Got her fired up. Idled half way decent.


The following morning, the ECU pooped out. Not sure why. Sent it back and they sent another. It’s on the way now. Can’t wait to drive this thing! Waiting on a a driveshaft universal. This rear end had a 1330 and the driveshaft was a 1310. Once that’s buttoned up it should be pretty close!

I will say it doesn’t sound like a high compression raspy engine the way I had hoped it would. Its also only spitting out 190psi cranking compression. I thought that was on the low side for 13:1 with this fairly low overlap camshaft. But we’ll see how well it seals up once its warm.

 

You can do a lot with the tune to get the idle sounding better. If that aces thing can do it?

 

Why did you not use a rowdier camshaft being ITB and all?

We want to hear some throttle action!

 

For a 5.3… a 228/232 isn’t what I’d call a small cam exactly… TSP testing shows It picked up 82hp over stock. That’s a pretty healthy gain! More than most see on a 5.3. But I hear ya! Its not ideal for big RPM screamer. I picked it for the valve events and PTV clearance mainly. No one has done this with small bore stuff that I know of. I didn’t know how far I could push it.

The whole idea behind the build was “Cheap high compression”. The more radical I went on the cam, the more I’d have to fly cut the pistons.,, more expensive springs I’d need, push rods, lifters, rockers, valves… it never ends. This cam only needed ls6 springs, so I was pretty comfortable using factory valvetrain parts. I did need shorter pushrods though. Also thought I was going to need a much deeper fly cut than I did.

Now that I’ve done it.. I’d of went more aggressive cam wise. I could have milled the heads .125 and not just .100 as well. But live and learn… If someone wants a 13.5:1 5.3, or 4.8… Now they know its really not that hard!

I was expecting higher cranking compression numbers… the motor may be hurt in someway or possibly has a lot of blow by. Bud has a 12.75:1 6.0 and it spits out 225 or so with a pretty radical cam.

 

Hi ALL, I agree with the report from the "Force".
The ITB will allow for better low end Torque with a LARGE camshaft.
I manufacture an ITB intake for the LS-1/LS-7 cylinder head.
I will give LS-1 Teck members a 1/2 price discount.

 

How much is that???

 

.



..but I bet it works and you don't have to fart around with it like I'm doing with the speed master kit! lol

When I'm still cussing at this thing 3 months from now, I'll wish I just spent the stupid money!

 

I get that its a cheap easy build but as previously stated the nice things with ITBs is that it will swallow a huge cam and be really nice to drive. 13.5:1, itbs and a really rowdy cam would sound insane.
Not complaining, i love this build and just want to se it even better

 

Removed the IAC setup all together. Blocked all passages and backed out the idle stops as far as they will go. Technically this thing shouldn't idle at all. But I see 1200-1500 if I allow normal timing and AFR's. But only after the initial throttle blip or two. When it first starts it idles just fine. If I don't touch it, it will sit and idle nice just like the videos I took. Even at full operating temps it idles like a kitten. I can physically push the throttle linkage fully closed. (I have the stops backed off completely, doesn't even touch). But after the first "high idle" takes place and it does nothing and won't go back to the low correct idle speeds. So I don't think its linkage/butterfly related. Yet that's the only thing that makes sense to me. As it idles just fine initially. Pretty frustrating. See no leaks. Sprayed all around intake... Even disconnected the brake booster. Only have 1 vac/manifold line straight to the MAP.

It does have a nice "fast idle timing" function. Similar to mega squirt. If I target a 900rpm idle, I can set the chart to pull X amount of timing for each 50rpm or so away from the target it is. This works to control the idle. But... its not fast enough or responsive enough when trying to drive. Its like it doesn't deactivate this feature quickly enough when I depress the TPS. The micro squirt would immediately disable this function if there was any TPS movement. And as soon as teh TPS was at zero again, it would activate the feature. This doesn't seem to be an option on the ACES unit. So the car coughs and spits for several seconds and RPM... once it cleans out and gets back into a normal timing range the car drives ok. But I have to blip the throttle several times to get the "fast idle timing" option to kick back on.


Drove to the gas station, and got the hood seni sorted out. I need another 1" clearance on the pass front trumpet though. Ordered another ring. Looks kinda cool It think!

 

At this point, it might be worth swapping a truck intake and see what happens.

 

why???

 

To rule out if his issues are intake or ecu related. Just for testing.

 

You should try one of these synchronizing tools in one of the stacks and see how much it changes from low and high idle
Well, with itbs you should always check in all of the stacks and see if all are the same

 

Yea I kinda wonder about that. Since all the inlet runner signals are tied together, and then each bank is fed into into a large common plenum box... then routed to a the MAP sensor. I don't think balancing out each runner for similar vacuum is as critical.

But I'm all for ordering one and checking. I spoke to ACES and they do not offer Alpha N (RPM VS TPS map). THey did say it may be released on later software So I'm stuck with a map sensor for now. They did give me some pointers on the transition between idle timing and off idle timing to speed things up. Will give that a shot here soon.

I think i'd change out the ECU before changing out the intake... Can always throw this setup on a more "common" LS swap deal.

 

Phone call, PM me for my phone # AND YOURS OK ?

 

1" larger ring all a round cleared up fitment issues. All fits well now and hood closes.






Picked up some little 2" press in filters as well. Turned out pretty good I think.






Waiting on a new TPS and MAP sensor. Going to reroute the MAP plumbing and bit and hope for the best.

 

Hi, I always "blend" the MAP and TPS voltage value

 

As in just mechanically tie/wire the 5v out from each together? Or within the tune? I'm not sure the ACE software has that capability?

thank you!

 

We are craving for a video with some revving and throttle jerking!

 

Few minor updates.

A used plug and play Mega Squirt 3 “gold box” popped up cheap local. So I jumped on it. The ACE’s ecu just couldn’t hack it. That’s FS if anyone needs one!

Installed the MS3 and it fired right up and immediately and ran 50% better. Then got sick immediately and was out 3 weeks. Finally back at it, and got some decent tuning in. But the noise levels with 3” open headers is horrible. No room for mufflers with the FWD facing setup on it now. So I cut up some oem maniflds I had laying around for now. Ordered a dual in dual out spintech muffler and hope to have that completed this weekend.

Also have what sounds like a chirping bearing noise on an accessory up front that’s driving me crazy. Its louder with RPM and makes no noise at idle. So I drove it with no belt, and it still chirps like a spun bearing! I can’t figure it out.

Also have what looks like a major rear main seal leak. Which is odd since I installed new OEM rear motor cover and seal. So most likely it will have to come out again.

But I’m at least confident the ITB’s will work at this point.