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Looks great. I think for your horsepower goals you'll find that the factory intake breather system to be quite restrictive. Even with that aftermarket lid which has a filter built into it. If you trace the factory breather tube that goes into the fender to it's point of beginning it is TINY and jammed behind the grille. IIRC the opening is about 1.5" x 4"..... Nowhere near enough air to feed that thing.
I've had good luck with an open element style setup. And the Hypertech powercharger actually is worth a little bit of power. Reason being is the TBI unit breathes from the sides since the injector pod is hanging down over the bores. But with the factory GM drop base aircleaner spacer it chokes it off on the sides also. I made my own powercharger out of a salad bowl years ago. Still works great. I can show pics if you'd like.
Looks great. I think for your horsepower goals you'll find that the factory intake breather system to be quite restrictive. Even with that aftermarket lid which has a filter built into it. If you trace the factory breather tube that goes into the fender to it's point of beginning it is TINY and jammed behind the grille. IIRC the opening is about 1.5" x 4"..... Nowhere near enough air to feed that thing.
I've had good luck with an open element style setup. And the Hypertech powercharger actually is worth a little bit of power. Reason being is the TBI unit breathes from the sides since the injector pod is hanging down over the bores. But with the factory GM drop base aircleaner spacer it chokes it off on the sides also. I made my own powercharger out of a salad bowl years ago. Still works great. I can show pics if you'd like.
funny you mention that, Id already been thinking about updating that. The height is above what the hood clearance would allow with the stock air cleaner and the salad bowl on top of the 1 spacer. I picked up a Spectre 14 air cleaner with plans to modify the bottom and integrate the salad bowl and give 2 1/2 -3 of clearance under the hood. This is mocked up with no modification yet. I also got the water pump and fan installed, spliced in new CTS pigtail. Less time than Id hoped over the last couple of weeks and probably the same through the next week. After that it should open up and I can finish up reassembly.
Heres also a little closer detail on the wiring harness routing and ESC module mounting. Also notice the throttle and cruise cables are about 1 1/4 too short. Easy fix but having a hard time finding an off the shelf extension. Im going to pick up some brass bracing for cabinet work and fab my own. 1/4 nut & bolt with red thread locker on the cable end and same as cable end at the bracket. Throttle valve cable is long enough to adjust without modification.
Don't you just love cutting up brand new parts? Quick trim of the bottom plate of the air cleaner. 2 flat spots on it to do a pair of rivets through the salad bowl, some RTV work to seal the transition from lower plate to bowl. Preliminary pics: (last pic is a bit of optical illusion- looks convex but it's the top down view, center is below the rim). Have to clean off the old RTV from the lip seal and then get back to work on it. Hitting up Lowe's for some small brass plate today to make the cable extensions.
Small update- made extensions for the throttle and cruise linkage. Cruise cable has some adjustment to it but wouldn't lock fully extended, so I set it in the middle of its range and made what I needed. Throttle cable has zero adjustment in it by design. I didn't feel like putting in a cut to fit universal one so I made what I needed. Not glamorous but it works great on both. Nylon locking nuts...
Checked off the list:
Brake booster hose to intake vacuum
New hard line for FPR (slightly larger diameter)
Trimmed EVAP to canister line 1 1/4" to correct fit at TB side
Set TV cable
Arranged and secured fuel lines out of the way
Installed driver's side header and connected it to exhaust (Mr. Gasket 5907 is perfect for ProMaxx 2169 & Hedman 69440)
Acquired a set of Autolite 985s
I tried cleaning the radiator and hoses with CLR, the last pieces of the cooling system that aren't actually new (ok, except the water pump but that came really clean and is butter smooth). I still don't like the amount of what I see in terms of crud in the radiator. It flows freely with garden hose water through it but I may just get a new one. Hoses are a no brainer for the cost.
