• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

427 engine (part 2) - RHS block

Well, I got a new driveshaft back from Pfadt today. No letter of apology. No "sorry about our screwup". Just the box with the driveshaft and install hardware inside. Honestly, I was rather surprised that they just didn't send back the old one and deny there was a problem at all.

I measured the new shaft and it comes to approximately 41 7/8 inches which works out to 1063.675 mm. The old shaft was 42 1/8 inches or 1069.975 mm. So the old one was 6.35 mm longer than the one they sent me.

Obviously I'm just going to sell it. I just don't have any confidence in Pfadt products any longer, and honestly if it would be an easy chore to do so, I would remove every product I have on my car made by them. This just left a very bad taste in my mouth for that company. No way in hell I'm even considering putting that driveshaft back in my car now or any time in the future. It's already caused far more headaches than any benefits using it would ever compensate for.

I ordered in some exhaust parts from Summit for the car because the left tailpipe tends to want to hang lower than the right tailpipe. So I'm going to try some different clamps on the pipes and perhaps see if I can mount some hangers in the back to try to keep them even. Probably will get to that over the weekend. No sense even thinking about driving the car lately because we've been getting rain every day and the darn road is a mess again. I'm guessing it will get straightened out again just in time for that hurricane forecast to come up into the Gulf of Mexico later next week. :rolleyes:

Oh well, I guess I'll get that clutch broken in some day......
 
craig04c5 said:
I am not surprised it took a dealership to fix it. If they have a good certified tech it can make all the difference. I don't know if the other people that worked on the car were certified and had as much experience. Your dealership tech nailed it with the driveshaft being the issue and did the correct thing advising you use a stock setup.
We have a Master Tech at the local dealership here in Stuart Fl that loves working on Corvettes. I was having GMPP warranty work done a few years back to replace a bad slave and I asked how much to put an LS7 clutch and PP in since there would be no labor charge while they were already in there. The Tech said GM does not yet recommend this setup (this was when people were just starting to put the LS7 clutch in C5's) and said the LS6 upgrade would do fine for my mostly stock LS1 C5. I was thinking the 4:10's might need a better clutch but he said I would be fine. Anyway, the LS6 clutch has been flawless and I could not be happier. We all now know the LS7 will work just fine as long as you keep the LS1 slave. I always ask if he will be working on my car before I take it in. The service writer and I have a good relationship. I always bring him a gift card at Christmas time.
Glad it seems to be working well for you Rich. Was following your thread on the CF.
Click to expand...

No, I seriously doubt either shop was certified in anything related to Corvettes. Chris Harwood definitely was not. And as for Aaron Scott, well, based on his claim that common trailer hitch wire is acceptable and standard fare to splice into oxygen sensor harnesses, I have severe doubts about his expertise and knowledge level on these cars. Based on the photographs and video I took of the "quality" of work he did on my car over the 14 months he had it, well, I would be surprised to hear that anyone else wouldn't have at least some of their own doubts about him.

Yeah, my thread got locked over on CF because one of their sponsors got called to the carpet about that driveshaft. Pewter99 made me an offer to reopen the thread and delete a rather nasty post someone made about me if I would agree to have the discussion about Pfadt removed. I declined that offer. It is what it is. And the discussion there about my car is now over with, as far as I am concerned. That was their choice, not mine.
 
I took the car out today and put 53 more miles on it to break in the clutch and get me more used to the idea of maybe being able to drive the car without something breaking on it. I've got the tailpipes more even, but I still need to work on it a bit. The bumpy road I live on tends to change that on me. But in any event, no issues noted while driving. Although I do have to admit the shifter is a bit stiffer than I would like. Maybe it being new as is the transmission is contributing to that and will loosen up a bit with some more miles on it. I do know my right elbow was aching a bit by the time I got back home. :(

Oh yeah, I monitored oil pressure again, and although it is low at idle (around 23 psi), while cruising at 1500 rpm, it is settling in at around 35 psi, which seems fine to me. Last time Connie and I took the C6 out with the LS2 in it, I don't think the oil pressure in that motor was much more than that. The C6 Z06, however, seems to generate a LOT more oil pressure in that LS7 for some reason. I still may use that 15W-50 weight oil I bought at the next oil change, however, just to see what sort of difference it makes in oil pressure.

