Inliners International Forums General Discussion Blown and Injected Hacking together EFI on an Pontiac OHC Six

I'm not sure. The car itself needs some electrical and interior stuff sorted out and I'll have to pop the dash off to get that done, but I suppose that won't necessarily keep me from getting it running and movable. I'm going to get the center console and shifter sorted tomorrow before I start on the transmission. I have a TH400 crossmember, so I may have to do some cutting and grinding on it to bolt to the TH200-4r or come up with something different altogether (or worse case purchase one and wait). I have to plumb the fuel system on the car as well. And of course there is fitting the exhaust. Soon as possible is the goal.

Spent half the day working on the center console and installing the shifter. Should be good to go now.

I modified the rear of the console to fit between the seats. It is close enough.


Painted it black so it wouldn't contrast so much with the interior. It is all bolted in and the cable attached.



Here is a short video of what fun I expect to have. Yes I've sat there making engine noises for a while =D The transmission isn't installed yet.
http://youtu.be/2oXdv86PZoI

Got the transmission in and bolted up. I don't think the crossmember that came with the car was an original TH400 crossmember as it appeared to have been modified in the past, so I further modified it. I cut the mounting bracket off and re-welded it on in a place and notched the backside to add clearance around the transmission pan. I hooked up the shifter cable and adjusted it as well. The dipstick tube is ready to be installed, but I couldn't get the rubber plug out of the transmission, so I'll have to wait until I drop the pan to change out the governor gear and verify the adjustment of the TV cable, and then I'll pop it out from the bottom. I need to bend up some cooling lines now. One issue I have is the universal TV cable I got is too short by about six inches, and it was the longest cable I could find. I have an idea on how to lengthen it that I am going to try tomorrow.

I need to set the car on the ground and measure out what length I'll need for the driveshaft. I have two to pick from to shorten.



Installed the TV correction cable bracket for Holley carburetors to the throttle linkage. I will adjust the cable once I lengthen the cable housing (assuming I'm successful). I'll tie the throttle wide open and drop the transmission pan and adjust the cable so the valve is pushed all the way in.

This was an originally a Pontiac 400 and 4-speed manual car that someone had converted to a TH400. I pulled the 400/TH400 out and they are collecting dust in the corner currently.

I remember him saying it was an original V8 car that he is converting to the OHC engine.

A video I made almost two years ago of the 400 idling.

http://youtu.be/1AQjROrQ0dI


It's interesting the link to the e-bay ad mentions it's for the big block and TH400, but my old '69 Firebird 400/TH400 that was a pretty original had a cross member similar to the one on the car now. When I installed the 700-R4 in that car, iirc, I cut off the mounting bracket and welded it to the other side to make it work.

A 4 speed BBC cross member, but not a TH400 cross member on the Ebay auction.

It was also, for a 3 spd manual, which my car was originally, PG, TH350, or 4 spd, SBC, or BBC, but not for a TH400.

MBHD

Modification expert，Admire you

Modification expert，Admire you

Admire you，Modification expert

Got some more done today. Installed the throttle cable and TV trans cable. I welded on a bracket to the throttle cable bracket to help support the throttle cable's 90* turn. There is still some play in the cable so shouldn't tug on it with engine movement. I solved the "too short" TV cable by getting some very stiff walled fuel hose (high nylon content?) that one end of the TV cable housing would slide tightly into and with a few hose clamps successfully extended the line casing. I had the pan off the transmission and adjusted the TV cable for the appropriate WOT position. I also installed a green 10-tooth speedo gear on the governor to get the speedo closer to accurate (still a ways off).

Then I installed the transmission dipstick tube, which ended up way taller than I expected. So I cut it down, which that part turned out good, then I "thought" I'd get fancy and when I cut the dipstick down I thought I'd cut the bottom off with the Fill hatch marking and then weld it to the bottom of the further trimmed dipstick so it'd read correctly. It was all good right up until the part where I welded it and the dipstick got super brittle. D'oh! So I need to pick up a new dipstick but when I modify it next time I'm going to overlap the lengths and drill two holes and rivet it. For now, the short stick will keep dust out of the tube =P And then I set the car on the ground to get a measurement for the driveshaft and by some miracle my old Skylark driveshaft is the EXACT size I needed. I picked up a new set of u-joints and will install it tomorrow which will be the real proof.

