Shammoo update

After that "hunting accident' with the sheep and the electric fence, I don't need a cup anymore

Haven't installed new steering wheel yet. too much life in my life to lay up Shammoo for the project lately.

I did remove the front spoiler though. I had used the wrong primer on the fiberglass. It was inflexible and kept chipping off easily. So it's being stripped.

While its off, I've been wanting to make a lower grill for the spoiler area out of the same size material that's in the bar grill now. it's been roughed out so far with 1/8 x3/4 aluminum bar. Will take a day or few more before it can be given final assembly and mounted up with the repaired spoiler.

The lower grill is coming along. I have a three day weekend coming up with what looks like good weather. I hope to make some major headway on things this weekend.

Got "one" of the programming issues finally resolved thanks to some of the guys on www.thirdgen.com.

I was having my AFR's drop to 10.0 anytime the gas pedal was barely touched, and it would stay there. One of the guys was kind enough to forward a Bin for a similar 406 and I was able to compare settings. Found what looked like a typo in one parameter giving it ten times the setting it should have had, and a few others that were going in the wrong direction.

All in all, the beast has woken up!
Even my 28 yr old son's response was "HOLY SH!T"

This weekend, I'm in the middle of repairing and repainting the front fiberglass bumper/spoiler. It has Lots of bad paint spots ( so does the rest of the car) from when I was in a hurry for Wagonfest last year. The primer did not stick to the fiberglass at all well, and would chip off easily . Plus it has a few deep scratches from things being dragged past it for the past year., like lawnmowers, snow blowers and garbage cans.

So I went to the local Auto Finishers store and was recommended to use a flexible primer made for the just that purchase, and was "edjumacated" as to proper preparation. Hopefully I learned my lesson, and it stays on this time.

Dave.
As mentioned the beast has shown some real progress in re-programming of late. Very happy with the results!

dave i have sent u a couple pms have you gotten them thanks john

John, You got mail.

Here's the new lower grill that I made and installed over the weekend.

That looks great!

I decided to replace the video screen in the car with something more useful to me. I have never watched a video yet in the car , so why keep it in the car. It's getting replace by a gadget called a Tunerview 2, and is compatible with my speed density TPI'd motor and Corvette/Camaro ECM. My car is not shown in the video, but it gives you an idea of what it does. There are other aprameters that can be shown so that it is not redundant over what I already see with gauges.

Sunday July 22,2012. As Wagonfest nears Work continues. The steering wheel is in now. I not only had to remove the airbag, but also the coil at the top of the steering column. The the steeering wheel was tightened up, It was crushing against the coil, causing the steering wheel to be very hard to turn. Removing the coil freed it up immediately.

The lower console is being reworked to house the Tunerview project. Headed to the garage after this note. Hope to repaint the calipers and drums as well.

No photos?


Disappointed in ewe.

You'll have to come to Wagonfest to see it!

07/28/2012 Wagonfest is in the books for another year. Plenty of details will show up in other threads of course. Just a note about a challenge I've head with "Shammoo" this year,trying to get the gas milage up. When I was having some tuning issues earlier in May, I was struggling to stay over 8 mpg from simply city driving.

This weekend gave me a chance to see if the latest changes gave me some hope with new direction. Including stomping on the go pedal around the track at the Glen the car averaged 16.02 mph. An amazing difference.

I think one of those, was that I was able to take advantage of GM's infamous "highway mode" that is turned off in the vehicle software. It was ruled to be a dodge around the CAFE regs, and Big Brother made them turn it off. It wasn't removed from the software. The "turn on" speed was set for 200mph. Just needed to lower that speed to 45 and it was good to go.

Essentially, it allows the ECM to burn a leaner AFR when certain conditions are met. I was able to turn it back on, by reprogramming the chip successfully. Keep in mind I run a unique setup with a speed density Tuned Port Injection setup (TPI not TBI) using an $8d mask found in early 90's Corvettes, Camaros and Firebirds.

lakeffect wrote:

I think one of those, was that I was able to take advantage of GM's infamous "highway mode" that is turned off in the vehicle software. It was ruled to be a dodge around the CAFE regs, and Big Brother made them turn it off. It wasn't removed from the software. The "turn on" speed was set for 200mph. Just needed to lower that speed to 45 and it was good to go.

