Iterations

I've been driving the Bucket all week on the new engine. Tuning with the Megasquirt has turned out to be and easy, but time consuming iterative process.

Basically, I drive somewhere and log the trip. During the trip, I try to run the car through as many throttle positions and loads as I can. When I get to my destination, I run the log through MegaLogViewer and have it re-analyze the VE table.

My first trip out, the car wouldn't spin past 3000 RPM. The map was just too out of whack. So far, I've got the VE map tuned out to 4200 RPM. Every time I analyze the log, the engine will spin a bit higher.

I'm also having issues with the TV cable adjustment on the transmission. It just isn't shifting correctly. There are also exhaust leaks on the headers, which are driving me insane. I think once I get the panels under the dash reinstalled, that might get a bit better. We'll see.

Almost through a tank of gas already. Gas milage seems to be abysmal, but I've been hammering on it and the VE table was crap, and the maladjusted transmission has the shift points all fucked up, so its been spinning higher in some cruise situations, so hopefully that will improve. Once I'm comfortable I have a table that won't blow the engine if I have to go WOT to pass something, I can start looking more closely at the cruise parts of the map and increasing fuel mileage.

Made it to work today...

I made it in to work in the Bucket today. Last night, after my soccer game, I drove it around the neighborhood, fiddling with various spots in the VE map to get it to not stutter and stall accelerating from a dead stop. I then fed the log of that session into MegaLogViewer and used its VE analyzer to "fix" my VE table.

I then drove it all the way to work with no problems. 12 miles. Super sweet. The picture is a screen capture of the log from the drive in today. I ran the VE analyzer against the log from the drive in this morning, too. I'll load that table in the car when I head home from work.

The torque convertor lockup works, too! What's better, I got it's 12v power from the old choke line, so when the TCC locks up, the choke light on the dash comes on and lets me know it happened. I'm pretty pleased.

It made it to the gas station and back again. Yee-haw.

GAHHH!

So, it turns out I'm mildly retarded.

I've been fighting huge vacuum leaks this week. I replace the upper plenum and runner gaskets. Improvement, but still hear some pretty bad hissing. Turns out I didn't put O-rings on the driver side injectors. Derp.

Once I got that fix, bam. Vacuum leaks gone. Car starts. No hissing. Got it re-timed, and then it starts missing badly. Timing light shows that the poor thing is losing spark. Quick look at Megatunix, and I only have 10.8 volts coming out of the battery. An HEI module doesn't work very well below 12 volts. Turns out I left the pin I used to hold the brushes in the alternator down when I took it apart a few weeks ago. No brush contact with the stator = non functioning alternator.

Pulled the pin, put the battery on the charger. Going to give it an hour to juice back up and see where we are.

IT RUNS (again)!

Yesterday at 3:10pm, EDT, the Bucket started for the first time under TPI/Megaquirt power. It was amazingly easy.

I just got finished installing some electric fans, so now I can let it idle long enough to warm up fully, and then start tuning it. Yee-haw.

Two days, lots of stuff...

I had all day Sunday, hoping to button it all up and start it.

Not so much. Leaks. Bad leaks. I pulled the fuel rail and replaced the O-rings on the injectors. Put it back on, hit it with the fuel pump again. Pressure shot up. Way up. Pegged the gauge. Not good. Pulled it off and dismantled the pressure regulator. Whoah. Big mess. The passenger side passage from the rail to the regulator body was completely clogged with some kind of shit, and the little tube that connected them was badly corroded. A bit of time with the bench grinder and some oversized O-rings fixed that point. A new fuel pressure regulator top took care of the totally fucked internals.

So, buttoned it all up and hit the pump again. Pressure shot to 50psi, and then the regulator went into bypass, just like it should. Then gasoline started dumping out onto the ground right below the driver side door. The return line was rusted all the way through.

This morning, I stopped in over at Street and Strip and grabbed another ten feet of braided steel hose and ran a new return. No more leaks.