I started mocking up the exhaust as well. I still have to cut out the section of pipe where the X used to reside and do final fabricating of the collector to the rest of the system, but it's essentially in. I'm going to order up some 2.5" exhaust couplers before I go any further than I did today.


The throttle cable and TV cable hooked up and adjusted. I painted the bracket black after grinding the plating off the bracket for welding on the support. You can see one of the hose clamps and extension hose on the TV cable in the background.




The no bueno dipstick tube.


Much better. Even bolted to the bellhousing bolt.


The exhaust system. Here is the collector hanging down. The 400 engine had headers and the ball and socket coupler. I'm tempted to keep a 3-bolt flange there for quick removal. Haven't decided yet.


Looking down the car. It's up on jack stands so the axle is hanging low. You can see the hole from the X pipe.


From the side.


I put the car on the ground to measure the driveshaft, and took a picture from the rear.


Here is a picture of one of the motor mounts I ran bolts through. I used bumper bolts with the small head on the bottom and used all metal locking nuts on the top. I didn't run the nuts all the way down, they are about 1/16th of an inch from being seated to allow normal movement of the mount. I didn't have to do this to this mount since I didn't modify it, but by the time I 'thought' about it I had already drilled it. I cut half the safety catch off the other side to clear my exhaust collector, hence why I felt the need to do this.


And here are a couple shots of my saw blade trigger wheel in the car. Conveniently the bottom is protected by the cross member.




Just moving along.

Looks good.
A quicker exhaust removal flange is a V-band flange, & a good designed v-band flange does not need gaskets & don't leak.

This is a better design, self aligning.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-Self-Alignin...300970708683%26

Trans dip stick looks harder to reach than the stock length.

Could you use a velocity stack on your carb body?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-K-N-85-0200-...9daa160&vxp=mtr

Here is a nicer one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/K-N-Stubstack-Ai...350473593184%26

MBHD

Thanks!

I agree, v-bands are nice for quickness, but I shouldn't be removing the exhaust with any kind of frequency and it's only temporary while it's naturally aspirated. Then it'll get the whole exhaust redone and I can see using clamps for the turbo set up.

Likewise on the dipstick, I'm a pretty tall guy and had zero issues reaching the motor mount bolts from the top of the car, the dip stick should be a walk in the park and how often does one actually check the trans fluid if it is not leaking? Annually? I didn't like how it interfered with the spark plug wire. It would annoy me every time I opened the hood, now it'll only annoy me perhaps annually =P

The intake induction still isn't the most efficient setup. I did not gut the plenum of the intake so it does not have the best flow after the carb. I am considering installing EGT sensors in each exhaust manifold port, if I pull the manifolds for that I may opt to gut the intake plenum at that point, but currently it is likely the biggest flow hangup at the moment. Plus when I go turbo I'll be going to a complete custom intake and away from the holley throttlebody.

Hmm, it seems I did not update this thread before heading out of the country last month. Just a few things done. Namely welded up the exhaust. I started working on the interior stuff and wiring now so probably won't update this thread again until I go to start it up unless there is interest on the behind the dash stuff (like replacing the heater control cables, adding the MegaSquirt wiring to the car, etc).

The welded up exhaust. I lost the clips that connects the parking brake cables, but have since picked up ones from the junkyard (along with a new transmission dipstick).

I've been working on some interior stuff of the car as well as the EFI wiring. But spent this weekend working on the plumbing. Just like when a friend of mine said I can make simple wiring complex, I've done exactly the same with the cooling system.

The primary hang up was finding a place for the return heater hose, so using 40 hose clamps and 32 hose connector I got a system that I think should work. I have pretty much convinced myself when I build the turbo engine I'll get a new aluminum radiator with a Menziere (sp?) pump attached to it with two 1" outlets since the two ports in the head are 1". Two hoses and done. I'll make sure the radiator has a return port for the heater hose as well. On to the mess. I've relocated the water pump behind the crossmember so I could fit in the tee for the heater hose return. So, I hope all this stuff doesn't leak!




