What do you suggest I do? I don't want to repin and swap to a map setup. Are you suggesting I run a draw thru setup?

I have custom 3" intake piping, like from the blower to the maf, and from the maf to the throttle body. They keep blowing off. I drilled small holes right through the clamps and into the tubing and put screws in to hold them together.

I worked on the tuning a little more tonight and did manage to get it leaned out into the 13's at part throttle. Good enough for me. It is running nice.

Had to put set screws in all the intake connections to keep them from blowing apart. Got the full throttle tune worked out nice. It is hitting 17 psi. Holding 14 or more for the entire full throttle run. Hangs 15 and 16 most of the time.

Part throttle tune is pretty rich but I can't seem to get it leaned out without it jumping to being way too lean. I'm thinking I'm going to have to live with it a little, I think the injectors are starting to go static when I lean out the off throttle coast to where I want it to be. Even at idle I can only get it nice and smooth at about 12.5 to 13.0 to 1 afr. I guess it's a tradeoff. Runs great, just hate seeing it rich at light throttle.

That is good. You must be making good power.

Only bandaid I've found to help is that TCI constant pressure valvebody, so I can set the TV cable wherever I want to raise the part throttle rpm shifts. I too played alot with the governor weights and springs to no avail with any of the part throttle stuff.

Car is all back together. Went with .075" Cometic head gaskets. Hyd. roller cam, .572 lift with my 1.7 rockers. 226/234 on a 114 LSA. Replaced rings, rehoned cylinders, etc. Machine shop belt polished crank, cleaned up heads, and set up valve springs. 145 on the seat and 380 open. Ended up at 9.4 to 1 compression.

Tune is worked in pretty good. Running a big shot of water/meth, spraying pre supercharger. WOT tune floats from 11.2 to 12.1 afr's. I richened up the stuff over 11.5 since the last run but 12.5 should be safe with my combo and water/meth mix and amount. Running 1 degree of retard per lb of boost so that is very safe also. Could likely get away with more timing but I see no reason at this point. Maybe after 100% dialed in at the track I'll give it a little more timing. We shall see.

WOT is absolutely insane. Went from 35 mph in 2nd gear to 120 mph in 3rd gear in less than 6 seconds by the datalogs, and that was spinning some when I rolled the pedal down. If I'm going less than 45 and floor it, it shifts back to 2nd gear and is uncontrollable, and that is with the ET street radials at 20 lbs. Quickly rolling the pedal down makes it hook up good. 1st gear is worthless on the street unless I slowly roll the pedal down, and it flashes past so quick it is insane.

I haven't been able to stare at the boost gauge as I'm affixed on the afr gauge, but it looked like 15 lbs of boost. RPMS never drop below 5600 at WOT. Converter is doing its job!

Oil pressure is 24 at extremely hot idle after ripping around, and jumps to 50 or more by 1800 rpms. All seems great!

It's been a long expensive road the past couple months, but it sure feels worth it when in the go pedal. The more power I hit the converter with the higher the rpms stay after a shift, and using that as an indication, my power seems way up from the 200 shot.

Only downside is, it just feels like something is going to snap at any time when at WOT. Feels like its impossible for drivetrain parts to handle the power. I have no idea how much it is making but it has to be up there. Feels way faster than the setup that ran 134 in the 1/4.

High stalls work nice when you whack them with alot of power though.....I have my combo back together and the wot stall is crazy. At 6300 rpms when it shifts 2-3, it only drops to about 5700 rpms. Sure keeps the boost up! I'm seeing 15 lbs of boost and with a big shot of 75% meth, 25% water. One run like that and it makes all the high rpms at part throttle worth it.

I've actually ridden in very high stall converter cars that, at part throttle, when they shift from 2-3 the rpms actually go up instead of down.

It's all a trade off. Gotta get cam/intake/gears/converter/heads/max rpms/etc. all matched up. Cam, intake, max rpm and converter are most important. But then, you find that the converter is too high stall to make you happy at part throttle, so you downsize it. Then your cam and intake is too big.

Good for you, with what I know of your combo, I think you could downsize the converter stall to make you happier at part throttle, and you would likely gain some seat of the pants feel at WOT, and you probably wouldn't slow down much in 0-60 or 1/4 mile. Depending on your gears. A higher stall converter bandaids 2.59 and 3.07 gears very well. If you have 3.45's or more, with a 383 and tpi, a street car is better suited with a lower stall (like maybe 1600 or 1800).

