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iTrader: (1)

I used 1" setback motor mount adapters to keep my th400 in the stock location and I've got about 1/4" between my right head and the firewall.

jasonsnova

ya.... with keeping the inner fenders and the c5 accessories it didn't leave me much wiggle room. Turbo had to land there.... I have probally 3/4 " between passenger head and firewall. It has the fire wall smoothed so it doesn't have the factory heater box in the way which helps.
On another note I got my 3rd member back today with a new set 3.50 gears. Hoping to get that installed soon and start driving (after friday....upholstery Guy is coming to help with headliner, I messed with that stupid thing for 4 hrs before I quit...lol)

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

Cool project, needs pics of that 56, lol

jasonsnova

The 56 was / is my dad's, he hadn't used it in a few years so he gave it to me...I put a new motor in it ( blueprint 383/435hp crate sbc) he likes it now I spend $ on it and he "borrows" it when ever error he wants lol....

So the nova had a bit of a hiccup, I got my 3rd member back Friday night and put in . Went to start car to run rear on lift and Natta! Fuel pump wouldn't come on , checked everything plugged lap top in no communication I think ecu died. Funny thing is it ran fine before it sat waiting for new gears....head scratcher for sure . Ecu goes back to holley tomorrow. Hoping they take care of it as it has about 45min of run time on it...
These came In Today mickey Thompson 325/50/15 along with a set of 10"welds pictured next to my 315/30/18's

jasonsnova

Well I just got back from my 1st drive with the nova ....good news is it's insane fast. Bad news is I hurt something.
So I had lap too plugged in in learn mode(Holley HP) . All was going good trying to vary loads/ driving conditions . All seemed perfect was hitting all my target afrs . Then I got off hwy and rolled into it and boost spiked (I thought I saw 20ish psi but learn table says 222kpi) which it shouldn't of done manual boost controller was turned all the way down and it had a 9.5lb spring in waste gates. Well when boost came up all of a sudden I got a real loud valve train ticking. Stilll had perfect oil pressure. My immediate thought was a broken rocker. But when I pulled valve covers all looked ok and all seemed tight but i need to crank engine over once it cools a bit tomorrow. I'm now thinking collapsed lifter maybe bent push rod? ...
If that's the case it will suck pulling heads/ turbo.
Any ideas? Why boost would spike so much or on Ticking?

Prior ​​​​​​ to my issue I was all smiles car was awesome just rolling into the throttle easy it would blow the tires off in 4th gear.

47ford

Have you started it since and is there still a valve train noise? Still stock pistons? And when you decided to go turbo did you open ring gap up? Sorry didn't read the whole thread and just thinking of things off the top of my head..... I did the same thing.... started off as na and decided to go turbo and only changed the cam..... 11 psi lifted the ring land on #1.... made loud valve train noise then sounded good but was low on power..... pulled the plugs and found #1 all beat up and smashed

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iTrader: (1)

^^^This! Pull the plugs, do a compression test and leakdown. That'll tell you a lot. As far as the ticking noise, some have had the gasket flatten out on the plate behind the cam gear. Not a huge job, but better than pulling heads. How hard did you spin it when it spiked? These engines are pretty stout! That's where I'd start. Oh, and the smile on your face is the juice to find and fix it. It only gets better!!! Welcome to boostaholics-r-us!

jasonsnova

I didn't spin or push it too hard . Learn table says it went to 5750rpms. I never saw the shift light which is at 6800.
The shortblock was a stock unaltered 28,000 mile lq4, just cosmetics, head studs ,btr springs and ljms cam.
I had a fairly conservative tune it ( I'd have to check but it was probably at 15 or 16 degrees of timing, 93 octane spraying windshield washer fluid.
It was too hot to pull plugs will do that in am. Didn't seem to skip or anything like I would think it would do if I lost a plug/ ring land. It really sounds valve train to me but again I didn't get to pull plugs and compression check yet

47ford

I just broke the ring land last week..... I did a pull from 2-3 shift and I shift at 6500 since I don't feel much of a difference if I rev higher..... I felt it lose power at the top of second shifting into third..... afr was in the 11.8-12.1 range so I let out and it started rattling sounding like valve train noise so I shut it off..... I was a half a mile away from home and said screw it so I started it and it sounded like **** then was fine.... the rattling was the piece of piston which bent an exhaust valve and spit it out the turbo.... I got it home and let it idle in the drive way and it sounded good but it had an odd little pop out of the exhaust..... pulled the spark plugs and found the smashed one and oil was coming out of that exhaust port so I knew what was up.... pull the plugs and look at them carefully and report back

47ford

jasonsnova

uhg....hope that's not my case. I was just rolling into throttle, boost came up lost traction and let off, then the valve train noise. No fluids, good oil pressure. No popping out exhaust, actually ran ok just a ticking ,didn't idle as smooth as it did but it wasn't bad not like a skip.... hoping for a flat lifter

47ford

I actually got pretty lucky.... required no machining and didn't screw up the bore.... bought good rods and pistons and waiting on them to get balanced.... be back on the road soon so if it did happen not the end of the world.... hopefully it's just something simple

jasonsnova

Well I'm screwed.... did compression check on drivers side
1-205 3-180 5-190 7 -195 being suspect of #3 I stuck a bore scope in #3 and it sure looks like a cracked piston to me... All because boost controller messed up. Guess it's time to tear it down and find out how bad it really is....

47ford

sorry to hear it man but you live and learn..... hope for the best and pray you can just grow a new piston in it and be done.... hopefully it didn't hurt the bore or bend a rod and you can just slap it back together with out hurting the pocket book

jasonsnova

Yep sux ....if I gotta pull motor out and apart it's gonna get h beam rods and new forged pistons, that way if I ever have a boost spike issue again it will stand a chance....
Not so much the money as it time.....uhg

47ford

Well I just did it.... so if you pull the motor and find that's what needs to happen you can pm me for the details.... did research till my eyes are crossed so may save you some hassle

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iTrader: (1)

Looks like it butted a ring maybe. Forged pistons aren't gonna stop that. Pull 'em out, check the rods, gap the rings a bit more and put another stocker in there. Enjoy the car for the rest of the summer and pull it apart over the winter. Pistons can be had cheap and can last with a little attention to details. You'll be back in action in a week or so. Otherwise you're talking a while with taking it apart, sending stuff out for balance, waiting on the machine shop, blah, blah blah. Just MHO.

Suncc49

so what exactly failed w the boost controller?

47ford

If you can do the bottom end your self the longest part is waiting on parts which I got all mine in 3 days.... machine shop balanced it in two and back together by next weekend and your good for big power and won't have to worry about it as much..... I couldn't believe how much thicker the top of the piston was on the aftermarket forged compared to stock

jasonsnova

I recant my earlier statement....Ok guys now I'm stumped..... pulled both heads this afternoon and pistons heads and headgaskets all are mint. The plugs all looked good, one side of The plug was black other white (assuming caused by spraying water/meth) The mark I saw with the bore scope was evidently a mark from the bore scope where it just scraped some carbon off.. none of lifters appear to be collapsed.
So now what? Lifter stuck? Maybe a bent rod? Tomorrow am im gonna turn motor over and measure piston to deck heights to check for a bent rod. Any good way to check lifters?

I do not know why the boost controller failed. Both gates had a 9.5lb spring in them and at 1st seemed fine. But when I had the issue I swear i saw the boost gauge went up into the mid 20's but I can't be sure as i wasnt data logging.. all i can say is the turbo smart manual controller is going into the trash