427 engine (part 2) - RHS block

[Rich Z]

Yesterday I finished up the passenger side header wrap on the primary tubes.

I can't really say that I would want to have to do this again any time soon. :nonod:

I noticed that a few of the cool socks I had on the ignition wires got heat damaged by apparently laying against the headers, so I had to order a new set of them.

Looks like the heat just bleached the black color out of those socks, but that area is also noticeably softer to the touch, so I'm guessing they are shot once that happens.

Not sure why I chose black cool socks, but this time around I got light colored ones, thinking they would be better at reflecting heat anyway. The black ones were also only 6 inches long, and it looks like 8 inch ones will cover more of the ignition wires and boots.

Also accidentally pulled off one of the ends of one of the ignition wires when trying to get them off of the spark plugs. Luckily I have a couple of extras that were on the car when it was pulled into Chris Harwood's shop, as those Granatelli ignition wires aren't cheap, and I really wouldn't want to have to buy another set of them just to replace that one wire. Maybe I can fix the broken one......... :shrug01:

I didn't do anything at all today on the car. I think I tried way too hard yesterday to try to make my right hand act like a much more useful tentacle to wrap that insulation around those tubes, and my wrist is complaining fiercely today. I was trying to make my hand twist and turn in ways that God didn't design it to do, apparently. So I figured it would be best to not stress it out more quite yet. Tomorrow will be another day...

Planning on putting together those PTFE fuel lines up front and it will be easier getting to the one going from the fuel rail to the pressure regulator without the ignition wires being in the way.

I still don't have the turbo back together as it is still slowly dripping oil. Haven't heard a word back from Turbo Direct about this, but no big deal as I think I know the cause now anyway. May pull off the compressor housing on the other turbo, since possibly that one has oil in it as well.

Hope this wrist feels better tomorrow. Want to got the car back together and drive it to try to figure out what that drivetrain noise is all about.

 

[Rich Z]

Didn't feel very ambitious today (heck, I'm retired, so what's the hurry?), so I only got one fuel line built. Took my time and tried to find the best routing for it so it will clear everything. I figure I need to put a support mount on the firewall to keep it situated correctly, and also put a small amount of tension on that banjo fitting on the fuel rail in a clockwise direction rather than a counter-clockwise direction so as to not have the fitting loosen up over time. Basically slightly pushing up against the fitting rather than pulling down on it. So a clamp mount on the firewall holding that hose will help to do this. That will help to keep the hose further away from the headers, as well as help it to clear the steering shaft underneath the brake booster. I may need another clamp mount near the fuel pressure regulator if it looks like the hose will rattle against anything.

Actually I like this PTFE hose a lot better than the normal rubber lined SS braided hose. For one thing that teflon hose is internally coated with conductive carbon which will prevent a static charge from building up from the gasoline flowing through a nonconductor. I've been worried about this from the start when I decided to tackle the fuel system, even though some people told me it's nothing to worry about. I doubt they would bother putting that carbon layer on the teflon if it wasn't something that COULD be of concern. And I've gained a lot of fear and respect for Murphy's Law with this car.

Also I like the way the fittings connect onto this hose. With the rubber lined stuff, you had to be careful to keep the hose from walking out of the fitting while you tightened the two parts of the fitting together on the hose end. If you're not careful, the hose could walk out slightly and you won't have a good connection. So the hose could blow out under pressure while driving down the road. Yeah, THAT could get ugly!

With this PTFE hose, there is a metal collar (I think they call it an "olive") that fits between the SS braiding and the teflon hose, which accomplishes two things: (1) Helps get a real good seal between the teflon hose and the nipple it fits over top of, and (2) the SS braiding itself gets clamped between the bottom half of the fitting and that "olive" when screwing the two halves together, and therefore holds the hose in place so it can't walk out of the fitting while you tighten it.

