I don't think so. I believe it is some sort of fiberglass compound. I thought that almost nothing is made out of asbestos any longer because of liability issues. So I looked it up:
Source: http://www.asbestos.com/products/
-
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
- Thread starter Rich Z
- Start date
I don't think so. I believe it is some sort of fiberglass compound. I thought that almost nothing is made out of asbestos any longer because of liability issues. So I looked it up:
Source: http://www.asbestos.com/products/
mrr23
The Alignment Guy
The motor mounts are IN.
The Hinson shorter motor mounts came in and even though there is only a 3/8ths inch difference, the difference is WAY more significant with ease of installation.
There is also a lot more space between the back top of the FAST intake manifold and the firewall lip.
I reused the heat shields from the original motor mounts I got, but I did have to trim them by about a quarter inch or so to keep them from possibly impacting the cradle when the motor mount might get compressed during driving. I also applied some additional heat protection with some reflective tape I had laying around in the storage cabinets.
The passenger side was REAL easy with the header out of the way. Lots of room to work in there with the header removed.
As for the driver's side, well, I got the headers pushed aside as much as I could, but it was still a pretty tight fit getting the mount and bracket in and out of there.
If I had used a taller mount, I really don't think I could have gotten it and the bracket back in there. It was a struggle as it was with the shorter one. Taking the bracket off I got the power ratchet I was using jammed between the lower bracket bolt and the stud on the mount. I had to lift the engine even further to break the ratchet loose. Then trying to put the mount and bracket back in, it was a struggle to get the bracket in there and oriented correctly, and then I found that I just could not get the lower hole in the bracket to go over the stud on the mount. I had to pull it all out again and drill the hole slightly larger, polish the inside of the hole, and then lube it up. When I did that, it all just dropped into place.
Looking over the Pfadt motor mounts that came out, looks like someone pulled the stud out on top of the mount and then threaded a bolt down through the bracket into the mount itself.
Probably was a lot easier installing the mount that way, I suppose.
The driver's side looks like there was definitely damage done, and some metal to metal contact.
Sure would be EXCELLENT if that was causing the intermittent "drivetrain" noise I have been hearing. But I should be that lucky....
I pulled off all the insulation on the headers and noted that some of the ceramic had flaked away in a couple of places. I guess maybe that is why the header manufacturer's recommend that you don't wrap headers.
I guess I'll probably get some new ceramic coated headers *sometime* down the road, but not right away. Maybe if that driver's side header was easier to pull out of there, but obviously that will take more work to get 'er done.
So now I just have to put in the new starter, and then I can start putting it all back together again. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.
The Hinson shorter motor mounts came in and even though there is only a 3/8ths inch difference, the difference is WAY more significant with ease of installation.
There is also a lot more space between the back top of the FAST intake manifold and the firewall lip.
I reused the heat shields from the original motor mounts I got, but I did have to trim them by about a quarter inch or so to keep them from possibly impacting the cradle when the motor mount might get compressed during driving. I also applied some additional heat protection with some reflective tape I had laying around in the storage cabinets.
The passenger side was REAL easy with the header out of the way. Lots of room to work in there with the header removed.
As for the driver's side, well, I got the headers pushed aside as much as I could, but it was still a pretty tight fit getting the mount and bracket in and out of there.
If I had used a taller mount, I really don't think I could have gotten it and the bracket back in there. It was a struggle as it was with the shorter one. Taking the bracket off I got the power ratchet I was using jammed between the lower bracket bolt and the stud on the mount. I had to lift the engine even further to break the ratchet loose. Then trying to put the mount and bracket back in, it was a struggle to get the bracket in there and oriented correctly, and then I found that I just could not get the lower hole in the bracket to go over the stud on the mount. I had to pull it all out again and drill the hole slightly larger, polish the inside of the hole, and then lube it up. When I did that, it all just dropped into place.
Looking over the Pfadt motor mounts that came out, looks like someone pulled the stud out on top of the mount and then threaded a bolt down through the bracket into the mount itself.
Probably was a lot easier installing the mount that way, I suppose.
The driver's side looks like there was definitely damage done, and some metal to metal contact.
Sure would be EXCELLENT if that was causing the intermittent "drivetrain" noise I have been hearing. But I should be that lucky....