Essentially, it allows the ECM to burn a leaner AFR when certain conditions are met. I was able to turn it back on, by reprogramming the chip successfully. Keep in mind I run a unique setup with a speed density Tuned Port Injection setup (TPI not TBI) using an $8d mask found in early 90's Corvettes, Camaros and Firebirds.

Okay, now you have my attention. Have I been living in a cave? Never heard of this infamous "highway mode". Is this specific to the throttle body engines or is it also part of the LT1 ecm programming? Tried to locate a reference to it using TunerCat but no joy.

If I can get another 2 or 3 MPG out of this engine, I might even re-think getting the car to run on vitamin "D". Well maybe not.

Bill

He definitely has piqued my interest as well. I'm trying to figure out how ANY improvement in economy would be considered a 'dodge' by the government nazis.

Yes, I am very attentive as well!

When it allows more hydrocarbons emmitted than the soup nazis want, even though it gives better mileage, it is considered a dodge. I was specific to this being a part of TPI $8D speed density programming. ( it's not a dollar sign , like $8.00 dollars, but a specif program by that name)

Unfortunately since it's the only prgram I work with, and comes from a site dedicated to pre LT1 engines like mine, I have no idea. Perhaps the folks at the ImpalaSS forum would no better. Sorry.

Way to get our hopes up!

I've put out an all points bulletin at IimpalaSSforum to see if they've heard of it for the LT1's programming as well.

Excess hydrocarbons? Sounds fishy to me. Wtf are the cats for?

they have a limit as to what they remove.

Well, did you notice significantly better economy on the way home to Rochester?

Allowing the lean threshold to exceed the 14.5:1 is an accepted means to increase fuel economy but it throws a bunch of things out of wack. Unlikely that it would produce more hydrocarbons, probably alot less, put it would also mean that your NO2s and the CO levels will increase.

The only one in this scenario that the cats go after is CO. I suspect that under certain conditions, steady speed, part throttle (high vacuum) etc. they turn off the EGR and allow the NO2s to climb. Just removing exhaust from the intake equation should give you a couple MPGs. The engine is now getting pure air and fuel and the exhaust isn't taking up any room in the combustion process. Your Cats do nothing with NO2s. Only lower combustion temps can do that.

Thanks Dave for posting this question on the other side. Going to go back and check out the EGR perameters in the $ee mask.

Bill

Shammoo came home on the back of a flatbed a few nights ago. No fuel pressure.
I tested the pump via the connector at the back rear corner coming off the tank.
Hooked up a spare battery, probed the connector, no noise.. So the pump is either gone, or hopefully an internal connection came loose in the fuel sender.

Luckily, I put in a fuel drain into the tank a few years ago, so at least I can drain the tank relatively easy. It was all of four bucks for a transmission / oil pan drain at Advance Auto.

My son came by on Sunday 08/12/12 to help me put the fuel tank back into place.

Oddly, now the engine is running extremely rough, hard to idle, falters and big bogs when hitting the throttle. I used a heat temp gun, shot the headers for temps, thinking maybe a colder off temp pipe would help lead me to a bad plug or wire.NOthing was conclusive. I even swapped out Ignition modules, with no change in operation.

Will pull plugs next to see if one is awash in fuel. Wondering if an injector got clogged as well, as I'm getting a very rich smell rich smell.

No codes. But really don't have an answer to this.

Any ideas out there?

Several answers here. Plugs very dirty, cleaned them and closed up the gap from .05 to .035.
Checked base timing, needed to add a bullet connector into the tan/black bypass wire at the distributor end. My aftermaket harness (Painless) had the bypass connector at the ECM end which is buried under the lower console.
Found the timing had slipped to about 20* late instead of 8 * BTDC. Apparently needed more muscle on the hold down bolt.

