The Journal......

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I installed my BMR LCA relocation brackets..... I haven't really noticed any gain in traction from them on the street, but I am hoping to hit the track this weekend if the weather is good......

I installed my 30lb SVO injectors today but I am having issues with my EEPROM equipment so I am still running my old EEPROM :( The car runs a bit rich in open loop but the ECM learns pretty quickly in closed loop and backs off the pulse width in a hurry! The car runs MUCH smoother overall with these injectors. I have backed my rail pressure down to 43psi......

I installed my MSD 6A Ignition box today. Man it was a nice day... No real reason for the mod - just felt like I should get it done. I opted against the 6AL since I can program a rev limiter to whatever RPM I want in the EEPROM, provided my shit starts burning correctly again..... So it is money well saved. Plus, the rev limiter in the EEPROM will drop injector pulse and not spark... much better limiter design IMHO........

I have solved my EEPROM burning problems! All is well and i am working on getting the car running right with the new injectors. I was supposed to go to the track today, but with my EEPROM still being under a lot of construction and the weather expected to be pretty bad, I opted to watch instead. My buddy's Malibu was having some teething problems but pulled some 13.0X ETs with really horseshit 60 foot times............

My MSD 6A Ignition box was playing funny games with my factory tachometer so I removed the negative coil terminal feed that the factory uses for the tachometer and ran the tach lead on the MSD 6A box to the feed for the factory tachometer - problem solved :) . I burned a fresh iteration of the ARAP-based code the other day that I am working on with my injector ratings set at 30lbs and a few other miscellaneous tweaks..... I upped my rail pressure to 44psi....... The car still has some surging issues at light load, low RPM ranges and is also still pretty rich in open loop at idle.......... My laptop had an accident a few days ago so I am scantool-less right now which really hinders tuning............

Myself, the rest of the MN F-body Club, and a local Corvette club went to TPIS today for a car show/facility tour. You should see all of the Minirams just layin there........... Myron, Terry and the rest of the staff at TPIS were really nice and even bought us all Pizza!! Myron has some really nice deals on a few Minirammed engines right now as it is the end of the year..... Makes me wish I had a few extra bucks layin around...... I shot the shit with Terry a bit about EPROM tuning.... it's really nice when people actually understand where you are coming from!!...... Played football with the rest of the club after the meeting.... I kick ass....... lol......

My MSD 6A box is still messin with my factory tach.... grrrrrrr... Now it just goes to 0 at about 5100rpm instead of bouncing around a bunch..... I don't have any inline filters for the tach so I guess I just need the adapter..... I verified that the adapter will fix this condition by talking with a fellow MN F-Body Club member that has an 87 Formula 350 (very nice car!! runs 12.9xs @ 109mph on a stock bore, stock lower end) and went through the same deal with his car and an MSD 6AL box.

I figured out what the deal was with all of my surging and hesitating..... I was seeing some severely lean conditions at low load, low rpm areas above, oh say 35ish mph..... The O2 would go to near 0 and the BLMs and Int were going to 150 to 160. Hmmmmm.... It finally occured to me that I have my Highway Mode enabled at 35 mph!! DOH! It just isn't mixing well with my setup. I haven't changed it yet in the EEPROM as I have had it with Winbin and ordered TunerCat today...... Winbin would work one second and then take a shit the next.... I need a consistant editor to get this engine running smooth again... I plan to raise the AFRs in Highway mode a bit and raise the minimum enable speed and see if that takes care of it. I might loose a little mileage on this deal, but eh........

Once I get the part throttle stuff all taken care of, I can fix some of the WOT stuff as it only turned a 13.51 @ 107 on the G-tech the other day. It was reading too rich on my new AFR gauge (installed it a few days ago in a dual gauge A-piller pod with an electric fuel pressure gauge - all Autometer products - Ultra-Comp gauges) I installed to help tune with while I am laptop-less..... hard to tell on this gauge until I get used to it, but it read pretty far into the rich range overall........

It is starting to get too cold to work on the car...... Damn winter..... They are saying snow on Wednesday!!!! I gotta get outta this freakin state...... Atleast I got a heated garage hooked up for my GTA for the winter.......

I have the MSD box - tach issues all ironed out. I had to install an adapter to the tach circuit. It works fine now, although the factory tach does read about 300 rpm low at high rpm :( grrr....

