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Canadian 1984 244 DL B21A/B6304 project log.

I'll be going on a long drive to a buddy's garage next tuesday to throw it up on the 4-post and check the pinion angle, so we'll find out how it handles a 1 hour drive. Fingers crossed it makes it fine.

It's a very strange vibration, IMO. It increases while revving at idle or while accelerating, but it definitely smoothes out while cruising. It can't be driveline, which is good, and it doesn't get wilder and louder when I'm going from 80kph (local hwy speed) to 100kph (major hwy speed) like if something was out of balance...so maybe I'm just being an oversensitive guy with his first V8 car ever.
 
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Well, the drive has been moved to thursday. Due to the adapted Jeep wheels having tires with a 2004 date code, and were absolutely not winter/spring suitable...I've moved to the set of 195/70-14s that came with the car when I got it in 2016. They have a date code of 2010, but are crack-free so far. It will also be helpful to have a set of OEM wheels on the car to narrow down the many vibrations, while eliminating the adapters as a variable.
 
Currently I just need rubber to get it to my buddy's shop and to keep it off the ground while I work on the widened 740 steelies I'm building. Tires are the next purchase to be made, but I need to finish the wheels first.

I may also be modifying the STS standoffs to take the usual GM three-bolt rubber mounts, because I'm apparently too old for poly stuff.
 
First drive success! I took it on an hour long cruise (and ferry ride) to a buddy's shop to check out the pinion angle on his 4-post and everything went perfectly. The poly mounts are really not my jam so a softer option will be found, and the pinion angle is waaaaaaaaaaaay out. The trans is 4* down and I was only able to get the diff to go 2* up on the BNE hybrid arms without being unsafe. I've got to shim the trans up, but I made the exhaust too close to the crossmember so I can't go high enough...sigh. I'm going to have to drop the front part of the exhaust to set the trans height and then make some spacers for the exhaust collector flanges. All-in-all, it was a good day...and winter f**king sucks, lol.
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Well, I dislike poly engine mounts, apparently, so I'm making some out of 1965 Impala SBC rubber stuff. Passenger side is done, painted, and installed...and the driver's side is under construction. It's going to be a bit more challenging due to the proximity of the steering rack but I think it will work out fine.

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Both mounts are done, and driver's side was a bit of a challenge, but not too bad. Because they're now rubber mounts, it did sag/slide a bit to the driver's side so I had to notch the driver's manifold for clearance. It's super slight, so I'm not worried in the least (thank you Engine Masters, lol). I was in the process of installing the manifold on that side when the power went out here due to a crazy ice storm. Its' back on, but there is a shit ton of lighting and thunder, the power is flickering, and three trees have fallen in my back yard...so car work is on the back burner for now.
 
Power is back, and 'some' of the trees have been cleaned up. It'll probably take me a lot of April to get it all done, ugh.

But...I am happy to say that the vibration I've had is gone. Poly engine mounts are NOT for me and the ones I posted above fixed everything. It revs like a Cadillac now with NO transmission of NVH through the body, at all!

The STS mounts are probably going up for sale, if anyone is braver/younger/rowdier than me then they'll be priced right! lol.
 
Oh, I also have to say that the Summit brand cast headers I got for the swap (the same as virtually all the other chinese clones of the hooker block huggers) were simple to notch for the steering shaft. They're quite thick (~3/16") so all I did was drill 4 holes in a rectangle pattern, to reduce cracking, cut through on the two long sides and cut halfway through on the two short sides. Then I beat the everloving snot out of the small part with a ball peen hammer until it was deeper than the surrounding area, turned up the welder to 'solar flare', and welded it up. Now there's PLENTY of clearance :).

I bet I could have just used the grinder and made a spot, given that they're so thick, but I was in a 'hot rod fabrication' kinda mood.
 
No picture-worthy updates, but there's info if anyone's interested :).
I've been following along with the open-source LS tuning for a while now and it's maturing really nicely. I did my swap on an 'older' P01/0411 PCM that has 512kb of memory but decided to switch to a 'later' P59 PCM with 1mb of memory to take advantage of the open-source custom OS that is available for the 603 OS. It's got features to rival HPTuners stuff, and is free :). It's all on the PCMHacking.net forum and you do not need an HPTuners dongle or any licenses or credits.
 
