67Firebird455

iTrader: (27)

Manual cars need to retard timing, auto cars need it advanced correct?

JoeNova

Spool on this car is pretty much instant. The dyno was set up for MPH and we were trying to figure out where to get it to start, so I was pulling slowly from idle until it started reading and then hitting it. We adjusted the start/stop MPH and I ended up doing 40 dyno pulls that day.

It was only hitting ~16 PSI when it blew off. I'm going to try a much stronger T bolt clamp next time, but the machined lip on the throttle body is so small that I'm afraid I still won't get any bite on it. I broke one of them by over-tightening it. I guess that's what I get for using an ebay ultra-thin clamp.

Pulling timing works great. Maybe too great. Before when I was doing this, the car was in neutral, unloaded. I tried it in first gear yesterday with some load on it. No 2-step, no anti-lag, I could build 6 lbs on the foot-brake before it would spin or push through. With the 2-step I can build 10-12 lbs, and with the anti-lag on and timing pulled, the wastegate is open in ~2 seconds. This is all at 3000-3200 RPM.

JoeNova

Been putting some miles on it, and getting fairly annoyed.

Yesterday I went out for a light 14 PSI pull. Won't go over 10 PSI. I believe its from the leak around the meth nozzle. No biggie, I can weld and re-tap. Then I noticed that its running 14.5:1. So after 2 or 3 seconds on the first pull, I let off. Back comes the old ticking noise I had before. Its driving me crazy. I just put brand new lifters in, and that SAME tick is back.

Also, I had major issues with the TPS sensor. It wasn't getting any TPS signal at all. After 2 hours I figured out the problem and fixed it.

I added 20% fuel over the entire VE table above 120 kPa and my lean issues are fixed. It runs great now at 10 PSI. 18 degrees of timing, 11.5 AFR on the nose.

Drove it today, its fine for the first few minutes, and then the tick comes back. Sounds like lifter tick, and its EXTREMELY loud. The wideband is pegged lean at idle when its ticking which makes me think its only running on 6 or 7 cylinders. There is also a bit of popping from the exhaust. Not a pop like unburned fuel cracking, but more like a loud ground pounding thump of a larger cam. I'm going to buy a pushrod length checker and change the plugs and wires.

Also, now it doesn't want to stay running when I come to a stop at a light. I've played with the tune with zero response. When I pull up to a light, it tries to stall on me unless I push it up into neutral.

Racecar problems...

yenkomike

iTrader: (2)

pull the injectors and see if the screens in the top are crusty. I have seen them plug and need some carb clean to get them back. even more if you are on e85.

JoeNova

It only does it after I've been driving for ~10 minutes. Going wide open usually fixes it for about 30 seconds, and then the tick starts to come back while cruising. I get a lot of weird looks driving around because the tick can very easily be heard over the 4" fender exit. Just baffles me all of the the things I did to fix it.

Changed oil, went with thicker oil, changed exhaust manifold gaskets, re-designed the entire hotside, changed alternator, changed lifters, had injectors cleaned, replaced fuel rails, etc, and there is still an extremely loud tick while driving.

yenkomike

iTrader: (2)

was that engine a dod engine when new. just wondering if you are leaking oil at the vally cover?

JoeNova

Non-DOD, and the valley cover has never been off.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

I'm really curious what this tick sounds like. Any chance you could get a sound bite or video of this sound? It sounds catastrophic.

3 window

iTrader: (1)

I think I mentioned earlier in the thread about using a screwdriver as a stethoscope to try and track down the ticking noise. It'll at least give you an idea of where to look. Measure the endo lay of the crank. Maybe you took out the thrust. Maybe the block has a defect. I know you've run it hard on occasion and the aluminum blocks tend to be a little weaker. Kind of hard to give advice if we don't have a general idea of where the noise is coming from.

eviltwin_1987

iTrader: (18)

What flex plate are you running?

3 window

iTrader: (1)

Yep, could be cracked.

JoeNova

Stock 6.0 flexplate. I'll get under the car and check it for cracks.

The noise is very loud, and only seems to happen once the car has warmed up. It isn't lacking any power at wide open, but the wideband is pegged lean at idle when it starts to happen.

It moved from the driver side to passenger side after I put in new lifters and moved the injectors around. I'm going to clean the injectors and backflush the oil system to see if I can't figure out the issue. I also bought a pushrod length checker. The heads haven't been milled, but I'm chasing my tail on this right now. I had a little trouble getting the lifters in on the passenger side. It took a lot of wiggling to get them to drop onto the cam.

