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It turned out the reason I had no fuel pressure was the car was out of gas, lol.
I also had to adjust the timing a bit and now it runs pretty good. I has a pretty good tick at hot idle (but not at cold idle) so that means I didn't do a very good job with the valve lash adjustment on the rockers I had to remove to install the runners. So I'll have to re-do that soon, hopefully I'll get it right this time!
The really good news is that the car ran until it was fully warmed up and it idled (normal RPM) just fine for 15min. So looks like I avoided any of the dreaded super ram vacume leaks (hopefully)
Here's the corvette after I pulled it out of the shop to let it run for a bit...
I was going to upload a video but for some reason I can't seem to right now, sorry.
So I tried doing a cold valve lash adjustment last night to get rid of the ticking at hot idle and I still didn't get it right, not sure why I have such a hard time with doing the valve lash
Anyway I got up super early this morning and decided to pull a 'hail mary' and did a hot valve lash adjustment while the engine was running. That did the trick and got rid of the ticking
Once I got the valve covers on I let it run while I was cleaning up my tools so I could watch for problems, after a few min I heard the engine speed pick up slightly from an 800rpm to a 900 rpm idle.
I went to investigate and noticed that all of the bolts holding the lid down had backed off enough that they were not clamping it down anymore, so I'll have to put some loctite on them, amazing that they all backed off so quickly... hopefully that is the only reason for the high idle, but since it seemed to idle normally the other day I think this is likely the issue, but we will see.
critical for hylomar but i wouldnt be worried unless u have an issue.
Yes, I should have remembered, I'm quite certain I did that on the pleumum to runners, but I was eager to get it together and forgot about that when I did the lid. Luckily the lid is pretty easy to remove so, I'll just pull it off and check out how the hylomar looks and 'touch it up' if necessary. Hopefully there are no other leaks but I guess we'll see soon.
I took the lid off yesterday and redid the hylomar properly it already looked ok but now I'm certain the lid won't cause a leak. I also had to heli-coil one bolt hole because it was not holding because the threads were damaged.
While I had the lid off I checked the runner to plenum connection and I really can't see there being an issue there.
I reinstalled the bolts on the lid with loctite and let it sit overnight.
No time this morning but I'll start it up this evening and see if it all works properly.
I have also been doing some digging and noticed a few people have said with the Super ram you need to reset the idle speed.
Yesterday, I decided to check the tightness of the plenum to runner bolts and to my suprise they has all loosened off a bit so I re-tightened them all up. Hopefully now that they have been through a few heat cycles they'll stay tight now...
I then started the car and let it run for a bit but once it warms up and goes into closed loop the idle is still about 900rpm. It idles at the normal 800 rpm until it warms up...
I am pretty certain the lid and runner to pleum connections are good.
Since all the other bolts had backed off I think today I'll pull the valve covers (again) and check the runner to base bolts in case they have loosened. If it still is idling at 900rpm after that I'll do the idle reset proceedure.
One other issue has come up SES light has come on I don't have a OBD 1 scanner so its going to be hard to figure out the issue. I have already checked all the sensor connections and nothing was loose.
dmittz lookup paperclip method to see what the code is.
Thanks for the tip VT. I looked up the 'paper clip method' and I'll give that a try this evening and report the results.
My early guess is I have developed a vacume leak since the intake is the only thing that's changed, but I'll retrieve the code before I do anything to be sure.
So I'm happy to report I had a very sucessful evening working on the Corvette and it is running nicely now.
In case anyone else runs into similar issues I'll share what I did.
As VT suggested I used the 'paper clip' method to pull the SES code. Basically you just stick a u-shaped wire in the A&B slots of the diagnostic port and watch the SES light. It will flash 1 once then twice three times in a row and then fash any codes you have followed by a the 1-2 at the end.
Suprisingly the code I got was Code 15, which is basically a fault in the coolant temp senor circuit. Tracked that down to a bad electrical connection and unplugged the battery to reset the code. That did the trick no more SES light.
Howevever the engine was still idling at about 900rpm once warmed up...
So I started the procedure to set the idle, but I found that my idle adjustment screw was seized up so I had to drill it out tap the hole and then cut the head off a bolt and put a slot in it so I would have a functioning idle screw.
next I tried again to do the idle setting procedure and while I was doing that I noticed a hissing sound coming from near the throttle body turned out to be this little vacume connection:
Where the hard plastic line plugs into the boot it was leaking. I put a hose clap on it and that fixed it
Next I finished the procedure to set the idle, and now everything works perfect. The engine idles nicely at 700-800rpm.
I pulled the car outside and let it idle for about 20 min
The engine works like clock work now, lifters/rockers are quiet, idles properly and the cooling fan goes on/ off just as it should
I didn't really notice this before but this intake gives the engine a bit of a distinct sound, a bit different from the other intake, although its not 'loud' it is a pretty agressive sounding exhaust at idle.
I still need to set the TPS to .54 volts but unfortunatly I couldn't find my multi-meter despite spending a fair bit of time looking.
Well I think things are pretty much wrapped up here.
I set the ride height this morning, which is always a bit time consuming.
I took the car up and down the drive way a few time (600ft long) and everything seems good.
I was going to put insurance on it and go for a test drive but the weather got crummy so that will have to wait until another day.
The only issue I still have to look into is the engine runs a bit rough for the first 1-2min after a cold start after that it is really smooth and no issues on hot start. I'm thinking the cold start enrichment might need a bit of adjusting. I sent an e-mail to my PROM tuner so we will see what he says.
Here's a few pictures of the car finally out of the workshop...
What is this "wrapped up" you speak of? You'll find something else on the Vette to change before you know it! Great work as always
HaHa very true Brandon! I guess the corvette proabbly will never be 'fully' done, but at least I'm getting pretty close to finishing this years work on it anyway. Then again I haven't been for a test drive yet so I guess I may yet find some more stuff that needs attention. We will see.
So it has been evenful day test driving the Corvette.
I first took it around the block a few times and everything seemed great.
Next I took it for about an hour long drive and for about 40min everything seemed good but then the engine started running rough especially at low rpm cruising. Drove it for a little longer to see if it would throw a code and it did.
Used the paper clip method to determine it was a code 13. Apon inspection I noticed the header bolts for #7 cylinder had backed off to the point of almost falling out, figured that might be letting air into the exhaust just before the O2 sensor So I tightened them up and cleared the code and let it run for about 15 min and that seemed to fix it.
Later I went for another drive but after about 20min it started running rough again, I didn't throw a code this time but I'm guessing the O2 sensor is bad as the header bolts were still tight this time.
I also noticed the alternator I found in my shop and was using is only holding the battery at about 11V so I'm going to have it tested and replace it if necessary.
I had hoped the test drive would go smoothly but I guess its never just that easy after a major project.
On the positive note I think my sway bar works really, really well. The handling of this car is pretty amazing now, certainly even better than before and feels very neutral and responsive. The C6 J55 brakes work pretty nice also.
lol, Worst thing about modifying stuff is trying to get it figured out. Glad your driving yours. Mine still on jack stands, still finishing up stuff, but I'm very close.
Your car is one sweet ride buddy, I like the color and the rims/wheels.
06-04-2017, 09:36 AM
I don't have a OBD 1 scanner so its going to be hard to figure out the issue. I have already checked all the sensor connections and nothing was loose.
