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Still making baby steps, I'm close to driving the car, but that will have to wait a few more days.
First I realized I forgot to use a clutch alignment tool to center the clutch disc. Off came the bellhousing so I could loose the pressure plate bolts. Realigned, all set. Trans was difficult to get in the final 1/4" or so, so I resorted to using some longer trans mounting bolts to slowly bring it in to mate with the bellhousing. Exhaust went together amazingly quick.
I'm trying a new transmission fluid. This is the same as the GM stuff but cheaper and easier to find. I was previously using RedLine D4 ATF, which I also use in the power steering, trans for other cars, etc. Did some reading and people seem to have good experiences with this. I always felt like the T56 was a bit sluggish in shifting.
I used the break in oil as previously mentioned, started the engine up and found the Air Fuel ratios where way rich. Like 10.5:1 to 11:1. I decided to swap the original/smaller injectors back in, and that seemed to help it run better while I break it in. I didn't want excess fuel counteracting the break in process. Fuel would wash away oil on the cylinder walls and not let the rings and cylinder walls wear in. It also made the car run better.
There are ALOT of different opinions on how to break in an engine, about as many as you can search for and read. I decided to run the engine for 20 mins while revving between 2000 and 3500 rpm. I did this in 5 minutes cycles so I could stop and check fluids and look for leaks. Coolant temps settled down, fans kicked on, oil levels stayed normal and there were no leaks and very little smoke from things burning off the hot engine. I also did this at lunch while my neighbor was cutting down trees so the noise probably wasn't as noticeable. I did NOT want to do this in the evening.
There were no strange noises, and the engine seemed to want to rev alot easier. Honestly I was pretty stoked at this point b/c I'd just reassembled an engine from a bare block and nothing went wrong.
I could notice the sounds was a bit deeper, and could hear the cam making a bit more of a choppy sound. Also got some nice burbles and crackles on decel. Can't wait to drive it and see how it sounds. I changed the oil and filter and put in some SAE 30 non-detergent oil from NAPA - Probably the last time I'll use NAPA oil. Nothing was on the magnetic plug which was good. I'll cut open the oil filter later to check. But it's fine as my next step is to drive it around at put some load on the engine in short bursts, but keeping under 4000 or so. Give it some throttle, and then heavy lift off and engine breaking. Do that in a few cycles and then recheck fluids, leaks, temps, etc. I'll then try to take it for a casual mix of street and highway driving for 50 - 100 miles. then I'll swap in some synthetic 5w-30 that I usually use with a new filter.
Until I get the car tuned with the new injectors, I'm not doing to drive it hard or near redline as my guess is the a/f ratios will lean out quite a bit and i could risk other damage.
However the issue i'm currently wrestling with is the car won't go into gear when the engine is running. I can get 1st, but when I pull back into 2nd, the shifter wants to slide right into what feels like another gear. It shifts fine when the engine is off. Shift great actually so i know the trans and the shifter are OK. When I put the trans back in I had to readjust the throwout bearing b/c the clearance wasn't quite right between it and the pressure plate. It was off by about 3mm too close to the release bearing. Not sure why, as if the clutch had worn a bit the clearance would be larger, not smaller. So I readjusted it per the instructions. What I didn't do is readjust the clutch pedal stop so I think I may not be getting full range of the throwout bearing and not fully releasing the clutch. I could get into first and move about 50 feet, but it was obvious something was wrong so I parked it and won't get back to it until next week.
Mine didn't want to shift when I first had it running. It wouldn't go into any gear. I got it working by increasing the clutch pedal travel a bit. I removed the rubber stop that limits the downward stroke of the clutch pedal, and also adjusted the clutch linkage to get the free play to minimum. Apparently my twin disc clutch wanted a bit more travel than the stock LS7 clutch that was in there before.
Also maybe you could re-bleed your clutch line, I had to do this, too.