I pulled off all the insulation on the headers and noted that some of the ceramic had flaked away in a couple of places. I guess maybe that is why the header manufacturer's recommend that you don't wrap headers.
I guess I'll probably get some new ceramic coated headers *sometime* down the road, but not right away. Maybe if that driver's side header was easier to pull out of there, but obviously that will take more work to get 'er done.
So now I just have to put in the new starter, and then I can start putting it all back together again. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here.
Oh, by the way, I used the Nord-Lock locking washers on the motor mount studs and the motor mount brackets mounting them to the block. I had to break loose the passenger side motor mount from the bracket because the heat shield had shifted slightly when I was torquing the nuts. I found it interesting that it took substantially more effort to break that nut loose than it did tightening it to torque specs. I used a 3/8ths inch torque wrench to torque them down, but had to break out a 1/2 inch breaker bar to get that one nut loose. When it broke loose, it did so with a sharp *snap* and I thought I had actually broken the motor mount stud.
I noticed when I was removing the bolts on the header flanges that many of them were relatively loose and required relatively little effort to loosen them. So I'm thinking these Nord-Lock washers might be helpful to keep them tightened up without having to retighten them periodically.
I noticed when I was removing the bolts on the header flanges that many of them were relatively loose and required relatively little effort to loosen them. So I'm thinking these Nord-Lock washers might be helpful to keep them tightened up without having to retighten them periodically.
Well, today didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. I figured installing the new PowerMaster starter would be the easiest between the motor mounts and the starter, but nope, the starter turned out to be a problem.
I didn't have any problems getting the starter bolted to the block. And when I checked the clearance and alignment of the gear to the flywheel it was pretty much dead on without needing any shims. But when it came time for me to put the electrical leads onto the studs, that is when I hit the brick wall.
On the stock starter, the electrical studs are in the back of the solenoid, up at top of the starter. On the PowerMaster 9509, the studs are on the side facing away from the block. Now this doesn't sound like any real big problem, except for the fact that the wires and leads just will not reach those studs on the starter. I tried moving the wires around and checking to see if there was some way to get a couple more inches out of them, but it was just no-go. I really didn't want to tug on the wires a whole lot and break a wire someplace completely inaccessible without pulling the engine. But still, I did try my best with a gentle hand to coax just a little bit more reach out of the wires.
So that basically put a screeching halt on things until I can get another starter. This time with the electrical studs in a place where the wires can actually reach them.
Been reading that the starters for trucks in the same time frame as the C5Z have the two long bolt mounting points, so I'm going to be looking into that route.
Back to the drawing board on starters..... :shrug01:
I didn't have any problems getting the starter bolted to the block. And when I checked the clearance and alignment of the gear to the flywheel it was pretty much dead on without needing any shims. But when it came time for me to put the electrical leads onto the studs, that is when I hit the brick wall.
On the stock starter, the electrical studs are in the back of the solenoid, up at top of the starter. On the PowerMaster 9509, the studs are on the side facing away from the block. Now this doesn't sound like any real big problem, except for the fact that the wires and leads just will not reach those studs on the starter. I tried moving the wires around and checking to see if there was some way to get a couple more inches out of them, but it was just no-go. I really didn't want to tug on the wires a whole lot and break a wire someplace completely inaccessible without pulling the engine. But still, I did try my best with a gentle hand to coax just a little bit more reach out of the wires.
So that basically put a screeching halt on things until I can get another starter. This time with the electrical studs in a place where the wires can actually reach them.
Been reading that the starters for trucks in the same time frame as the C5Z have the two long bolt mounting points, so I'm going to be looking into that route.
Back to the drawing board on starters..... :shrug01:
Hmm, not sure how easy that would be on this type of starter...
Hopefully Summit Racing will take this one back and I'll just stick with the more traditional style OEM starter.
I can't figure out why none of the reviews I have read about this Powermaster starter mentioned anything about the wiring issue I ran into. It's not like I chose this starter blindly. :banghead:
I'm sure I could find another aftermarket starter with the same sort of terminal stud location as on the stock starter, but heck, no telling what other surprise might be in store for me if I continue along that route. So I think going with and AC Delco truck starter that has two long bolt mounting flanges might be the best thing to do right now.