Then I finally got to move onto the fuel system, which progressed much faster. I have a late 80's external Ford pump mounted in a late 80's Ford fuel pump bracket bolted to the firewall at an angle and mounted an OE of some sort fuel injection filter on the pressure side right before the regulator. That particular filter comes with a bracket so I bolted to the heater box, the cool fresh air side of the heater. I got the the quick connect fittings for the pump and filter from NAPA so the fuel lines are fairly easy to hook and unhook. I made a short length of nylon line from the pump to the filter, but might end up replacing it with steel braided line, but I am out of that at the moment. It's all fed by the smaller surge canister. I'm going to move the fuel pressure gauge from the rail to the regulator, and eventually add an electric fuel pressure sending unit to the rail end. Here is a similar picture.

Yesterday I did this stuff:
I ended up abandoning the main relay under the dash and switched to a Taurus continuous duty fan relay to power the fuse box there and the power strip under the dash that has circuit breakers on each circuit.


On the other side is the gutted Caprice LT1 smog pump to use as a crank case vacuum pump. I still need a good container to use as a catch can. I'm wondering if I can make one out of a PVC tee fitting, cap with a drain plug and a valve cover breather on the top? I guess it would depend how much oil, etc it traps. For now I'm going to stick a drain pan under it to quantify what is coming out and since there is snow on the ground I have time before it sees any real road time. (I did end up putting a hose clamp on the hose at the end of the red pipe)


The only aftermarket gauge at the moment. The shifter console is way taller than the OE console so a triple set of gauges doesn't fit underneath the dash. I'll hook the temperature idiot light up to the MegaSquirt to let me know if it's getting hot (set to like 190*F or 200*F) and figure I'll do the same with the GEN light and voltage.


I set the MegaSquirt behind the center console for the time being. I may move it eventually so it's just sitting there at the moment. Maybe I'll velcro the bottom of it.... The carpet seems to have seen something that bleached the black out. Who am I to complain, the Skylark hasn't had carpet in a decade or more now so I'm just happy there is carpet.


The driver's side is a constant reminder the car used to have a stick shift. Maybe one day I'll make use of it, or not.

The highlights of today are, I heard the engine run, a couple of times, but it certainly wasn't smooth sailing. Long post warning.

Started the day pretty good. Hooked the battery up and no smoke, sparks or pops. Headlights, tail lights and dome light worked, figured I'd check the stock systems first. Then tried the key. Found my trigger wire to my relay didn't power with the key. Not a big deal, found the needed power source. Then had the megasquirt and fuel pump relay power reverse. No problem, swapped plugs moving on. Things were looking good at this point. The system powered up, the megasquirt was reading the sensors, the engine cranked when pressing the start button. Though it seems the neutral safety switch is out of adjustment as it won't crank in park, but will in neutral. Won't crank in any of the gears so it somewhat works. Problem for later. Then it started to go down hill from there....

Started working on checking the fuel system and first the lift pump wouldn't prime, so I threw 7 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank (probably needed fresh fuel anyways) and used the shop vac to blow air into the filler neck and the lift pump promptly started leaking at both ends..... After tightening up the fittings, the filter, breaking at least one hose clamp, I tossed the pump and got a new one that had the fitting built in and a new filter. Only bathed in a gallon of gas in the process *blah*. Had a minor leak at the fuel rail and ended up moving the fuel pressure gauge to the regulator. By now it was mid-afternoon so I figured I'd skip filling the cooling system with water because I'd have to promptly drain it, and proceeded right to start up :thumbs:

Started the car up a couple times for ten or so seconds at a time and topped off the transmission fluid as well as ran it through the gears (speedo works now! Didn't when I got the car), and while doing this had no problems. The engine started reasonably well and shut off when I turned the key off like it should until......... it didn't...... The big difference between when it was working fine and when it didn't was I rev'ed it up high enough to get the alternator charging, and when I turned the key off the alternator was feeding the system, but cut off from the battery because I had the charging wire on the wrong side of my master relay and then bad things started to happen. The engine didn't shut off, but didn't sound right either, and I hit the power switch to the megasquirt to kill the engine but it was too late, the damage was done. When I key'ed back on the megasquirt did not power up. I checked and the fuse was good, it had power on the wire going into it, but nothing. Took a sniff at it and it smelled burnt =/


Dragged it into the house and opened it up and yup, a few cooked parts, some obvious and some not so obvious. Using the obvious visual cue's was easy for the damaged parts, but I hooked it back up to the JimStim and started testing the power circuit to find the two bad diodes. Started testing and replacing parts until I had power at the processor pins, and turned out just to be the two diodes.

