is all about. It felt like a completely different car and was blowing the tires on command. I was starting to build boost right off of idle, and would quickly ramp up to 200 kpa (14psi) in any gear now. What a simple fix and what a night and day difference! I only got a chance to do a quick drive, but what a difference that made. I'm not 110% happy with this swap, and is fully meeting my expectations of what the LSA supercharger would do. Time to change my pants and get more seat time, haha.

      Earlier in the week I was browsing the Holley FB posts and came across a guy selling a Terminator X Max ECU and wideband sensor for not much more than a new stock X ECU. Both were new and never installed because he immediately upgraded to Dominator. I sent him a message and he came down on his price even more, so I bought it. When I first bought my Terminator X, I didn't go with the X Max because I had no plans to go DBW or Auto trans, but what I didn't realize until afterwards that you can easily use the speed sensor input for the auto trans for the T56. The trouble with the VSS signal with the T56 is that Holley won't read a VR sine wave signal, but would need a square wave signal to read properly. But the X Max can read that signal. What it is important for me is now I can easily use an output to control my Reverse Lockout. I can also now upgrade to use the DBW throttlebody in the future. I have the pedal and TB, just need the harness to complete.



      Here is a J4 connector and pins so that I can give Holley the VSS signal from my trans. I also found out that pin B17 is an input for the trans temperature and because my TR6060 hybrid trans has a temp sensor on it, I'm going to tap into it and see if it will read properly.



      When I build my glove box panel, it was just big enough for the base X ECU, but the X Max is a little over 2" longer so I had to modify my panel. It's not pretty, but it is hidden. Had to drill some holes to access the upper mounting holes for the ECU.





      All tucked away and reinstalled. It took a little bit of playing around, but I got the settings right to have the ECU read speed and the reverse lockout functions just like stock. Love that!!



      I also ordered a set of 3" mandrel bent tailpipes for 67-69 Camaro hoping that they would be able less work to bolt in. Wrong, they didn't even come close with my mufflers. Now I need to decide if I want to get new mufflers and then make it all work, or add these tailpipes to what I have now. Flowmaster super 60's. My car sounds amazing, but is just too loud. I need to quiet it way down. Any muffler suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Leaning towards Hooker Aeroflow.





      Lastly for this update, I noticed after my drive Saturday that my shifter is now leaking... It's a Hurst Blackjack shifter and I love the feel of how it shifts and is very precise. I'm going to call them to see what can be done to fix this leak. I think it's coming up the seal and into the top cup. It's on top of the shifter plate, so I'm confident it's not the shifter base seal. The top plate comes off with 4 allen keys, so I'm going to pull that off and see if I can possibly clean it up and seal with silicone or what Holley tech has to say.





      Hopefully I can get my mufflers quieted down, seats bolted back in and can take the family out for a cruise. I have about 30 more miles before I change out the break in oil and cut open the oil filter. The motor feels really tight, but I want to cut the filter just to know what's going on inside the motor.

      Cheers,
      ​​​​​​​Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    2. #702
      Join Date
      Nov 2017
      Location
      Lake Elsinore, CA
      Posts
      90
      Ryan,

      I bet you can't wipe that smile off your face now that you can anialate those poor tires at will. Awesome job with the swap and integration, wish I had your skills.



      Jeff


    3. #703
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Jeff, Now that the car is running 100% you are exactly right. I'm incredibly happy with this setup.

      It took a little longer than I hoped to get an update, but I finally was able to get things complete enough to take it for a test drive last night. All I can say is WOW. When that boost comes on it just pulls so hard. Right now I think it does more of blowing the tires off, but I'm ok with that for now. I'd like to get a sticker set of 275 tires to see what happens when that power gets to the ground! I need to be careful because last night I punched it in 4th and when I got out of it I was over 100 mph! It went from 50 to 100 very quickly. I don't think I ever posted a picture of the new bypass valve. Brand new from GM.



