1979 Malibu

[TireSmoker]

Effort wise, it's honestly not terrible. Its a manual-steering box, not like a power-steering box with no power. I'll take the video game look!

Driving around with the O2 sensor unplugged killed it, so I threw in a replacement and have good data again.

My tuning changes paid dividends! Chris and I took a quick test drive to see, and it was the really the first time it came into boost and really pushed us back. I may have over-shot, log looked really rich (10.1) and it didn't wanna pull past 5200. But we were both like "whoa, that felt strong!" 7lbs of boost according to the datalog.

We got it back in the garage just before sprinkles hit.

[TireSmoker]

This weekend I started tackling the new radiator + fan install. The old radiator +2fans that came with the car were just not up to the task. Even when was at Dragway 42, it got up to 200 and was a pain to cool. I have limited room to work with, so I got a Proform radiator with the same height/width, but an extra row/core. I'm also using a factory GM fan from inventory that I believe will move much more air.

The big problem with this is that I need to move the intercooler forward, and not even that much, maybe 2-3" There's room to do it, but there will be cutting on the core support to make everything fit better. I also had to re-do the mounts that support the intercooler from the bottom. Paul was able to weld a couple bolts together to make those. I ordered some new silicone 90* elbows with longer legs, they should be here in a day or two.

[TireSmoker]

I got my new radiator modified by Steve McBride.. I think this will work better. I need to find a different hose. Worst case, I might have to have Steve shorten it up a bit, though.

[Basement Paul]

That looks pretty slick. I'm sure there's a ready made hose for that scenario.

-BP

[GMJohnny]

That looks pretty slick. I'm sure there's a ready made hose for that scenario.

-BP

Perhaps Mr. T has one for Dave. He’s already welded his tag on the
steel tube, maybe he has a hose division as well.

GM

[Basement Paul]

I PITY THE FOOL THAT DOESN'T USE MY HOSES!

-BP

[TireSmoker]

The plan is to just use a flex hose, similar to what was on there, minus the molded 90* end. It should just make a nice arc from the thermostat housing, like Mr. T's mohawk.

[TireSmoker]

Today was a milestone day! I engaged Scott Clark from realtuners.com to help me get Maliboost's Megasquirt dialed in. Scott is a for-real tuner. If any of you remember way back in the early-mid 2000s, the videos that blue turbo chevy pickup, awd, just crushing everything on the street, that was him. Not his truck, but he tuned that. He does everything from Land Speed cars, high end drag cars, diesel stuff, etc.

Right off the bat, he told me my NGK R5671A-7 plugs were a non-resistor, which is a no-no with EFI. That was like step 2 and was a show-stopper. Over lunch I ran to Chardon Autozone to get 8 plugs NGK 7938... They had 9 in stock. Chesterland had 7. R u kiddin me??

So in the afternoon I managed to get all the plugs gapped, prob around .025-.028. I can do all 8 from the front fenderwells, with a jack under the crossmember, extending the front suspension. Very easy. I had to hug the tires a little more than I'd like, so extra extensions will resolve that.

Scott called me back in the afternoon after work was over. He remoted back into my laptop, we made some changes to the idle, he had me adjust the idle screw on the throttle body, the Accel-Enrich, and he base lined the VE table and spark tables to his liking. He even complimented me for having 0 wiring issues. Foreshadowing. He told me to take the car for a drive and record a datalog and let him know what I thought.

I called Chris to see if he'd join me on the ride. I decided to keep heat issues out of the way by running with the hood off. I feel super-hillbilly doing it, but when I have a passenger, its easier to tolerate. So we go for a test drive. Of course, there are a few bugs in tune1.0, it stalled a couple times approaching slow turns and stops signs. No biggie, got it restarted easily. All in all, it drove fairly good for a 1.0 tune. We datalogged it and Scott can use them to generate tune2.0

So, things were going very well. We took Wilson Mills, to East Hill (1st stall), East Hill to Mulberry (2nd stall), Mulberry to 306, south to Sherman, Sherman to Caves (3rd stall) and then down to Sunoco, and it stalled (4th) going down the hill and we coasted up to a pump. I added 12 gallons.

We went back up the hill on Caves, west on Sherman to County Line, north to Wilson Mills, and were on our way back to the house. With my loose gauge panel, something in my non-Megasquirt shorted out and the car just died. I was able to coast into Laurel road, a cul-de-sac. We're about 2 miles from the house. Chris and I do some initial troubleshooting, but we have nothing with us. It's after 8pm at this point, so I don't wanna screw around too much.

I call Gwen so that she can come rescue us, take us back to the get the truck. As the phone call is ringing, she is pulling up in her car!! She said we were gone a long time and she stood outside and decided she couldnt hear the car, so she came looking for us! She took Chris back to the house to get my truck while I stayed with the car. Once they returned, I found the popped fuse, we replaced it, and on we went. It would pop one more time before I got it into the garage, so something is definitely amiss. But it'll be easy to track down.

In reviewing the datalogs, I saw it get to 7psi. It' is very strong. It should be pretty amazing at 10-12. More to come....

[TireSmoker]