Mine didn't want to shift when I first had it running. It wouldn't go into any gear. I got it working by increasing the clutch pedal travel a bit. I removed the rubber stop that limits the downward stroke of the clutch pedal, and also adjusted the clutch linkage to get the free play to minimum. Apparently my twin disc clutch wanted a bit more travel than the stock LS7 clutch that was in there before.
Also maybe you could re-bleed your clutch line, I had to do this, too.
Cool, that makes me feel better as readjusting the clutch stop is easy and removing the trans again is not. I didn't have the clutch lines apart, so we'll see about a rebleed.
Turns out the shifting issue had nothing to do with the clutch, though I did need to readjust the clutch stop - so it wasn't a total waste of time. Once the clutch was adjusted I was still having the issue, but I soon figured out it was happening when the key was turned but the engine didn't have to be started. Turns out I had the harness connection for the reverse lockout plugged into the CAGS/skip shift. Seems like that shouldn't be able to happen, but it did. I'm not using CAGS, so I had removed it from the engine wiring harness. So I looked up some good pics online, adding some notes, and will be posting this here for my and anyone else's reference.
With that issue worked out I was able to take the car for a test drive. I did about 50 miles with light throttle and engine braking, about as much as I could muster in between stop lights and commuting sheeple. Got on the highway and and did some more. The engine wants to die at idle so I had to keep the idle up at red lights. Part throttle felt good, but will def need some tuning work. Air/fuel ratios were good under part throttle so I felt OK about goosing it a bit here and there.
One big difference was the new gear oil. Shifting was noticeably easier, less notchy and quicker. Assuming the oil can holdup to everyday driving and track work, this may be one of the better upgrades I've done. I always felt like the T56 was working against me, now it's working with me.
Got home and changed the oil for some Synthetic Mobil1 and a new filter. I need to button up some things and call my tuner to setup a time to drop it off.
I called my tuner and he's busy so I'll be dropping it off on 5/6 - I'll need to wait another week to get things completed before I can really drive it.
In the past week I did a couple things I'd been meaning to do, one was a compression test post-engine break in. All cylinders were as good as could be expected, and very consistent. All were 185psi or above, 4 were closer to 190/195. I think on the stock internals it was about 200 psi which was also very good. The lower numbers don't concern me b/c the cam is bigger and has more overlap and engine compression gauge psi is not an indicator of power. But it was a good way to validate nothing is amiss.
The other was a bit more trying. I'd been getting check engine lights for "O2 sensor inactivity" on both banks since I installed the wideband sensors and gauge before I pulled the engine. Thinking it was just a wiring connection or a bad o2 sensor, I figured I'd get to it after or it would just go away. I have the Innovate Motorsports DLG-1 which is a digital gauge which also operates as a wideband controller, and also a LC-2 which is a separate controller unit. Both connect to each other and the wideband o2 sensor connects to each of those, one per bank of the engine.
The gauge tells you the Air/fuel ratio from the exhaust. Some just use the wideband sensors for tuning, or run them all the time as a way to check on the air fuel ratio, by just adding additional bungs/ports into the exhaust pipe and not interfere with the oem sensors. I decided to swap out the stock o2 sensor and just have these replace them. I wired it up per the instructions including having the "output" wire from each controller go to the PCM to report the o2 sensor voltage so the engine can adjust fuel as normal.
What was missing was the more difficult piece of the puzzle. The 98 LS1 PCM uses a 4-wire o2 sensor, one ground, one power, and two signal wires called "High" and "Low". Power and ground were good, and the output wire from the controller was connected to the PCM "High" signal wire. What I missed was doing something with the "low" signal wire. This I found out should go to ground, ideally the battery negative wire that the gauges also connect to. So this might be common knowledge to some, but wasn't detailed in the Innovate documentation, wasn't told to me in the conversations I had with Innovate about how to set this up, and not readily found on the forums. I did find one post on LS1Tech from a few years ago that clued me in. So I share this here to help anyone else that might want to do this same thing.
