Drop spindles, rod end lateral links, spherical bearings, and anti dive spacers are all in! for the short drive around the block, it seems to drive about like stock still, it doesn't feel harsh or overly aggressive, that being said, I babied it around, and I really need to bleed the brakes again, I think there's trapped air in them still, because they're just way too soft. I also washed the car for the first time in probably five years... it cleans up nice, even though the paint looks like trash up close. here's a before and after for the suspension work and spit shine.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
The hubcaps on the rear wheels never cleared the axle stub/nut, so I drew up some extensions and 3D printed them. originally, this was planned as a test fit, and I would later reprint the cap extender in ABS, or something more durable than PLA, the only problem is, my tolerances were tight, and the cap is stuck on there good now. If it flies off going down the road, it flies off.
The newest design has provisions for a spring to be installed to aid in holding the cap in place. it's available here if anyone wants/needs it.
My car hasn't had sail panels for a while, I had a few sets to choose from, but I ended up going with my old stock ones, after carefully taping them off and painting them.
I was having a ton of tuning issues since I updated the injector dead times, no matter what I did, the engine was either going lean and dying, or blowing black smoke rich and fowling spark plugs. I did some more research on my injectors, and found that there were several runs of Deka injectors with differing dead times, so I increased my dead times by about 25% and my problems now appear to be gone, which was quite the relief. unfortunately, the brakes are really bad right now, I suspected a blown master cylinder, so I bought a new one, for a 90's S-10 blazer, but of course the new MC was DOA, and leaking by internally, so my brakes were still crap...The new MC should arrive tomorrow, and we'll see whether or not my brakes are restored. if they are, I'll probably take it for a short drive and take some datalogs.
Other than that, I've been spending the vast majority of my time remodeling my kitchen, and replumbing my house, of course, that project is also waiting on parts, so... yeah.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Nice that is a slick solution angling the front crossmember back to (near?) parallel with the road. I intend to do a custom front crossmember at some point, but this is a really cool solution to utilize all the stock components and fix the dive/lift problem. I may pursue a similar concept.
Have you considered running a custom adjustable front upper A arm that has a lower inboard pivot axis to improve the camber curve? From what I have looked at it seems fairly straight forwards to weld some new upper A arm mounts lower down on the crossmember. Two small box sections with a captured nut per A arm. Plate steel cut out to accept the Fiero upper ball joint welded to DOM tubing with rod ends. Can adjust static camber and caster much more easily this way as well.
Also good to hear you figured out the deadtimes on those injectors you have.
Nice that is a slick solution angling the front crossmember back to (near?) parallel with the road. I intend to do a custom front crossmember at some point, but this is a really cool solution to utilize all the stock components and fix the dive/lift problem. I may pursue a similar concept.
Have you considered running a custom adjustable front upper A arm that has a lower inboard pivot axis to improve the camber curve? From what I have looked at it seems fairly straight forwards to weld some new upper A arm mounts lower down on the crossmember. Two small box sections with a captured nut per A arm. Plate steel cut out to accept the Fiero upper ball joint welded to DOM tubing with rod ends. Can adjust static camber and caster much more easily this way as well.
Also good to hear you figured out the deadtimes on those injectors you have.
Thanks!
The anti dive setup is all Will, I can't take credit for it, and it does have it's share of difficulties.
-The modification lifts the front of the car about 1" Will and I both fixed that with drop spindles, I am unsure as to how well this would work with lowering balljoints, or lowering springs.
-The spherical "Miss alignment" washers won't allow for the degree of miss alignment required, so you have to use an M12 washer, and bore out the convex portion.
-Steering shaft is a little bit short, the pinch bolt gets engaged, but just barely.
-rotating the crossmember pushes the front LCA mount rearward, so the control arm doesn't fit anymore without slotting the holes
-you lose pretty much all the caster that was in the stock suspension, and as far as I can see, there isn't a way to get it back without a custom adjustable UCA There's more than one way to skin a cat, and I had a few ideas floating around that might make the install easier, but I need to get them on paper and do some shadetree engineering to figure out if my ideas are executable. if I do it again, I don't want slotted holes in the crossmember. realistically, if I do something like this again, it will be a new front suspension with some kind of coilover setup.