You have a 2400 stall converter. In the video you said you are in the gas pretty hard, but you never went over 2300 rpms. Being in 3rd gear, depending on your gearing, you would be at like 60 mph at 2400 rpms with no converter stalling. You are seriously into converter stall since you are going into 3rd gear at such a low rpm, and you will not accelerate hardly at all pushing the pedal down some when in 3rd gear at 20 mph, let alone when keeping the pedal the same after the 2-3 shift. When pulling out easy like that, I have to give it more gas after the 2-3 shift to keep accelerating the same as before the shift, and my shift is coming at a much higher mph and rpm than yours.

I'm not sure why you feel it is hanging up by not going into 3rd gear until 16 mph. That is where it would have shifted with a stockish 1000 or 1200 stall converter. I went to the TCI constant pressure valvebody so I could set it to hold it's gears longer at part throttle before shifting, so the revs are higher when going into the next gear, which means less converter stalling.

I honestly don't think your trans is slipping. Hard to tell without riding in your car but your video looks exactly like my car did with the high stall converter and stock valve body with shift kit.

I think you are not liking the higher stall converter. I honestly don't see anything wrong there. I felt the same feeling you have when I went to a 2800 stall from stock. I think that is just the way they are. I have a pretty good feeling you will need to go back to a stockish converter to get the part throttle feeling you are looking for. The constant pressure valvebody will let you change those part throttle rpms but that doesn't change the fact that you will be into serious stall (which feels like slippage) after the 2-3 shift.

Get in 3rd gear with the converter locked up, then give it as much gas as you can without it unlocking the converter. Then try it again in 4th gear. You will see for sure if your trans is slipping or not by doing this.

I also noticed the shifts on mine were much harder with cold fluid. In the video you didn't warm the car up at all, the fluid was ice cold for sure. Also, depending on the shift kit built into it by the builder, that controls the firmness of the shifts.

There may be a way to fix that hard and slightly delayed shift when fluid is cold, but I honestly doubt you have any problem with slippage or weakness after the 2-3 shift. When in 3rd at such a low mph with a high stall, you need to give it alot of gas to "spool up", so to speak, the converter. Give it enough throttle and it will shift back to 2nd and put you back in the seat because the high stall converter keeps your engine in it's powerband instead of at an rpm below the powerband. It is a tradeoff, sacrifice part throttle comfort to pick up wot power to the ground.

Do you have any friends with higher stall converters? Take a ride in or drive their car and see how it feels. Might not feel as bad as ours after the 2-3 shift because they likely are at a higher rpm when hitting 3rd (our cars are as low as I've seen with stockish vavlebody) but I'll bet you will have the same feeling that you are having in your car.

I'm betting it's in the valve body. You could get a TCI constant pressure valve body, bolt it in and go. It lets you put the throttle cable wherever you want to adjust part throttle shifts.

Honestly if it only does it when the fluid is cold,and it doesn't hang the gear way up in the revs, and you can manually shift it when it's cold to avoid the situation, and it is the only issue, I'd consider living with it.

Do you happen to have an aftermarket oil cooler? If so, you could rig it up with an inline thermostat and bypass so that the fluid won't go through it till its hot. Would warm the fluid up alot quicker.

For the feel of the trans, make sure the exhaust isn't touching anything anywhere.

This block is a pre 1980, 4 bolt splayed, billet main caps. Was just built abotu 3 years ago. 4340 Eagle crank, Eagle H beam rods, SRP forged pistons, ductile iron plasma moly top rings. I had a flat tappet cam already and the budget was tight, so I used it. Shouldn't have, especially with the spring pressures I'm running now. Now that I'm rebuilding again I'm going with a retro roller. Both the old cam and the new one are hydraulics.

I'm pretty sure the nitrous backfire a couple seasons ago is what caused the original broken piston and ring damage on a couple cylinders. I noticed a little more blowby after the backfire but not too bad, so I didn't tear it down. I really think that was the only time I would have had excessive cylinder pressures. Although, running the 225 shot on high compression they would have been on the high side I guess.

Cylinder walls still look great, VERY slight markings at the bottom from the piston skirts, that's it. I honed it good, and 75% of them disappeared.