It still does not like open loop warmup, has a bad bog, But I seem to be closing in on it.

Secondarily, I noticed the all the turn signals were out along with the back up lights. Found a few loose crimp on connections, crunched them again and it's good to go.

First update of 2013

Yes, it already June 2013 and Shammoo is finally coming out of the garage for the year.

Until Easter, it was being stored at a friend's house, a spinster with an empty garage that my wife knows.

First thing I noticed when starting up, was it was leaking gas where the hose changes over from high pressure rubber from the tank through an 90* AN fitting to braided hose. Tried getting the hose further onto the barbs and ended up stabbing a hole into the radiator. Gushing out all the needed fluids.

Next came a trip home on a flatbed.

I had purchased a dual electric fan setup from mike , 200OZ about two years ago. Now seemed like a good time to put it in. The radiator side tank on the passenger side did not have quite the same the inlets/outlets needed for my application, (90's TPI) so I swapped out that side tank side tank from old to new. I took the radiator to get pressure testing done BEFORE it was put in the car. Otherwise, we all know it would find way to fail away from home somewhere. It passed.

I installed unit in May of this year, and did the wiring from fans to relays, to computer, and put in two idiot lights on the center console. The hope would be they would indicate when the fans were on. They worked , but I still had a gas leak.

After two trips to tyhe local hardware store, I got two 3/16 brass barbed fitting a a matching 90*. With heavy hose clamps, it seems to be fiannly holding petro.

Other issues: noticed the fuek gauge always says "FF" (custom digital cluster) Probaly keepd a wirs lose under the rug.
last fall something popped in the heater controls, rendering it non-functional. those two things are next on the list of things to do.

A surprise this morning was seeing a great looking wagon in the plaza parking lot where I work in north Rochester. It looked familiar from a distance. As I got closer I saw several years of Wagonfest stickers on it as well. So I parked next to it, and left a few business cards on it. Sure enough, turns out Tim Swink (BigBlackBeaSST) was visiting family in town. Good to see him again. Have a safe trip home my friend!


Dave

Spent some time with a few Shammoo relted projects this weekend. Started the third edition of the upper center consolefor a diffent CD head unit with a touch screen and USB input. I'm moving the hidden heater controls doen about sis inches or sop from where I last had them (way at the top)

Also preparing the Mini Cooper hood scoop for installation. I'd like to get in in and the hood repainted by Wagon fest.c

Dave... are you still kicking around that old Kicker Car Demo Cappy Wagon? Are you still listening to Blue Oyster Cult? I thought for sure you would've have retired that darn car once the TPI started giving you fits but I can see you were undaunted! Good for you kind sir! Once I seen that you were on here I knew the Longroof Forum was my kind of place for sure. For your information I STILL have my 1993 LTZ but its been mothballed for about 4 years. I recently pulled it out and started working in it again. Doing the brakes and the steering. Like you I'll never give up on the B Body! Let me know you remember me by doing a smoky burn out in my honor! BTW... Danica Patric no longer returns my phone calls... seems she is married now... too bad she was a really naughty girl...

~

~JohnBlazeLTZ (NAISSO handle)

JOHN! Good to hear from you!    Do you remember the Paris Hilton radiator dance?
 Check out https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t3378-april-2011-long-roof-of-the-month-tale-of-the-whale 

 .. and no, I don't listen to Blue Oyster Cult, more like Lawrwnce Welk in my old age.

