I've been tuning the Camaro for a few weeks now, and wasnt happy with the results. After a lot of research I realised I'd have to start again as the MAF was screwing up the logging. I knew I'd have to do the same on the '55 so decided to pull the MAF out and replace it with a tube instead. While I had it all disconnected I set about trying to sort out the bearing squeak from the serpentine. I'd ground the mounting tabs of the alternator down last weekend to bring it further forward, and decided it was down to tension in the end. I undid the top mount and backed off the belt till the tension was right., then made a strap to hold it in place while I tested it. A quick fire up and no sign of the squeak, so that's that done till I make a decent bracket.

I'd also bought the seatbelts for the car this week, after deciding that driving it without them was just plain dumb. The pillar mounts had been put in by Zane when he did the exhaust and stuff so it was a pretty easy job. It took longer to swap the latches on the seats than it did to fit the rest of the belts. With it now a lot safer, I can take Poppy to school in it so I put the manky old door panel on temporarily for her and fitted a door handle. A bit of a test drive with the datalogger showed my new map which I'd based on a tune I'd downloaded was close enough to get me started so after it had settled a bit I gave it some stick. I hit the rev limiter, even with the pedal travel limited to 90 odd percent (Just in case). Reading through the logs afterwards revealed that the blow off valve is dumping boost when it shouldnt be, so that will need a better restriction in the hose. After a bit of googling I found the suggestion of using a welder tip, so it's got a 0.6mm one in there now, and the new map based on the drive is in there ready to do some more driving.

I spent a couple of nights in the week working on the car, and got some bits and pieces that I could do without making too much noise done. I got the sway bar brackets clearanced and painted then re-fitted it all, got the procharger pipework back in and tightened up and the intercooler bolted up tight. I also got a catch can fitted and re-routed all the rubber pipework and some of the engine wiring. I'd also noticed the ignition key getting hot, even though all the heavy circuits are on relays, so I pulled it and fitted some heavy duty relays to take all of the load from the switch. I did an oil and filter change on Saturday and decided to take it out for a proper drive on Sunday. My mate John was going to a classic car show that was about 25 miles from the house, and needed to borrow my scanner, so I emptied out all the junk, put some tools in a bag, temporarily wired in the sat nav and I was on my way. I set the speedo as I drove using the sat nav as a reference, and it's pretty much spot on. I stopped off at my parents house on the way, and pumped up a low tyre and set off again. It drove really well, and apart from being unbelievably hot inside it was faultless. It definately needs some tuning but according to the datalogger its running OK. After getting a cold drink and a quick hello, I set off again and John took some video of the car. As I drove off the throttle cable decided to come loose, so after a quick repair and moving the Lokar pedal so it wasnt stopping on the cable I was off.

On the way home it developed a knock in the front end somewhere, but drove well so I carried on home. I cant see anything obvious, and it was way too hot to climb under so I put it in the garage and will have a look at it in the week. The only other issue I found was the headlights have stopped working, I cant hear the relays clicking so I'll have a look at that as well. Pretty damn happy with it I must say. Really, really need a carpet in there as my trainers were sticking to the floor! Oh and heres a video of it on YouTube, courtesy of John.

I bought all the bits to rebuild the 4L60-E and was waiting for a slot with Zannetec to get it built when I blew the 3/4 clutches on the Camaro. That left me with two identically broken gearboxes, one rebuild slot and one set of parts. As the Camaro is my daily, that got done first leaving the '55 to wait for another slot and some more parts. It finally got it's slot a week ago and was collected on a trailer for it's rebuild. While Zane had it, he made me a parking brake arm so that they worked correctly which left it ready for it's MOT test, the last but one stage before getting it on the road and driving it legally.

Zane offered to take it to the MOT station for me before he brought it back, which suited me perfectly. I'd forgotten to put the motor on the washer jets but apart from that it needed nothing else before he took it in. That's the MOT tester's son at the wheel, who now wants to get a '55 Bel Air!. It also passed its braking efficiency test, and heres a camera phone video to prove it, but you have to use a lot of muscle to stop it neatly with the single diaphragm 7" booster. When I got home from work, the certificate and the car were waiting for me. I tidied up the garage and put it away before testing the brand new S&P alternator and declaring it dead. It's removed ready to get it rebuilt which I'll hopefully get done in the next week, along with replacing the booster and getting the registration done. Feels great to be getting somewhere with it again after a long wait.

The Camaro got a new engine and trans a few weeks back, and the PCM needed to be re-flashed for the later trans. Unfortunately the extension that the laptop was plugged into wasn't switched on and I ended up with a blank PCM when the battery went on the laptop. The camaro was at Zannetec so the '55 had to give up it's PCM to get it moving. I ordered another one from the US and some new flash chips to fix the dead one and waited patiently. The truck was also coming home from having it's body blasted so the garage needed a massive tidy up which I did the next weekend.

With enough space to get the truck in it wasn't so easy to work on the '55. After a bit more tidying up and moving round I could move the truck out and have more space than I did a few weeks back. The PCM turned up this week, so out went the truck and I set about re-fitting it. I decided to turn it the other way up to give me more clearance on the wiper drive, and ground the fins off so that it would fit tighter to the dash. A new clamp on the top and I put it all back together again. I couldn't test fire it as Tommy was asleep so I wired up the stereo while I waited. With that done and Tommy up I turned the key, the fuel pump whirred and nothing happened. The starter circuit wasn't working. I decided to re-do it from scratch as I wasn't happy with how it was done. After a few hours of messing I had one less relay and was ready to go. A turn of the key and it fired right up. It needs the '55's tune stuck on there now and I'm back where I was a few weeks ago.