Hopefully Summit Racing will take this one back and I'll just stick with the more traditional style OEM starter.
I can't figure out why none of the reviews I have read about this Powermaster starter mentioned anything about the wiring issue I ran into. It's not like I chose this starter blindly. :banghead:
I'm sure I could find another aftermarket starter with the same sort of terminal stud location as on the stock starter, but heck, no telling what other surprise might be in store for me if I continue along that route. So I think going with and AC Delco truck starter that has two long bolt mounting flanges might be the best thing to do right now.
Got the starter and the new heat shield I needed after butchering the one I had for that Powermaster starter I returned.. I ordered a new flywheel dust cover because I had to butcher the one I had to fit without taking the starter out. But the people who shipped it must have thought I was kidding when I included my PO Box along with the physical address. I don't get mail delivery to the home, and you never know these days how something is going to be shipped, much less make the final leg of delivery. Sometimes something shipped via UPS or FedEx will actually go to the post office for actual delivery to the destination (me). So I include both addresses to play it safe. But since they didn't include the PO Box, it got returned to them. Oh well. Guess I use the old cover now. The starter is in, as I certainly was not going to wait for another $10 piece of plastic to show up before getting moving on this.
Wasn't too bad now that I had a starter that would actually fit properly, but I found that the ARP starter bolts I bought wouldn't fit within the starter mounting holes. Wouldn't work in my old starter neither, so it was definitely a problem with the bolts. The starter bolts are knurled on the end to help get a more precise fit on the engine block. Apparently they went too aggressive with the knurling and exceeded the tolerance of the holes. So I had to chuck the bolts up in my little baby lathe (sure wish I had gotten that big one I wanted) and trimmed a bit of metal off of the knurling till they fit. No big deal but sucked up an extra hour or two just doing that.
Then when I put on the heat shield around the starter, just on a hunch I broke out my multimeter and sure enough, that reflective coating is conductive. So I had to trim away the shield to make sure it wouldn't contact the hot leads on the starter. Would have been an interesting "smoke test" when I hooked the battery back up.
So the starter is in, and I also decided to go ahead and tackle bolting the headers back up. I really was not looking forward to putting the passenger side back in, figuring it was going to be a pain in the butt, with maybe the starter getting in the way and I would have to loosen it up or remove the heat shield just to get the header back up there. But easy as pie. I was actually shocked.
So I am looking at the new header gaskets I bought from Summit Racing, trying to figure out how they need to be oriented, and something just didn't look right about them.
Maybe it's me, but those two CAN'T be for the same engine. The LS7 exhaust ports are "D" shaped, which is why I bought them. Fortunately I had purchased a set of regular LS1/LS6 exhaust gaskets too, so those are the ones I had to use.
It was a struggled getting the bolts into the headers by myself, as it sure would have helped to have Connie maneuvering the lower end of the headers for me while I struggled getting the bolts in. But she is up in Delaware visiting family, so I was on my own with this. By using a jack to lift underneath while I worked from the top, I was able to get it done. Of course the most inaccessible bolt out of all of them was the most difficult. That's the one back near cylinder #7 at the very rear of the head. I was afraid I was cross threading it putting it in, but damn, that's the only way it was going in. It just felt harder to turn than the other ones. It's tightened down at 18 ft. lbs with Nord-Lock lock washers, so it should certainly be OK. I'll just check the torque on them later on, but those Nord-Locks are supposed to be THE things to use on stuff like this.
Oh yeah, and that Milwaukee battery powered ratchet is worth it's weight in gold in tight spots where you really can't turn a wrench very easily. :thumbsup:
So anyway, tomorrow I'll either hook up the rest of the exhaust, or put the ignition stuff back in. Or maybe both if things go smoothly enough. So I'm thinking I'll be cranking it up maybe Sunday or Monday. Hopefully the smoke test won't actually produce any smoke and flames.... :ack2:
Wasn't too bad now that I had a starter that would actually fit properly, but I found that the ARP starter bolts I bought wouldn't fit within the starter mounting holes. Wouldn't work in my old starter neither, so it was definitely a problem with the bolts. The starter bolts are knurled on the end to help get a more precise fit on the engine block. Apparently they went too aggressive with the knurling and exceeded the tolerance of the holes. So I had to chuck the bolts up in my little baby lathe (sure wish I had gotten that big one I wanted) and trimmed a bit of metal off of the knurling till they fit. No big deal but sucked up an extra hour or two just doing that.