And this stuff is no more difficult to work with than the rubber lined hose. The instructions just seemed more complicated, but in practicality, they are just itemizing the details that you really should do using common sense anyway.

Of course, I might be jumping the gun here until I actually hook up the hoses and put fuel pressure inside of them. I might create a fuel/air bomb in my garage when I crank it up. :ack2:

 

[Rich Z]

Sigh.....

Not sure how I wound up on a website I found about turbo scavenge pumps (http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/oilsystems.htm), but I was reading the info there when I came to a section about a turbo timer. Apparently this device is designed to allow 12 volts to be applied to the oil scavenge pump a prescribed length of time after the engine is shut off in order to continue oil flow through the turbo(s). The stated purpose of this is to keep oil from cooking within the hot turbo by continuing the oil flow through it till the turbo cools down somewhat. I believe this is mostly applicable to underhood front mounted turbos, as being so close to the direct exhaust coming from the cylinders, they get very, very hot. But once the engine is off, the heat source ends, so the flowing oil then acts as a coolant to the turbo. Not sure how important this is to the rear mounted STS turbos, though, as they don't get nearly as hot as the front mounted ones.

But here's the thing. I recall that after I had the STS turbos installed by Greg at Antivenom back in 2006 or so, I could hear the scavenge pump running for about a minute or so after I shut down the engine. However, since bringing my car back home a year ago, and finally getting it somewhat streetable again, this extended running of the turbo oil scavenge pump no longer takes place. I'm not really sure what this timer looks like from STS, but I do not recall seeing anything that LOOKS like it. Meaning some sort of module with wires coming out of it and attaching to the scavenge pump in any way. I don't have the STS manual handy at the moment to see if I can figure this out, and I'm not sure the new manual I got will be much help anyway, since STS completely redesigned their oil scavenger system to be rear mounted instead of front mounted like I have on my car with the older style.

But in any event, either the timer module is there, somewhere, and has been disconnected by Chris Harwood or Aaron Scott, or the module is no longer even there, having been removed by either of the two mentioned gentlemen while their hands were on and in my car.

I'm going to check with STS to see of what import the lack of this timer may be with my turbo system. I haven't noticed any problems, but then again I haven't taken apart the turbos to see if it appears the oil got too hot inside of them. Maybe that has something to do with the oil still leaking from that passenger side turbo that I have the compressor housing off of. Maybe the scavenge pump needs to draw oil out of the turbos when the engine is shut down to keep oil from building up in the housings. :shrug01:

The webpage indicated earlier in this post shows a turbo timer for sale, and the price is modest, so if needed, I should be able to wire one in. The wiring looks pretty simple to do. But first I need to see if the timer is still in there, I suppose. And get some feedback from STS about this issue.

 

[Rich Z]

Ran the PTFE fuel line I built yesterday from the back of the driver's side fuel rail down to the fuel pressure regulator. Also mounted a clamp to the firewall to hold the hose up out of the way and further away from the headers. And covered the hose with convoluted insulation, just for added heat protection.

Yeah, the straight fitting at the fuel rail fits much better than the angled one I was using.

While I was in there, I changed out a section of vacuum hose going from the turbo blow off valve to the vacuum manifold I installed a while back. The couple of times the car has been in boost while I was driving, I noted I didn't hear the blow off valve at all between gear shifts like I used to. So I'm thinking maybe something wrong in the vacuum line that actuates it. There was a short section of vacuum hose that seemed awfully soft and easily squeezed shut, so maybe this was keeping the blow off valve from activating. Maybe it was collapsing under vacuum and not allowing the differential needed for the blowoff valve to trigger opening

Put the new cool socks on all the spark plug wires and before I put the ignition stuff back together, I poked around looking for anything else that needed to be fixed or insulated (looking for signs of melted convoluted tubing or damaged insulation) while it was easier to get in there. Wish I could get a layer of insulation around the starter, but I don't see any way to do that without taking off the header on that side. So maybe the header wrap itself will suffice. Heck, I wish that hot battery terminal wasn't exposed on the starter neither.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The passenger side turbo is still S-L-O-W-L-Y dripping oil. Not sure what to make of that. Maybe the return line just filled with oil without having the scavenge pump running when I was relieving fuel pressure. I may have to leave the turbo open till I put the fuse back in place and do a pressure check on the new fuel lines.

