Project Drivabeater

Is it in yet? Don't you hate when she says that? I do...

im tired, so quick update.



THE 3.4 IS IN!!!!!



my best friend and i have been at it since about 4. im beat.



went well, except...



the damn junkyard oil pan has a couple of pinholes in it that are dripping pretty good. anyone have a fix, other than yanking the motor back out and swapping on another pan?



when i saw it, i got really, really discouraged. cleaned up the shop and quit for the night.











tightest spot of clearance. might not work with stock uppers.





budget remains the same. maybe ill feel better about things things tomorrow



michael

As in the other thread, Quicksteel epoxy putty.

yeah i would drain it, clean up the areas really well.  perhaps even heat the area up some to burn any oil out of the area inside and mash it in there good so that it will seal as best as it can from the inside out.  hopefully minimize its ability to wash out from behind it..  beyond that, looking very nice in there.  dont blend in as much as i thought it would.  what are your plans for connecting the fuel lines?  i just ran rubber hose and a clamp to each of those fittings.  worked great.

thanks. i actuially picked up some JB weld stik. says it works on oil pans. pan has ben drained. tomorrow night ill clean it and sand it. wed night ill clean again and JB weld it. then fill woth oil and sit on ground. see what it really lookslike in there.

ive been dinking with the wiring and plumbing a little. first blush is that its ugly. i have a lot of work to do before my next real update.

michael

Understandably, I remember just doing a top end swap on an all ready injected camaro from the 3.4L stuff to 3400 heads and lower intake and it was a PITA, can't immagine doing it from scratch on one of these. The engine to body connection would just drive me up a wall.

mmmm.....alumnum heads
didnt the 3400 heads and 3.4 pistions gove you about 12.something:1 compression? did it run on pump?

that compression ratio is the only reason i havent gotten a set of 3400 heads for this thing.

I'll have to try and look up what pistons were used, they were not run of the mill pistons, but they still gave almost 11:1 compression. 12:1 is well within the realm of race gas or propane, I've seen propane runnning on 9.6:1 vortec 350 taking 18lbs of boost and practically begging for more. I'll see if I can't look up the pistons, all I can remember is that they're spec pistons from an aftermarket maker and they're not spec'ed for a 60 degree V6.

Got a hold of the guy who has the maro now, we apparently used some custom pistons from crower that they had the specs for from the mid 90's, but he's since swapped them out for 3400 pistons which pulled the CR down to 9.6:1, he also swapped out the 3400 heads fro 3500 heads and used the stock 3500 lower intake with a grand am upper in place of the custom upper we used originally so that we could use a 78mm ls1 throttle body instead of the 56mm 3400 TB. He's now using a billet 65mm throttle body which helps his new turbo spool better. He's using the stock 3500 fuel rails but with custom injectors he ordered.

wow. that is a lot of parts swapping right there.

dunno. if i find 3500 heads cheap with the UIM and LIM, ill snag em. 11.5:1 with 3.4 head gaskets.

on to the update.

I've been down in the shop since after dinner, putzing with the wiring and fuel lines.



got almost all the wiring sorted out. fuel lines are done.



nothing picture worthy, mind you.





i also JB welded the oil pan pinholes. so far, no leaks. well see what it looks like in the morning.



i wanted to get some oil moving throughout the engine and test connections, so i hooked the battery back up. spun the key, and it sounded so nice hearing it turn over. i threw some plug wires on it, and it sounded like it wanted to start.  little ether down the throttle body, and she fired right up. only ran for a couple of seconds due to the fuel pump not working, though. gotta figure that out yet.



but I'm stoked. lot more positive than my last post. lot more. my spirits and attitude are back where they should have been Friday.



i know better than to let a minor setback knock me that hard, but after a week long migraine and extra hours on top of it, i did. so....





anyway, just a minor, non picture worthy update. I'm gonna mess with it some more after work tomorrow.



Michael

Good to hear.

I let stuff like that bother me too. Get so close then something stupid.

really ugly update time.

thanks to a lot of sugestions from a lot of different forums i frequent, it got running. what actually happened was that i tapped teh wrong power wire for the swicthed power to the ECM. once i got that changed around, she fired up on the first lick.

vital signs:
60lbs oil pressure on cold 5W30
no leaks yet
no smoke
no noises
800 RPM idle
check engine light for a lot of reasons.

i didnt get much further than gtting it running tonight, as my dad thought he was having a heart atack. i spent the eening at the ER with my family. He's fine, and they said he didikn have a heart attack, but dont know what happened. hes pissed they wouldnt let him go home.

so tomorrow night, im going to finalize the few wires i jhavent hooked up yet, and start looming, taping, tightening, etc the engine bay harness. hopefully im about done with wiring.


heres the pic i snapped at the end of the night. its ugly, but shows where im coming from on the wiring.

