It's Finally Alive!

[bracketracer]

First off I have to give a huge thank you to Oldskoolgp, Josh, for all of his help in getting the Sunbird going again, I couldn't have done it without him. I also have to thank Ben for his great service, and helping to resolve the valvetrain issue I had last fall. I can't wait to break this motor in right, and get it to the track!

Even though we don't have the headers done quite yet (soon I hope, they only need "tweaking" and coating), we got the stock exhaust hooked up, and actually fired up and drove the car today! Besides having major alignment issues, a coolant leak that we fixed, and a small oil leak from where an engine oil cooler would be plumbed in (which will be fixed with some teflon tape soon), everything went great. The new motor fired up after only 2-3 seconds of cranking. We managed to properly break-in the cam and valvetrain, and everything seems to be working well. We did get a check engine code which may be EGR related. I bet that once I get down to see Ben in Indiana, he will be able to tune out the minor bugs (I'll be in touch to try to schedule a day for a road trip from WI). The car should be street drivable by end of week, and hopefully fully race-ready by 1st of June.

Here's the specifics on my NA Gen II 3.1MPFI on steroids:

1990 3.1 block out of Pontiac 6000 bored .060 over
Reconditioned stock crank and connecting rods (balanced rotating assembly) w/ARP Rod Bolts
Silvolite Hypereutectic skirt coated pistons (pn 1496c)
Hastings rings (moly-face top ring)
Crane 272 cam
Short block built by Bailey Motor Sports, Sun Prairie WI
62mm FDP TB
200cc Injectors (21 lb ?) from 2001 3400 SFI with Gen II rails and spliced harness (thanks Tye!)
Gen II Heads & Intakes ported & polished by Ben from WOT Tech (thanks Ben!)
LS6 valve springs
Comp Cams 1.52 roller rockers
Newer style valves
Custom burned temp chip by Ben from WOT Tech, custom tuning to follow from Ben
Centerforce Dual Friction clutch
2 1/2" custom exhaust by Matt
Currently stock manifolds and downpipe to be replaced by custom headers once finished and coated, 1 5/8" primaries, into 2" collector, into 2 1/2" exhaust

With the tired factory original motor with 152K miles on it, and 928 1/4 mile passes since 1993, it ran 15.453 @ 89.76 mph last April (2.086 60 ft on BFG g-Force DRs, 1/8 mile timing lights down on that run, but 6.318 @ 330 ft & 12.887 @ 1000 ft). Any guesses on what the fresh mill and clutch above will do? I am shooting for 14.25 @ about 100 mph. Who knows, with good air and traction, I hope to flirt with extremely high 13s. I hope to go where very few NA Gen IIs have ever gone before. Can't wait to post some scanned slips once I get her to the strip in a few weeks. I really look forward to cool fall air, after I put some more miles on the mill, for some hopefully very impressive numbers. No offense to you fast and successful Hybrid folks out there, but I want to see what I can do "old school." If I'm not happy with the results, I can always go hybrid too (but hope I won't have to anytime soon, this was VERY EXPENSIVE, don't recommend this approach to those on budget, go hybrid instead!)

[torq455]

cool! i've been wanting to see another 3.1 272. this time it's not a beretta! iirc that guy with very similar to your build minus a tune with headers and roller tip 1.6 rockers ran a 14.8 1/4. i doubt you'll get into the 13's, but there's potential for low 14's--which is awesome for our gen II's!

[1QUICKHATCH]

thats good to hear that its running! with all the work that is done to it, it should run high 13's if that combo works!

the fastest gen II that I have seen was jjz24 in v6z24 that ran 14.00 @ 97 with alot of extensive topend work and a cam. He also had stock (52mm)TB, exhaust manifolds, 2.5" exhaust, and a stock bottom end. it would have went well in to the 13's with a good tune and the with the headers/plenum he had made up for it. It would have been well in to the 12's on the nitrous but it blew up when a nitrous solenoid stuck open on him.

[bracketracer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was really wanting to hear back from some folks on what they thought.

torq455, I realize that even a 13.999 is really dreaming on my part. I have seen miracles with this car before though! It ran 15.782 @ 84.00 bone stock (which everyone told me was impossible) back in August 1993, it ran 15.416 @ 86.54 with only a HyperTech ThermoMaster and 160 therm back in May 1994, and it ran the above-mentioned 15.453 @ 89.76 last spring. This little Sunbird has always been a major "over-achiever," and I hope that trend continues. It will require a combination of perfect weather, great track prep, and the driver accidentally doing everything perfectly to give me even the slightest shot at a 13 though. I am pretty confident that I will be able to improve my ETs by at least a full second over the tired ol' original motor though. I know that I will be happy if I can get it down to 14.25 or better by end of this season.