I have a laptop again and I am using TunerCat successfully... I have fixed a lot of the problems I had with the EEPROM. I have the highway mode all dialed in, I changed the TCC settings to help it run a little smoother at part throttle at lower speeds, and I messed with the injector constants to get it a little leaner at WOT. Like the Autometer AFR gauge was telling me; it was running WAYYY too rich at WOT. That was with the injector constants set to 30.5 and rail pressure of 45 psi. I upped the constants to 32 and left the rail pressure alone. That lowered my WOT mixture to a little more reasonable level of richness. I am going to fine tune it with rail pressure from here, I think, as the BLMs are showing signs of lean-ness at part throttle stuff and I really don't want that! I managed to give her a G-tech pass the other day, but after attempting it a few times and going completely up in smoke, I realized that the streets are just too cold to allow any traction. So I finally tried just rolling into the throttle nice and easy. That worked a lot better and I got a decent run in where it only hazed the tires through first and into second a few feet. That run netted me a 13.31 @ 111.2 mph on the G-tech. I guess my tuning is paying off!

But just as soon as I get rolling with my PROM tuning, winter has to come! Boooooo Hisssssss!!! It is actually gonna be nice for this week but the snow is on its way for mid-way through next week. But I got this free Grand Am to beat on for a week........ Oh well, time to start planning my winter thrashings for her!

Happy New Year to all!! And a special salute to all of my brothers on the front lines.... keep your heads down and kick some ass for us all!!

Well, my GTA is sound asleep in storage right now.... The latest news for the GTA is that I have purchased an LT1 intake manifold for it and am planning on modifying it so it will bolt up to my L98. This will be a slow project for me with my relatively large class-load this semester, but the LT1 manifold will work extremely well with the LT4 Hot Cam and the large-ish ported TFS 23 Degree heads I have. I am hoping to have the manifold on before spring and basically start over on my PROM tuning. Should be fun. I also want to get that A/C heater box out of there this winter but I have been unable to locate a non-A/C heater box as of yet......

Well folks, it is almost that time.... The weather is getting nice and pretty much all of the snow is gone.... I have actually driven my GTA already this year. It was really nice a few weeks ago so I took her out... I have a few updates on my plans for the car this year.... I have decided to wait on the LT1 intake until next winter or possibly later this summer. I didn't end up gathering up all of the parts yet, and with the weather getting nice so soon this year, I want to drive the sucker and not have it layed up in the garage for days on end....

I did end up getting a pretty nice tax return this year though..... I have found some SLP 1 3/4" headers for a good price and I will be swapping out the Edelbrock TES for the SLPs within the next few weeks. I have my eye on some 17x9 rims and tires for the car this year as well. My tentative plan is to get the headers, wheels and tires (with requisite spacers for the front), a set of Eibach lowering springs (prolly the Pro Kit), and possibly a better TPI manifold base to tide me over for the summer.... I also have some better ideas for a CAI system that I will be trying out and possibly some SFCs later this summer. I have kind of decided to tackle the suspension a little bit since the motor is pretty stout and I can live with it as it sits...... (not for long though

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A lot has happened since the last time I updated this.... I got the rims and tires I spoke of (see the wheels page for pics) but didn't end up getting those headers. I paid for the headers and only received the Y-pipe from the seller. So I sent his local law enforcement after him and got my money back. Now I just have to figure out what to do about the headers because I know I need to get them upgraded soon.... I am thinking Long Tubes again.....

I also ported a stock intake casting into a siamesed desing and installed that recently (see the engine page for pics). I matched the runners to it and did some more touching up of my previous porting of the SLP runners and the plenum at the same time. I also got a hold of a 58mm Holley TB and installed that (thanks, you know who you are) so I ported the plenum to 58mm as well. The jury is still out on how it will run with this setup as it has only been a few days since getting it back on the road, but this siamesed design is very promising.

I also installed a Transgo Jr. shift kit recently which has firmed up the shifting quite bit. I had installed the vette servo and boost valve previously, but was holding off on the shift kit as I was thinking of going with a TH2004R, but the Jr. kit is so cheap and easy to install, I just figured what the hell and tossed it in there.

The next mod I have in mind is the S&W Racecars SFC assembly with tubular adjustable Torque Arm. It is a one piece design with an integral second crossmember that their TA mounts to. The entire assembly is a bolt in and can be welded afterwards for additional rigidity. I really like the one piece design of it. It should really stiffen everything up nicely and maybe yield some better traction with some pinion angle tuning. I also would like to replace my roller rockers soon as these Crane ones are a bit noisey for my taste. Headers are still on the horizon as well, but I am holding off until most likely this winter for them just in case I do go LT as I will need to have a custom Y-pipe made and that will require more $$$$$.

A fellow MN F-body Club member and I are going to be working on a big brake kit for the front of thirdgens as well. What we have in mind is a setup that should pretty much put the 1LE kit to shame. The only downside is that it will almost definately require 16" rims and maybe even 17" depending on how it works out. I am really excited about this and I will post info on our site when I know more, so stay tuned if interested.

