Project 55

Post date: Aug 30 2008 - 11:00pm

Falling behind on the site again, and real life has got in the way of the cars a lot. The Camaro had been giving me a load of knock problems which I decided were not being helped by the 52mm throttle body. I pulled the stock one off the '55 which sorted the Camaro out, but left me with a headache on the '55 throttle cable. I'd cut it to suit the stock bracket, but it was too short with the bigger cam on the side of the 52mm body. I could either do it the easy way and swap them back or make a new bracket.

After a lot of measuring and re-measuring I ended up with a cardbaord template for a new one and set about making it out of aluminium. After a few hours of messing about I was happy with the result and it was ready for a test run. With the logger hooked up, I took it out for a run, gave it a little bit of a tune, then gave it a blast. No change 0-60, still at 5.9 seconds, but it shifts a lot nicer which I guess is the engine getting more air at a given throttle position. Looking forward to driving it again once the new brakes are on.

Missing Boost Found

Post date: Aug 18 2007 - 11:00pm

Zane made a connector tube (or fish as he christened it, as it ended up fish shaped!) so I set about fitting it. Its so tight that I had to remove the Procharger and fit it before putting it back on. Some of the bolts are almost impossible to get at so it took a few hours but it looks good done and should help to keep it cooler now I'm not drawing air from above the headers.

While testing the brakes the other weekend I noticed some compressor chatter as it came off accelerator, so I decided to move the blow off valve to just before the inlet elbow to see if it helped. I found that it was opening as boost increased and dumping constantly. A check of the vacuum feed showed it to always seem to be in vacuum even when there was enough boost to swell the inlet piping. I swapped the dual piston valve out for the old single piston but that made no difference either. I kinked the pipe and got it to dump only when the throttle closed, so after a bit of experimentation made a restrictor with a piece of bar and a jubilee clip on the pipe. This allowed me to adjust it so it only dumped when it should so it'll be interesting to see how much more performance I get.

Intercooler Again

Post date: Jan 14 2007 - 12:00am

When I drove the car the other day I heard a rubbing noise when the car was on full lock. I had a quick look and couldn't see anything so planned to have a proper look around later. I was thinking about it the other day and decided it was probably the intercooler plumbing. When I had a look at it I found some rub marks on them and the wheels now just touched it on full lock. When I did this initially the car must have needed to settle as I checked it at full lock. I pulled all the tubing out and started again from scratch. With a cut down aluminium 90 instead of the rubber elbow I got a tighter run that cleared the wheel on lock.

While I had it all in bits I decided to re-mount the intercooler so I could get a few more inches of clearance. It was mounted tight against the core support bracket so my only option was to cut off the rest of the front panel support and have it at a shallower angle. The front of the intercooler was mounted on a short tab from the front panel, and I wasn't convinced a longer one wouldn't sag. I decided to make a tab from a piece of steel bar to mount it to the bumper bracket. My newish pillar drill decided to pack in at this point which made it all take twice as long as it should. After a lot of messing about I mounted the intercooler and it fitted perfectly, about an inch or so higher than the bottom of the chassis crossmember. Even though nobody will see it I rounded the edges over before I painted them, I'm in danger of doing stuff properly at this rate.

Fun with Coolant

Post date: Dec 10 2006 - 12:00am

Last weekend I connected up all the coolant hoses and filled the system with water and anti freeze. It didn't leak, which surprised me so I started the engine and let it heat up. There was a steady drip from somewhere that was running through the intercooler. I shut it off and looked everywher for the source of it. I checked all the hose clamps, tightened the radiator petcock and tried again. It leaked again so I spent the next few hours trying to find it. Eventually I spotted a mist of liquid from the fan, and spotted a tiny hole in the core of the radiator. I drained it all down, and pulled it back out.

I had a go at patching it with solder, but it wouldn't stick to the aluminium and leaked again under pressure. Zane managed to patch it for me and this weekend I put it back in again. I had also got the hinges back, and they were in the way of the air filter. After a few goes at trying to squeeze it in I gave up and put it below the master cylinder as I'd planned originally. I clamped it all up and filled the radiator to above the point where it had leaked before and started it up and left it warming up. No leaks, and not much fuel left either.This is certainly a thirsty motor. I'd better get the data logger wired in and keep an eye on where the sensor reckons the engine is. I'm back to where I was a week ago, I hate little problems like this.