You must lower your fan settings in your tune after installing a bigger radiator, cooler thermostat and better fan.

This past weekend I honed the cylinder walls, cleaned things up and re-oiled the block, then removed and installed new cam bearings. All seems good.

Quote:

Andy, download TunerproRT for free. Download your stock .bin file from moates.net for free. Make the fan changes and other modifications you want for free. Email me the .bin file, I'll burn it to a chip for you and mail it back to you. You will need a moates adapter to install the chip, but they are not too expensive.

I got a 3 row cheapie radiator and it helped quite a bit on coolant temp. Oil came down about the same amount. SPAL fan, and it helped a bunch more. Oil stays about 20 or 30 over coolant, but now coolant is in the 180 range, and oil is in the 200 to 210 range. Before coolant was in the 210 range and oil was in the 230 or so range. I think getting the coolant temps down is the first step. An aftermarket oil cooler would be the second step.

This is with a pretty high powered 383. Thermostat is a 160 but fans kick on at 180 and off at 170. And the fan does cycle on and off unless it is 85+ degrees outside.

I use the Felpro intake gaskets. I spray the backside of them with copper spray gasket material, let them sit for about 2 minutes, then stick them to the heads. Let them sit another minute, then install intake. Never had a problem doing it that way, the sticky spray gasket keeps them from moving when you gently place the intake. 2 thin coats of the spray gasket is all it takes, 1 can will last you for about 50 installs.

If you plan on major modifications an aftermarket adjustable regulator could be of use in teh future. Like if you run a huge fuel system, you may need an aftermarket adjustable.

That said, even with alot of modifications, you will likely always run the same fuel pressure you are running now, so a stock replacement will likely be just fine for you.

Had the tune worked out pretty good up to about 5600 rpms. Pulls HARD! 11.5 afr and 1 degree of retard per lb of boost. Pretty big shot of 75% meth, 25% water. All was well.....till I started hearing some backfiring for no apparent reason.....then not long after oil pressure quite a bit lower than normal. I pulled the pan off....main bearings are dead. As I was checking things out, I could see up to the cam and could see that several lobes were worn way down.

Pretty sure the flat tappet cam couldn't handle the higher rate valvesprings any longer. Less spring would possibly hang valves open with boost. Metal from cam likely killed bearings.

I took a couple vacation days and tore it back down. Engine is on stand disassembled. Crank is at machine shop getting polished and possibly cut .010 under, depending on what it takes to make it like new. Heads are there, shop is going to trim them to make the headgasket surface like new again since they have been installed 4 times since last shaving. He is also going to put new springs on it to match the cam listed below, and a little more seat pressure for boost. While apart I'm going to put all new rings in it, and hone the cylinders. I completely flushed the block with very hot water, then dried it and sprayed it with oil.

This time I'm going with a retro roller cam (although I might need to save up some money for a month or 2). My first choice so far is an Erson cam. It's details are:

226/232 @ .050
114 LSA
.590/.604 lift with my 1.7 rockers

It is an "off the shelf" cam with specs prettymuch the same as I'd have ordered custom. The Comp off the shelf choice is ok, but once I found the Erson I like it better. Comp specs:

224/236
113 LSA
Lift was in the high .500's, not sure exactly without looking it up again, but a little less lift than the erson.

Should be alot better with boost than my old cam was. And I can't believe how hard it was pulling with the old cam, with lobes worn way down (like over 1/2 way on 3 of the intake lobes).

He is going to set springs up for about 150 on the seat, and about 400 open, at .650 lift. I'd like to do this myself but to get them set up perfect I just don't have the equipment.

It just never ends.

Well, I'm hoping to see mid 10's out of it on boost and water/meth. That is what it ran on a 225 shot, I just want to do that without using nitrous. Any faster than that would be a nice bonus.

Nitrous is still installed, I may someday spray a 50-100 shot but it will be a long time before I'd be comfortable doing that. That power level would really start pushing the limits of a lot of other parts.

I got to drive it some the other day. Got the part throttle tune close, needs some fine tuning yet. WOT I could get to about 5200 rpms and it would lean out no matter how much fuel I put to it in the tune. Didn't have the water/meth on it yet and was pulling 2 degrees of timing per pound of boost, which is a ton when the boost is high.