Below is a wiring diagram I wrote up showing the basic wiring
Lastly you'll need to configure each controller on how the output signal should be sent. Widebands work on a 0-5v signal range, to give more resolution on the signal. Typical oem car sensors are narrowband which send a 0.1v - 1.1v signal to the PCM. So the PCM wouldn't know what to do with a 3.5v signal, for example. You need to use the included serial port cable to connect to each controller and configure the output. It's covered in the manual, but leaves some of it unclear. Below is a screenshot of one of the controllers. 0.1v equates to a 15.0 air/fuel ratio, and a 1.1v equates to a 14.0 AFR.
If you have an OBD reader like Torque you can verify that the pcm is seeing o2 sensor activity.
Before I dropped the car off I became aware of some small issues, one of which might derail the dyno tuning.
First was that I forgot to check windshield wiper clearance with my new strut brace gussets. Somehow doing this slipped past my quality control dept - aka - me. After taking the car out for a quick drive in the rain the wiper would only go about about 1/4 the way and just stopped. Luckily I use copious amounts of rain-x on the windshield for potential rain at track days and b/c the Miata wipers are a bit slow, so I was able to drive safely. When I got back a few attempts with the die grinder cleaned it up. I actually miscalculated the clearance on both brackets by quite a bit.
Next, I noticed the accessory belt was off the crank balancer by a couple ribs. After a closer look I realized that the spacers I used on the alternator bracket were on the wrong side, so they pushed the alternator towards the engine about 1/2". I fixed them and the belt now stays on.
So I picked the car up today and got a chance to talk with the tuner and go over how things went. I picked up 99hp over my previous dyno run in 2017. Since then I've added the LS6 intake and the heads and cam. Also the hood air scoop and a larger air filter but I doubt that contributed that much. Maybe at speed it will pick up a few extra hp due to a 'ram air' effect. So I was hoping for at least 90hp based on what I'd read, so if you factor in the LS6 intake and the heads/cam, that sounds about right. I was surprised the hp peak was just under 6k, as I was thinking somewhere around 6500.
I picked up more torque (45 lb ft) further up the powerband as well. Only minor increase in torque and hp down low, but that's expected, at least I didn't lose any. He backup off the fuel and timing a bit to lose a few hp at the top, but that's what I'd prefer.
I also had the PCM updated with my actual rear gear ratio so the OBD output will be more accurate to calculate speed, mpg, etc.
This dyno probably has numbers higher than most other dynos, so I'm not looking at the actual output, but rather the improvement over the last run and how and where the engine makes its power.
It was a short ride home, so I didnt get to fully explore the new found power, but I'll get a chance over the next days/weeks. Next move will be to schedule a track day to really have fun with the car again, it's been too long.
I left the strut brace off for the tuning, but I'll get that on and see how it makes the car feel. And I'm going to put the new fuel pump wiring upgrade kit soon as well.
I completed the fuel pump wiring upgrade, which took much longer than it should have. This is the kit Trackspeed Fuel Pump Rewire Kit
Basically the kit bypasses powering the fuel pump wiring through the main harness and relay under your dash, and takes power directly from the battery, adds a high-quality 25A fuse and holder about 12" from the battery, grounds it near the fuel pump, uses a high-quality 35A relay and thinner, but higher quality wiring. What's noticeable is how much thinner the wire is than the wire that previously would carry the current from the main harness to the pump. Perhaps b/c the wire is better quality and the insulation is thinner but seems a bit tougher, maybe that makes the difference. For $100 I think it's a good deal, and I would assume the stock stuff has been enough of a weak point for other Miata racers that this kit was warranted.
