• 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

Yesterday and today, I put on the stainless braided brake lines and flushed the brake fluid. I used the blue ATE brake fluid, as that made it much easier to tell when new fluid had gotten through the calipers and out the bleeders. Oh yeah, I replaced the bleeder screws with new stainless ones while I was at it.

Here's a video of the Motive brake bleeder tool I used to bleed the brakes:



Now, I did it a little differently than they recommended, in that I didn't fill the tank up with brake fluid, but only filled the master cylinder reservoir and only used the tank to apply air pressure. I just checked the master cylinder reservoir after every wheel, and topped it off as needed, and that worked just fine. Plus I didn't have to clean up the brake fluid residue in that pressure tank afterwards that way. Just pumped up the pressure to around 17 psi, then put a drain hose on the bleeder, and opened it up till I saw all the air bubbles go away and the fluid change color. Easy peasy..... :thumbsup:

brake_line_01.jpg


brake_line_02.jpg


brake_line_03.jpg


brake_line_04.jpg


I was actually surprised at how quickly the new fluid got to even the rear calipers. And I only used about three quarters of a can (I think it's a quart can) to do all of the calipers. The instructions tell you to put two quarts in the pressure tank, so you would certainly waste a lot that way. Once you open up a container of brake fluid, anything you don't use right then and there, you throw away.

So, I think all the brake and suspension stuff is now done. When I get the fuel pump back and in place, I could put the wheels back on the car.

Only snag right now is the vacuum manifold I ordered came with the wrong fitting. It was supposed to include a "T" 3/8ths inch fitting, but instead came with a "Y" fitting that is much smaller. I'll try to find what I need locally rather than waiting around for the seller to send me the correct one.

But once I figure out where the best place to put that vacuum manifold and get it installed, then I can put everything back together again, and see if it runs OK before going any further.

Oh, I was going to pull off the valve covers to check the valvetrain and torque on the head bolts, but after taking a look at the pics of the block and heads when it came in to Harwood's shop, I changed my mind. Checking the valve train bolts is no problem, but the head bolts ARE. I would have to remove the intake manifold, the headers, AND the valve train completely from the heads to get to all of them. Seems like a lot of darn work just to check things. And quite honestly, I'm just getting anxious now to get this all over with. I'm not sure how much of a headache tuning is going to be, but I guess the sooner I get to that point, the better.
 
Oh, just to keep everything documented as much as possible on this car, I bought a new Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator just in case it too was messed up from the metal shedding from this corroded fuel fittings. I put this in a couple of days ago, and also wrapped up that coiled wiring harness coming from the fuel gauge sensor on the FPR.

I have to remember to set the pressure there when I start the car up. But that will likely be another week or so as I don't expect the fuel pump back from Lonnie till then.

aeromotive_fpr_30.jpg
 
Just in case anyone else puts on SS brake lines and runs into this question, the clips I put on holding the hose to the bracket on the frame are upside down...

brake_line_clip.jpg


They need to be turned over so that the lip points away from that bracket, rather than towards it as shown in the above pic. They are tougher going on the correct way, but it certainly does hold that hose fitting a lot better, so I guess that is why they are tougher.
 
Well, so now I learn that the '09 throttle body on this engine might be a problem........

Yeah, I'm checking into this problem and there does seem to be an issue with the newer ('09+) throttle bodies on the C5s.... Crap. And of course I've got an '09 LS7 throttle body with the gold blade in my C5Z. :banghead:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-...9-ls3-ls7-throttle-body-in-a-c5-question.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-z06-discussion/2886784-03-z06-w-ls7-throttle-body-help.html

http://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...341015-ls3-throttlebody-will-not-work-c5.html

Sheesh.....
Click to expand...

Well, that's just great...... Aaron told me that this throttle body would be just fine, so that's what I bought. So was he (with Jim Smith) able to tune and run my car with this throttle body in place?

So here I go searching for answers again about something that was done to my car over the past 2.5 years. :banghead:
 
Hey Rich are we ever gonna win the battle of our cars being screwed up so bad? I'm going to check my throttle body and hope it's an LS2 and not an LS3.
 
vetteguy61 said:
Hey Rich are we ever gonna win the battle of our cars being screwed up so bad? I'm going to check my throttle body and hope it's an LS2 and not an LS3.
Click to expand...

I dunno, Mike. The cards do seem to be stacked against us ever getting our cars straightened out again. Didn't you have to buy a new throttle body not that long ago? I'm not real thrilled about having to buy yet another throttle body, as I am sure you aren't neither. Apparently a really competent tuner can get these newer model TBs to work, but quite frankly, why introduce yet another worry and complication into this mess? I want to just get something that works with as few hassles as possible.

Damn.... Looks like my Excedrin bottle needs to be refilled again....

But on the bright side for you, if you DO have a LS3 throttle body, that could possibly be the smoking gun for those "reduced engine power" problems you have been having all along. Be REAL nice to get that cleared up once and for all.

