1994 Firechicken - My Relapse into LT1 Sickness

I think Ive decided on the color.

Red. Black top. Gold/Bronze wheels.

Seems very ferrari-esque huh?

Thats the point, she will be the Firerrari

Gonna print me some fender shields

and 3d print me some of these

Maybe call here the Firerarri F350 Duevalvo

I picked her up from the exhaust shop yesterday, she made it home, ran great, didnt overheat. She sounds awesome. Gonna shake here down a little more today, maybe pull a little more weight, and she will make her first pass tomorrow at yello belly.

Shots of the Phab exhaust.

We also had my buddies skinnies mounted, and gave them a try on the firebird.

Drove her around most of the day shaking her down. Severely traction limited with the crappy tires on the stock wheels, but besides one clamp I left loose, it went pretty well. Rattles and makes SOOOO much noise, but it drives okay. The first stop from highway speeds was scary, it shook like a mofo. I resurfaced the rotors and its gone, so I should be good for the  ~40 min drive to the strip tomorrow.

Then I tried to clean up the butchery in the hatch area.

Looks like this was cut with a hatchet

Cleaned up the "cuts" the best I could

Plate cut with some weatherstripping to prevent rattleing 

With a username like Opti aren’t you morally obligated to have an LT1 F car?

In reply to AnthonyGS :

I had one for 7 or 8 years and loved it. Missed it after I sold it, but moved on to a C5 and now an ND, and didn't think too much about it. After driving this thing I remember how much I loved my old one, and I've been tossing around the idea of finding a clean T56 equipped car to DD and selling the ND

9.1 at 77.

At little slow, but it made the drive made 5 passes and drove back, never overheated or anything. So overall pretty happy. I'm gonna do some data logging in the next few days make sure everything is okay and see if I can tweak the tune. Probably throw a fuel filter on it.

Did a little data logging yesterday. Might have found where some of my power is. Getting a ton of knock retard anytime i go WOT. Up to 12 degrees.

I loaded a much less aggressive timing table and still anytime I go WOT, 12* of KR.

It's got shell 93 in it. I'm gonna slap a new filter on it and verify the pump is keeping up tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure it's false knock, the headers are probably hitting the subframe when the engine torques, they we're close.

I'll verify the fuel system is okay, then I'm probably gonna turn the KR off, or neuter it were it can only pull a couple degrees then ramp it back in real quick.

After work I wanted to check the pump. Here you will see the international symbol for ,"hey officer, I'm testing my race car, please excuse my WOT blasts."

It was at a constant 43 psi until you go WOT then it would drop steadily, I made it to about 4k and I was at 25 psi. Surprisingly I couldn't feel it, it still ran smooth, I just think it was down on power,and I couldn't notice cause I've been driving a Miata too long.

So let's check the filter.

That looks old

I don't think fuel is supposed to look like that.

After I dumped the fuel out, look at all the sediment that stayed behind

New filter in

Made the run again and pressure dropped a little slower but still dropped considerably, so I'll be looking for a fuel pump today at work.

Hoping to cure the KR with a working fuel system, load the more aggressive tune and make a few 1/4 mile passes tomorrow at Ennis, here is hoping it doesn't get rained out. If not we'll just make a couple passes at Yello belly Sunday

I ordered a fuel pump Friday. 

Its got the mark of quality, so you know its good.

Its a Spectra. reviews are hit or miss, and they have the denso modules on ebay for just a little more but I needed it for this weekend, and Autozone had this one.

Old one out. Lack of discoloration in the bucket has me worried this wasnt that old.

Sock looked like E36 M3

The bucket was filled with brown gas, like the filter. I wondered if that was from the old gas that was sitting in the tank for atleast a year. So I looked in the tank and it wasnt great but not terrible.

When I was fixing this trap door a couple days ago, I was hoping I wouldnt be using it this soon but its all done

I also got a random DTC 16 while data logging the other day, thats the dreaded Opti code. Its normally associated with an opti failure but Ive found it to be the wiring that runs down to the opti more often than not. I got one off amazon for like 15 dollars.

I hooked the fuel pressure gauge up and drove around, 45 psi and rock steady no matter what. What to go chinese fuel pump.

Then I loaded up a tune with the stock timing table and went and datalogged

knock counts were definitely down, but the 3500-4500 rpms in PE still had a lot of knock retard. At this point I knew the fuel system was good and it probably had good gas in it and most of the ignition system is new, so let roll with it.

I loaded back up the more aggressive timing table and figured Id just leave it in the event Street night didnt get rained out.

It looked gloomy all day but around 2 or 3 it looked like the track was going to be open, so we rounded everyone up and headed out.

The White trash Camaro is a coworkers turd gen that has some slicks and skinnies, heads and cam and a carb intake. He was running 8.5s to my 9.1s at the 1/8th last week and after a week of E36 M3 talking I needed to beat him or at least out MPH him. So we lined up, I had no changes from the previous runs except the fuel pump. I knew itd run a little better but Id still be experiencing a ton of KR, so I had to do something.

