Suck N Blow Monte

[Turbo Zach]

It has been a while since I posted anything, so. I have been working on the car a little here and there. I replaced my alternator with a 140amp alternator. Seems to be keeping up with the load now. I did some work on the exhaust and got that together. I found my elbow pipe that goes on the end of the down pipe was too long and the coupler end was bunged up from a pipe clamp. I cut the damaged end off, shortened pipe, and welded a new slip end on.

I also added a O2 bung so I can move my Wideband gauge sensor down there. I had to get creative with joining the 3 inch downpipe to the 2.25 inch exhaust pipe. I ended up welding some reducers and crap I had laying around together. I thought I took a picture of the nonsense, but I can't find it. I plan to replace the exhaust in the near future. The person before me had put dual glasspacks on a six cylinder. I think it sounds a little retarded to me. At least it is quieted down now. I checked my knock gauge. I found the signal wire was unplugged from the gauge. NOT GOOD! I have it working now. I forgot when you start the car the gauge will light up the first knock light to tell you it is working. Hopefully I did not detonate the engine too much. I have been tweaking on the tune a little bit. Have not been able to drive it lately because it has been raining every day for a week. On the 80 miles I have driven the car it has not used any oil. Before I was using a quart every 70 miles. I did not see anything wrong with the valve seals, turbo, or psv valve when I replaced them. It is fixed though. My guess is the turbo was the culprit. I had to redesign my power steering reservoir. It blew all the oil out of it going down the highway. Plugged my vent hole and added a vent hose. This weekends project is going to a car show Sunday if is not raining and getting the A/C working. So far that has been challenging. First the blower motor was not working. Checked the wiring. Found blowed fuse. I got that fixed. I vacuumed down the system and it held vacuum for 15 minutes. I went to charge it and a valve core started leaking in my A/C line. I swapped that out. Vacuumed it back down again and started over. Now my new compressor the clutch is slipping. That is were I quit last night. Today I plan on burnishing the clutch, check my clutch voltage, and trying again. Any one have trouble with a new A/C clutch slipping? Sorry for the lack of pictures, not much to look at I figure.

 

[Turbo Zach]

I got my A/C working. Blowing 55* out the vents on a 85* day. Not too shaby. Still having a little trouble with the A/C clutch not staying engaged. I tried burnishing it several times and it got a lot better, but still not quite right. Maybe it will fix it's self. My power steering reservoir blew out a lot of the oil in it even with the added vent hose. I put a screw in hose and it seems to be ok now.

The first picture is how it is now and the other is how I made it originally. Any one see anything wrong with it? I cleaned the car up and took it to a car show today.

I am getting a little knock at a full throttle blast at 10 psi boost for a second. Probably just the lack of fuel when the four barrels kick open. Only a second thought. The car seems quite a bit doggier with the exhaust on now. I think my turbo is a little too big for my combination too. Kind of laggy. I think a smaller turbo would do better, or a good stall converter. I don't plan on my transmission lasting too long. I will upgrade the torque converter when I replaced the transmission. I tried a check valve in the transmission vacuum line and it did not help any. I think I will buy that valve Mike pointed out. I see now the point of a blowoff valve now. When you hit the gas and let off I can hear the turbo shutter. I think I might add one, but they are a little pricey. I was at the car show for ten minutes and some guy walked up and had to talk about Training Day Monte. I wanted to hit him in the face! Instead I said thank you and walked away. That's it for now.

 

[Turbo Zach]

Here is some pictures of some cars that caught my eye.

This is my favorite Firebird of all times. I love the hood scoops on these.

What's not to love about this?

I like odd stuff!

Nicely done car and brings back memories of cars I could not afford.

As Mrsony would say (neato).

A kid and his dad built this car. 406 engine, and 373 gears. The kid really loves this car.

This car is just awsome. Thousands of hours were put into this car by the owner. Cool guy. There is not a inch on this car that he has not modified or tweaked on.

Check the dash out. It is made from the original hood from that car. Well I hope you enjoyed. I know I did. All I can say is I like odd things.