Like I said at s10p, can't wait to hear about you ripping around with it.

BTW, you got spell check?

yeah. just forget i do and dont use it.

i should, though. my typing and spelling are terrible.

congrats on getting it running!

glad to hear your dad's fine.  My grandma had a similar thing happen a while back. It was caused mostly by stress.

I've seen that happen before, I was in the ER with a crushed toe(don't ask) and a guy came in, thought he was having a heart attack, but it was gas, they gave him a mild muscle relaxer, a nurse pushed on his stomach and he let out the biggest fart I've ever heard, I was three beds down and heard it like I had my head between his knees. The stink didn't make it to me luckily.

Damn, sorry I missed the part about your Dad. Glad he is fine.

Now I feel like an ass.

Eric: don't worry about it. i honestly didn't think anything of it.

and everyone else (don't know your real names): thanks for the concern for my dad. hes got a stress test this week. the first thought is that now that hes gone back to working out, and lost weight, that all the medications he was on wound up having some sort of reaction. hes doing well, and is home driving mom nuts again.

i really appreciate the concern. he scared the hell out of me. i honestly though i might lose him.

and i used spell check.

Well, hopefully all turns out well, over-medication due to lost weight seems pretty possible, IMHO we over-medicate in this country as it is, so dropping any large amount of weight could throw that off pretty easily.

update time:previous balance:2731.78

budget:

27 for crimp connectors and heat shrink at Fastenal. i really like their crimp connectors. brass, stepped, and rarely have a mis-crimp. their heat shrink is also adhesive lined.

41 for fuel line, filter, hose clamps, antifreeze, orifice tube, and electrical tape at auto zone.

20.75 at pull-a-part for new fans and intake elbow.

5 for chip (not including the cost of the burner. its a tool.)

6.99 for JB weld stick



grand total: 2832.53

other stuff that was used, i had on the shelf. like to make the air intake setup. i had to buy the elbow. its off some 90's FWD GM product. not sure what, but it looked right down at pull-a-part. the air filter was given to me by a friend that got it with a parts car. the 3 inch exhaust tubing was leftover from putting a dynomax exhaust on the Dakota.

wire for the fans, and the two factory relays are from my wiring box.

i reused the stock radiator hoses, as they were in good shape, and i cut them to fit.

the JB weld has yet to leak on the pan.





Ive spent the last couple of weeks getting the few tricky parts figured out.

1. making the wiring look good. that was a PITA, but I'm glad i took the time. looks almost factory. its actually a little too clean to be factory.

2. cooling. i wanted to use dual fans, pretty much because my PCM can control them. i read on an S10 forum somewhere that a 94-04 intrepid dual fan setup fits perfectly. so i got one from a 95. dual speed fans, fan controller, everything. well, it doesn't fit worth a crap. the fans hang over both radiator tanks. and after spending 20 bucks and a Saturday, i made them work. uglier than homemade sin, but functional. maybe someday, ill find something that fits better.

3. air intake. i thought the factory fire bird setup would fit. well, it did, but very, very badly. so i tried one of the rubber plumbing elbows that Lowe's sells. that fit even worse. i tried putting the air filter directly on the throttle body. no go. finally, walking through pull-a-part, i noticed an elbow off of a 90 something GM FWD V6 product. i got it. was a little large (like 3.5 inch), so i cut up an old inner tube to make some rubber spacers. got the inner tube for free from a local tire shop (Freeman's tire in albemarle), and used a little electrical tape to hold it in place. worked like a charm. drilled a hole in the side for my breather tube, and stuck my IAT at the other end in the air filter. 3 inch exhaust tubing is the metal.

4. throttle cable. i used one from a 2nd gen, CPI blazer. at full depression of the throttle pedal, the throttle blade was only opening about a quarter of the way. so i cut the factory pedal end off, and used a cable end from my BMX days to reattach it. just shortened it up, pretty much. used a washer as well. if anyone ever asks, ill take a picture.



the 92 inner fenders and core support went in without a hitch. grille is actually attached properly for the first time,and my headlights are now properly adjustable.



here's pics before the first test drive:











see the funky heater hose and fan setup? best i can do for right now. maybe when work gets a little better.....





anyway, i had a guy i know write a computer program for it. that didn't work so well. so were going back to the drawing board on that one. i test drove it on the stock lumina software today. has a low idle now that its getting warmed up. also, has a nasty bog off idle on either chip. I'm thinking vacuum leak.

drove it around the block. in first and second, shes a lot peppier, even running pig rich with no timing. pretty fun, to be honest. got home, was planning on trying to find the "vacuum leak" before supper. blew the lower radiator hose off the water pump right in front of the garage. apparently, i missed the metal outlet of the housing with the hose clamp, and only tightened it to the hose itself. so, Ive gotta clean that up and add some more coolant before i take it back out.



bu that's my update.

michael