Fastbird
04-15-2005, 09:31 AM
After almost two years of fighting with my black Trans Am, things may be coming to a close. Â*
Recap: Â*Joe Prince put a set of his heads and a 224/230 in the car i nJune of 03. Â*Finished up and dyno'd in August of 03, made 375/363 to the ground. Â*Got one good dyno pull. Â*Immediately thereafter, car started running rich off the chart, stumbling down low, popping, ect. Â*Verified a 10 Hp/Tq loss on the dyno, running at 10.5 AFR down low, really bad tip in hesitation under about 2500 RPM. Â*
Six months later it was finally determined I had lost compression in two cylinders. Â*So I ordered an AP Engineering 355 shortblock and a Joe O cam matched to my heads. Â*Finally got the car back in my possession from F-Body Central (did the motor install) in early July last year. Â*Car was exhibiting the EXACT same symptoms as before the new motor. Â*Not cool. Â*
Fast forward to October last year. Â*I threw a set of stock lifters in because my barely used comp R's seemed spongy. Â*Suddenly the car was running like a raped ape. Â*Plain nasty. Â*Sadly, about a week after the lifter swap, it deteriorated again. Â*
Forward again to this March. Â*Alvin from PCMForLess comes up for a dyno tuning day, and did 2 hours of road tuning with me the night before. Â*He got it running Ok, but the car just felt like a slug, was pulling crap for vacuum (about 8-9 @ 1300 idle), wouldn't spin the tires @ WOT in 1st or 2nd, was being VERY picky on timing and fueling changes, and was running really rough below about 2400 rpm. Â*We get on the dyno and it only belts out 358/354@5500 RPM, and just flatlined there. Â*HP didn't drop up to 6500, but that cam should pull to 6700 according to Joe O. Â*On the dyno, the power steering pump bolts ripped out of the accessory bracket, so that was the end of that. Â*
So.............Last Thursday, April 7th, Alvin calls me out of the blue. Â*He had been talking with the tech at Golen Engine Services about an unrelated issue, and thought he'd ask about my car. Â*Chad (the tech) said he knew what the problem was and told Alvin to put me in touch with him. Â*So Friday the 8th I called and spoke with Chad. Â*He said it sounds like my intake manifold isn't sealing properly to my heads (along the bottom of the mating surface), and ran through a list of problems that can easily stem from that to include: Â*poor vacuum, rough running, running really rich, picky tunability, low power, oily intake runners, oil vapors coming from the TB and white smoke out the back. Â*I had EVERY issue he stated. Â*
So he and I talked about it, and I came to the realization that while my heads were milled in the area of .010-.014" (based of the combustion chamber measurement of 52CC) my intake manifold wasn't cut down at all. Â*Chad wanted me to get a new set of gaskets and pinch them without putting RTV on the block (so he could get a good idea of how things are) and then send him the gaskets and manifold. Â*Well.......without RTV on the block to support and level the manifold, I couldn't even get it bolted on. Â*I could only get bolts on one side it. Â*That's how far out of whack it is. Â*
Alvin had forwarded Chad some pics I took immediately after removing the manifold which showed the oil seepage pattern on the gaskets, and he said that's exactly what he sees every time he's seen this issue. Â*
EVERYTHING makes sense here. Â*This all started when these same heads and manifold were put on the car in summer of 2003. The ONLY times my car has run good thereafter was immediately after the manifold was off the car, and it only lasted for a couple of days each time before the oil seepage made it's way up to the airways. Â*My inside of the manifold and intake runners are ALL oily and sooty (oily from the seepage, sooty from the burned oil being pulled back into the intake from reversion), I had the white smoke out the back and the oil vapors from the TB every time I shut the car off, was running VERY rich (alvin had to zero out some of the VE table), ect. Â*
So, my manifold is being sent out to Golen Engine Service today and hopefully after 1-2 times back and forth test fitting the manifold we'll be good to go. Â*I still have to get the accessory bracket heli-coiled for the power steering pump, and I still have to put the front of the motor back together because I tore it all down to make sure the timing set was installed properly.
Maybe, just maybe, this is the light at the end of the tunnel. Â*If all goes well, I should be running in 3-4 weeks.
