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V1 Jared's Florida Road/Track Build - 06 SS/SC (#230)
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
The plug on the supercharger has orange\bl stripe, white, gray w\bl stripe. Above oil filter is orange w\bl stripe, green, ava gray w\bl stripe.
ctuinstra
Goblin Guru
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Yes, I had to replace that gasket... How do I clock it correctly? Thanks!
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Thanks for checking. I'll switch them and see where that takes us. Best community on the internet!
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
I reversed the two baro sensor plugs and the engine is idling much better. I'll reclock the cam sensor this weekend. Thanks a lot for the help.
I went for a few laps around the neighborhood today and it ran much better. But it is still surging in first gear. Very smooth in second but in first it's vibrating\surging. It feels more like a throttle or fuel issue than a clutch issue.
I went for a few laps around the neighborhood today and it ran much better. But it is still surging in first gear. Very smooth in second but in first it's vibrating\surging. It feels more like a throttle or fuel issue than a clutch issue.
ctuinstra
Goblin Guru
- ctuinstra Goblin Guru
Do you know if the car has a tune from ZZP or anyone else? Sounds like it could use some fine tuning to help with that issue. The throttle is very touchy in these lightweight cars, but there are things that can exacerbate it.
Does the engine surge while idling or is it only seem to surge in gear?
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Now that I have the intake all tightened up and the baro plugs correct, it idles great. I don't think it had a custom tune but there were at least 3 previous owners as far as I can figure. I already have a line on a guy who's going to do some fine tuning for me so maybe he can settle it down a bit.
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Spent the weekend reclocking the cam position sensor, cutting holes in the hood for the naca ducts, and cutting the front fenders back. My wife also took her first lap around the neighborhood and seemed to enjoy it. And for the first time I took it on the main road and got it up to about 50. And at that speed it started aggressively swerving bank and forth. I didn't have a lot of confidence in my eye ball and 2x4 alignment... So found a guy who will do a custom alignment for me. And today ordered the BC coil overs for the rear. So next week I'll get a temp tag to go get it weighed, hopefully get the assignment done, and get the paperwork off to the pensacola inspection office to get a VIN and hopefully not get slapped with the sand rail label that some folks in Florida have had to deal with. In the home stretch!
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Well I've posted a lot of other places on the forum as I've had questions, but evidently not here on my build log for some time. I ended up Plasti-dipping the fiberglass and wheels (and made some comments in that thread) plum purple. For my Christmas present this year I got the dual pass endplate, phenolic spacer, new laminova core gaskets, the ZZP oversized idler pulley, and a 2.9 pulley, so I put those on back in January. It was my first time taking apart the intake, so I spent a bit of time carefully cleaning the laminova cores, and replaced the PCV valve (which was not working). I also cobbled together all of the parts to add the Option B tank (last year I got an extra radiator overflow tank off of Rockauto; it looks like they are no longer stocked) and bleeder. I successfully tapped the intake and put in the barbed elbow. The only thing I was missing was the little plastic insert for the 1/4" line to restrict the fluid movement. ZZP wouldn't sell just that part, but OTTP does (it was backordered, but I went ahead an ordered it and after about a month it showed up at the house). Initially I just zip tied the overflow tank behind the passenger side (until we took at trip to Red Oak and visited Adam and the shop and brought some parts home with me...to include the reverse tank bracket for the passenger side. I'm not crazy about the placement because it interferes with the dip stick (Cat V Portworks makes a flexible dipstick for the LSJ that is on my "to buy" list). Also, the outlet makes the plumbing very wonky. I am planning on experimenting with some aluminum tanks to see how that works). Once that was all put back together, I realized my intercooler pump wasn't working. I was a little surprised as this was one of the first parts I replaced after I bought my donor. But I used the excuse to get the ZZP high capacity pump. I installed that, and it still didn't work...You should always troubleshoot before blindly buying parts!. Some fun with the multimeter indicated that all was good with the wiring (to include the polarity of the plug, evidently a common Cobalt SS/SC issue), and finally I pulled the relay and discovered that was fried. Fortunately the AC relay right next to it is the exact same part number, so swapped them and voila! Functional intercooler system!
Backing up a bit, before I put the intake back in, I decided to install the Oil filter relocation parts in. I had ordered those way back when, thanks to the tip from Desert Sasquatch. I figured out where I was going to put the filter mount, and figured out some hose lengths. I had to make some oil lines from the filter adapter (AN fittings) to the filter mount (NPT fittings). A local speed shop helped me out and the end result turned out pretty good.
