My 454 Rebuild

Yeah, that was published when I was still in high school and digital multimeters were new and fancy. A digital multimeter will read 0.0 ohms, or I'm trashing the leads and buying new ones.

So both NEW FPR's will not build pressure over about 46psi even though they are advertised as 57psi regulators.
The old regulator builds to 56psi and runs at 52psi. Still a little low.
So i left the old regulator installed. Truck still idles a little rough but it is better for sure. Maybe over the next few days it will get better as the ecu learns the new fuel pressure/trims?
Also i guess with old eyes and bad lighting there were 2 little O rings in there. 1 in the proper spot and the other was floating around inside but i'll claim a senior moment!
I think the last 2 months the miss and rough idle problem has always been low fuel pressure problem that i never really suspected.
I'm pretty sure everything i have done in the last 2 or 3 months was a waste of time and money.
If another new regulator cures this miss problem i can put the adjustable valve train and roller rockers back in, put the 0411 back in and i can start learning to tune.
Now when driving at 50mph and i go WOT timing retards to 17 degrees. Much better than the 12 or 14 it was retarding to.

I can't seem to find a correct answer for fuel pressure. some say 52-56psi and some say 62-68psi and everything in between.
Anyway now i need to order another regulator and im nervous about ordering anything!!.
@L31MaxExpress Will the one you listed work in the required pressure range? or is the Delphi FP10021 a better choice that i don't remember who mentioned?

Spareparts said:

So both NEW FPR's will not build pressure over about 46psi even though they are advertised as 57psi regulators.
The old regulator builds to 56psi and runs at 52psi. Still a little low.
So i left the old regulator installed. Truck still idles a little rough but it is better for sure. Maybe over the next few days it will get better as the ecu learns the new fuel pressure/trims?
Also i guess with old eyes and bad lighting there were 2 little O rings in there. 1 in the proper spot and the other was floating around inside but i'll claim a senior moment!
I think the last 2 months the miss and rough idle problem has always been low fuel pressure problem that i never really suspected.
I'm pretty sure everything i have done in the last 2 or 3 months was a waste of time and money.

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I'm sorry, that sounds frustrating.

Spareparts said:

I can't seem to find a correct answer for fuel pressure. some say 52-56psi and some say 62-68psi and everything in between.

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I think the higher pressures are likely being stated by small block guys. They've got to have higher pressure to work with that spider injector system. I've got 50's pressure (last I checked) and my engine seems to be mostly fine. I do have what sounds like a miss at idle, but the truck has done that since it was basically new, and I never get mis-fire codes. I do have a leaky intake manifold gasket.... also since the truck was new. It was replaced once, but didn't last as the mechanic didn't use thread locker, as speced by GM, like he should have, on the intake bolts. When I pulled plugs last year, I had one plug, near the leak, that was all cruddy.

The fuel pressure you have needs to be 26% higher than it is to meet GM's specification.

Don't assume any new part you receive to be a) the correct part for the specified application or b) in working condition. I received two new sets of plug wires with dead wires out of the box, a water pump with the wrong impeller, and some electrical breakers that were labeled incorrectly from the factory. The FPR you received might be working exactly as designed but simply mislabeled.

Carlaisle said:

Your fuel pressure is definitely far out of spec. It should be 58-62 at idle. There is a 44psi regulator that will physically fit. You were probably given the wrong one when you replaced it last year. The correct one for the L29 is FP10021.

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The last 454 I had a hand in messing with, we put the fuel pressure at 58 psi and used LS injectors. 58 psi is what the LS injector data is calculated around. I purposely had him set it up that way so that I was not fighting bad injector data getting the tune right. The regulator I linked is at 58 psi on my Van, KOEO.

L31MaxExpress said:

The last 454 I had a hand in messing with, we put the fuel pressure at 58 psi and used LS injectors. 58 psi is what the LS injector data is calculated around. I purposely had him set it up that way so that I was not fighting bad injector data getting the tune right. The regulator I linked is at 58 psi on my Van, KOEO.

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I'm confused....says stock pressure, and I'm not seeing a way to adjust it.

454cid said:

I'm confused....says stock pressure, and I'm not seeing a way to adjust it.

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Mine has an allen key in the center of it. I had to search to find a vendor selling this unit with their own pictures. Mine is nearly impossible to get a good picture of now. Mine was set for 58 psi out of the box.

To cold a sh|ty to do anything much outside so i took some valves out of the heads of my old engine.
Been a long time since i looked at valves but from what i remember being this white is a sign of running lean?
Also here is a set of old plugs i had in my new engine for a few weeks to see if the new plugs were bad. Hard to tell anything as they looked about like that when i put them in.

Spareparts said:

i took some valves out of the heads of my old engine.
Been a long time since i looked at valves but from what i remember being this white is a sign of running lean?

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Exhaust valves that aren't "white" have problems. The exhausts get blow-torched every time they open. Nothing on them but ash.

Some of those intakes look like they're sucking oil.

Spareparts said:

here is a set of old plugs i had in my new engine for a few weeks to see if the new plugs were bad. Hard to tell anything as they looked about like that when i put them in.

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Ever since they took the lead out of gasoline, plug porcelain color has been pretty meaningless. Sometimes green or orange depending on fuel additives. Mostly just plain white unless they've got a lot of miles on them, and then light-grey.

Depending on the miles yours have, they look pretty normal, maybe some trace of oil but not on the whole porcelain, just part.

I was thinking about getting the heads rebuilt but i don't really have a use for them so think i'll sell em.
Just kinda board and puttering around in the garage only reason i took em apart.