Ken's Engine Project... Part VI - 2004

[Ken]

Man, that's a lot of work, i.e., "sore fingers". :L

Of course I'm gonna Loctite 'em, right after I torque 'em. Hell, I even bought an inch-pound torque wrench today to be sure the bolts holding the wheel speed sensors were torqued to spec.

By the way, I may as well ask it here as well as in the General Tech forum, but what exactly is the sealant referred to as Part #9636067? Is it similar to the black silcone sealer I've already got in my toolbox? I figure that if I'm into it this far, I may as well do it right, eh? :L

 

[Ken]

I'm either the most gullible person, incapable of making correct judgements, or I just threw money around like it didn't matter.

Just got a call from Scott at Unitrax; it'll be done Thursday or Friday to the tune of around $575. He said the gears were bad, but he also said everything was worn normally for a 100,000 mile car; bearings, clutches, etc. That tells me that the only change made in 2001 was a ring & pinion gear change - nothing else. What do you think that should normally cost?

So, I'm looking right at my receipt from Guldstrand, dated January 22, 2001. In the main body of the repair order, there's a description for "R&R Third Member (swap from 3.07 to 3.73)". In the upper-left of the receipt, where the breakdown of parts list is, it reads: "Rebuild 3.73 Third Member", with a sale amount in the next column reading $1450.

Fourteen-hundred and fifty dollars!! For a simple ring and pinion change?? If I looked at the receipt before, I assumed the complete rear end (differential as well as gears and bearings) was rebuilt! There I go again - ASSUMING. I made an ass of myself again!

Hey look! Here comes Ken; let's take his lunch money. ad

 

[Ken]

The cleaning goes on ...

Maybe re-assembly starts tomorrow. Depends on how I feel. ​

Without the inner wheel liner.​

They painted the third member, but I just cleaned the aluminum carrier;​

it looks good enough.​

I polished the half-shafts though. ​

 

[WhalePirot]

$575 seems reasonable to me. Wanna polish my half shafts?

Hey, Ken, I need lunch money!! ad

BTW, we ALL suffer from the 'halo' effect is certain speed shops, not just you. Further, look at parts pricing at the current 'hot' Corvette shops, for additional bolstering of this point. Check what we will pay for simple plates to reduce frame harmonics by a couple of hertz!

Folks in all corners of the globe have been cashing in on others' zeal for products since at least Agora days. Don't think UR unique; just a bit wiser, if at a price.

BTW, I did offer to buy lunch the other day.

 

[Ken]

I know, I know... :eyerole

 

[Ken]

Hey, while I'm thinking about it, where or how could I clean up that exhaust system? Not only is it badly stained, it's got a lot of melted plastic back there near the right muffler (You're viewing it right-side up. ).

 

[WhalePirot]

Razor blade the melties.

Scrub the tubes with ScotchGuard, steel wool or.....

Glossy, high temp paint?

 

[Ken]

I ain't gonna paint that! And I certainly ain't gonna scrub it by hand; it'll go back on untouched before I'll do that!! :L

I was thinking of sand or media blasting, then preserving it somehow.

The plastic is on there pretty darn good too; a razor would take forever, and I would probably have to go through a couple hundred blades.

 

[rrubel]

Bead-blast (glass beads) and then 1200-degree paint. But honestly, who will know but yourself as long as you keep the shiny side up...
[RICHR]

 

[WhalePirot]

But, if he polished it, he could comb his hair in the reflection while he was (again) under it, detailing and fussing!


Easy, Ken.... Messing wif ya, with high regards! :cool

But your byline is spot on. It NEVER ends!

Maybe paint, but certainly ceramic coating will preserve it. I just thought you were watching the coins.

 

[taegdh]

Exhaust Cleanup

Down at Home Depot and they have a couple of drill attachments, which are like "Scotch Brite" pad but is red/brown. One is like a wheel, (3/4" wide). The other is 5 to 6 inches in diameter, attaches to a sanding disc backer with hooks, and is offered in a coarse, medium and light abrasiveness.

I've used them in the past to remove all sorts of crud on a variety of surfaces in my home repair and remodeling adventures.

I think one would be very effective in removing all that melted plastic without destroying the undersurface. I'd just take it easy in application.

As far as treating the surface, I would investigate a very high temperature paint. There are quite a few shades of grey and white, one of which should fit your needs.

 

[Ken]

I just thought you were watching the coins.

Oh, I am Mike, I am - believe me. Some other things just have to take a back seat to the Vette.

 

[Ken]

It's back in. Should have it back on the road tomorrow.

​

 

[Ken]

​

 

[Ken]

A continuing saga - "As Luck Would Have It."

Sometimes it makes me wonder!