      After the test drive I doublechecked to see if my fix for the leaky shifter worked, and I'm happy to report no more leaks! I had to take apart the top shifter assembly and diagnose why it was leaking in the first place. I popped off the top cover and took apart the upper assembly that holds the fulcrum.



      Here you can see that it was leaking all around that bottom plate and appears to come out on the right side.



      Upon further inspection, it appears that there was some thread sealant that wasn't allowing that to sit flush against the lower plate.





      So I cleaned that all off and dabbed a tiny amount of silicone around the fulcrum base when I reinstalled. I also added some thread tape to the four bolts that attach the upper and lower together. Just a little added insurance since they protrude into the trans case and are exposed to fluid.

      While this was all happening I also needed to quiet down the car. While it sounded fantastic with the Flowmaster 50's, it would make my ears ring after every drive. So they had to go if I wanted anyone in my family to ride with me. After a bunch of sound clips, research and feedback from car buddies, I decided on a pair of Borla ProXS with a 14" case. They were significantly smaller than the 50's that came off of the car so I was actually able to tuck up my exhaust a little higher than before. I had to trim about 4" off of the pipes that come right before the mufflers to push them forward for a better approach to install the tail pipes. Minor modification, but necessary.



      Next up was a pair of 3" Mandrel bent tail pipes from Flowmaster. While they didn't fit out of the box, I think that was completely my fault as I build my own exhaust from scratch. My mufflers are at an angle while the tail pipes are straight. So I just had to make a small cut to give the angle needed for my exhaust. My new band saw made quick work of that and gave a straight cut to just turn and weld.



      The passenger side fit up really nicely and gave me plenty of room around the leaf and quarter panel. The driver side ended up being about 2" more rearward, so I ended up cutting it out of a straight section I had to match the passenger. Got it all welded up and re-installed. I still need to trim a little bit off of the end, but I'm very happy with the placement. I'm also debating on leaving it as is, or cutting it at an angle to match the quarter panel. For now I'm going to leave it straight and see how I feel about it.



      Now for full transparency, the exhaust hangers are not finished, but I they are currently secured to the chassis. I am using the same rubber isolator mounts from before that are solid, but will need to be modified for the new location of the mufflers. The tail pipes may or may not be held up with mechanics wire, but I'll never tell... I have some proper hangers on order now, so once they come in I'll be able to get a final position for the tail pipes so I can get the tips just right.

      Next up is to get my wiring cleaned up, the interior completely reinstalled and put some miles on her. Oh and maybe give it a bath haha.

      Cheers,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    4. #704
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V063nUHHJfw

      Not the greatest video, but they sound really good. Maybe it's just going to take some getting used to, but inside the car doesn't have the greatest sound. But when my dad sat in the car and revved it for me, damn did it sound amazing. Although it doesn't sound as good in the cabin as I was thinking, it's significantly quieter. I think that the tradeoff is well worth it.


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    5. #705
      Join Date
      Sep 2017
      Posts
      825
      Country Flag: United States
      Ryan
      Is that raptor I see around your shifter ? If so is there any interior cabin smell?
      If not raptor then?
      Couple people have told me don't use any bed liner in the interior cabin due to long term fumes. Looking for verification of that.
      Jason
      TANKMASTERJ
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...touring-Camaro
      Jasons Toys
      67 Camaro White Lightning LMR LS7 powered, Speed tech Front and Rear.
      2023 Rapid Blue ZL1 the Blue Devil
      2000 HD Softail
      1989 CBR Hurricane anniversary edition

    6. #706
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Not Raptor. My whole car has FatMat for the sound deadner. I may end up pulling the carpet and adding a second layer though. I'd like to quiet it down a little more even with the quieter mufflers.


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    7. #707
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      Sounds sweet Ryan. It's amazing that little bit on the bottom caused a leak. Glad you got it fixed.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    8. #708
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Yep, pretty crazy. I think that and the silicone helped "seal" the deal.


