I'm done!!!!! Just can't road test it because of the darn snowstorm. For those who don't know, on my '89 vert, I installed used 113 heads, 2.02/1.60 valves, ported and coated by Precision Motorsports, a CC503 cam, 1.6 rollers, new timing chain, billet small cap dist., Crane hi-6 CD igintion, remote mount coil, HSR intake with vette plenum, used 24lb injectors from a stock '98 Cobra, and a pcmforless tune. (and lots of other little things) Previous parts include a used 2800 stall tcs lockup converter, a used 3.07 rear, Hooker headers, dual exhaust, and a Zex nitrous kit and drag radials.

Finally fired her up last night about midnight. It fired right up. I set the timing and the fuel pressure right away. It idled at about 1200 and ran great, unless I throttled it fast and it popped out the intake. Would only do it if I let it idle for 10 seconds or more. If I kept gunning it it wouldn't do it. I went home and went to bed pondering what would make it do that. I thought intake valve hanging open, but that would do it whether I throttled fast or slow, I think. Thought maybe it is way lean at idle. Went in this morning and sprayed starting fluid everywhere but there was no sign of a vacuum leak. I set the TPS, then set the base idle by FSM procedure, then reset the IAC. It now idles between 800 and 900 on the digital tach, and no more popping out the intake. It must have been getting too much air through the IAC. I kind of like the 850ish rpm idle with the cam I have, although I'm surprised it idles that high since I followed the FSM idle setting procedure. Must have something to do with the tune or the different intake/cam. I held the brake and throttled it up till I did a powerbrake burnout in the garage. I REALLY want to try WOT but we are in the middle of a 1' or more snowstorm right now.

Sorry about the long post but I am so happy. I hope it runs well. With all the used parts it is always a worry till it is together. It is so gratifying to hear a build come to life. I am pleasantly surprised at how different the exhaust sounds with this cam and the bump in compression ratio. (I'm at about 10.1:1 static. Also, for you old schoolers here, I went old school (at 32 years of age) and used (against the advice of some) embossed steel shim headgaskets, with copper spray applied to both sides. .024 thickness. I'll let you all know how they hold up to a 125 shot. I'll get pics up of the engine and the car whenever I can get some taken.

Also to note, my smog pump that was converted to crankcase evac took a shit so I'm going to buy an eliminator kit, then use an electric smog pump from an LT1 for evac. Also need to finish setting up the trans governor. PeteK helped me with the original "educated guess", but once I road test it I might need to adjust. I'm looking for part throttle cruise shifts automatically at about 2000 to 3500, and WOT shifts at about 6000 to 6200.

Sounds like it's going to do fine. It always makes you feel great when they fire right up, doesn't it?

Come on baby, come on baby, Vvrrrooooom brum,brum brum brum.

You beat me by a few days....nice work...

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EXACTLY. When I took it apart I made a note to where the distributor rotor was pointing and where the #1 terminal was in accordance with the #7 rocker arms, when the engine was at #1 TDC. When put all back together those had me real close. It literally turned over 2 times and fired up. It spit and sputtered and shut off, but refired instantly. I wiped the cylinder walls down with oil before I reassembled so I'm sure that is why it sputtered. I just can't wait to road test it so it is tested under load and make sure there aren't any major problems. I just bought a used smog pump delete bracket and pulley setup from ebay for $100. It was a $120 or best offer, so I offered $100 and he accepted. He has 2 so if anyone else is interested go check it out.

DO you have the capability to datalog? Maybe the tune needs a little fine tuning.

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No, not yet I don't. I am figuring on either getting that ability this spring or taking the car to someone who does. Everything seems fine now but after I run it a little and work the bugs out I will most likely have someone go over the tune. I'll watch the spark plugs to make sure it isn't running way lean or rich in the mean time.

[/quote]
EXACTLY. When I took it apart I made a note to where the distributor rotor was pointing and where the #1 terminal was in accordance with the #7 rocker arms, when the engine was at #1 TDC. [/quote]

What did he say??

Sorry, that was confusing. Before I tore the engine down I made sure the #1 cyl was on the compression stroke, then lined up the mark on the balancer with the 0 on the timing pointer. When I pulled a valve cover I saw that the #1 cylinder spark plug wire terminal on the distributor was kind of pointing towards the back of a certain rocker arm, as was the distributor rotor. When assembling, I made sure the new dist had the rotor pointing the same way and the cap's terminal 1 was there when putting the wires back on. Maybe that is a standard way of doing this, I don't know. I did it on my own, and it had the timing almost right on, which helps when you are going to fire her up.