A History of the Blue Demon (Page 16/17)
Fierochic88 SEP 26, 12:52 PM
I also took the opportunity to snap some close-ups of some of the mods from the build that were missed for close-ups in the initial haste:

PPG3 Hinges



Battery Relocation:





Redone C500 harness mounted:



Oil Catch Can:
Fierochic88 SEP 27, 11:50 AM
The next two days at Gary's allowed us to get the cradle redone:





Additional adjustments were made for the trans to be remounted:



And the engine was reinstalled:



Since Matt had also made some adjustments to the tune, I desperately wanted to take it for a spin but we needed to get home and Matt wasn't convinced it was fully burped - it's definitely one of the more PITA things about the swap. Sure enough, as he was backing it up to load it, she spewed a bit and Matt got to say, "see!" LOL.

An appointment was set with a new tuner, James Brewer of Joats Premium Performance Tuning, for the following Sunday and near completion was in sight - or so I thought!
pmbrunelle SEP 27, 12:34 PM
I'm not really sure what to make of your tuning difficulties.

I am by no means a tuning professional, I just tuned my own Fieros (twice now, with two different engines).

However, to get a reasonably good tune on my current Fiero, it took me maybe 50~100 hours in the car (mechanical issues that popped up made the tuning process less efficient), over a period of 4 months, with some further fine-tuning as the cold winter temps rolled in.

The hardest aspects to do are the cold start/running parameters, as the tuner only has one true cold start per day to see if the settings worked. If not, readjust parameters and wait until the next day to try again...

There are a number of situations that need to be tested:
Hilly/flat terrain
Cold/hot coolant temp
Cold/hot ambient temp
Humid/dry air
Different altitudes (if you drive up and down mountains)
WOT/cruise
Crawling in a parking lot with the clutch fully engaged at idle
Throttle transitions
Different fuel blends
Differences depending on which gear you're in

I don't see tuning as a very fast exercise.

On the other hand, I read of people bringing their car to a tuner, and two hours later it's tuned

What are your expectations for how much time/money it should require to get your engine tuned nicely?

[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 09-27-2021).]

Fierochic88 SEP 27, 01:43 PM

quote
Originally posted by pmbrunelle:

I'm not really sure what to make of your tuning difficulties.

I am by no means a tuning professional, I just tuned my own Fieros (twice now, with two different engines).

However, to get a reasonably good tune on my current Fiero, it took me maybe 50~100 hours in the car (mechanical issues that popped up made the tuning process less efficient), over a period of 4 months, with some further fine-tuning as the cold winter temps rolled in.

The hardest aspects to do are the cold start/running parameters, as the tuner only has one true cold start per day to see if the settings worked. If not, readjust parameters and wait until the next day to try again...

There are a number of situations that need to be tested:
Hilly/flat terrain
Cold/hot coolant temp
Cold/hot ambient temp
Humid/dry air
Different altitudes (if you drive up and down mountains)
WOT/cruise
Crawling in a parking lot with the clutch fully engaged at idle
Throttle transitions
Different fuel blends
Differences depending on which gear you're in

I don't see tuning as a very fast exercise.

On the other hand, I read of people bringing their car to a tuner, and two hours later it's tuned

What are your expectations for how much time/money it should require to get your engine tuned nicely?




Great questions!

You are in the ballpark with all but time. I should reiterate that the initial tune was to simply get the car able to idle and drive short distances at Carlisle. The first tuner was young and less experienced than we initially realized. My husband is well-versed in electronics and the concepts, but the short time frame leading up to the show (on top of running point on the show) led us to simply engage this first guy to lessen our load.

The issues we ran into there were not due to time but the lack of experience. He disabled certain components of the tune that caused the core issues. He also was not proficient in fuel output so the car was running far richer than it should have during the tune process. An experienced tuner does their homework in advance, loads a base tune based on the car's specs and then modifies it from there. Unfortunately, this did not occur during Round 1.

I'll get to Round 2 here in my next post with a bit more detail but remote tuning is able to do the things you mentioned above (as long as you have access to varied terrain). The only limitation is weather conditions BUT in the case of this particular build, it isn't going to be driven in winter so a Fall day with varying temps worked well for the tune.
Fierochic88 SEP 28, 02:38 PM
It was actually 3 weeks until the tuning appointment times matched up for Matt and James (I had first thought we had it set for the following weekend but we had a lot of other things happening during the time in-between). James charges $300 for a base tune/driveability session and while the time range can vary, it was estimated to take up to 3 hours. If you do not have your own HP tuners dongle, there might be an additional charge but we had the dongle and Matt had done some experimentation as we prepared for the actual tune.


