Project: 1994 Trans Am

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Originally Posted by Fastbird

Nice work. Solder is the way to go though I admittedly like using a small 18-22ga uninsulated butt crimp connector on the tiny OEM wiring stuff because I'm sucky at soldering and am afraid of overheating the wires.

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Thank you, sir!

One thing I also remembered today is that the 243 heads on the engine are great for n/a 5.7 and 6.0's, but not so much on a 5.3. I think they outflow most stock 5.3 (not including the L33), but lower compression I'm not sure I'm gaining anything with the big cam at this point. I don't really care as I just want to get the car running, but what I CAN do in the meantime is start planning for forced induction in this car's future lol. I'm thinking either an LSA or single turbo, but time will tell.

LSA gonna clear the cowl? I'd go single turbo and send it.

Turbo stuff for the LSX world is dirt cheap, cast headers and a simple cross over with a cheapo gt45 turbo. Sadly, almost an easy 700hp combo

The cowl would need to be cut for an LSA for sure, with either V2 or ZL1 lid from what I gather. No idea if it would definitely clear the hood. The more I think about it, the less enthused I am haha.

A cheap(er) turbo setup would sure be fun and since I'm not a big drag racer, the setup would "probably" live for a long time. Luckily, my engine bay has been cleaned up a bit to welcome a big single. @Fastbird fuel line relocation, battery relocation, switched to a Griffin rad/spal fan setup, and a bunch of other stuff just tucked away. I may take the time to relocate some wiring as well since I'm forever waiting on parts lol.

Speaking of fuel lines, last night I started planning and researching (of course) what to do about the LT1 return line. I ordered a Corvette regulator which has stock GM quick connect fuel line connections on one side and a female end on the other. I'm working with a company now to make me a flexible line to my desired length with the proper quick connects/AN adapters. I am going to have them make me some braided lines for my trans as well since it already has AN fittings and the new cooler I bought from @CPT is sitting here looking at me. Taking measurements today for that stuff. The fuel line stuff wasn't all my idea. I found a write up of doing an LS conversion in an LT car and it goes over very meticulously what is needed. I wish I found that write up sooner.

My CAI elbow and a coupler came in today, so I'm going to see how that stuff fits while I'm out there. I believe my PS pulley came in as well last night. Assuming the car didn't wash down the driveway from the hellacious weather we had, I'll update with a few more pictures later.

I spent all of 5 minutes with the car yesterday. I couldn't resist not going out and mocking up the new CAI. One more coupler (ordered) and this should be one more thing to check off the list. I got some parts from Spectre via Amazon including the new couples and 4" elbow. One thing to note is I'm a little bit of a Visio snob and use it almost daily for work, mostly for building everything from simplistic floor drawings with product placement or complex network drawings. I need to update the measurements as they aren't 100%, but you get the idea. I have drawings like this for all kinds of stuff on the car. Fuel system, PCV, and soon wiring I'm sure. I'm a visual guy, so these help me tremendously as I muddle through pretending to know what I'm doing.

I also pulled the fuel rail off to install some flips that I purchased off ebay. Since they're (now elusive) Ford SVO injectors, who knows if they height if they are sealing right, but they look OK. My nose will be in the engine bay while everything is pressurized prior to starting, so if it does leak it shouldn't be a big deal to remove them. Lucky for me, the o-rings are well lubricated and in good health.

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Lots of stuff coming today, I'll be like a kid on Christmas morning.

Keep at it man. It'll be nice to see your car back on the road again.

No real ground breaking update here, but wanted to keep the momentum moving since this project has stalled long enough. Last year I picked up HPT since a friend was in need and it was just a matter of time. I didn't tune his car, but helped the tuner remotely tweak some things, get logs, etc. My "daily" is an 06 Silverado that I started tinkering with tune-wise. Nothing special, it had a CAI and 240k (L33) with an unknown health 4L60e. I noticed some better fuel economy, crisper shifts, etc just with a basic tune. Well, the truck had developed puffs of smoke on cold starts and that made me assume the valve seals were garbage. It got to a point where it was unbearable and I threw a cam (yes, in the 240k short block WITH STOCK CAM BEARINGS). Not a man's cam, just a Summit Truck Stage 1. Super pathetic lift, it's probably more like a hot cam, but the cam kit was dirt cheap and included valve seals and LS6 springs. I also did a bunch of new accessories/WP/tstat, headers, catless Y pipe, etc. Anyway, I have been playing with that tune for a while and even put a WB in it that I can tie into HPT. I plan on doing the same with this car, but if I can't get drivability sorted in the near term, it's going to a tuner or remote tune at the very least. No shame and I don't want to blow anything up, I just lack time.