A chase is a race, right?

It ran a 14.0 at 100 mph in the 1/4

9.0 at 80 in the 1/8th

So from just the fuel pump I gained a tenth and a half and 3 mph in the 1/8th

I loaded up the tune, killed Knock Retard in Power Enrichment mode, loaded a BLM blocker, and made afr adjustments (based on the stock narrow band sensors), I called this the #kaboomtune. I had removed all of the safety net of the stock hardware, lets hope for the best.

Ran a 13.55 at 102. 

It didnt pop so thats a win

The owner of the White Trash Camaro wanted another fair race obviously. I wanted to know if the stock intake was a restriction so I yanked it off and just left the MAF to draw air off the left header.  Im in the left lane

He treed me, but I cut my best 60" of the night and had literally just enough real estate to run him down, youll see the margin of victory is .0085.

I also gained 3/4 of a mph in the eighth and quarter, so I know intake mods will actually help, and after reviewing datalogs that's with 12 degrees celcius hotter IATs.

Overall I was pretty happy. Most of my 60's were in the 2.3 range, so Im hunting some radials now, before I make the full plunge to slicks and skinnies.

Exciting action! Drag racing looks so fun. I gotta get out to the strip.

In reply to Opti :

What software are you using for logging?  What about for flashing?   I need to learn this stuff for the '94 LT1 i'm stuffing into my Corvair.

Also, let's say I want to eliminate VATS.  Do i have to do that while the powertrain is still in the donor car with VATS still enabled?   Or is it possible to talk to the PCM after it's been moved to the Corvair and the VATS / CCM is no longer attached?   I sold my gauge cluster the other day, so i really hope i don't need to have that in place to make all this work.

Thanks!

Ive mainly been using EEhack for datalogging and flashing and Tunerpro RT for editing.

I dont know abouy VATS, the guy before me must have already deleted it because I put a third gen ignition cylinder in it with no "chip" and car starts fine. Security light is on but it still starts.

I believe there is two parts to VATS fuel and starter (IIRC). I think fuel you can turn off in the PCM, but the starter kill is done seperately. If you have the donor vehicle, and are using the harness, you can measure the resistance in your key chip and just put a resistor in line and then it bypasses the vats system.

Id probably touch base with one of the LT1 tuners.

Found a use for my ypipe that fit like E36 M3, and by that I mean tried to occupy the same space as the driveshaft.

A nice guide for my intake

Now I have some ideas on lengths and sizes so the correct pipes in aluminum have been ordered, and will hopefully make it here by this weekend.

I also ordered a Solomon tune, since I'm gonna delete the maf with the new intake I figured I'd leave that up to a professional, then work from his tune.

This is not my car but the best representation of what I'm gonna do. It's a pontiac so it's gotta have some RAM AIR, mister.

So I havent worked on driven the firebird for a few months, but my coworkers let me know we have a street night coming up friday and I needed to bring a car. I went and grabbed the car, it hadnt been started in almost 6 months but it fired right and and drove back to the house, I cleaned up the garage (I have an L31 scattered, being rebuilt for my dad, and SWMBO wanted to work on a motor, two birds) and put it in, so I can actually work on it after work.

Still had some time left in the day, so I wanted to get a small project done. Since about the third time I put the headlights up, either one wouldnt go up or back down. So I order some cheap aluminum gears on ebay and figured Id try my hand at replacing them.

4 bolts and a connector and youll have two of these

Pop the cap off with a screwdriver

There is literally nothing to it. All torn apart

old vs new, this one wasnt that bad but some of the teeth are worn down

the second one actually had teeth laying in the gear space. two spots had three or for teeth missing

Put the new gears in and some new grease and reassemble. You can see the t bars that hold the covers back on using the mouting bolts, but I went ahead and got some epoxy also, thats how most of the kits do it. Was actually really quick and simple, only took like 25 minutes. They work great, and are just a smidge louder than the plastic gears.

Got my tune from solomon for speed density, so I can load it once I get the intake built. I have all my piping for the intake. Im gonna try and get it built this week, and Ill order some drag radials for the stock wheels. Ive been hunting for a set of used 15" welds, but no luck, so just gonna stick with a 16 on the back for now.

I found a reliable source locally for E85 (tested about e90), and just got my tune for the ND miata, so If the firebird isnt done, Ill take the ND back to the track and see what improvement the E85 will make, plus Ive got a couple of grudge races for the ND anyways. It's sad my Miata has been down the track way more times than my drag car. We actually all went and did some bracket racing two weekends ago, and Im more consistent in my stick miata than my auto drag car so I took it.

That got me thinking I might as well switch the LT1 to E85 also, the stock injectors wont handle it but I have some 42s laying around. Its essentially free hp, just have to pay for a retune, so Ill probably do it with my next change Ill need a tuner to handle, like a bigger tb or something.

Also when looking for headlight motor parts I learned the most GM thing ever...Why these motors/gears fail.