I would like to make some adjustable UCA's, right now, the car doesn't self center at all, but I also have barely driven it like this, the brakes need fixed before I drive it anywhere, they're super soft, and I'm not really sure why. ------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
cognita semper
[This message has been edited by ericjon262 (edited 03-26-2021).]
Sounds like you need a custom offset UCA, seems like the simplest path to fix your caster issues. I would be surprised if with the earlier front suspension geometry + no caster you wouldn't roll over onto the sidewall during hard turns. I forget if you have lowering ball joints but that may help prevent that to some degree giving you a little more negative camber on compression.
Can you extend the steering coupler? I would be a little nervous driving a car with the power yours is making without full engagement of that pinch area!
[This message has been edited by zkhennings (edited 03-26-2021).]
Sounds like you need a custom offset UCA, seems like the simplest path to fix your caster issues. I would be surprised if with the earlier front suspension geometry + no caster you wouldn't roll over onto the sidewall during hard turns. I forget if you have lowering ball joints but that may help prevent that to some degree giving you a little more negative camber on compression.
Can you extend the steering coupler? I would be a little nervous driving a car with the power yours is making without full engagement of that pinch area!
I have 2" drop spindles, which is part of what I forgot to add to the list of issues, this raises the nose of the car about an inch or so. I have been planning making a set of adjustable control arms, the car needs more camber too, I need to take the upper ball joints back out and slot the holes for the ball joints/bolts.
I have a few ideas for extending the steering shaft, it's pretty solid ATM, but I agree, it could use to be better.
At the moment, my top priority remains the brakes, but I have too much work to do on my house ATM to spend time on the car until I get things to a more complete state.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
The C5 calipers are 42% larger, so the brake pedal will be 42% softer for the same clamp force if you have not swapped brake master cylinders.
agreed, but something still isn't right, I should say spongy, not soft. it feels like there's air in the lines still, but I have bled them, and bled them, and bled them... The lines, the master ect. bleed until there's no air, start the car, push the pedal, and it goes to the floor. I'm installing a new, AC delco S10 blazer MC this weekend, hopefully it will solve my problems, I would like to drive this car at least a little bit before I have to move.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Are you running ceramic pads? They feel significantly spongier than semi metallic ones
I honestly don't remember at this point, I bought them 4-5 years ago... (man it's depressing to say that...), but they aren't spongy in the sense that they're ok to drive on, but a little iffy, they're spongy like, not a snowball's chance in hell I'll drive it like this... The new master came in today, unfortunately, I've been working on my kitchen all day and didn't get a chance to do anything with it.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Only two things can be the caviat on your problem. Either you have a failed componet within the system or Fieroguru is right in the sense that your Corvette calipers are causing the problem due to mismatched parts not being compatible. Don't focuse in one assumption, go back and re check every component. A good known part can fail without noticed.
[This message has been edited by La fiera (edited 03-29-2021).]
Only two things can be the caviat on your problem. Either you have a failed componet within the system or Fieroguru is right in the sense that your Corvette calipers are causing the problem due to mismatched parts not being compatible. Don't focuse in one assumption, go back and re check every component. A good known part can fail without noticed.
there is most certainly a failed component, the symptoms I am getting are extremely strange and hard to describe, but essentially, the system won't hold pressure once added force is applied, EG, firm pedal until I start the car and the brake booster boosts. the MC is currently the most suspect part, I have a new, larger master sitting on my desk that I hope to bleed and install tomorrow.
there is most certainly a failed component, the symptoms I am getting are extremely strange and hard to describe, but essentially, the system won't hold pressure once added force is applied, EG, firm pedal until I start the car and the brake booster boosts. the MC is currently the most suspect part, I have a new, larger master sitting on my desk that I hope to bleed and install tomorrow.
The reason I agree with Guru is becasue years back I installed a set of Wilwood D54 GM calipers specifically made for dirt track racing. They had huge pistons in it. They felt very similar to your problem, spongy feeling and I had be very careful not to press on the pedal suddenly. At the track it was very unpredictable when heel and toeing, Replace them with the stock D54 Camaro calipers and voila! problem solved. For me to use the Willwoods I have to upgrade my master cylinder.
[This message has been edited by La fiera (edited 03-29-2021).]
Originally posted by ericjon262: if I do it again, I don't want slotted holes in the crossmember.
