yerny

I hope this works, attached are the logs. It's wet out and flooring it should have sent me sideways and into a ditch, but really didn't even break the tires loose. I'll see what some quick Excel graphs look like and if anything jumps out at me with ZERO experience at this.

I couldn't upload more than 100Kb text file, so the csv has an .efi extension to allow upload. If this is a problem (moderators), please let me know how best to accomplish.

Thanks,
Bryan

yerny

So I pulled some sparklines together using excel, here's a screen shot of the first pull ~10-60mph. Don't know if this helps.



Thanks,
Bryan

BLK02WS6

iTrader: (2)

If you had rust in the filter, you may need to get the injectors cleaned! or, throw another set in to find out if it is the problem. May want to pull some plugs and see how they look - clogged injector(s) should show up on plugs.

markbsae

I build cars professionally for 9 years and after reading your thread I have a few questions.

#1 How did the builder get the money? Unless you have a big purchase (engine, gearbox etc) there shouldn't be any money spent for work that hasn't been done. If your builder isn't financially healthy enough to do a week or two of work and then bill you for it ask yourself why. I did a weeks worth of work and billed every friday. The customer looked at what was done, got an itemized receipt as well as a logbook for time. The bill was paid to zero and we started another week.

#2 why would you think you will get your money back for a car you paid to have custom built? Custom building a car is expensive because they are building it to suit your wants. Unless the buyer is impatient and has too much money why would they pay the cost to build a custom car for you rather than build their own? In my experience, unless your car is very desirable you will be lucky to get 70 cents on the dollar.

In my opinion if you find someone who can tune you will spend less than modifying the car to fit a carb and it will be worth more for resale.

yerny

I'll pull the plugs tomorrow to see what they look like. After discovering the tank issue, I did pull the fuel rail and injectors to clean them manually. I did not run them on a bench as I've seen on youtube, just used MAF cleaner on them as best I could. I also cleaned the MAF and reset the ECU at that time.

Thanks,
Bryan

yerny

Unfortunately, we all must learn lessons in life, and the guy believes it's his lot to teach them. I paid $28K up front (yeah, I'm an idiot), but being out of the country for 3 years (Okinawa) and a year deployed, made it impossible to check progress. I have a contract, but after talking to JAG (military lawyers) and they researched the contract, car, and guy...I was advised that even if I won the lawsuit, I'd probably not collect anything from this guy and be out a few grand more.

As far as item #2, he "promised" me a professional estimate and told me all along my Nova SS would be around $45-$50K. A nice Nova WAS my dream car, now I hate looking at it in my driveway. I'm not prepared to give it away, but once it's running right, I'll put for $22.5K firm (about .70 to the dollar) and hope it sells.

Thanks for your thoughts, seeing as I was stationed at Edwards AFB in So Cal, wish I'd found you instead!

Bryan

BLK02WS6

iTrader: (2)

I'm about an hour from you. Not sure how driveable it is, but if you need someone to pull the tune and run a log of it to find out what is up, let me know...

sick_tight

oh no someone accidentally firebombed the **** out of his garage? haha

that sucks man, i hate it when you cant trust someone especially 28k worth. i get pissed at under a 1k i cant even imagine what youre going through, best thing is to drive away any future business for him

yerny

Where are you located? It isn't too bad at <50% throttle. The most I've driven it is 30 min, but I'm up for a challenge. PM me with details of where you're at and your availability. I doubt I can make it up tomorrow and I'm out of town next weekend.

Did you see the logs I posted? Is there any value in those or does anything jump out at you as problematic?

Thanks,
Bryan

markbsae

Good luck with this. I hope it doesn't make you fall out of love with hot rods and classics. Thanks for your service.

yerny

Pulled the plugs this morning and they are NGK TR55's. I'm no expert on reading plugs, but nothing jumps out at me (all about the same). Here's the pics:

From left to right, cylinders 7, 5, 3, 1.


Same plugs - view from top:



From left to right, cylinders 2, 4, 6, 8.


Same plugs - view from top:


Lastly, I figured I'd check the gaps. They varied slightly between .050 and .057.