In my opinion, maybe this explains why I couldn't get Aaron to let me know when he was going to have my car on the dyno the last few months he had my car so I could drive up there and video the runs. And he flat out refused to do that after he said my car was ready to be picked up. He stated to me that he was AFRAID to put it back on the dyno. Wonder why that was? My opinion is that he was likely getting reduced engine power problems himself and just didn't want me to witness them on a car he said was "done". Quite likely, I would have had the same problems myself once I got my car in shape enough to get it out onto the road and tried to stretch it's legs a bit. Lord knows when I drove it home back in November, from all the rattles and other noises I heard coming from the car, I was just babying the throttle hoping like hell I could get home before something failed or fell off of the car. And I didn't even KNOW about all the issues I was going to find when I put it up on the lift.
 
Actually I do have some Valium around here somewhere that I got when I was all stressed out with my reptile breeding business. Yeah, here we go, right here in my desk drawer..... Expiration date of 02/2007. I'll bet they are nice and potent NOW..... :hehehe: Obviously I didn't take very many of them over the years. Just in cases where it was either pop a pill or have a nervous breakdown.

Anyway, I just placed an order for a polished and ported LS2 90mm throttle body. That was the best way to do this. That way I can send in this 2009 LS7 throttle body for the core charge and at least get some of my money back. To buy a stock LS2 throttle body outright would have cost me at least three times as much, so this is the optimum way to go about this. I hope.... Lordy, if I get a bad throttle body sent to me, well, I'm not really sure what the results will be to my fragile mind right now.

Anyway, the guy is in Oregon, so it's going to throw yet another delay in taking another step forward on the car.
 
I checked my throttle body today and low and behold it's an LS2. I thought the throttle blade was silver in color and it was. If you want a stock LS2 throttle body Rich I'll let you have the extra one cheap.
 
vetteguy61 said:
I checked my throttle body today and low and behold it's an LS2. I thought the throttle blade was silver in color and it was. If you want a stock LS2 throttle body Rich I'll let you have the extra one cheap.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, Mike, but heck I already placed the order for the one mentioned above, so I'm committed... Glad that you have the LS2 throttle body and don't have to buy another one, though.
 
I'm glad I don't have to buy another one too. I need to try and sell the other LS2 and ported LS1 throttle bodies I have. Don't need 3 throttle bodies.
 
I guess when this is all said and done, I'm going to have to find a dyno somewhere to see what the engine is REALLY putting out. With all the issues I found since bringing it home, the dyno sheet that Aaron generated really can't be telling the true story. Heck, just this incompatible throttle body could make a substantial difference, I would think. And those exhaust leaks would certainly affect the turbo boost. No telling what those clogged fuel injectors were doing. :crazy9:

dyno sheet C5Z SGC.jpg


Certainly I would hope that a GOOD tune on the engine would clean up that graph and put more power down on the lower end where it would be most useful on the street.

I just don't know of anyone locally with a dyno that I would be comfortable taking the car to when this is all finished.

Speaking of finished, maybe I should detail what remains to be done to keep myself straight.

  1. Install fuel pump when it comes back from Lonnie's.
  2. Install new fuel injectors and put the fuel system back together on the engine.
  3. Adjust the new fuel pressure regulator.
  4. Install vacuum manifold block.
    • Relocate vacuum line from front of manifold to the vacuum block.
    • Hook up vacuum line from FPR after setting the pressure.
    • Run the vacuum line from the modified fuel pump to the vacuum block.
  5. Install the new throttle body when it comes in.
  6. Fill up a gas tank or two and put some gasoline into the car's fuel tank(s).
  7. Make sure everything is TIGHT.
  8. Cross my fingers and do a "smoke test".
  9. Check for fuel and vacuum leaks.
  10. If everything appears to be OK, relocate the 2 bar MAP sensor to the front of the intake manifold.
  11. Time to do the tuning and hope nothing crops up to make all of this a complete waste of time and money.
 
shakedown067 said:
Did you happen to ask Kenny when he lent a hand? If not, I'd give him a buzz.
Click to expand...

No, I did not. At the time, I thought I would be hearing back from SS Performance, who does have a dyno.

But no matter. It's not real high on the priority list at this time.
 
BTW, I've noticed this loose brown wire before while poking around under the car, but lately it's just started nagging me. I thought perhaps it was a loose wire related to the STS system, as Aaron made some changes there, and who knows who condition Harwood had it when Aaron got it. But I figured since it was in the harness going to the passenger side oxygen sensor, maybe I should check to see what was going on.

clipped_wire_01.jpg


Come to find out, that wasn't the only clipped wire there. There were several more tucked up inside that section of convoluted tubing. Best I can figure out, someone just clipped off that connector going to the oxygen sensor, and then apparently re-ran the wires. Possibly via a connector cut off of someone else's car. I can't tell where it goes to as it goes up topside on the engine, and I haven't tried to track it down yet. But in any event, someone cut off the connector for some reason and then rewired another one in place. Harwood was known for cutting off connectors from customers' cars as he needed them elsewhere, so he is the most likely suspect . But perhaps these wires are the reason for the oxygen sensor on that side acting goofy. I guess I'll see what happens during tuning if i don't get around to tracing the wires beforehand. It's not real easy working in there as it's tight quarters around the header pipes.
 
Got word last night from Lonnie's Performance that my fuel pump assembly is finished, so I guess I'll get that back next week. Still don't have an ETA on the new throttle body, though. :shrug01:
 
Been reading over this thread starting on when my car got towed to Aaron's shop on September 17, 2010. I'm up to February 7, 2011, and had to stop reading... A root canal without any novocaine couldn't be any more painful....
 
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