Well that one was on you for welding the spherical bearing shells in without tacking in place
quote
Originally posted by ericjon262: I would like to make some adjustable UCA's, right now, the car doesn't self center at all, but I also have barely driven it like this, the brakes need fixed before I drive it anywhere, they're super soft, and I'm not really sure why.
Yeah, adjustable UCAs and a slightly longer steering shaft (with EPAS & Steering quickener ) would add polish to the anti-dive changes.
If you are getting a firm pedal when the car is off then I would be surprised if you have any serious problems, the master is probably too small. I have a full sized Blazer MC in my Fiero to accommodate for the Grand Am brakes at all four corners, the Fiero reservoir replaces the stock Blazer one perfectly.
Also in regards to ceramic pads, I have run Hawk HPS ceramic pads on my WRX for years, the pedal is always hard when the car is off and it gets really squishy when the car is running. It needs very little pedal effort to grab really hard once the brakes have some heat in them.
Fast forward to recently and one of my front calipers has a sticky piston which ruined my $100 Hawk pads. I bought some 4 piston 06-07 WRX calipers for up front and some 2 pistons for the rear, but they need a rebuild. In the meantime I have unstuck the piston and thrown some cheap $13 semi metallics in the front, and my pedal is extremely firm now and engages much higher with much less pedal travel in general. I looked into it because I was confused as to why this is and apparently ceramic pads physically compress significantly more. It is maybe an inch+ more pedal travel in my WRX with the ceramic pads.
This is why I bring it up because the combination of a too small MC plus pads that need to get compressed more to engage will leave you with very little brakes even if everything is working properly.
Originally posted by Will: Yeah, adjustable UCAs and a slightly longer steering shaft (with EPAS & Steering quickener ) would add polish to the anti-dive changes.
Besides actually adding some trail, there's also the EPAS idea:
1. Estimate the forces acting on the front contact patches 2. Using a simulated model of the actual butchered-together front suspension, compute the steering column torque that would be felt by the driver (without any intervention) 3. Using a simulated model of a correctly-designed front suspension, compute the steering column torque that SHOULD be felt by the driver's arms 4. Use the EPAS to make up the torque difference between the actual and ideal suspension 5. Enjoy your artificial ride?
Originally posted by Will: Well that one was on you for welding the spherical bearing shells in without tacking in place
I wonder if I still could have made up enough space, it was really tight. but you're not wrong, I should have waited to do it until I had everything ready.
quote
Originally posted by Will:
Yeah, adjustable UCAs and a slightly longer steering shaft (with EPAS & Steering quickener ) would add polish to the anti-dive changes.
Also, I had a thought, on the Pig Rig, I heated the collapsing part of the column with a heat gun, and was able to extend it a small amount. potentially, I could do the same with a Fiero shaft. not sure how much extension is safely available though.
quote
Originally posted by zkhennings: If you are getting a firm pedal when the car is off then I would be surprised if you have any serious problems, the master is probably too small. I have a full sized Blazer MC in my Fiero to accommodate for the Grand Am brakes at all four corners, the Fiero reservoir replaces the stock Blazer one perfectly.
I found a potential air leak in the combination valve.... I had an OK pedal with the stock master prior to the front suspension work, not great by any means, but also not blatantly unsafe like it is now. I figured it just needed to be bled better.
Did the reservoir just pull off, or is there some kind of latch or something holding it on? I've been looking at some larger truck MC's the only other cylinder I had known to work for sure was a S-10 blazer.
according to O'reilly's and summit racing, a mid 90's C3500HD has a ~1.57" MC. which would probably work well if it's actually that size, and has fittings that work.
quote
Originally posted by pmbrunelle:
Besides actually adding some trail, there's also the EPAS idea:
1. Estimate the forces acting on the front contact patches 2. Using a simulated model of the actual butchered-together front suspension, compute the steering column torque that would be felt by the driver (without any intervention) 3. Using a simulated model of a correctly-designed front suspension, compute the steering column torque that SHOULD be felt by the driver's arms 4. Use the EPAS to make up the torque difference between the actual and ideal suspension 5. Enjoy your artificial ride?
yeah, I've been wondering about it, and how tuning a setup like that would work, making it fit can't be too hard, but making it work...
