4.6 Northstar Swap Project (Page 17/22) copperhens JUL 28, 09:53 AM quote Originally posted by Will: You can still ground the baseplate, right? An extremely solid ground connection on the baseplate is vitally important to the coil pack for correct operation... Note that GM has a 8-10ga jumper from the baseplate to the cylinder head. The baseplate does NOT ground through the cam cover because the cam cover is rubber-isolated from the cylinder head. The ignition will NEVER run right without that ground connection on the baseplate. Huh, that’s good to know. I will add a ground to the baseplate! copperhens JUL 28, 10:04 AM quote Originally posted by Trinten: Sorry if you mentioned this and I missed it -- is that header wrap around the wires? Did you put it on just to protect them during the welding, or is that going to be a permanent thing to help protect them from heat in the engine bad? It's a neat idea. I had picked up some high temp insulating wire loom, but it's meant to be put on wires that are being build, it's not a wrap (and it will be used on new wires going in). I might adopt this idea! Very nice work! Joe from 2 Seat Garage did my harness, and would have added that. It looks like header wrap to me, and I thought it was a great touch, especially where the wires do go under a header. copperhens JUL 28, 10:05 AM 6/29/21 I was at a junkyard in PA. Even though it was out of a Northstar, it was a different length. Also, the bottom was broken off. Apparently, the best way to remove a dipstick is to drop the oil pan and put a socket over the tube to pop it out that way. The bottoms break when you try and pull from the top. Turns out heat remedies a lot of issues. Paul was able to heat it up and pop the dent out. He also brought me a bunch of Northstar dipsticks from a yard he was at, and two were the correct length! copperhens JUL 28, 11:55 AM 6/30/21 Also while in PA, I pulled the rings off of an ‘88. I blasted and painted them. Assorted images of engine bay progress. copperhens JUL 28, 11:59 AM 7/4/21 The black is hard to pick up in the pictures. Paul helped me with a lot of prep, we did use some bondo around the strut tower to blend the seams more. He brought me some Eastwood paint that brought the engine bay back to life. The engine is ready to go in. But we need to wait for the paint to dry. copperhens JUL 28, 12:03 PM 7/5/21 Thank goodness for a lift. My dad and I got the engine in, but it still took a couple hours. Lining everything up was a hassle, and the stand we had the engine on got in the way. We had to bring the car off the engine a couple of times due to clearance issues. The dipstick was hitting the wall(I image this is how it got bent in the first place), so with some heat we bent it out of the way. The dog bone mount was hitting the new trunk mount. So we had to pull that and cut off the top part of it so it would clear. But it’s in now. copperhens JUL 28, 12:05 PM 7/7/21 Paul came out again to help. Today was a big day. If we got everything hooked up, we were going to try and start it. It took the whole day of us both working to get it to the point of fire. We worked on the main systems: electrical, cooling, fuel. The others, brake, some vacuum, and shifting was left aside in case the engine needed to be dropped. I changed the routing of a few things around from the first time. Nothing that is terrible noticeable, but it’s a lot cleaner and more secure. It wasn’t until 3:00 we were at the point of start. First, we unplugged the coils, and cranked it to try and get pressure. The engine gauge I installed this time around showed nothing. We went home for dinner, and came back after we heard from Mr. Eric who said to try firing it up. I’m a bit paranoid after the first time and don’t wanna ruin the engine. Obviously it needs to work up to having pressure. Paul also put on a cone filter, that will eventually be routed better, but it’s better than nothing. We took the gauge off the head, and fired it up. It started up right away. No sooner was I yelled at to shut it off because oil was pouring out the head thank goodness. We put the gauge back on, and fired it up again. It has pressure! This is reading from the far head, where there was no pressure before. It was great hearing it again. I was worried there was a bit of a tick. Paul and I were gonna try and get it home, but we decided to leave it until Mr. Eric could hear it and verify it was good to go. Again, I’m paranoid. copperhens JUL 28, 12:09 PM 7/11/21 The 02 sensor got pinched when the engine went in, so I needed to pull it and fix the wiring on it. We had Mr. Eric listen to the engine. He thought it sounded great. The ticking was gone, and he said it was probably air caught in the lifters. There seemed to be typically valve train noise. Remember there is no exhaust yet so it’s very loud. The engine would backfire under power which is odd. Mr. Eric is getting in there to listen, and my dad is to the side We cracked the filter open. That’s a lot of metal flakes. New filter on, and ran the engine. Cracked this filter. We peeled apart every groove, and only found two flakes. The first filter must have all been residual that never got flushed out. Mr. Eric gave the car a clean bill of health. I think the engine is happy. copperhens JUL 28, 12:13 PM 7/13/21 Paul came out again on my birthday. Of course he would drive the 3 hours out to help me my car, and I really appreciate it. The Fiero started up super rough and was missing. Shut it off. Paul determined a few of my spark plugs wires weren’t popped on all the way, oops. They must’ve come loose when I fixed the 02 sensor. I hope this fixes the backfire problem too. Paul drove it onto the trailer. Usually I’d load a Fiero facing forward, but I only lived 2 miles away down a dirt road from Mr. Eric. We only strapped the rear down, and Paul sat in the Fiero on the brakes while I drove super slow. We made it home though. I forgot to shut the battery off and the Fiero had died due to the brake lights. I convinced my mom to park her Jeep outside because the Fiero is needy. I only have one picture of all 3 of my Fieros together, but that was before the ’88 even had a cradle. I think I’m due for another photo shoot of my 3 *running* Fieros. I was so excited I threw on some tail lights too. They are what came with the ‘88, and are garbage with cracks and broken tabs. But it looks much better. I will be out of town until August, so the Fieros get to rest for a bit. copperhens JUL 28, 12:16 PM Sorry for the spam, but the thread is caught up again. I am potentially going to take the Northstar to its first car show this weekend. I’ll see what I can get done to it so it is more presentable.