Haven't heard anything back from STS about that turbo timer situation I asked them about. But I did find a blurb in their FAQ section on their website stating that a turbo timer is not necessary with their systems. So maybe it's not anything I need to be concerned about.

Oh yeah, here's a pic of some preliminary wrapping I've done on the rest of the headers.

Not sure if I'll keep it this way or not. But it will do for now, I guess.

 

[Kap142]

Rich, if I ever have a problem with "Peek" you will be the man I seek out for help.:thumbsup:

 

[Rich Z]

Rich, if I ever have a problem with "Peek" you will be the man I seek out for help.:thumbsup:

I would do what I could to try to help. But remember I'm far FAR away from being a qualified vette tech.

Got the crossover fuel line between the front of the fuel rails done and installed today. So while Connie was standing by to look for any leaks, I hooked the battery back up and put the fuel pump fuse back in, and just pumped up the fuel pressure in 2 second bursts without starting up the car. No leaks anywhere, so that was a good sign.

This also ran the STS scavenge pump while fuel pressure was building up, and as I suspected, once the pump pulled the oil out of the lines, the slow oil drip from the turbo ceased completely. Hopefully I'll remember to not do that again when I need to relieve fuel pressure from the system. Of course, this is now it's own problem because I don't know how else to safely do that when I need to work on the fuel lines for any reason. The stock system has a schrader valve (much like you have in a tire valve) to remove pressure, but I don't have anything like that in my fuel system. I guess maybe someone makes something like that with AN fittings, but so far I haven't been able to find one. I sure hate to have to just wrap a rag around a fitting and loosen it up to bleed off pressure. I really don't like working around gasoline much. Sure wish the fuel pressure regulator had something like that to make this easier to do. Basically just a bypass valve to dump the pressure. You would think someone would make something like that, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I put all the ignition stuff back in place so the engine compartment is now all back together.

I put the back wheelwell panel back on that I had to remove to get to the fuel pressure regulator and got the driver's side front tire back on.

So tomorrow (or whenever) I need to pull off the driver's side turbo's compression housing to drain any oil that might have gotten in there during all this and then put the turbos back together afterwards. I'm going to need to seal up the bolt holes on at least the passenger side turbo compression housing since the lowest bolt hole there was leaking oil, and obviously will leak pressure as well under boost. I'll probably have to seal up the housing bolts on the driver's side turbo too, when I remove it to inspect it.

If I feel ambitious, I may tackle the bunged up brackets on the STS pipes in back of the car I mentioned a while back that got all bent out of whack by someone. Hopefully I won't have to pull the pipes out completely to straighten out those brackets so I can tighten them down to where they are supposed to be. But I may decide to just get the car back on the road again so I can see if I can get Shane's help figuring out what that noise is that I'm hearing taking off from a stop.

 

[CorvetteJohn]

Maybe what you are looking for to relieve the fuel line pressure is here.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...rail+schrader+valve+for+an+fittings&FORM=IGRE

 

[CorvetteJohn]

I sorted this out of all that other stuff I sent

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...7576304354AB346A1A6FBE050B4FAD0CB0BEF&first=1

 

[Rich Z]

I sorted this out of all that other stuff I sent

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...7576304354AB346A1A6FBE050B4FAD0CB0BEF&first=1

Heck yeah, that might actually work! Ideally it would be something mounted at the fuel pressure regulator. I have a plug on one side of the inlet of the FPR that would be great to mount the valve instead of trying to put something into the existing fuel lines. If I remember correctly, it's an AN-10 plug. For the active fuel line, I have a AN-10 to AN-8 adapter. I could use that one above you found for me directly if I can find a cap to put over the actual AN-8 threaded nipple. Maybe I need to check with Aeromotive to see if they have anything.