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Besides actually adding some trail, there's also the EPAS idea:
1. Estimate the forces acting on the front contact patches 2. Using a simulated model of the actual butchered-together front suspension, compute the steering column torque that would be felt by the driver (without any intervention) 3. Using a simulated model of a correctly-designed front suspension, compute the steering column torque that SHOULD be felt by the driver's arms 4. Use the EPAS to make up the torque difference between the actual and ideal suspension 5. Enjoy your artificial ride?
I think the whole idea behind good suspension design is to make kludgey fake tuning shenanigans unnecessary
Originally posted by ericjon262: yeah, I've been wondering about it, and how tuning a setup like that would work, making it fit can't be too hard, but making it work...
Well firstly, it would be pretty dicey in the sense that the car has one personality when everything is working right, and then the actual steering feel when the electronics are inoperative. So the driver could be unprepared for the car's true steering feel... refer to Boeing 737 MAX.
I hesitate to consider "self-centering" as a goal to achieve in a steering system.
In my view, it is important that the torque transmitted to the driver be proportional to the lateral contact patch force. This is the information that can help a driver to drive safely and quickly. Other sources of torque (such as jacking the front of the car as you turn) obscure the important information the driver needs.
Naturally, if you transmit the tires' lateral force to the steering wheel, the steering wheel will self-center, but that is a side-effect of the true goal.
Some folks have wanted a simple self-centering torque; torque overlay proportional to the steering angle. The electric equivalent of a mechanical spring. However, I think that this is a good way to make a driver crash. If a driver is taking a corner too fast, he needs to feel the steering get light as the front tires wash out. If the steering torque still feels high, then the driver might be duped into thinking that there's still grip available.
A driver can eventually adapt to a car that lies through its steering, but why?
At some point I did study synthetic steering feel for vehicles which don't have any (such as stuff with hydraulic steering), but it didn't get beyond the reading stage. With accelerometers and such you can figure what's going on with the tires. Also, depending on how inaccurate you want the estimated tire force to be, you can reduce the number of sensors.
I used a master EPS connected to a steering wheel. I used a slave EPS connected to the rack of a vehicle. There was no mechanical link between the only, only a CAN bus.
The master sent its steering wheel angle to the slave. The slave adjusted the current in the electric motor in order to make the actual position follow the position ordered by the master. Electric motor current is a proxy for torque; the slave reported back to the master how much current it was injecting into the motor. The master injected the amount of current reported by the slave into its own electric motor, applying a torque to the steering wheel.
Surprisingly, it felt pretty real, without much tinkering required.
Of course, none of the parts I used for this setup were designed/rated for steer-by-wire, so it would have been too dicey to try this on a running/driving vehicle. I just tried it on a parked vehicle.
quote
Originally posted by Will: I think the whole idea behind good suspension design is to make kludgey fake tuning shenanigans unnecessary
I think a semi-synthetic feel setup would be a good fit good for someone doing a stock-style sleeper build. Somewhere, there must exist a manager that would like to solve an expensive hardware problem with a software patch... The ultimate stock-style project car build will reflect a normal amount of cost-cutting and dysfunction.
For example, there are people who restore cars, but they don't aim for the smoothest/shiniest paint. They instead seek to duplicate the factory paint runs.
[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 03-30-2021).]
Did the reservoir just pull off, or is there some kind of latch or something holding it on? I've been looking at some larger truck MC's the only other cylinder I had known to work for sure was a S-10 blazer.
It is just a press fit if I remember correctly, I just made sure to remove the two barbs evenly
I'm going to be moving soon, so I wanted to get some parts of the car put back together so I would have less stuff to move or worry about breaking in transit. I got the headliner put in, and have the interior about 2/3's of the way complete for the first time in who knows how long.
for those of you with broken hard plastic interior bits, here's a useful tidbit.
The interior trim parts are all ABS plastic, and ABS pipe cement appears to do an acceptable job of holding the parts together. in this case, I repaired the A-Pillar trim where the tab broke off. I roughed up the area where I applied the cement, applied cement to both parts, held them together for a few minutes, and now they're stuck together nice and tight.
The downside, the cement is black, and will likely not match if it is visible. for things like the console skeleton, this is fine, visible stuff, not so much. I painted my "A" pillar trim black, so it doesn't matter to me.
