Olds ticket to 9s... LS swap adventure.

[Northernregal]

Been powering though my list of things to address.

I started by cutting up and fitting the old exhaust.



Once I got it where it kinda fit and wasn't terrible I cut an angle in the end and welded on the v band.... Stacked the beads in the mig cheat fashion, instagram ready... Yes, my work stand for the band say is high tech...


It looks like its going to work.


I need to buzz on a hanger mount for the back but otherwise I think it will work. Its kinda more quiet now.

Then I started working on an oil pressure oddity. I have a pre-filter oil pressure sensor that shows 48 psi at hot idle and my top of engine shows 18psi....

So I had ordered a replacement Delco sensor a while ago, I threw it in thinking the crusty old OEM sensor was junk. and there was no change. SO I put a mechanical on the bottom on the pre filter side, and it checked out with 50psi. I tried a new oil filter and no dice, no change.

Due to the serious space constraints behind the intake by the oil pressure sensor and the fact that the MAP sensor is RIGHT in the way I had to get creative to swap to a known good 5V 100psi sensor....



The good sensor was no different in the reading so I took off the Earls cooler fitting and went back to my ICT Billet turbo feed fitting. This corrected the issue. I have a 5psi drop across the oil filter and 42psi hot on top of the engine.


I don't think the Earls cooler adapter was the culpret, it just seperates the oil passges to pump unfiltered oil through an oil cooler and back to the cooler... I suspect an incorrectly installed barbell.... which sucks a lot. But that will get checked next.

 

[81cutlass]

Hot idle at the top of the engine is 18psi as in 'it's been idling in the garage for 10 minutes' or 'I just drove it for an hour and it's HOT'?

Maybe i am used to worn out SBE and buick v6 stuff but 18psi after everything has oil and hot isn't anything that crazy to worry about.

Otherwise could it be a leaking pickup tube Oring?

 

[Northernregal]

Hot idle at the top of the engine is 18psi as in 'it's been idling in the garage for 10 minutes' or 'I just drove it for an hour and it's HOT'?

Maybe i am used to worn out SBE and buick v6 stuff but 18psi after everything has oil and hot isn't anything that crazy to worry about.

Otherwise could it be a leaking pickup tube Oring?

Hot idle (Engine at 700 rpm & 190f running 10 minutes) before swapping the turbo supply was 18psi at top and 50 psi in the oil galley before it hits the filter. After the swap was top 42psi and oil galley 48 psi. This makes me think its not pick up O-ring.

filter swap had no effect, mechanical gauge used to verify oil galley pressure befor and after, 3 different sensors used on top.

The only other possibilities are barbell and oil pan passages/ oil pan gasket....

The back of the ICT bille oil feed makes the oil bypass the barbell and filter with a common oil path, as in this pic. This is what makes me think barbell, and that I have some pain in my future.

 

[Rodknok]

Your not messing around with you oil pressures lots of diag going on. Those barbells definitely could be the culprit of the lost pressure up top on the valley oil area.

 

[Northernregal]

Your not messing around with you oil pressures lots of diag going on. Those barbells definitely could be the culprit of the lost pressure up top on the valley oil area.

I have a dominator so I decided to go full kill on the data and sensors. Thinking ahead a little more than usual for me.

 

[Tony1968]

Can you explain why you think it’s a barbell issue? I can't wrap my head around how changing from Earl's to ICT could have done anything and since pressure up top is in fact better, why is the barbell an issue. Maybe I'm missing something 😕

 

[Northernregal]

Can you explain why you think it’s a barbell issue? I can't wrap my head around how changing from Earl's to ICT could have done anything and since pressure up top is in fact better, why is the barbell an issue. Maybe I'm missing something 😕

This is my current theroy...

This pic is the galley diagram for an LS. I have a sensor in the OEM port on top and one where the red "t" is marked. So between there is my problem, I swapped the filter so I dont think thats the issue.



The earls cooler adapter seperates the To filter and from filter passages that the barbell seperates, and should be fine to direct all oil through the filter before going to the bearings. I kinda suspect the barbell is backwards which would partially obstruct the galley to the top end. The ICT billet fitting would kinda do the same thing as this pic with the space behind the 1/8" NPT thread allowing filter bypass and barbell bypass.



There is a galley plug that you can see the barbell from above the filter so I am going to pop it open and hopefully be able to see if my trans is coming out to correct this.

 

[Northernregal]

Little progress update for the thread.

Exhaust is 98% done, it took a tone of fitting and re-fitting.... But I think I have something that I am stisfied enough.

I kinda just threw the over-axle pipe together from some spare junk, I think a few pieces are stainless...



It fits nice and I was happy so I welded it out.




Still need to slash cut the tail pipe and put a hanger in on the back of the over axle but it sounds pretty good.

I am working on the cooling electrical plus trying to find a spot for the trans cooler so I can plumb and wire it in. New rear brakes are set for tuesday delivery so I might be done the underside nonsense soon.

 

[Northernregal]

Knocked out and tested the Rad/trans fan relay mount.

Did a little mockup of what I wanted...


A drill press makes this stuff SOOOOO much easier.



Still need to finalize the wire management but it is in and function tested with the ECU controlling both.



Now to mount and plumb the trans cooler in.

 

[Northernregal]

Knocked some more small things out today.

fabbed up a mounting plate, wire in the fuel pumps and tested the Magnafuel pump.

The AEM 340 in tank is running a 20a breaker and 14ga wire from main breaker to pump, the 4303 is 10ga from breaker and a 30 amp breaker. Should be more than enough to keep them both happy. he breaker is 4ga to the battery. The somewhat cheap SSR didn't want to fire the pump but signal was coming in and power was where it should be so I will try another SSR later.


I bypassed the SSR and the 4303 pump fired up, I had the check valve backwards so I corrected that and it makes pressure. Against the regulator I have 43psi and nominal backpressure on the return with just the 4303 bypassed, seems kinda low but I have a -12 feeding it so might need to double the filters down the road. I already have the filter and fitting on the sump to make it happen when that time comes. Will test with the in tank and engine running later to see if it comes on too hard for my FPR.