Heck, I guess I could drill and tap an existing plug for the FPR myself, if need be.

Thanks for researching this for me... I'll have to chew on some ideas.

 

[Rich Z]

I got a response from STS today, and apparently a turbo timer really isn't necessary for rear mounted turbos related to oil cooking issues, because they just don't get as hot as front mounted ones, but Ben says that it is really helpful for draining oil out of the oil lines going to the turbos after the engine has been shut down.

I'm trying to find out what this timer looks like to see if maybe it's still tucked away somewhere on the car and I just haven't noticed it. I kind of doubt it, as I've been pretty much all over that car already, unless it is under the dash.

In the meantime, if I drive my car before finding that timer or buying a new one, I may want to just cycle the fuel pump/scavenge pump a few times with the ignition key after I return back home to help pull that oil out of those oil lines and keep it from leaking into the turbo housings.

Well, looks like I've got most of the answers I needed about this turbo oil problem, and at least I don't have to have my turbos rebuilt.

Darn shame this turbo stuff wasn't set up like it should have been when I drove it back home last year. Seems to me that turbo timers are pretty standard on all turbo installs. :banghead:

One of these days I need to sit down and make a list of exactly what was done right on this car from the time I drove it into Chris Harwood's shop and drove it back home from Aaron Scott's shop. That shouldn't take very long at all.

 

[Rich Z]

Pulled the rear wheels off of the car today, along with the wheel well on the passenger side. Decided to just go ahead and take care of the bracket on the STS pipe that is all bent up and not bolted where it belongs. Wound up having to take apart a couple of the pipes so I could get to that bracket and bend it back into position. Took a couple of trial and error tries to get it right.

I guess I could have pulled ALL of those pipes out and cleaned them up and painted them, but I wasn't feeling THAT ambitious! Maybe some other day.

Also straightened out and repositioned a couple of the coupler clamps that were banging together or against the frame. I think that will take care of the banging noises I've been hearing on that side.

I was surprised to find oil coming from the pipe that connects directly to the output port of the turbo. "Surprised", in that I had drops of oil up and down the sleeve of my shirt before I noticed it. But there wasn't any trace of oil in the pipe above that first one, thankfully.

While I had the wheel well out, I opened up the access cover to the fuel evap cannister to take a look in there.

I was surprised that I couldn't detect any gasoline odor coming from there. Maybe all of the gasoline smell I have been noticing is coming from fuel just seeping through those rubber lined ss braided fuel lines. Certainly UV light shows substantial seepage coming from them, so maybe that's the complete cause. :shrug01: I guess when I replace those rearward fuel lines running to the fuel pump it will either prove or disprove this speculation.

The bracket on that STS pipe over on the driver's side wasn't so badly bent out of shape, so I was able to bang and bend that one back into place and mount it with the nut to that stud where it belonged.

But I am thinking about taking up a second language so I will have a larger repertoire of curse words to call on when needed.

I still haven't pulled off the compressor housing to the driver side turbo. I had to remove the output coupler to maneuver that pipe to get the above mentioned bracket attached, and I didn't have any oil spilling out of that tube. But I took a long plastic wire tie and ran it into the turbo via that open port, and it came back out with some oil on the end of it. So, yeah, I'm going to have to pull it apart. I probably need to seal up the three bolts on the housing that go all of the way through into the compressor chamber anyway.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

 

[Rich Z]

I pulled the compressor housing off of the driver's side turbo and there was hardly any oil in there at all. Less than a thimble full. But I cleaned it up anyway and just inspected it for any signs of damage or mishandling. Fortunately none of the bolt holes were stripped out on that unit.