So you may think, "it's because they are plastic." Well yes they fail because they are plastic, but the plastic wouldnt matter if it wasnt for another design feature.

These motors dont have a stop or timer. There is a mechanical stop in the linkage, and when the linkage hit its, the motor continues to run, literally trying to strip the gears, which makes the amperage draw go up and that triggers them to be turned off. So after years of them binding up by design and continuing to run for a very short period the motor wins and strips the gears. That why when you have a broken gear and the light wont go up or down, when they do get triggered they run for like 10 seconds.

This design wouldnt be that bad, until you throw a piece of plastic in it.

Opti said:

I think Ive decided on the color.

 

Red. Black top. Gold/Bronze wheels.

Seems very ferrari-esque huh?

Thats the point, she will be the Firerrari

Gonna print me some fender shields

and 3d print me some of these

Maybe call here the Firerarri F350 Duevalvo

 

I picked her up from the exhaust shop yesterday, she made it home, ran great, didnt overheat. She sounds awesome. Gonna shake here down a little more today, maybe pull a little more weight, and she will make her first pass tomorrow at yello belly.

In Italiano, diremmo “Duevalvole” non Duevalvo.  ;-)

That’s your free Italian lesson for today.

BTW, had one of these (‘94 M6 Formula) for years.

Started the intake project, I'm hoping to be done by Friday and get my DRs on to go make some passes, but don't underestimate my level of general dumbassery.

Stock and restrictive

Starting to take shape. I have to cut the top rib off the radiator to clear, and Im so precise with a baby sawzall that I managed to poke the tiniest hole in the top tube. So I have a new radiator that Ill probably also poke a hole in. Cut a little of the support and latch brace.

Just roughed in now. This is were the intake willsit until I get a tube bumper support and get rid of everything behind the front bumper. Ill modify the new rad and rad cover tonight and see if I can get it buttoned up. Then tomorrow night a trip so summit for some drag radials.

How it looks under the car

I finished up the intake last night late. I was running out of time, so Im sure I forgot something and Ill break down on the way to the track but whatever.

Loaded the new speed density solomon tune, and went out for a run. Seems a little stronger but my butt dyno isnt very well calibrated since I drive a 150 hp miata every day, it is severely traction limited. If everything goes okay a buddy will bring me some DRs and skinnies at work today, then Ill head straight to the track once I get them mounted.

A friend just told me we are expecting rain, so if it hold out and the car doesnt break, Ill have some results tonight

Intake

From under the car, can see my screen filter

The weather has cleared and is looking awfully nice out here. I got me some Drag radials. Not many options in the stock size, its these or M/Ts at quite a bit more, but I plan on going to a 15 inch soon, so these are only temporary.

Ill be at the track at about 7, hopefully I get a few good runs in without breaking anything. Maybe Ill run the Volt to.

So no update in a long time because I sold the car. Sold it to a friend who drove it for a while then have some life things and didn't have a place to park it and asked if he could park it at my house for a couple weeks which turned into almost a year.

I was talking to another friend and mentioned it and he was looking for a E36 M3box drag car that was a little slower than his LS car for beginners. I acted as an intermediary and a deal was struck for well under challenge money, and he is headed in on Thursday to grab it and drag it back to Colorado. Updates won't be often but when he gives me something I'll post it here.

Anyways on to the car.

Where it has sat for about 8 months.

He put a TA front and rear bumper and hatch on it. So now it's even more multicolored. Other than that's its mostly deteriorated, notice the sagging headliner.

The battery was dead and figured it was smoked but I stuck it on a charger for a few hours just to see. It came back, and she fired right up and settled into a nice idle.

I agree up the tires, and rinsed her off.

Then I loaded up the updated tune

And went and put some fresh 93 in her.

I didn't drive her far, mainly just putted around trying to get through the old gas. I rolled into the gas a little once and it immediately blew the tires off, so she still seems healthy.

If the weather doesn't get bad this week we are trying to go to the track the Friday he comes in. I'd take the 1LE, he'd take his blown gmt800 and this, and a bunch of friends want to go out with us.

His plans are to throw some implement paint at it to make it all one color and spray it into oblivion. I'll keep yall updated.

I just realized I never posted results after the last post. I'll look for a time slip, but I think it managed a 13.08 that night. I'll look for a slip and see if I can find it

Got some updates from my buddy the other day. He pulled some easy weight out the other day. There isnt much left inside the car

Its currently 3000 lbs without driver. Thats pretty dang light for a 4th gen. 

Hes done some bracket racing in it, and currently best time is 14.01 @ 99.9. I think my best was 13.08 at 107 or 108, but he is wayyyy up in the mountains and generally racing in pretty terrible air. He also got a pile of parts from our friend, so when he gets time, he has some things to throw on like tubular k and a arms, along with a torque arm and rear suspension.

He sent me a picture yesterday. Even though its a racecar its a little to ratty and multicolored for him. He wants to rattle can it, but wanted to do a test panel first, so he painted a mirror.

Results

Original: Left Painted: Right if it wasnt obvious