new engine going in : turbo on i did not do a cradle drop this time , i thought it would go in from the top without much problems . as it turned out i had to take off the alternator and intake manifold to get it in from the top .fired it up today and it ran like crap .then i looked at the throttle body and i had forgot to take the rag i had stuffed in there out .amazed it started at all but happy that it runs .
got a request for a pic of my slave setup for adapting to the cavalier clutch hydraulics .i could not get that great of a picture : to do this you need the entire f23 hydraulic circuit , including the master cylinder.being from a front drive car , this assembly is very compact and fits nicely in the fiero engine bay .cut the banjo end off of the cavalier master cylinder plunge rod .leave the rod as long as possible .throw away the fiero push rod .bolt the fiero slave to the cavalier master as shown.i put mine as close together as possible to make it easier to bleed the fiero slave .the distance needed to disengage the f23 clutch is the same as the fiero clutch so you dont have to worry about moving the cavalier master too far .the cavalier hydraulics are self bleeding ,so i have been told .this setup has been trouble free .my old clutch line has rotted out finally , so i have to install my new fiero store stainless steel line .
Interesting way to handle the slave issue but its much less complicated to mate the stock fiero clutch line to the f23 slave with a simple snip and hydrualic fitting flared on all easy to do. This is how I did mine.
when i first got my car going i had a leak in the original clutch line and fixing it by flaring lines and adapting fittings was a struggle .so i did the hydraulics the way it is shown to avoid disturbing the old line .it has worked well , so even though i have now got a new stainless line i am using it as is .i also thought all the cavalier lines were made out of a plastic material and didnt think a splice was possible . i ran into a snag .the thermostat housing on my new motor is bigger and sits lower than the old one .so when i bolted the new motor to the old tranny , this happened : so i had to take the one off the old engine and put it on the new engine .not too big a deal , except it was ackward getting at the bolts with the turbo in the way .funny that with that big of hole , it wasnt a big leak .the shift cable mount was stuffed tight in the hole .ran it some today , starting to sound a lot better .still some sensors to hook up and it is running without the charge piping .it is burning off the pile of storage spray i put in the cylinders and intake passages as i built the motor .after it stops smoking , i have some nearly new spark plugs to throw in .
got my new exhaust welded together and hung on the car : it was too dark to get a shot from the back of the car but i finally managed to get everything tucked up behind the bumper .nothing shows but the outlets .started it up and i really like the new sound , a lot deeper tone .
one thing that has been bugging me since i got the engine to run is that i could not get the car to idle on its own .i tried everything i could think of but got no where finally i thought about what i had changed and removed the IAC valve .when i did this once before and started the car , the revs hit the roof and i shut it down a second after i started it .this time , the car did not even start .turns out the 2.4 L intake kit is only meant for engines with DBW throttle bodies .so i drilled an extra hole to give the IAC valve a way to feed some air in so the car can idle without me sitting with my foot on the throttle .the gasket and adapter plate for the kit completely block the IAC airpath .here is the fix : some pics of my new charge piping .not the way i had planned it .i had to modify things because of having to use the old thermostat housing .the outlets were in the way .
[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 12-10-2017).]
i have the car back on the road but i have some problems . the controller for my water meth injection died and the power feed for my intercooler fan and pump has gone dead on me .i have a new controller on order and also ordered a simple boost pressure switch to use as a backup .fixing the power feed wont be a problem but i am working nights and i dont have time to tear in to it .the car was running well ,no oil burning and nice and quiet from the valve train .never went above 4 psi boost or 3000 rpm's so i dont know how much better it is power wise .my new parts should be here by thursday so i will fix everything then .cant drive it without the intercooler , so it sits till then . hidden exhaust , just tips showing: got the vents on and hid some of the heater / turbo plumbing i really need a paint job done
got my power feed for the intercooler fan and pump fixed so i am on the road again .still waiting on my new water meth controller .i clicked on the UPS expidited delivery on summit racing's online store and that sent my order to customer service never never land for some reason and 3 days after ordering i am still waiting for them to ship . i should have just picked standard shipping , would probably be here by now .cant really see what it will do performance wise until i get the water meth working again .
running the car again and it feels really strong .i got rid of my AEM guage boost controller because i never got it to work anyway and it quit along with a lot of other stuff when i started having problems with old crimp together connections .i have spent the last week getting rid of crimps and making solder joints and now everything is working again .new water meth controller is installed and i took it up to 5500 rpm with no problems .the boost gauge says i am maxing out at 6 psi so i may need a stiffer waste gate spring .
thanks for the reply .i have now got about 600 km on it .i have yet to really let it rip , going to wait till i go over 1000 km .i really hate opening engines up .i am a little paranoid about making a mistake .the one thing that concerns me is always the conn rod bolts .the rods came with arp bolts and i followed the instructions to the letter .came with thread lube that arp insists must be used and specified a torque of 43 ft lbs .i checked the torque three times and all was good .but i kept wondering about 43 ft lbs .i went on the ecotec forum and was happy to find that the danger on these rods is usually from over torquing .so i left it as is and everything seems to be good .this motor behaves differently than my old motor , the 20 g does not pull as well in top gear at low revs as the 16g did .but everywhere else it is stronger , even at only 6psi .it must move a lot more air .