Then when I put on the heat shield around the starter, just on a hunch I broke out my multimeter and sure enough, that reflective coating is conductive. So I had to trim away the shield to make sure it wouldn't contact the hot leads on the starter. Would have been an interesting "smoke test" when I hooked the battery back up.
So the starter is in, and I also decided to go ahead and tackle bolting the headers back up. I really was not looking forward to putting the passenger side back in, figuring it was going to be a pain in the butt, with maybe the starter getting in the way and I would have to loosen it up or remove the heat shield just to get the header back up there. But easy as pie. I was actually shocked.
So I am looking at the new header gaskets I bought from Summit Racing, trying to figure out how they need to be oriented, and something just didn't look right about them.
Maybe it's me, but those two CAN'T be for the same engine. The LS7 exhaust ports are "D" shaped, which is why I bought them. Fortunately I had purchased a set of regular LS1/LS6 exhaust gaskets too, so those are the ones I had to use.
It was a struggled getting the bolts into the headers by myself, as it sure would have helped to have Connie maneuvering the lower end of the headers for me while I struggled getting the bolts in. But she is up in Delaware visiting family, so I was on my own with this. By using a jack to lift underneath while I worked from the top, I was able to get it done. Of course the most inaccessible bolt out of all of them was the most difficult. That's the one back near cylinder #7 at the very rear of the head. I was afraid I was cross threading it putting it in, but damn, that's the only way it was going in. It just felt harder to turn than the other ones. It's tightened down at 18 ft. lbs with Nord-Lock lock washers, so it should certainly be OK. I'll just check the torque on them later on, but those Nord-Locks are supposed to be THE things to use on stuff like this.
Oh yeah, and that Milwaukee battery powered ratchet is worth it's weight in gold in tight spots where you really can't turn a wrench very easily. :thumbsup:
So anyway, tomorrow I'll either hook up the rest of the exhaust, or put the ignition stuff back in. Or maybe both if things go smoothly enough. So I'm thinking I'll be cranking it up maybe Sunday or Monday. Hopefully the smoke test won't actually produce any smoke and flames.... :ack2:
I decided to put the ignition stuff back together today, and if I had enough time, work on the exhaust. But before doing that I spent a lot of time wire tying up stuff to keep the wiring away from the headers. Also put some new heat reflective loom on wires that were exposed. Man, this is a real test of patience. Trying to connect wire ties with one hand and in areas that you can't even see while your hand is up there is quite the challenge. My arms are all marked up with pre-bruises from struggling to get my arms where GM engineers never intended arms to go.
Anyway to back up a bit, I took some pics of the spark plugs when I pulled them out just for reference. Here they are in cylinder order:
I decided to just go ahead and replace the plugs, but this time around I chose the AC Delco Iridium plugs that are standard on the LS9 engine. These are the same heat range as the ones I have been using, and from what I have been reading, this actually may be a better choice for me.
I've been reading some stuff about people going to the standard plugs of yesteryear for our vettes, and some people have complained about getting fault codes indicating alternator issues. Well, what some people apparently figured out is that the old style plugs just take more current to fire a spark, and at low engine speed this affects the output of the alternator. Looking at the pics below, you can see that the iridium tip of these plugs is much smaller in diameter, and people are saying that this helps produce a much hotter spark using much less current.
These are supposedly pre-gapped at 40 thousandths, and when I checked them they were actually somewhere between 35 and 40. I didn't have any feeler gauges between those two points, but I figured they were OK since they all felt the same on my gauges.
Anyway to back up a bit, I took some pics of the spark plugs when I pulled them out just for reference. Here they are in cylinder order:
I decided to just go ahead and replace the plugs, but this time around I chose the AC Delco Iridium plugs that are standard on the LS9 engine. These are the same heat range as the ones I have been using, and from what I have been reading, this actually may be a better choice for me.