I'm told the cement is ABS plastic, dissolved in acetone, I have not confirmed this, but it may be possible to dissolve some of a non-salvageable piece in acetone, and have a "DIY" cement in the factory colors, to avoid an obvious repair job being an eyesore.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
bleh, I hate brakes so much... My buddy with the LZ9 GT came by to help me bleed the brakes, we bled them and bled them, and got nothing. I used a phoenix systems reverse bleeder on the calipers as a last ditch effort, and the fluid that left the front right caliper was disgusting. almost black, all the others were clean. the calipers on this car, were a hybrid of C5 and 4th generation F body calipers, which took a ton of effort to assemble, as all the parts look the same, but are different enough to cause problems. so instead of just replacing the front right, I swapped all four for off the shelf C5 calipers to prevent any further headache down the road should I need to replace the pads or hardware. The next night, my buddy came back over and we bled them again, this time getting a better pedal, but still very low. at this point, I figured the master cylinder was too small, so I stepped up bigtime.
Here's the new master alongside an S10 blazer master:
The new master is off of a 1996 chevy C3500hd and has a 1.57" bore, it physically bolts in place fine, but the reservoir is HUGE, so I pried it off and installed a stock fiero reservoir. The reservoir removes by simply pulling it off, not fasteners hold it on. The lines connect in the same position, but, the fittings are not the same size. I fixed this by cutting the lines just behind the flare, and removing the OE tube nuts, which I replaced with nuts of the correct size, then I flared the line and bolted everything back together.
now, lets talk results. with the S10 MC, the pedal feel was crap, and the travel was very long. Using the C3500HD MC I have a firm pedal, but the travel is very short, honestly I think it might be too short, so if I have a reason to crack the system open again, I'll probably install a 3/4 ton master to replace the 1 ton, it's 1.25" instead of 1.57" and should be a direct bolt in now that the I have the 1 ton master installed.
after all this nonsense, I finally drove the car for the first time in ages. because my fuel sender works, and it showed empty, I figured it would be a good idea to stop and fill it up at which point I found out the O ring on top of my fuel tank is shot, or not sealing, as the pump clicked off, and I heard the splash of the fuel hitting the ground...thankfully it was a very small amount of fuel, probably only a 1/2 cup or so, but it was enough to let me know I need to drop the tank and fix it. the part I'm still unsure of, is if my car has an 85 sender still, or an 87+, I don't remember which I installed when I put the tank in 7 years ago, and I don't know how to tell the difference, if it's still the 85 sender, that would explain the leak, as both senders are different.
I ended up putting about 35 miles on the car today, and it felt really good, but it does need more front camber, tighter rear springs, and/or a rear sway bar.
as proof it left the house, here's a shot of it outside the brewery I frequent.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
The Blazer MC I used gave me an insanely short pedal travel too, and I am not sure what changed but after a week or two of driving it the pedal travel had increased to what I consider a normal amount and has stayed there since. I too worried the MC was too big but it ended up being fine for me. Maybe drive it a bit more and see what happens before swapping it out again.
Looking good though! Have you been dialing in the tune with your new injector values?
The Blazer MC I used gave me an insanely short pedal travel too, and I am not sure what changed but after a week or two of driving it the pedal travel had increased to what I consider a normal amount and has stayed there since. I too worried the MC was too big but it ended up being fine for me. Maybe drive it a bit more and see what happens before swapping it out again.
Looking good though! Have you been dialing in the tune with your new injector values?
well, hopefully mine breaks in a bit as well then, only one way to find out, and I'm perfectly fine with using that way!
I noticed the firewall flexed quite a bit while bleeding the brakes, I would like to develop some kind of brace to eliminate most of the flex, but there aren't many things to brace off of that aren't also quite flexible...