You'll need to remove the rear deck carpet and fuel tank access covers, and the access panel under your steering wheel to get at some wiring. The one trip-up for me was the fuel pump harness pins on the new wiring kit - I had to depin one of the new pins after it was installed b/c I wanted to reroute it. When I pulled on the wire to remove the pin the pin came off and was stuck in the harness connector, which made it extra tricky to get out since it was buried down in the connector. So give the pins a small tug to make sure they are well crimped/connected before you start. Pin crimpers are a specialized tool I don't own, but you could use regular wire crimpers if they seem loose.
Ater routing the wire using instructions, I reconnected the battery and heard the fuel pump cycling by itself. Hmm, that's weird, the key isn't even in the ignition. The instructions ask you to bypass the existing fuel pump relay. However, I had replaced mine when I had the small fire early in the build and the oem relay and wiring was melted. Not sure if I changed things dramatically when I did that, or whether the LS-swap not being similar to an oem setup was part of the problem.
What I realized was that during key on, the LS PCM provides 12v to the fuel pump trigger wire. The Miata pump wiring wanted a ground signal to start the fuel pump. So with they key off, the pump would cycle, when I turned the key on, the pump turned off. Yeah, weird.
So I had to reuse the relay I was using for the fuel pump before, but this time use it to provide a ground signal when the pcm provided the 12v+ signal during key on. Through the magic of relays, I was able to make it all work. What's different now, and perhaps better, is that with the key to accessory, not starting the car, the fuel pump cycles for a few seconds and stops. Before, it would cycle for as long as the key was in the ignition. I never really questioned that, but I'll bet it's related to the fact I was not wiring the fuel pump relay correctly before, or not using a proper fuel pump relay. Lesson learned. So for my own edification, I provide a wiring diagram here showing how it works.
Wiring at the battery, the black/blue connector is the fuse holder. It also provides an easy way to de-power the fuel pump wiring rather than getting at the connector bolted to the battery terminal or disconnecting the fuel pump harness connector.
Mounted the new relay near the tank/pump with the ground wire connection to a grounding block on the right.
Hopefully I'll have miles of trouble free driving with the new setup.
Last edited by pj_mcgarvey; 05-17-2019 at 06:35 AM.
After running the wire for the fuel pump directly to the battery, it occurred to me that some wiring to the battery and the battery itself are pretty exposed in the trunk. Since I usually carry a toolbox, my jack, jackstands, etc. in the trunk for track days, it made sense to protect the battery, wiring and my stereo amp from damage. A metal jackstand shorting the + and - battery terminals would be bad. First I attempted to fix the broken battery hold-down bolt that broke off some time ago when I tried to remove it. It's been a long time since I successfully extracted a broken bolt use an extractor bit.
Things got off to a very good start... Then I was able to safely build off of a well-anchored battery hold down bracket. I designed a cage around the battery and some of the wiring coming off of it.
And a more simple cage for the amplifier. Forgot to take an after pic, but you get the idea.
I also plan on building a new sub box for my subwoofer since I never liked where it was - on top of the battery. I'm going to move to the other side of the trunk and use the little storage "well" on the left side of the trunk and anchor it in permanently.
I also came across a CAGS plug for the T56. Since I've reconnected wires to the CAGS plug by accident in the past, and this hunk of useless metal isn't doing me anyone any favors - even when it's working - I figured I'd lose it. I almost didn't think I'd be able to reach it with the trans installed, but i was able to get some vice grips in there to loosen it just a tad, and do the rest by hand. Be prepared to work for this one if you do it in the car. Here is the plug
Found a small clip in the driver footwell a week ago. Turns out it was the e-clip that holds the pin in place that attaches the clutch pedal to the clutch master. Hmm, that could've been a bad day. Within 5 minutes I had lost the clip as I moved it over to my workbench to take a closer look. Still can't find the clip, but as I did some searching online, it turns out there is what I would consider a better way. I had actually thought about drilling my own hole in the pin and using a cotter pin, but none of the pins I had were small enough. I had some business travel coming up so I found one on ebay that would have the replacement in my hand when I returned. New pin on the left
I've always had some issues hot-starting the car. With the engine hot after a 5 min drive, or longer, I'd hop out for an errand, hop back in and crank it. Sometimes it would just click, sometimes it would crank very slowly with the dash lights dimming, but I've never been stranded. After having the engine out I'd verified the starter connections were good, and figured the issue would go away. Well, it hasn't gotten better and I began to think some starter heat soak was the issue. I'd wrapped the starter pretty well when I reinstalled engine, but the wrap I was using seemed a bit insufficient once I saw what else was available. Here's what I was using
There are much more heavier duty and thicker options out there so I picked one up. It's thicker material which I thought would provide some insulation. The header pipe is heat wrapped and is about 2 or 3" from the starter, and runs underneath it as well.