For the tune to happen, James and Matt connected via remote software that allowed James to control the software and grab the data logs from Matt's computer. While there are likely other options, this was the fastest and most efficient way for James and Matt to work together on my car. In typical Blue Demon fashion, the weather threatened to derail the session but fortunately, things began to clear up in time for the driveability tunes. The tuning process itself involves driving the car and creating data logs that James then examined, made tweaks to and applied to the car. As is typical in our house, a million things were happening simultaneously and I didn't realize until I heard it going out the driveway that the car had left the property for the first time under its own power:



Drives 1 & 2 went well and James quickly made fuel adjustments that helped tackle the car's desire to run rich.



To test the application, Matt took me out for my first "ride" in the Demon as we prepared for the wide-open throttle (WOT) runs. As we were coming back up the road after a cruise, I began to hear a slight whine which increased under acceleration but was non-existent at other points. Matt wasn't entirely sure of its cause but planned to investigate as soon as the tuning session finished.
Fierochic88 SEP 29, 12:05 PM
In true Blue Demon fashion, the tuning was not able to be completed that day. Prior to the WOT run, Matt's best friend came over and wanted to hear the car run. This time, on start-up, the whine appeared and it became very evident to Matt that something was going on with the lifters. He called James and asked to reschedule and then broke the news to me. I was heartbroken to hear that the engine needed to come out and the top end, at the very least would need to be torn off. With about 11 days until our departure for Fierorama, I was beginning to doubt if the car would make it.

The following day, Matt was able to reinstall the SD4 in the Indy and drop the engine from the Blue Demon and begin to tear it down. It soon became evident what the problem was - the lifters had started self-destructing because they had "spun" in their lifter trays. Something like this should never happen but it quickly became evident that it had. The initial cause of this occurrence was not apparent but the damage certainly was:







As Matt examined the lifter trays, they seemed to be a bit "spongy" and had more wiggle room than they should have. We soon learned that while Delco trays had been ordered, aftermarket trays actually arrived and due to the tight time frame we were on pre-Carlisle, it was decided to just go with them - no one thinking that this was even a possibility. Fortunately, Gary had a set of Delco lifter trays, spare lifters, another cam and the other necessary pieces parts to get the car going again. In the midst of Hurricane Ida that Wednesday, I drove out to meet Gary & Jenn halfway to grab the parts, hopeful that Matt (who was on a "hurricane day" from work) would not find any further damage as he dropped the pan and began to clean out the block.
Fierochic88 OCT 01, 11:57 AM
Saying bye to Jenn & Gary before heading home to meet Matt gave me the realization that we had 8 days until our departure for Fierorama. I was still optimistic but getting increasingly skeptical about which car would actually be making the trip with us. When I arrived home that afternoon, Matt had managed to remove the pan without removing the engine from the cradle and had started the process of cleaning things out and checking for further damage. Luckily, it appeared that there wasn't anything that wasn't replaceable damaged and the amount of metal shavings in the oil pan itself were minimal.

Still a new problem had emerged. The cam was larger than the initial cam. Cam #2 was a Texas Speed LS1 Cam (228/228 .600/600 110), and the accompanying valves had dual coil springs and we did not have the proper valve guide seals to pair with them. Thankfully, a Friday delivery was possible which would be the next day Matt had off work and the same day the new gaskets were set for delivery.

Matt worked his magic and soon everything was back together and able to be reinstalled in the car:



Following installation, she fired right up! It was a glorious sound. Although the AC compressor had a slight squeak, everything else appeared to be in good working order. James, our tuner, was gracious enough to fit us in on Labor Day Monday so once everything was tightened up (and the door put back together after Matt realized he ordered the wrong set of dew wipes), we set about to enjoy what remained of Labor Day weekend and to prep for our departure for St. Charles. Surely, nothing else would go wrong, right?

[This message has been edited by Fierochic88 (edited 10-01-2021).]

Fierochic88 OCT 04, 10:02 AM
On Labor Day, I had to teach my 2 classes at the college which sadly, did not close on Labor Day. Matt had an afternoon appointment with the tuner so I waited with baited breath to arrive home that night to ensure that all went well.



