Yeah that is what I meant, when they did mine it took them 3 days and it just needed shortened had fresh u joints and everything. But I wasn't in a rush so it wasn't a big deal.
CK5
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I got the driveshaft back yesterday afternoon, installed it, and we took it for a quick test drive. I got it up to 90 and it was smooth as silk, too much traffic to go any faster.
No pictures unfortunately. I did it in the driveway as we have my buddies track truck on the lift right now.
No pictures unfortunately. I did it in the driveway as we have my buddies track truck on the lift right now.
We got to firebird 45 minutes before they open the gates hoping to be one of the first ones on the track, but there's already a line out the parking lot and down the road...
Another sold out night, hopefully I get 3 runs in.
Another sold out night, hopefully I get 3 runs in.
Well, I ended up being the first car in the staging lanes, maybe it will be a good night.
12.88 is my best so far. We're letting it chill down while we grab some food and I'll do one more pass. I may not have enough nitrous, but I'll try.
The last run was the best, 12.78 @102. I'll get videos up later.
Last night was a blast, Firebird was sold out again. I did manage to be the first one to the lanes and one of the first down the track though. I got 4 runs in, which is about all a 10lb bottle will do for me.
For the first run, I didn't change anything, I just took it down the track and set a new PB for the truck, [email protected].
I drove around and got right back into the lanes thinking I'd have 30 minutes or so before I ran again. I did not. I quickly made some changes to my tune to change the shift points (went from 5000RPM to 5500) and to set the torque converter to lock above 4500RPM in 3rd and 4th at WOT. I was rushing and barely finished before I went up to do my burnout and stage and I forgot to turn on the nitrous. I didn't bother uploading that video, it was high 13s at 99mph or something like that. I quickly drove around and got back in line for another run, this one was another PB, [email protected].
After hot lapping 3 runs we took a break, grabbed some food and watched the racing for a while. We looked through the data logs to make sure everything was good and took it for one more run. Previously I had adjusted my nitrous heater switch to bump the pressure to 1000psi from 900, but for some reason it had just been heating to 900. During our break it finally pushed the pressure up to the correct setpoint. Since the new converter stalls at about 2800rpm when foot braking with this engine, the nitrous comes in pretty quickly after I let off the brake (3000RPM). The higher pressure lifted the front more than I've ever experienced with the truck, it fully extended the front suspension and may have picked up a tire, but unfortunately you can't see it on the video if it did 
. New PB again [email protected].
After the final run we went back to the stands and watched the racing for a bit before we headed home. It was a good night hanging out with other gearheads.
Here's a couple burnout pictures to cap off the evening.
We got home fairly late and crashed, when we went back out to check out the truck we realized we found the limit of the factory battery tie down...
We'll have to come up with something better for that.
We pulled the battery out and then got a bit carried away. It's hard to stop pulling parts out once you start
.
Now for the bad part, the driveshaft was vibrating at the top end of the track pretty badly, not as violent as the steel one, but it was definitely buzzing. The 275/40R17 drag radials make the driveshaft spin 20-25% faster than the street tires (275/55R17) and I think that was a big factor. At full droop the driveshaft was pretty close to the driveshaft loop/crossmember and I think the combination of the driveshaft vibrating, me getting on the brakes at 100mph+ and how close it was made the driveshaft hit the crossmember....
On the bright side, we're hoping to have the new engine in tomorrow. I need to make quite a few modifications to the wiring harness, fuel system, Nitrous setup etc. but the engine will be mounted in the engine bay tomorrow (fingers crossed)!
For the first run, I didn't change anything, I just took it down the track and set a new PB for the truck, [email protected].
. New PB again [email protected].Here's a couple burnout pictures to cap off the evening.
We got home fairly late and crashed, when we went back out to check out the truck we realized we found the limit of the factory battery tie down...
We'll have to come up with something better for that.
We pulled the battery out and then got a bit carried away. It's hard to stop pulling parts out once you start
.
Now for the bad part, the driveshaft was vibrating at the top end of the track pretty badly, not as violent as the steel one, but it was definitely buzzing. The 275/40R17 drag radials make the driveshaft spin 20-25% faster than the street tires (275/55R17) and I think that was a big factor. At full droop the driveshaft was pretty close to the driveshaft loop/crossmember and I think the combination of the driveshaft vibrating, me getting on the brakes at 100mph+ and how close it was made the driveshaft hit the crossmember....
On the bright side, we're hoping to have the new engine in tomorrow. I need to make quite a few modifications to the wiring harness, fuel system, Nitrous setup etc. but the engine will be mounted in the engine bay tomorrow (fingers crossed)!