 

[motorheadmike]

Back pressure in the post turbine side is a spool killer. Yes, you can bump up timing down low and get a loose stall (3000-3300rpm is a good target) to help too.

Stock LC2, much bigger turbo than yours, TH400 w/3300 9" converter and 3.08 gears - spooled fine to 30psi.

After I got the WG puck to seal properly... Duh.

What device is telling you that knock is occuring?

And yes, get that part I suggested.

Sounds like things are going really well - I am happy for you.

 

[Turbo Zach]

Back pressure in the post turbine side is a spool killer. Yes, you can bump up timing down low and get a loose stall (3000-3300rpm is a good target) to help too.

Stock LC2, much bigger turbo than yours, TH400 w/3300 9" converter and 3.08 gears - spooled fine to 30psi.

After I got the WG puck to seal properly... Duh.

What device is telling you that knock is occuring?

And yes, get that part I suggested.

Sounds like things are going really well - I am happy for you.

I have not put any more tension on waistgate rod yet. Trying to get everything working right before I turn it up. I am using a 87 knock sensor, a Casper gauge, and a 90's timing module. It lights up a yellow for a second. Probably the fuel trying to catch up with the amount of air. Little more tuning and it will probably go away. Thank you by the way!

 

[motorheadmike]

I have not put any more tension on waistgate rod yet. Trying to get everything working right before I turn it up. I am using a 87 knock sensor, a Casper gauge, and a 90's timing module. It lights up a yellow for a second. Probably the fuel trying to catch up with the amount of air. Little more tuning and it will probably go away. Thank you by the way!

I hate to say it, but that Casper's gauge isn't worth the circuit board it is printed on. It could be false knock. You can always try lowering timing or adding better fuel to see if it goes away - if it doesn't it, it is just a blip of nonsense.

 

[Turbo Zach]

You are right about how hard it is to watch the knock gauge, AFR, and the road at the same time. When I get on it caught my AFR 15.1 with the four barrels open and the turbo spoiling up. My wideband gauge is not working right now. I need a new cable. I damaged the jumper cable. So I am watching the AFR on the Holley hand held. What really need is some one driving and another person watching the gauges.

 

[Turbo Zach]

I drove the old girl to work Friday.

It is running pretty good. It does not have the power yet I think it should though. It drives good and will get up for a driver, but it should have more. I think I can take a certain some one with a Buick 350, but don't know if I can beat a four door pig. I turned up my adjustable waistgate valve a little bit for the ride home. I hit 20 psi of boost. Not much improvement though. When I got home I opened the hood to let it cool down some. I guess I was having a little too much fun!

Looks like I need to upgrade a few things. Blew out my carb hat gasket, and it turned my hat a little bit. This is were a blowoff valve would be nice. The cheep hose on my turbo to intake hose melted and my intake came off. I used good ones every were else. It doesn't have any braiding in it, just silicone. There was not much gain from 10psi of boost to 20psi of boost, and it is laggy getting there. Going to tighten up my waist gate rod a little bit. Replace that bad hose. Replace my carb hat gasket. Put my special valve in the transmission vacuum line. Check my bolts on the hot side for leaks, and try again. I am going to look into adding a blowoff valve. Any suggestions as to what valve to buy? I am also having trouble with my Wideband gauge. With the engine off it seems to be working right.

With the engine running it only shows the leads.

A couple times it said no sensor detected. Any one have any experience with the PLX brand? Any ideas? I did buy the box and gauge separately used, so that doesn't help matters either. That is what I got for now. Happy spooling!

 

[motorheadmike]

I had an HKS SSQV BOV on my Buick, worked great. You can get fake one from China through eBay - should work fine. I just ordered a fake Tial 50mm BOV from China for my Monte build.

https://m.ebay.com/itm/UNIVERSAL-BI...LOW-OFF-VALVE-PURPLE-/401317081294?nav=SEARCH

Mmm... purple. It comes with a heavy and a light spring. The HKS unit is externally adjustable.

 

[Wraith]

Love everything about your build BUT log everything you do/read all the logs, dump the AFR gauge, and forget about the knock sensor.