Anyway, I picked up this little guy to be able to bench tune gen 3 PCM's. It works very well and I'm not sure if I could have made this thing for the price (~$45 on ebay). I provided an LS1 PCM with the harness to the last shop and it went MIA when I picked the car up. Tried to sort it out, but ended up just buying another PCM on ebay last year. And... I may have been a little tipsy and bought a P01 early truck PCM (I thought it was an LS1 99+ fbody PCM and never verified it since purchase). No big deal, but the PCM is tuned for a 2000 Suburban 1500 and I started going through it and touching up the tune a bit. The good news is I can load the 3 bar map OS down the road. It will definitely take a few hours of just looking at other tunes from the HPT repo & forum and comparing. It is so much easier to do this in my living room with my feet propped up than in or next to the car.

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The adventure continues. Today and tomorrow should have a few more parts coming in, but if I have time today, I'll work on it some more.

I reinstalled the fuel rails and plugged in the injectors. I plugged in the VSS and trans plug, installed the o2 extensions, found some bolts missing from the PS heat shield that will be addressed, installed the oil filter and oil (which feels like the biggest milestone to date lol), and took apart the hot power stud in the engine bay. I really dislike how the power wire stud is setup and now is my chance to clean that up a bit. Since there are 3 or 5 wires using the stud, I decided to buy a really nice distro block. Of course I just realized it arrived after I was done working on the car. I'm debating hiding it or leaving it exposed. I can always tuck the wires at a later date.

I had to do some measuring, so I installed the new trans cooler on my radiator. I purchased this from Gail and it looks slick. Super thin and comes with about 60" of rubber hose. I mocked up the radiator and the ports on it are way bigger than a factory rad, so the factory cooler lines need adapters or I need to buy new flexible hoses in general. I measured the trans cooler lines which I plan on running up the frame rail on the PS and maybe even slap in an adel clamp to clean them up and keep them secure. I also eyeballed my fuel system. Since I'll be using a 99+ Corvette style fuel filter/regulator and installing it in the engine bay, and I'm still waiting for it to arrive, I realized I'm VERY limited on where to mount it. As much as I'd like to install it under the cowl or on the firewall, it will be a nightmare to service. My goal is to get the car running and safe, so the regulator will need to go where it's easiest to mount without getting too much heat. I will likely mount it on the DS shock tower and have a custom line made with a couple elbows. I'm not in love with it, but I'm limited due to the orientation of the fuel lines. It's hard to describe and visualize even with the picture. Also, the fuel line being bent to the right of the coil doesn't help matters lol.

I threw some paint on the balancer and alt pulleys since they were ugly. Before I work on the car, I generally email myself a quick checklist since my time is so limited to actually get things done. I had about 15 things and crossed off almost everything, which is great. Already have a list of the next round of things to do, but I'm back to waiting on parts again.

I was thinking about going aftermarket, but decided to go OEM for the throttle bracket and linkage. Found new bolts that were unused from my hardware kits that were unused and mounted the bracket, but ran out of time for the linkage. More wiring stuff coming and I need to fab up some brackets to hold my rad in place. Progress is progress!

One last thing, I made a decision to work with a remote tuner as I'll never had enough time to sit and make this tune perfect, or as close to it as I'd like.

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Why not just clip the factory return line around the fbody factory fuel filter and run the vette filter there?

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Originally Posted by shownomercy

Why not just clip the factory return line around the fbody factory fuel filter and run the vette filter there?

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I've seen two pictures of this exact idea and honestly I don't remember why I dismissed it, but it's certainly an option. I'll need to look under the car and see what is needed. It may be more of an end goal or just something to address when I have lift access later in the season. Having the car up on ramps right now and immobile, crawling around under the car is a pain in the ass lol.

Your question does make sense though, and I do like the idea of having one fuel line in the engine bay. I'll have to do some investigation. It would be nice to sell the elusive Fastbird relo kit and buy some quarantine beer with it.