I've been reading some stuff about people going to the standard plugs of yesteryear for our vettes, and some people have complained about getting fault codes indicating alternator issues. Well, what some people apparently figured out is that the old style plugs just take more current to fire a spark, and at low engine speed this affects the output of the alternator. Looking at the pics below, you can see that the iridium tip of these plugs is much smaller in diameter, and people are saying that this helps produce a much hotter spark using much less current.
These are supposedly pre-gapped at 40 thousandths, and when I checked them they were actually somewhere between 35 and 40. I didn't have any feeler gauges between those two points, but I figured they were OK since they all felt the same on my gauges.
I also bought new ignition wires and went with the Granatelli sold core wires again. I wanted to use heat shields on the wires as well as the metal shields at the spark plug end of the wires, but I just could not get the tell tale click that the wire was securely attached to the spark plug. So rather than wrestling with them trying to make them work, I just took all that off and running the bare wires as is. They are supposedly high temp resistant anyway, so we'll see. I found it a lot easier to attach the coil side of the wires to the coils, and then attach the coil to the valve cover. Allowed me to get a lot more leverage to get them to click into place.
I'll double check everything tomorrow, but I think all the underhood stuff is now put back together.
I went over to the garage after dinner, and just prepped the exhaust pipes so I can put them together tomorrow. Also move the clamp to cover that exhaust leak I found when I took it all apart. I'm going to try to get my tail pipes aligned properly because they never have been right since all this work was done. Not sure if the tips are welded on correctly to the tail pipes or not, but for some reason they've been resistant to lining up exactly in line for me. Might just have to be "one of those things", however. Not going to spend a whole lot of time on it if it appears to need more than a few tugs and curse words.
I'll double check everything tomorrow, but I think all the underhood stuff is now put back together.
I went over to the garage after dinner, and just prepped the exhaust pipes so I can put them together tomorrow. Also move the clamp to cover that exhaust leak I found when I took it all apart. I'm going to try to get my tail pipes aligned properly because they never have been right since all this work was done. Not sure if the tips are welded on correctly to the tail pipes or not, but for some reason they've been resistant to lining up exactly in line for me. Might just have to be "one of those things", however. Not going to spend a whole lot of time on it if it appears to need more than a few tugs and curse words.
First thing I decided to do today was to disconnect the electrical going to the fuel pumps and just make sure the new starter wasn't DOA. Engine turned over fine, with no odd noises, so that was a relief. Figured it would be better to check now rather than having to pull the exhaust off again if I was sent a bum starter. I know it came in an AC Delco box, and LOOKS just like an AC Delco starter, but it sure doesn't SAY AC Delco anywhere on that starter.
So on that note, I put the exhaust pipes back together. The tailpipes looked pretty good concerning alignment, so I just tightened all the clamps. Then I went around double checking all the bolts, nuts, wiring, etc., that I had touched to make sure everything seemed properly tightened. Hooked the fuel pumps back up and decided it was time for the smoke test.
A friend of mine had stopped over, so I pointed out where I had the fire extinguisher stored, just in case. Turned the key and the engine fired right up. I mean RIGHT UP. Within about a second of turning the key. I'll be honest, I was astonished. It's never fired up that quickly before, and I guess I was expecting it to take a while for fuel pressure to build enough to start up. But heck, I guess a PLEASANT surprise is due every now and again.
Put the front wheels on, cleaned and put all the tools away, and will likely take the car out for a spin tomorrow. All nuts and bolts are accounted for, so I don't think anything will fall off during the ride.
:thumbsup:
So on that note, I put the exhaust pipes back together. The tailpipes looked pretty good concerning alignment, so I just tightened all the clamps. Then I went around double checking all the bolts, nuts, wiring, etc., that I had touched to make sure everything seemed properly tightened. Hooked the fuel pumps back up and decided it was time for the smoke test.
A friend of mine had stopped over, so I pointed out where I had the fire extinguisher stored, just in case. Turned the key and the engine fired right up. I mean RIGHT UP. Within about a second of turning the key. I'll be honest, I was astonished. It's never fired up that quickly before, and I guess I was expecting it to take a while for fuel pressure to build enough to start up. But heck, I guess a PLEASANT surprise is due every now and again.