To do this week:
Install oil cooler hoses
Trim ear from passenger side of trans
Install & connect pass. side header
Install NBO2 back into driver's side header
*Complete and button up cooling system*
Prime oiling system again before start up
Install plugs
Install plug wires
Swap injectors from 61# to 80#
Swap 15psi gauge for 100psi gauge
Set base pressure to result in about 8-9psi at idle (?) to keep the idle from being too fat with 80# inj. Math says 22.5# without vacuum, not sure how much vacuum will pull that down...
First Start, with logging through the whole thing, for as long as that lasts. Particularly interested in BLM, IAC counts to start with.
A little more done: Installed oil cooler hoses Trimmed ear from passenger side of trans Installed pass. side header Installed NBO2 back into driver's side header Completed and buttoned up cooling system - new radiator and hoses, cooling system is now 100% new Swapped injectors from 61# to 80# Swapped 15psi gauge for 100psi FP gauge
Installed 20-60psi spring in FPR, gave it a couple turns past resistance, should be in the 22-23psi neighborhood, will need about 24-25#
I emailed back and forth with Bob at Dynamic EFI about how much the vacuum reference will be able to pull down pressure. My cam should provide about 16" vacuum, drop is about 1:2 ratio, which means I can expect the idle pressure to be about 8# lower than 80% MAP/ 20% vacuum, i.e. 24# would drop to about 16# from WOT down to idle. EBL expresses BPC vs VAC in kPa of vacuum, not pressure, so the low values in the table are the ones near WOT, high values are the ones at/ near idle. This is backward from what I thought, so I'm straight with how to deal with that now. If it's a little too fat at idle, I can trim the idle/ near idle BPC values slightly, since I can't drive the fuel pressure any lower mechanically without depriving it of what it needs at/ near WOT. The higher kPa/BPC values are to make up for the drop in fuel pressure (longer window the injector is open/ pulsed) when vacuum is higher/ fuel pressure drops. Lower values are at/ near WOT where it needs less help to do this because of the higher fuel pressure. Make sense? Took me a few minutes to wrap my head all the way around it. Although I don't think my setup will need as much extra BPC at/ near idle, so those are the values I'll trim based on what I'm seeing in AFR between idle - 1600RPM or so/ lower MAP. (EDIT - this is not my table, just a screenshot from the internet)
Here's what's left:
Tune out EGR
Reconnect center exhaust section Install plugs Install plug wires Prime oiling system again before start up
One last look at tune Pray
Fire it off/ watch EBL WUD carefully
Make base idle & TPS adjustments, get IAC counts around 50-70
I went all the way through the exhaust again while putting it back together, glad I did. As of 3 days ago, there were 4 tobacco bales between the nose of the truck and doors of the shop. Since then, North Carolina has had a change of plans for whatever we might have had going on (HURRICANE FLORENCE). I did charge the battery and start testing some things. Most importantly was to test for fuel leaks anywhere and dial the pressure up to 25psi at KOEO. Pressure came up after the pump primed 7-8 times. I set the regulator, took a video of the gauge while cycling the key and looked at it. It took me 4 tries but I got it nailed at 25. No fuel leaks anywhere during all of this. In the EBL WUD (tuning/ monitoring dashboard for the ECM) I still show TPS at 0% with throttle closed, which it should be. If I need to open the blades a hair to get enough air to idle with IAC counts between 50-75, I'll need to re-zero the TPS of course.
Prime
Plugs
Wires
...when Florence is done with NC and I've cleaned up after.
Looking good. Have you driven it yet? I just drove mine down the road after troubleshooting some 4L80 issues and romped on it for the first time since finishing this build. It runs strong. I'm sure yours will too. Now to keep troubleshooting the 4L80 issues I'm having. Starting in 1st then getting stuck in 2nd AKA Limp mode due to a code 24 Transmission Output Speed Low. Progress is slow, dirty and noisy!
Looking good. Have you driven it yet? I just drove mine down the road after troubleshooting some 4L80 issues and romped on it for the first time since finishing this build. It runs strong. I'm sure yours will too. Now to keep troubleshooting the 4L80 issues I'm having. Starting in 1st then getting stuck in 2nd AKA Limp mode due to a code 24 Transmission Output Speed Low. Progress is slow, dirty and noisy!
VSS circuit giving you that code 24?
