93formulalt1's Projects Thread

[93formulalt1]

How do you like your air shocks so far as cornering goes?

They're MUCH better than the stock DeCarbons that went bad shortly after I installed the lowering springs. I'll take you for a ride next time we're both out at Woodward if you want, just remind me.

[93formulalt1]

Maybe the best way to figure out what's wrong with the car would be to post up some videos? I'll see if I can get some tonight, as well as time the car from 0-60. I would time 0-100, but I don't think there are any roads around here that I would feel that daring on.

[prorac1]

Im with munster. My car responded MUCH better with headers and other mods. And the throttle response is a little crisper with the cutout open.

[93formulalt1]

strange my car seems to respond better with the cutout open, and mine ran cooler after i did the header swap. maybe its just the nature of the beast? lol glad your happy with it because thats important.

I bet the car is running cooler. I'm using a mechanical water temp gauge, and the capillary tubing from the sender to the gauge itself runs directly between two of the driver's side header primaries. . . Engine temps are probably cooler, but underhood temps are probably higher. The gauge is reading at about 230*, but the car is probably running below 170*, it was normally in the 175*-180* range at operating temps before the header install.

Throttle response is better even with the cutout closed, and the car drives like a brand new car now, between ditching the cracked stock manifold, actually tightening the header bolts, and sealing up the exhaust system, I know I did some good for the car by doing all this work. The car sounds AMAZING at WOT, and it is still pretty mild at idle and normal cruising speeds. I can see it droning a bit at highway speeds, but who cares, that's what the 1200w amp and 12" subs are there for. lol

Overall, I'm really glad I did the swap, and I can't wait to get the electric cutout installed so I can turn that noise on and off at my leisure without getting out of the car and laying on the ground.

I'm so much more in love with my car now, I just need to take it to the next level at some point and enter LS1 territory. . . My car doesn't drive like a whipped LT1 anymore! It actually has some power!

And Brian, you were right, I was spinning the tires earlier, I just couldn't hear it over the sound of how awesome my car is now!

[93formulalt1]

Looked under the hood yesterday, the capillary tubing for the water temp gauge wasn't in the right spot after I re-attached the steering linkage. . . Now it's running between the steering linkage and the headers, instead of on the right side of the linkage. I'll have to take it out and re-run it later on, hopefully that will solve my problem. I'm going to give the car the Seafoam treatment this week as well, then flush the coolant and do an oil change. Probably go with synthetic, but I'm not sure. . . I need to find out where this oil is leaking from, I think I'm going to go at the engine with a Haynes manual and a torque wrench next week, it's leaking oil from somewhere. Not a lot, but enough that every month or so I'm running a quart low.

[meissen]

It's an LT1, Nick, that's your leak problem.

[my95z28]

Lulz^^ On the subject of the synthetic and the seafoam. BOTH of these are known to create, or make worse already present leak issues. Get that oil leak fixed, and then them.

P.S. LOVE the new sig. Those are some great looking wheels.

[Gottork]

yes th new sig ROCKS nick

[93formulalt1]

Lulz^^ On the subject of the synthetic and the seafoam. BOTH of these are known to create, or make worse already present leak issues. Get that oil leak fixed, and then them.

P.S. LOVE the new sig. Those are some great looking wheels.

yes th new sig ROCKS nick

BIG thanks to Vinnie (FBmomb) for making it for me!!

As far as the "LT1 problem", my Roadmonster was the same way, turned out it was just a couple of oil pan bolts loose. I'm hoping that's the same problem I'm having with this one. The valve cover gaskets were replaced along with the valve covers, so the oil pan is the only other place I can think of that could be leaking that much oil. I'll check it out, it hasn't been leaking at all lately, as far as I can tell. It only seems to be bad when the weather is colder. I'll hit the oil pan bolts with a torque wrench and give it a week or so, if the oil level doesn't drop at all, I'm going to go ahead and hit the car with some seafoam. I know she needs it, the car's running better than ever with just a set of plugs and the headers. Now I just need to get the e-cutout wired up and bolted on, and find some place to put all of the switches that are accumulating in my interior. Might have to bite the bullet and get a switch panel to mount somewhere, I can't think of anywhere that I can mount them that won't get in the way while I'm driving. Ash tray is out of the question, the switch for the cutout is too long to clear the cover, so I'm thinking of something I can mount to the ceiling. Any suggestions?

