Getting closer........

[John Wright]

a shock mount huh?

Good job locating that noise and eliminating it.

Can't wait for the update where you post about the new tune!

[Jim Nilsen]

It's sunny outside and cool but I went for a drive and finally have no noises except a pesky pillar to dash pad squeak once in awhile that can be fixed easily. Everything finally sounds really good and quiet,lol, the engine is doing better and getting more mpg. Last time I checked it I was up to 10 mpg.

The tuner has been having trouble getting the accel program to put a program to a disc like it should. I too have been try to move files around to practice for when I get the program and get problems. I am thinking of driving 70 miles to go get the tune in person which seems to be a better possiblity to get it right and learn some too about the programming while I watch as much as I can.

So if it works out I am going for a drive and if it is any indication from my drive last night at sunset, it will be a very good ride there and a better ride coming back.

I need to go for a ride tonight for about 20 miles to check out any other problems and then I will feel good about going 140 miles round trip.

It's getting better every day !!!

[Jim Nilsen]

I have found that the feeling you get when you get your car out and have fun before it is done is like going on a date with a hot woman knowing you are going to get lucky and you are still only out to dinner waiting for your table and have a show and desert to follow before you get to all of the real fun and excitement you were really looking forward to.

Still working on a few things to get it done in other places, it's time to move on to the sheetmetal under hood fenderwell stuff and some carpet for the interior.

There are only a few more days left to drive before it gets way too cold and I will drive it then as long as we haven't put salt on the roads yet to see if something new rattles.

Fall is being good so far and I hope the warm weather holds up.

[Jim Nilsen]

The weather today is going to be nice enough to get the car out. I have done a few things and hope to find out if they make noise or not. I wish I had more good weather coming up but it doesn't look like it will last much longer, amazingly it has lasted this long !!!

I am getting a good idea of what I have to get done this winter and hope in the spring things will work out. I keep telling myself to not get a different cam and stick in it and get the tune for the one I have, but a new cam would get me a tune that was right on. Especially if I got the cam and the tune from Lingenfelter, I almost put one in 3 years ago and now it seems like a bargain.

I will try to get a video of the drive today.

[NOT A TA]

Good to see you're still getting out for fall drives! Enjoy them!!

[Jim Nilsen]

I decided to bite the bullet and my car is at Schwartz Performance getting the tune done. Things are going well and I can tell that I have a tuner that really knows what is going on and can do the job.

The dual sync distributor is causing problems that can be worked out but none the less it is not ideal. Going to a crank trigger and a modified MSD distribitor for cam timing is the way to go I am told but that is more money and I just don't want to keep throwing money at something that will get replaced with an LS motor eventually.

The car was really starting to respond to the tune so far and it won't bring tears to your eyes anymore unless you say the word ACCEL DUAL SYNC...... but I can live with it for now and if this car makes the power it feels like it can make it will be more car than is needed to do the events vs my driving skills. When I get my skills caught up to what the car can do I will be ready for a new engine and a whole bunch of other things like bigger brakes and such.

So tommorow morning I will be at Jeff's shop driving around in the big circle in a car with no heater and a tuner wishing it had,lol. I don't think Don knows the no heat/cold part yet. I am taking my coveralls to keep warm. As long as it just doesn't snow I will be all right with it.

Jeff tells me I have the best tuner in the world tuning my car and it really does look like it. So far I don't know who else has the ability and confidence that I feel from Don and it is refreshing after the ordeal I have gone thru to get to this point.

By this time tommorow I should have the biggest smile on my face that will last till spring when it will get even bigger when the first event comes.

YEHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[John Wright]

Oh man Jim, I am so glad for you...get that baby tuned up brother. Hope to hear/see vids with the new snappy throttle response and listen to the revs all the way to the moon.

[Motown 454]

Any news Jim???

[Jim Nilsen]

I have news but none of it really good.

The car is still plagued with ACCEL and Don couldn't tune bad parts to be good. I am not blaming anyone but myself and ACCEL for wasting my time and money but it has been very trying ordeal with hopes of time ,brains and money being able to get the car running. All of the brains and money in the world can't fix broke when you don't know what is broke and it is sad that it takes a lot of money and brains to find the problem part.

