A long story about a 3rd gen firebird

I started this morning with the decision to pull the trans and do a rebuild. So I pulled the pan to drain the fluid to keep the mess down. Just for the hell of it I checked the TV cable. Turns out the inner cable is too long so it would not adjust properly. I grabbed a left over piece of brake line( I think it was left over from my Bradley GT because of the bubble flare on one end) slit it length wise through one wall and cut 1/2" off and crimped it over the end of the cable between the cable end and the connector for the throttle body. This allowed it to adjust properly. So I reinstalled the pan and poured in new fluid. Then I took it for a test drive. Finally a properly functioning transmission. The engine runs a little rough. I will try driving it for a while see what happens. But I do need to redo the header flange gaskets as they are leaking. Anyone have opinions on the best type of header flange gaskets? I thought I bought good ones.

My experience with third gen's and headers was to get fed up with trying to get them to not leak, and just let em leak.  

Do yours take the flat kind that has three bolt holes or the ones that look sort of like piston rings with no gap?

Flat with 3 bolts. I think the leak is messing with the O2 sensor causing some of my rough running in closed loop mode, open loop it runs better. At least now I can try to tune a driving vehicle.

It can also affect counts since all that noise can throw off the knock sensor.

It is a small leak. I can't hear it over the Summit racing muffler. The only reason I checked is the wife is sensitive to exhaust. I can feel air flowing out from the collector joint. 

I took it out for a long drive over the weekend(4 hours round trip) It lit the MIL light a couple of times on the way to where I was going and none on the way home. I pulled codes when I got home and it said EGR valve. I think it is sticking intermittently. Other problems are miss aligned head lights and the toe is off it has a dead spot in the steering in the rain. It takes a lot of input to keep it in the lane. I believe it is toed out. I will probably do a string job on it. The biggest concern is the trans. It is slipping a little on the 2-3 shift. According to what I read the 3-4 clutch pack is going bad I may rebuild it this winter. The exhaust is going to get new gaskets and some tube inserts to keep everything aligned and keep the gaskets from getting hit directly with exhaust gasses. 

In reply to zordak :

Congrats on the long drive!

After checking first on ebay I got a part number for the cable retainer(clip) for the cruise. I needed another one because the throttle body is an older one and it was easier to buy an older style throttle cable than convert the throttle body to the newer connection. This means I needed the cruise clip for the throttle. Anyway back to the hunt. Having the Dorman part number (118-085) I searched auto part web sites for the part. Amazingly enough the Oreilly's across town had some for $.39. Ebay was anywhere from $1-$5 apiece for them. I need to get a chance to take it out and test but at least it is hooked up. All that is left is to sort it out. Head light and  wheel alignment. Further up grade include trying to reproduce the what I believe is the 1LE front brakes by installing the Caprice rotors(1.3" larger) and the Corvette calipers. I am hoping this is a bolt on swap. I need to check rim clearances a sit could be I need to go to 16": wheels. I may never need the ability to do multiple stops from over 100mph on already hot breaks again but from experience the stock brakes are only good from around 90 and I hope to do at least 1 more track night.

In reply to zordak :

caprice rotor is probably the wrong bolt pattern.   what about 4th gen z28 front rotors and calipers?   idk if they bolt onto the 3rd gen knuckles, but they may be close.

https://lukeskaff.com/projects/car/third-gen-f-body-brake-upgrade/

Just checked Rockauto the 1LE parts are listed under Firebird unless the spindles are different should be a bolt swap. And no Rockauto did not list spindles.

1LEs take different outer wheel bearings from an '89 Silverado 1500 2wd. Inners are the same.

Well the brake upgrade is a future project. I need to get it running right. There is still a little stumble on take off with a small throttle opening, I hope I can figure out something similar to the accelerator pump for the fuel injection and give it a little more fuel just off idle. I suppose I should look at some data to confirm. Plus trans and other items. I will just take it one at a time and try to get something done.

I forget; how fresh are the plenum gaskets?

Brand new upon assembly of the engine this year. Family obligations limited time this weekend. I still have not checked the cruise for function. I did mess with the drivers side headlight. I eyeballed it closer to a proper alignment and worked on trying to get the alignment to look better when closed. I found the closed stop had been bent and straightened it. The alignment looks better front to back but is off side to side. I am not sure I will get it right but need to think on it some more.