I'm thinking that perhaps that higher flow oil pump in the engine might just have this kind of characteristic to it when coupled to an engine built with higher bearing clearances. Generally, all other factors equal, flow and pressure are diametrically opposed. Higher flow rates in the engine would equate to lower pressure (resistance to flow) to that fluid. Sort of the same thing you see with electricity in relation to voltage, current, and resistance. At least if my memory of this sort of stuff isn't faulty. :)
 
On the oil pressure subject. I ran my 93 666 miles thursday and I had an oil pressure of 40 at 70 MPH 1650 RPM. At idle it dropped to 15#'s I am running 5w 30 full synthetic.
 
Yeah, I think my electrical analogy would apply in this manner:
  • resistance = bearing clearances in the engine.
  • current = volumetric flow of oil through the engine.
  • voltage = pressure the oil pump provides.

I guess lighter weight viscosity combined with the more pronounced slipperiness of synthetic oils would possibly combine to produce lower oil pressure since it would take less force from the pump to force an equal volume of oil through the engine. I would imagine that everything has resistance to flow, even oil, so the less resistance of that fluid then the easier the flow takes place. Which, of course, means less pressure required to move it.

And actually from what I have been reading, the tighter the clearances in the bearings on an engine, the greater the potential for metal to metal contact, which in the case of crank and rod bearings, can result in a spun bearing as those two surfaces abrade against each other. Oil is supposed to form a film between metal surfaces to keep this from happening. In that regard, I have also read that thicker viscosity oils are actually better at keeping that protective film intact under load.

But heck, if you want to get driven insane in a hurry, read about engine oils and all the varieties, weights, brands, pros and cons of each, and the design theories behind the commercial formulations. :crazy03:
 
I put another 73 miles on the car today. Figure I might as well get some more break in mileage done before the rains set in from Isaac....

So far so good.
 
It was kind of funny in that I was stopped at a stoplight up in Tallahassee on an incline and when the light turned green, well, I gave it a little too much gas and let out the clutch a little too quickly to keep from rolling backwards. Did a little impromptu burnout in the capitol. :o
 
No officer I was not racing. I over reved the engine and then my foot slipped off the clutch and it smoked the tires. I didn't even know it would do that. What are you saying officer that is the same story the guy in the Viper next to me gave you. Officer I was lucky because I could not get my foot from under the brake for two blocks. Thats his story too. What a coinsidence.:rofl1::lmao:
 
Good to see it looks like it's going to work out afterall...

Really pisses me off they locked your thread on the other forum though. That forum has some major issues with letting sponsors get away with murder--I can't even count how many horror stories of threads I have seen pop up over the years that get locked, moved or deleted within about 15 minutes and it's always the guy who starts the threads fault

I'm sure many people over there would love to hear the outcome.

Also, I can't BELIEVE Pfadt didn't jump on the marketing opportunity that they were given. How great would they have looked if they had just refunded your money, taken back the driveshaft and been done with that? They couldn't have wisely spent that much money in advertising money anywhere if they had tried, but instead they screwed it up.
 
Yeah, and it's not like Pfadt isn't aware of this aspect of the situation. I think there is a deeper problem and this is just the tip of an iceberg they don't want to let get public. There might be a LOT of people with incorrectly sized driveshafts out there getting their pilot bearing chewed up.

And no, I'm not at all happy that they put me through even more aggravation by forcing me to have to sell the driveshaft on my own. I told them I now have no use for it since my drivetrain is all back together now, and it would be simply stupid to even entertain the thought of pulling it apart just to put their product back in. I told them this and yet they just sent me the replacement without saying so much as "boo" about it. Their argument about this being an installation error is just pure BS. This is all just Pfadt going into CYA mode trying to deflect the opinion that their screwup caused some damages to my car.

