1979 Malibu

[TireSmoker]

Picked up some turbo headers plus header wrap. I also picked up these fittings and hose to use where vacuum lines go. They are 1/8" npt on one side like a lot of vacuum fittings, and the other side is sorta like a shark-bite connector in plumbing. Stays tight, but easy to release. Also picked up an oil drain back plate for where the fuel pump is normally mounted. This will receive the drained oil from the turbo. Saves having to modify the oil pan.

A few years back, Gwen wrapped the exhaust on her old motorcycle and it came out pretty good. I asked her if she'd give these a try and she agreed. I wheeled an old 400 block (the one from Bailis!), put a head on with a single bolt, and mounted up the headers one at a time. She did a great job The one with the bands in the middle was the first one, and like most things, the second one turned out a little better.

I upgraded Tiresmoke Central's TV -- we had a newer 42 inch TV in the basement that was hardly ever used, so I brought it out here. The old TV worked, but the edges of the broadcast would get cut off, stuff like that. I also picked up some new antennas, one for the TV and one for the radio and I've got mint reception on everything now. I've also started enjoying some of the 80s NASCAR stuff on youtube. Pretty good background noise.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

Well 1 step forward and 2 steps back. The new wrapped turbo headers are in... and my coils dont fit, at least the front two on each side. More re-engineering!

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

Alpha prototype.. spark plug wires will route around front and rear tubes of headers, instead snaking straight down between header and valve cover.

[TireSmoker]

I made some coil brackets. They're not pretty, but I think they'll work. I'll get them all finished up and then finish off the new plug wires. I'm also going to use these talled, finned valve covers. As a bonus, I put my good EFI Connection coil brackets back on the Chevelle, which means I can put everything back together on that one.

[TireSmoker]

Finished and ready to fire, save for longer studs for the valve covers. I dont want the coils flopping around. But otherwise done.

Fun facts I learned.. the spacing between the front two valve cover bolts is different than the rear two.., by about 5mm. I really need to space the coils further apart on the pairs that go around a PCV/breather hole. Also, those coil boots are so big and everything is sealed so tight, I end up having to 'burp' them with a small screwdriver between the coil and boot to let the air out. You can hear it.

I modified one of my tools to have a small hook. This was huge in trying to get those 90 degree boots on the coil side. I fished my hook through the boot so I could pull on the plug wire while guiding/sliding the boot down the wire. (wd 40 to make everything slide easier) Otherwise, it's like trying to push a slippery rope. The spark plug ends are a piece of cake.

[TireSmoker]

Made a trip down south today and stopped to see Cut N Paste welding to get a couple temporary header outlets made up.

[TireSmoker]

Well, I made a key mistake/omission on the pipes I had Kurt make up -- no O2 bung. They're fine for running the car around the garage or driveway, but when I was thinking about whether I could make an N/A pass with it this weekend, I didn't wanna do that without an O2 sensor. I have new, much larger injectors installed and my tune will surely require a little tweaking.

I've been working on finishing up more wiring. The Spartan WBO2 controller is done except for the status LED, which is optional. I'm 75% done with the transbrake and launch control wiring. I'm really curious to try this out. Line lock is up next.

I've had this car for almost a year -- I need to get it on the track.

-Dave

[MostMint]

since you have easy access to the inside, could you drill a hole and double nut the sensor in place?

the other option to consider is if you have a pipe with a bung you could band clamp it on top of one of the stacks.

If not, then I guess we'll see you a little later today lol.

[TireSmoker]

If not, then I guess we'll see you a little later today lol.

Since I had to make a trip over to Team FIckle Bitch to empty out the race tires from last weekend, I made another stop at Cut N Paste Welding to get an O2 bung added into my pipe. I'm not sure how well it's going to work, but gotta be better than nothing. It should be OK under load.

After I got home, Chris stopped over. We properly zip-tied the radiator in place and I pulled the car into the driveway and made my first holeshots with it!!

It wasnt running super great, some stumbling and such. I was looking over my tune file tonight, after upgrading to the latest firmware and noticed the crank trigger was set wrong -- set to Rising Edge, needs to be Falling Edge. That's a major error. I also enabled the cam sync and was able to get it running in full COP mode, full sequential fuel. It seems to fire up better now. I actually never got the cam sync working and enabled on the Chevelle, so this is a first.

One problem exposed -- on a quick, and even slightly more careful inspection, the alternator belt looks right, but I saw a bunch of belt dust. Sure enough, the alternator looks a little crooked. I'll have to address that.

I'm going to play with it more in the driveway tomorrow, hopefully with the transbrake working.

But some much needed payback this afternoon!

[TireSmoker]

After feeling a bit positive after the weekend's success, I went ahead and booked some dyno time for next Friday, 10/21, @ Higher Standards, the new dyno shop in Chardon, just down the street a bit from Hutter's. Tony is taking his Chevelle there on the same day, so it should make for an interesting day.

Join us if you can!

[TireSmoker]

New alternator brackets ordered and installed. I had to get a shorter belt too, Dayco #15435.

The fan for the rear-mount trans cooler is partially wired. I have a relay socket, but right now it's just jumpered so that its always on if the car is on. I have to figure out how I want to control it. Might just put it on a manual switch, or in conjunction with radiator fans. I also need to get the trans-temp gauge hooked in somehow.

Transbrake and Launch Control are fully wired! More driveway launches tomorrow.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

We've got video!

[wxo]

Don't you need to plant a practice tree right there in your yard?

[TireSmoker]

I wouldlove to plant a practice tree next to the driveway. I have resisted SOOO many urges over the years to leave any sort or marks up the driveway. Those driveway launches didn't help. but they were fun


But today was dyno day! Chris came over and we quickly got the car loaded on a Uhaul AutoTransport trailer. I love these trailers, they're so easy to load and tie down the car. For $53, and like 2 miles from my house, totally worth it.

Tony found the new dyno shop in Chardon, Higher Standards Performance. Its on Rt 6, just a few doors down from Hutter, in part of the Spear Tractor building. Jared and his assistant Brandon were very good to work with. I'll happily go back. I chose to do my own tuning, as I already had a base tune from when in was in the Chevelle. It just needed some tweaking to adjust for the new injectors. It also let me really put power to the chassis and get the wheels spinning. I could smell some initial tire rub on the drivers side, which seemed to get power clearanced after about 30 seconds with no damage to the tire. Fine after that.

Next I was able to get the idle sorted which helped a bunch. After that, I just sorta drove it lightly, slowly getting wheel speed up, and finally shifting into 2nd gear for the first time. It really bangs in *solid* with authority. After just going back and forth on the throttle like driving down the road, I finally mashed it.

"Come on baby, hold together!" And it did! No weird noises or problems, but there was a fair amount of smoke from the header wrap as they were finally heated for real. They continued to smoke (and set off the building fire alarm) for the next several pulls. My upward pointing exhaust was part of the fire alarm issue too. It was never anything crazy, but always hate to see smoke in the engine bay.

I did a couple more pulls with the auto-tune running and we got a pretty flat AFR curve of 12.5 I think the final HP number was something like 320.

Did a couple holeshots in the parking lot to end it all, then loaded up. All in all, a very successful day.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DVyKMW5QcM0

-Dave