ecotec swap (Page 79/98)
wftb MAR 31, 12:10 AM
I put in the new downstream unit and now I am code free .I got the O2 sensor that member Lunatic sent me ( thanks Shayne ) but I am going to just keep it as a spare for now since the other one that I put in seems fine .So I have had some seat time and so far so good .I managed to leave the parking lights on and kill the battery . I charged it up yesterday then today it seemed to have lost its charge and would not start . Charged it for 4 hours and it did it again but I could hear all the fans running and I shoved down hard on the clutch and then it started right up .The stupid clutch safety switch is on its last legs .Tomorrow it will be getting the bypass treatment-cut , strip and wirenut together .
wftb APR 15, 01:17 PM
Solved a couple of problems today .As I mentioned earier , the car ran rough whenever I plugged in the wires to the purge canister .After I saw my 2 damaged O2 sensors , I had a suspicion that the shorted out O2 sensor wires were interfering with the operation of the evap valves .After fixing the O2 sensor problem , I still had the cannister disconnected and yesterday it threw the evap system fault code .So I cleared the code and plugged in the canister and it runs normally and no longer throws the code .
The other problem was my boost controller was not working .Boost was hitting 16 psi and popping open the blow off valve .I found a leak in the tubing to the controller . I took the controller out of the circuit to be safe and because I need some of the right tubing . So now max boost is 8 psi and I am happy with that .
Still trying to get it in for an allignment , my usual shop said Tuesday sometime .

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 04-15-2016).]

wftb APR 25, 10:37 AM
Took the rear wheels off to inspect things .700 KM since the suspension mods were done .I saw no problems at all .Except some pieces could still use a coat of paint ..
wftb APR 25, 08:11 PM
Got the car aligned today .Runs much straighter now but while it was on the rack we discovered what was causing twitchyness in the front end .I knew something was sloppy because I could pull on the passenger front tire and get about 3/8" of movement on the passenger side .I thought it would be a tie rod end so I brought some new ones to the shop but it was upper arm bushings .Replaced them when I got home and no more twitch .I found the magic setting for a smooth ride - 2 above minimum compression setting and midway for rebound . But that setting for good cornering - forget it .The best setting i have found for blasting tight corners is + 12 compression and +9 rebound .Digs right and I can change direction in a heartbeat .But hurts the back on our bumpy roads .

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 04-26-2016).]

Lunatic APR 26, 05:52 AM
Hey Steve.

I would consider calling your modifications a success. It's good that it all worked out and that you're putting miles on the car. I'll have to pop in sometime and check it out.

Shayne
wftb APR 26, 11:30 AM
Thanks Shayne drop around when you are up next , shoot me an email to make sure I will be home .
I consider the work I have done a success for sure .Too bad it was an arm bushing that was the problem , now that I have that fixed the allignment is off a bit now .Pulls to the left slightly .Things I have figured out so far :
There is no need to add more anti squat geometry to the upper arms .The car does not squat at all .
The stock rear brakes are working really well now that they are nicely bedded in .And I really like having a working park brake .
I think I want to try a 400 lb spring .I think that would give a better ride without having to use strange shock settings .
Since I need another allignment any way , I am going to play around with the height of the upper A arm mounts just to see what works best .
There is no end to the amount of tuning you can do to a setup like this .That is what I really like about it .
wftb MAY 01, 04:46 PM
While fixing the upper arm bushings , I found the inner sleeves were 1/2" instead of 12 MM so I changed them out for the right size.

I have been tuning the suspension .I did not like how hard it felt , so I tried a 350 lb spring .It is only 7" long so I ran out of adjustment just to get it close to where I had the ride height .
But the funny thing was , it made no difference at all in how the car rode .I realized I had the car too low and I was hitting the bump stops as I bounced over the bumps .I dont know why I set it up this way , that is not how I designed it .So I put the 450 lb springs back on and while I was at it raised up the inner pivot points of the upper arms .Even with the higher ride height , they had too much downward angle to centre .This causes huge variations in the instant centre and can lead to stability problems .Stability was not a problem , but I realized that was probably because the suspension was not moving up and down much .So I shimmed the arms and adjusted the camber with the eccentrics (of course throwing my allignment off some more ) This is what the arm mounts look like now:

Took it for a ride and it is now working the way I always hoped it would .Riding on rubber bump stops does not give a smooth ride it turns out . The ride is now still on the stiff side , but it is a ride I can live with on a long trip where before a 25 mile trip was about all you wanted to do .And I have not even tuned the shock settings yet .
wftb MAY 11, 09:22 PM
Spent about 4 hours setting the camber on the rear now that I have the ride height where I want it .I found a spot in the garage where the floor is dead level and parked the rear wheels right there .With the change in ride height came unwanted positive camber of .5 on the left side and almost 1 on the right .After a lot of wheel off wheel on adjustments , I now have about -.4 degrees on both sides .Close enough to my target of .5 negative camber .Here is a view of the ride heights from the sides :


I am going to put about 500 km on it before I get it aligned this time to let the springs sag if they are going too .That way I can adjust the camber again myself if its needed .Alignments are much cheaper if they do not have to take your wheels off .

[This message has been edited by wftb (edited 05-16-2016).]

wftb MAY 16, 06:33 PM
Had to put a new boost controller on .I put the old one back on thinking a leak in the referance line was causing it to let the boost go sky high .Apparently not , as I was merging with traffic the boost got high enough to cause the blow off valve to open and the ECM to cut the timing and go in to limp mode for about 3 seconds .Got to love modern electronics , saved my engine from any damage .This time I bought a Vibrant brand controller because a store in Mississauga had them in stock .In the instructions it said to keep it away from the exhaust heat area and that is where the old one was close to .Maybe that is why it failed . So I put this one on a stand off at the drivers side of the valve cover .Seems to work , with it in the lowest setting I get 10 PSI max boost .
wftb JUN 06, 08:04 PM
Had to replace one of the axle seals at the transmission today .Priced a new one online on one of the CDN sites and they wanted 29.00 .We have a small autoparts store in downtown Kincardine(Spikes) and they got me one for 11.00 .plus tax .One of the nice things about my rear suspension is I can get the axle out of the tranny by just taking out 2 bolts and letting the spindle flop outwards .Nothing to realign after , just push the axle back in and bolt the spindle back on .




In the above pic you can see the socket I used to seat the new seal .

The timken part # for other F23 users .