-
Just passing by? Feel free to reply to discussions, no account needed.
Or, quickly register using Facebook or create an account the old fashioned way.
BUILD The misadventures of sktchys turbo 3800 catfish
- Thread starter sktchy3.8
- Start date
I'd bet just the swap over to corn and like 2⁰ would put me above 300 . This is as good as what it made previously on 91 with a couple gallons of 110 added to it. I don't really have any intention of putting anymore timing in it than it already has once that happens though. Well take care of that with an afc and a boost controller.
Spending the afternoon with this one today. Since oil pressure was dropping when hot again I picked up some 20w50 and a filter and decided to rack her up and take a peek under her skirt.
Oil looked pretty decent but it was definitely gassed down. Little bit of metal on the plug magnet and my coolant elbows are dripping a little so I threw some k seal in it and it can sort itself out since it has no issue building pressure and doesn't get hot.
Found the rear trans mount bolts were a little loose so that explains the bit of shifter float I've had and may put off slotting the cross member for the poly bushings a little longer. Brake line seeping on the caliper I took off the parts car so I tightened that up and we'll see what happens.
Runs pretty awesome though, need to work on this narrowband closed loop thing a little but otherwise it doesn't really pull any shit. Where I tied the same signal into both banks I think it's causing interference because the signals switch at different times between the two and for whatever reason my trims are reading backwards from actual afr in the scanner. It could also be somethin in the injector data but I'm not really in the mood to start all that over again today since I probably won't strap it down.
After driving the Buick around for a while the cheap plastics and rattles in this thing annoy the hell out of me but it's still a blast to drive when it's not trying to kill itself.
It does do that. And it makes 8 lbs/minute more on the street than it does on the rollers and was just a bit lean across the board. Should've loaded it harder I probably could've made 300 
But of course I had to screw it all up because the closed loop thing just was not working out so I stuck it back in open and have been working on some speed density along with the maf to clean it up. Drivability is improving greatly now it's not so touchy on the throttle at low rpm and while it still kinda does the drop on decel it's getting better.
The big thing is I'm good on oil pressure and I've made it 215 miles and made dyno and hard pulls on it without it shitting glitter. No knocks rattles or nothin. So now I just gotta not blow it up again.
But of course I had to screw it all up because the closed loop thing just was not working out so I stuck it back in open and have been working on some speed density along with the maf to clean it up. Drivability is improving greatly now it's not so touchy on the throttle at low rpm and while it still kinda does the drop on decel it's getting better.
The big thing is I'm good on oil pressure and I've made it 215 miles and made dyno and hard pulls on it without it shitting glitter. No knocks rattles or nothin. So now I just gotta not blow it up again.
So it just dawned on me that I should've taken the cat and muffler off too. I never really thought about it being an issue before but it necks down to 2 1/4 after the cat and into the resonator even if it's only a few inches...which if looking it up right is restricted about 320 flywheel. So I guess I'm gonna have to start figuring out how to get 3 inch ran without dragging the pavement before I try and go any farther here.
You have 2.25 post turbo? No fucking wonder bet this jumps 40+hp at the tire after.
My NA 145hp Astro had 2.25 from the factory.
So, I have the 3 inch downpipe and then about 2.5 feet of "exhaust" that consists of a 2.5" high flow cat, 6 inches of 2.25 which is what I had laying around, then a 2.5 zzp Polaris resonator and then another piece of the 2.25 that's just a short probably 30⁰ turndown.
So, yeah
surprised I've made what I did.
So, yeah
surprised I've made what I did.What I'd really like to do is just get a bunch of 3 inch mild steel angle pieces, another high flow cat, and bullet muffler off eBay and try and booger it together for a few hundred bucks by the time I add some v bands. But it's probably not gonna happen until I get caught back up. Opportunity to take my kids to Florida for a week this summer came up a couple weeks back so thats put the brakes on throwing money at the cars for a while.
In the meantime at least it runs well and should hopefully stay together until I can get around to doing it right.
In the meantime at least it runs well and should hopefully stay together until I can get around to doing it right.
