my buddy had the same problem bleeding the coolant with his LS. Look up the steam hose/vent/line mod(whatever name you prefer). It basically puts a port in the top of the water pump to vent out air in the system.
my buddy had the same problem bleeding the coolant with his LS. Look up the steam hose/vent/line mod(whatever name you prefer). It basically puts a port in the top of the water pump to vent out air in the system.
In reply to edizzle89:
I appreciate the response! Unfortunatly i've done that already.
do you take the line off and hold it up while filling it with coolant? thats what we have to do on my buddies LS, its a real pain in the ass and took a few tried to get all the air out.
How high would you have to get the nose for the radiator cap to be the highest point? How hard would it be to loosen the radiator mounts, get the radiator as high as possible, and get the front end on ramps or stands?
I did not take the line off. I'll have to try that tonight.
I'd have to jack the car pretty high up. I actually tried that and maxed out the jack I was using. Moving the radiator itself might work though, assuming the hoses will be flexible enough.
Some other things I read said to fill the engine with water from the upper pump outlet, and to check the thermostat, as those can cause issues too.
i love the LS as much as the next guy but that is my one big beef with them is the layout of the water pump and having the thermostat on the side rather then the top which worked perfectly for decade after decade. Why change what works?
edizzle89 wrote: i love the LS as much as the next guy but that is my one big beef with them is the layout of the water pump and having the thermostat on the side rather then the top which worked perfectly for decade after decade. Why change what works?
Yeah that was my thought too.
Also, I'm trying to find a 14" street radial. Am I blind and just can't find them, or do they really not make one?
Alright everyone. I pulled the upper rad hose and filled it with water. As far as i know there was no water in the engine. After that I pulled the steam line and let the engine run until i got straight water coming out. After that I Pulled the upper rad hose and filled the little bit that was left. I idled for probably 10 minutes after bleeding everything and it never went above 185. So, yippee for figuring out one more thing on it!
Progress!
Well, Good news, and then bad news.
Good news is, took it out, drove it around with a tune from a similar setup car. It ran great. Drove great, through all three gears. Easily the fastest car i've been in. Was able to do a burnout!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/W5qyxRaR6JI
Bad news now. Turning onto the highway to go back into town and I start accelerating around 1/2 throttle. Hear a noise but didn't think much of it. Car runs okay for the most part. I stop to fill up with some gas and when I start the car it isn't running as great. I drive to my girlfriends workplace to say high and on my way there the car starts to smoke and run progressively worse.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/OarA5lk9aLo
I leave to go home, hoping to just make it back to the shed, and it dies about a 1/4 mile away. I go to start it and the starter won't turn. I believe the motor has locked up.
I'm not sure what exactly happened. There was a fresh oil change, and the oil level was good. When tuning it the logs never show more than 1 psi of boost, and the AFR's were all richer than they needed to be. I'm hoping to get the motor out and tear it down to get an idea of what happened.
Well, haven't had a chance to get the toast engine apart far enough to see what happened, but Sunday I went and picked up another 5.3 with 160,000. I swapped everything over to the new engine, and got it in this week. Started it this morning and mostly everything seems right. There appears to be a slight rubbing noise coming from the flexplate/torque converter area. Before I probably would have run it, but now i'm a little paranoid about losing another engine
.
More Problems!
Drove it around the block for the first time. Did a little pull onto the highway and got up to 4 psi and then blew an intercooler pipe. When I did some investigating I found the turbine wheel has been chipped, and also rubbing on the housing. Hopefully i'll be able to buy a new wheel for it, instead of a new turbo.
This may have been mentioned before, I didn't read the whole thread yet but you are familiar with these clowns. Yes?
https://m.youtube.com/user/denmah
The Slops have built some wicked LS Fairmonts for beer money. One of my favorite videos on YouTube is them getting booted from the drag strip after trapping in excess of 140 in that heap.
In reply to A 401 CJ:
Yeah I love those guys. They're actually the ones who sparked my interest in something like this.
Though, I did make the mistake of thinking that I would be able to put together my first one for similar amounts of money. It's crazy how fast stuff adds up!
i may have missed it earlier in the thread but what injectors are you using?
In reply to edizzle89:
Siemens deka 80lb/hr
Well I Still am having an issue with a noise in the flexplate area. Those of you who are more experienced then I, should there be this much movement in the flexplate?
Good progress on getting the engine back in/running.
A few thoughts, for what they are worth....
If you are sure it is not something else, an exhaust manifold leak making a metallic tick noise, etc...then you might have to pull the trans to see where it is hitting. Look for the shiny marks. Other thing is a cracked flexplate can flex backwards and allow the rotating assembly to touch the bellhousing. (flexplate itself is not on backwards is it? Just asking)
Are you sure the converter is all the way in on the splines?
Does the noise get louder with higher RPM?
In reply to Agent98 :
Thanks for the thoughts, at this point i'm pretty certain it has to do with the flexplate or converter. I'm pretty sure the converter is seated all the way, but I could definatly be wrong. As far as the noise, it's hard to tell, if it does it isn't noticibly louder inside of the vehicle.
I May need to go and pull the converter bolts at least, so see if there is anything abnormal.
There definitely shouldn't be that much runout on the flexplate, I'll hazard a guess something is bent.
I figured i'd better post an update. The converter noise ended up being a bolt lacking a washer. It bottomed out on the converter, leaving about a 1/16th of an inch for the flex plate to wiggle. Put a washer on it and the noise went away.
The turbo I bought has too much shaft play. I put a new wheel and housing on it after the other wheel broke and this one decided to self clearance the wheel again. It still makes boost, and hasn't come apart so i'm going to run it.
I've been driving the car around and trying to find any other kinks that need to be found. I'm using a tune from sloppy mechanics, and it works pretty great. The only thing is I can't get the car to start up and idle. If I rev the engine a couple times normally that's enough and the car will idle and i won't have an issue until I shut the car off.
Right now the car is on 10 pounds and seems to have plenty of power. I need a converter, badly. I'm just blowing through the stock one right now, basically on the shift point all the way through a gear. I also need radials, the tires now are useless.
However, this Friday I hope to get it down to the track. I know with the stock converter and lack of good tires my times will not be great but I would like to see what it runs.
great detective work, looking forward to the trap speed report! Figuring: blown off tires might cost you a 60 ft time but you'll still be able to see how she runs
Well good news! Made it down the track tonight and was able to drive it back up onto the trailer!
The car was running 10 pounds with a stock converter and street tires. Not an ideal setup but it did better than I expected. My First pass was a 12.84 @ 117. My second pass, which my #220 dad rode along for, was a 12.92 @ 116. So fairly consistant with the extra weight!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/LXcweIKG7oc
Douglas Tru Trac radial tires used to be a soft cheap tire - from Walmart - if they still have 14's
Otherwise, for the sleeper look, you may want to look at treaded Hoosier or American Racer circle track tires and turn the white letters in. They may have a 14? but at least smaller 15's
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