I worked on my CAI setup that I was planning over the winter as well. It is still in the prototype mode (complete with duct tape), but it seems to work very well. I basically chopped most of the battery tray on the passenger side out and ran 4" ducting down to the air dam from the bottom of the tray area. I then had a friend of mine create a sheetmetal box that would enclose my 9" K&N cone filter. I cut the top of the box to allow the stock intake tubing to go through it and opened up the bottom of the box to allow the air from the 4" ducting off the air dam to feed into it. When fully sealed this setup should pressurize the air at speed and also be a true Cold Air Intake.

Well, I ran my car around the road course a few weeks back (Brainerd International Raceway) and had an absolute blast!! I had a ton of fun and plan on doing more road racing in the future. My plans for a big brake kit for the front end cannot come soon enough!!! Those stock (mostly stock in my case) thirdgen front brakes definately are not up to the task when it comes to road racing. I didn't wreck anything at the track aside from boiling the brake fluid, but it seems that my TH700R4 did not appreciate the road course as much as I did. It is still in working order, but I am tossing around the idea of going with a T56.....

Lots of stuff has happened since the last update!!!!!!! And I do mean LOTS!!!!!!

I bought and installed the S&W Racecars Subframe Connectors and Adjustable Torque Arm about a month ago. They fit very nicely and were not too bad of an install. I anticipated possible problems since they are a bolt in setup and have to line up with certain things pretty much perfectly to go in right (weld in ones can be made to work on any frame - tweaked or not in most cases). Since they are a bolt in design they do require some drilling through the floorpan and whatnot but went in pretty much flawlessly. They have bars that go out to the pinch welds on both sides right in the middle of the car and make GREAT jacking points! The whole car feels much more solid. The ride is much more firm and you can really feel everything from the rear suspension with the Torque Arm being directly bolted to the "frame" of the car now. I can place the jack on those side bars where they meet the pinch welds and jack the entire car up onto two wheels and the car moves as an entire unit - no groaning and creaking or flexing!!! I am very happy with them so far but may still have them welded in (I haven't done any welding myself or I would have done this already myself) to solidify the install. Traction on the street even seemed to improve with the kit installed as well. I played with some different pinion angle settings but I don't have anything to measure the angle as of yet, so I don't really know what it is set at. I really didn't move it far from just being directly aimed at the output shaft of the transmission - just a slight downward angle right now.

Yep, it finally happened..... I knew it would eventually go and yes folks, the TH700R4 died. It was working marginally well for a few weeks after running the car at BIR. But then about three weeks ago I was leaving a stoplight and had nothing but first gear..... I really didn't even bother messing with it... I had gotten a lead on a T56 through the MNFBC a few days before and had just picked up the T56 gearbox, bellhousing, lower shift boot, and stock LT1 flywheel from a 97 TA for $800. Quite a steal! I did still have quite a few other parts to gather up to complete the swap though........ I picked up all of the related bolts, clips, connectors and the hydraulics all from the dealer I used to work at for very reasonable prices. I ordered up a Mcleod single disc clutch kit (disc and Pressure Plate with throwout bearing) and a Pro 5.0 shifter with a black MBA billet shift ball with the Firebird engraved on it from Thunder Racing. That stuff all ran about $600 shipped as Thunder had a nice deal going for internet orders at the time. I got the pedals locally from a fellow MNF-body Club member from a 4th gen car for $30. I went with the Spohn crossmember for the T56 swap (just the CM since I have a S&W Torque Arm that mounts to the SFCs with its own crossmember) which ran $110 shipped. I decided to go with a 4th gen center console since it already has the T56 shift pattern on it and looks so much nicer than the 3rd gen ones. I called up trusty Speed Automotive (love those guys!!) and got a really nice 97 TA center console for $100 shipped. The console came complete from the cigarette lighters to the upper boot and is in really nice shape. I had to get the Dakota Digital SGI-5 speedometer recalibration box as well to get the VSS to work with my ECM/Speedo. That ran $85. So all in all I ended up spending about $1800 on the entire swap. Definately not cheap but seems to have been a bit cheaper than most get by with and I have mostly new and/or upgraded parts (hydraulics, clutch, shifter, etc.).

So the T56 swap is a done deal! I have only put about 200 miles on it and really haven't dropped the hammer on it, but man it is an absolute blast to drive!!!!

I also picked up a set of GM Motive 3.73 gears and an Eaton HD Posi carrier recently for a very nice price. The smaller first gear and extremely overdriven 6th gear of the T56 lend it well to a taller rear gear so I opted for this upgrade. I still have to pick up an install kit and possibly a set of hardened Moser axles before I do the install.

