New motor for my vette...

Well, here's a video of the car idling. You will likely note that the idle is very smooth until the coolant temps got to be around 110 degrees or so. Then it obviously becomes very rough and loping sounding. I should have run this longer, because it appears that the exhaust gets rather smoky towards the end, and I am curious about how badly it would get the longer I ran the car at idle. Maybe next time....

But in any event, yeah, still got some issues to iron out before I'll be taking any trips in this car.

Ehhh doesn't look half bad"

Unbelievable as it may seem, my car STILL isn't road worthy. But getting closer. Most recently I had to completely redo the fuel system. The guy who installed the Aeromotive pump didn't hook up the passenger side fuel tank, plus had that pump installed completely wrong. Not to mention that there was no fuel filter in the fuel line anywhere. So I pretty much did everything over again. Pulled out that external fuel pump completely, as it was a darn Frankenstein kluge. Going to go with a modified pump internal to the fuel tank, like the stock unit is already.



The above video was pretty much just trying to run the fuel tanks dry so I could pull out the stock fuel pump to send off to a guy to be modified to handle the higher demands of the new engine. Then since the last guy who worked on my car ran it over 400 miles (including dyno time) without a fuel filter in place, I pulled out the fuel injectors and am sending them off to be inspected and cleaned. Luckily I chose to do that, because I took some pics of one of the injectors I randomly picked out and a LARGE piece of debris is plainly visible in the injector.





I would imagine the other seven injectors have similar garbage in them.

This just keeps on getting better and better...... :bang:

We call this a "retirement project" at work. <G>

Yeah, Connie keeps calling it my retirement hobby. Personally, I can't believe that people calling themselves "experts" worked on my car and put it into the condition I found it in when I got it home and put it up on my lift.

Rich as a Vette guy I have been waiting for this car to be done. Hope it you can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally.

Very nice looking car

Thank you. But it would be MUCH nicer if the darn thing was running....

Wow I just read through all the problems you've been through with this project vette. I hope everything works out for you real soon. A vette is my dream car but its going to be 1965 -70 stingray. Hope everything turns for the better for you Rich.

Thanks.

Completely overhauled the entire fuel system and only just recently got the new wiring harness installed. Found I had to replace the throttle body as the one I got based on the recommendations of the last guy who worked on my car is not compatible with my engine electronics. Then found that the threaded brass inserts in the intake manifold that hold the throttle body in place had a couple of them pulled out of their mountings and I had to tap them back into place yesterday. So I'm now waiting on a new throttle body seal so I can put that back together.

Oh yeah, I had to replace all of the fuel injectors because they got trashed by the junk in the fuel, and no fuel filter in place to catch the junk before the fuel got to the injectors.

Let's see, found that turbo wastegates had their vent ports plugged up, which is a no-no, and found the rubber o-ring seal in the blow off valve was broken. All of the bolts holding the intake manifold to the heads were at least a full turn (some two full turns) loose. A brake line was laying against one of the half shaft axle boots and ripped it open, so I wound up replacing both shafts. Also replaced the entire brake system while I was at it. Heck, I can't remember all the stuff I found that I had to fix or do over again.

The fact that I drove it 55 miles home from the last shop it was in without it bursting into flames or major components just falling off of it is a darn miracle.

But it should be getting close to being done. If it starts up and runs OK after all the stuff I did to it recently, I think I'll be ready to get the tuning started on it by next week. Still need to do some vacuum line plumbing before that takes place, though. Going with a 2 bar MAP tune, and I've got to relocate that MAP sensor from behind the intake manifold to the front. Make the fuel pressure regulator vacuum/boost regulated with a vacuum line and relocate the vacuum line going to the blow off valve to a vacuum manifold block I installed.

But planning on starting it up this weekend if there are no fuel leaks in the fuel lines when I run up the fuel pressure. Hopefully that will go well.

Took some time along the way putting reflective insulating covers on nearly all of the electrical lines, vacuum lines, and coolant hoses. Kind of gaudy looking, but this was the only stuff I could find that would stand up to the high temperatures I expected. Regular black convoluted tubing is only really rated at a bit over 200 degrees, and those headers will melt any of it nearby to them. Ask me how I know that.....





And, of course, this gives me an opportunity to clean up all the crud and junk accumulated over the last 2.5 years while the car lanquished in those two shops that "worked" on it.







As Connie said to me, the car looks pretty just sitting on the lift in the garage, so worse comes to worse, it will just become a nicknack there.

Well, getting closer. Started up the car today after doing a bunch of stuff to it, including rebuilding the fuel system with new fuel pumps and injectors, replacing the throttle body and fuel pressure regulator, and fixing a wiring problem with the turbo scavenge pump and running a new wiring harness for the fuel pumps. I was honestly surprised that it started up.



Connie was standing by to grab the fire extinguisher........

Thought I was at the goal line but hit another snag in that I need to replace the stock MAP sensor with a 2 bar MAP and relocate it to the front of the intake manifold. Even though I have had the new MAP sensor for 5 months now, no one told me I would need a new grommet/seal for it. So I'm scrambling now to get one so I can get this done. Oh, not to mention that the last guy who worked on my car for some danged reason relocated the vacuum cable for my turbo blow off valve at exactly the spot I need for this MAP sensor relocate. :headbang: So that just complicates this even further.

I swear, I no sooner get the ball kicked and someone goes and moves the goal posts on me.

Has a nice tone to the exhaust.

Finally.....

