The results are in....

**SonofaBish** · 10-25-2007, 12:17 AM

We found the problem with my fuel system to be that one of the fuel pumps was dead! So, just as a temporary crutch, to make sure that indeed, that was the only issue at this point, my buddy but a 190lb Subaru pump in place of the dead 255lb Walboro and went to work...

On 15lbs of boost, we made one pull to 4500 rpms, and the car made 712rwhp/769rwtq.... however, we had to cut the run off at that rpm b/c we were running out of fuel... when the other 255 gets in there, it will easily be able to support this boost level... We're guessing that, if let run to redline, the HP number would have been in the area of 780rwhp... So, we pulled back the boost and tuned went for my goal..

On 13lbs of boost, and ONLY 13* of WOT timing, the car made 692rwhp and 702rwtq... The jump in the graph is where the dyno lost the tach signal... (for reference, most guys wiht setups like this are running about 17 or 18* of timing)

However, as awesome as this is, the victory is quite BITTERSWEET... on the way home, i spent most of the ride on the phone, excited about finally having my baby back, and about how rediculous and insane the car was to drive around the street... got to the parkway, gave it one hit, and bam... bad news.... i'm not 100% sure yet, but i believe its the head gaskets... my buddy asked me if the ARP head studs were retorqued after a couple heat cycles and i know they werent... he said he's guessing that's the issue. I used GM MLS head gaskets, and even tho very cheap, they are recommended by 3 out of 4 guys on the LS1Tech Forced Induction forum... they're great gaskets, and cost next to nothing. So, what we're thinking, is that b/c the studs werent retorqued, it eventually lifted the heads under boost, and the coolant going into the exhaust is what made the wideband read lean when i felt the hitch... definitely white smoke pouring outta the damn car tho, and the overflow resevior is about full... The 1 thing that i do feel good about is that when taking the oil fill cap off, there's really no blowby, so i feel pretty confident that the engine is fine....
That's only 1 of about 6 major issues that's been brought to my attention about the original builder's fabrication, but i'll leave that out here... this is about a great accomplishment, even tho quite bittersweet! Once we have good head gaskets and the second walboro fuel pump in there, she'll easily make 800/800 to the wheels... then again, i may opt for bigger injectors, and then THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!!!

**George C** · 10-25-2007, 12:27 AM

good to hear the dyno numbers. those are some crazy numbers

popping the head gaskets are from the tune or from the fuel pumps running lean

**SonofaBish** · 10-25-2007, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Quik

good to hear the dyno numbers. those are some crazy numbers

popping the head gaskets are from the tune or from the fuel pumps running lean

well i can guarantee you its niether of those... the thing made a million dyno pulls and the fuel was fine, and the tune dead on....

you apparently havent spent enough time on the FI forum if you think that lifting the heads is from the tune.... never have i seen anyone hint to that

**George C** · 10-25-2007, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by SonofaBish

well i can guarantee you its niether of those... the thing made a million dyno pulls and the fuel was fine, and the tune dead on....

you apparently havent spent enough time on the FI forum if you think that lifting the heads is from the tune.... never have i seen anyone hint to that

you dyno'd the car and etc. but real life load isnt the same as the dyno. ive seen plenty of headgaskets pop on the FI forum cause of boost. if the tune is too lean it will pop the gasket. if the pumps arent working properly it could easily caused to to denotate. and now you better hope you didnt damage the piston.

GM MLS gaskets are proven over and over again, ARPs properly torqued will hold up. if you are indeed lifting heads then you might have issues with the actual heads not having enough thickness. Your levels arent to insane to be doing all that. is it possible the heads arent torqued right? could be but i would think it would of popped right off the bat.

wahts your A/F

**Rodeheaver's** · 10-25-2007, 12:38 AM

I have personally talked to the big wigs at ARP, and they fully agree with retorqueing any and all fasteners after initial heat cycles, they also told me to "pre" stretch any important bolts, IE: head, mains, rod bolts... This is something i always do after hearing that, and the fact my first solo engine build at the age of 16 i did not pre stretch my new arp rod bolts and guess what, they stretched themselfs and i lost the rod bearings...

**George C** · 10-25-2007, 12:43 AM

do a compression check and see what cylinder popped.....im willing to bet it was # 7 or # 8 since those are the first to lean out. with a moddest A/F those arent to bad. When on the edge those two can pop like a 15yr's zits

**billyNOTnice** · 10-25-2007, 12:44 AM

nice numbers bish!

**Bluemeanietsi** · 10-25-2007, 01:23 AM

Standard ARPs? I'm not suprised, they stretch worse than OEM bolts, especially if you're running 7/16th studs.

You should have went with L19's if you were serious about making power. As for the MLS head gaskets I dont' care if you argue with me about ls1 this or ls1 that, fact is they suck under boost situations and even worse if you're using regular ARPs. Even ARP2000's would have helped alitte.

Argue all you want about this person said this or that person said that but when it comes down to it there are some things that have been proven for 30 years in boost situations and your combination was not one of them.

**George C** · 10-25-2007, 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by Bluemeanietsi

Standard ARPs? I'm not suprised, they stretch worse than OEM bolts, especially if you're running 7/16th studs.

You should have went with L19's if you were serious about making power. As for the MLS head gaskets I dont' care if you argue with me about ls1 this or ls1 that, fact is they suck under boost situations and even worse if you're using regular ARPs. Even ARP2000's would have helped alitte.

