2seater

I would be interested to see if anyone has really used this product. I seem to remember a post a short while ago from someone that had done so. I guess I have a hard time understanding how this could possibly work in our application. The purpose seems to be to induce turbulence in the air stream, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but the entry to our MAF has a honeycomb ahead of the sensor and air passage that will straighten it right back out. Our MAF doesn't read the entire air flow, but it infers the total flow by measuring a portion of it through a second passage and I believe it needs smooth laminar flow to operate properly. If it could be installed between the MAF and the throttle body, turbulent flow "should" be able to turn the corner better into the intake ports, particularly the ones closest to the throttle.

JCWhitney has stuff like that but I must echo Barney's "why"? By the way, where in WI?

Maybe someone else will chime in that has actually added NO2 to their 3800 but I did do a little investigating a couple of years ago. The dry systems that only added the nitrous shot seemed interesting. They pump up the fuel pressure to add the needed fuel while the shot is injected. Our injectors are rated at 18.8 lb/hr and can theoretically support 250 total horsepower at 100% duty cycle if the fuel pressure is bumped up 10 psi. You would need to be sure the fuel system is capable of delivering the needed fuel. Something like the fuel pump from a newer S/C car would fill the bill. The downside, and why I decided against it, is the problem of refilling the bottle. If I remember correctly the cost was something around $5/lb to refill and the bottle must be refridgerated before filling to insure a complete fill. The closest place, (at that time), that I could have it filled was thirty miles away. I was told I could freeze it myself and take it to be filled in a cooler, I could drop it off and they would cool it to be filled but that would mean two trips or have two bottles to have a full one while the other was being filled. That said, it is probably the best bang for the buck, depending on how fast you use it up.

What sort of rpm are you seeing before you determine it is not shifting? 4800-5200 would be about the right range for full throttle shifts. The Throttle Valve (TV) cable and the governor in the output shaft pretty much control the high and full throttle shifting.

Have you checked for codes? The one very important thing thay had to disconnect is the crank sensor. If they did not install, reconnect correctly or routed the harness wrong that will surely kill the engine.

My best guess is about 5hp or about 3%. With a homemade CAI and cone filter, 160 deg. thermostat, opened up exhaust outlet, no catylitic converter and custom programmed Fastchip, my best estimate of resulting horsepower was 182. In real world driving I did not find much benefit,(never checked mileage), but it does seem to have a better top end charge. After many runs with a G-Tech, about 30) with stock chip, Fastchip and different engine temperatures, I found a slight decrease in 1/4 mile, .1 sec or so, but picked up an average of two mph. Best E.T.'s were at about 150 degree engine temps. In my opinion, the stock chip is pretty well optimized for 87 octane fuel and does a good job. I would occasionally see 1-2 knock counts at takeoff and sometimes at the 1-2 shift also. Premium fuel and the stock chip eliminated all knock but the car actually slowed down and was less responsive in real world driving. Premium fuel and the upgraded chip brought back the responsiveness. Please note: I sent the chip back to have the cooling fan turn on lowered to 172 degrees and I had more timing added (38 degrees @ 1900 rpm). Most are optimized for 91 octane and I run a little more than that (93), and it also runs cooler so it seems to want more advance to compensate. I still have no knock even with the new 9.1:1 compression ratio engine. I agree with Padgett in doing all the other things first as there seems to be better bang for the buck.

Looking good Nic. I really am lusting after a white one and your Select 60 looks perfect.

Hey, thanks for posting Nic. This is the type of thing that may help all of us sometime in the future. Life is good when everything works <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hey Nic, how are you doing? When you write a post and enter it, the box comes up to preview your post and it also had the ability to add an attachment added. A very nice feature and many thanks to Peter G. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Wow, I didn't realize they ran that high of pressure (10 bar), more than triple ours, although some of the newer ones are between 4 and 5 bar. I never had any direct experience except to ride in a couple. One hydro locked a cylinder from a leak and bent a rod on startup.

Hey Padgett, Happy New Year! Perhaps we are both right. The same 8D1-50 in the '90 FSM says this: "If the cam signal is not present at start-up, a code EO41 will set and the ECM will start sequential fuel delivery in any old random pattern with a 1 in 6 chance that fuel delivery is correct". I do not have an older manual but perhaps there was a change in the operation at some point. Perhaps there is also some other small change in the initial cranking where the '90 does open all injectors on the initial cranking,(priming shot), and then they stay off for two revolutions of the engine to use the initial fuel and pickup the cam signal to synchronize the injectors with the correct cylinder? Overall I don't believe it makes a whole lot of difference although cold operation would certainly be better with the cam sensor than without. The fuel just sits on the back of the valve until it opens, at least until there is good heat in the engine to vaporize it. The old Rochester fuel injection was a mechanical continuous flow system, was it not?

The single most important reason the cam sensor is installed is for smooth operation at low speed and possibly a bit more efficiency. The injectors always operate sequentially on the 3800, but without the cam sensor to start the order properly it may be off by a little or a lot. Each time the engine is started, the starting point will change without the sensor. Many engines operate happily using a batch fire, (my old Taurus winter car for one), where half of them fire and then the other half. The total time for a single fuel injector shot to any one cylinder is only sixteen hundreths of a second at idle speed (two complete engine revolutions), which drops to forty eight thousandths of a second at 2500 rpm. If you factor in the fact that the intake valve is only open for part of the complete cycle, the only time the exact timing is of any consequence is at low rpms. At higher speeds the injectors are open before, during and after the intake valve is open. Disconnecting the cam sensor is actually a recommended test for some driveability problems. That said, it is more efficient with the sensor than without.