Out with the old, in with the new!
It's officially "installed", now I just have to hook everything up. It's going from a Gen3 to a Gen 4 along with the different intake and coils so I'll be spending a few days on just the wiring harness. We're hoping to fire it up in the next couple weeks though
It's officially "installed", now I just have to hook everything up. It's going from a Gen3 to a Gen 4 along with the different intake and coils so I'll be spending a few days on just the wiring harness. We're hoping to fire it up in the next couple weeks though
After looking at the driveshaft some more I realized that it didn't hit the bottom of the crossmember like I thought, it actually hit on the side where there's 1/2" clearance.
I took the shaft back to the driveshaft shop yesterday and had them take a look to see if they could see anything wrong. They put it back on their machine and it's still perfectly balanced and they couldn't get it to shake (although they can't simulate load). I'm not sure what to do at this point, they'll replace the tube for the price of materials, but I don't think that will fix anything. They recommended going to a 5" tube, but that will take even more work and $$ as the exhaust and crossmember will have to be modified for that.
Speaking of modifying the exhaust...
I'm not sure how exactly the Smeding heads are different than stock, but it appears that the exhaust flange is different from a standard LS. The header V-bands are about 1" wider spaced than the X-pipe now.
Now since I have to re-do the exhaust anyways, do I make it so I can run a CF driveshaft? Decisions decisions...
I took the shaft back to the driveshaft shop yesterday and had them take a look to see if they could see anything wrong. They put it back on their machine and it's still perfectly balanced and they couldn't get it to shake (although they can't simulate load). I'm not sure what to do at this point, they'll replace the tube for the price of materials, but I don't think that will fix anything. They recommended going to a 5" tube, but that will take even more work and $$ as the exhaust and crossmember will have to be modified for that.
Speaking of modifying the exhaust...
I'm not sure how exactly the Smeding heads are different than stock, but it appears that the exhaust flange is different from a standard LS. The header V-bands are about 1" wider spaced than the X-pipe now.
Now since I have to re-do the exhaust anyways, do I make it so I can run a CF driveshaft? Decisions decisions...
Now I've stared at the truck for way too long, my brain is going. To modify the exhaust and get it far enough from the driveshaft I'd need to move the X-pipe back over the rear axle, which isn't ideal. The other option would be an H-pipe right under the transmission crossmember, this would require WAY less work and probably wouldn't cost any more horsepower than moving the X-pipe way too far back.
What are your thoughts? Even just moving to a 5" aluminum driveshaft would require moving the x-pipe, but I wouldn't have to put it in the trunk....
What are your thoughts? Even just moving to a 5" aluminum driveshaft would require moving the x-pipe, but I wouldn't have to put it in the trunk....
I say put an H pipe where you can, you will not notice the loss
Yeah if this was a serious race car maybe it would matter, the craine on the back hurts more than switching from x to h
Smeding got back and stated that their header flanges are in the stock location. Now I'm wondering if one of the headers is just hanging funny. The drivers side v-band is sitting pretty high, if it's rotated up that could be why they're spread wider than they should be...
If I can get it to bolt together, I'm not going to change anything on the exhaust right now. I'm hoping to get this thing fired up this weekend, then I can sort out the driveshaft issue.
If I can get it to bolt together, I'm not going to change anything on the exhaust right now. I'm hoping to get this thing fired up this weekend, then I can sort out the driveshaft issue.
I was going to mention putting a ratchet strap on it and pulling it together. But I saw that wouldn't fix the driveshaft so I deleted my comment.
If I put the v-bands on with that much stress it would likely destroy the flex joints quickly. It needs to just bolt together or it's going to fail.
True, but a flex joint is supposed to flex right? Kidding, it will last a bit until it doesn't I assume they are meant for flex of the engine not fixing mess ups.
They're meant to flex to compensate for expansion and contraction of the exhaust as well as frame twist and engine movement. All of that is pretty minor compared to what it would take to bolt it together right now.
I figured it out, the drivers side header is hitting one of the extra head bolts. Looks like I need to pull the header and give it an Engine Masters certified love tap.
Hopefully my MLS gaskets reseal properly.
Hopefully my MLS gaskets reseal properly.
I have clearance now and everything seems closer to where it was before, but I think it's still too far off for me to shove things into place.
I'm still too far apart at the back though and the drivers side sits higher than the passenger now as well.
Looks like I'll be building an H-pipe after all. Good thing I ordered some more v-band clamps for morning delivery last night.
I'm still too far apart at the back though and the drivers side sits higher than the passenger now as well.
Looks like I'll be building an H-pipe after all. Good thing I ordered some more v-band clamps for morning delivery last night.
