[TheSilverBuick]

I agree, I knew something wasn't right, but in the heat of the moment couldn't determine what. Being a new turbo from a V8 LS kit I wasn't sure what lag to expect or the exhaust sound change. Since it always consumed oil on every cylinder the plug didn't show a dramatic difference from the others.

[Cammer-6]

this brings to mind a tip we used when tuning the sons nitro RC cars.
Use a IR scan gun to read temp of plug while running.
You can spot a dead cylinder right away.
I remember Smokey Yunick drilling holes in headers to insert a temp probe
into the flame and tune each cylinder.When a journalist asked what the hole was for
he got silence. Another of his competitive cards he played.

[TheSilverBuick]

Had I pulled out the IR gun yeah it would have stood out. A wire got pulled loose from a connector in all the shuffling installing the turbo.

Previewing a later post, I've added EGT probes to each cylinder

[TheSilverBuick]

So since pulling the engine apart I've started on getting the last few things wrapped up on the new engine as well as pulling all the non-stock wiring out of the car and re-wiring it. Much like the engine, I never expected the wiring to be the long term set up. So what was once nicely rolled up wires got bird nested as I added a few inputs here and there over the years and needed specific wires.

One of the things I wanted to use was an SFI flexplate, which has turned into quite the ordeal! The crank flange hub ID is much smaller than the usual Pontiac and is just a smidge smaller than a Chevy's. The machine shop made me a precision sized ring spacer to use a Chevy flexplate, which I got an SFI one to use..... but I just recently found out that the ring gear isn't welded in the same spot as the Pontiac's! The Chevy ring gear is centered on the flexplate and the Pontiac's offset to one side, which made it so the starter gear couldn't reach the flexplate! So digging into my spare parts pile, I found that the Buick 455 hub diameter is the same as the Chevy and off set ring gear BUT has a bigger bolt spacing. Using the torque converter bolt holes as alignment holes, I re-drilled the Buick flexplate I had.

My flexplate hub spacer.


A stock flexplate.


A Chevy flexplate


The drilled SFI Buick flexplate. The plate is twice as thick as a stock flexplate.




The diameter is ever so slightly larger than the OHC plate, but has the same tooth count. It was easy to shim the starter as needed.


And a short video of the Buick flexplate doing its job!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oNmyUPaNjbg

[TheSilverBuick]

I started working on some of the external things I wanted to have on the new engine. As mentioned before, adding EGT sensors to all the exhaust ports so I can make individual cylinder adjustments or simply see if I have lost fuel or spark on a hole.


I put the CAN EGT box in a waterproof housing that will go on the driver's side fender.


As part of the new engine, I wanted better oil control and as previously posted, made a full length windage tray and set it up for an external oil pick up line to the oil pump, but still needed to actually finish the oil pan. So with an aftermarket universal oil pickup I modified the tube to exit the pan in the corner behind the starter but before the motor mount, in a place that I believe can fairly easily route the pickup line to the accessory drive housing. (my welding isn't the best..... but it should get the job done...)




Then for oil baffles, roughly copying the SRE pan in my Buick 455 with simple front and rear baffles with a slight angle to funnel oil to the center


I put a little lip on the edges like the stock baffle has.




The stock dipstick tube sits right over the new oil pickup tube, but seems to be okay with my 1/2" spacer in place. Since I was going to make a new dipstick to account for the 1/2" spacer, I'm going to extend the top of the tube up higher so I'm not reaching down around the turbo exhaust to check the oil. With that I'll add a handle with an o-ring seal and something to keep it positively seated.

[TheSilverBuick]

Concurrently I'm re-working the wiring because this isn't cool, lol


I removed the dash and pulled essentially all the non-stock or radio related wiring out of the car. Same with under the hood.




Drilling out some existing holes in the firewall I'm adding multi-pin duetsch connectors. I'm about ready to finalize my pinout on them, but being held up on trying to decide if I'm going to add an Input/Output (IO) board under the hood or not. If I do, then I'll likely reduce the number of wires going through the firewall by 6+ wires as the sensors will be brought into the megasquirt via the CAN bus with the EGT box.




Testing out the little white IO board with the Megasquirt. If it works as I expect, I'll install it in the same box as the CAN EGT under the hood and run in the same CAN loop. As a reminder, my 4L60e controller also runs on the CAN bus.


Another little project I'm dabbling in is modernizing the hood tach. The stock innards are junk. I found this $15 "boat" tach on e-bay and preliminary tests show it may work well. I would like a faster refresh rate, but all in all would get the job done. I would also like to put a few indicator lights in the hood tach as well. Such as a shift light, a "check engine" or "Safety" light that would come on if the engine was leaning out, over heating, losing oil pressure, etc. Maybe a green light to indicate if I hit my boost target or such as well. I think the hood tach is original and the housing has seen better days. I've covered a big part of it with epoxy and re-enforced the screw stands. I'll post up some pictures after I've sanded down the epoxy I just dumped all over it.




A short video bench testing the tach. I think I'm going to cut some tin or thin plastic sheet to block most the screen outside the rpm gauge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJDj-_oQey4

I'm also starting on installing the screen behind the dash. FINALLY going to clean that up!

[TheSilverBuick]

Poking away at smaller details. Since I'm more certain on using an external input/output (IO) box I've be re-viewing my wiring plan. Still making headway on sorting out the wiring cleanup.

Updating the firmware on the Megasquirt EFI, and testing out connecting external modules. The 4L60e has been connected via CAN bus for years, now adding the EGT box and a small IO board. Got them all connected up on the software side.




I've pulled the dash out, and finally getting around to putting a touchscreen behind the dash trim.





https://youtu.be/O_L7bF96BrA?si=Om3EuRy6QmnAvOaJ

[TheSilverBuick]

I'm working on putting together a new intake manifold. The runner length of the Marshall intake is a little short and the fuel rail interferes with the thermostat housing, so I've been contemplating converting a Weber intake manifold over to EFI and have started making progress on that.

The original concept mock up. I had the Weber intake on hand when making the header so I knew it would clear.


This would be essentially like the Marshall intake, except with longer runners.


But I'd like to add a little volume to the intake manifold and bring the air in at a 45º angle so #1 doesn't get by-passed as badly on airflow.


But now some actual progress. I found someone local to me to give it a go at putting some EFI bungs into the intake.


He's still got to drill the matching fuel rail then fabricate some hold downs, but overall, I like the direction its going.



On the car side, I've been plugging away at planning out the new wiring and cooling plumbing. The goal is to get the mess of a jungle under the hood into a neat and tidy setup. I'm removing the two cooling lines going into the head and going back to a conventional flow cooling system. A new intake will make this easier to do. Planning out the wiring hopefully will clean up all the "temporary" test setup wiring.