Got both turbos put back together again and got all the plumbing situated so nothing is banging against anything else. Double checked all the hose clamps and except for one bolt I have to put back into a flange to the exhaust pipe (pulled it out so I could measure it to replace the bolts with stainless steel ones), it should be good to go this weekend. So I should be getting it back on the road for a bit.

Still don't have a turbo timer on order as I never heard back from STS. I may have to order a timer from someone else, I suppose. But STS has been pretty helpful to me all along with this stuff, so even though they are more expensive, I would like to give them my business. I'll shoot them off another email. In the meantime I just have to remember to cycle the ignition switch a few times after getting back home to allow the scavenge pump to pull excess oil out of the oil lines to the turbos.

Guess I need to buckle down and figure out that that noise is I've been hearing when starting off from a dead stop so I can get that fixed. I do hope it's not anything that means having to pull the drivetrain out again. But if so, I'll have to do what I have to do.

 

[Rich Z]

Got everything put back together again on the car, and figured I needed to start it up and do a burn in check on it. I read in the instructions that the header wrap I put on would smoke at first, and sure enough, looked like my engine was about to catch on fire. But it cleared up eventually. Hopefully this was a one time break in period.

As can be seen in the video, I had a lot of smoke coming out the back of the car. I had a floor fan in front of the car to blow the exhaust out the open garage door, so it was blowing the smoke from the header wrap out that way. Plus evidently I had some oil in the turbine housings (hot side) of the turbos and the oil was getting hot enough to start smoking. Also had oil spitting out of the tail pipes onto the floor while this was all going on. So yeah, it was quite messy and disconcerting. I think I may need to do another heat cycle or three till the smoke goes away. Don't want to be driving down the street looking like the car is on fire or something.

Interestingly enough, there was a noticeable difference in the felt heat that normally emanates from the engine bay when the car is running. So the header wrap does seem to be doing it's job keeping the heat within the header pipes.



No fuel leaks from the PTFE hose I put on the other day, so that was a good sign.

I actually had the car up off of it's tires while running it, so I decided to engage the clutch to see if I could duplicate that whining noise I sometimes hear when starting off from a dead stop. But no, unfortunately I couldn't get it to happen. And I couldn't do too much that way, as having the rear tires moving but the front tires stationary was triggering active handling engagement. I guess the PCM thought I was going into a slide. I should have disengaged it, but didn't think of it at the time.

I think I need to move the camcorder further away when recording from in back of the car. You can hear the audio clipping when the volume exceeds what the camcorder wants to try to record.

Got the oil cleaned up off of the floor behind the car, and I guess I'll start it up again tomorrow to try to burn off that oil residue.

Ben at STS got back to me and come to find out that they don't have any turbo timers in stock. He's saying a week or more before he can get me one. So I have been looking around for an alternate source.

Been talking to a guy at RB Racing about this turbo timer thing and he feels that all I really need are check valves on the turbo oil lines. I checked and I do already have check valves on the oil feed lines to both turbos, but nothing on the scavenge pump side. But even so, I still think a turbo timer to use the scavenge pump to drain the oil from the return side of the turbo oiling system would be a real good idea.

So I guess I need to try to figure out what the heck type of check valve(s) I need to get to plumb into that return oil line. Heck, I don't have a clue about what type of thread is being used in those brass fittings. And I can't seem to find a -08AN check valve with a female connection on one and and a male connection on the other so I could just pull off the existing ss braided hose and simply put the check valve between the AN fitting on the hose and the brass junction fitting.

Just plugging away, I guess.......

 

[Rich Z]

Ran the car again today for a spell to get the exhaust heated up. When it was heated up properly, I ran it up to 4,000 rpm and held it there for a bit. Not a sign of smoke. But I did see a few smaller spits of oil behind the car afterwards, so there is still some slight amount of oil in the tail pipes. Probably nothing to be concerned about, though. It will all get burned off eventually.