When I finally put it all back together, with the phenolic spacer, the supercharger now rubs a little on the radiator overflow bracket. An issue I still need to work. But the stock serpentine belt seemed to work great with the 2.9 pulley, oversized idler pulley, and phenolic spacer (I also replaced the oil in the supercharger while it was out; I was going to replace the coupler, but the old one looked like new, so sent that back to Amazon).
At this point, I finally pulled the trigger on going the Montana route for registration. It has all gone well so far. I am still awaiting the plates, but I spent the extra $50 for a temp plate so I've been driving the car for a few weeks now. Next on the agenda was finding someone to tune it for me. I went back and forth for a while on whether I should buckle down and learn to do it myself, do a ZZP remote tune, or find someone local. Finding someone local proved more difficult than anticipated. I finally found Tuned by Norm in Houma Louisiana who agreed to give it a shot. A 4.5 hour drive away. So I ordered the Fuel Injector Connection Split Spray 630s. Mitch at Tuned by Norm did a solid job with the tune and I'm happy with the result. He put in a new O2 sensor, and NGK spark plugs, and did a dyno and road tune. He is recommending a reworking of the intake, another future project. We discussed making the intake longer (he recommended a length three times the diameter of the pipe, so 9 inches, with the valve vent behind the MAF sensor; so looking at going straight down with the intake). With the short intake, even the shop's fan was messing with the idle. But the dyno yielded 210 hp to the wheels at 6800 (and it was still rising at fuel cutoff) and a peak of 180 lb feet of torque. The car is still pretty touchy and still surges at low rpm, but not as bad as before. Overall, I'm happy with the job he did, and he's willing to do some remote tweaking of the tune, especially after I lengthen the intake. So if you're in the south, and you're like me and don't want to mess with the tune yourself, give Mitch a call!
Finally, I convinced my sister in law to lend her sewing skills to the project. She sewed up the really sweet sunshade for the halo out of 80% outdoor sunshade material. I put some grommets in, and used little ball bungee loops to attach and I'm really happy with the result. Very quick to put on and off.
Oh, and insurance. I ended up working through Geico, who subs out collector car insurance to someone else. There was a pretty big price difference between 3000 miles per year and 2500, so settled on the 2500. That should still let me drive to work a couple times per week when its nice out; we'll see how it works the first year and we'll adjust from there. I think it was just over $500 per year (3k miles was just over $800).
So that is where I'm at. I have the parts to replace all the bushings and ball joint on the control arms, but I won't mess with that until I have enough parts to go back to powder coating (I want to powder coat them the same color as the frame). The rest will be some cosmetic tweaking of the engine bay, to include looking at aluminum overflow tanks for the radiator and intercooler. I still need to get seats, and probably a second set of wheels to use when flat towing (flat towing to Louisiana for the tune did a real number on the RE-71Rs). I'm also getting a tweak done to the alignment tomorrow.
Backing up a bit, before I put the intake back in, I decided to install the Oil filter relocation parts in. I had ordered those way back when, thanks to the tip from Desert Sasquatch. I figured out where I was going to put the filter mount, and figured out some hose lengths. I had to make some oil lines from the filter adapter (AN fittings) to the filter mount (NPT fittings). A local speed shop helped me out and the end result turned out pretty good.
When I finally put it all back together, with the phenolic spacer, the supercharger now rubs a little on the radiator overflow bracket. An issue I still need to work. But the stock serpentine belt seemed to work great with the 2.9 pulley, oversized idler pulley, and phenolic spacer (I also replaced the oil in the supercharger while it was out; I was going to replace the coupler, but the old one looked like new, so sent that back to Amazon).
