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1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Daily Driver LQ4 Swap

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  • Think my flexplate loosened up on my tonight during decel after a 2nd gear pull. I've had this happen to me before on my previous setup.
    1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
    1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

    1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

    Comment


    • Turns out it was a loose exhaust rocker rocker. Probably beat up the lifter a big and I'm sure the piston didn't like the increased pressure and heat. Pushrod look good and is straight, rocker is fine, threads in head are ok. I just tightened it back to spec and viola, all fixed.




      That guy right there.
      1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
      1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

      1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

      Comment


      • Gave it a wash tonight. Needs some quality time with the rustoleum spray can again. So many chips.
        1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
        1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

        1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

        Comment


        • Been tuning the car non-stop it seems like. Close to being just right. Only occasional hiccups here and there. But the idle is nailed and it's ready for next weekend at the track.
          1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
          1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

          1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

          Comment


          • Last week I noticed a small puff of blue smoke from the passenger side every time I stopped. After a bit, it would go away. Figured it might just be a bad valve seal. Then I've been having trouble chasing my tail getting airflow and fueling at idle and especially returning to idle/coming off throttle to be reliable. Thought it was time to pull the covers and maybe look at the seals or perhaps put some sealant on the rocker arm bolts. I found a problem:


            That guy has been sitting there like that for a while I suspect. The retainer lock is a bit damaged, but it should be good for the weekend. It's a fatigue crack and failure and valve drop waiting to happen.


            Rocker survived, pushrod has some cosmetic wear where it rested on the cylinder head, but it is straight as an arrow and the ends are fine. When the pushrod slipped the cup, the lifter went into the retainer and stayed there which is why I didn't have any noise. The cylinder was just pumping oil into the exhaust system.


            Tonight I went through the passenger rockers, one by one and removed, cleaned, applied loctite and re-torqued being absolutely certain I was on the base circle of the cam. Got dark, so I will do the other side tomorrow. Fired up to check and everything seems honky-dory.
            1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
            1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

            1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

            Comment


            • Went to an event this weekend. Northwest Nights Motorsports held a no-prep, no time, street race (we didn't even has on the track, just the adjacent piece of old runway) at Bremerton Raceway. This is how I lived for three days.



              Before I left, I had to do a slight retune to the car because it was now running on all 8 cylinders perfectly. It's a dream to tune now. Accelerates smooth at part throttle, returns to idle...even in bumper to bumper Seattle traffic. I loaded up the car with slicks, tent, cooler, tools, etc and drove the 75 miles to the track.

              My plan was to just hang out, do a few runs for data and tune the car as best I could guessing at improvements in performance on logged runs. I used MPH at the moment I let off at the finish line as my yard stick. Started off at 119mph, which was a disappointment because the car did that on the old setup. My final run was 124mph after adjusting fuel, shift points and adding timing. It spun fairly hard but didn't completely blow the tires away.



              I spent most of my time just hanging out and watching other people beat on their junk. But I left plenty of rubber behind at the track and went home with a car that runs better now than it ever has.

              1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
              1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

              1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

              Comment


              • Burn-out.




                Getting after it.


                And a video of me just absolutely stomping on a Chevy SS.
                0 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 4 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Chris Baker: Nathan McGrew vs unknown
                1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                Comment


                • That 95kpa on my MAP has been bugging me all day. I should have investigated that while I was at the track. I had thought about it, but didn't want to mess with a car that was running really well. I suspect the air straightener I put infront of my MAF is now becoming a restriction. Can't imagine it was the filter. Maybe I need to check my throttle blade and make sure it was actually going open all the way. But, I bet it's the MAF and I will end up doing a SD tune for the track. The MAF is working so well in the car as a daily driver that I don't want to chuck it just yet. Been there, done that. Maybe this week I will redesign my cold-air intake and delete the MAF and do start doing a pure SD tune just to see if that was where my 5kpa went. We were at almost 101 kpa when I was doing these logs.
                  1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                  1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                  1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                  Comment


                  • Like I said before, getting 95kpa at WOT in 100kpa conditions was bothering me. So I did some work today. First I verified that I'm getting WOT. I am pretty close to full-open, there was a bit of slack in the cable so I tightened that up and it made a slight difference. Then I turned my attention to the cold-air intake. It is a 4" tube with a card style MAF and air-straightener the runs to a filter that hangs just below the right front edge of my air dam under the bumper. It looks like this:











                    The new intake moves the filter to where my battery used to be. There's and opening there that is fed cold air. It's otherwise just pulling in warm under-hood air at idle.