I am told that a seperate crank trigger and cam trigger that are more acurate will fix the problem that will plague me forever if I try to stay with the dual sync distributor. $750 is what it will take in parts to solve the problem with the ecu I have. Advice from the best and from experience to leave well/bad enough alone and make it work or it gets worse.

I called the head of Accel today and he says he will make it right, and all I have to do is send the ecu and the distributor back to them so they can check them out to see what is wrong. I am putting my faith,what little I have left into giving them a chance to give me something that works if I send it to them.

Looking back I should have sent the distributor and ecu back a long time ago when it didn't want to take the set up correctly. But I blamed my inexperience with the setup instead of going with the knowledge I know for sure when things weren't going right because I was told I might have other problems. I even got a new battery to be sure to have the extra volt for less drop. So far everything I had done would have been right and it should run great but it doesn't.

I did get to drive the car this year and even though I didn't get to the events I wanted to with the Cormaro ,I had a blast with my DD Vibe and a great drive with Matt Altamore in his 69 to the RTTH.

I think it might be time to throw in the towel for the driving season and call it winter. If things turn around fast enough and the weather holds out who knows what will ever happen. I do know this ! I am not wanting to spend another dime until I get answers from Accel and try to see if it can really work out of the box like it should.

Somebody please show me that the dual sync distributor setup works again because I know a few of you gave me instructions based on your experience of actual working parts and that it really is possible reality.

I need a lot of help in the ,hope I don't have to spend anymore money , department.

I have had enough for this year and maybe for Christmas I will get a new Dual Sync Distributor with a brand new Thruster DFI ecu at no cost. I actually could have bought a new system from anyone to control my engine for less than I have spent to find out what I have.

That is about as nicely as I can put it for now, hopefully things are looking up for 2010.

[Jim Nilsen]

Are we having fun yet?

On the good side of the bad ,I have gone over 500 miles in at least 50 different trips and never once got stranded and only came close once but was close enough to home to make it back.

The car feels solid and is handling beyond the expectiations I had. The ride is more comfortable than expected and the friends that have ridden in it think it is a smooth ride until they went around a corner,lol. One friend described it as an amusement park ride.

I have always had time to think about what could have been different to make the outcome easier and less expensive and there are only a couple of things I would have been able to do easier and less expensive but it would have taken the complete functionality of what it was built for down a level or 2.

Getting the car out before all of the real modifications that will alter the looks have been put on has been a lot of fun that I didn't expect. Most everyone likes the Vette wheels and don't realize the rest until you tell them. The police just see me as a classic driving around with nice wheels and a healthy exhaust note. It is like an open canvas with the outside and the suspension, both are starting out stock configuration and will transform through the time it takes to do them.
So far the vision of what I want it to be is GETTING CLOSER........

[Jim Nilsen]

I made the decision to send the ecu and distributor to Accel and let them have a chance to get me something that works. It hopefully won't cost me anything to get a working unit that will plug and play and not give me the need to have any help to get it running with a good enough tune out of the box that I can learn to tune it myself. The least of it all I will at least have parts that I might be able to use or sell instead of total junk that doesn't work.

It will be almost like starting over from the beginning except this time I will have all of the other excuses that it wouldn't work taken care of. I spent a lot of money chasing the problem and those things that were done can't be excuses for anyone to take anymore money from me and blame the results on Accel or me. The unit that comes back had better work or they will get it back until it does. I will not settle anymore and swallow, I will get guarantees from now on that the work I pay for will get done or I don't have to pay. I figure it will keep anyone from ever taking money they didn't give me results for and it will keep them from practicing on me and getting paid for it.

So we will see if Accel can get me something that works. It is their chance to show a lot of people that they care about the customer and have a product they stand behind and works. If this doesn't work I will drive a stake through their business like nothing else if I can have anything to do with it. I really hope they send me something that works so I can finally put this whole thing to rest and move on to the rest of the car.
If I have to put a crank and cam trigger on to make it work at least I will have tried to let it be resolved and the whole world will know if the dual sync distributors actually work well if at all.

The next time I ever take my car to a tuner I will be totally ready for it with no bad parts to give excuses for bad results, the car will run good but just needs to run better and it will be already as good as I can get it and want more before I ever even go.

I hope these are lessons none of you have to learn the way I have.

Place your bets, Will Accel come thru or will I be right back where I am right now?