The 20g is awesome, it only took 12 psi from it to get our ecotec to 340whp with stock cams and compression would love to see what you make when you crank it up.
i ran a couple of HP tuners scans and it looks like i need to move to bigger injectors , probably around 42 lbs .getting a little more knock reduction than i would like .nothing terrible ,worst is about 7.6 degrees during top gear low rpm open throttle situations .i had 0 KR with the old turbo , so i am getting bigger injectors before i turn up the boost .
actually it will fit , i just have spent too much money on the fiero this winter .Hahn also sells a package with 60 lb injectors , harness and an ECM reflash for 399.00 .i dont know if i can still use my HP tuners after that and i would be without my car for about two weeks .but i have wanted a port fueler for a long time .
my fuel pressure tester was leaking slightly when i quickly checked the pressure before i first tried out the new motor .i tried to get a new seal for the connector but no luck so i bought a new one .hooked up the FP tester and found out i was 9 psi light at idle .fixed that and went for a run and had almost no KR showed up on the scan , and i deliberately drove to induce knock .so i might not need the new injectors .it is still cold up here most of the time , worst april in at least ten years , so i will have to see how it runs in the heat but so far so good .
i have been trying to clean up the look of my charge pipe and got a few things installed to hopefully make it flow better and improve the looks .... i found some used 40 lb injectors so i am going to put them in when i get them .i have now run the car up to 7000 rpm with no ill effects and the scans look good so i am ready to turn up the boost to around 10 psi and see how that works out .
put on a manual boost controller today and i am slowly increasing the boost level .i am up to 9 psi and starting to see an increase in performance .still running the old injectors , scans still look ok but i may have to go to a larger water meth injector nozzle .i keep turning up the boost and scanning to be safe . when i put on the 20G i had to cut this hole to get it on .it only actually sticks in about an inch .
still waiting on the new injectors , but with a bigger water meth injector nozzle i have been running 10 PSI boost with no recorded KR on the scans .i think i can safely go up to 12 PSI even without the bigger injectors ,i have put on around 2000KM on the new motor and the only problem so far is a small annoying exhaust leak .it goes away when the car warms up after about 15 KM .i havent had time to track it down but i think it is on one of the bolt up joints on the cat convertor .
so i still am waiting for my 40lb injectors .turned the boost up to 12 psi and thats 2 psi too much for the tune i am running and the present injectors.in the upper revs it seemed to lose power and ran a little rough so i backed it down to 9 psi and it is smooth again .i did not bother scanning at 12 psi , i could tell it was not right .fixed the hole and insulated my trunk so now i can take grocerys home without having the food cook on the way home.
[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 06-09-2011).]
did a mild rewrite of my tune .by lowering the PE table AFR to 11 accross the board i can now run 10 to 12 psi even without the new injectors .i have the new injectors but it has been to hot too work on the car much .i also raised the PE enable to 2500 rpm up from 0 so that it does not kick in when i am just cruising around .i have had no problems with the new motor so i am quite happy.i have been running it fairly hard to make sure all is good and no problems .this winter i am going to work on the body , got some new parts to put on and then send it for paint .random pics:
took the car out for a 0-60 run and scans today .i only did one run and the time was 5.74 .i have done better than that but i decided to not push my luck .when i really let it rip the car is very loud and attracts a lot of attention .scans showed that i was pretty lazy shifting and that cost me about .3 seconds .launch was good but not great .need some practice .no KR on the scans and charge temp only hit 25 C with an outside temp of 16 C .i am still just running 10 psi boost and i have not put in the new injectors yet .i can safely go to 12 psi with what the scans are telling me but i am at the point where the car is more than fast enough for the street .if i put the new injectors in i have to change the tune to suit them so i think i will wait till spring to do that . i could also bump the timing up a bit .at high boost , wide open throttle situations , it drops all the way down to 14.5 degrees and with no KR showing there is room for improvement .