Oh man... those steamy nights in Paris were memorable for sure! Those were good times. You were one of a handful of guys I could call friends over there on that site. Really glad to see you still got the Kicker Waggy. I was always impressed by your dedication. My LTZ had developed issues over time... so many that it got to a point where my wallet couldn't take it anymore. The LTZ got parked for a few years until my finances could recover. You might remember I lost my job not long after I bought a house. Well for the next 5 years I had done nothing but struggle financially... that is until recently where I have finally seen the light of day. Unfortunately the Vortech TBI Supercharger I had for it got sold to pay for things more important. It was never going to put out the power levels I wanted anyway so it went to some 3rd Gen guy in Utah. But I've been in a much better place lately and looking forward to getting my B-Body on the road. Unfortunately sitting still too long hasn't done the LTZ much good. If anything a lot of the problems have just gotten worse. The body is got a lot more rust on it and the the brakes were completely rusted frozen. So I've enlisted an old friend to at least help me get her running and driving again. Brakes are the number one priority right now but the top end is also going to need some attention. I got a broken exhaust bolt and a bad head gasket on the Drivers side. This is going to require the heads come off... and I'll be damned if I put those 193 Swirl Ports back on. So I'm looking at the EBL FLASH, a decent set of assembled heads, a ported/flowed intake, a hot cam and a big bore TBI with the 9C1 injectors. I'm gonna keep it simple for now.. just to get it going. That way I can finally drive it again and try to concentrate on getting some of the body related things addressed little by little. I am now going to go over to your Paris Hilton picture thread and enlighten a few of your followers over there about our times with Danica Patrick and Paris Hilton.

John, be careful around Danica, remember she can swing a mean tire iron.

Been working on a little body work for Shammoo. I'm finally getting around to fitting the Mini-Cooper hood scoop into Shammoo's hood.  What's a whale without a blowhole to breath through.  Unfortunately the camera decided to crap the bed and become nonfunctional just as I started, so no pics yet. 

Maybe that was a sign from  the heavens.

My son came by and had his cell phone handy. Snapped a pic of the work in progress on the hood scoop. I'm sure some will hate it, some will love it...

I LIKE IT!

Every Whale needs a "blow hole" to breath.  In comparison, most "hobby cars" are already big "suck" holes where the money goes in and nothing comes out. So this one is actually FUNCTIONAL for air. I see cars, around town all the time with non functional scoops stuck on. Apparently not enough balls in their family (or empty beer cans) to get out the jig saw and put a hole in it.

looks good got any shots of under side

Not yet. That picture was courtesy of my son's cell phone. The family camera died.

I like the scoop!
It's different and it looks "right".

Worked on trying to fix the paint  over thre past two weeks with minimally better results.  The surface still looks very grainy in nature. wondering ift' sit was partially the cheap Harbor freight paint gun.

 I had boosted the prtessure, almost double, waited for a cooler day etc. It's less grainy, but still no where near smooth, dull finish , very poor reflection in it.

 So With many other things to do. I'll simply wait until winter When I plan on doing the tail lights, and getting the whole car resprayed PROFESSIONALLY in the Spring.
 

 last Year , I tried to install a Tunerview 2 unit in the center console. It never worked out, so it's coming out. The upper and lower sections of the console are getting a make over this week before Wagonfest. Got a different Tuner/ head unit, Kenwood, and am Working on getting that cut into the upper section. 

 The Climate controls are out at the moment,  as part of the redesign, so it's a hot ride everywhere I go of late.

 Hopefully, I'll see many of you at Wagonfest!

 Dave.

Here's few photos of the beast at Wagonfest 2013

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Went out to the car today. No start
It was fine when parked last night , coming back with new front tires and an alignment.

Bottom line after much evaluation proved the prominator chip set  in the ECM sh!t the bed.
I interchanged spare ECM's and Memcal. The only common denominator was when the Prominator was in place there was no start and the display was also  dead. Any other combination of ECM and chip started up. I found two carbon arc deposit between a few of the pins on the  PROminator motherboard.

Looking into replacing it with a EBL unit that is in widespread use by the Thirdgen.org guys from:

http://www.dynamicefi.com/

OYE!

News Update. I bought the EBL system. It works very well. A nice well thought out hardwar,e software and support package. It's now installed and working. I started reprogramming immediately and am about two weeks into the process, VERY SIMPLE to connect. Keep in mind I use a a Speed Density Tuned Port Injection system, (TPI) that very few here would relate to.

