Hot air to intercooled...tuning after the fab work.

jbeier

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2017
Just completed the fabrication portion of my 1984 T Type build, now for the tedious stuff. Fabrication portion can be seen here http://www.turbobuick.com/threads/1984-t-type-build-thread-fabrication-based.452017/

Right now the car has a weak pump. I hear it cycle when I turn the key, but I'm only getting about 1-2 psi at the schrader valve. When I turn it over, it might stumble once or twice, but it won't start. Tomorrow's plan is to pick up a new 40gph pump (155lph) and new fuel filter, hopefully have it installed and hotwired so I can fire it up. Knowing my reality though, it probably won't be done until next weekend, which is fine, because I should be getting my scanmaster G on Tuesday, and my '86-'87 ECM on Thursday. Once I have the scanmaster and fuel system in place, I'll go for a little test drive to see how it does. Right now I have the wastegate backed off to basically nothing, and I'll slowly work my way up to 10 psi on the stock tune and verify all the readings are what they should be. After I'm certain the car is ready to go ahead with upgrades, I'll be ordering the 5.7 TT chip and 42# injector combo to use with the new ECM.

I plan on sticking with the stock turbo as this will not be a drag car, and I live on a mountain with nice twisty roads and switchbacks, so I want instant spool and torque. Not really concerned with big horsepower. I'll be plenty happy with 250-300 whp.

20375784_10213964861705863_1151528382457301519_n.jpg

19884495_10213731488551680_1549151104570772972_n.jpg

18921744_10213361801709740_8809845635333104421_n.jpg

Can't wait to sit my butt in that seat and feel some boost!!!!!!
 
Installed a new OEM style pump yesterday and it was a total waste of time. I could not get the cartridge to seal properly on the stock frame, so it just wouldn't make pressure. I decided to return it and order an upgrade in the form of a Holley 190 pump. That pump should be here on Thursday, and my Scanmaster G should be installed by then. On a positive note, the fuel pump was really easy to swap out. I discovered a good cheat method to drop the tank easily. As we all know, the front strap bolts are always a pain. Rusty, they snap off and depending on what exhaust you're running, they can be a pain to get to in the first place. I need to drop my muffler to get to them. I just took out the bolts in the back and let the jack down while I guided the filler neck past the rear filler. With no gas cap on, it just barely clears, but it does clear. The hardest part of doing it that way is putting the bolts back in, which I accomplished by pushing up on the looped end with a ratchet extension with a socket on it and shoving a screwdriver through the bolt hole into the loop. I could get the bolt in that way and tap the back off it while guiding it with the screw driver through the loop into the second hole. Boom, easy, and the straps are just as tight as they were originally. I never had such an easy time dropping a tank and putting it back in.
 
Pump will be in later today, still waiting on my scanmaster too. On a positive note, I received my '86-'87 ECM so I'll be ready to plug that in when I get my TT 5.7 chip and injectors.
 
My pump came in and I put it in the tank and she runs! Took it to the gas station to fill it up with 93, and came back home. Maybe a mile round trip, and I babied it, but she runs. This weekend I'll install the scanmaster, since that also came today, and I'll take it for a short run to see what the numbers look like.
 
Well, I'm at a loss. I'm trying to hook up my scanmaster G and I can't find the ALDL port. It's just not there. I got switched power and ground, but no signal wire. I have no idea what dumbass removed the diagnostic port but it's GONE. I don't know how this car even runs without it. I would think that would screw with the ECM. Now I have no idea where to tap into for signal. There's an alarm installed on the car and I have a feeling whoever installed it did some hackery and removed the port. This sucks.
 
Bob Bailey told me what pin on the ECM to hook to and so now I have signal, but the readings make no sense. At idle it's telling me that the MAF is 0, the LV8 is 30 ish, volts are 0, INT is 0, BLM's are 0, speed is 72 mph (I'm sitting still), coolant is -40 (it's 80f outside), air temp is 0, rpm is 1625 (more like 800), tops is 5V, IAC is 0, 02cc is 0, and no codes.
 
Last edited:
well, it turns out the data stream on the stock ECM is crap. I already have a later '86-'87 Ecm, but I can't use it until I get the 5.7 chip from TT. Just ordered it today, so in a couple weeks, I should be ready to get it all in place. I did take the car out on some babied drives to make sure everything seems normal though and so far, it feels very much like a stock hot air car, which is what I was hoping for. The 3" turbo back exhaust more than made up for the intercooling piping as far as spool up time, and the wastegate I have on it just happened to be set up out of the box to exceed stock boost by only a pound or two.

I had already planned from the start to go with the newer ECM, but I was hoping to get a baseline with the stock tune to see where I was at with the new induction system. It may be a little tricky now that I'll have so many variables to deal with at once, but in the end, I know it'll be worth it.
 
Brought it to work today and she's running good. Still babying it until I have the new chip, ECM and injectors in and can see what the scanmaster is telling me. Part throttle on the highway feels really strong, and the turbo sound through the 3" turbo back exhaust is impressive.
 
Got the chip and injectors! Hopefully I'll be able to get everything installed and running good this weekend.
 
Cool, you didn't add an intake air temperature sensor right? Just know it will give you the wrong temperature reading since there isn't one.
 
good to know! Got everything buttoned up yesterday evening and it runs fine. I didn't really get into it because it's still in the learning phase, but it felt quite a bit more responsive.
 
Ok, so after the initial drive it is NOT driving ok anymore. It starts to break up really bad as soon as I go any more than 1/4 throttle. Not sure what it is yet, but I do know there are some issues that need to be dealt with, so this weekend, I'll be doing some tune up work. First order of business is to adjust the tps, which currently only reads 4.07 volts at WOT, then I'm going to check the coil and plug wires and change the plugs. There are Motorcraft (yikes, FOMOCO product in a Buick!) 42p plugs gapped at .028 in there now. Proper heat range, but I have no idea how old they are, and I'd rather go with NGK plugs, since they've always been good to me in boosted and nitrous applications before. If the coil is bad, I'm doing the '86-'87 coil pack conversion.
 
Yes indeed. It seems to be an ignition problem, not a fuel problem. It's not surging, it's misfiring. Still on the stock original coil pack and I have no idea how old the plugs and wires are. It runs great for the first few minutes, then once it warms up, the misfire starts. I suspect the coil pack based on the fact that it's a problem that gets worse with heat.
 
Got a known good coil pack to try? Ignition modules can do some stupid shit when they start going as well. Had a couple of them act up on mine.
 
You did get a chip burned for the new Intercooler setup right? It needs that
 
Would definitely change spark plugs also when it does get hot and starts breaking up check your voltage I had the same problem with my 84 went up to 17 18 volt when it got hot and started running rich and loading up
 
Yes, I told Eric what intercooler I'm using, and he provided the injectors, so that's all good. I do not have another coil pack, but the one I have now tested good while hot as far as the cross terminal OHM test. I know that's not a definitive test, but I'm going to move on to plugs and wires and see if that cures the issue. If not, I'm upgrading to the newer coil pack setup.
 
Vacuum lines setup correctly on MAP and fuel pressure regulator, well really everything needs to be right with the vacuum lines?

You have a boost gauge and fuel pressure gauge?
 
Top