Was hitting a PW cap that I didn't know existed. I installed a hac that eliminated the pw cap but now there is snow on the ground here.

As a side note, it was a solid 10 lbs of boost at 5200 or 5300 rpms. Should push about 15 lbs at around 6200 or so rpms.

It is whistling alot. I love it. It is a V1, that is how they sound. It is a little louder than most V1's because with a blow through maf it is best to put a fairly weak spring in the BOV so it stays open at idle, but all V1's are pretty whistly.

Camera phone makes it sound a little more of a squeaky whistle than it actually is but it is still loud.

I have also recently installed a hac that puts the wideband reading in the datastream, which is extremely helpful when tuning. Also, installed a hac that eliminates the injector pw cap that I didn't know existed till I hit it and saw no more increase in pw on the datalogs no matter how much fuel I added. A few threads over there if anyone needs info on doing this. If you need more than you can find ask and I'll help as much as I can.

Figured this out and there is a thread we are in over on thirdgen, but wanted to post what we found here in case anyone is ever interested. So far it seems to work great, going to confirm when the snow melts and I can drive my car again. Matt may confirm it before me and save me the trouble. All is well in the chip and car idles nicely in the garage.

Open the .bin you are using. Save it as a different name, so if anything screws up, you still have your good .bin file.

Open your hex editor. If using TunerproRT, go to tools, advanced, hex editor. Go to location 0E97. (Scroll down till you find 0000E90. Then, count over 8 places (which is bit 7 since the first location in that row is bit 0). You will see it is number 58. Put the cursor in front of the 58, and type 59. The 59 will be red. Close the hex editor, save it when it asks.

Scroll down to your Spark Advance Table RPM vs LV8. Right click it, then select "Edit Item XDF Info". Click on the "Rows" tab. Click in the first row. You will see it is 400. Make it 0. Make row 2 400, row 3 800, etc. Keep increasing by 400 till you get to the last row, which will be 6400. Click apply, then close the window. Go to the XDF tab on the main page, then select Save XDF as, and save it under a new name. Go open the main spark table, and you will see it goes up to 6400. You will need to change your spark numbers as they will be the same as they were in their cells, but the rows rpm labels have changed therefore the spark has changed at many of the rpms.

I posted the vid over on my thread in the chat section called Update on Setup.

LMFAO

Vid of the T trim idling. This was right after I got it running, it actually idles lower now, about 850 rpms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiSi-P ... feature=player_detailpage

I have a vid of it idling with the T trim, not an exhaust vid, just a supercharger whistling vid. I'll see if I can get it posted to youtube and post the link. I've never posted a vid anywhere so it might take some work on my part!

I have a modified holley stealth ram, originally I put it on with a 224/230 cam, reworked stock heads, headers and dual exhaust. If I were to do what you are doing, I'd buy an LT1 intake already coverted. Will only cost a few hundred used, and a hundred or 2 in supporting parts if they aren't included (fuel rails, thermostat housing, etc.)

Go with 1.6 roller rockers. Scorpions are good for the price. Just remember they are self aligning, unless you are putting real guideplates and hardened pushrods in also. You need narrow body rockers. Don't forget to remove the drip tabs from the inside of the valve covers! Easy to do but will cause carnage if you forget.

Don't forget the tune will need tweaked. Have him buy a Moates burn 2, download TunerproRT, get the G1 adapter, a datalogging cable, and a few chips. Won't cost alot, and he can tweak and tune and enjoy doing it, and have the ability to continue to change as he adds mods to the car. Wideband setup is worth it's weight in gold but likely not needed for this power level.

LT1 intake with headers, exhaust and roller rockers will give that car a very nice power bump.

IF changing the cam I'd go with a hotcam. Doesn't sound like he is wanting to go that far yet though.

IF heads are coming off I'd invest in a set of AFR 195 elims. This is where to spend the money if money is going to be spent. Save on other items, spend on the heads.

I have a stock pan, a high pressure STANDARD VOLUME pump, a nice windage tray, and no problems at all.

Your problem is your high volume pump and lack of windage tray. As mentioned in another thread, I had the same problem as you on an engine I bought with a stock pump and no windage tray. Don't cut those studs off, install a windage tray on them. Use washers and/or lock washers to get whatever windage tray you buy spaced down so it doesn't contact the crank. You will have no problems at all then (given that you haven't hurt the bearings yet). Cut the oil filter open and make sure there is no bearing material caught in it. If there is, then you must change the bearings while you are in there.