                    My initial drive to redo the VE resulted in having to add a TON of fuel to the VE. Have to discount this because I fixed the rocker issue while tuning just the MAF and never did redo the VE. Car feels like it gained a boatload of torque. Off-idle throttle is a bit of an on/off switch right now compared to the buttery smooth MAF tune. 50% thorttle resulted in 91kpa. Still need to do some full-pulls to see if the KPA is back into the 99-100 range at WOT. Ambient temp today was 72 degrees, IAT went up to 99 degrees at idle where is used to be only 5 or 6 above ambient. It went down to 80 degrees at speed. Not too shabby.

                    I'm no stranger to running in SD full-time, and I might go with a hybrid closed loop eventually, but the wideband is pegged lean until well after 3,000rpm...so that might not be viable. And running it in our wonderful weather here in the Pacific Northwest means constant monitoring and adjustment, but again, I'm used to that.

                    I bet I end up cutting the honeycomb out of the MAF eventually and putting it back in...but for now the car is running strong.
                    1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                    1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                    1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                    Comment


                    • Finally got a chance to take the car out for some open-road tuning. Late night on a Saturday works fairly well. A lot of the surge and hesitation is gone in the lower RPMs now, which is nice, but the main goal was to verify WOT AFR and KPA. It's a success. Dropping the screened 4" MAF, and losing a 90 degree bend has resulted in a 3kpa improvement. I'm at 98kpa WOT now instead of 95kpa. Car feels so much more powerful in the mid-range it's insane.



                      I don't like the fact that where I used to get near ambient IAT from having the tube run completely out of the engine compartment, I now get 90 to 100 degree IAT...and it doesn't drop much during WOT. It's currently 64 degrees here... I will revisit this at a later date. I bet I could get an air-bell to work in my bumper.

                      Oh, and the trans makes noise now in 2nd at half-throttle or so. No bueno. It made a little bit of noise before, but it's much louder now. It's a junkyard trans with unknown miles that I've abused for 12,000 more after doing a shift kit. I shouldn't be surprised.
                      1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                      1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                      1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                      Comment


                      • Made it to a test and tune this weekend. Drove it 150 miles round trip and used half a tank of gas.


                        Ran a 11.2 @122mph. 1.66 60' was nice.


                        No tire slip anywhere.
                        1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                        1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                        1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                        Comment


                        • And there you have it 11.20 on motor. A car that's double the budget now. A builder who is still unemployed and has but $10 to his name and a promising interview on Monday. Oh and my wife is pregnant again.

                          Anyways. I think I can get this thing into the 10s on motor. A better air intake setup, some weight reduction and a 1.5x 60' should do it. If that doesn't do it, a trusted skinny friend can help drop 200lbs in driver weight. Nitrous will get me there with a 50 shot...and at this point I wouldn't want to run much more although I'm set up for 250. I'm out of RPM turning almost 7,000 rpm at the top end. The 4.30 gears might turn into 3.90 gears soon. But I need new Street tires for the winter. My nitto 555rs have 12,000 miles on them and are a big puddle away from sending me off the road.
                          1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                          1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                          1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                          Comment


                          • Excellent grouping of updates! Congrats on another one and good luck on the interview!

                            Interesting thing about the air straightener, it's said a screen like that over a turbo inlet is a huge power killer. Amazing how sensitive things like that can be.
                            Escaped on a technicality.

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                            • Realized I've been absent from this place for a while. First, the news. I finally got a job, it doesn't pay nearly enough, but it's work. And suddenly I'm being inundated with interview requests now that I'm looking for better work. I'm sitting for the test for Seattle City Light weekend after next, and I'm fairly certain I should make it on to the next round of that hiring process. I actually turned down a job offer yesterday because I didn't want to join a new place just to turn around and quit a few months later. Oh, and I'm a dad again for the 3rd time as of the 16th.