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    9. #709
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      It's been a few weeks since I posted. Finally took some time to clean up the wiring and tuck it nicely under the dash. I also installed the Custom Auto Sound radio that I picked up. It sounds great and I loaded it up with 1k songs and a flash drive for cruising. It sounds really good and looks way better than that double din unit I had under the dash last year.







      I got all of my oil around to do my first oil change on the new motor. I've driven it around 200 miles on the break-in oil and decided it was time to get that oil out of there. At the suggestion of many of my friends who build motors, I wanted to cut the filter open to see what debris it collected. So I bought a used pipe cutter on eBay that would cut up to a 3" pipe. It was way cheaper than the dedicated filter cutters that I found. Not pretty, but I like the patina on it.







      Unfortunately, I started having problems (I think coincidentally) after I installed my tailpipes. The car was running great, but then slowly started to develop a strange AFR spike. Almost like someone was turning a switch on and off. It would be cruising along at 14.7 right where I commanded it, then spike to 22+ and the car would nose over slightly. Give it throttle and it would clear up, but as soon as you drop down to a normal 5-10% TPS, it would start doing that again. I thought it was in my tune, but after logging it and checking things out, I think I have a hardware issue.

      I pulled the plugs and understandably they were all indicating rich. Since it was dumping fuel to compensate for that lean condition. Plug 2 looks cleaner because I cleaned it off. All the others were as removed.





      Now I think this may have been unrelated, but I found that Cylinder 7 had the strap pushed down and not sure if was even delivering spark. Would explain the fuel smell I have had especially at idle. But this was on the driver's side and my wideband is on the passenger side. So this wouldn't have explained the lean issue I was having.



      At this point, I'm leaning towards a clogged/bad injector. I need to pull them out and inspect. I'm really hoping that is the case and not something deeper in the motor... Here is a screenshot of the log that I took where you can see it going crazy. The yellow line is where Closed Loop was turning on and off. As soon as it transitions the compensation spikes. The upper red line is AFR which is happy and where it should be, then something happens and the middle of the chart it spikes over 20 AFR.



      Hopefully I can get this figured out soon. I'm missing out on some prime cruising weather. On a good note, I've officially fixed all the leaks on the car. I had a leaking pinion ever since I put the car together, but when I replaced the yoke, new seal and sealed the splines it hasn't leaked a drop. I also got the shifter leak fixed, and the few coolant leaks fixed. Hopefully I get this fueling issue fixed and I'll be back in business. I've got some brand new NKG plugs for when I get this straightened out. For now I'm just going to re-use these one's so I don't contaminate a fresh set.

      Cheers,
      ​​​​​​​Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    10. #710
      Join Date
      Jul 2008
      Posts
      453
      Country Flag: United States
      Grab some Delco R44LTSM plugs, they're inexpensive, don't need to run platinum tips on your car. Unless you don't plan to change the plugs for 100k Also remember that higher combustion pressure means you have to run less gap as it can "blow out" the spark. Higher density in the combustion chamber makes it harder for the spark to jump the gap, so as you raise boost you need to tighten the plug gap to compensate.

      Quick check of your injectors would be to hook up a fuel pressure gauge, prime your system, then pull power to the pump and fire the car. Watch the fuel pressure gauge needle as it's firing. A constant tick down like a stop watch is what you're looking for. If you see a notch in the needle then you have a injector not firing. If you have a infrared temp gun check your primary temps too, should be the same across the board.

      What's the light blue line in the log?
      *Jeff*
      Project Salty - 1964 4 door Malibu, beaten, neglected, red headed foster child
      Cammed LQ4 / T56 Swap Project Thread <-click to read! 😁

    11. #711
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks Jeff! I have a set of NGK BR7EF on my shelf but I wanted to get my tune up closer before I swapped in the new plugs. Maybe I need to just get them installed now and see if that may be my issue. What would you suggest gapping them to? I see a lot of CTSV guys gapping them around .028-.032. I was planning to split the difference at .030.

