Thanks guys, it been a long time coming.

I am trying to be finished with the swap with all bugs worked out and some miles on
the car so I can try and attend an all Corvette show May 12 and a second one
the same month, although I haven't seen the date for that one, but it's normally the
first week of May.


Riggs

 

Update,

Well I have been sorting out the bugs one at a time. The coolant temp is showing the wrong temp, the ECU live scanner says 180, while the auto meter gauge shows 220, I guess I will need to change out the sending unit for the one that came with the auto meter temp gauge, that should solve the problem, it's just so difficult to get to and I hate draining the coolant, that stuff makes a mess no matter how careful you are.

Brakes SUCK, I have been bleeding and bleeding. I have also had to change the right rear caliper twice, These re manufactured units from auto zone are junk, I keep busting the piston seals. I think I have a blockage some were in the brake system, apply the brake, car takes three times the distance to stop, and when you leave from a stop, they drag a little. I think I need to replace the proportioning valve, it's the only thing thats not new on the brake system.

I will be sending out the ECU back to the tuner, He has worked with HP tuners to find access to the area of the program that had limited access. He will be doing a little more fine tuning to the tune with the info that I have gathered from the scanner showing the car is running way rich and needs to be trimmed back a little. Also the fans will not come on, I believe that this needs to be addressed in the program as well, I have the fans temporally wired to have them on while the car is running.


Short Safe? Test Drive.

Even though the brakes SUCK, I took the car to a near by gas station to fuel up and to see what other bugs the car may have. The trans shift great the stall works nicely and the LS is a monster showing me little hints that there is a ton of power waiting to be released. While leaving a stop sign, I gave what I thought was just enough gas to take off, and wow the LS showed me a little bet of it's torque. I was not going to feed the car any more throttle then what was necessary to get me to and from the gas station do to the terrible brakes, but man I am ready to see how she likes a little more throttle.


While at the gas station the car was center stage as soon as I pulled into the lot every one was looking, and I didn't even have the cut outs opened, with every one asking questions, lots of complements on how it sounded, and even a few that pulled off to side to wait for me to start it up and leave, wow this car is a real attention getter now. Just about every one had a grin on their face, including me.


I also have a GoPro Hero 2 coming in the mail, so now I will be able to shot some nice footage of the car, hopefully by next weekend.


Riggs

 

sounds like a case of the "kinks" just stay with it... i can't wait to see some video!

 

The proportioning valve is only a brake safety light switch.
If your brake hoses are not new, internally deteriorating hoses can cause difficult bleeding and brakes dragging calipers. I'm surprised you havn't done the O ring conversion yet.

 

What sending unit are you using for the temp guage?You know that you need two,one for your guage and one for the PCM,right?Good to see that you are almost back on the road,I just fired up my 6.0 swap,but I took the easy way out and swapped it into a 1998 Sierra 4x4 instead,I figured I would learn from that and apply what I learned to a C3 in the future.

 

Gary the whole system is new except the proportioning valve. After reading another post of similar problems, I think I just have some air in the lines, I have bled and I have bled, and I have bled, I guess I will keep bleeding. I replaced the rear calipers last year with auto zone re manufactured Delco parts, most of the winter the right rear has been leaking since I have changed the brake lines. I changed out that caliper and found the new one to have a leaking seal, I know have another (3rd), but I'm not putting to much trust into this one either. I believe I have a lot of air in the system that is trapped, I will need to find a way to release the trapped air, and if I have any more trouble with the re manufactured calipers, I will throw them in the trash and buy some Wilwood units, if not Baer.


tfi racing,
I am running the temp sending unit for the ECU, on the driver side front of head. I am running a second one for the mechanical gauge on the passenger side rear next to the fire wall and AC delete cover, which is real tough top get to with out making a mess and scratching things up. The sending unit I have in for the mech gauge is a new one used for the original temp gauge, I think the on that cam with the Auto Meter gauge must be different. I had the same problem with the oil gauge, until I changed out the sending unit for the one that came with the Auto Meter oil gauge, it now works properly.

Riggs

 

If you're vacuum bleeding, that can suck air in by lip seals.
The O ring kits are not very expensive and only take an afternoon to install. No problems since my swap.

 

I have pressure bled, and pedal bled, using speed bleeders also. I have a vacuum bleeding tool, but it is not worth using when you have a motive pressure bleeding system.

With new parts I shouldn't have to rebuild anything. If the parts I have bought aren't of the quality I thought they were, I will not rebuild them, you're not supposed to rebuild new, are you? I hope to make my way out to the garage today and see what can be accomplished.

Riggs

 

Yeah, but my calipers would leak after sitting every winter. So I bit the bullet and went with the O ring kit.