At this point, I finally pulled the trigger on going the Montana route for registration. It has all gone well so far. I am still awaiting the plates, but I spent the extra $50 for a temp plate so I've been driving the car for a few weeks now. Next on the agenda was finding someone to tune it for me. I went back and forth for a while on whether I should buckle down and learn to do it myself, do a ZZP remote tune, or find someone local. Finding someone local proved more difficult than anticipated. I finally found Tuned by Norm in Houma Louisiana who agreed to give it a shot. A 4.5 hour drive away. So I ordered the Fuel Injector Connection Split Spray 630s. Mitch at Tuned by Norm did a solid job with the tune and I'm happy with the result. He put in a new O2 sensor, and NGK spark plugs, and did a dyno and road tune. He is recommending a reworking of the intake, another future project. We discussed making the intake longer (he recommended a length three times the diameter of the pipe, so 9 inches, with the valve vent behind the MAF sensor; so looking at going straight down with the intake). With the short intake, even the shop's fan was messing with the idle. But the dyno yielded 210 hp to the wheels at 6800 (and it was still rising at fuel cutoff) and a peak of 180 lb feet of torque. The car is still pretty touchy and still surges at low rpm, but not as bad as before. Overall, I'm happy with the job he did, and he's willing to do some remote tweaking of the tune, especially after I lengthen the intake. So if you're in the south, and you're like me and don't want to mess with the tune yourself, give Mitch a call!
Finally, I convinced my sister in law to lend her sewing skills to the project. She sewed up the really sweet sunshade for the halo out of 80% outdoor sunshade material. I put some grommets in, and used little ball bungee loops to attach and I'm really happy with the result. Very quick to put on and off.
Oh, and insurance. I ended up working through Geico, who subs out collector car insurance to someone else. There was a pretty big price difference between 3000 miles per year and 2500, so settled on the 2500. That should still let me drive to work a couple times per week when its nice out; we'll see how it works the first year and we'll adjust from there. I think it was just over $500 per year (3k miles was just over $800).
So that is where I'm at. I have the parts to replace all the bushings and ball joint on the control arms, but I won't mess with that until I have enough parts to go back to powder coating (I want to powder coat them the same color as the frame). The rest will be some cosmetic tweaking of the engine bay, to include looking at aluminum overflow tanks for the radiator and intercooler. I still need to get seats, and probably a second set of wheels to use when flat towing (flat towing to Louisiana for the tune did a real number on the RE-71Rs). I'm also getting a tweak done to the alignment tomorrow.
Attachments
Desert Sasqwatch
Bigfoot Goblin
- Desert Sasqwatch Bigfoot Goblin
The sun shade turned out nice, maybe make a few more and sell them to other builders?
Check your engine oil pressure. Adding a remote oil filter and plumbing can sometimes reduce it by 5-10 PSI. You'll want to sure your idle pressure is good - as compared to a 'stock' oil filter system.
Does anyone know what their LSJ idle pressure is reading?
Check your engine oil pressure. Adding a remote oil filter and plumbing can sometimes reduce it by 5-10 PSI. You'll want to sure your idle pressure is good - as compared to a 'stock' oil filter system.
Does anyone know what their LSJ idle pressure is reading?
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
I had thought about that. A stand-alone oil pressure gauge is on my to-do list, as is an oil accumulator (I blew the engine in my STi back in the day and don't want to do that again). But it seems that oil pressure is not generally the LSJ's achilles heel.
Desert Sasqwatch
Bigfoot Goblin
- Desert Sasqwatch Bigfoot Goblin
As with almost all Ecotecs in a long RH turn the oil in the oil pan accumulates in the LH side of the pan, away from the oil pump pick up - LSJ, LNF, LAP, etc. doesn't matter what engine. Depending upon how much lateral G is occurring, it is possible to oil starve the engine. Read through @Justinreed7 build log, he experienced some pretty severe oil starvation in his original LSJ while tracking his car and ended up adding a dry sump system to his new 2.1L engine. Yeah, probably overkill for 98% of the rest of us, but oil starvation is possible if the oil level is even slightly low, but still within tolerance with track driving. An oil accumulator, plumbed in correctly, is good insurance to help prevent oil starvation in almost all expected conditions. I've got one waiting for my Goblin on the shelf, when I get to that point someday. 
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
And now they have experience with Goblins, so you're welcome! They were really great and were very interested in the car. The owner said a few of his mechanics started looking at getting and building one after working on mine. I'm happy with the tune, but it is still very jumpy at idle and on initial acceleration in 1st. I hope to level it out once I work a larger intake for it.
But after getting my alignment redone, it appears my clutch is going out, so that will be my next priority once I get my garage back (Putting a bathroom in and the contractors have taken over my garage...1st world problems!).
jaredthenav
Well-Known Member
- jaredthenav Well-Known Member
Anyone know if this is what the end of the dip stick tube on an LSJ is supposed to look like? Obviously it needs a gasket but I'm trying to figure out if the tip broke off in the oil pan. I'm about to order the Cat V flexible tube, but want to be sure I don't need to fish anything out if the opening or the sump.