Argue all you want about this person said this or that person said that but when it comes down to it there are some things that have been proven for 30 years in boost situations and your combination was not one of them.

ohio boys are running high 7s @ 18Xmph are running MLS gaskets making 1500hp
Parish made 1xxx on stock MLS gaskets and normal ARP studs, mightymouse same numbers same gaskets same studs

in end its on the tuner's hands. poor tune can easily pop the gaskets or loss of fuel psi causing motor to run lean.

**SonofaBish** · 10-25-2007, 07:40 AM

A/F is consistently b/w 11.8 and 12 ... and with only 13* of timing, there is no way it should be detonating...

I'm not sure what ARP studs were used... so i can't comment on that

We will work on getting the car fixed, but in all honestly, its probably done for the year... If we have to pull the motor to fix the head gaskets, we might as well fix the turbo system oil leaks, and other things while we're at it... :( o well i guess

**scott5** · 10-25-2007, 07:48 AM

still glad you finally got to drive it after all this time doggie..

**SVTGT** · 10-25-2007, 07:49 AM

ill vouch for the tune. i know i guy who tuned it he does it for a living and hes really good at it. might be the fact that schools pay him to teach tuning, or his other tuning gigs, but i watched it get dyno'd a week ago and the A/F were great and no audible detonation, or pre ignition. and Bish it good to hear you got her back but sorry about the bad luck, seems like you cant get away from it. if shes back in neville island and you would like some help let me know. ide be glad to give you a hand.

**SonofaBish** · 10-25-2007, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by SVTGT

and Bish it good to hear you got her back but sorry about the bad luck, seems like you cant get away from it. if shes back in neville island and you would like some help let me know. ide be glad to give you a hand.

Thanks man, i greatly appreciate it... however, i'm probably just going to limp it back to blairsville and let them get to work.. my next actuarial exam is on Nov. 6 , so i don't have time to mess with the damn thing for the next 2 weeks... I wish it were as easy as, change the oil, retorque the head studs, and drive it, but i highly doubt that'll work...

**somethingclever** · 10-25-2007, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by SonofaBish

Thanks man, i greatly appreciate it... however, i'm probably just going to limp it back to blairsville and let them get to work.. my next actuarial exam is on Nov. 6 , so i don't have time to mess with the damn thing for the next 2 weeks... I wish it were as easy as, change the oil, retorque the head studs, and drive it, but i highly doubt that'll work...

I would recommend not driving a car that leaks coolant into the cylinders. You should get it towed to Blairsville.

Bish....were those numbers on 93 octane pump?

**SV1000s** · 10-25-2007, 08:43 AM

That's really great that you finally got a chance to drive that beast! It's been a long time coming (since before I signed up in SCS) so I can only imagine you felt like a little kid with a new toy! I am sorry to hear about the bad luck....old man winter is right around the corner anyways.....great time of the year to sort the remaining kinks out! She'll be putting down 800+ to the rear in no time

**SonofaBish** · 10-25-2007, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by somethingclever

I would recommend not driving a car that leaks coolant into the cylinders. You should get it towed to Blairsville.

Bish....were those numbers on 93 octane pump?

yes, that was on pump gas

**somethingclever** · 10-25-2007, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by SonofaBish

yes, that was on pump gas

Sweet......

**Domination** · 10-25-2007, 09:34 AM

Wahoo!!!!!!! Now thats what I'm talking about. Exellent numbers, sorry to hear about the heade gasket.

Quick, Its not the tune. Period.

Kurt, It might be the MLS/ARP combo and... Ahhh sweet vindifacation of the fuel system design. Just a couple of tweeks, and a good pump and that sucker will support alot of power!

Bish, Whom ever you have working on the car tell the to call me. There are a couple of bugs that I knew about that still needed worked out when you pulled the plug on me. I'll also take my HP tuners link back as well. Just letting it be known That no matter how much he said she said BS about how I take advantage of you and suck at customer support, I'll still leave hundreds of $ of equipment with you so you can get your car right. In spite of needing it a couple times. Good luck with the car, and keep all 4 wheels on the road.

Now post up some big HP dyno videos!

**Stangman701** · 10-25-2007, 10:23 AM

Congrats on the #'s man. Very impressive even if bittersweet. I say change the oil and coolant and see how she runs. I got a decent torque wrench you can borrow to re-torque the heads if you want.

**George C** · 10-25-2007, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by SonofaBish

A/F is consistently b/w 11.8 and 12 ... and with only 13* of timing, there is no way it should be detonating...

I'm not sure what ARP studs were used... so i can't comment on that

i kept everything b/w jay and i until HE went and started shit on the net... just like i said before, i had kept it to PM's b/w him and I ... If someone asked me my experience, all i did was tell the truth... never volunteered anything if someone didnt ask first... And honestly, a couple of the things that they've come across, could easily be life threatening... not just little nothings...

We will work on getting the car fixed, but in all honestly, its probably done for the year... If we have to pull the motor to fix the head gaskets, we might as well fix the turbo system oil leaks, and other things while we're at it... :( o well i guess

why do you have to pull motor to fix gaskets? you can do gaskets in the car

you tuned it up at Wyotech in a warm bulding right? so your A/F was 12.0 which is on the verge side. you drove to pittsburgh where the outside temps were noticable colder correct? with a noticable colder temp a motor will run leaner, with a 12.0 and 13 psi and now you go low temps and make the car run even leaner. so theres a chance you were running 12.4 a/f when you romped on it. denotation happend and popped a cylinder and probably number 7

i would of shot for a 11.5-11.7 A/F