Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Once again if all goes well

John D · 2K+ Club

Good Luck! Hope it pulls the numbers you're expecting!

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Target was 450HP 450TQ on pump gas

Guy who is running the PC is a motor head and software code writer. He looked at what can be done and thought this will be fun. The biggest shock I got on the bill was the cost of what the +.200 push rods cost $140 for the "Good Ones" last set I bought was $50 for moly. The heads came with the special headbolts that were in a valve cover so that saved a few coin.

Of everything I had the only thing of the original motor is the block, everything else is new except heads and EFI intake. Total cost for this little fiasco was spread over 3 years so it didn't hurt as bad when I got the final bill and only owed $207.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Started work at 3:45 so I can get out early for the dyno session. Have 6 gallons of 93 octane fuel ready to go for this thing. Now the fun part will be getting it home since it was glare ice coming into work this morning, may not be any better coming back from the dyno.

Tony Hoffer · Moderator

Have fun...

Hopefully your day at the dyno goes better than this guys..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Kh-A08FAc

This was at line performance...

Seth · Contributor

Time's up! How'd it do?

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Well started out as a session from hell and long as hell. Got there at 9:00am and didn't leave until 3:00pm six freakin hours half of it was nerve racking hell.
Got everything set up to start running by 10:00 then spent untill 12:00 trying to find out why there was no spark, is it coil, dist, ecu, sensor what? Finally pulled the dist and coil and replaced with another dist and coil to get engine running. Ok running do cam break-in and get to first partial pull at 12:45 far to lean across the board. Richen up 5% again and start running the RPMs up stopping along the way to fix the lean spots shown by both A/F sensors. This is taking forever with first pull to 5000 hitting 440HP and TQ of 460 alright this thing may have some potential. Then spend until 2:00 tweeking spots up to 5900 so it is not to rich or to lean and when you finally remember oh thats right recheck timing on the engine and play with 4 degrees to find the sweet spot.

After 18 runs it finished at 450.2HP @5600 and 464.7TQ @4600 and after it goes in the car will still need more tune in street trim. Ron and R&R had the patience of a saint with all that happened just to get it running. Jeremy the tuner on the PC really worked for every little spot that flashed for an instant lean or fat that entire time. Now I really owe him big time and will need to repay him for all his help.

In hind site I could have built this engine for less funds with many of the parts I had on hand and gotten at or near what I ended up with. This thing does idle at 800-850 with no problem, starts instantly, fantastic throttle response and finally looks nice with all the polished aluminum on top. Been up since 1:30 AM and I really need some sleep now, well I have to drive into town for a meeting at church first ARGH!

SShink · 3K+ Club

Dave that's great HP & torque! That's one stout little small block! biggrin

How about some pics now that's it's nice all pretty?

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Its nice to see your finally working on your own stuff Dave. Glad to see you got the engine running. What ended up being the problem?

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Swapped out the coil and dist for a unit that Ron at the Dyno had. I actually have a new MSD Pro Billet, 6AL and blaster coil and didn't use them as the Holley came with all the stuff Plug N Play. So it was decided why add in something that was not on the previous working unit. That stuff was left at the shop so had to "borrow" the stuff from Ron. When it is finally in the car those items will be on and hopefully wired into the spark control of the ECU. Some of the wires did look a tad on the brittle side and will need a good once over again before that happens.

Doug F. from Holley on the TC EFI board and a few other guys had given a heads up on some of the tuning and base map calibrations prestart adjustments. All had stated to start with certain base maps and add 5% across the board to reduce chances of leaned out melt down on cam breakin. They were right on the money as it was still lean as hell with some cells being as lean as 18.5 LAM A/F ratio. After the 4 of us were on the same page and watching for cetain things Jeremy could really start adjusting fast. When spark control is connected and in the car it could be leaned out a tick more then what it is now. Richest spots are at 11.4 and leanest is 12.7 the leanest spots also coinside with max HP and TQ. So I think I learned something there as well on the tune. When the K&N filter is pulled off all hell breaks loose and it goes massively lean instantly with stumbles and such, the previous owner did some blending on the intake. Talk of a larger throttle body was briefly discussed and the wallet said NO!
EFI does some really cool things that sitting down now and looking at the sheets I can understand better how the maps can really be tuned for optimum performance.

Scott Parkhurst · Super Poster

That's all good news Dave! Glad to hear it's running well for you, and that you got to work on your own stuff for a change.

Is this the wagon engine?

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Scott Parkhurst wrote:

That's all good news Dave! Glad to hear it's running well for you, and that you got to work on your own stuff for a change.

Is this the wagon engine?

This is the wagon engine good bad or whatever, over the Jones for more power but common sense kicked in. Down the line if the power is just not enough there is easily room for more cam with the heads and compression. Wife will be driving this and if it does not idle or has problems due to a big cam I'm toast. So I'll be happy with what I have and redirect efforts to the body now.
I have had to blow off some things so I can just concentrate on the wagon. I may bring in some little quick job for the extra cash but otherwise no new projects.
The main goal for this year is to just get floor, cargo area braces, sail panels and window braces replaced this year. Anything above and beyond that is a bonus as far as metal work and welding goes. The cargo area repair is already way over hours I thought it would take to repair. Cutting, fabbing, fitting, bending, hammer, dolly, welding grinding and then reweld because of pin holes in welds takes some time. I have been hitting it a couple hrs a night and weekends when time permits to just plug along. After the cargo area is repaired then it is set to the side so I can work on the full floor pan I cut out of another car. I'm getting as much done as I can before it goes in so I'm not laying on my back weldin things in. Also plan to sandblast and prime all the parts before they go in so it is less work later and easier welding.

Lost in the 60s · President

Dave Seitz wrote:

The cargo area repair is already way over hours I thought it would take to repair. Cutting, fabbing, fitting, bending, hammer, dolly, welding grinding and then reweld because of pin holes in welds takes some time.

I don't keep track of time. It just hurts to know how many hours I spend on it. It only takes a couple minutes to make a mess with a welder that takes hours to cut out, fab new patches for and get it straightened out again, not that I have any experience with that... If I initially think it SHOULD only take an hour to fit a panel, it's usually 4 hours before I'm happy with the fit to start welding. The plus side is that the extra fitment time usually means it fits, functions and looks good when done.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

It does get old real fast, on the bright side I know other members who have just as much work ahead of them.
Paul I'm looking in your direction.