Thanks,
Bryan

yerny

Quite the contrary. I'm currently building a '55 Bel Air w/ my Dad and Step-Dad in Tulsa, OK (when I can get time to fly there for a week at a time). I picked up the 2-door hard top from my best friend in high-schools uncle. Original paint w/ almost no rust and a beautiful patina (IMHO).

Art Morrison chassis is assembled w/ '05 LQ4 and T-56 installed. Doing it right and NOBODY is touching it except us.



My first test drive:


Thanks,
Bryan

BLK02WS6

iTrader: (2)

Bryan,
I enlarged the log file you posted so I could see it better, and it looks like it might be running lean. From what I can see of the LTFTs, they reached as high as 38%! Also, the O2 readings under load are extremely low... One thing I thought of - the pump setup they had on it originally, did it have a regulator? Thing is, if you have a regulator, that requires the injector tables in the tune to be different than the injector tables for cars with an in-tank regulator (like the original GTO donor car would have had). So, my thinking is that the tune may be out of whack if it has the original GTO injector tables in it. It would need a tune to fix that...

yerny

The original setup when I received my car was the stock '66 Nova tank w/ a Walbro external pump feeding a Corvette filter. It was full of crap after ~100 miles so I pulled it and changed to the Spectra tank with a new corvette filter. I also cleaned the rails and manually the injectors.

I ordered a Fuel Pressure (FP) gauge that comes with a hose so I can see the FP while driving. I guess it could also be running lean because of a pump issue vs. the tune. I should be able to confirm/deny the FP under load by Wed or Thurs of this week.

If I've got a fuel pressure issue, I'll pick up a Walbro 255 pump and put in between my current in-tank fuel pump and the vette filter. If not, then I wouldn't doubt it's an issue with the tune. Like I said, I've NEVER seen this car run worth a crap.

Where can I find a good primer on how to read these log files (O2, FTs etc)? If I can get this FI running right, I'd love to understand the data so I can fix on my own in the future without heavily relying on ls1tech.com's experts.

Thanks,
Bryan
Thanks,
Bryan

OGPaint

Why not "out" the builder in a thread here, maybe you can get him to respond and get your car running right

19wagon63

Good luck, hope it works out for you.

BLK02WS6

iTrader: (2)

Be careful putting much load on it - from what I see, it is pretty lean, so don't beat on it too much...

There are a few books/DVDs out there on tuning (and logging), but they are kind of pricey. I personally went to the school of hard knocks and did a lot of reading on the internet when I started way back when...

The basics of fuel trims are that they are (+) when adding fuel and (-) when subtracting fuel. They read out in a percentage of fuel added. On a PCM like yours, they only subtract fuel (-) when at part throttle; but they will add fuel (+) at part throttle and WOT. Yours was adding 38% fuel in the beginning of the run you made.

The O2 sensors read .450mv at 14.7 (stoich). They are not real accurate outside of that, but they are a decent indicator. Under load, you should be seeing high .800's to low .900's - yours stayed pretty flat until you let off the throttle, then they jumped up to the highest on the scan (which was .865 for bank 1 and .815 for bank 2). That is an indicator that it is very lean under load.

If the fuel pressure checks out, the smart thing to do would be to pull the tune and see what is in there - a lot can be learned from seeing what they did to the tune (compared to a stock tune). Then get a log on it with a wideband connected and see exactly what is going on. If it just needs tuned, then take care of that.

yerny

Thank you very much for your time and advice. I'll start my quest to learn about interpreting the data logs and possible tuning in the future. I should have the fuel pressure gauge tomorrow and I'll try to take it out for a drive if the FP checks out. If it's low, I'll just order a new Walbro 255 without subjecting it to more lean punishment.

Is there any way to pull the tune with just a bluetooth OBD2 adapter? I didn't see anything in the Torque app. Also, what's it cost to get a good tune if that turns out to be my problem?

Thanks,
Bryan

406chvycamaro

iTrader: (7)

Ive been reading your thread and curious to what the car looks like. Possible to see a few pics?

BLK02WS6

iTrader: (2)

You need tuning software to pull the tune... tuning prices will vary depending if you want a dyno tune or a street tune - for what you need, shop around and see what prices are, but I would say you should be able to get it done for $500 or less...