And once again I fuck up a perfectly good running car by dicking around with my bullshit ideas. Swapped the fbody balancer pulley back onto this bottom end and buttoned everything up and started and warmed up just fine. Lil rich but it was kinda missing. Shut it off and started it again and it'll run fine for a bit, pig out rich, catch itself and rev up a little like a vacuum leak and then it's just like somebody slammed the throttle shut and it buries rich and dies. After it dies the fuel pump runs to pressure.
I'm in no mood to even put the laptop on it to start investigating but my thoughts are leaning towards the crank sensor. I remember having issues with an fbody balancer shredding a fwd sensor and having to change it out but I would think they're the same part number. Or maybe I grabbed the fbody balancer that did that before. Who knows but with no check engine light flashing and that being the only thing that could've changed I'll just have to pull it back off again and swap out the sensor and put the other fbody balancer I have on it.
2 steps forward 3 steps back always
I'm in no mood to even put the laptop on it to start investigating but my thoughts are leaning towards the crank sensor. I remember having issues with an fbody balancer shredding a fwd sensor and having to change it out but I would think they're the same part number. Or maybe I grabbed the fbody balancer that did that before. Who knows but with no check engine light flashing and that being the only thing that could've changed I'll just have to pull it back off again and swap out the sensor and put the other fbody balancer I have on it.
2 steps forward 3 steps back always
FWD and RWD balancers and sensors are the same. Make sure you actually got the balancer keyed. Sounds similar to what my car was doing.
Smashed balancer keyway
Smashed balancer keyway
It was keyed up just fine when it went on. This may be the balancer that tore up the sensor the last time and if I remember right it probably bent a couple of the reluctor tabs. It was running as normal but it did have kind of a weird squeal to it which was probably the reluctor wheel riding against the sensor is my guess.
It's not really too big of deal where I have another and a couple crank sensors sitting around and it keeps raining so it won't be out until it stops and the road dries out anyway. But it is rather annoying that I'm fairly certain I screwed up in the same way I have before and I've gotta take the intercooler off to get to everything.
Should pull the bumper and put the black billet grille I have in it and redo the intercooler piping so I can hide it all back there one of these days and maybe get some bends out of it.
At a certain point I'm starting to feel like this car is cursed anyway, it is kinda cool but its always broke or I can't take it out because of weather and not wanting to rust the damn thing out like most of the rest of them have gotten to be. Not having ac sucks and the rattling ass t tops drive me batshit. Cabin is super cramped with the kids in it and while they like to go for a drive in it once in a while it's definitely never gonna see daily duty.
Probably why a lot of my efforts have been focused on the Buick lately.
It's not really too big of deal where I have another and a couple crank sensors sitting around and it keeps raining so it won't be out until it stops and the road dries out anyway. But it is rather annoying that I'm fairly certain I screwed up in the same way I have before and I've gotta take the intercooler off to get to everything.
Should pull the bumper and put the black billet grille I have in it and redo the intercooler piping so I can hide it all back there one of these days and maybe get some bends out of it.
At a certain point I'm starting to feel like this car is cursed anyway, it is kinda cool but its always broke or I can't take it out because of weather and not wanting to rust the damn thing out like most of the rest of them have gotten to be. Not having ac sucks and the rattling ass t tops drive me batshit. Cabin is super cramped with the kids in it and while they like to go for a drive in it once in a while it's definitely never gonna see daily duty.
Probably why a lot of my efforts have been focused on the Buick lately.
Got a little more screwing around done, couldn't find anything wrong down there. Sensor and balancer both look fine. So does the keyway.
So I shined up the reluctor wheels on the other fbody balancer I'd previously been running along with the crank sensor from that block I know is good.
The divot in the center of the crank bolt is from the 3 jaw puller I've used dozens of times to do this. I wanna stress a point that while it's not recommended to do this it's for a reason. However if your going to do stupid shit like I do it is imperative that you center the threaded rod on the puller on the balancer bolt and grab only at the thick edges of the pulley and use a ratchet wrench and go slowly by hand stopping to move the crank bolt out a few threads at a time and then going a little further until it gives free. Failure to do so and the puller WILL slip and take chunks out of your pulley and probably fingers with it.
The fbody balancers are a little better put together for doing this but if you pull a fwd balancer apart doing this it was gonna go to shit on you anyway.