You're right, the manual gives instructions on jacking the piston out of the caliper with the parking screw for overhaul but essentially nothing on how to reassemble. It says only to turn the screw as necessary to allow the piston to fully retract into the bore. No other cautions or if it is possible to turn it too far in.

Basin wrench = good idea. A crows foot might work also depending on how tight it is. Belt removal isn't necessary but it only takes a few seconds to lift the tensioner and drop the belt from the power steering pump only.

Typically the oil pressure spiking is a sender problem and is pretty common. Replace the sender which stands vertically on top of the housing for the oil filter. It's a little over an inch in diameter and about 3" high. You may find it helpful to remove the accessory drive belt to get to it. The oil level sender is on the front of the oil pan. Try removing and reinstalling the connector.

There you go, get both! Now if we had solid roller lifters, we could limit the oiling to the top end and gain another small efficiency. That pesky non- adjustable valve train gets in the way of that.I need to look at the oil flow diagram to see if this would leave more for the bearings, which would also be a good thing.

Lessening friction is a good thing, but it does seem optimistic to gain a lot with rockers only, especially at the stock ratio. Of course the big advantage is you don't really have to tear into the engine, but for that price you can get all new lifters, reground cam, valve springs and a gasket set. The down side of that is a lot more work, although changing the cam is the big gain. I do not want to sound negative and I do appreciate the work looking into this conversion.

Have you checked the transaxle fluid? If the engine revs, the car should move immediately.

Holding the throttle to the floor turns the injectors off, what is called clear flood mode. I don't know what the fuel pressure reading was but did they turn the engine off and see if the fuel pressure dropped immediately? It is peculiar for a flooded condition to last for a couple of days but it sounds like an injector stuck open, or possibly a weak spark, which could have many causes.

It is not abnormal for the brakes to sink toward the floor if the boost system is charged. It does require excess pressure beyond normal braking, but do not condemn the master cylinder unless you try discharging the boost pressure first by pumping the brakes up to 25 times with the key off. With that done, the brake pedal should be rock hard. Wally is the brake guy, but I would at the very least do the brake tests and flush the system. This may help the low brake pedal if everything else is okay.

The width of the slots in the sensor is approx. triple the thickness of the trigger wheels. Apply tape to a small section of the trigger wheels to build it up to a loose fit into the sensor slots. You can do this off the car. Install the sensor but do not tighten. Slide the damper into the slots and tighten the sensor. Remove the damper and remove the tape. When you reinstall the damper check for clearance on both sides of the trigger wheels but you you should be good to go. The clearance on each side is not critical as long as they do not actually touch.

Stock coil is Motorola, relays are Bosch, MAF is Hitachi etc.. What is stock GM anymore? They outsource parts all the time that they cannot make in house as cheaply or as well.

I tried measuring the stock rockers to verify the ratio but it is a little difficult as determining the exact point of valve contact and the center pivot can only be estimated. The stock rockers are listed as 1.6:1 ratio and they do measure pretty close to that. One small advantage to the sliding tip on a stock rocker is the ratio actually increases slightly as the valve is opened and the contact point moves outward. Not a great advantage, but there is some. Of course the friction probably eats up any ratio advantage over a roller tip. There is a drop in roller pivot conversion made for Ford rockers which use a similar shoe type pivot slide as do ours. They are also 1.6:1 rockers from the factory. If I could find one, rather than a whole set, I wanted to investigate if this was viable improvement. If I had been thinking ahead when I rebuilt my engine, I would have had the rocker mounting machined flat and install screw in studs for a truly adjustable valvetrain. This would make installing a different cam with a possibly different base circle, such as a regrind, easier to set as desired. I did port my engine and it is a tedious project but kinda fun, (winter project per EDSO). I regularly do this to small engines such as lawn mowers and snowblowers. You can actually hear the difference after the ports are cleaned up. Even though the cam and valves are not changed, any reduction of the friction in the flow is beneficial. How much gain from porting is hard to quantify without a flow bench or dyno. Even if the gain is minimal, it's a good project and you have at least a subjective pleasure from making an "improvement". Plus, you'll be all set for that new cam

It isn't tapered and it is not a press fit. It can be stuck if it has been in place for 14 years, but it does just slide off. You should only need a sharp rap from the back side but be careful, the outer ring is only supported by a few small connecting arms to the center hub. If you are installing a new one, you don't need to be as careful and could put a small amount of tension on it with a puller, maybe 1/2 turn past zero and tap the center bolt of the puller.

Higher ratio rockers do have the effect of giving you more cam and all the cautions about coil bind are certainly valid. This is an old trick to get some gain without tearing into the engine. There is a big advantage in moving the valve more rapidly as the time it is at a desirable opening and flow rate is increased. It is also a good way to find out if you can use more cam. If the rockers do help, the results could be duplicated with a revised cam profile. The valve springs should be checked to see if there is enough travel left to increase the lift. The base valve strength isn't as much of a concern unless greatly increased revs are the goal, but, if they are old and tired, I would at least have the spring pressures checked. I can't find the measurements I made when I rebuilt my engine but if memory serves, the minimum valve to piston clearance was approx. .110" with increased piston height of .050" and have no valve to piston interference problems. There is essentially no valve overlap with our mild cams so the valve is almost closed at tdc. Any idea of the cost? Is this a roller tip as well as the fulcrum? I do know the Series II roller rockers will not work in our engines unless the pivot point is moved.