I am beginning to notice some oil leaking issues now though. It looks like I need to pull the oil pan, use some extra Black RTV on both ends, and button it back up carefully to spec. In addition, I think I may have to pull the intake manifolds back off, and carefully redo the gasket. I won't know for sure until I can get some dye in the oil and check with black light. I'm a little concerned that the Melling HV Oil Pump might be a bit too much for the motor. When it is cold, the guage is reading about 80 lbs, and then when the motor warms up it only falls to about 60 lbs. Any advice anyone? Have any of you had issues with a HV Oil Pump?

I now have 100 miles of driving on the motor, and it feels pretty good. I haven't taken it over 4000 rpm yet, and that's when I should really start to feel the power coming on hard. I was a little concerned that I might lose too much bottom end power in exchange for more top end with the Crane 272, but it feels good to me right now. Track comparisons will tell me for sure though.

[treeZ24]

thats exactly how my oil pressure sits. i dont think there is any problem with using it, i havent in 2 years and i've been autoxing and drag racing.

[bracketracer]

Thank you for the info treeZ24. That makes me feel alot more confident that I won't need to replace this part with a stock one (which I really did not want to do). Since you have been using this for two years of racing without trouble, I should be fine. Did you take any "special steps" during installation to help seal everything up and avoid oil leaks? For my LIM, I only used Black RTV along the top of the block, where the gasket is lacking. I am also wondering if I should have used Black RTV when I installed my "oil pump drive/distributor gear thing" (I did install a brand new O-Ring in it). It looks like my leak may be coming from that general vicinity on the driver's side.

[torq455]

I've heard of a few people using the HV oil pumps on various cars. The problem if you don't modify for them is they pump all the oil up top at long high rpm runs. Had a 66 GTO 455 with one. Yeah, no problems for 8 years, but when it was torn down for a rear main seal replacement, I found ALL the bearings were showing copper. One had a gouge so badly in the bottom main in the center, I almost mistook it for an upper bearing. Had to turn the crank .020. The machinist said it was from multiple moments of air being sucked into the oil system over time and something you wouldn't notice on a pressure gauge. Hell, knew another guy that had a hard time turning the crank by hand while rebuilding his 428, so, he took thin tin the shimmed one of his main bearing for more clearance with out measuring. That one ran hard for 15 years when it finally spun two main and one rod bearing. Point being that just cause you don't have problems for two years doesn't mean things are fine, unless you've looked at things recently. Basically a bigger capacity oil pan would be ideal. I'd prefer a high pressure over a high volume.

I have to say....that bird is one of a kind! I have mods and the best time (unconfirmed) I could get should be a 15.9@84mph (old trans) though I do have 151K miles--if that's a factor on a well maintained engine. Some engines are assembled with the parts that fit perfectly and run harder than the others. You must have the ONE made like that. Very impressive!! Would you happen to have any vids? I'd love to hear it idle.

[bracketracer]

torq455, thank you for the warnings about the HV oil pumps. I will have to check around and see if there are any larger capacity oil pans that I could use.

My Sunbird isn't quite one of a kind in it's performance. My younger brother still has a '92 Sunbird SE 3.1/5-speed that he bought new that had nothing but a HyperTech ThermoMaster and 160 therm. He also managed to run passes of about 15.5 (I can't remember the mph, but it was very similar to mine). We always figured that I was a little quicker at shifting which accounted for the slight ET difference. Maybe both cars are "factory freaks" and that is fine with me. That's what gives me such hope that the car will run very deep into the 14s with it's upgraded powerplant. I know what you mean about those engines that seem to be "accidentally balanced and blueprinted" from the factory. I know the car magazines back in the day tested these cars at about 16.4 in the quarter, and no better. I always figured that they just didn't know how to drive 'em!

I look forward to getting it running right, and posting some videos, pics, and timeslips.

[torq455]

unless you will be running moderate boost or more, 11 or 12:1 compression, the stock oil pump will do.

[the400dollarz24]

Gen II Heads & Intakes ported & polished by Ben from WOT Tech (thanks Ben!)

i didnt know wot did gen II heads.. didnt see it on the site

your car has all the right parts.. i cant wait to hear it also.. hope that coolant line worked good for u.

[bracketracer]

Yep, Ben does great work on Gen II heads. I don't think he lists it on the site because there is very little demand for them though.

I am still trying to get everything buttoned up well for it to eliminate all leaks. I pulled the oil pan and oil filter adaptor off the motor, cleaned them very well, and used a smear of Black RTV on both sides of new gaskets, then reinstalled them, and torqued them to spec. I think my last leak is coming from that stupid "nipple" coming off the LIM that goes to the hard line to the heater core. I took the drastic step of buying a brand new "nipple" and pipe from my Pontiac dealer. The nipple seems to include a new o-ring in it. I hope installing these will eliminate the slight coolant leak, and associated smoking. Daniel, the smaller line you sent me was in better shape than mine, but not quite good enough. That's why I bought new. I will definitely be using the larger pipe though, thanks again! I hope to have the lines replaced by next week at latest. Hopefully then I can get the headers fixed and installed and then see Ben for tuning. I want the car race-ready by mid-June if possible (July at very latest).