Lastly, I sure thought this bov was some cheap eBay garbage but now I'm questioning if I didn't get pissy with the one I had before and fired the cannon on that thing too. It does work very well though.
So I shined up the reluctor wheels on the other fbody balancer I'd previously been running along with the crank sensor from that block I know is good.
The divot in the center of the crank bolt is from the 3 jaw puller I've used dozens of times to do this. I wanna stress a point that while it's not recommended to do this it's for a reason. However if your going to do stupid shit like I do it is imperative that you center the threaded rod on the puller on the balancer bolt and grab only at the thick edges of the pulley and use a ratchet wrench and go slowly by hand stopping to move the crank bolt out a few threads at a time and then going a little further until it gives free. Failure to do so and the puller WILL slip and take chunks out of your pulley and probably fingers with it.
The fbody balancers are a little better put together for doing this but if you pull a fwd balancer apart doing this it was gonna go to shit on you anyway.
Lastly, I sure thought this bov was some cheap eBay garbage but now I'm questioning if I didn't get pissy with the one I had before and fired the cannon on that thing too. It does work very well though.
It only opens when it has boost on it and it sees vacuum. I clearly remember spending a good couple hours rabbit holing on the set screw to get it just right back when I used to be out here at 4 in the morning messing with it. Doesn't seem to have budged at all through everything.
It's also on the charge pipe and it, my wastegate, and fuel pressure regulator are referenced to manifold vacuum so whatever goes on in front of the maf I could care less about.
Got it back together, fired right up and ran like dick. Like I didn't know if it was gonna make it but I let it spit and sputter until it started pulling fuel back and finally spit a code at me. Grabbed the laptop and saw the trims and cleared those and it helped some. So I shut it off and started it again and it got a little better. Then I did it again and just let it run and it finally worked itself out into this at about 13.2 afr.
I would imagine it took it a few spins to figure out where the balancer was but that makes an argument that a case learn isn't real necessary. Especially when it waited until it was steady state at temp and then straightened itself out and never once threw a misfire or crank sensor code. Maybe a p04 is a little smarter than we give it credit for.
Also it's never purred this clean, I'd always been told the build up on the reluctor wheel wouldn't matter but clearly that's something rather important if you wanna keep it running the way it should.
I would imagine it took it a few spins to figure out where the balancer was but that makes an argument that a case learn isn't real necessary. Especially when it waited until it was steady state at temp and then straightened itself out and never once threw a misfire or crank sensor code. Maybe a p04 is a little smarter than we give it credit for.
Also it's never purred this clean, I'd always been told the build up on the reluctor wheel wouldn't matter but clearly that's something rather important if you wanna keep it running the way it should.
Ok before I go off and get rid of somethin I'll never have again, maybe I should try wrapping these pipes or at least that big ass top pipe. Being real stainless will keep it from rusting and cracking underneath and I know it'll torch it but if I get a few layers on there on top of boots it'll absolutely have to help. Notch that exhaust manifold gasket out where the wires are because every bit of room away you can get counts and maybe I'll dig myself out of the hell that comes with having somethin cool and different for a bit.
Started a job tonight that I've been wanting to do for a long time. And I'm kind of glad I waited rather than hacking it up. It's also somethin I figured would be a quick direct swap but that wasn't the case at all.
Firebird door card swap.
It's no secret the newer birds were arguably the best interiors in the 4th gens. Where I already have a mint set of black cloth bird seats in the car from my parts car, I wanted the door panels too. My Camaro ones are mismatched to begin with with one being leather and one being cloth I assume was replaced at some time.
I went into this with the mindset I could just spin a few screws and done and that was absolutely not the case, the bird cards are just enough smaller lengthwise that absolutely nothing but the plastic hooks on the back and the center screw for the handle trim fit. The rest you may as well get some self tappers out and stuff em strategically into the fiberglass door so they don't hit any moving internal parts.
And to add to it the mirror switch has an entirely different plug with a couple different colored wires I almost certainly crossed as I have about 80% of the function I should with them after winging it. This may be a difference between 98 and my donor 00 car but it's how it went down if you want these panels in this catfish lol.
Your window switches and locks will match up and are plug and play if you really don't care about power mirrors. But I'm dumb and I do. I also retrofit an led bulb into the handle trim to light up the buttons better at night because screw it I was already there.
