Marine Intake

[L31MaxExpress]

Still have some work left to do but it is alive.

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[heskahoka]

That thing sounds mean!

 

[Supercharged111]

Lean backfires or open exhaust?

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Lean backfires or open exhaust?

Still need to unbolt the exhaust from the transmission on both sides and slide it back enough to get the donuts on the header collectors and bolt them back up.

Honestly should have put 2.5" V-bands on Thorleys poor engineering on these headers a long time ago. Like before I ever installed them the first time. If Thorley had twisted the flanges 45* before welding them to the headers the collector bolts would have been a breeze to get to, but they made the bolts an absolute nightmare to get on.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Oh the CMR was about -3*. I will loosen the hold down, crank it as much as it allows CCW and see where it falls. It does have a small amount of play or slop in that bracket. -3* makes sense though because the cam is 2* retarded from the centerline it was ground on.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I was able to get a good size list of stuff done today. Ran it for close to an hour all together. Discovered the fuse link for the alternator either got melted or corroded in half as it is no longer 1 piece.

Cam definitely has alot more chop to it at 750 rpm without the Rhoads lifters. Definitely sounds like a 218/228 on a 108 now.

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Otherwise still needs some tuning but it is running pretty nicely. Nice snappy throttle response too the few times I snapped the throttle.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Found a couple of problems that had this over fueling. First the injector data that came out of the spreadsheet I had to convert Ford data to GM was absolutely way off the mark. I found a video that explained how to read the factory Ford data and convert it to meaningful information for use in a Holley EFI system. I converted the data properly to use in the GM PCM. I also found that I had the hoses hooked up backwards on the TBI EVAP purge solenoid resulting in a continuous strong purge vacuum on the canister. I reversed the hoses and confirmed that the purge valve now acts as it should. Now my fuel trims are much more in-line with what they should be rather than -36% overall at idle. At idle it is now between -3 and -6.5% which I will mostly blame on the fact it idles with 10 kpa less vacuum now. Moving on I ran it up to 4,000 at no load long enough to watch the short trims adding as much as 20% fuel in the 1,000-3,500 range. That was honestly expected as well since the Rhoads V-Max did not give the full duration and lift of the cam until about 4,000 rpm. With them in the engine the MAF was registering a 50 gm/sec airflow jump around 3,500-4,000 rpm which I always assumed was the lifters doing their thing. With the full duration and lift all the time it is definitely drawing more air and thus more fuel. It might hurt the fuel mileage, but the throttle response is even more snappy from 2,000 rpm or so now. Bump the throttle and it leaps to life. The Rhoads lifters definitely need to be in an engine with a lot more duration than this cam has. The kind of cam that is marginal to drive on the street without them.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I played with the tuning a bit more this afternoon. I probably have it at a point where it can go down the road tune wise. Still have a few things left to finish on the engine itself. To mount the coil where I want it is going to involve adding wire to the coil harness. I have those mile long oil fill tubes and dipstick tubes to put back on. I also need to sort out the plug wire loom brackets. Also have a transmission cooler hose between the radiator and auxiliary cooler that started leaking fluid. I know that I accidentally twisted a piece of it tightening the cooler a while back and probably cracked the PTFE liner inside. I have some left over hose to remake that cooler hose. Other than that it will soon be up and going again with any luck. Seems to be carrying good oil pressure still (40 psi @ 850 rpm at hot idle with 5w30 in the pan) and the cooling system is staying pressurized.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Another observation I made. With the Felpro 1003s revised coolant passageway arrangement. I have notice that the temperature gauge reads cooler overall. It stays more in line with the 195*F thermostat. Before this engine always spiked to 210*F on the dash gauge before the thermostat opened. Now it sits a couple of bars below it when it opens and does not have the large initial drop when it opens. I think that means the heads are running cooler now atleast where the temperature sending unit sits. HP Tuners is showing it sitting solidly at 194-196*F.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I put the air intake and MAF back on this, using the Lingefelter 100MM MAF transfer curve for the LS3/LS7 MAF. Runs very smooth now. Still need to do some more work on the VE tables but have them roughed in enough that it runs well.

FWIW its actually running well with the stock transient fuel settings although I can tell they are a bit lean and need to be opened up a bit, but it does not bog, spit, pop or hesitate.