Yesterday I wanted to attend a cruise event in Thousand Oaks, but I had problems before I even got out of the South Bay. ​

​

As I was cruising down Vista Del Mar, almost to Playa Del Ray, I noticed my voltmeter reading around 10 volts. I stopped by a friend's in the area and we checked it with another voltmeter just to be sure. It was only putting out 10 volts.​

​

I turned around and headed back home, hoping that I'd make it. As I got closer to home, I saw the volts slowly dropping off ... 10, 9, 8 ... It finally gave up and died at 8 volts and wouldn't restart. I was lucky I made it as far as I did though, because a stock setup would have died at 10 volts or so. My computer, coils and injectors are all wired directly from the battery, therefore I had enough juice to run the engine for awhile, but the electrical instruments wouldn't even read. Luckily I do have mechanical gauges for oil pressure and temperature, and coolant temperature, so I was able to monitor those critical readings.​

​

I flat-bedded it home yesterday, removed and replaced the alternator, charged the battery for two full hours, and everything appeared to be A-OK. Wrong!​

​

This morning I got on the 405 headed north, and lo and behold, what does my voltmeter read but 10 volts - again! I kept my eye on it and it didn't appear to be dropping any, so I continued out to the SF Valley. The 405 was more of a mess than usual too for some reason. I think the 10 had its own problems, and it was causing the backup on the 405, in both drections. ​

​

Anyhow, I noticed it continued to slowly drop until by the time I was on SR23 near the park where I was originally headed for a Corvette show, the voltmeter reading was so low that I just continued to Tierra Rejada and then into Simi.​

​

However, the station I thought was a full service station was only an AM/PM Mini-Mart so I couldn't just charge the battery and drive it back home; instead I had to call AAA again and flatbed it back. There's a K-Mart there too, but I didn't have the money to buy a battery either. I didn't see a garage there at the K-Mart so maybe they didn't even have batteries.​

​

Now, I get home and put it on the charger to recharge the battery fully before attempting to start i again. After 45 minutes or so, I had enough charge in it that I thought it would start and I could move it in the garage and get back to it later.​

​

When I tried to start it though, I noticed a rather loud "clicking" noise coming from somewhere around the plenum, but couldn't pinpoint it due to the noise from my electric fuel pump. I disconnected the fuel pump from the circuit by removing the fuse, then tried the key again, this time with a stethoscope to pinpoint the noise; # 8 injector was merrily cycling away, pumping tons of fuel into the cylinder.​

​

I unplugged the offending injector and tried it again. Still clicking on #4. I unplugged that one and tried again. Still clicking! So I unplugged them all and tried it that way.​

​

I turned the key with them all unplugged and there was no clicking, so I started plugging them in one-at-a-time. Not only were #4 and #8 cycling, but #3 was as well!!​

​

Now, due to the fact that as I was checking things the first few times, a lot of fuel had accumulated under the plenum and around the manifold base. Even though I checked the oil for any excessive gasoline odor, I decided to pull the plugs just to be on the safe side. It's a good thing I did!​

​

The fuel simply POURED from those three offended cylinders. I mean it poured! I had so much fuel around the front of the car, it was a good thing no one was around smoking.​

​

Now, on top of my charging problem, I have to figure out why the injectors were cycling like that.​

​

Sometimes it does make me wonder!​

:eyerole

 

[redc4corvette]

Accel regulators like to fill up your motor with fuel.
Been there done that,
Or check your relays by the evap can in the front .
Ecm will usually fire the injectors in a 18436572 order not even and uneven?

 

[Ken]

Remember, this vehicle is far from stock.

I didn't work on it yesterday, but I did talk to my Electromotive rep and we think it's just a case of the computer needing to be re-set. Same as with the factory ECMs, this one too will sometimes hang up if the voltage is erratic. I've gotta unplug it for a couple of minutes to see if it will reset.

I purchased the wrong style of alternator Saturday I guess; that was the cause for no-charge condition Sunday.

 

[G Winter]

Keep showing pictures of torn up drive trains and I might start driving with an egg under my foot..:L Like that would ever happen to much fun getting on it. Hope you have blood left when your done paying.

 

[Ken]

Aha! It's beginning to make sense now...

Update on the last problem with the alternator: ​

I had the Powermaster alternator rebuilt and it works fine now. I changed the oil and filter at the same time (gasoline in the oil - I wasn't going to take a chance) and tried to install the check valve from my oil cooler, but that effort was to no avail because my knock sensor is in the way. I'm probably going to have to install it up near the exchanger. It's only to prevent accidentally blowing the exchange with cold oil anyway - I'd never do that.

Took it out and ran around for a while and am glad to report that it's running like a champ again! Now I've got to get back to fine-tuning the driveability issues, finding the cause of the ever-present "Intermittent Cam Synch Sensor Failure" code, and finally, return to the dyno shop to search for the missing horsepower.

Today:

Did I say that I was having problems sorting this out? Well, today I was standing over my running engine and noticed what appeared to be a vacuum leak, so I got out the old piece of vacuum hose and held it to my ear while I searched for the source of the sound (leak).

I discovered a major vacuum leak at numbers 2 & 3 intake ports; it's leaking more at the leading edge of number 2 than it is at the rear of the same port, but it's still bad enough to be causing tuning problems. It will also have an effect on my dyno runs, and I'll probably find some of the missing horsepower once I repair this leak.

I shouldn't ***** I guess, this will give me the opportunity of accessing the wiring under the plenum too, and hopefully I can make some room with it so I can have an easier time working on it in the future.

Now it's just a matter of doing it.

 

[WhalePirot]

Well, I for one won't be posting broken rear pics. the car won't start again: no fuel pump-again!

Someone loves me and this car!

Also, the BFGs are so slippery, front and rear now, that it is scary to drive even slightly aggressively. Guess all that spinning before and after rotating the tires hardened them all.