Here is an obvious exploded capacitor


And an obvious burnt out power trace. (the copper color, it's not copper and doesn't conduct)


So I started troubleshooting. The exploded capacitor is essentially the first part that is installed when building a megasquirt and is part of the power circuit. So I started there. Fortunately I have some spare parts (not that any of them are exotic, but I was able to get it going again today). I replaced these four parts. The capacitor on the top right may not be bad, but I didn't trust the way it looked compared to the good ones. The bottom two diodes were toast, no conductivity in either direction.


New capacitors installed.


A jumper wire installed in place of the cooked trace. (it doesn't look pretty, but will work and is hidden in a case!)


So I went back out and took a video after the fact =D The phone picks up the fuel pump sound more than you can actually hear it in person.
http://youtu.be/ljgzz8O__Ck

Congrats on getting it running?

MBHD

Thanks. Next Friday I'll install the rear shocks (just ordered, I forgot I had removed the bad air shocks a long time ago), bleed the rear brakes, pressure check the cooling system, then set it on the ground and hopefully back it out of the shop. I forgot to mention, that so far the transmission torques over going into reverse and drive and I ran the speedo up to 10-15mph(it's not accurate) so the transmission seems capable of moving the car. Couldn't tell if it shifted into second gear or not though.

I'll tune the fuel and timing a bit better and make a second video of it from outside the car. I'll have to get help installing the hood too.

Then I'll yank the seats out of it and install the seat belts that the previous owner removed but was kind enough to keep in a box. Then perhaps next Monday I'll get insurance and registration on it for some real driving time (weather dependant...).

It moves under it's own power! Shifted into second gear putt'ing around the yard, which is enough for me to say time to go get insurance and registration! A few minor things to work on today and it should be cruising this weekend!

Looking good Randal.

Thanks Gary!

Got it insured, plated, washed and now going to swing by NAPA and trying out the MegaSquirt 3's auto-tune on the fueling. I have to get used to the manual drum brakes again =P







Took it around town. Got it running pretty good once I leaned it out enough that the auto-tune could work it's magic. The water pump controller doesn't seem to be doing it's job, so I hard wired it on with the key and will monitor it. The steering wheel isn't straight though it tracks straight... I lined it up with the notch on the column... I'm getting two new front tires on it tomorrow, so I'll see if it changes (probably not, and it didn't eat any tires driving from Alabama), then straighten the steering wheel for now and fix the tie rod adjustments later. There are no good alignment shops in Ely and if it's not eating tires now I'm not going to screw with it. The trans autoshifts smooth enough, but doesn't really wind itself up with the pedal down. Likely a governor thing, and not liking the 4.56 gears. The shifter though works like a champ! There is a bit of a delay though when I manually shift it and the shift happens, and not as harsh as I'd expect. I drilled all the holes and put all the springs in for the "harshest" shift. Maybe the 4.56 gears and converter are dampening it? IDK, more run time will tell for certain.

Never driven a car with a spool before, definitely different. I'm putting narrow tires on it all the way around so that should make the manual steering and spool easier to work with.

Looks awesome! keep up the reports.

Thanks!

Another (better) video simply showing it start up, free revving, putting the camera(phone) behind the car for some more exhaust sound. Looks like it still smokes when lifting the throttle. I'll check the valve guide seals when I go to change the valve springs in a few months. Can't really complain though considering it's a craigslist long block I just disassembled, looked at, then reassembled with new gaskets.

http://youtu.be/cS5XhYO_NWE

Randal, are you taking it on DW?

The intent was to build the turbo engine and have it installed and dyno'd and take it on Drag Week 2015. That is the goal anyways. Last year I wanted to run the Skylark all out, unfortunately it broke before I got there, so I may take the Skylark in 2015 if the turbo engine isn't ready. I am taking this year off, I'd planned out all my vacation for this year before even last year's Drag Week.

Of course a lot can change between now and then, if I suddenly find myself with time in September I'll drive out there and take my chances on a walk-in entry.

I think they would let anyone in that showed up. Tulsa is a lot closer for you. If you don't go who is going to help Mike and me with the MS stuff?

I think they would let anyone in that showed up. Tulsa is a lot closer for you. If you don't go who is going to help Mike and me with the MS stuff?