[Jim Nilsen]

I keep going over the whole damn scenario in my head of what has happened and what might happen and it is making me think things that lead me to believe I have been beating my head against the wall of hopes and dreams that will never come true until I get the piece of crap efi out of my life.

It keeps haunting me that I have listened to people who have said they can get it working and have failed every time and have taken my money every time with no results. I am beginning to trust noone and have realized they can take my money with no conscience. God how do people do that?

If I was to get the crank and cam trigger setup and then go to get a tune on it and the ecu is still part of the problem I will have had a diagnosis of a bad dual sync distributor that would eat up $1500 or more and still not work. That would mean that I would have spent $2500 to hear another set of excuses about the parts and I would be screwed again. For that kind of money I could have bought an LS motor somewhere or an new Bigstuff 3 or just about any scenario you have seen around here that cost less to get something that works. along with it I have lost money from taking time off to get this fixed.

Along with all of this the anger is making me sick and tired. Cancer was easier to beat than this problem and I only beat it because I didn't listen to the people who said they could help and decide to treat myself. Do I have to do the same to get my car going?

All of you do yourself a favor and if you are on the fence about what to do for an engine, get a running LS motor out of a car and never give in to the advice to run what you have when what you have will never compete with a stock LS motor for the money.

2Years ago or less Andrew told me I wasn't crazy for thinking I could ditch the whole damn setup I had and offset the cost of an ls motor and be way ahead. I got advice from some that said to get what I have running. Guess who's advice was the best? Every time I have followed Andrews advice or instructions I have had success with my problem. Andrew has true vision and common sense that just works for the guy on a budget. A big kick in my ass is what I got for not following his advice.

I keep waiting for something good to come from all of this and if I am not going to get any good out of it I hope some of you do. It seems like it has made everyone somewhat speachless as to what to say about this. When it comes down to getting help I keep hoping for some good help. So far the best help has been free and saved me money and those people should be proud and their Karma good. I will let you figure out what I got when I paid.

When you get cancer you ask yourself ,Why Me what did I do to deserve this. When you get bad parts and bad help and advice all together you ask yourself the same thing. The worst part of it all either way is you are paying people to help you and it just keeps killing you until you stand up and tell them to get F'd and help yourself.

If it is me and my attitude that is messed up let me know because my belief in any of this and the people involved is almost gone and I really need to know if it is me and bad decisions or the people who give you a vision of what you are going to get and then want you to poke yourself in the eye to be blind enough to see it their way and keep giving them money.

Jeff Jasiek who came and got the car running and was not able to put a tune on it because of time has been the only one who couldn't take the money he wanted because he wasn't able to give me what I paid for, he only asked to be paid for what he did that helped. He is a good man and I want everyone to know that.

I am all ears as to what you guy's think because I am confused about what is right and wrong at this point by the outcome?

[Payton King]

Been there before plenty of times on my yellow car...think its the color. LOL

I see 3 things sitting on the sidelines and watching this unfold:

1. See what Accel says about the stuff you sent back
2. Put a regular intake and carb on the car so you can drive it.
3. Do #2 and start saving for an LS motor.

Personally, I like option 3 the best. It is hard to beat an LS motor.

[srh3trinity]

I think that after all that you have been through on this build, you deserve to be able to get the car on the road and enjoy that. Payton's suggestions seem to be the most likely way to do that. It seems like you ought to be able to get an intake/carb setup on it for relatively cheap so you can drive and enjoy the car while you are waiting on option 1 or option 3. I can't even begin to imagine your frustration, and I for one would like to see you get to enjoy your car.

[Jim Nilsen]

Been there before plenty of times on my yellow car...think its the color. LOL

I see 3 things sitting on the sidelines and watching this unfold:

1. See what Accel says about the stuff you sent back
2. Put a regular intake and carb on the car so you can drive it.
3. Do #2 and start saving for an LS motor.

Personally, I like option 3 the best. It is hard to beat an LS motor.

Hi Payton, So when you see a Yellow car, does that mean they really worked twice as hard to get it on the road? lol.

I got confirmation that Accel recieved my stuff at 2pm today so I expect to get a call tomorrow. The big hope is that I can put the ecu and distributor back in and with the number of times I have been thru the timing sequence, I should be able to turn the key and have it start right up. I have been thru the idle setup and I have the cam specs more figured out. So plug and play should be the way. If it revs up and runs even fair it will be good enough to have fun. I will work out the tuning part later when I can get back on the road, snow is here to stay and no more drives but I can open the garage door and do some tuning I hope.