The neat part is no more ALDL, It uses one Special USB cord to both flash bins into the memory and record the data stream.

There is a version to support TBI, But in was pinned to match Camaro Firebird ECM'> I don't know if that would match 91-93 TBI ECM's. At any rate, the thing will self learn the fuel sparks, and show you where spark knock is occurring as well.

The thinking part comes to getting the engine to start well . Going from Crank to Choke in open loop for warm up routines is tricky. I'm not quite done yet but getting closer cto the settings it seems to need. yes, there's a steep learning curve. but I'm getting the hang of it.

Dave

Dave,have you ever had the wagon on a dyno?Curious what kind of torgue the engine is putting out with the TPI system and all the mods.I have a old Super Chevy mag where they built a 350 TPI with good heads and a aftermarket ignition.Made incredible torque up to about 5000 rpm and then just shut down.I would take torque over horsepower any day for a heavy streetcar like ours.

Torque was the point of my choices as well. It has only been on the  Desktop Dyno simulator. and the butt dyno, not a real dyno

On the desktop It hits over 550ft/lb and 460hp but, as you say, falls away quickly after 5200 rpm. I've helped that process with using an Edelbrock high flow manifold and ported Siamesed runners from SLP, along with opening up the front of the plenum for the 58 mm throttle body, and port matched the runners as well. It asll helps move the air.

It's a seat of the pants ride. You are right, for heavy cars, I needed torque.

As reprogramming continues with the EBL system, I've been noting a number of rich conditons. I'm slowing getting them under control. Part of the issuie is understanding when the system is looking at fuel charts versus when it is open loop conditions. The big dogs over at www.thirdgen.org are helping greatly.


I added some STAGE 1 embelms to the lower front doors below the kicker sticker. No p[articular reason other than I just thought they looked cool.

Dave

Hopefully, Shammoo the Prince of Whales returns from hibernation this weekend. a freind of mine has had it in his pole barn all window. One rule was no working onthe car, just storage. Been tt ... toooo c..cco cccold all winter anyway.

Just ordered some new headlights off of ebay, smoked with 3 vertical LED running lights. It should blend in with the evil look to the front end. Should be here within the week


. First project is to get the passenger door open, the latch broke last fall. Even though I have a replacement lock from one of our members, up to the time it was parked for winter, I could not get the broken one to release. Looks like a stop to the body shop is in order real soon. The whole car needs to be repainted

Haven't decided yet about new tail lights. I'd like to do something different. Haven't pulled the trigger on getting '59 Caddy tail lights, as looking old school,only to have the rest of the car more contemporary.

I like those lights. I want a set myself.

Hmm....

JoeT wrote:

I like the scoop!
It's different and it looks "right".

Very professional.

Thanks boys. Hopefully there will be much done between now and Wagonfest.

Shammoo is officially out of hibernation.

First thing was tackling the broken door latch mechanism. What a pain in the butt so far. My son and I had to go in from the column between the doors. I was able to get a vise grips onto the two bolts holding the latch in place and wound them out as far as I could. Once some space opened between the backing plate and the column, I grabbed a thin nosed vice grip pliers until the backing plate dropped off. From that point the freed bolts still would not allow the door to be forced open, So I cut them off as close to the column as I could with a Dremel cut off wheel.

It finally came free after a few good pulls from the outside and a a few matching kicks from the inside.

The latch was still not out of the door yet and the column side pin plate was still stuck in a death drip by the latch. From playing with the "new" latch I was able to figure put how to trip the broken latch open, but it required a small one inch access hole cut just below the latch. Once I had access to the tripper, a small screw driver was all the was needed to trip it (after two hours of putzing around to get it open.) IT WAS NO FUN.

Next is taking a look at the Shop manual to see how to get the new one back in, looks like to might be easier to drill out the rivets holding that inner aluminum backing plate in. The alternative is have a collision shop put it back together. But since I'm a cheap bastard, I'll try it myself first.

Dave