 

Gary I agree with what you're saying, I am just very aggravated with buying parts and having them fail do to poor quality and or craftsmen ship. The addition of the new brake system to the LS build has proven to be a bit of a pain in the ***, between the new stainless lines leaking (all leaks are fixed now) and the bleeding process of removing all the air out of the system, I'm not even sure if the Hydro booster is working, I haven't bled that yet, although I fell no pulsation and the Rack seams ok with no pulsation in the steering either. I will be checking that when I get back out to the garage latter tonight.


Riggs

 

Riggs,

As you've replaced everything in the b raking department but still have air in there, this suggestion just might help. Try raising the front of the car as high as you can with what you have available and let gravity do its work.

Any air bubbles will want to rise to the highest point and it sounds as though there is air in your main front to back line along the chassis. Raising the front will allow any trapped air in that line to move to the front of the car. It will have to go through the prop. valve and up to the MC, but give it time and it WILL move.

Overnight should do it, as you can be sleeping while gravity does its thing. Good luck.

Regards from Down Under.

aussiejohn

 

I HAVE BRAKES. After doing a lot of reading most of today, I came to the conclusion that the Hydro boost was not operating as it should, I felt no difference in the brake pedal while the car was running or while the car was off. So once I was able to make it out to the garage late this evening, I started the car and slowly pumped the brakes for several minutes, I then decided that I should drive the car some to allow the air in the Hydro boost to bleed it's self out. Well as I was backing out of the drive onto the street, the car died, well it hasn't done that before was my thought as I then realized that, Hey I have brakes, I restarted the car and drove off while applying the brakes every few hundred feet and found that now I have a supper sweet set of brakes on the car, the Hydro boost will stop the car why sooner than the old vac booster ever has or ever could. The brakes are fantastic now, the best they have ever been.

I read a few older post dealing with the hydro booster and how they tend to take several miles of driving in order to bleed out the air, why is that, well the system only use the fluid when you apply the brake, other wise the fluid just passes on through to the steering system. well giving that some thought, I figured that the car needed to have several brake repetitions to make the booster functional, and so the several minutes that I spent, slowly applying the brakes, had worked out the air from the Hydro boost system. I haven't read that tip any where yet about the Hydro Boost systems, most post I have read say to just drive around and it will work it's way out, that is the stupidest advice I have ever read, knowing how bad my brake pedal was, I pretty much had no brakes.

I would advise anyone doing a hydro boost conversion to apply the brakes with the motor running while in park, so you have fluid pressures, slowly apply the brakes for several minutes just enough pedal pressure as if you were making a normal stop if you were in motion. do this repeatably for several minutes and you should have a great set of brakes shortly after doing that.

Riggs

 

Know for the real important stuff. After getting the brakes working tonight, I decide to go for an hour test drive. I am told I have a break in period on the transmission that I should stick to, man that's going to be hard to do, but I will try to keep my foot out of the throttle so I don't burn up the clutches in the new expensive transmission.

While out for a test ride, I found that the car sets to low, the exhaust had drugged the ground several times. other than that, I have no complaints. The car has a great sound, whether the cut outs are open or closed and the car runs well at any speeds. Well while running around in town I had to play with it a little when taking off from a light, and while just running through first gear into second with a quick blip of the throttle the car has a real problem with retaining traction.


Tomorrow I will need to program the Auto Meter speedometer, and of course put a few more miles on it, I my even shot some video.

Riggs

 

Glad you got it figured out. On a similar note, my last motor came with a hydroboost PS pump (2 returns on the reservoir). If you plumb the power steering return to the upper hydroboost return port, it aerates the fluid and you get a noisy pump.

 

riggs.. you have me tempted to do the conversion to hydro boost.. my 1984 1 ton came with the system... i can vouch for the brakes they are awsome.. what system did you buy for your 74?? i figure while i have the car torn apart this might be the best time.

 

Please contact me for a professional consultation regarding your needs. We are happy to provide you with references both here in the United States and Internationally. Be sure to check out our website at maddogtransmissions.com

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How did I get random JUNK mail in my thread, I don't remember saying anything lately about needing a transmission.

 

riggs. Whats your decision on your headers?? just curious, thats all.

 

I actaually have a few different routes I am looking at, I will narrow it down soon.
I seen the work you have done to your setup, It's turning out nicely.

Riggs

 

Congrats on the completion of your swap.
It took me several trial runs to find some hiccups/bugs in several areas. First the PS hose cracked because was too short and binding. Steering linkage prob, tranny prob, and cooling prob. Had to rewire the two relays working radiator fan, one on temp control and second for A/C compressor. Now putting in a shroud for better flow...it gets hot in Houston, a cooling challenge for most vettes.
I have the Melrose headers and no probs on ground strikes...yet!

On a positive note, the power is impressive and even scary at times. I just completed a 325mi day trip and stretched its legs out to about 100 without any problems. Next is a night at the track to take on a buddy who has an '81 with a new crate ZZ4 and hot cam he thinks is faster!!