Put the front wheels on, cleaned and put all the tools away, and will likely take the car out for a spin tomorrow. All nuts and bolts are accounted for, so I don't think anything will fall off during the ride.
:thumbsup:
Well, that's an interesting question, so let me look it up.
Hmm, since driving the car home from South Georgia Corvette on 11/18/2011, I've put 5,544 miles on the car with the new engine in place. I don't think Aaron Scott put all that many miles on it while he had it at his shop.
navy2kcoupe
!ereH nI depparT m'I pleH
Just make sure that you've bought about a dozen tickets to the local Policeman's
Ball before you go out and start having some "fun" with the C5Z!
Andy :wavey:
Ball before you go out and start having some "fun" with the C5Z!
Andy :wavey:
Just make sure that you've bought about a dozen tickets to the local Policeman's
Ball before you go out and start having some "fun" with the C5Z!
Andy :wavey:
Yeah man. :thumbsup: That seemed to work pretty well for Chris Harwood to keep him out of jail, now didn't it?
Anyway, I decided to raise the car back up on the lift and check the exhaust for any leaks before going on a drive. And good thing I did. Had leaks where the headers connect to the rest of the exhaust, and the two connections where the exhaust mates up to the cat back pipes.
I had taken some pics of the headers before installing the rest of the exhaust, so I went back and looked at the pics to see if the ends had become deformed. Seems to me that when I got the car back from South Georgia Corvette, I had to buy some tools to make all the header joints round again, as they had become deformed and had gaps that were causing exhaust leaks. When I took the exhaust apart for this project, I was real careful to make sure I didn't cause any damage I would have to fix later. Matter of fact, the exhaust came apart pretty easily.
Anyway, looking at the pics, I sure didn't see anything obvious that needed attention.
So for the front joints I just put some sealant around the edges of the pipes, and then moved the clamps forward a bit to cover the covering slip on joint ends and to clamp down more on the edges.
Then for the rear sections, as best I can figure out the flanges are probably bent slightly, because even though the bolts were as tight as I could get them, there are still gaps above and below. There are two bolts holding the joints together, so I'm thinking one or both sides may be bowed slightly. The actual first signs I saw when I started up the car and raised the lift was condensation leaking out of both places I mentioned that were leaking. Then I could actually feel exhaust pressure when I would put my hand near the joints.
You can actually see the gaps here:
Seems to me the gaskets I used before were much thicker right around the pipe opening, so thinking that perhaps I just needed more gasket material (obviously the sealant I used didn't help any), I removed the bolts and slid a second gasket onto each of those joints.
Then after tightening everything down again, I started the car and raised it on the lift again. Hallelujah! No leaks this time. Didn't see any condensation dripping from the joints, and putting my hand around the joints I didn't feel any exhaust pressure at all. But I think the next time I take the exhaust apart, I may have to look at those rear flanges more carefully. I may have to try to make those surfaces flat and flush again somehow. Maybe grinding a bit of the surface where the bolt holes are might work. Hopefully I won't just make things worse, otherwise I'll be ordering new exhaust pipes.
So I think I'm good to go for a ride tomorrow. Unless I can think of something else I need to triple check first and find a reason why I need to do something else prior to going out on the road. Connie has the cell phone as she is up in Delaware visiting her family. So if the car dies on me, I'm pretty much screwed for calling for help. I doubt anything will happen, as I've done several startups and the starter seems OK so far.
Took a short test drive yesterday, and then a longer one (50 miles or so) today. Startups with the new starter were just fine, and everything seems to be working like it is supposed to. But I still do hear some drivetrain squeal intermittently. So I don't believe the bad motor mount was the issue with this problem. Perhaps it was making it's own noise that was similar enough for me to think it was all from one source, but I'll get a better feel for frequency of the occurrences after I've driven it more. The noise didn't happen more than a couple of times, but it's gone through periods where it didn't happen at all for stretches.