Cut a notch for a tight area where the starter almost touches the skirt of the block.
here's the install. It's double wrapped in some spots and I folded it over the rear of the starter which faces the front of the car, as that is where the header runs closest. Used a metal cable tie to hold it.
Went for an hour ride today (more on that later) and tried to restart after pulling off the highway and I guess this fix didn't do it. I saw zero change. So other than a liquid-cooled starter, or one that is heavier duty or designed for higher heat situations, not sure what else to do. Maybe some air ducting right at the starter from the bottom of the car? I know my alternator has provisions for air cooling, as does my M3, so that might be the next attempt. I'm worried one day the car wont' start or that I'm slowly ruining the starter with the amount of heat it's seeing.
On my long drive I was able to do some more accurate measurement of MPG. I'd had my tuner update the PCM with the actual gear ratio I'm running, so the PCM is now reporting the correct vehicle speed, or closer to it, and I've also figured out how to recalibrate my Autogauge to compensate as well, so now that the Autogauge has accurate speed info and also OBD data on injector pulse width, etc. it's telling me I'm getting about 23mpg highway. I had previously thought it was much worse around 15 mpg but I think I was basing that off bad info. So I'm a little encouraged that I can see somewhat decent mileage when I'm just cruising and the tune isn't pig rich.
The reason for my drive was to pick up a Kirkey race seat. I'd been watching craigslist, etc. for one to pop up for sale. I wanted to see one in person so I could verify it would fit me, which it did. It was also half the price of new despite being a new seat. The seller was easy to coordinate with which always makes for a good sale. Removed my passenger seat so I could bring it home. These Kirkey Pro Drag seats get good reviews for comfort. They are super lightweight and easy to install. I've ordered a new black tweed cover and the recommended floor and seat back mounts from Summit. I'll do a weight comparison once i have everything. If it's comfortable and easy to get in and out of, I may leave it in most of the time or at least during track day season. I have a track day coming up so we'll see if I have time to install it before then.
I may have missed it deep in your 13 pages, but what starter did you use? I bought a new GM unit when I built mine because I didn't want to replace later, wrapped it in heat wrap and wrapped my headers, I haven't ever had an issue.
I may have missed it deep in your 13 pages, but what starter did you use? I bought a new GM unit when I built mine because I didn't want to replace later, wrapped it in heat wrap and wrapped my headers, I haven't ever had an issue.
It was a $59 starter off Amazon, been using it two years, and the only issue it has given me is when the engine is hot.
Maybe I do have a "fair weather" starter... what is everyone else using?
I believe this particular one was recommended on the forums b/c it's shorter than a regular FBody starter so it clears the header pipe. I can JUST get it in there with the header installed, so any longer and I'm looking at dropping the exhaust, and loosening the header bolts. Guess I'll start looking around.
Look at post #58 in my build thread, I detailed the starter I used there. If you want to skip that though, AC Delco 337-1119 is the number I bought from amazon, 5.3L truck starter that is shorter than fbody and fit good/has been reliable.
Look at post #58 in my build thread, I detailed the starter I used there. If you want to skip that though, AC Delco 337-1119 is the number I bought from amazon, 5.3L truck starter that is shorter than fbody and fit good/has been reliable.
