New to the Group and Just bought this 97 t/a
04-30-2012, 12:26 AM
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New to the Group and Just bought this 97 t/a I just bought this 97 Trans Am LT1 with minor mods to it, it has a B&M shift kit, LT4 heads with roller rockers, ZEX Nitrous kit(guessing 125shot), SLP shorties Headers and CIA, Richmond Gears, lowered about 2inches, small cam guessing the GM Hot Cam, shifter controler(has 3 stage, none, firm, and aggresive stages), 2.5inch "custom exhaust", eletric fans, and it was freshened up about a year and half ago. I am having troubles with the car smoking at idle and start up, I replaced the PVC Valve and it stopped doing it as bad for a day than came back. I noticed the car DID NOT HAVE the pvc valve when I put the new one in, I have new valve covers for it so I am gonna pull the stock ones off and slap these on, I noticed that the new ones have two holes in the driver side and one hole in the passenger side pry for cover breathers, Has anyone had problems like this before? I know the only other thing it could be is valve seats and guides. which I am hoping it's not.
04-30-2012, 06:58 AM
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Yes, at startup and idle/high vacuum conditions if you are burning oil then it could be at least seals. How many miles are on the engine? Are you sure you have LT4 heads? What's the green hose on the drivers side for?
04-30-2012, 08:18 AM
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Thats the worse spot ever for the nitrous nozzle, it should be in the middle of the throttle body so when the nitrous is used it disperse evenly into the intake track. Could cause issues in the back cylinders.
Also rings could cause smoking as well as valve seals, most likly a valve seal issue but i have seen rings do the same.
Welcome to the site!
Also rings could cause smoking as well as valve seals, most likly a valve seal issue but i have seen rings do the same.
Welcome to the site!
04-30-2012, 09:45 AM
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Looks like you have a few items of concern.
The LT4 heads require an LT4 intake manifold. And I do t recall ever seeing an LT4 intake manifold that wasn't painted red. I also don't care for that nitrous nozzle placement, but I'm no expert with that. I noticed the odd colored hoses as mentioned above, but that could just be some replacement hoses. Lastly, it looks like you have a home built shock tower bar with various stuff strapped to it. I think you you should try cleaning all that stuff up and figure out what the casting numbers on The heads are
The LT4 heads require an LT4 intake manifold. And I do t recall ever seeing an LT4 intake manifold that wasn't painted red. I also don't care for that nitrous nozzle placement, but I'm no expert with that. I noticed the odd colored hoses as mentioned above, but that could just be some replacement hoses. Lastly, it looks like you have a home built shock tower bar with various stuff strapped to it. I think you you should try cleaning all that stuff up and figure out what the casting numbers on The heads are
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04-30-2012, 02:35 PM
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Yes I am trying to clean it up, the green hose is all the emissions crap I am deleting that today, along with the pvc valve and just capping the throttle body off, and using a valve cover breather. I am gonna get rid of the home made strut tower brace as soon as I order a new one. I haven't sprayed nitrous sense owning the car due to the placement of the nitrous on the intake. I will get the castings off the heads as soon as I free up some room in the engine bay.
04-30-2012, 04:46 PM
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I deleted the Pvc valve completely capped it n put a Pvc valve with a breather filter on it, no more smoking. Next is deleting emmissions out of the way, and a/c after that.
04-30-2012, 04:59 PM
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I'd check the nitrous jetting to see how big the shot is. Make sure the motor has a tune up with cooler plugs before squeezing the current setup. Judging by list of mods it should haul the mail pretty well.
04-30-2012, 09:54 PM
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Lucky for you there are guys like gregrob just down the road here in Cheyenne that can take a look at your tune. He made my Head/Cam swap really easy even when I was calling him at all hours of the night for help. He's a tuning mad scientist. What color is the smoke? If it smells really rich the tune just might need adjusted. If it wasn't set up and tuned for nitrous then there could be bigger problems. I too don't like that nozzle placement. Really you need someone to take a look at it. I think gregrob is in town this week. Send him a pm and see what he says.
05-01-2012, 12:24 AM
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Yeah I have friends who know Calvin(gregrob) and I am waiting to find a obd1 pcm, its just white now, I haven't sprayed due to the fact I don't wanna kill my dd till I get my 383 and heads on the way.
05-01-2012, 01:39 AM
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Well I capped my emmissions off to both headers and now there's less smoke, but there was a line running into a breather which ran into front of the engine, and a little line running off of that I'm not sure how to delete that or what but I capped off the big line that ran into my shorties and it just wissles now lol.
05-02-2012, 04:31 AM
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No its not oil is fine coolant is still good, it just seems to be rich, I'm changing out the autolites tomorrow, I got it to quit smoking as bad. So I'm thinking It's not as bad as I had previously thought.
05-03-2012, 03:20 AM
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I'm with the other guy who mentioned if there are lt4 heads on it....things are not matching up and your loosing some power cause I swear also that is a lt1 intake. It just doesnt look as tall as a lt4 should be and the intake difference is quite noticable for runner size. If I remember correctly lt4's have 1/4 inch more runner size and it is powder coated red. That is one thing I wish I would have done with my build is gone to LT4 intake cause I bought AFR castings with tpis cnc porting.
05-03-2012, 05:15 AM
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Garden hose was removed last owner ran it for the emissions, I have sense deleted the emissions and pvc, since losing a guy on my crew at work haven't had a lot of time to work on it during the week, but I just went out and bought ngk's to replace the autolites, so hopefully this weekend she'll be running a little bit better. With no smoke, seems like she is just running rich now, this weekend when I don't have to work I will also grab the castings off of the heads. Working night's doesn't leave me with much time to toy with it on the weekdays sense I am 
but this weekend I will be doing more work to it, seems how I have only owned the car a week and she already seems to be running stronger I can't say I'm to upset with the set up, fixing some "ghetto" stuff here and there don't bother me. Especially sense the car is pretty clean I am happy even if I do have to rebuild the heads, or the bottom end, just means 383 stroker and betters heads if thats what it turns out being.
but this weekend I will be doing more work to it, seems how I have only owned the car a week and she already seems to be running stronger I can't say I'm to upset with the set up, fixing some "ghetto" stuff here and there don't bother me. Especially sense the car is pretty clean I am happy even if I do have to rebuild the heads, or the bottom end, just means 383 stroker and betters heads if thats what it turns out being. 