Please forgive the lengthy post I anticipate this to be. Longtime member who's been sidelined for some time.

The car:

'96 LT4 Lunati forged 396 rotating assembly.
LE stage III heads and manifold, screw in studs/guide plates 1.6 rockers, 58mm TB.
Comp 306 cam straight up.
AFR Hydra-Rev kit.
125 shot wet NOS.
Spec clutch/milled Camaro flywheel
OBDI computer
long tubes/3" exhaust, no cats

There is less than 1,000 miles on the engine build/drivetrain upgrades. Nearly 8 years ago I took the car for one last ride, filled the tank and parked it in my storage unit. I was having prostate cancer surgery the next day. I expected to be back in the car within a month. Needless to say, it's been a bit more complicated than that...

As soon as the weather cools here in north TX, I'll be having the car towed home. I'll drain and replace all the fluids, buy new tires, etc., and see what starts leaking...

Joe Torres at Reher & Morrison did the engine assembly, but I had bought the parts beforehand. I'd sent the computer to Ed Wright, mine was a common combination and tuning should have gone smoothly but did not. The car wouldn't run, headers glowed red, etc. Ed did several re-tunes to no avail. Finally it was discovered that the parts supplier had substituted a cam with all the specs I'd asked for but one... the supplied cam was ground on a 110 and Ed was trying to tune for a 112. The cam was changed to the Comp 306, and a local tuner w/a dyno insisted that I buy an OBD1 computer to work with his software. (remember, this was 8 years ago) He tuned the car to a somewhat disappointing 400 n/a RWHP, but it ran well with no issues.

There is no use in my investment of time and money to revive this car if I can't get an inspection sticker. My understanding is that TX no longer does sniffer testing, they plug into the ALDL and if all shows "ready" and no fault codes, they pass. I watched an inspection the other day and they didn't look under the hood or underneath the car for cats.

I plan to have Ed Wright reprogram the original OBDII computer now that the 112 cam is in the car, but can OBDII be programmed to not throw codes with the 306/no cats? The O2 sensors are there, but I'm not certain if they're turned off in the current computer.

I know some of you are running bigger cams than the 306, so you must have found a way to deal with this issue. BTW, TX has cracked down on the inspectors, no one is willing to be "creative" as they once might have.

Thanks for taking the time to read this tome, and any experience you can share. If in reading you finding yourself wishing you owned the car, feel free to PM me. I was forced to retire early because of health issues and don't have the toy budget I once did, so I'm hoping to get this car running properly without breaking the bank.

 

Welcome back!

 

The 96 computer can be tuned to not show fault codes.... have a few 96's here in Va that have missing o2's, cats and crank sensors that have all been deleted from the computer. We do the same type of ADL plug in emissions inspection for obdII you described.

Glad to see your well enough to get your Corvette back on the road.
Will

 

I'm glad to see you are better. Sometimes a good project can make one feel better. If I were you, I'd study up on this and find another tuner with up to date equipment. I'm sure with a good tune your power will really surprise you. There is nothing like a good ride in a Vette to make you feel great, especially, with your engine.

 

I have a 96' and I am in the metro Phoenix area. The 96' cars only require a plug in "but", some cities have gone to the extreme of looking for the factory equipped emission components (visual inspection for cats, EGR, etc.). My local insoection station did not check for this equipment. They didn't even pop the hood. A tune (if done correctly) will not trigger a code. The inspection station is looking for the "check engine" light at initial key turn to "on" (not start) and NO check engine light when running.

If a vehicle is used infrequently (based on insurance coverage restrictions for a "collector car") , sometimes you can be exempt from emissions testing all together (by showing them proof of that type of insurance coverage). Check your local station, they should have a hotline for questions.

 

Thanks for the kind words, guys.

I'd be embarrassed to tell you the last time I set eyes on this car, but it's been in a sealed storage locker, hopefully time hasn't been too unkind to it.

A local forum member here has been nice enough to pass on his tech's info so I'll have help when needed, but I think I'll enjoy doing as much of the work as possible.

I sent an email to Ed Wright yesterday, hopefully he'll have good news on a tune for me.

I think there's more HP potential in this combination. The car has a second Aeromotive fuel pump, but was tuned with the stock LT4 injectors and I remember some instability in the AF ratios, I think the injectors were maxed out. I'll do some research here as to recommended injector size for this combination.

Thanks again, just talking about the car here jogs my memories of it, I'm excited to proceed.