I noticed that…..very odd

 

Car ran real well the other day. Gonna change the oil out as it has the original break in oil still in it. Machine shop wants me to run the driven break in oil for basically the season before switching to a synthetic. Car has a very light miss here and there after a bit of stop and go and idling. The BR7EF's that are in it are from the first startup still and while they are dirty (mainly from idling and driving with the VP110), they should still fire just fine, but gonna change them for a fresh set and see how it does. The car definitely still needs some drivability tuning done for some different scenarios like cruising on the highway in 6th at lower rpm. But overall, the car rolls out HARD and comes right back to idle. Doesn't stall out or act up which is just awesome to me. Haven't tried kicking the ac on yet to see if I need the kick down signal wired up to the Holley, but that is no big deal if it needs done.

So going to swap the plugs, see how it runs. Then do some logging and make any revisions that are needed and go from there. Bob thinks that the car would be just fine on a BR6 or a TR6. I am sure there is plenty of clearance for a projected tip plug.

 

Read your plugs. AFR gauge will get you close, and are mainly just a tool to tune with, to get you close. From here on out, read your plugs and let them tell you what it wants in the tune with fueling. I’d also go to a 6 heat range plug here.

 

Yeah Scott, I plan to. I used the diesel wideband for the holley so it would take a bit more abuse. But it's only reading bank 1 since the terminator only does 1 wideband.

​​​​​​I'm going to see how much heat is really in the 7s first, but agreed, I think a 6 would be fine.

 

IDK it if it just me or my set up but I often crack the BR7 when installing and that has caused a miss for me before. Pull the plug and it looks 100% fine but I can hear it crack at times when installing. Replaced them being uber careful not to cracked and fixed my issue. Just something for you to try since you're running that plug.

 

Yeah, mines easy to install them. I check the porcelain before I install each plug. So while I'm not saying it's impossible, I highly doubt any of them are cracked.

 

Figured I would give an update on the car. Been running good, there was a time there from getting it tuned till about early August or so where I really only drove it a handful of times. On one hand I was just busy with work. On the other hand, getting the car in and out of the garage kind of sucks because I need to lay out two 2x12s so the muffler doesn't catch the garage floor (garage floor is about 2" taller than the driveway, and the driveway instantly is on a slope). The car also was being kind of a paint to drive. It would take wayy too much pedal to get going randomly, it would stumble on itself taking off, and cruising on the highway, it wouldn't be happy in 6th gear unless I was going 80+...


Honestly I was just tired of it. That is until I pulled it out to wash it one night in the driveway and went to pull it back in the garage and literally had to put my foot to the floor to get it to move. I pulled the hood off and found the tps pigtail barely in the sensor. Now, from the get go on this, the plug never fully went in due to the weather tight seal and how tight it is under the airpan/throttle body upper lip. But it was in there enough originally that I didn't have issues on the dyno or when I first drove the car afterwards. I thought about it and decided to just remove the seal as the car only sees water when it rains, and it is damn near impossible to get water at that point even when washing it. Plugged it in and the latch held on tight to the sensor. Did a TPS relearn on the Holley, fired right up, and revved up with barely touching the pedal haha. All was right in the world. Was able to cruise the car at 45mph in 6th gear without issues. Been driving it and making a couple pulls with some buddies here and there getting an idea where the car stands. Thing is rowdy for sure and the 17" wheel and 26" tire is about at the limit for the 3.90, but it does run out to 8-8500 strong.

So that was what my "slight misfire" and drivability issue was @Che70velle ...

A couple weeks ago it started getting a higher idle than normal, hanging the throttle a bit. Pulled the hood off and found the throttle body stud nuts were all loose, one was even gone. So removed them, put lock washers in and tightened them all back up. Thought that fixed the high idle but it came back. It isn't too terrible, but target is around 1-1100, and it is wanting to sit around 1600 or so for a bit, eventually comes down if I am sitting long enough. Thought about it Sunday night and figured I haven't touched the throttle blades since I first started the motor. So after I got home yesterday with it, I pulled the hood and backed the blade screw off a hair and brought it down to where it should be. Revved it a few times and came right back to that 1k range. So that should be good pending some driving and testing. But while I was looking over the engine bay, I saw a puddle of fuel on the wiper cowl around my regulator and flex sensor. Started snooping around the fittings and such, nothing loose, nothing wet. Primed the pump a few times, no more fuel coming out, until I started the motor up and then found it seeping instantly from the regulator. I am guessing that the diaphragm dried up a bit over the last few years and now it is leaking. This probably also explains why I have been going through fuel fairly quickly besides the new motor just having a higher demand than the LS6 did. So going to Summit tonight to grab a new diaphragm and get that swapped out tonight and should be good to go!

 

Good to hear! 8500 is no joke.

 

The party is just getting started at 8500!

 

I will say, regarding the regulator leaking issue, this is why I never care for them being in the engine bay. I see so many vette people mount them on the engine bay side of the wheel housing, off the fuel rails, on the firewall...etc. This could have been bad. Even where I have it mounted (and @jayyyw has his mounted in the same position), if that thing was spraying fuel out and not just seeping out like it was, that could have been ugly.

 

Lolz. We were making 825hp at 8500 in 1991 in the Cup world. 8500 on the street is rowdy though.

 

No real updates other than it was nice for once to put the car away for the winter and it not be broken or needing any work.

Just going to change the oil before it comes back out in the spring, along with the trans and diff fluids.

But I am going to change the plugs out and swap out the BR7EFs to a TR7IX plug. Need to verify I have no clearance issue with the pistons, but I don't think I should. Seen some things recently that have shown a projected tip could definitely be worth some power. One example was Ryan at GPI doing a test on an LT 416 (direct injection so that could have a lot to do with it)... But he switched from a brisk non projected to a factory LT4/LT5 ac delco projected tip plug. The motor picked up about 10whp from the start of the pull and then kept putting on more power than the brisk plug up high.. Peaking 100-200 rpm higher and holding the power out 600+ rpm more than the brisk. Not sure I would see these same results, but if the car feels better with them, then that ain't a bad thing