I have done some tuning, but not much yet. I drove it around for a while the other day, and thought it was dataloging, it was not.... erg. oh well, I'll take it for a few rounds this weekend.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
well, the past week or so has been pretty frustrating. Since I got the car running, it would occasionally have a tick to it, which I thought was a lifter not playing nice. I drove it to a buddies house and on the way back, it very suddenly became constant, and clearly not a lifter...
the other day, I pulled the oil filter, cut it open to find this:
I dropped the pan, for inspection, and found and the number 2 rod bearing decided it wanted to spin. I'm not 100% sure why, I had some theories, but they don't seem to hold water, as all the other bearings looked like new, the only showing any sign of trouble was number two, which catastrophically failed. At this point in the failure analysis, my best guess is that I must have over torqued the number 2 bearing cap, or there was some other defect with that cap/bearing that I otherwise hadn't seen. originally, I suspected some kind of oiling issue, but I feel like I would have found another bad bearing, or indications of a loss of lubrication, of which none were found. the bolts in the number 2 cap were tight, so I doubt it was under torqued. I didn't take pictures of the engine, I probably would have thrown my phone...
when the noise started I assumed it was a rod, so I bought a set of rod bearings, with the hopes that I could throw a new rod bearing(s) in and keep going. when I found the spun bearing, I realized there wasn't much hope for this short block, as bearing material was embedded into both halves of the rod. I tried very hard to remove as much of the material as possible from the cap, and it really didn't want to budge, and the cap is the easy part, as it's removable from the engine, and doesn't risk further contamination of other parts of the engine. the other end, on the connecting rod however, would be virtually impossible to handle in the car. I cleaned up as much as I could and aggressively "polished" the crank journal with some sandpaper to knock down any egregious high spots, put a new bearing on number 2, and bolted it all back together. at this point, I just hope I can get it on a trailer for the move under it's own power, so I can deal with it later.
My current plan, is to get another LX9, put a "stage 2 turbo cam" from WOT tech in it, with my heads and intakes, and call it good. The cam change prevents me from having to cut new valve reliefs, as my current cam requires reliefs, which will make the whole process faster and easier. Ben at WOT tech also said his dynomation software suggests I should pick up a considerable amount of torque with the stage 2 compared to what I have. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I'll start working on an LZ9 swap on a spare cradle, but I will implement a significant amount of lessons learned with the LX9, into the LZ9 build. The LZ9 work will not begin until after the car is running and driving again.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
I'm sorry to hear that mate! Did you re bore your con rods?? Everytime I pick an engine from the yunkyard (which is always) I let my trusted machine shop to rebore ALL rods if re using the stock rods. If I'm using new rods then I'll have them veryfy the clearances, and balance the assembly. It's a bit more expensive on the prep of the motor but it is worth every penny. I personally have a very good relationship with my machinsts and fabricator. Usually the trend is to go cheap and do it ourselves but 99% of the times that comes back to haunt us. I personally tell them what I want and spend a little extra (and also tip them good, that goes a long way!) and let the professionals give you their best! I hope you get it running soon Eric, looking forward to it.
PS. If you want a UNIQUE cam (not an off the shelf generic cam) for your UNIQUE engine combo I can help you just for the cost of the part; I wont make one penny from you because I do this for fun!
Thanks for the offer, but I'm probably going to stick with Ben's recommendation, he has a ton of R&D tied up in the aluminum head 60V6.
As for the engine, I think my biggest mistake was taking apart a running engine to make parts better that didn't need to be made better. I didn't have a shop bore the rods or measure them, they are PM rods, which IIRC, don't recondition well compared to older style forged rods, I may be wrong though. it should be pretty straightforward to get it patched up again once I'm back on the east coast, honestly, if I play my cards right, I'd bet I could swap the engine out in an afternoon as long as I don't have any egregious hiccups.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
As for the engine, I think my biggest mistake was taking apart a running engine to make parts better that didn't need to be made better.
Better is the enemy of good enough.
quote
Originally posted by ericjon262: I didn't have a shop bore the rods or measure them, they are PM rods, which IIRC, don't recondition well compared to older style forged rods, I may be wrong though. it should be pretty straightforward to get it patched up again once I'm back on the east coast, honestly, if I play my cards right, I'd bet I could swap the engine out in an afternoon as long as I don't have any egregious hiccups.
Fractured cap rods require special *OVER*sized rebuild bearings which have a larger OD than the OE bearings. For the Northstar, Promar uses those in the mains (probably rods too, but I didn't ask). The rebuild bearings are typically only available in one configuration, like 0.010 over + 0.010 under. So the rebuilder would bore the rod or main bore for the rebuild bearings AND cut the journal. They work great in production rebuilding because you bore every bore to the same size and cut every journal to the same size and send it. They're not so great for onesies/twosies because of the extra labor involved.