If you are dead set on buying an expensive pan with windage tray in it, then just take a dremel and cut those studs off, won't hurt anything.

I went with slotted (not drilled) rotors from Ebay (from Hawks, no relation to Hawk brake pads) and they work great for me. I can't stress enough what was said above, BED THEM IN! This is a must. I only bedded mine in once, when I installed them, and they are fine still.

Quote:

Make sure you order a brake booster for a 1984 Corvette. It will have a metal housing instead of a plastic one. I killed 3 plastic ones in 2 years (heat warps the plastic housing then they die), then I installed a metal one and it has been holding up perfectly for 2 years or so now. Just paint it before installing it so it doesn't surface rust on you.

For the engine, couldn't you downsize the cam, converter and compression and boost it? I know my cam is larger than I should have went, and the high stall converter is soft for the street at low rpms, but I figure I can always go backward on those if I really want. I decided I wanted more power and not out of the bottle, and a larger cam or converter would just make it less fun on the street. That is my main reason for supercharging. More power, no loss of street manners.

I run the Hawk HPS ferro carbon pads on my car on the street and I really like them. Quiet, and they stop on a dime. They don't fade out when hot like stockish pads do. I run them with a set of ebay slotted rotors. They work good to slow me down at the end of the dragstrip too, from 130+ down to 15 to turn onto the first access road. I keep telling myself to not brake as hard and just use the 2nd or last access road, but when going that fast, my brain automatically tells my right foot to make sure we make the first access road to leave room for error. That said, the brakes are holding up fine to the abuse.

Sounds great! Any idea what your timing was at idle before and after the tuning?

I have duals on mine with stock LT1 mufflers, but no resonator or X pipe or anything. Mine sounds very free flowing, kind of airy almost. An X pipe is on my to do list.

After seeing many many threads all over the place on belt wrap, I decided to try to eliminate the problem before I even fire up for the first time with the T trim. Running a Greg Carroll bracket, and a full 8 rib serpentine setup on an L98 based engine (also using one of Greg's ultra grip pulleys).

Pic 1 is the standard Carroll setup, with a 3.5" idler instead of a 3". A hair better but not nearly enough IMO.


Pic 2 is the same setup only I leaned the PS pump reservoir over, rolled the alternator and idler further down, drilled a new hole in the bracket, and installed there. As you can see it increases belt wrap quite a bit with very little work involved. Much better but still not enough for me.


Pic 3.....I put the alternator back in the position it was supposed to be, removed the idler and it's standoff from the alternator, and made a new plain standoff for the alternator. I took an aluminum bar, installed the 3.5" pulley and standoff on one end, then vice-gripped it to the bracket in the exact location I wanted it. Marked 3 spots, drilled 3 holes through the bracket and aluminum bar, and installed 3 bolts. I drilled the holes a little oversize so I have some room to play should I change the blower pulley size in the future. Can also change the size of the idler pulley if ever needed.

As you can see belt wrap is excellent now and everything is very solid so there shouldn't be any problems.

Thanks Aaron (AKS Racing) for all the pics you have posted on different forums and all the info you have given. It was very helpful in this process and made it a very easy mod.

Thanks also to Greg Carroll, as I bought this kit used and there were pieces missing. He got me what I needed and shipped it quickly!

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When I get the time I'll look into this. I'm into modifying a Greg Carroll Vortech bracket to increase belt wrap on a T trim.

If you go to tunerpro.net, there is a pretty good write-up explaining hex, and another one explaining editing it. I've only done it a couple of times and it was a long time ago so I'd have to figure it out again myself.

I'm not sure any of my plugs on my car have any locking tabs left. Nothing a bag of wire ties can't fix!

I think on most plugs if you look down in the end of them you can see a tiny tab that holds the wire in by holding the metal tab that is on the end of the wire. Take a tiny screwdriver like used on glasses, and push the tab. That should release the wire. Make sure you know which wire goes in which hole, write it down. Then remove the wires from the new plug the same way, then insert the wires you removed from the original plug into the new plug.....This way you have a new plug on your old wires, no soldering or butt connecting (lol) or splicing.

A quick search on the internet will likely show you some pics.