[93formulalt1]

Going to try to move the cutout back about a foot so it's under the recess in the floor pan, that way I can go ahead and bolt up the electric cutout unit and get it wired up. Hopefully I'll have that all done before this weekend. I'm going to start grinding on the rust spots tomorrow, I just need to take a quick inventory of my supplies to make sure I have enough materials to get some work done. I think I may go ahead and shave the antenna while I'm at it, may also pull the headliner out, it's pretty ragged.

I'll probably go ahead and start looking for a switch panel online as well, I need to get my interior cleaned up a bit before I start taking the car to shows.

[93formulalt1]

I'm not even going to bother trying to find a switch panel that I can use, I can't find anything I like. I'll pick up some sheet metal tomorrow and make one of my own. Progress pics will be posted as I get the work done. I'll be starting on the body work soon as well. Probably get a little bit of work done tomorrow, but I'll be taking a break for the weekend. Mother's Day Sunday, hoping to still make it to the Lingenfelter Collection on Saturday, but that's up in the air right now, as I have a bunch of other things that are taking priority right now.

I'm also still trying to figure out what I want to do with the exhaust on my car, I was thinking of going with a quieter setup, but the Flowmaster is starting to grow on me now that the car has some bite to back up the bark. . .

[93formulalt1]

Going to run over to Cultis Racing Engines tomorrow, one of their mechanics told me they could install my Tru-Trac locker and some 3.90's for a really good price, I'm going to go get the estimate in writing. I'm still debating going with 3.90's or 3.73's, though. Any input? A4 car, it's got a 700R4, engine is mostly stock, just CAI, headers, 2.5" cat-back, deleted cat, 160* t-stat. . . Also contemplating a stall, I know I want one, just waiting for the right deal to come along. I'm not looking to race the car, I just want it to have a little more "go", make it more fun to drive, and maybe embarrass a few LS1's this summer. . .

Next performance mods are going to be heads/cam, but that's looking WAY down the road.

What's a decent price to have a Tru-Trac installed and set up (I already have the unit, just need installed) and a set of either 3.73 or Motive 3.90 rear gears (don't have the gears, will probably have the shop order them)? Is that something I could do myself? I hate taking my car to the shop, I'd much rather tackle the project myself, but if it's that difficult, I can drop the axle and take it somewhere to have it done, that's not an issue. Just don't want to get ripped off.

[prorac1]

I would go with 3.73 gears in an auto. And ive always had good luck with stock auburn posi units. Eric L

[93formulalt1]

I would go with 3.73 gears in an auto. And ive always had good luck with stock auburn posi units. Eric L

Well, I have a true-trac sitting in the garage I've been looking forward to playing around with. . . That's why I was asking. lol Not to mention, the more worn-out stock parts I can replace on this 168k mile deathtrap, the better off I'll be in the end. I'm going to be going nuts with a haynes manual and a torque wrench here pretty soon, when I did the header install, I was able to take out all but 2 of the spark plugs by hand, and none of the manifold bolts were torqued enough for me to even consider thinking that they might break, I twisted most of those out by hand as well.

To be honest, I'm seriously considering saving up for heads and intake this summer, and pulling the motor to replace some gaskets and clean up the block and paint the engine bay. I installed the headers, got the car sounding good and running great, and now I want more power. . . lol Still have to install the chip from PCM4Less and the 160* T-stat, so I may be surprised with the results, but I'm still looking for that next kick-in-the-pants upgrade that's going to make me even more in love with this car. . .

[DETROITMUSCLE]

you need a converter, that will make the biggest difference out of any mod you are planning in the near future.