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Ive been busting my brain trying to figure out an elegant solution to the intercooler plumbing issue. I have most of the hose routing sort of figured out, but the actual circuit isnt finalized. Ill see if I can whip up a MS paint diagram to illustrate my issue.

I got a silicone 45* coupler I think will work to get the intake to clear the Riviera reservoir. The reservoir should arrive monday or tuesday.

Im starting to think the MAF sensor is bad. I double checked with Brian last weekend that the PCM is flashed for the right MAF. The numbers its spitting out are still all wrong and I have a DTC for low MAF input voltage. Guess Ill see what ill be paying for one of those...

I think I need to run a dedicated circuit for the wideband since I cant really find power under the dash and It seems to pull a fair amount of current. Hopefully next weekend Ill also embark on building a pod into the A pillar for the gauge. Maybe tweeters, too.

The springs should be done any day now and I have new strut mounts and a wheel bearing to put in at the same time, so hopefully by then Ill have everything else more or less worked out and the weather gets better.

The weather will be cloudy and 30-40f forever I think :-/.

Excited to see this coming to the end!

Randy I have a 3 Gauge pillar pod i made back in the day,( its all molded in one piece) that I could be parted with....

2003 SSEi wrote:Randy I have a 3 Gauge pillar pod i made back in the day,( its all molded in one piece) that I could be parted with....

Hmm, that would save me some time. Might have to find another gauge to put in it though. What do you need to see for it? I can also barter with pictures of cute dogs if that helps.

I got the lowering springs today. theres definately a lot more metal to them. Mounted them on the GXP struts and got them in, at least the front anyway. I have pics but photobucket is acting funny.

I also mocked up a tank for the intercooler after not having much luck with other options. It will be fabricated out of aluminum and tig welded. The pieces are cut and the fittings are welded in. Just needs to be all welded together. Hopefully have that for next weekend.

Tomorrow the plan is to install the rear springs, drivers side front wheel bearing and braided brake hoses. If I feel up to it, perhaps Ill work some more on the IC plumbing.

Oh I just remembered, I still have to make a permanent blockoff for the EGR hole on the blower. I plan to make a simple aluminum plate with the appropriately sized threaded hole for either a meth or nitrous nozzle.

Well, the brake hoses will have to wait for another day. I have the wrong flare adapters, so I just need to round up the right ones and get enough fresh fluid to replace all of the old stuff.

In the meantime I got all the springs in today. I put it on the ground and its sitting at about stock height, but obviously it will settle in a bit. My only worry is that when I ordered, I said I added about 50lbs to the front over stock SSEi weight, but I had them base my springs off GXP springs, so I may have messed up a little there. Im not sure what the weight difference is between a GXP and SSEi, bu Illl find out and keep this updated. The other thing is that my camber is way out so thats probably making it sit higher as well.

Next few things on the list are a different MAF, finish the IC plumbing with the new reservoir, change the oil and hopefully start breaking the motor in properly.

Apparently a Norfffstar weighs about 475 pounds with accessories. I wonder how much heavier the 4T80 is. I think you should be good though.

That's all the pics I'm going to post. It's such a pain with my phone not being able to paste on a new line and the photobucket desktop site isn't giving me img links...

Whats up with photobucket lately? Is it just me?

Anyway, Im still figuring out bracketry for the tank, and I need a new cruise control bracket for that. Hopefully Ill have that in time for the weekend and I can get the tank fully welded and brackets on early next week.

In the meantime I have a new MAF sensor on the way. Hopefully that is the rood of the running issues. I was getting a P0102 code I believe. Whichever one is MAF LOW INPUT VOLTAGE. The fuel trims were pegged so I cant rule out vacuum leaks or a bad injector/s, but considering I dropped the MAF sensor from my bench, Im going to go with that for now.

The springs seem to be too densely wound. I can barely fit my index finger between the coils in the front and its still sitting almost exactly at stock height.

Did i miss something or did the oil not gettin to the rockers solve itself?

Zeik75 wrote:Did i miss something or did the oil not gettin to the rockers solve itself?

Basically. Just had to wait it out.

Photobucket always has a mind of its own. It has its good days and bad days. Liking how this is coming together. Whats the capacity of the reservoir?

Hmmm interseting. At least it doesn't seem like there is anything major wrong now, just some finishing touches.

As for the IC pump could it not be flowing cause of a vapor lock kind of thing? Or does the pump need primed? We have a water pump that we use to get water out or our jetskis if they get flipped, but we need to fill the hose and gravity feed it towards the pump before it actually sucks up the water.

Just some thoughts to help trouble shooting for you, good luck with the rest though!

The pump wasn't totally airlocked and water was flowing, but there was so much air in the system that it would have taken ages to bleed. It's better to design the circuit to be self bleeding and replentishing so you never end up with air in the core or pump.

The MAF sensor took care of the lean condition, so thats nice. Just too bad my oil pressure drops to 7psi when it gets hot.

Ouch, hopefully it's an easy fix and not a major issue like bearing clearance.

Forgive my lack of knowledge as I've never been in the bottom end of one of these, but do these motors have an o-ring on the oil pump and pickup like the LS motors do? I've seen lots of those guys pinch the O-ring on install and cause low oil pressure once the car warms up. But of course if these motors don't have them, then that point is moog.

The oil pump pickup has a paper gasket.

I have four theories: 1-Oil pressure relief spring is wrong. Unlikely, and shouldnt cause it to go that low. 2-I got CTS-V lifters which ive heard can cause oil pressure problems. 3-The blockoff for the balance shaft oil port slipped or leaks. I would think this would show lower pressure even than it does. 4-The shortblock was built like crap and i have excessive bearing tolerances.

I also have to rebuild the blower again because the snout seal started leaking and i hardly get any boost.

What is the oil pressure at 2000 rpm?

When it's hot and idling at 7psi, I think it's a out 25-30 something at 2000rpm.

Right now I'm rather desperately looking for some help to put the stock engine back in so I can sell the car for a reasonable amount and start working on selling parts.

Talking to the bank tomorrow about a loan for a g35 coupe.

the end

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