I then pulled the car out of the garage, with the hood open, and had Connie walk beside the car while I worked the clutch putting it in gear both in reverse and first gear. Didn't hear a peep of that noise I commented on a while back. I tried engaging the clutch every which way from Sunday, softly, aggressively, almost bogging the car down, etc., and nothing at all. Maybe it does only happen when the car is cold, as I surmised earlier. Seems to me that once I got out of my driveway and onto the road, I didn't hear the scraping noise at all back when I took the video of it taking place.

Interesting..... I still don't know where the noise comes from, but apparently it only happens when the car is cold. Does that rule out any possibilities and narrow down the potential culprit any? Man, wouldn't it be a HUGE relief to find out that Shane's suggestion that it might be the serpentine belt and/or idler pulley being the culprit? I've already replaced all that, but heck, that doesn't mean the parts can't possibly be bad. Maybe tomorrow I'll try it again when it is stone cold and see if Connie can pinpoint where it is coming from. Actually, it would be just ducky with me if the sound NEVER came back again. Maybe something I replaced or monkeyed around with recently was just rubbing against something else when the engine was cold and under load at takeoff, and I fixed it inadvertently?

Nah, why would I be foolish enough to think that my luck would change for the better now at this late date? :shrug01:

 

[navy2kcoupe]

Take both belts off and try it the next morning. OR......start it up to see if the noise is still there, then shut it down and remove the belts and try again. Might show you something.......:shrug01:
Andy :wavey:

 

[Rich Z]

Today I pulled the car out while it was stone cold, and Connie and I were able to hear the noise immediately. Still not sure where it was coming from, though. At first she thought it was coming from mid-car, but then said it sounded more like coming from the front of the car. So I kept engaging the clutch from a dead stop while she tried to pinpoint it. But after about only 2 or 3 minutes, the noise faded away anyway. Pulled the car out at 11:48am and pulled it back into the garage at 11:55am.

I put it up on the lift and just checked the belts and tensioners, looking for anything amiss. Nada. Everything looked OK, with no witness marks of something being wrong anywhere. The tensioner for the AC moves smoothly, so it's not like that was messed up as happened earlier before I got the car back home. Pretty much that engine does NOT move at all, so it's not like something is rubbing when the engine torques over on the motor mounts.

After it cooled down a bit, I loosened up the serpentine belt a bit. The specs on that fixed tensioner I have on the car calls for tension to be applied at 25 ft/lbs, so I loosened it up to only 15 ft/lbs.

Then after letting the car cool down for four (4) full hours, pulled it out again for some more tests. This time I used a remote wireless microphone I bought for the camcorder to try to use that to pinpoint the source of the noise. I put the microphone pickup right at the bellhousing, thinking that if not the belt system causing the noise, this area would be my next bet. Well, either the car has to be stone cold for that noise to exhibit itself, or my loosening up the tension on the serpentine belts helped. Didn't hear a peep of any sort of odd noises. The remote microphone worked like a champ, though, as I could hear all kinds of drivetrain noises coming from the back of the engine. Could actually hear the fingers of the clutch fluttering when being engaged and disengaged. So if that noise would have happened and originated from that area, I'm sure it would have been picked up in the recording.

So I guess I just have to try again tomorrow when the car is cold and see what happens. This could take forever to figure out at this rate. But you know, honestly, if this noise only takes place for the two or three minutes it takes for the engine to warm up and then goes away completely until the car goes back to room temperature, just how serious could it be? :shrug01: If I can't pinpoint it (assuming the belt tension was not the cure), then I may just ignore it. It will either stay the same, get better, or get worse. I would only need to do something about it if it gets worse, so to heck with it till then. I'll just drive it till something breaks and/or falls off, THEN fix it.