Fluid Lines Aplenty

Post date: Oct 7 2006 - 11:00pm

I took the rack to get the fittings measured a week or so ago, and got braided hoses so that I could plumb it all in at the same time. I re-fitted the rack with the new fittings in place, and connected up the hoses which was a real pain to do due to not being able to reach the pump easily and struggling to line it all up. I wasted a good few hours getting it all right but it's now ready to screw to the firewall and fill up with fluid to see how many leaks it has.

Next was making the cooler lines for the transmission. I'd also forgotten to put the fittings on the box, but got the old ones out and the new ones in without too much hassle. I made one of the lines, then spent the next hour trying to get the angle right to connect the fitting on the box. When I finally got it right, I made the other line to match, and spent another hour trying to get that one right as well. Doesn't seem to be much done, but it took a lot of time. Oh and the new headers are here, so the car's ready to go to Zane's for the exhaust.

Engine Runs on The Supercharger

Post date: Sep 16 2006 - 11:00pm

I didn't get much time on the car last weekend as I ended up fixing my neighbours stretch cadillac. I managed to do some more test fitting of the hoses, and realised the planned route for the outlet of the Procharger was in the way of the radiator hose. After a few more goes I managed to get a route that went over the radiator hose, but I needed a few more joiners and pipes. After working it all out again just to be on the safe side, I ordered them up ready for this weekend. The spacer block was also done this week so I was ready to go.I needed to cut holes in the inner wings to get to the intercooler, so I taped them out and rough cut them with a jigsaw. Once I got them big enough to get the pipe through, I connected up as far as the outlet of the intercooler and fired the engine up. There was a loud pop so I shut it back down and investigated. I'd forgotten to take the rubber cap off the intercooler and it had fired it across the garage.

Happy that it hadn't exploded, I carried on and connected the inlet side. I also connected the blow off valve vacuum so it was ready to go. I'd run out of time, so gave it a real quick test fire. It fired straight up, and idled nicely. The fuel pressure rose as I pulled the throttle, and the blow off valve moved as it came off boost, so its spot on. There was a classic car show just down the road from me on Sunday, so I went down to meet my mate down there and had a wander round the tool stalls. I managed to find some carbide burrs, so when I got back home I pulled all the tubing off again and smoothed it all out with the die grinder. I cut some U channel to cover the edge, and clamped it all back together hopefully for good. While I had the car up in the air I relocated the MSD box to between the inner wing and the firewall, and mounted the fan and headlight fuse box. A quick test fire again to show it off and it sounded great. I need to put all the wiring back again and then the radiator can go back in. Just want to go and rev it up!

Too Many Pipes

Post date: Sep 1 2006 - 11:00pm

I got some of the intercooler tubing delivered this week so the plan was to trial fit some of it and see if it would all squeeze in. Before I did that, I wanted to put the pan back on the transmission after taking it off last week to fit the dipstick. I had a new filter and gasket for it as well, so put that in at the same time. While I had the car up in the air I fitted the brackets and cable for the shifter and left it tucked up on top of the transmission for now till I fit the shifter inside. I also tightened up the intercooler brackets, and re-shimmed the core support to get the wings a bit straighter. With that done it was on to the piping. I did the air filter and inlet first, and after a lot of positioning and re-positioning realised there was no way I could get it back round towards any cold air. I decided to cut down the 90 elbow to allow it to point down under the master cylinder, which should be OK. It's just balanced there for now but will have a small joiner with the vacuum fittings welded in ultimately.

The plan for the intercooler was to go through 180 degrees and then 90 degrees straight up through the frame horns, or just behind them. Unfortunately it ended up too close to the A arms, so that idea was out. The only other option was to come through the bottom edge of the inner wing, so that was what I decided to do once I worked out where the pipes would sit. The outlet from the procharger either had to go across the engine, or go through 180 degrees then down. Also I couldnt get the engine inlet elbow to clear the procharger if it faced towards it so it had to be 180. After much testing and re-positioning I worked out it could either go in front of the radiator, which blocked the radiator hose, or in front of the core support filler panel where the MSD box was. There wasn't enough room to fit the hose between the MSD and the procharger, so that had to come out. I was more concerned about having the MSD hidden than anything else for some reason. Don't ask me why, it just does!. I'm still half tempted to run without the intercooler, but where's the fun in that?