No, I haven't even started it yet, lol. I'd have at least started it and tried to get a short drive in for VE/ BLM learn on the EBL system, but weather and obstacles... Hopefully late next week the world should be in one piece and I can get back to it. Kind of funny, I ran out of fasteners and parts at the same time.
It ended up being that there was no wire between the DRAC and the PCM for Transmission Output Speed. The truck originally had a 700R4 so that's why there was no wire there. I added that wire between the DRAC and PCM and BAM! Shifts up and down through all the gears!
The next order of business for mine is to obtain a 3 wire ball switch for the T case. The third wire goes to the PCM to provide a ground signal when low range is active so the PCM knows to modify the shifts accordingly.
Keep up the good work. You'll be driving it in no time!
I've spent most of the last week cleaning up our place at the coast near Morehead City, NC. Multiple trees down, one on the house but it didn't penetrate the new roof, tangled with another tree on the way down and just settled there on the back of the kitchen roof. Southeast 1/4 of NC is still F'd up bad, rivers still cresting. NE 1/4 of SC in the same boat.
I saw the 4 tobacco bales that were in front of the truck head off toward the market/ warehouses in Wilson, NC the other day so I think I'll be clear if I can ever get back over there. Wife and kids have been here for 2 weeks, been going through my oldest kid's 2005 Volvo V50. The wife bought it for 2800, needs timing belt, front struts, has a P0420 but cat less than a year old, something chirping really bad in the accessories area, maybe behind the timing cover. Just need to get her out of it long enough to fix it, lol.
It's going to be early next week still, before I can even think about touching the truck again.
What I'm pointing to behind the air cleaner- I removed the MAP sensor bracket so I could get to the distributor (to set the base timing to 0 with the ESC module unhooked). I'll have that back on in the next day or two. Need to work on the fueling and add some more timing where it likes it, but it cranked for 2 seconds and started on the first try. Thrilling day...
Special thanks to:
Bob at Dynamic EFI
Sean at SPR Performance
Gearhead-EFI
LS1Tech
Fast355
ElQueFør
Sounds and looks good man. I personally have had good luck by setting the base timing advance at the distributor to like 6 degrees or so. Seems to make it start faster especially noticeable on cold days. Of course if you do this, make sure the tune reflects it in you ISA initial spark advance or whatever it's called in the WUD for the EBL.
Have you run this thing down the road yet? I am just now getting back to trying to dial mine in after life getting in the way. Trying to figure out what I'm going to do to fuel this thing so it has enough juice up top but isn't stupid rich at idle. Maybe a VAFPR is what I need, but I can't find any consistent info on using one with a PCM that can't interface with it. I'd slap an EBL in here but I have the GM PCM shifting the 4L80 so I don't want to do away with that.
I am running a 27 PSI spring that Fast recommended and it's pretty rich as you would expect. Fast, care to chime in on how you dealt with this? VAFPR or what?
I have run it down the road extensively since Oct. 2018. In the last month I've completely redone my fuel map from BPC through VE tables. I put a LC-2 wideband in it back in March 2020 and have used it to nail down everything in fueling. I have AE and DE dialed and am working through last tweaks on PE. It lights tires easily and is FAAAAAST. I took it to the coast to help some folks move back in June and it's been getting phenomenal highway mileage. Lean cruise is awesome. EBL Flash is awesome. Can't say enough good about it.
I installed some more gauges, went through every inch of wiring during the spring portion of the pandemic. I redid the trailer harness, added a 7 blade +4, circuit breaker for 40A to power a fancy trailer, redid (properly) the brake controller wiring with quick disconnects and its own 20A breaker.
Picked up some more 3" stainless pipe and a pair of Super 44s. First I'm going to try the Speed Engineering mufflers with the longer mid pipes, the swap over the 44s and make comparison vid clips against the one I have already with the current kit. I think I'm having too much fun. I'm blessed with good health, same for my family and I'm grateful during this time where this isn't so for thousands of other families out there.
08-12-2018, 01:26 PM
Just need to get her out of it long enough to fix it, lol.