[This message has been edited by Will (edited 04-27-2021).]
yep, I've been beating a similar ideology into my head
"Perfect is the enemy of a job well done"
thankfully, LX9's are pretty cheap, and I should be able to make something happen fairly quickly once I have space to work on the car again.
quote
Originally posted by Will:
Fractured cap rods require special *OVER*sized rebuild bearings which have a larger OD than the OE bearings. For the Northstar, Promar uses those in the mains (probably rods too, but I didn't ask). The rebuild bearings are typically only available in one configuration, like 0.010 over + 0.010 under. So the rebuilder would bore the rod or main bore for the rebuild bearings AND cut the journal. They work great in production rebuilding because you bore every bore to the same size and cut every journal to the same size and send it. They're not so great for onesies/twosies because of the extra labor involved.
I was thinking something like that would be required, as machining the mating surfaces would probably weaken the rods quite significantly.
quote
Originally posted by ignorant prodigy:
bummer
yeah, it really is, but I should be able to recover from it relatively quickly. I have a few avenues I can pursue to make it happen, but I'll probably just grab a stock short block throw in a cam, my heads and intakes, and call it good. I re-engineered my mounts so that the engine would be a bolt in, with no modifications to the engine to make it fit. which should make things quite a bit simpler and easier.
I can't tell if this remark is meant to acknowledge my reply, or to be a sarcastic jab at Ben's R&D efforts, but considering I've been assisting him with measurements, general engine parts interchange, and various other details involving the heads and intake manifolds, I'm fairly confident in his abilities, and his recommendations.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
I don't know and I don't care about what Ben can do but I know what I can do. If Ben/WOT's heads sold to customers can't get near what I have accomplished with Iron heads naturally aspirated those are things that make you go HMMMM!???? He sold some aluminum heads to a guy in The Netherlands with a destroked 3100 to make a 2.8L. in a Ford Capri. His friend ported the WOT ported heads and got more CFM out the them!!. How is that possible????!!!!!!!! He knows he's stuff right??? I'm not doubting Ben's expertise and I don't want this to sound like I'm putting him down in any way. He gets a business out this, I don't. But I haven't seen a project from HIM that shows his expertise. I've seen lots of his customers fail with aluminum heads done by him trying to match my goals and they end up installing turbos because Ben's heads can't deliver. I come up with stuff and I deliver, the proof is in the pudding. But this is not about Ben or me, this is about your LX9 or LZ9 or next project. Keep it up mate!!
Edit for wrong name!
[This message has been edited by La fiera (edited 04-27-2021).]
I don't know and I don't care about what Ben can do but I know what I can do. If Ben/WOT's heads sold to customers can't get near what I have accomplished with Iron heads naturally aspirated those are things that make you go HMMMM!???? He sold some aluminum heads to a guy in The Netherlands with a destroked 3100 to make a 2.8L. in a Ford Capri. His friend ported the WOT ported heads and got more CFM out the them!!. How is that possible????!!!!!!!! He knows he's stuff right??? I'm not doubting Ben's expertise and I don't want this to sound like I'm putting him down in any way. He gets a business out this, I don't. But I haven't seen a project from HIM that shows his expertise. I've seen lots of his customers fail with aluminum heads done by him trying to match my goals and they end up installing turbos because Ben's heads can't deliver. I come up with stuff and I deliver, the proof is in the pudding. But this is not about Ben or me, this is about your LX9 or LZ9 or next project. Keep it up mate!!
Edit for wrong name!
Veekuusi built the 2.8, I'm very familiar with the car and the thread, he snapped the crank in two due to a balancer failure, then torqued a connecting rod too tight and snapped a rod. I'm the one who suggested he route the coolant outlet, that normally flows out of the LIM, through the end of the heads. Ben also explained in that thread that the casting Veekuusi was requesting typically did not flow as well as some of the other options he recommended, or something like that. The discussion was about camshafts not heads, Ben also did not port my heads.