I have resisted putting the intake and carb that came with the engine just to get it running. Reworking the fuel system and wiring to go back is not too hard but it is a lot to do. If I can't get something going by March I will do it. I may have to rebuild the carb so I would know it didn't leak but it should be jetted right. All in all I really don't want to go back that direction.

I am going to start looking for an LS setup from a wrecked vehicle that has the ecu,harness and a good program to go from the start. I have heard too many people saying they have picked them up for less than a good set aluminum heads for my old school engine.
OOOOH Yes I am going to start looking.

Thanks for the advice I needed it.

[Jim Nilsen]

I think that after all that you have been through on this build, you deserve to be able to get the car on the road and enjoy that. Payton's suggestions seem to be the most likely way to do that. It seems like you ought to be able to get an intake/carb setup on it for relatively cheap so you can drive and enjoy the car while you are waiting on option 1 or option 3. I can't even begin to imagine your frustration, and I for one would like to see you get to enjoy your car.

Your thoughts are appreciated a lot. Keep them going and I promise the car will run and I will get to enjoy it. Road America,Gingerman, Blackhawk and who knows where else is where the car is going to be. The main priority is to go have fun. With the job situation the way it is these days one never knows when one might have to sell the car and if it just sat there the memories that could have been would never be. I never thought I would be able to drive around Road America in someone elses car much less my own, I hope the event happens.

Keep up the faith for me !!!

[Jim Nilsen]

I have been distracting myself for the last week looking for tires and wheels. I found a virtual wheels place I can put a basic pic of a 67-8 Camaro you can make the color of your car and then put the wheels and tires on it, you can even raise or lower the car if you like. www.performanceplustire.com is the place and you have to have java loaded on your computer for it to work. If you don't have java they send you to where you can download it. It was a lot of fun and really enlightened me how what I thought might look good didn't. The big question is to spend more on wheels and less on tires or go with functional wheels and the best tires ?

The ecu from hell is getting a new board and an upgrade !!!!!

Accel called today and after checking everything out they couldn't find anything physically wrong with the ecu or the distributor leaving only some kind of corruption in the board that could be making the timing be bad. So to make sure that I didn't install it back in the car and then find that it was a bad board still that was just updated they made me a deal I could live with and I am having an updated new board and the much newer version of the software. This should get rid of the problem if it was the board and then if I have problems it will have to be from something else. It will run at twice the speed the other processor did and have features I didn't have before. I would have gotten 4.0 instead of 6.0 so it will be worth it I hope. It should be plug and play from now on.

I am hoping to get it back before Xmas and get it installed to here it fire up before the end of the year. I will feel a lot better knowing I can have it all running well before I get started on finishing it before spring.

So check out the tires and wheels and have a good Christmas.

[Bow Tie 67]

Jim if racing is the concern, TIRES!!! if looks are your concern ( we both know that is not the case ) then rims.

I think my car looks F ing Ugly with my track tires and rims. Have a great holiday.

[Jim Nilsen]

I have an email that has a tracking number and it says my DFI is on the way and will be here tommorow Go Brown !

While looking for a Belden usb cable I found the other brand I couldn't remember the name to, Startech, while reading the features of the adapter I found out something interesting. Some usb adapters must have a problem going from one port to another because the Startech claims it can be unplugged and plugged back in and go from one port to a different port with no problems. If this is the case, my usb port problem on my laptop will possibly be solved.

I am getting a bit more enthused about putting it back together and starting it up. With a new bit of info on the screen and more control of things I am hoping it will be plug and play. I will actually have a lot more choices of programs to download from Accel that will work with the ecu now because of the new version.So with some luck I just might be over the hump with this and can move on to things like they were supposed to be.

I have learned a lot this year and got to have more fun along with the disappointment than a person should probably have in one year but it was way better in the end of the year than the dead start I had going into it!!!

Anyone see that Brown Truck?

[bigshotsho93]

wow jim, i cant believe the problems your having with the efi... your stronger willed than i am. i would have at the very least put an intake and carb setup on it and saved for the LSX setup. but you are strong willed and want to see this project through as invisioned . hope the big brown truck brings good news for you today.