I think I'll mess with the other one tomorrow. I should've been doin somethin with that wire burning collector but I guess this was more important for whatever reason.
Firebird door card swap.
It's no secret the newer birds were arguably the best interiors in the 4th gens. Where I already have a mint set of black cloth bird seats in the car from my parts car, I wanted the door panels too. My Camaro ones are mismatched to begin with with one being leather and one being cloth I assume was replaced at some time.
I went into this with the mindset I could just spin a few screws and done and that was absolutely not the case, the bird cards are just enough smaller lengthwise that absolutely nothing but the plastic hooks on the back and the center screw for the handle trim fit. The rest you may as well get some self tappers out and stuff em strategically into the fiberglass door so they don't hit any moving internal parts.
And to add to it the mirror switch has an entirely different plug with a couple different colored wires I almost certainly crossed as I have about 80% of the function I should with them after winging it. This may be a difference between 98 and my donor 00 car but it's how it went down if you want these panels in this catfish lol.
Your window switches and locks will match up and are plug and play if you really don't care about power mirrors. But I'm dumb and I do. I also retrofit an led bulb into the handle trim to light up the buttons better at night because screw it I was already there.
I think I'll mess with the other one tomorrow. I should've been doin somethin with that wire burning collector but I guess this was more important for whatever reason.
So I raided my scrap metal bin at work this morning since I've finally caught a break from stuff being broken and started deep cleaning corners while I have the time to.
Found all sorts of cut up 3 inch exhaust pieces that aren't going to fit literally anything I'd need to work on. I'm fairly sure there's more than enough bends there to booger up a whole exhaust if I cut and stick everything right. Sure it'll probably take a while to do, but I could use the practice with the metal glue gun and it'll save me a few hundred bucks buying stuff I'd have to piece together anyway. So add this to the list of things I should probably do sooner than later.
Gonna make this thing sound like Chewbacca fuckin a 747.
Found all sorts of cut up 3 inch exhaust pieces that aren't going to fit literally anything I'd need to work on. I'm fairly sure there's more than enough bends there to booger up a whole exhaust if I cut and stick everything right. Sure it'll probably take a while to do, but I could use the practice with the metal glue gun and it'll save me a few hundred bucks buying stuff I'd have to piece together anyway. So add this to the list of things I should probably do sooner than later.
Gonna make this thing sound like Chewbacca fuckin a 747.
Mission accomplished.
The other side was just as interesting as I pulled this monstrosity out of there.
I just grabbed the good OEM out of the bird to clean this up but I'm actually kinda shocked with how well this speaker worked for just being jacked in there where it doesn't belong
I'm currently trying to talk myself into wrapping this header collector so I can take it in to the lift and put some real exhaust on it tomorrow but we'll see how much further I get
The other side was just as interesting as I pulled this monstrosity out of there.
I just grabbed the good OEM out of the bird to clean this up but I'm actually kinda shocked with how well this speaker worked for just being jacked in there where it doesn't belong
I'm currently trying to talk myself into wrapping this header collector so I can take it in to the lift and put some real exhaust on it tomorrow but we'll see how much further I get
Per usual #4 was cooked but this is the first time I've seen it melt into the spiral core 
For the time being I just trimmed the flap on my manifold gasket back to gain some clearance and get as close to the valve cover as possible and slapped another good wire out of the pile and glass sock on it then zip tied it to the alternator bracket. It's probably not gonna be a permanent fix but it should buy me some time to get it out and enjoy it some more.
I'm about to the point of getting pissed and heating that collector up with a mapp torch and takin a hammer to it and then if I have to wrap it it'll be because I don't wanna look at what I've done to these pipes. Maybe there's a reason there was such a limited production run of them.
For the time being I just trimmed the flap on my manifold gasket back to gain some clearance and get as close to the valve cover as possible and slapped another good wire out of the pile and glass sock on it then zip tied it to the alternator bracket. It's probably not gonna be a permanent fix but it should buy me some time to get it out and enjoy it some more.
I'm about to the point of getting pissed and heating that collector up with a mapp torch and takin a hammer to it and then if I have to wrap it it'll be because I don't wanna look at what I've done to these pipes. Maybe there's a reason there was such a limited production run of them.