Lesson learned: If your heads get cut down, MAKE SURE that the manifold is cut to match.
Recap: Â*Joe Prince put a set of his heads and a 224/230 in the car i nJune of 03. Â*Finished up and dyno'd in August of 03, made 375/363 to the ground. Â*Got one good dyno pull. Â*Immediately thereafter, car started running rich off the chart, stumbling down low, popping, ect. Â*Verified a 10 Hp/Tq loss on the dyno, running at 10.5 AFR down low, really bad tip in hesitation under about 2500 RPM. Â*
Six months later it was finally determined I had lost compression in two cylinders. Â*So I ordered an AP Engineering 355 shortblock and a Joe O cam matched to my heads. Â*Finally got the car back in my possession from F-Body Central (did the motor install) in early July last year. Â*Car was exhibiting the EXACT same symptoms as before the new motor. Â*Not cool. Â*
Fast forward to October last year. Â*I threw a set of stock lifters in because my barely used comp R's seemed spongy. Â*Suddenly the car was running like a raped ape. Â*Plain nasty. Â*Sadly, about a week after the lifter swap, it deteriorated again. Â*
Forward again to this March. Â*Alvin from PCMForLess comes up for a dyno tuning day, and did 2 hours of road tuning with me the night before. Â*He got it running Ok, but the car just felt like a slug, was pulling crap for vacuum (about 8-9 @ 1300 idle), wouldn't spin the tires @ WOT in 1st or 2nd, was being VERY picky on timing and fueling changes, and was running really rough below about 2400 rpm. Â*We get on the dyno and it only belts out 358/354@5500 RPM, and just flatlined there. Â*HP didn't drop up to 6500, but that cam should pull to 6700 according to Joe O. Â*On the dyno, the power steering pump bolts ripped out of the accessory bracket, so that was the end of that. Â*
So.............Last Thursday, April 7th, Alvin calls me out of the blue. Â*He had been talking with the tech at Golen Engine Services about an unrelated issue, and thought he'd ask about my car. Â*Chad (the tech) said he knew what the problem was and told Alvin to put me in touch with him. Â*So Friday the 8th I called and spoke with Chad. Â*He said it sounds like my intake manifold isn't sealing properly to my heads (along the bottom of the mating surface), and ran through a list of problems that can easily stem from that to include: Â*poor vacuum, rough running, running really rich, picky tunability, low power, oily intake runners, oil vapors coming from the TB and white smoke out the back. Â*I had EVERY issue he stated. Â*
So he and I talked about it, and I came to the realization that while my heads were milled in the area of .010-.014" (based of the combustion chamber measurement of 52CC) my intake manifold wasn't cut down at all. Â*Chad wanted me to get a new set of gaskets and pinch them without putting RTV on the block (so he could get a good idea of how things are) and then send him the gaskets and manifold. Â*Well.......without RTV on the block to support and level the manifold, I couldn't even get it bolted on. Â*I could only get bolts on one side it. Â*That's how far out of whack it is. Â*
Alvin had forwarded Chad some pics I took immediately after removing the manifold which showed the oil seepage pattern on the gaskets, and he said that's exactly what he sees every time he's seen this issue. Â*
EVERYTHING makes sense here. Â*This all started when these same heads and manifold were put on the car in summer of 2003. The ONLY times my car has run good thereafter was immediately after the manifold was off the car, and it only lasted for a couple of days each time before the oil seepage made it's way up to the airways. Â*My inside of the manifold and intake runners are ALL oily and sooty (oily from the seepage, sooty from the burned oil being pulled back into the intake from reversion), I had the white smoke out the back and the oil vapors from the TB every time I shut the car off, was running VERY rich (alvin had to zero out some of the VE table), ect. Â*
So, my manifold is being sent out to Golen Engine Service today and hopefully after 1-2 times back and forth test fitting the manifold we'll be good to go. Â*I still have to get the accessory bracket heli-coiled for the power steering pump, and I still have to put the front of the motor back together because I tore it all down to make sure the timing set was installed properly.
Maybe, just maybe, this is the light at the end of the tunnel. Â*If all goes well, I should be running in 3-4 weeks.
Lesson learned: If your heads get cut down, MAKE SURE that the manifold is cut to match.