                              Now, the car. I took it to a dyno day near the end of race season and it went poorly. I was messing with the IAT bias table and accidentially pasted the same value into every cell. Made the car run crazy rich at WOT. Off the charts rich to the point that my wide-band failed and read dead lean instead. No doubt it was rich, just look at the cloud of gas during the run. It barely made 400rwhp. My old setup made more than 420 and trapped 3mph less than the car does now. Got the tune fixed in the parking lot before I went home, but no time to get back on the dyno. Should have made more than 450. Very eager to find out what the number is, and I should have a chance again soon because I plan to dyno test the nitrous system before an event on May 12th. Anyway, here are the runs:





                              And what's the plan now? I grabbed a 1 gallon fuel cell and walbro external from a buddy then an aeromotive fuel pressure regulator, fittings and hose so I can put together a cheap engine bay mounted stand-alone fuel system for my nitrous. Since I'm planning on running a 250hp shot, and I don't like or trust my nozzle setup, I grabbed a 102mm Nitrous Outlet plate. That's going to be a handful to launch so I'm also installing a NOS mini 2 controller, which along with the C16 race gas in the stand-alone, should keep my engine safe.



                              I currently have a 4.30 rear gear, and that poses two problems. First, launching a 250 shot with that gear will result in a lot of wheel spin, second, I'm almost out of RPM on the top end with the looser converter and more powerful motor trapping 122mph. I need a taller gear, but not too tall because my cam sucks below 2,000rpm cruising. I debated between 3.73 and 3.90 for a while, and settled on the 3.90 gear. Little more than 2100rpm at 60mph and 2500rpm at 70mph (locked converter) and 140mph at 7,000rpm with calculated slippage.

                              And that ram-air/CAI intake tube project is still waiting for me to mess with. I'm going to re-add the MAF as well, running in Speed Density this winter reminded me once again why MAFs are better with stock computers. I'm fairly sure if I building the ram-air portion correctly, it will fix the KPA issue I was chasing before and give me back my true cold-air. I have the parts, and a half-cooked plan, just need to execute it.
                              So, why have I had all of these projects sitting lined up and I haven't gotten any of them done? Is it because I have to work in the parking lot in the rain? Nope. Too busy with my job? A little. The new dad thing? No, I'm on night shift with that. It's because the transmission in the car finally took a big stinky shit and quit on me. Yes, the same junkyard 4L80e transmission I traded for with SuperBuickGuy. It had unknown mileage and all I did was install a shift-kit and put in fresh oil and filter. Made it about 13,000 miles before the input bushing died and killed the forward drum and my torque converter. It's been at a buddy's shop for about 6 weeks now. So long. When I do get it back, eventually, I have a heck of a list of things to do before May 12th.

                              1. Stand-alone fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel pressure reg, lines and fittings
                              2. 102mm plate install
                              3. CAI ram-air intake tube fabrication and install
                              4. 3.90 gear install
                              5. Nitrous controller, bottle heater and misc wiring
                              6. Possibly reinstall QA1 lift bars in rear
                              7. Really want to put my drag tires on the extra set of Enkei wheels, and put 15" wheels and tires up front


                              In the near future this car desperately needs the body to frame bushings replaced with solids, an 8-pt cage and the blazer big-brake swap up front. It's currently less than safe. Thinking about upgrading the rear axles with 30 splines and switching to 1350 yokes on the pinion. So much to do, so little time, so little money...
                              Last edited by 1970camaroRS; March 23, 2017, 11:19 PM.
                              1970 Camaro RS - SOLD | 2000 Camaro SS - Traded in for a Hyundai...
                              1966 Ford Thunderbird - SOLD | 1963 MGB, abandoned V8 project, FOR SALE/SCRAP

                              1978 Cutlass - Post Lay-off daily driver

                              Comment


                              • Busy dude! Wondered what happened other than winter.
                                You'll figure it out..

                                Congrats on the wee one!..
                                Last edited by Deaf Bob; March 23, 2017, 11:18 PM.

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