Today's progress report
 

OK, I'm sure my posts are getting old, but I'm sooooo freakin' happy to have my car running again! It's been almost seven months, after all.

Anyway, today I took the car to my friend's shop in Gainesville (Rollins Automotive) to take care of the tranny. We put the car up on the lift and dropped the pan to see if there was anything obvious. Well, the shrapnel in the bottom of the pan was pretty dang obvious <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="gr_tounge.gif" /> Turns out that somehow I broke the intermediate sprag. Jason and his dad quickly cleaned up all the mess and rebuilt the tranny in about 2 hours. We stuffed it back up in the car, and all seems well for now. I have to give some major props to Jason, his dad Chip, and the whole gang at Rollins Automotive. They pretty much stopped everything they had going on and took care of me. Thanks again guys! Any of you fellow Floridians need to check these guys out if you need some work done.

I swapped the stock injectors back in, and reprogrammed the PCM with LS1Edit. The idle/part throttle driveability is now much improved. Also, while the tranny was out, I discovered that I had forgotten to plug in the MAP sensor connector on the back of the intake manifold <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="gr_emb.gif" /> Needless to say, I think that helped out too. I just hope the stock '98 injectors will be up to the task of feeding this motor (I know I'll have to bump the fuel pressure up a good bit).

The last thing I did this evening was install new AC Delco Rapidfire #3 plugs, and indexed them all for maximum clearance. Hopefully that will take car of the plug issue I'm having. If not, I'll have to find a really short reach plug that leaves plenty of room for my domed pistons (anyone ever used Champion RV9YC's? That's what I'll probably go with if need be).

I need to put a few miles on the car tomorrow and check/top off the tranny fluid, as it starting storming really bad as soon as we got finished with the tranny install. Unless something else goes wrong, I will be at the track tomorrow night for a few easy shakedown passes to see if I can get the tuning about right before I start leaning on it really hard.

Wish me luck!

Re: Today's progress report
 

Car looks killer George. I'll run the camera if ya need me to. I wanna catch a ride in that animal though <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

Please keep posting updates. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

Major, Very Major Good Luck. <img border="0" alt="[angel]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_angel.gif" />

Coach

Re: Today's progress report
 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by CutlassRacer:
<strong>Car looks killer George. I'll run the camera if ya need me to. I wanna catch a ride in that animal though <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hey Kevin! Glad to see you found us here! There isn't much talk about "Rocket Motors" on here though <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="gr_tounge.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

LOL George. Yeah I know I dont really belong on here, lol, but I am on a few boards like this. Hey I thought of something last night after I got offline. You may need to swap your front tires to get in tonight. Don stands out there sometimes and I remember him not allowing one dude in because he had ET Fronts on the car. Then again he may not be out there and Rob will let you right in, the risk is up to you I guess <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

I'm sooooo freakin' happy to have my car running again!

I think thats a under statment.......... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[Fluffy]" title="" src="graemlins/fluffy.gif" /> it's the happest i'v seen you in 7 months.. now if i can hold out tel 6 pm to get off work <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="gr_tounge.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

congrats!! <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" />

Dyno Dyno Dyno!!!

Just get a baseline and make sure the AF is ok and a base timing curve <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> The dyno is just up the road isnt it? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> You can also get an idea of where your powerband will be and shiftpoints too <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />
Cheers,
Chris

<small>[ August 02, 2002, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: Chris ARE 360 ]</small>

Re: Today's progress report
 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Chris ARE 360:
<strong>Dyno Dyno Dyno!!!
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">OK OK OK <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> Just not today... I don't think I'll have the time or resources to dyno the car before heading down... I'll just have to see what time I get out of work today and if there's any way they can squeeze me in.

I'll repeat myself again, though... I do not plan on showing up at the track and just hammering the car down the strip to see what happens. We'll be doing some preliminary checks/tuning before I even get in the staging lanes, and then make a pass or two a 1/2 throttle 5500rpm shiftpoints, and then got WOT for a few seconds in high gear so we can get a good reading on the plugs. My wife is out picking up another set of spark plugs for me right now, in case the indexed Rapidfires still won't work (what she's getting for me will work for sure <img border="0" alt="[devil]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_devil.gif" />

Nobody here can convince me not to take the car to the track tonight! Seven months is a looong time <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> Besides, I'm to stubborn to listen to anybody anyway <img border="0" alt="[Banging Head]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_banghead.gif" />

It's time to <img border="0" alt="[Camaro]" title="" src="graemlins/camaro.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

Good luck on those shakedown passes George! Ive had my car down for several months before and feel your pain, but I am glad you are back on the road and working your way to completion of the project. Best of luck to ya!

Re: Today's progress report
 

Keep an eye on your injector pulsewidths and AF. stock 98s on 8000 rpm motor. What Fuel Pressure are you using?

Enjoy the visit to the track. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Re: Today's progress report
 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Ragtop 99:
<strong>Keep an eye on your injector pulsewidths and AF. stock 98s on 8000 rpm motor. What Fuel Pressure are you using?

Enjoy the visit to the track. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've got the fuel pressure @ 65psi right now, but can take it much higher than that if needed.

Re: Today's progress report
 

George try a NGK R5724-8 stock# 7317. They're a little cold but have a none projected tip with a short ground strap. With your compression you should be OK.

Re: Today's progress report
 

Thanks Joe. I'm going to stick with the Rapidfires for now, as they seem to be working great after indexing. I had my wife pick up some Champion S59C's (non projected tip) for me today just in case, but it looks like I won't need them.

<small>[ August 02, 2002, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: GeorgeC ]</small>