Broke4speed said:
But...I am happy to say that the vibration I've had is gone. Poly engine mounts are NOT for me and the ones I posted above fixed everything. It revs like a Cadillac now with NO transmission of NVH through the body, at all!

The STS mounts are probably going up for sale, if anyone is braver/younger/rowdier than me then they'll be priced right! lol.
Click to expand...
I remain amazed at the plethora of small tubular tree-like engine mounts that folks fabricate/buy..... and then are amazed that the engine vibes are transmitted into the chassis from same? Look at the factory engine mount perches which came with your LS..... I'd have grabbed those from the donor vehicle. Then build a SUBSTANTIAL pedestal the same width as your front cross member. Find the stiffest tubular steel to fit that volume, then cap the ends with plates of the same thickness plates.

No respectable drivetrain engineer would EVER build a column mount for engine reactions (both rotational and thrust). The 100's of such engineers worldwide know that these post style mounts are "guitar strings" and would never pass vibration transmissibility testing.

Nice work getting that LS under the hood without butchering the cross member. Many have done this by sectioning of the factory cross member, and I for one am not a fan of that structural removal.

There.... the retired Engineering Manager feels better! ;-)
 
I'm with you on every point, promise. The STS mounts work fine, but for a picky old man like me, the poly was a nightmare. It really wasn't that bad but rubber is so much nicer. Any straight-down standoff is going to be a compromise on mounting angle, but it really makes for a compact mounting solution that bolts on.

After struggling with some dead O2s and other nonsense the car is finally ready to go for daily duties. NEVER cheap out on oxygen sensors is the expensive lesson I learned this week. I cleaned out a year's worth of junk and future mods from the back seat, emptied the trunk of all the things I had been 'temporarily storing' there for the past two years, and actually put all the trim panels back on too. It's a real car again! :D

Let the daily driving begin!
 
Inaugural drive to work went well...with the exception of me being a boober and not connecting the heater core 'because it was easier'. Single-digit (*C) temps this morning...CHILLY!

There's an ANNOYING high-frequency vibration that starts at 2350 rpm and doesn't transmit through the steering wheel. I can partially feel it through the body of the car, but not very powerfully. The shifter is vibrating like crazy, but not a lot of movement in it. Stock Ford T5 rubber trans mount and stock 65 Impala rubber engine mounts (new). It doesn't seem to increase in intensity beyond it's peak at 2400...but I haven't really put the pedal down yet to see. This is the first V engine I've ever had, as well as the first V8, so maybe I'm just being a weenie? I'm going to find time to re-install the big Ranger dampened yoke this weekend and see what happens.
 
I pulled the possibly-dodgy chinese swap harness and am replacing it with this...

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I'm tired of doubting the parts I use and I have had a rotten time lately with P0200 errors and lean banks so I chose to go this way. It's the same price as all the other aftermarket harnesses, in USD...but let me tell you it is the most expensive part I've bought in recent years thanks to the crappy exchange rate to CAD. If I was going to pay $900 for a harness...I wanted one that I will NEVER doubt.
 
I believe so, yeah. I've been chasing random P0200 and P0300 issues and have hardly driven the car much at all. This happened as I pulled into town and clutched in. The car went crazy rich and stalled out. When I went to start it back up it cranked over half a turn and BANG...engine completely locked up. I had to get home so I let it drain out and cranked again...a lot. It eventually started and I made it home with the car being constantly off the scale rich at every stop...but obviously the damage was done.

Next engine gets a fresh set of NEW injectors.
 
Fingers crossed the new engine shows up at the shop on tuesday or wed :).

There's something funky in the file that was in the PCM. I went to the scrappers and grabbed a couple P01s to start fresh. I know the common procedure is to throw junkyard engines right in...but I'm considering spending some time and putting new gaskets in everywhere.
 
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