I got all of the mechanical stuff done and finally got it to the point where the car is ready to be tuned. A guy from Atlanta drove down this past Sunday, and did an excellent job getting my car driveable. Still some minor tweaking needing to be done, but it sure does look like this project that has been ongoing for over two and a half years (943 days, to be exact) may finally be finished.



Sorry about the shakiness in the video in spots. I have NO idea why it did that. It was almost like there was some sort of electronic or magnetic interference in some spots.

Short synopsis of what has transpired:

• 10/27/09 thru 09/17/10 at XtremeMotorsports in Blountstown, FL to have the engine and drive train replaced. Car was in that shop for 325 days.
• 09/17/10 thru 11/18/11 at South Georgia Corvette in Thomasville, GA to finish up and fix what the first shop did and tune the car. Car was in that shop for 427 days.
• Car was driven back home on 11/18/11 and thru 05/27/2012 had been sitting on the lift in my garage while I worked on it to try to fix everything to try to get my car in running order to be ready to be tuned. That took 191 days.

And here are some pics of the engine compartment after I got everything fixed and tidied up:

Hope this time's the charm. <G>

Congrats Rich! Sounds good.

Here's another video I took after Connie helped me to put on a new airbridge. The old one was hitting against the underside of my hood, because apparently the larger opening on the new intake manifold moved the centerline up in the throttle body, and changed the angle of the airbridge. I tried every which way from Sunday, but just could not get any more clearance....



Now part of the reason for running the engine was to get the new airbridge heated up so I could retighten the clamp that attached to the MAF sensor. Well, I figured I should go ahead and recheck all the clamps, as one of the primary instructions when working with forced induction is to make sure EVERYTHING is tight so there are no leaks. Well, that didn't work out so well....







So afterwards Connie and I put the old airbridge back in and I sent this flimsy darn thing back. I could just see this thing getting hot and then blowing up like a balloon when I kicked the car into turbo boost. :eek1:

In the meantime I found a new airbridge made by Granatelli that can handle up to at least 23 psi. Since I'm only set up to get 10 psi out of my turbos, this SHOULD do the trick. Supposed to show up on Monday...



A few weeks ago something popped in my right elbow and my arm has been pretty much laid up ever since. It started feeling better, but like a dummy I went and hammered in some fertilizer spikes for the fruit trees into the ground with that arm yesterday, and got it to aching again. So I still haven't driven the car since the tune. I think trying to push that gear shift into reverse would be kind of painful to me because of that danged elbow.... Sheesh, it would be my luck that doing all the wrenching to fix my car over the past 6 months or so injured my elbow PERMANENTLY and now I won't be able to drive a stick shift. Yeah, that's MY kind of luck...

Well, so much for my thinking the car was done...

Well, this just keeps on getting better and better...........

I took the car out today (Thursday) to find a lonely stretch of road to just practice using the clutch from a dead stop to try to get a feel for how it wants to be treated. So I found a nice spot and spent a good bit of time at it. With this dual disk clutch and the lighter aluminum flywheel, it's quite a bit different from what I am used to.

But I was getting better at it with finding what seemed to be the sweet spot between having the clutch chatter like hell, and having it bog the engine because the RPMs are too low. I was thinking I was really getting the hang of it, and maybe there was some breakin of the new clutch needed. So after a couple of dozen of those test clutch engagements, I was doing the clutch thing again and the wide open road beckoned me on to try out some of the other gears. So what the hell.... The car certainly does feel strong, and you can definitely feel when the turbos spool up. It still broke the rear tires loose when I was in third gear up near the top of the gear. So I just cooled it after third gear and put the gear shift into neutral to just coast to let my speed drop down. And, well, I guess you need to hear this rather than trying to describe it.....



Scared the living hell out of me, let me tell you. I was thinking I was going to be needing a tow truck, for sure. And believe me, it was MUCH louder in person than it shows up in that video. Sounded like it was coming from right at my feet, which is right where the clutch is located. There is just no way that this sound is normal in any way.

Well, I got it back home without any further incidents, but man I was sweating it. I guess I'm done driving it until I figure out what to do about the clutch. I don't want to chance it breaking down completely or even cause some damage to anything else. Not really sure what to do at this point, as I know I can't tackle removing that drivetrain with my elbow like it is. I just don't have any strength in my right arm because of it. It's better than it was, but a LONG way from being 100 percent. Working the gear shift was even a chore for me trying to get to fifth gear and reverse. And besides, do I really want to take the chance of hurting my elbow further to where I could never drive a stick shift again?

So basically I'm screwed concerning that car until I can figure out what to do now. Obviously I can't take it back to the person who put the darn thing in there, so this is going to be yet another out of pocket expense. Maybe I could be lucky and the last man in just put the clutch in incorrectly and it can be easily fixed without having to buy a new clutch. But still, that entire drivetrain needs to come out, and that's a pain in the ass from what I can see. Which means it will be costly just for the labor of even checking out the clutch if I feel it is prudent to pay someone else to do it rather than run the risk of hurting my arm further.

Dammit, this is getting REALLY old....

Wow I'm just starting to get back into the swing of things on here, and thought this would be done. Guess not

Good luck getting it to where it needs to be(in my garage).

Rich....
Holee chit. I cannot believe what all I just read. Absolutely amazing how stupid some people are.

I hope you're suing the pants off BOTH of those folks and at some point you get your Vette up and running.

The wifey's dad is a Chevy Master Mechanic...should I send him down to help you get this all fixed up?