      Another thing I was thinking about doing is swapping the wideband to the driver's side. I have a bung in each side from when I was running the LS1 and stock ECU.

      I'll test out that method you suggest for the injectors. I pulled them out on my lunch break, and didn't see anything obvious.

      The light blue is CL compensation. It goes crazy when the AFR spikes.


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    12. #712
      Join Date
      Nov 2018
      Posts
      642
      Country Flag: United States
      Do you know how that plug ground strap came to be bent like that? Either it was dropped by you, which I hope is what happened, or the piston hit it, which would be bad. Since it's a new engine, it would be worthwhile to see how close the piston is getting to the spark plug at TDC. If you run it near redline, the connecting rods do stretch just a bit, and you might have been tapping the ground strap on that plug. It would be worth discussing with your engine builder. They also make plugs of differing depths for different engines, you may just need a slightly shorter spark plug. Since it's only affected the one, I'm going to guess that when installed that particular plug had the ground strap facing directly at the piston, and the other 7 happened to not be facing the piston since none of the others were damaged. You can check that by reinstalling the damaged plug and a couple of the others, and when installed mark the top of the plug ceramic with a marker so you can see where the ground strap was when you pull the plugs back out.
      2021 Durango R/T
      2005 Dakota beater
      2003 Dakota project-o-mobile

    13. #713
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      I'm back with an update and bearing good news. I found the source of my troubles! I had a bad spark plug wire where it contacts the spark plug. The terminal didn't "click" into place like it should normally and was loose fitting on the plug. It was a brand new spare MSD wire I had on the shelf and it was the last one I would have suspected. I test fit another spare I had and it clicked on tightly, so I swapped that one onto the car. I also installed the new spark plugs and it runs great, just like it did before. But the greatest thing is my fuel smell is almost completely gone now. I must have been running with that dead cylinder this whole time assuming it was my tune up. So word to the wise, check your plugs! The strange thing is I did check the header tubes and they were all hot enough to boil water when I sprayed them. I guess I need a thermal IR gun to confirm in the future.

      Here is a comparison of the NGK BR7EF plugs to the Denso that I had in it. You can see how much taller the Denso is. I did use a borescope to check out the cylinders and pistons, especially Cylinder 8 where I had that damaged plug. I saw zero damage and nothing unusual. That was a huge relief.



      In the meantime before I figured out it was the plug wire, I bought this neat little kit online that allows you to clean your injectors. It's a little adapter that goes on top of a carb/brake clean can and has a hole fit for an injector. It also came with a little harness with gator clips to activate the injector. I confirmed that I had a clean spray pattern on all the injectors, but I suppose it was good preventative maintenance if anything. It was super cheap on Amazon, $12.



      I also forgot to share my father's day gift from the family. Some new Astrovents for my dash. The one's I have in there now are originals that look ok from a few feet away, but didn't work well and were pealing. These will make for a nice upgrade!



      Now that the car is back on the road and firing on all 8 cylinders, it is an absolute blast to drive. It didn't seem to give a clean sweep from idle up and always had a little gas smell. With the new plugs (ordered some new plug wires too, but they are on the way) it was really easy to tuned up. Since I was having issues, I started with a fresh fuel table and a revised AFR table. It only took a few minutes of driving around for the fuel learning to kick in and it cleaned up really nicely. I thought I was happy with the tune before, but I'm way happier now. It runs really well now. Very responsive and idles perfectly. In my driving around I was able to clean up a slight bog off idle which was my only real issue I had before. On the way home I got a little brave and goosed it around a truck. Was going around 60 at the time, but to my surprise when I downshifted it broke the tires loose! This newfound power is definitely going to take some getting used to. Next on the list is a set of sticky tires!