my next project for the car is to install the shocks i have always wanted on the front of the car .these are off my stalled lotus 7 project : these are HAL shocks from QA-1 and are much better than the small body carrera shocks i am currently using. they use the better 2.5" OD springs in lengths up to 10" .the spring shown is a 7" 350 LB and will not be used .the other spring is a 10" 250 LB that i could use but i think it is a little light .i am going to have to mod my held tubular arms to make these work , maybe even lengthen them .my car corners really well already but i want it to be the best cornering car on the road.i am going to modify the rear suspension to add upper control arms and eliminate the struts .this will get rid of the bumpsteer and correct the lack of camber change through travel that plagues most strut suspensions .i may add a rear roll bar but i am not covinced it is needed .the other things i am going to add will be electric power steering assist.the car will feel much better with lighter steering .getting willwood front 12" brakes that are for the subaru wrx .these will not fit a cut down stock hub but will fit my street dreams hubs .wilwood part #140-9193 .these are 5X100 stud pattern .should fit under my 16" wheels .i will have to make my own adapter plates but that is not a big deal .
[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 10-30-2011).]
going on a little road trip this week .heading to cincinatti to see the Bills play the Bengals and then heading down to the tail of the dragon and whatever other twisty roads we feel like trying down there .i was thinking of taking my Gtech but i dont know if it is legal down in Tennessee and NC .up here you can not use anything that hangs off the windshield .anyone know? would be nice to see what cornering force i am generating but i dont want a ticket .
you could have seen it sitting in Dayton sun and monday .fuel pump quit and we had to leave it when we went to the bengals game where we bills fans out numbered the bengals fans almost and then we lost....refs suck! anyway turns out i just had a bad ground connection but i spent 140.00 for a jack , stands and voltmeter and some wire to fix it...but now we are in knoxville TN and tomorrow we do the dragon.i am averaging 40 mpg on I75 at 75 mph .wish i had got your reply , if we had not broke down i would have swung by but i was panicked , thinking i was going home today to get our truck and trailer to drag it home .what a nice stadium you have in Cinci .we had an awesome time ..even with the bills losing .tommorow some pics from the dragon if we have internet .
going on a little road trip this week .heading to cincinatti to see the Bills play the Bengals and then heading down to the tail of the dragon and whatever other twisty roads we feel like trying down there .i was thinking of taking my Gtech but i dont know if it is legal down in Tennessee and NC .up here you can not use anything that hangs off the windshield .anyone know? would be nice to see what cornering force i am generating but i dont want a ticket .
As you drive look at the amount of GPSs on windshields. You won't have to worry.
thanks for the comments .cant meet for lunch , sorry but the breakdown left us running late and we are hightailing it home .while we were down here we did the dragon , moonshiner 28 and then the cherahola skyway .the car ran great , on the dragon i was really glued but i kept getting held up by the bikes .the only problem i had was on the hard right hand switchbacks i rolled so hard on to the left front tire that it rubbed the inner fender .no damage done but i think i will up the front spring rate by about 25 lbs. i did not hook up the gtech so i dont know the corner force but i was neutral , not even howling the tires and never left my lane .a few cars moved over for me , that was nice , but 1/2 mile was closed for road repair and that stopped the fun for a while .a guy on a can am 3 wheeler was in front of me and he held me up .it seems the bikes have taken over the roads down here , not much car parking at the tourist traps .we really liked the skyway , a beutiful road with lots of lookout spots and interesting history .my camera crapped out so i will post some of my wifes pics when we get home .she got some good pictures .
its been raining a lot so i decided to put the car in the garage to start working on it for the winter .a little crowded in there but soon my boat goes in to storage and the griz and miata can go in the plastic shed . i have my willwood 12" subaru wrx brake kit (wilwood# 140-9193) on order from summit racing .those and trying to make my QA-1 shocks fit the front suspension will be the first things i work on .
Your thread is pure gold, thank you! I am SOOO looking forward to finding a motorless '88 to be home to the LSJ/F35 (with LSD!) sitting in my wrecked baby ('05 Ion Redline). Loved the engine/tranny in the Ion, can't WAIT to feel it with mid engine, RWD, real suspension (no more McStruts FTW), and 300-400 lbs less weight! I'll be making around 260 whp with the planned mods. You sir, are an inspiration!
as some of you know , i have given up on the rear upper control arm project .i am still thinking of ways to do it but for now i am getting an HT bumpsteer kit . good news on another front , my HAL shocks are going to fit in the front with little mods required .a little grinding and mount them upside down and they will be good to go .i will post som pics tomorrow .still waiting for my willwood brake kit ...
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