Have you found a solution to this yet? I have not. I can get a fueling table (PE vs RPM) to go to 6400 but not a spark table. It seems you have to lock your spark in at 4800 on up.

To solve this problem for boost, I hooked up a MAP sensor to my Crane TRC-2 so my timing retard is boost referenced. That said, I'd like to do it with an extended timing table so if you find a 6E.xdf file with one let me know please.

My kids are NED's by the definition above!

No, the mailman is not named Ned.

Got the engine all back together except the accessories.

Found the rarity on ebay...a Greg Carroll Vortech kit with complete 8 rib accessory setup. Kit has everything but the headunit. I'll have to sell the piping as it won't work for my MAF setup.

Also have coming a used vortech discharge tube with Mondo blow off valve, a universal 3" intake piping kit, and a handful of odds and ends.

Spent the day yesterday relocating some things like my oil catchcan setup, modifying my old A/C canister bracket to fit my Mr Freeze injection tank, relocating the hood prop rod to the passenger side, and about 100 other little odds and ends.

Just won the auction for a V-1 T trim, so now it is a for sure what I'll be running. Can't wait for this all to get here so I can get to putting it together and tuned in!!

Now I can't help but wonder what my setup with the T trim spinning to it's max impeller speed of 55,000, along with water/meth injection and a 75 shot of nitrous will run in the 1/4 at the track this year. Will be a long time till I have it dialed in comfortable enough to use the nitrous but I am using the water/meth right out of the gate.

It sure is hard to put that smoke back in where it came from once it comes out.

You could take the blower motor out and test it by hooking power and ground to it and see what it does. If it is good, test the relays, or just replace them if they are cheap enough. Save the expensive part replacements and tests for last.

I've had 6 Mustangs. '92 GT and '94 Convertible were my favorites. Always wanted a Cobra, but ended up with my 'vette and it cured my Cobra fixation. REALLY like the looks of the newer Mustangs though. They will never have the curb appeal of a 'vette though. Camaro, Firebird, Mustang, etc......once they get some years on them, they will always be overshadowed by the Corvettes. If you want a constant head turner stay with a 'vette. If you don't care about that at all then there is nothing wrong with buying a Mustang.

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads2.jpg[/IMG]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads2.jpg

That is a pic after the main grinding and some smoothing but before I did the final smoothing and polishing.

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads3.jpg[/IMG]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads3.jpg

That is a pic after all was finished. I bumped the valves a hair with the grinder, but it is MUCH worse in the pic than it really is.

[IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads1.jpg[/IMG]

http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg259/dan0617/Heads1.jpg

Heads going into the "poor man's solvent tank". Didn't win any brownie points with the wifey on this one, but the heads cleaned up nice. All traces of metal filings gone!


For some reason the pics won't load like they usually do so I put direct links in, hopefully you can click on the link and see the pics. I can, let me know if you can't.

Matt....I don't have a trans temp gauge and my fuel pressure gauge is an underhood gauge mounted to the motor....really only accurate when first started up while the gauge and fuel and engine is all at the same temp.

10.5:1 is perfect for nitrous.

I will snap a pic or 2 of the chambers. They look kind of wavy since they were hand done but they feel nice and smooth and polished up nicely. I do have a couple pics but the flash reflected back so they aren't good. I'll get a few more and post them up.

Matt....what compression did you go with on your 383? Run a little boost or spray and join in on the carnage and add to the broken parts pile!

I also installed an autometer boost/vac gauge right below my afr gauge on my windshield pillar.

Did alot of searching and decided to try a Mr Freeze AFM water/meth injection setup. It is all mechanical, less parts to fail. Best of all it costs $189.

Well, this past week I added a pin to my ecm, ran a wire from that pin to the wideband output on my LC1, then installed a .bin file and .ads file found on thirdgen.org diy tuning forum, and now I have my wideband reading in my datalog. Should make tuning PE mode a ton easier. It will only feed the laptop OR the gauge, so I will have to leave the Tunerpro dash up when I'm datalogging to see the real time AFR but it is still great. I tested it all with the car off and it is working good.