 

[Rich Z]

Yesterday (Thursday) I pulled the car out of the garage and did the same thing as previously, moving it forward and reverse from dead stops. Nothing. Neither Connie nor myself could hear anything. I had mounted the wireless microphone underneath the car with the pickup right next to the bell housing, and when I played the captured video/audio I could hear some noise as the clutch was engaging but I'm thinking that is just the way it is. But apparently it wasn't audible at a distance. At least not THAT day.

So today (Friday), I took the car out for a drive. Coming out of the garage there was no typical squealing noise at all that I have noted in the past, so perhaps the serpentine belt was the culprit. I did note that when tightened at 25 ft/lbs as the instructions directed, the belt was extremely taught at the touch. I popped the hood on the C6Z and compared belt tension there, and it is much more similar to how the belt tension is now with the belt torqued at only 15 ft/lbs. Heck, who knows?

All in all it was a very pleasant drive. The car just drives and handles really well. I have to give Aaron Scott one point, the guy he had do the wheel alignment on the car did a top notch job of it. The car feels solid as a rock on the road.

Anyway, I DID hear a squealing noise three separate times, when pulling off from a dead stop. It seemed to take place whenever I would have the engine revs up higher than normal, and engaging the clutch slower than normal. So I decided to do some digging around on the net concerning that CenterForce Dual Friction clutch that is in there now. Apparently, some people are saying this is normal for this clutch. :shrug01:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-...2-bad-move-on-my-part-centerforce-clutch.html

And here's a short video I took showing three instances of the screeching noise showing up. There are more starts from a stop shown later in the video showing that the screech noise did not take place.



Ah well, I guess this is just one of those things that I will have to ignore unless it becomes worse or something just breaks. So why didn't Connie or myself hear anything yesterday? :shrug01: Just luck of the draw, or perhaps the serpentine belt WAS contributing to the noise? Beats me.

Later on today I drilled some drain holes into the bottom of the exhaust tips. STS didn't include any drain holes in those tips, so they tended to hold condensation which left evaporation marks. So I decided to give the fluid a way to drain out instead of evaporating out.

 

[Rich Z]

Figure I might as well go ahead and order the PTFE fuel lines and necessary fittings so I can get that done. I'll have to pull down the exhaust and the tunnel plate to get to those hoses, but I want to replace ALL of that rubber fuel line. The more I read about it in reference to ethanol laced gasoline, the less and less comfortable I am with it being in my car. It's supposed to degrade significantly in only three or four years, and it's already been nearly three years since Chris Harwood installed that funky fuel system in my car.

Besides, the weather forecast is calling for scattered rain over the next several days (which changes every time I check it), so I might as well do this sooner rather than later.

I'm going to line the tunnel plate with insulation while I have it down, and also wrap the exhaust pipes with insulation as well. With any luck I won't find something else wrong somewhere.

Still no word on that backordered turbo timer from STS. I found someone else (rbracing-rsr.com) who had one, but the guy decided to bump heads with me saying that I don't NEED a turbo timer, so he refuses to sell one to me. He says I NEED to use a check valve ONLY in the scavenge return line. WTF? I asked STS about it, and Ben says that is not the way their system was designed. A check valve in that line will cause oil to backup in the turbos. Yet that other guy STILL wants to argue with me about it. Very well. I just won't BUY a timer from him, and will get it from STS instead. Yeah, guess he told me.... :lmao:

Honestly, I believe I'm getting addicted to tools and wrenching. Not sure what the heck I'm going to do if my car ever really gets FINISHED. :hehehe:

 

[Rich Z]

Jeesus Feakin' H Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got an email from Ben at STS telling me that they aren't going to make those turbo timers any longer.

I'm not sure this camel's back can handle this additional straw.........

 

[Rich Z]

Jeesus Feakin' H Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got an email from Ben at STS telling me that they aren't going to make those turbo timers any longer.

I'm not sure this camel's back can handle this additional straw.........

I guess the guys at STS heard my head banging against my desk. They are going to pull a timer off of one of their shop vehicles for me.

Whew..............