Yeah great and very helpful review thanks. Im running into issues with my e38 and the tune. Im pretty much at a loss for what to do at the moment so I'd really like to hear about your thoughts on the mail order tune when you get it. Your still on the stock cam right? Also How long turn around are you looking at for the tune?

 

What's funnier is that this car only comes to my house maybe once a week.

With the slave cylinder, we did find the problem. Turned out to be a leaky seal on the quick connect fitting from the clutch master. Up against the replacement, this new slave cylinder looks much more substantial. The old one was cheesy by comparison.

Just shows you that you don't need to go looking for the cheapest prices on items that will take a day to replace if they do go bad....though as I recall, this part that failed wasn't really cheaper.

 

Aint that the truth! Too soon we get old, Too late we get wise

 

[QUOTE=mr220v;12916914]We just used HPtuners. Pillagenburn has been looking around at getting somebody to tune it. I might take a stab at it at some point since I've tuned Haltechs before. I just don't have a lot of time with all the other wiring projects I'm working on right now.

The speedo is still and issue. We could have used an adapter or different trigger wheel to fix it, but we're looking for an ecu solution to this. This will make the finished product a bit cleaner, and will be one less thing to buy.[/QUO

do they make an adapter to allow the instrament cluster function correctly I have an LY6 to install in my 2004 avalanche just concerned with compatablity

 

[quote=spacediver;13076826]You can buy little conversion boxes from Dakota digital or Jagsthatrun etc. that can do this. Just be sure to figure out what pulse you need etc. before you order anything.

 

I have a dakota digital box sitting in my glove box. Those things are kinda ghetto, IMO, and I'd prefer to get it working correctly using factory equipment.

I think I may have missed trying one other thing in HP Tuners to get my speedo working... when it comes back, if it's still not working correctly, I'll give it a shot.

 

pillagenburn, what speed sensor input are you running to the e38 and what wire are you inputting it into? I just finished my harness and learned a lot doing so. There is a line for input so it changes fueling under braking and one for park/neutral so the motor runs differently in gear.
Thanks,

 

Yeah I know those dakota boxes are kind of lame but they do work it was just a thought as a last resort. The jags that run modules look pretty decent though. We're going to try one on another LS1/700R4 swap that we're working on. Only reason we're keeping the 700 is its already built so we'll try it but of course similar issues with the speedo as its a mech trans. No big deal though on a 99 LS1 manual tune so it should wok out fine.

 

My plan is to do the wiring for these by mail for people. All features need to be fully functional. A dakota adapter for the speedo is just not that reliable. I'd spend too much time telling people how to calibrate it.

 

YAhaaa I see i didnt realize the intention of future harnesses. Makes sense and believe me I know all about explaining things over and over... see my sig? Holy moly.... pita

 

^When are you going to make us one of those?

 

yeah really, make us a 4th gen f-body 8.8 rear...God knows we all need a lower cost alternative to Moser 9" and Strange 12-bolts. You can pick up 8.8 rears for nothing anyway....

I still contend that a company needs to come around and start converting 8.8 rears ... you could sell them 50% cheaper than their Moser 9" /Strange 12-bolt F-body counterparts and still make out like a bandit.

 

Cheap and good do not go together and the 8.8 is no exception. To build one involves a lot of specialized machining, highly specialized welding, and a bunch of billet parts that are also machined. THe problem isnt building them I can do that be certain and it wont break be certain of that too. The problem is when looking at the 8.8 as a "low cost" option over Moser or Strange its simply not so.

Building 8.8's hybrids is nothing new this has been done by me and quite a few others on this board. Mine just happen to be the ones that never failed.

I tried a few methods and as of now I only offer bolt in 8.8 housings I dont sell complete diffs and even then I do very few at this time. It takes a TON of time and the specialized equipment to make these things. Fortunately I have access to all of the equipment but they make good money with those machines. Building 8.8's while fun does not make any money so these things became a backburner project for us.

I always figured if business dried up I could start banging these out hardcore and make a go of it but this has not been the case. Business has grown and my interest in building these for sale has waned substantially.

All that said you guys have helped me out a LOT already with tips and your build and Im sure will continue to do so. So drop me a pm and I'll see what i can do for you

 

Cheap and good can go together. Look at this entire thread. How much money would it take to get an lt1 to 400hp? And after you spent the money, would it make the same torque? Would it get more than 15mpg? Would it be reliable?

I do something similar with Toyotas (look at my board name). Used to be guys would spend thousands on building 4ages (little 1.6L toyota engines that make 115hp stock, and maybe 140hp built NA). There was a stock motor available from Japan that made 165hp stock and factory reliable. That motor was originally how I got into the custom wiring biz. I sell that harness for $350. The motor is $500. So, for around $1000, you can have a 40% jump in power with factory reliability.