While I was driving today, I just had the general feeling that the car just felt better. Smoother, perhaps. I think what I am feeling is that there was a subtle vibration all through the car, especially the steering wheel, that was coming from that metal to metal contact from the engine to the frame through that bad driver's side Pfadt motor mount. It just took a while for me to realize that this vibration that had always been there since I brought the car home from South Georgia Corvette is no longer there. I noticed all along that trying to take video with my camcorder mounted to the inside of the windshield just did not produce very satisfactory results because the image blurred from some obvious vibration. So I think I may go ahead and mount the camcorder again in the same manner, and see what the video looks like now. I have looked back at other videos I took the same way before the car went into Chris Harwood's place (and then subsequently into South Georgia Corvette) and there is no such problem with those videos before that time. So apparently the problem was introduced between the time the car went into Chris Harwood's shop, and the day I drove it back home from Aaron Scott's shop. I know Aaron wanted to put stock motor mounts on my car, as he seemed to insist that the Pfadt mounts were all metal, apparently not realizing that there was a urethane bushing in them. If he noticed that the one mount was bad on the driver's side, he never mentioned it to me. I wasn't at all keen on going back to stock motor mounts, as they have their own issues with fluid leaking out of them when they fail. Which I presume then allows them to collapse, and possibly you have metal to metal contact. :shrug01:
I'll put the car back up on the lift and check to make sure the exhaust leaks haven't reappeared after driving the car. I did a quick check on a couple of the header bolts that I could easily get to and they are still tight. I used those Nord-Lock washers on them, so hopefully they won't ever loosen up.
BTW, I had purchased header studs for the engine, because when the vette tech at the local Chevy dealership last worked on my car he mentioned that one or more bolt holes for the headers got "boogered up" as he put it. He figured from someone (he didn't mention any names, but it had to be Aaron Scott) having trouble getting the bolts to line up putting the headers back on. And I have to admit it's not the easiest thing in the world to do by yourself. The only one I had any trouble with was the far back one on the driver's side. It just feels pretty tight going in, like there is some resistance to the threading but it tightens down just fine.
But back to the studs. After buying them and looking over what is needed to do to get those headers on, I just don't think there is any way studs would work. You would have to pull the header flange away from the block enough distance to be able to push the header flange straight onto the studs, and I just don't believe you have that kind of room there to do that. So you would be fighting with the headers to try to get the flange on those studs at an awkward angle, and quite frankly, I just don't think you could do it. It was all I could do to slide the header flanges up the face of the head to get the bolt holes to line up to get the bolts into them and still have the gasket stay in place.
Header studs do sound like a real good idea, but I just don't think they would work in a C5 Corvette. So I didn't even take them out of the packaging, and sent them back to Summit Racing too.
While I was driving today, I just had the general feeling that the car just felt better. Smoother, perhaps. I think what I am feeling is that there was a subtle vibration all through the car, especially the steering wheel, that was coming from that metal to metal contact from the engine to the frame through that bad driver's side Pfadt motor mount. It just took a while for me to realize that this vibration that had always been there since I brought the car home from South Georgia Corvette is no longer there. I noticed all along that trying to take video with my camcorder mounted to the inside of the windshield just did not produce very satisfactory results because the image blurred from some obvious vibration. So I think I may go ahead and mount the camcorder again in the same manner, and see what the video looks like now. I have looked back at other videos I took the same way before the car went into Chris Harwood's place (and then subsequently into South Georgia Corvette) and there is no such problem with those videos before that time. So apparently the problem was introduced between the time the car went into Chris Harwood's shop, and the day I drove it back home from Aaron Scott's shop. I know Aaron wanted to put stock motor mounts on my car, as he seemed to insist that the Pfadt mounts were all metal, apparently not realizing that there was a urethane bushing in them. If he noticed that the one mount was bad on the driver's side, he never mentioned it to me. I wasn't at all keen on going back to stock motor mounts, as they have their own issues with fluid leaking out of them when they fail. Which I presume then allows them to collapse, and possibly you have metal to metal contact. :shrug01:
I'll put the car back up on the lift and check to make sure the exhaust leaks haven't reappeared after driving the car. I did a quick check on a couple of the header bolts that I could easily get to and they are still tight. I used those Nord-Lock washers on them, so hopefully they won't ever loosen up.
BTW, I had purchased header studs for the engine, because when the vette tech at the local Chevy dealership last worked on my car he mentioned that one or more bolt holes for the headers got "boogered up" as he put it. He figured from someone (he didn't mention any names, but it had to be Aaron Scott) having trouble getting the bolts to line up putting the headers back on. And I have to admit it's not the easiest thing in the world to do by yourself. The only one I had any trouble with was the far back one on the driver's side. It just feels pretty tight going in, like there is some resistance to the threading but it tightens down just fine.