I've followed your build from the beginning and am so impressed that it's driving now. Way above my skill level, Great Job.

Thanks!

I got new tires on it and am breaking them in properly =P

It's a bit cold (and rich) but gets the job done.
http://youtu.be/vnEXKvgsKyA

Seems to me to be the best way to make sure they stay round LOL

lol, I need to remember that one!

Got the water pump and electric fan controlled by the MegaSquirt now. It seems to reliably maintain temperature between 185*F-190*F now, so my heater should work decently now. With that I attempted to change out the blower motor but failed miserably at getting the inner fender well out. I did at least manage to get the blower motor in the car to quiet up.

Found a pretty significant vacuum leak in my home made Holley throttlebody. I had cut out a port on the base and forgot to plug an opening. I knew something was up since I had the idle screw backed all the way out and it still had trouble attaining a low idle rpm. Now it'll sit fine at 550rpm with decent timing, so idle control has been improved quite a bit. I have found another, smaller, vacuum leak at the #8 injector bung. I wonder if the lower o-ring has been damaged. I'm going to ignore it for the moment, though I might be tempted to spray some kind of sealant on it and see if I can get it to plug up.

I think I found where the valves float, right about 5,800rpm =P Seems to blow oil out the dipstick tube at that speed as well though. I have the LT1 smog pump running as a vacuum pump with the breather, but it apparently isn't enough to bleed off the crank case pressure. Being as this is just a used engine of unknown conditions I put some paint on, I'm not surprised (the oil pressure at idle is pretty low too...but at least it rises decently fast).

Here is a datalog of one of the runs hitting 5,800rpm in first and second gear. It hit's 60mph at ~5400rpm in second, and with the 175HP 1bbl cam it's still a pokey 11.8 seconds based on the datalogs. Backed it up a couple times. In first gear it's pretty noticeable that at about 5,300rpm the rate of engine acceleration slows down a bit (and slightly noticeable in 2nd, I shifted into OD at 4,600/80mph), so I'm thinking the HP power peak is right around 5,300rpm. Shifting at 5,500 netted a slower 0-60, so it seems its still worth pulling the extra RPM from an acceleration point of view.

Click the link for a picture of the data log. It posts too small to see anything.
https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31/1614483_10202570100427392_970816479_o.jpg

How do you have the timing setup?

In what regard?

5º while cranking, 15º baseline at idle but the MegaSquirt will adjust it up as high as 23º or down as low as 5º to meet a programmed idle target (I don't have an idle air valve on this engine..yet). WOT is currently set at 38º at this elevation (6500'+, ~80kPa atm pressure) and around 36º at sea level (yes it automatically adjusts). I'm still working out where to set cruising timing as I have been adjusting the part throttle fueling, and with those changes I make adjustments to the timing (leaner = more timing).

I've incrementally worked my way to 5,800rpm, but now my rev limiter is set to 6,500rpm and it won't reach that. I tried a few times =P So time to set it down to 5,800rpm and the shift light at 5,500 or so.

I've just been driving this any day that hasn't has snow on the ground. Fixing a few minor fluid leaks that had cropped up here and there and making the car nicer to drive all around.

Going to do some transmission valvebody and governor modifications next weekend and look at installing an idle air valve for better cold start up (around 20ºF in the mornings).

I'm thinking in May I'll install the new E-cam (215HP cam) and start sourcing new valve springs (breaking in the cam with the weaker single springs).

I was having intermittent issues with my fuel rail hold downs allowing the fuel rail to rock a bit from vibration and when it would twist to one side fuel would leak by a couple of the o-rings which got to the point I parked the car the last few days until I came up with a fix. Today I got some box tubing, cut it up a bit and welded it to the existing hold downs. It clamps pretty tightly on the rail and now the rail is definitely rigid.



In other news, I pulled the touchscreen radio out of the Skylark and installed it in the Firebird today as well. It is in an easy to see and use location on the Firebird compared to the Skylark that had it blocked from view by the steering wheel most the time. As a bonus the radio has a built in GPS so I can really tell what speed I am going now.

Not sure if you know this, but Tlowe had epoxied his injector bungs also, with turbo boost pressure they became loose.

MBHD

To have taken such a radical departure from the normal build, you seem to have had very little issues getting this on the road. Great job! And a really nice build thread.