I'm putting a new relay board in and replacing a couple of brake lines so I won't be driving it for a week or two, but I'll throw a GoPro on the hood when I do and get a few videos.

The good news Is that with the TBSS intake, new hotside, new throttle body, and a couple of other minor changes, I had to add 15-20% fuel everywhere above 170 kPa, up to 260 kPa. My injectors are pretty much topped out at this point unless I want to raise the base pressure back up. With 80 lb injectors on pump gas, that's a good bit of power. My 40-140 times on the street would easily put me at a 9.0 with a bad launch.

3 window

iTrader: (1)

The fact that you a hard time getting the lifters to drop in has me concerned. They should slide in easily (as you know). Also, it would make sense for it to read lean (could actually be rich as well because the O2 reads unburnt fuel) if a lifter or lifters are hanging up. You could be hearing valves clapping closed or lifters smacking the cam after being hung up. Any if these would make sense after the engine warms up because of how tolerances change once there's some heat in the engine. Your push rod length would have to be way off to make noise especially as loud as you describe and something would show somewhere of a pushrod rubbing somewhere it shouldn't. I can't see a rocker hitting a retainer unless you valve spring installed height is way tall (which I'm guessing isn't the case).

eviltwin_1987

iTrader: (18)

Does it sound anything like this?
I thought this might be a bad lifter but now I'm sure it's a flex plate issue. Doesn't happen on start up. After a few minutes it starts ticking then gets louder and louder till I took the video. Made a thread on yellowbullet and had several people say flex plate. Can't see any cracks but the plate moves a bit with the tc unbolted. Cracked flex plates are a common issue with stock hardware. This is on a 5.3/4l80e setup (non boosted). Putting a new one in on Saturday.

ryanleiker

iTrader: (2)

In my non-expert opinion, that does sound like something external of the engine. It doesn't sound metallic enough or high pitched enough to be internal. I don't think it's rod bearing, as those seem to be a very consistent with the RPMs, instead of pulsing on and off like yours.

JoeNova

Mine sounds a lot more like a lifter than that.

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

Exhaust leaks can sometimes throw you off looking for lifter sounding noises
My lifters tap some, I know the preload is correct, could even be the cam ramps causing some lifter noise, depending on how it was ground

JoeNova

I'm fairly sure its lifters. I had an overheating issue with a bad fan relay a couple of days ago. It was ticking loudly on the way to NAPA. I pulled into NAPA, left it running, fixed the fan and then put in another quart of 15w-40. Got in, gave it a nice rev, and the ticking instantly went away. Oil level is iffy. I have the Holley 302-2 pan that was designed to use the LS3 dipstick/tube, but it doesn't fit the KB manifold so I'm using the stock truck dipstick/tube. I have it marked for the full level that it would show on the LS3 dipstick, but I can't get the ticking to go away unless I fill at at LEAST to the full line on the dipstick. I'm going to switch oil pressure gauges and location to see if maybe I'm getting a weird reading. Its possible that the O-ring is pinched on the pickup tube and I'm really not getting much for oil pressure, but my gauge has been reading 0 since I first fired it 6 months and 3000 miles ago.

It still has TONS of power. I've managed to get a good working 24 PSI tune that doesn't pick up any knock on pump gas with an 11.3-11.4 AFR. I'm going to guess, based on previous dyno pulls, that this should be somewhere around 820-840whp and about 5% more than that in peak torque. There is a dyno day coming up locally at the end of May that I might attend just to see what I can make. Track results will come shortly after, but I'm still fighting my POS Checkered Racing subframe.

In other news, I've put together a twin turbo setup for an S10 in the last week or so that should be running soon, and I'm doing a complete back-half twins build on an 80 Malibu. My father-in-law picked up a stripped rolling chassis, so I'll be getting started on that soon. He wants a mid 8-second street car with a gen 4 5.3, pair of 70mm On3 twins, microsquirt and a tablet dash.

3 window

iTrader: (1)

So let me get this right, you've got no idea if you have enough oil in it nor if any adequate oil pressure? Find Out the capacity of the pan, add a quart or a quart and a half (remember your turbo:lines take oil too) and check pressure. If pressure is lousy once it warms, could be the oring gasket on the cam plate behind the cam sprocket.

JoeNova

Pan capacity is 5.5 quarts. I always fill with 6 when putting on a fresh filter. The lifters still tick at 6 quarts.
I checked oil pressure with a mechanical gauge a little bit ago. 30 PSI or so warm idle. I recently moved the sending unit to the plate above the oil filter, haven't wired it up yet.