      I'm hoping to change the oil tonight and get it cleaned up for a car show in town. I've shared with a few people the issues that I was having with my Dad's 71 Chevelle and we finally figured that out with his car about a month ago. So this is the first time that we both have running/driving cars and can attend a show at the same time. Really stoked to park our cars next to one another. I'll post some pictures after the show.

      Cheers,
      ​​​​​​​Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    14. #714
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      I like the injector cleaner, real reasonable too. Those vents should brighten up the dash!
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    15. #715
      Join Date
      Nov 2018
      Posts
      642
      Country Flag: United States
      Glad you found the ignition problem. A couple of thousandths on a spark plug doesn't seem like much at all, but it is. An 8th of an inch like that appears to be may as well be 8 miles. I didn't think you'd find any damage in there, that ground strap on the dead cylinder looked like it was just barely being kissed by the piston, and then probably only when you hit redline.
      2021 Durango R/T
      2005 Dakota beater
      2003 Dakota project-o-mobile

    16. #716
      Join Date
      Dec 2008
      Location
      Detroit
      Posts
      2,584
      Country Flag: United States
      Very nice!... That power and be a little scary especially when its unexpected.
      Big dreams, small pockets....

      Chris--
      '72 Cutlass S LSA/T56 Magnum
      Bowler Performance, Rushforth Wheels, ATS, Holley EFI, KORE3, Ridetech

      Project Motor City Madness

    17. #717
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Vimes, you are totally right. When it comes to motor building, every measurement counts. I think that was something I simply overlooked. Very glad it didn't damage anything!

      Chris, yes I am going to be more careful next time. I can foresee my time on the AutoX track in July will be spinning all around.

      Great news is that my dad and I were able to make the car show and it was uneventful. No tow trucks, or any funny business. Both of our cars are running great and it was really cool having him there with me. My little guy helped me get the car all cleaned up so that was a fun time with him. I put some water in that spray bottle and he emptied it twice on the car and wheels.



      I completely forgot to get some pictures, but one of my dad's friends was there and took pictures of all the cars. They sent them to us thankfully, but aren't full resolution.







      My son loved checking out this firetruck that was there.



      I already bought the upper radiator hose to replace the makeshift one that I bought to get the car up and running. When I was at the show, I had no less than 6 people mention that my upper hose was weeping. Well that was it, time to replace that hose.



      Much better!



      I also cleaned up the engine bay and snapped some pictures. Here's the engine bay all detailed and in it's final form. The only changes that I may make in the future may be some cooling modifications for the supercharger's heat exchanger. Some ducting to direct air across the heat exchanger, a possible rework of the mounts that will integrate in a dedicated cooling fan and adding a larger reservoir.









      Cheers,
      ​​​​​​​Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    18. #718
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Location
      Island Lake, IL
      Posts
      131
      Country Flag: United States
      Man, it seems like you’re at the point of just doing fun stuff and cruising around with the car. I was scared the car would snowball into a big project when you took on the engine swap but you got it done. Good job man!

      Got any upgrades you’re thinking of in the future?

    19. #719
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Haha, but it did snowball into a big project! Remember how this started as a mild L92 rebuild and it somehow evolved into an LSA swap and full motor/transmission rebuild?? I somehow managed to get it all done and the car is better than ever. I'm really pleased with how it all came together.

      Future upgrades will be getting new seats, or recovering the ones I have. Not a big priority in the near term though since I'll have the car seats in it for the next few years. The next will be some traction related updates. I'm hoping to find a set of the biggest tires I can fit in my stock tubs. I may try to do some mini-tubs at some point in the next few years but keep the leaf springs. See what the biggest tire I can get with that setup. That won't be for a long time though. I want to just hop in it and go and kinda tired of working on it all the time. I think part of my problem is I enjoy working on them as much as driving them, but this year cut into my driving time. Glad it's all sorted now though.


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    20. #720
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      Kansas City, Missouri
      Posts
      665
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks great. Wish my dad was still around to do things like that. Love the chevelle too!

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