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Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:27 pm
by Basement Paul
Wrapped headers and bellhousing back in place. Waiting on the motor now.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:57 am
by Basement Paul
The motor is done and I should be able to pick it up this week. They were running it on the dyno the last few days chasing an oil leak but they're convinced they've got it fixed. Numbers on the stand are 547hp from 6300 to over 6600rpms, and 500 lbft at 4600. This is the more significant number as it was making max torque before over 5800rpm and if I remember, it was around 460lb ft. This is really what the truck was missing was midrange torque. Everything was WAY up in the RPM range. I think if I can get traction, this will make it way stronger. Really though, until it's on the rollers with all my own equipment hooked up, I won't be able to compare what I had before. Hopefully I can get it back this week and start working on it.

I missed the opportunity to see it run on the stand because I had an appointment to get my first covid shot. I am literally home ALL the time, and the fact that these two things lined up was really frustrating.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:35 pm
by Maverick
Great project!! I'm eager to see the numbers at the track.

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 5:50 pm
by Basement Paul
This weekend I put in about 10 hours getting the engine back in place. Fred helped me on Saturday for about 6 hours muscling the motor and trans together. The rest of the time today was just putting the rest of the bellhousing bolts in, getting the torque converter bolted up, and installing the starter.

Next up will be getting the headers and spark plugs installed. That should be another 6 hours or so. It's amazing how each little thing takes forever on this. Just remind me the next time I want to put a big motor in a small vehicle, what a pain it is. Sometimes I forget... :mrgreen:

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:35 pm
by Basement Paul
I spent some time most evenings this week, all day Saturday, and a few hours today, but the S10 is alive again! The only issues I had were a leaking tranny line at the radiator, and a plastic conduit around a plug wire that was touching the header that melted. Everything else was just a part of the process.
It sounds amazing and runs really smooth with the balanced assembly. I can hear the extra compression and the bigger cam too. It's hard to hear in a video though, which I'll post this week.
Tomorrow the hood and front end go back on, and if the weather is good, it will head to Hutter's for the final tune.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:02 am
by Basement Paul
Here's what it sounds like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjH4AHmWvDQ

Definitely better with speakers than with a phone.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:49 am
by Basement Paul
Yesterday dad dropped by to help me put the hood on. I got the grill installed too, and topped off the transmission fluid. Trevor at Hutter's wanted the drag radials on it for the dyno runs because the street tires just don't grip enough, so I swapped my new set on too. I took it for a quick run around the block in the evening without serious incident. I have one spark plug wire that I need to adjust this morning before I drop it off for what's hopefully it's final tune.

Then I need to clean up my disaster of a garage. Tools and crap everywhere!

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 9:09 pm
by Basement Paul
Less than a week later and the truck is back home and tuned. I got at text around 5pm yesterday from Trevor that he was going to finish the tuning and the truck was on the rollers right now... So I texted dad that this was happening, and I jumped in my truck to go watch.
The final wheel numbers were pretty much exactly where I thought they would be when it was done. 393HP at about 6250rpm and 351 ft lbs at 4650rpm. The last time I was on the dyno was right after I did the heads / headers / 3" exhaust to the muffler. Those numbers were 362HP at about 6800, and 314 ft lbs at about 5700rpm. So a 31HP increase overall and a 37 ft lb increase. The biggest deal is how much more torque across the RPM range and at a lot more useable RPM. Even though the shift point is now at 7000rpms (used to be 6850), the HP and torque come in sooner and then last longer than before.
I drove it home on slightly damp roads, so no real chance to play, but the drivability seems better than before, and the motor is definitely smoother and sounds a little more grumpy out the tailpipes. Hopefully when the snow melts, I can put some miles on it and get down the 1/4. After seeing it on the dyno, at least I'm not afraid to take it to the track right away.

I'll scan the two different dyno sheets for comparison.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:01 am
by Fred32v
It was fun watching the S10 perform on the rollers.
The most fun was when the tranny was asked to shift into 4th under full power.
It didn't take that long, don't know what the speed was at that moment, but .....!!!!!!

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:30 pm
by Basement Paul
Yesterday I spent a bunch of time installing this exhaust gas collection device. Drilling the big hole was the hardest part. Since the surface of the old battery tray was unlevel and pretty thick, I killed almost two hole saws before I gave up and finished with a die grinder.
I had one hole to drill on the inner fender, and then rerun my hoses I had venting to the driver's side inner fender well. I did this upgrade because the old method made a mess of my inner fender and it was stinky inside the truck.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:51 pm
by Basement Paul
Last week my muffler started rattling inside again. That one is the third muffler I've had since the V8 swap. This is what I use:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-17554

That one was almost one year old to the day. Now Summit has these on backorder so I got one from Amazon, and will be taking the rattle box back to Summit this week sometime with the caliper cores from the Firebird. I would get a different muffler but I like the sound of this one, and I don't want to reconfigure my exhaust system again. I have this one set so I can change it out in about 45 minutes. Plus, these have a lifetime warranty so they don't cost me to get a new one.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:51 am
by Basement Paul
After the Renegade race, I noticed a small exhaust ticking coming from up front. That's never good on this configuration. It didn't take me too long to figure out it was the header gasket on the passenger's side and with a mirror I confirmed it was the last cylinder blowing out the top. I spent a solid 1-1/2 hours attempting to tighten up the header bolts (on both sides), but unfortunately it made it only mildly less annoying. I did find several loose bolts on the driver's side though, so at least I avoided blowing out a gasket there also.
Knowing this was going to take awhile, I started on Thursday evening. I was able to finish late on Friday night working evenings only. I had a total of about 4.5hrs in this. Everything is so tight, and to be able to pull the header from the block, I had to go as far back as removing the muffler that I just put on, and use a ratchet strap to pull the header away from the block so I could slip the new gasket in. This also included removed a couple coil bolts, several plug wires (the hardest ones), and a dipstick tube bolt, but I have to be very careful NOT to accidentally pull the dipstick out of the block as this creates it's own nightmare.
But I'm back on the road and "quiet" again. I will go back and retighten these bolts in about a month or so. I also installed a Fel-Pro gasket this time, so hopefully even if a little loose, it won't burn through like the old one.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:51 am
by wxo
BP, I feel your pain and share your sense of accomplishment. :D
There's nothing like an exhaust manifold leak to motivate super human efforts to get rid of it.

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:09 pm
by Basement Paul
It is one of the most annoying sounds in a car, EVER. Glad I was able to do it without major teardown. This truck is awesome, and it has certainly taught me patience like I've never known before.

-BP

Re: 2003 S-10

Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 3:39 pm
by Basement Paul
Not a lot new to report on the S10 from over the winter. After my drive on Sunday though, I started to get a slight miss at medium throttle. A quick look at the end of my drive revealed a cracked plug wire boot. It was of course on number 8 as that one was touching the A/C box.
The wires that were on there were FAST brand 8.5mm ones and I've already replaced three of them cuz they're just too big for my space. I replaced it with a stockish one I had that was new. That only took just over an hour for the one wire... I replaced number 6 as well since it's kind of in the way and didn't look great either.

-BP