If you are interested just go to that site, search for arapwb. You need to install a new wire in pin D8 but it is empty now so it is easy to do. Run that wire out to your LC1 controller. Cut the brown output wire on the output of the LC1, and put plugs on it so you can plug it back together. THen put a plug on the end of the wire that you ran from your ecm so you can plug it in to the LC1 in when the other one is unplugged. Then download the new .ads file and the new .bin file, copy all your tuning into the new .bin file, install the new .ads file, and you are done. Right beside the engine rpms on the Tunerpro dash will now be a box for wideband afr. All in all it is easy to do, and if you already have a wideband controller and gauge and a MAF car, it is prettymuch a free mod.

Pete, what you said is kind of my mindset. If money needs spent I'll spend it, but I have the "leave it alone if it works fine" motto when it comes to parts. Had I not had a broken piston I would never have dreamed of replacing any bearings as my oil pressure is excellent and all is good down in the bottom end. It only has about 4,000 miles on it, maybe 20 1/4 mile passes, and maybe 10 more nitrous blasts on the street. Most all the miles are just putting around.

Since it was all good, and the bearing has no marks that can be felt with a finger at all, I don't see the reason not to re-use it. I always figured if the oil pressure was plenty high and the bearing is nice and smooth, it might as well be re-used. If it worked before teardown there is no reason it shouldn't work when reassembled.


(all that said, knowing my luck, I'll reassemble it and have a problem with it. But, I could have a problem after replacing them all too!)

Installed a dual walbro setup, fuel pressure won't go below 41 psi now. I think my large fuel cooler is the restriction. I'm going to set my base fuel pressure at 50 anyway so I should be all good. LOTS of fuel available to engine!

Pulled heads (AFR 195 streets) and opened them up by removing the quench pads. They are now 71cc non-quench heads. Combustion chambers are smooth and shiny, after about 25 hours of grinding and polishing.

I installed oil feed and drain lines for the future supercharger, so when the budget allows I'll be ready to bolt it on and hook it up.

60 lb injectors arrived, can't wait to get them in and tune them, if even just N/A for now.

Now the bad....upon removal of the heads...I found a broken piston. About an inch or so of the top ring land was gone. The ring end was up on top of the piston. Pistons were JE forged, and the rings are ductile iron plasma moly. It must have happened during my one and only nitrous backfire about a year or so ago, but the car has been and still was running perfect. Luckily, the cylinder wall is fine, no problem at all. I dropped the pan, unbolted the rod, and pushed it out from the top. I'm now waiting on the new piston and rings to come. Bearings look good too. Very slight wear right in the middle, but nothing can be felt. That is pretty normal for a nitrous motor, so I'll likely reuse the bearings.

When this is all back together and done I'm hoping to have a boosted 383 with water/meth running mid to low 10's at about 135 mph, perfecty streetable, and hit it with a 50 or 75 shot of nitrous when at the track and run bottom 10's. I'll keep you all updated now that the work is underway.

I bought a built used 383 one time and had this exact same problem. Was dropping oil pressure after about 3500 rpms at WOT. After about the 4th try I killed the bearings. I pulled the motor out, pulled the pan off, to find that there was no windage tray installed.

If you happen to pull the oil pan and find that there is no windage tray installed, that is your problem. If there is a windage tray, I would find out if that is indeed a high volume pump. If it is, I'd change to a standard volume high pressure pump.

It is best to have all 3....but when you make a run you will be focused on the road or track, and watching the AFR gauge as much as possible. If you lose fuel pressure you will more than likely see the AFR gauge go lean and let off of it, well before your eyes see the fuel pressure gauge go down. So, the AFR gauge will show if the fuel pressure drops, but the fuel pressure won't always show you if it goes lean for some reason other than fuel pressure.

Well, if I change to the 75CC AFR 195's I see 2 decent head gasket choices in the MLS gaskets.

.051 thick (giving a .056 quench distance) yields 9.53 SCR.

.070 thick (giving a .075 quench distance) yields 9.17 SCR.

Sounds like I'd be better with the .051 gaskets so my quench stays in the .050 to .060 range even though the SCR is a little higher than the 9.3 range?

Or would the higher quench distance and lower compression be the better of the 2 choices here?

I will be doing my own tuning and know how to keep things safe but I am not an expert tuner so I don't want something that will be a nightmare to tune and be on the ragged edge of detonation all the time. Sure glad to have you guys' advice here, else I would have went with a tight quench distance and ended up with a tuning nightmare by the sounds of it.