Cool (literally) thanks, ordered and should arrive tomorrow. Guess it makes sense a name brand AC Delco unit might be more reliable than a cheap off-brand starter. Hope I'm right!
Only thing I'll say on it was that the first year I ran with a miata battery because some folks had told me the did. It never failed to start, but it wasn't near as happy as it is now with a corvette battery in the trunk.
Only thing I'll say on it was that the first year I ran with a miata battery because some folks had told me the did. It never failed to start, but it wasn't near as happy as it is now with a corvette battery in the trunk.
I upgraded my battery as well with the biggest Interstate that would fit. Battery, cables and connections should not be the issue here.
Just for my information, what Interstate battery did you go with?
I have been debating on switching out for a larger one because mine is about 3 years old and has gone dead a couple of times while sitting in the garage for a few weeks.
No measurable load, just a dead battery.
It goes on the charger but I am thinking it needs to be replaced.
Just for my information, what Interstate battery did you go with?
I have been debating on switching out for a larger one because mine is about 3 years old and has gone dead a couple of times while sitting in the garage for a few weeks.
No measurable load, just a dead battery.
It goes on the charger but I am thinking it needs to be replaced.
https://www.v8miata.net/general-moto...ge9/#post24021 covers it with pics. It was the Interstate MT-34. As I think back, I wonder if I thought I needed it b/c my starter was slow-cranking sometimes... If I were to do it again, I might just go with a smaller and lighter battery again if the starter situation improves. Lots of track guys go with the lightest battery they can find, and Lithium Ion batteries are gaining popularity, though they are still too expensive.
Sounds like you might need a battery tender, or at least trace if there is anything sucking juice from the car while it's sitting. Battery tender would offset the chance something is draining it that you can't find. Might be worthwhile to replace the battery anyway if it's been drained too many times and then also invest in a battery tender.
Some bad news to report. I took the car to a track day about 3 weeks ago and had some issues with overheating. Coolant temps were high and thus, oil temps were also higher than I've seen. This was on at a track night where temps were still in the mid 80s, somewhat humid, but not suffocatingly hot where people and engines have a hard time functioning. The summer has been much hotter than usual so it'd be easy to blame it on that. But I did add about 100hp to the engine so that was my initial explanation as to why. I did 3 brief sessions, each time cutting it short when it was obvious the temps weren't getting better, even as it cooled with dusk approaching. I turned the heat on in the car to see if that helped - it didn't. I'd never had anywhere near overheating issues in the 3 previous track days I did before the engine upgrades - all summer days of at least 80F.
In the end I think I did some damage to the car with oil temps reaching about 270F if I had to guess. I have an oil temp gauge, but I was also on track and so wasn't staring at the gauge alot, but I knew it was too high. So basically I have only myself to blame for not shutting it down and going home when I realized something was wrong. As a result of the high temps, the oil probably got too thin and did some bearing damage. As a result of that, oil pressures were low on track and well... do the math. I somehow limped the car home and parked it for two weeks in anger.
I found a couple ways to distract myself for a bit, I cleaned out and organized my garage, and also modified my engine stand so that it would play nice with my engine lift. Instead of two legs on either side, I welded in a center leg so it can "mate" with the two-legged engine lift. That felt good. So did cleaning up all the nasty rug remnants I had down on the floor for the last 15+ years. Can't recall why I did that other than the fact my garage floor is uneven, cracked, and leaves alot to be desired. But it felt good to be "out with the old".
In the days leading up to the track day I busted my butt trying to get my new Kirkey seat installed. It turned out pretty nice in the end. After driving it a bit, I think I will move it back another inch, about as much as I can move it back until the headrest hits the rollbar, for some add'l comfort.
Minus the cover - guess I didn't take any final shots of it installed.