I'll shoot straight with you, I(and I suspect others too), am very skeptical of your and Lou Dias' dyno runs, which happen to both be on the same type of dyno, and neither backed up with other data, like a 1/4 mile run or 0-60 times that I have seen. While I understand those other benchmarks show the performance of the entire car and the driver, not just the engine, coupling them with other measurable parameters(IE vehicle weight, altitude, air temp ect.), and observed indications(IE wheelspin, wheel hop, missed shifts ect.) can give a accurate indication of the performance of the engine. I have also yet to see an aluminum head 60V6 other than Veekuusi's have as much work put into it as your engine. I have only seen one full custom intake(Veekuusi), one 1/2 custom setup with ITB's that bolted to a stock LIM (superdave) and all others used ported GM castings. Superdave actually went faster in the 1/4 mile when he put a plenum back on. I haven't mentioned Shaun's ITB 3500(until now) mainly because it was turbocharged, which doesnt' compare well to N/A builds like yours, Veekuusi's, Lou Dias', and superdave's. I suspect that a warmed up aluminum head engine would outperform yours on the same dyno, I could be wrong, who knows. this isn't meant to be some kind of callout, quite frankly, I don't care enough about most of it anymore to worry about it, it's a simply a hobby of mine to make my garbage less garbage-y.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
Veekuusi built the 2.8, I'm very familiar with the car and the thread, he snapped the crank in two due to a balancer failure, then torqued a connecting rod too tight and snapped a rod. I'm the one who suggested he route the coolant outlet, that normally flows out of the LIM, through the end of the heads. Ben also explained in that thread that the casting Veekuusi was requesting typically did not flow as well as some of the other options he recommended, or something like that. The discussion was about camshafts not heads, Ben also did not port my heads.
I'll shoot straight with you, I(and I suspect others too), am very skeptical of your and Lou Dias' dyno runs, which happen to both be on the same type of dyno, and neither backed up with other data, like a 1/4 mile run or 0-60 times that I have seen. While I understand those other benchmarks show the performance of the entire car and the driver, not just the engine, coupling them with other measurable parameters(IE vehicle weight, altitude, air temp ect.), and observed indications(IE wheelspin, wheel hop, missed shifts ect.) can give a accurate indication of the performance of the engine. I have also yet to see an aluminum head 60V6 other than Veekuusi's have as much work put into it as your engine. I have only seen one full custom intake(Veekuusi), one 1/2 custom setup with ITB's that bolted to a stock LIM (superdave) and all others used ported GM castings. Superdave actually went faster in the 1/4 mile when he put a plenum back on. I haven't mentioned Shaun's ITB 3500(until now) mainly because it was turbocharged, which doesnt' compare well to N/A builds like yours, Veekuusi's, Lou Dias', and superdave's. I suspect that a warmed up aluminum head engine would outperform yours on the same dyno, I could be wrong, who knows. this isn't meant to be some kind of callout, quite frankly, I don't care enough about most of it anymore to worry about it, it's a simply a hobby of mine to make my garbage less garbage-y.
I'm not looking to get on anybody's "side". It's easy enough for numbers and testing to rule the day in these cases. I haven't kept fingers on the pulses of many of these community issues. I'm also skeptical of less rigorous dyno protocols.
I will say that there's a HUGE difference between a factory short block with full bolt-ons and the same bolt-ons on a built shortblock. My Northstar with built shortblock, even with crappy oil control burning lots of oil, went from 255 RWHP with the factory short block to 312 RWHP with the bult shortblock + tuning. Between the two, there are exactly the same parts above the head gaskets, with the exception that I swapped from the OBDI throttle to the same diameter OBDII throttle and added a MAF sensor.
I think it's pretty normal to think you're more capable than other people (somehow more than half of drivers think they're better than average), and sometimes those thoughts may be justified, but social convention normally requires that those thoughts remain private.
Ah that blows. I was really hoping to see this finally get buttoned up. There are .002 oversized OD rod bearings for the LZ9, I would imagine for LX9 too. You could probably get the single rod bored out and run that bearing, but I think you would need to get the crank journal taken down so I don't know if that's worth it. Might be easiest to see if you can replace the single rod.
For what it is worth it is not very much money to have a machine shop verify all the clearances and make sure parts aren't twisted or out of spec. The machine shop I use will even measure my dirtbike cylinders for free and check them for straightness and out of round. Plastigage is another good tool to get a ballpark idea and just do a sanity check. And finally I plan to send my torque wrenches back to CDI for cal before I start bolting my motor back together as it has been a few years since they were checked.
That really sucks though I was very sad to see that this happened.