Of course, James Brewer worked his magic and I came home to a happy husband and a fully running Blue Demon! After dropping my bags, he asked if I wanted to go for a ride and I don't think he even heard an actual response before I was in the passenger seat. As we pulled out of the driveway and he accelerated, we were into 3rd gear before we even hit the other side of our property line and I believe I was looking down the road partially through the driver's side window. Apparently, much to Matt's amusement, I was also gripping the door handle with wide eyes!

We just went down to the end of the road (3/4 of a mile) and back as it was starting to get dusky and our area is notorious for deer at that time of day. I was ready to drive but we decided to put that off until the following day. As we pulled back into the driveway and approached the garage, Matt decided to chirp the tires and we heard a "clunk" - suddenly, the transmission no longer appeared to be functioning and both of our jaws had dropped. Really, something else had gone wrong????

The car was able to coast into the driveway but it was so hot that Matt didn't want to mess with it that night. The following day, he had to work but he was determined that the axle had (for some reason) popped out and that we could rectify this issue to still depart as planned for Fierorama on Thursday.
Fierochic88 OCT 04, 05:19 PM
The next night as I arrived home from cheer practice, the tire and wheel well were off and the axle was separated from the transmission (which it had, of course, done by itself the night before). That was the "good" news. The bad news was that the axle had de-splined and there was no easy fix as it was custom machined to fit the tulip of the F40.



Matt had set about filing it in an attempt to ease the damage and get it back together to make it to St. Charles. He was frustrated and not entirely optimistic as he had discovered that it had popped out because it was never properly seated in the first place. Somehow, amid all the other insanity, none of us realized that the aftermarket axle had a bushing that was preventing it from seating properly. (Note: This is why you never rush when doing these projects - and honestly, avoid aftermarket parts if possible!)



Matt's "Hail Mary" was abetted by his access to a lathe at work. He managed to take the axle in, machine off enough for it to hopefully work and then swing home on his lunch break to doublecheck. I was not home that day and anxiously texted Gary to see if he had heard from Matt as I was afraid since I did not hear anything myself.





Fortunately, in the end, he was able to work his magic and that night, we loaded up for our departure for St. Charles.
Fierochic88 OCT 05, 02:21 PM
Our trip out to St. Charles was uneventful, meeting up en route with the Pickardts and picking up Wayne Geib too. We arrived Friday night and while we planned to drive the car to the cruise-in, some last minute confusion and need to arrange a tow for a fellow Fiero owner resulted in my test drive being postponed.

The following day, as Matt and the rest of the crew played "garage" on a few different issues for a few different cars, Gary and I jumped in the Blue Demon to take it for a spin around the neighborhood! It was definitely an experience!! I didn't get much above 45 mph and 3rd gear in the neighborhood we were in; however, Gary can definitely attest that I was smiling ear to ear. The clutch is taking some getting used to and we plan to install the RAM hydraulic clutch adjuster kit to change the throw (it grabs a little late for my tastes personally). We also need to fix the AC compressor squeak and have ordered the appropriate kit, but that will likely get attended to in the next few weeks.

The car was a hit at Fierorama, capturing Best in Class (V8) and Best in Show - Non Stock Fiero, as well as Bonter Solutions Favorite Fiero and Best License Plate. We had a blast and were also excited to celebrate Jestin as the co-winner of the Best in the Midwest: Fieros Owned by Kids Younger than Their Cars along with Jon Revelle and his beautiful Formula.



Most importantly, I am enjoying the build immensely. As I look back over the past year, which was the hardest in my life with the loss of my dad, this build and the teamwork that created it are not only a highlight of the year but one in my life. If you've read this far, you know it was not easy but we managed to push through and learn some valuable lessons along the way. When you are trying new things and pushing the envelope, things are bound to go wrong and when you're doing so under a very tight timeline, it ups your chances. Doing an involved swap isn't best under those circumstances but many lessons were learned that will be applied in the future.

I'm incredibly grateful to Gary & Jestin, and most especially Matt, for making this dream come true. This isn't the end of this post as other updates will be done but I hope to this point, it has been beneficial and at times, humorous, for all to read.

Today, the Blue Demon and I enjoyed a drive to lunch and I look forward to many, many more!