Couple pics of how I did the seat back support. Kirkey sells the floor mounting brackets which I used, and also a seat back support in case of a rear impact, that you can attach to the harness bar portion of your cage or rollbar.
The one aspect of the seat mounting that made me hesitate was in order to center the seat to the steering wheel and pedals, I had to remove some of the center tunnel so the bracket could move another 1" or so towards the middle. I knew once I started cutting out metal I'd need to weld some back in, and in the end I just decided to go for it with a few days before the track day.
In the last week I've started pulling the engine out to diagnose what happened. Before that I did a compression test to make sure nothing happened with piston/rings/valves, etc, and that seemed OK. Drained the oil and cut open the filter and found the telltale signs of bearing damage, alot of "glitter" in the oil. No chunks, but plenty of bearing material.
So I confirmed what I already knew, and what I was in for. Got the engine on the stand and started tearing it apart. No damage to the top end, such as rockers, valves, pushrods, etc.
However one thing jumped out and that was the head gaskets were installed backward. The HG has a printed marking "Front" on one end of the gasket, and I had that end facing the rear of the block. Not sure if I just confused the front and rear in the moment, but the marking is pretty hard to miss. What that did was block two coolant passages at the rear of the block. Sounds to me like a pretty good explanation for an overheating issue where there was none before. I'll have to grab a pic of this for next time.
Removed the oil pan, and found more glittery oil and some sediment in the pan. I left the pan to drip overnight and will do a full inspection for any chunks and other carnage.
My night ended on a sour note as I was struggling getting the ATI balancer/pulley off. It's come off before with no problem, but would not budge and so rather than just apply more force on the pulley remover tool, and decided I would remove the pulley section as it comes in pieces. The hub is what slides over the crank snout and the pulley/balancer section bolts to the hub with 9 Torx Plus bolts. Of course it was the last Torx Plus bolt that decided to strip on me. Fine, so I start to drill out the tapered head bolt, which goes well. Insert my extractor and without much torque the extractor just snaps off in the hole.
So now I'm in deep - impossible to drill out the hardened steel extractor. So I'm looking for ideas, one of which is to Dremel cut a slot in the bolt head and use that like a flat head screw head to try and remove the bolt. Another is to just give it to a machine shop and let them deal with it, but that will end up being expensive one way or another. I'll need to get the block to a machine shop anyway to do a few things:
- Install new cam bearings, assuming they are shot
- Line hone the main bearing and check clearances as I'm going with ARP studs on the mains now
- hot tank the whole block to clean out bearing material and contaminated oil
- check crank journals and cam journals for any wear and correct/polish if needed
- Profit. lol
Next up will be removing the crank, possibly with the ATI pulley still attached, and looking at the bearings. With some vacation time coming up I'm in no hurry.
Dang, I feel sympathy for the things that happened to your car.
All that work and now you have to redo a bunch of expensive stuff.
At least you have owned up to what happened rather than trying to find a scapegoat.
Sucks about the head gaskets but its good that you identified a very likely cause to your problems. Do you know what the coolant temp got to? Any concern of damaging the head surfaces?
I know you just put the motor together the way you wanted it, but are you going to change anything else?
Sucks about the head gaskets but its good that you identified a very likely cause to your problems. Do you know what the coolant temp got to? Any concern of damaging the head surfaces?
I know you just put the motor together the way you wanted it, but are you going to change anything else?
It is good that I found a likely cause for the overheating, and don't have to wonder about whether something else went wrong related to the new parts. I had set my OBD Autogauge to alert on a particular temp threshold, but don't recall what that is, it wasn't very high. So it was beeping while on track and I didn't hear it through my helmet or over other track noises. Since compression was ok i think the HG held together so hopefully no head damage. But I don't know if temps were too hot in the part of the head/block where the passage was blocked by my incorrect installation of the HG... I'll check out the head for straightness before I go to the machine shop.
I think just the ARP main studs will be the only upgrade.
04-19-2019, 09:17 AM