Hve you had any issues with the element in the heated O2 sensor cracking/dying from condensation buildup? In this thread https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/splice-o2-sensor-wire/65038/page2/ there is a lot of talk about how a delay of 5-10 seconds should be introduced between startup and the heating element coming on so that exhaust gases can blow off condensation from it to keep it from cracking. 3rd Gens don't have any kind of short term delay circuits stock so I'm hoping to avoid rigging something up. Is the heating element going out an issue on our cars? I found some old GM High-Tech Performance magazines from the 2000s sitting around the house that praise the heated O2 sensor on 3rd gens but mention nothing of the cracking issue. I also haven't ran into anything on TGO about the issue yet.

I haven't driven it very long and this is my first 3rd gen I am using the heated sensor. If I run into problems I will post what I find here. Exhaust is primarily CO2 and water vapor so condensation in the exhaust system is a concern. I will have to keep an eye on the sensor.

While off from work I was looking over the BIN for the ECU. I noticed that one entry for timing had a note of distributor setting and the value was 6 deg. Now I know I set up the engine at 0 deg when I got it running because of the under hood sticker. Turns out TBI engines (what was in the car) set to 0, TPI engines are set at 6 deg advanced. So I have been running around with 6 deg retarded timing. This explains why it felt down on power from the 89  I had. I thought it was just that it was almost 15 years ago and I remembered wrong. I will break out the timing light and set the correct timing this weekend. Supposed to be up in the mid 40s Sat and Sun. I will let you know what I find out.

Had some time on Sunday to play(as well as nearly suitable temps). I advanced the timing 6 deg and took it out for a test drive. It now runs a lot more like the 89 I had. It still has a dead spot where pressing the throttle does not make the car go faster but when I punch it it takes off. I think with out power enhancement the VE tables are off for the lower rpm range. I will need another nice weekend and time to get the computer hooked up and do some data logging.

Weather turned seasonal (snow, bitter cold) so I have not done any of the tune work yet. I did score a 2nd gen steering wheel and hub off a Trans Am. The parts are going to need cleaning up, but I always wanted one of these steering wheels since I learned to drive stick.

Received the steering wheel over the weekend and the foam is in worse shape than I thought. If I can fine a rubber or foam I can cast I will probably machine up a mold and recast the foam. If not I will get my hands on slab foam and carve out what I need then wrap in in leather and stich it up. The hub will just need a good clean up and a coat of paint.  

I have a mold cut in some scrap pattern board for the steering wheel. I just need to let go and strip the old molded foam off and make sure the metal fits the mold properly. This is a little tough for me as it will commit me to molding the outer rim. I need to trust that I will get it done.

Drove it a couple of weekends ago and was still concerned about the front suspension. First thing was to check wheel bearings. I get the left front in the air and sure enough the wheel has some play in it. Yank off the center cap and the dust cap pull the cotter pin and turn the nut by hand a couple of turns. Crap bad wheel bearing as tightening it does not completely remove all the play and nothing else moves. So before I get it aligned I need to swap wheel bearings.

Ok. Just got back from vacation on Hunting Island S.C. Good weather nice beaches palmetto trees.  Anyway had 1 day left and decided to do some repairs on the 'bird. First a pic of the engine bay after a year or so.

Now first I dove into the collector gaskets. I removed theold ones.

I did not see where any leaks were and the bolts were tight so I went and got these.

I am hoping the seal ring will keep it sealed. Next I tackled the front wheel bearings. I used a punch to drive out the old races and the following to press in the new ones.

first a washer.then a hunk of 1" pipe and finnaly an old heavey disk from a previous wheel bearing project.

This stuff and a 2lb hammer got the races in and seated properly. Hand packing the new bearings and re-assembling the whole mess got me nice spinning front wheels with no play. I just need to get some brake fluid and change the reservoir and do a good pressure bleed and drive it till I can get a rebuilt trans to swap in. I have decided to either get a core and rebuild it or buy  a rebuilt one and do the swap in a weekend rather than have the car down for as long as it takes to rebuild one.