Oh well, I know they lost at least one customer for life with the way they handled this. And I'm sure more people will hear of this as time goes by.

Anyway, sorry I am not letting people know over on CF what is going on. Pewter99 said I could start a new thread and then link back to the old one, but screw that. I guess I should be glad that Chris Harwood and Aaron Scott weren't paying sponsors over there as well. Otherwise that thread would have gotten locked a long time ago.
 
Nothing much been happening. Been raining about every day here. The road got pretty messy with pretty deep ruts, so even with the brief spells I could have taken the car out, I didn't feel like bottoming out on the road. The road department did scrape the road on Friday, but it rained in the afternoon, and now been raining all day today, so probably right back where we started with the road.

Connie and I were talking today and we think that the lift has about just as many miles on it since November as the C5Z sitting on since then.

No bites on that Pfadt driveshaft yet. So I am probably stuck with a wall hanging for the garage.
 
Have you posted the driveshaft for sale on the CorvetteForum Autocross & Road Racing section? You'll probably have the best luck selling it there.
 
I posted it in the C5 parts and accessories FOR SALE section. Maybe I'll try this other section you have recommended and see if that helps.

Thanks....
 
I was finally able to take the C5Z out for a little drive today to put some more break-in miles on the clutch. Last week was a wash, since Connie and I were down at the Manasota Beach Club pretending to be normal people on vacation.

Didn't stay out too long as storm clouds were all around me. Even got a few drops of rain at one point. But I've got about 200 miles on the clutch now, so hopefully I'll be able to put more miles on it over the next week or three.

I took video along the way, but I'm not sure anyone is really interested in seeing a boring drive with me just poking along at the speed limit. I tend to do these videos *just in case* something goes wrong so at least I'll have some evidence to refer to in order to try to figure out what happened. But so far in the 200 miles since Shane worked on the car, everything seems to be running just great. No strange noises or disturbing glitches at all. The car is pretty loud though, but drives like a pretty much stock car. Well, except I can tell there is a bunch of power underneath the gas pedal wanting to be unleashed. There were a couple of stretches of road I was on today that felt like they were just BEGGING me to push the car a bit. But I resisted, since I want to do this by the book to break in that clutch properly.

Actually about the only notable wrinkle I have seen at all is that when I am driving below 10 mph on my dirt road, the engine surges quite a bit. But honestly, it's no big deal. Most people NEVER drive a Corvette below 10 mph anyway...... :hehehe:
 
I for one would like to see some of the vidio. Even poking along at the speed limit it would be great to just hear the sound of this car happily running along.
 
Well OK, then.... Here's segments of the video I took yesterday during my drive...



I just got back from another drive today, putting 59 more miles on it. Went up around Tallahassee this time, getting onto route 10 and then driving around Capital Circle. So I got some higher speed on the car as well as some bumper to bumper traffic driving. Only thing unusual that I noted was that I had a bit of hesitation at one point coming out of some traffic. And I swear I smell a faint whiff of gasoline when I come to a dead stop. But otherwise no explosions or parts dropping off of the car. And I made it back without the help of a tow truck. :thumbsup:
 
Thank you for sharing that piece of video. It sounds wonderful. I could not tell for sure but the low speed hesitation or loping may be caused by the camshaft. Some cams can cause the engine to lope at very low idle. Next you need to pack your bags and you and Connie take a weekend trip with it.
 
CorvetteJohn said:
Thank you for sharing that piece of video. It sounds wonderful. I could not tell for sure but the low speed hesitation or loping may be caused by the camshaft. Some cams can cause the engine to lope at very low idle. Next you need to pack your bags and you and Connie take a weekend trip with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.... But it's going to be a while yet before I will trust the car enough to consider any long trips with it. As it is, when I take the car out for these break-in drives, Connie stays at home standing by listening for the phone in case it breaks down on me. Heck, I believe my AAA membership allows me a free 100 mile tow, so I doubt I will go outside of that radius of either my home or Champion Chevrolet for a while.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top