But back to the studs. After buying them and looking over what is needed to do to get those headers on, I just don't think there is any way studs would work. You would have to pull the header flange away from the block enough distance to be able to push the header flange straight onto the studs, and I just don't believe you have that kind of room there to do that. So you would be fighting with the headers to try to get the flange on those studs at an awkward angle, and quite frankly, I just don't think you could do it. It was all I could do to slide the header flanges up the face of the head to get the bolt holes to line up to get the bolts into them and still have the gasket stay in place.
Header studs do sound like a real good idea, but I just don't think they would work in a C5 Corvette. So I didn't even take them out of the packaging, and sent them back to Summit Racing too.
Well damn! 
This starter I just installed has died. Turn the key and there is nothing more than just a single click coming from the solenoid. Started up a couple of times just fine prior to that. Actually have the car on the lift, so that is lucky. I found that I could recreate that drivetrain noise with the car off of the tires and the emergency brake engaged, so I was going to have Connie help me with this. I showed her how to feather the clutch while in gear to make the noise happen (which even now was still intermittent), and then raised the lift so I could get underneath with the camcorder to try to identify exactly where the noise is coming from.
So while Connie was getting used to the clutch engagement, she stalled the engine. When she tried to start the car again, nothing but the solenoid click mentioned above. So I got into the cockpit and tried myself. Took the emergency brake off, made sure the rear wheels would turn when the transmission is out of gear, etc., and it appears to definitely be the starter.
I contacted RockAuto to see if they will do anything about this. I was gone on vacation the entire month of May, so that starter doesn't have any more than maybe a dozen or so startups on it. But their 30 day guarantee is long gone, of course. So we'll see what they say.
I have to admit I was a bit concerned that the starter I got did NOT say "ACDELCO" on it like the one I removed. I think if I have to buy another one, I'm going to insist on seeing that on the one I get.
Well, at least this didn't happen while the car was out somewhere meaning I would have to get it towed. But still............ So much for buying what is supposed to be a good brand name item.
This starter I just installed has died. Turn the key and there is nothing more than just a single click coming from the solenoid. Started up a couple of times just fine prior to that. Actually have the car on the lift, so that is lucky. I found that I could recreate that drivetrain noise with the car off of the tires and the emergency brake engaged, so I was going to have Connie help me with this. I showed her how to feather the clutch while in gear to make the noise happen (which even now was still intermittent), and then raised the lift so I could get underneath with the camcorder to try to identify exactly where the noise is coming from.
So while Connie was getting used to the clutch engagement, she stalled the engine. When she tried to start the car again, nothing but the solenoid click mentioned above. So I got into the cockpit and tried myself. Took the emergency brake off, made sure the rear wheels would turn when the transmission is out of gear, etc., and it appears to definitely be the starter.
I contacted RockAuto to see if they will do anything about this. I was gone on vacation the entire month of May, so that starter doesn't have any more than maybe a dozen or so startups on it. But their 30 day guarantee is long gone, of course. So we'll see what they say.
I have to admit I was a bit concerned that the starter I got did NOT say "ACDELCO" on it like the one I removed. I think if I have to buy another one, I'm going to insist on seeing that on the one I get.
Well, at least this didn't happen while the car was out somewhere meaning I would have to get it towed. But still............ So much for buying what is supposed to be a good brand name item.
I guess all "manufacturers" these days are simply buying from Mexico or China and just slapping their label on the crap.
I got a response from RockAuto and the starter is under manufacturer's warranty. So once I pull it out and box it up, once they get a notice that the shipment is on it's way, they will ship out a replacement.
I just hope the replacement last longer than this one did. Of course, I'm just assuming it's a starter problem. I'll know more when I pull it out, I guess.
I got a response from RockAuto and the starter is under manufacturer's warranty. So once I pull it out and box it up, once they get a notice that the shipment is on it's way, they will ship out a replacement.
I just hope the replacement last longer than this one did. Of course, I'm just assuming it's a starter problem. I'll know more when I pull it out, I guess.