So, I put the upper plenum on, hooked all the wiring and vacuum lines up, and then looked at the heater hose problem. I was worried I'd have to splice a return for the heater core into the lower radiator hose, but I lucked out. The radiator I bought last year has a port on the tank for the heater core return. All I need is a length of 1/2" heater hose and I can fill it with water.

After that, I need four small bolts to attach the water pump pulley, and then I can start it. If it fires, I'm going to jump up and down like an idiot.

Hammer time!

Well, I was really proud of myself. I went out to the garage after work, and again after my soccer game and some tasty Wendy's.

I wired the fuel pump and relay up. I fitted the fuel pressure gauge from the Buick onto the TPI rail so I could set the fuel pressure. I got the torque convertor lockup mechanism hooked back up, AND I hung the gas tank and put about a gallon into it (just what was in the lawnmower can).

Sensing near victory, I decided to run the fuel pump to pressurize the fuel system and see what I had.

What I had was a mess. One of the injectors is leaking, and the pressure regulator appears to be rubbish. As soon as the pump managed to suck some fuel out of the tank and actually pressurize the rail, the pressure shot up way past 60psi. Not what was supposed to happen.

Thankfully, I have a new regulator on the way. My air filter shipped from Amazon today. I'm going to have to pull the plenum off and pull the rail to replace the O-rings on that leaky injector, but that's not a horribly time-consuming job... I hope. Bonus is the regulator kit comes with a new set of upper plenum gaskets.

Progress over the past few weeks. I've gathered all the pieces for the fuel system. I gave up on trying to mish-mash up stock pieces, and just went straight -6 AN all the way through.

The first pictures is a feed line to go from the inlet on the fuel rail to the fuel filter.

The second is a nice shot of the front of the engine, you can see my supply and return lines hooked up to the rail. I'm reusing the stock vapor return line as a fuel return. It's a 5/16" steel tube, so it should work for a return.

The third picture is my Walbro fuel pump. I'm running 3/8" rubber from the fuel tank to the pump, and then it's -6 AN from the pump outlet to the filter, and on to the rail.

The last picture is the filter itself. For anybody doing this conversion that may be reading, give up on an aftermarket filter. The ones that can handle EFI level pressure are hundreds of dollars and have ridiculously sized inlets (-8 AN and up). Get a $6 filter for a fuel injected GM product, and buy these adapters. The filter has 16mm O-ring style fittings. The adapters I used to convert them to -6 AN were available at my local speed shop.

What's left? My mental list is getting shorter all the time. I need to put the gas tank back in the car and hook it up. I need a working electric fan for the radiator. I need to find or borrow a fuel pressure gauge so I can set the rail pressure. I also need to splice a tee into the lower radiator hose for the return from the heater core. Then its tighten everything down, put some gas in it, and see if it'll start. Maybe sometime this week? If I'm lucky...

Parts a-comin'!

The fittings for the fuel rails showed up yesterday. The fuel pump should be here today. Hopefully I can mount and wire the pump Sunday, and after that it'll be a matter of getting enough AN line to hook it all up.

I'm starting to get excited.

And on and on...

New Walbro fuel pump and the exact fittings I need ordered, and they were $40 less than the mess I returned this morning. I'm walking on air.

Sweet!

The auto parts store graciously accepted my return of the fuel pump I can't use and ten feet of fuel tubing I didn't use. $167 back into my checking account, and now I'm off to find a fuel pump that'll actually work.

And another...

Transmission valve cable is in and adjusted.

Steps at a time...

Well, the last two weeks have been a whirl, and not of things getting done on the car. But, I got back out there tonight.

I hooked up the fast idle valve, and got the throttle cable in.

For people looking to do this swap: use the accelerator cable from a 1989 Camaro (305, the parts store will not be able to get the cable for the 350... but they were the same). The hole in the firewall will have to be enlarged, the keyway nub must be ground off the part that clips into the firewall, and on the throttlebody end, some plastic must be removed so that the throttle plates will be able to open all the way.

The only electrical part left is the fuel pump. Unfortunately, the fuel pump I bought isn't going to work. If I can find the receipt, I'm going to take it back and use a Walbro 255. Fittings to adapt the fuel rails to -6 AN have also been ordered.