I have another harness that allows you to put the current toyota v6, which is 270hp, into mk2 mr2's. While these motors are a little expensive now, they won't be in another year or two. This motor swap gets you into the 12's. Ultimately, after prices have come down, my expectation is that this swap should be possible for under $2500....maybe less.

I think "cheap and good" can be attained in some cases with superior, mass produced, factory parts. The mass produced part of it is the key. In the case of that ford rear end, there's millions in circulation VS a few thousand of the stronger Chevy rear ends.

It would just depend on what it takes to get this rear end into an Fbody. How much does it cost to make the parts for the conversion, and how much time does it take to create those parts and attach them to the diff? Is it possible to speed things up and produce them more efficiently. With my 20v harnesses, it used to take me 40 hours, then 15, now I can do them in about 6.

 

Exactly and yes I agree with practically all your post but these rules do not apply to everything. Each task has its limitations on cost vs performance and sure you can build a 400 rwhp LS anything for pretty cheap nowadays. Now build a N/A 500 rwhp LS powered engine and tell me how cheap it is. Its only a hundred hp more but it costs a great deal more. Its these limits we all have to face and deal with on our decisions of cost vs performance. Think Buggati Veyrons are worth a millions bucks? I dont because I can build an LS powered ZR1 for half that will obliterate that car on every performance level with ease. But I still have to build it. Whats that worth? Why does Underground Racing charge 100k for a turbo install on a Ferrari? Why are they so busy theres a waiting list? Price is not the only factor when it comes to these issues and I think I've made my point here.


The issues with diff building are far greater reaching costs than harness building. Just the equipment alone is insanely expensive and does not operate for free and its only because we have this stuff at our disposal that I was able to do this in the first place. So I made one with the intention of building more as we did design a jig for production, then built a few more to get them out there and proven. After that the favors are over and now they better make profit... Well considering the shop is growing even through these harsh times and the fact that the work the shop is bringing in ( Steam fitting is the main trade here ) is making far more dollars than these diffs ever could and it just doesnt work by the numbers so we are not super interested at this time. Try and imagine what the workers compensation insurance alone costs let alone the hydro bills and materials here and then add labor... Yikes...

Plus the market is already sewn up pretty decently by Moser and Strange and theres not much room to maneuver with the prices they sell theirs for. Its for these reasons mainly that everyone complains about those companies HORRIBLE customer service and quality control. They have these costs whittled down soooooo low already you have no idea how cheap their prices are.

Now if I was to set up a small shop and go at this for serious then yes you are correct there is money to be made especially if you sell what the market demand is. Theres a ton of demand thats for sure. The jig I have should probably go into production somewhere at some point but as of now its sitting idle.

However you have to really think about this. To design, machine, fabricate and weld together a differential thats both strong and within tolerances ( thousands of inches ) is very demanding and not something that involves cutting corners nor can be done cheaply. This is where the issue of "cheap and good" come into play and to keep things at high quality in these regards comes at a price.

No one will buy an 8.8 for MORE than a Moser or Strange piece. To sell for less is not profitable for reasons mentioned above. The lucky few who have one of our diffs will know exactly how lucky they are ten years on when their still pulling wheelies with it.

Not much I can do to change the current market

 

That's a very good analysis. Sounds like the equipment in question is simply too costly to be used on this full time. It would be a pay cut VS how it is normally employed. It might work as a sort of an idle time project, but it doesn't sound like this equipment sits idle for long.

The other idea would be to market it as a totally new differential, or at least not converted. That might work to extend the ceiling for what you could charge closer to the built from scratch diffs. Hard to say if there's an advantage there, but I would think there's a marketing advantage to "stronger differential that uses ford components" vs "cheap converted ford differential". I'm sure you get a lot of people coming at you (like us sort of) thinking it's somehow really easy, and a good way to get a really strong differential for $500.

So, it's possible that the whole concept just suffers from a bit of a marketing problem.

 

well, I still hope that a company comes up with a way to improve the conversion process for the 8.8 and brings a cheaper product to market with same or better quality as moser, strange etc.

Initial production costs will be high (R&D etc) but I can imagine as the market catches on and demand ramps up for 8.8 conversions then it'd be worth it... even knowing you're going to pay $1500 for a quality converted 8.8 kit would be enough to turn the market.

 

update: I got my ECU back... so there's some good and bad news...

good news: The car runs a lot better - idles smoother, runs smoother, feels like it makes a good deal more torque.

bad news: The speedometer is still way off, and it's off worse than it was before but it's OK .. that's not really his fault, I'm going to attempt to correct it myself.

 

Any chance to get a video on its accel. rolling or dead?

 

I'll see if I can get one today - I'll have to get with my brother to do it. For whatever reason it thinks I'm running lean on both banks... the idle takes a long time to come back down but I don't see where I could possibly have an intake leak...