It Runs!

Post date: Aug 5 2006 - 11:00pm

I made up the last hose in the week, and poured in a load of fuel to test the pipework. A few leaks from loose joints but no real dramas. I set the regulator to 40psi to get me roughly where I should be to start it and called it quits. I only had a few hours to work on the '55 on Saturday, so I built the coil unit up with the new module and the MSD coil I got off eBay. It needed drilling out to suit, and I mounted it where it sits on a stock LT1 for now so I could test it. I fitted the elbow, MAF and an air filter and realised it was ready to go. I got in and fitted all the PCM fuses, connected the battery and flicked on the ignition to make sure it all worked. Nothing. No fault light, no fuel pump noise. After a lot of testing I found that I hadn't connected the earth for the fuel pump relay, and after a load more testing realised I hadn't put the feed fuse in.

With that fitted, I turned the key and the pump buzzed into life. I pulled the fuse back out and spun it over on the starter till I got some oil pressure, then re-fitted the fuse. I was really nervous, and turned the key to start. It fired immediately and ran for a few seconds then died. I was out of time then, but managed to get a few more hours later to have another go. I pulled the MAF plug and gave it another quick go and it ran much better but stalled on returning to idle. You can see a video of it here. I temporarily spliced in the ALDL plug and checked for fault codes with a laptop. It was showing a knock sensor fault, so I checked the wiring then realised it had a Caprice program on the computer which is a 2 knock sensor car. I re-flashed it with a stock Camaro one on Sunday, and fitted the headers and the radiator to check for clearance for the pipework. A quick test fire and it ran like a watch with the MAF connected. It still stalls on return to idle, so I need to check the throttle position sensor is correct and go from there. Pretty chuffed with it all tho.

Shiny bits and Wires

Post date: Jul 8 2006 - 11:00pm

I got a 1/2" NPT tap off ebay so that I could tap out the pressed in hoses on the water pump. I took the smaller one at the back out to the same size and then took the front cover off and set about it with a die grinder to remove the casting marks. With that done, I sanded it smooth and gave it a quick polish. I couldn't get to all the corners, so some of it isnt as shiny as it could be. Looks way better tho. I cleaned it all out, greased the pump and sealed it all back up ready to fit. I stuck the gaskets on, and did the throttle body at the same time. Was a weird feeling putting it on properly at last.

It was an awful day on Sunday, blowing a gale and raining (you've got to love British Summers). I pushed the car out enough to get a chair in front of it and settled down for a good few hours of wiring. I got the entire right hand side done (that;s Drivers right, not from the front). I taped up each sensor individually which looks miles better than the flexi tubing stuff. I'd fitted the oil filter and dipstick one evening this week, and put the last of the sensors into the block so I decided to fit the accesories for good too. It looks ace with it all done. I also hung the fuel pressure regulator and stuck some hoses on to take a pic (I know they are on the wrong ports!). Need to finish the other side off and then it's on to the rest of the wiring and plubing.

Blower in position and Throttle is in

Post date: Jul 1 2006 - 11:00pm

I bought some longer bolts for the supercharger bracket, along with a big bag of washers so that I could get the position right. I taped the washers into three equal stacks, and hung it all to see where it sat. The bolts were a little long, so I chopped a bit off the end of them all and did it all again. After fitting spacing and re-fitting for a few hours I had it all sat where I wanted it and it now cleared the accesories easily. I also had a bit more clearance on the inlet so it should go together without too much hassle now. I taped up the tubing and got the old inlet manifold down from the roof to strip out the fittings.

They were all filthy so they got dropped into a cup of thinners to clean them up. I also cleaned up the PCV and the throttle cable bracket and fitted those to the engine. I put the map sensor in and then got the throttle cable out to measure up to cut it to length. I drilled the firewall and ran it all through before realising I'd left the spacers that straighten it out so pulled it out and did it again. I lay all the wiring out as well to see what would fit and what needed extending. The entire right hand side will need extending by about 6 inches so thats a job for next week. I'd better order up all the fittings so I can plumb it too.

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