Now for the bad news...... I had a little accident while messing with the VSS wiring.... I had some problems with the recalibration box wiring... I kept having to jack it up and mess with it and one of the times the jack slipped off the SFC. I wasn't under the car as I always use stands when I am under it, but the jack slid outward and the jack pad went up through the driver side lower ground effect. Not too pretty. I managed to get it to look presentable for now but the piece is a total loss.... Might have to look into the bodywork sooner than expected.......

Updated the site today. A few new pics of things, like the Non-A/C heater box and the wheel spacers , and cleaned up a few things. Not much new going with the car. I was contemplating body work or a stroker build up and have a few things for both in my pile of parts now. I finally picked up a fiberglas replica wing. I can't wait to get that POS OEM wing off of my car! I also found a nice replacement piece for the ground effects that got damaged when the jack slipped. A fellow MNFBC member donated a blown 350 from his Suburban to me and that is what got me thinking about a bigger lower end. I picked up a Hydra-Rev and a CC306 cam so far but the plan is for an all-forged 383 at about 11:1. I will retain my heads with maybe some port work and probably get some bigger headers and better intake...... But the intake and headers will likely have to wait if I want this project to get done anytime soon....

There is a front brake kit on the horizon as well. Myself and a fellow MNFBC member are looking into a big brake kit for the front. The kit may end up being something he will market and if so will be very competitive with the 1LE and Bear prices. The plan is to have Wilwood four piston calipers and 12" slip on rotors. I will post more info on this soon.

I've done a few things over the summer, but not a whole lot has changed... I did some more development work for the brake kit but the prototype kit is still in the works. Everything is done except the mounting brackets for the calipers at this point. The hubs, brackets, and hats will be made out of 6061-T6 with a 12.2" x 1.25" Wilwood rotor and the Superlite II four piston calipers. Pad options are vast for these calipers and the plan for now is for the kit to have everything needed for install and everything but the caliper brackets and hubs will be off the shelf parts. We are exploring using a turned down stock rotor for the hub to cut costs even further as well.

I replaced the tired stock front struts with KYB GR2s as I didn't have a lot of money and the stock ones were toast. They worked well for me at BIR and I am quite pleased so far. I also chopped about three inches off the last coil of the front springs to drop it a little more and that worked very well. The stance is just about perfect for my taste now.

The wing hasn't found its way onto the car yet and the rest of the body work really hasn't gotten off the ground much either. I did pick up a used lower ground effect piece to replace the one I messed up with the jack last year. A friend of mine had a left front fender off of an 88 GTA that she didn't need so she sold it to me for a very nice price. It is a non-vented one which is the way I want to go with the car when I paint it (lighter, simpler). Both front fenders need to be replaced when I do the body work as the left one has some cancer starting on the inside and the right one has a series of door dings in it. So all that is left is picking up that right front fender and possibly new bumper covers and I will have everything needed to revamp the body. It is probably going to be quite a ways out though as money is extremely tight right now and will only be getting tighter in the near future as I plan to be looking for a house next spring and have some other projects in the works to boot.

I jumped on a GP for SLP headers through Thunder Racing this past spring and bought a 1 3/4 coated set. I put them on about a month ago and the changes were imediately obvious. The exhaust note itself is MUCH more throaty with a smoother feel to the power and more top end pull according to the butt-dyno....lol. I have no data to prove it, but I did some tuning in the last few weeks and the car really seems to feel better overall power-wise with these headers. Word is that TPIS may be working on some long tube headers for thirdgens so it is hard to say if I will stick with these headers forever.... TPIS's headers on other applications consistently make more power than others, so........

What I do have going on right now that will be a big change is the new engine... I found a good deal on a rotating assembly last spring and decided to get this 383 project going. Go Here for a breakdown on the 383.

The 383 will be supported by the larger 1 3/4 SLP headers I installed a few months ago and eventually a single 4" cat-back to replace the 3" crossflow system I have now. The 52mm TB will be retained for now with a plan for a TPIS 58mm in the future. Expectations are for about 500 hp give or take 50hp.....lol. The plan when this started was to get 400 RWHP so anything over that will just be a nice bonus. Driveability, durability, and low maintenance are also goals of this buildup, thus the hydraulic cam, Hydra-Rev, and Canton pan. There are also more plans for a thermostatically controlled oil cooler and larger radiator in the future. I installed an Autometer oil temp gauge a few weeks ago and will be keeping close tabs on oil and coolant temps with the new engine to see what kind of cooling needs the engine ends up with. The short block should be done within the next few weeks so this engine may be in by the end of the month.