3400 swap begins - 56k = maybe

[Kardain]

Its a Team Green insert (PhantomGrip equivalent, but with better springs).

Its a small shop somewhere in the midwest, going price is around $210 or so.

there was a group buy on J-body.org a while back, unfortunately its over, but there might be some left over... only info i can find currently is here:

http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=41&i=30050&t=30050#30050

In other news, the PS leak has been fixed. The worm gear clamp wasn't tightened down all the way. When I went to get started on temping up the exhaust, I may need need to shorten one PS hose for clearance.

Due to the angle of the manifold, the downpipe is going to need to go between the subframe and the firewall, meaning 2 things.... 1) I need to cut back alot of the downpipe I have; b) I need to cut back some of the existing exhaust, losing the hanger... or it can come off the manifold and go straight down, not needing to shorten the PS hose, so I'm going to forego that part and drive it open downpipe to the exhaust shop

not sure what's up, but I may have a wire crossed somewhere. Speedo is acting like a tach

of course, this starts after I put the dash back together. I'll be checking the wiring and doing a quick recal on the speedo to see if that fixes it.

idle at startup is still a little funky... lopes like a mofo then 10 seconds in, revs up and smooths out... new plugs are on my windowsill. Have the next 2 days off to button everything up. Probably need to swap in a new MAF as well, which is in the glovebox. Right now the coolant is draining so I can pull the TB to fix the coolant leak.

[Kardain]

Aug 8

the idle is, possibly, due a faulty throttle position sensor. unplugging the sensor stabled out the idle... so back on track

So, while that is going to be fixed soon, there's still the speedo issue I need to fix as well as finding a GM dealer to do a CASE learn w/out mucking up the custom tune. it'll still be a long while before I get the car on the road semi-permenantly. exhaust shop is a go.

Aug 11

So, on Friday, I got the exhaust hooked up...





2.25" tied to the existing system

Also got the lower mount ready to be welded



Gonna have my dad drop it off at a shop this week since my schedule doesn't really allow for it.

Aug 14

Despite not having a working speedo yet, I decided to take the car to put some gas in it.

First thing, I got the mount bracket from the weld shop... had to drill the hole for the dogbone.



Still need to drill one more bolt hole then paint it.

Ok, so here's the prognosis.

It doesn't like shifting out of 5th

there's grinding in reverse (and there's fluid in the trans)

Coming up to a stop, it dies

the last one is probably due to the VSS code and O2 sensor code that's being thrown, I'm checking the grounds this week to make sure and the applicable wires.

I also need to relearn how to drive a manual

[Superdave]

are you sure that U bracket is going to be strong enough?


the 3400 is no slouch, it'll bend mounts very easy...

[SHOoff]

My U-bracket hasn't bent broke or cracked yet, but it seems like Kardain might have a bit thinner material, so only time will tell.

Kardain - on the shifting.... might wanna go over your mounts and be real sure that things aren't moving around, and of course check the cables and such. Mine likes to be difficult about shifting into gears at times. Usually it takes me to get it into a lower gear and back off the clutch real quick and kinda get it to kick and it works.... but I know I've got a bad upper engine mount as well.

[Kardain]

Same material and thickness as the stock mounts (1/8" steel)... there is minor flex (< 1/16") on the U channel sides, and that's under 250lbs of steady pressure.

the only thing I have to worry about is cracking a weld, but I don't plan on beating on the car too badly for now, so it will do the job nicely, mainly for a DD till I get some of the bugs worked out, and that even won't be for a while. If I get some sort of inkling that there's a problem with the lower mount, I'll upgrade it to 1/4"

I had planned on going over everything from the shifter to the trans making sure the cables are tightened (again) and that they are snapped in place. Knowing me, I probably forgot something

[Kardain]

after inspecting the mount today, the arm to the u-channel has a slight twist in it, nothing I can't fix... and is something that I didn't account for.

So pulling the mount and going to be cutting a couple small braces.

Half of this swap is trial and error anyhow Smile And as long as the errors pop up while I'm with-in either a) towing distance or 2) limp-home distance, I'm all set

but the thickness is just a hair under the stock thickness (0.125" vs 0.145"), so the u-channel will take the torque, the arm on the other hand

[Superdave]

this is what a P&P'd 3400 with headers did to my poly-filled stock tranny mount last year..

[Kardain]

I don't think I have to worry about the trans mounts those are about as beefy as the timing cover engine bracket

but... I have to disassemble the trans again. Everything checks out, but its still not shifting out of 5th w/out double clutching and even then, its iffy. So I have plenty of time to work on the mount bracket



Also need to check to make sure I have the low side cooling fan wire hooked up to the relay rather than the high side, among other bugs I need to work on

[SHOoff]

Heh... that's not sexy.

[Superdave]

Heh... that's not sexy.

lol, that's why it got replaced with a custom one.. it feels SOOOOO much better now.

[Kardain]

Got it out on the road... still having the shifting problem after taking the trans apart again, but its better. Popping out of second and locked up in fifth. Probably going to get a different trans since this one is fairly high mileage anyhow

quick vid (5.5 MB -- 56k warning):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVYsKmUyU

The # on the lower left is my speedo :P... really helpful, huh? In the off chance there was a cop nearby, I didn't really give it much past third gear.

[SHOoff]

Nice. Yours is a whole ton quieter than mine is. You can hear the intake a lot better.

I clicked to add you as a friend on Youtube too.

[IsaacHayes]

Kardain, are you running the Izzy or getrag? I forget. Are your linkages perfect working order? Maybe a cable or end isn't right or something is off?

Sounds good, that 2nd gear has some great pull. Should be somewhere in the 15's ~3000lbs eh? Probably mid-low 15's with the 3400 and exhaust, maybe even 14's with the 5spd. My car is ~3000lbs with the power sucking auto and original 3100 pretty much stock I pulled a 16.086.

[bszopi]

I think he is running the stock Getrag that was hooked up to the 4-cyl originally...

[Kardain]

Isuzu

According to my DMV renewal notice, curb weight is 2648 lbs. Plugging the #'s in, high 14's (14.75-ish)

Trans is @ 175k miles, and has been taken apart 3 times in as many months to figure out what's wrong after I installed an LSD insert.

I got a lead on a used one @ 100k miles. So I'll sacrifice the LSD for now just to get the driveability back.

Everything in the trans is sound, lubed and in good working order. So this issue has me confused... oh well.