Its Alive!!!.....
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Buffalo, NY
Its Alive....sorta Well I want to give a special thanks to LS1HowTo.com. What a great write up! Anyway just finished installing the PP5.3L heads, 224/224 .581 cam with headers. WOW, its sounds mean. It all went relativly smoothly with no major mishaps. I had an initial temperature problem when I first started it up but that was because I hadn't added enough coolant yet. Almost lost a cam bolt in the oil pan, my trusty extend-a-magnet saved my *** on that one! 
I took it for a quick drive, nothing harsh, just to see how it ran. It was definatly misfiring or something if I would give it a little gas, it wasnt as responsive as it was before, very sluggish. I hope/(think) this is normal??? How have other cars ran right after you have done a cam/head/header swap?? I'm hoping tuning will take care of all of this. Idle is fine...for the most part, I'll probably end up drilling a larger hole in the butterfly. When its just sitting there its fine no knocking or pinging, I can hear all the chatter which seems a little louder than before but not abnormal...
What is your opinion...will a tune clear the responsiveness and misfiring up?
I took it for a quick drive, nothing harsh, just to see how it ran. It was definatly misfiring or something if I would give it a little gas, it wasnt as responsive as it was before, very sluggish. I hope/(think) this is normal??? How have other cars ran right after you have done a cam/head/header swap?? I'm hoping tuning will take care of all of this. Idle is fine...for the most part, I'll probably end up drilling a larger hole in the butterfly. When its just sitting there its fine no knocking or pinging, I can hear all the chatter which seems a little louder than before but not abnormal...
What is your opinion...will a tune clear the responsiveness and misfiring up?
Last edited by Firehawk853; Mar 23, 2004 at 07:11 AM.
On The Tree
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
From: Roanoke,va
misfire Your computer is reading that u have a misfire because of the cam, its a PO300 code that the cam has tripped tuning will clear that up. As for the sluggishness and misfires thats probably in your o2 sensors insufficent switching codes (1133, 1153) and maybe a low o2 signal code (PO154 I beleive). I wouldnt think that you got coolant on your o2s since you put the headers on the same time as the heads and cam so I dont think that is a problem, but its a possibility.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 3,604
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From: Los Angeles
Glad the site helped ya out 
Hard to say if what you are describing is normal or not. Obviously a larger cam is gonna run rougher, and generally have a bit less power down low. If it is being unresponsive at mid or high rpms, there's probably something small wrong. Get a data logger on there to see if its a specific cylinder giving you the problem, or if its all of them just misfiring some.
Hard to say if what you are describing is normal or not. Obviously a larger cam is gonna run rougher, and generally have a bit less power down low. If it is being unresponsive at mid or high rpms, there's probably something small wrong. Get a data logger on there to see if its a specific cylinder giving you the problem, or if its all of them just misfiring some.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Buffalo, NY
basically I did not drive it around very long, as its not "on the road" yet and there is evil salt everywhere still (Buffalo weather).
Just to give a few more details....I have not brought it above 4000rpm. Its an M6 and it was slightly chugging between shifts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4. seemed odd as i wasnt driving much differently. In second gear I gave'er some gas starting from about 25mph up to 45 or so, as it picked up some revs, she started misfiring, ( I guess it was misfiring). It was kinda like a sputter but the rpms still kept climbing. It didnt seem right so I backed off. I would imagine if I had something mechanically wrong, like a timing chain off a sprocket or something it would be obvious. I made 110% sure those dots were pointing at one another, so I dont think its that. I also double checked all my spark wires to make sure they were all attached and cranked the engine by hand multiple times before starting it (that was fun....). I was figuring she wouldnt be running quite perfeclty right out of the gate but could I have forgotten somthing that would cause these issues? how much control over timing, fuel injection and such does the computer have? My hope is that the answer is alot. Any comments?
Just to give a few more details....I have not brought it above 4000rpm. Its an M6 and it was slightly chugging between shifts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4. seemed odd as i wasnt driving much differently. In second gear I gave'er some gas starting from about 25mph up to 45 or so, as it picked up some revs, she started misfiring, ( I guess it was misfiring). It was kinda like a sputter but the rpms still kept climbing. It didnt seem right so I backed off. I would imagine if I had something mechanically wrong, like a timing chain off a sprocket or something it would be obvious. I made 110% sure those dots were pointing at one another, so I dont think its that. I also double checked all my spark wires to make sure they were all attached and cranked the engine by hand multiple times before starting it (that was fun....). I was figuring she wouldnt be running quite perfeclty right out of the gate but could I have forgotten somthing that would cause these issues? how much control over timing, fuel injection and such does the computer have? My hope is that the answer is alot. Any comments?
