95naSTA

Lol. DIY it is! I just need to measure the flex section I have since I already have measurements of the exhaust currently on the car. Then I can order the cat/res/cutout/muffler bends, a couple hangers, and some stainless wire for my MIG. The goal is to fit the largest resonator in the tunnel as possible with all the other crap. I want this thing quiet or obnoxiously loud at the touch of a button.

I messed around with the tune a little more and I got the lower load fuel trims in an acceptable range. I can't really get on it since there is no flex section in the exhaust yet but the midrange definitely feels healthy and there's no knock. (I'm in the 10.5ish range CR on an iron head) Although it is cold, it has no trouble keeping cool at idle too. Another thing on the horizon is adding a coolant level sensor to that overflow tank. It was an option on my car so it'll just involve adding a wire to the PCM. I really miss driving this thing. It's lower than the i30 and the ride is still much nicer. I was messing around with it the other day and just stopped what I was doing and drove it around for the hell of it. Hopefully soon I can get the spare engine wiring harness in the car and start going to town on it, relocating the ICM/coils, and tucking the spark plug wires. I'm still on the fence about doing the exhaust. I typically hate doing exhaust work but I've always been doing it in the street or driveway.. I got the clear to use a lift at my buddies shop. It'll be full stainless: v-banded right after the front Y, cutout, cat, res, large muffler, and dual tips of some kind. At that point I can hook up my dual widebands to really see what's up.

Merry Christmas everybody.

^^^ Good call.

I used the stock diff from my old 95 4t60-e (3.06) with 37/33's. Mini update. I got the coolant overflow hidden/mounted/connected. It's only one phillips head screw away from checking the level, which is worth it to me.

The single wire on the stock 95 alt is going to be the pcm input. The two wire alt is more than likely that, plus a sense wire that moniters the voltage. I would second just getting a single high amp alt, plus doing the big 3 if you haven't already. The other thing is your stock alt has the ability to add a sense wire. Here's more info: http://www.bonnevillepro.com/forums/viewto...=5856&hilit

Some good and bad happened today. The bad was: It took me 20 mins to get the Bonnie started due to a dead optima and not enough fuel The hood latch was gunked up enough to where the hood would shut, feel shut but could still pop back open.. and it did while I was driving at 35ish.. the safety latch bracket is still in my painter buddy's possession.. ef em ell. The hood kinked a little on both sides half way up the length which is pretty lame but I bent it back and it's ultimately repairable. Remember that the hood is already damaged from my strut poking it during the accident that put the car out of commission in the first place.. So, I guess it's not terrible.. The Good: The car is now inspected. So, no more worry about it sitting on the street. And since it sat for a year it was emissions exempt. lol. With the whole not starting thing.. I had a hunch and added fuel via tuning and I was able to get the car started. A buddy had a civic overflow bottle laying around for free and had a bracket that wasn't for it but will work to mount the bottle in my fender. So that was a freebie. And I got a rebuildable 01 VLSD trans for the i30 for $50. He didn't want anything but I couldn't not hook him up with a little $$. The car runs and drives good for the most part. It needs a tune bad and also needs a flex section in the exhaust so I didn't really get on it. The midrange is definitely beefy though.. I'm also pretty siked the 3.43 trans I rebuild and programmed in.. It goes into all gears no problem. I lowered the front a little at some point during this whole evolution and there are no noticeable axle vibes. I think the fresh engine mounts might have something to do with that. And it was cool to see the look on people's faces when I popped the hood. :shock: What the hellllllll??? lol. I'm going to try and squeeze in what I can but this month is a busy one.

Thanks guys. Ed, I'm running an eprom emulator with TunerCATs RT. So I can tune on the fly. No burning of chips or flashing downtime needed. I've got EFI Live v4 for logging and an Actron for quick checks. The PCM in the car now is the stock 240k mile PCM. I swapped to a different one back before I knew what happened with the old engine. I'm not convinced that PCM is toast though. I know they're painted as crap but I've never had a problem with them in both 95s I've owned.

HAHAHA. Awesome pic.

Thanks! IT's ALivE! I started it up around 6:30 or so tonight. Friday I pulled the old engine and swapped over the ported rear cover, powder coated flex plate, knock sensors, oil level, sealed up the oil pan, A/C compressor, and starter. I also JB welded the problem fuel rail fittings. Then I took a day off.. Today I popped the engine in, completed all the btch work associated, tired to start it up for about 20 mins, checked spark and fuel, had both?, swapped to another PCM and it sounded better and then started. Wooooo. Don’t mind the messiness. The goal of the day was to get it running and bled.

I meant TGP headlights and center. *smacks head

So. many. cool. pics. can't. leave. thread.

Thanks guys. This stuff really isn't that bad. Cleanliness is just real important as are the torque specs from the lower intake down. Way back there was a L67 cam install write up that I used for my first head/cam swap (04'). I think it was called Eric Bruno's Cam install guide. It was very well detailed and illustrated. I must have read that thing 30 times before I tore everything apart. I really had barely a clue what I was doing.. But I started Saturday morning, finished Sunday night (worked straight), and drove the car to work Monday. I think I put 80k on that cam too. But, that's how I learned. Yep, Ed. Just revised 1.6s. I got them for a decent price and said to myself, at this point, why not. It might rev a tiny bit happier with those and the Ti retainers but I don't expect any measureable gains.

I got some more work in today.. TORQUED THE CAM BOLT TO SPEC (lol) Cleaned the block, front cover area, deck, and exterior. Cleaned head studs Sprayed MLSes with copper spray Installed both with heads Soaked and installed lifters Did the Por-15 engine painting process to the exterior of the block (with spare front cover on) Installed aluminum LIM gaskets and Ported/painted LIM Soaked and installed pushrods and rockers I need the rear (ported) cover and flex plate off the engine in the car so I can't really do the rear cover and oil pan until I pull the current engine. I also need the 95 specific knock sensors off that engine. No real big deal. It'll maybe add a half hour or so. The front ported/painted cover and electric water pump is probably the next thing on the hit list, along with double checking lifter preload and torquing the rockers down.

Diggin the STE hood. I think the color matched latches wouldn't be too ricey.. Question though.. Would you want to and/or Would there be any way to adapt the STE mascaraed headlights and center section above the front bumper? I think it would make the front end more aggressive. The underside doesn't look super bad.. It should clean up nice with some new parts and paint.

Lol. Yep, that's a hard one to forget at this point.

Thanks. Yeah don't be a stranger if you're ever in Philly. All this stuff is here, on Bpro, and a local forum. That's enough for now. I'll probably make a post on PBC later down the road though. I got the engine on the stand and the new bump stick in today. I got the heads back and Abbott even cleaned up the mating surfaces for me. Less work . Next is to get the cam bolt torqued down, clean the block (gaskets and for paint), spray the MLSes, install the studs and heads, and paint the block, get the painted front cover on, LIM, UIM, JB Weld the problem fittings on the rear fuel rail, throw those on, and I'll be doing the rear ported cover, flexplate, and oil pan the day of the swap. With the winter coming up, I'm going to leave the polished tensioner/alt/valvecovers off till the spring and use regular stuff. I don't see a reason to salt blast it for no reason.

With the FE2/41 springs and sways, you'd be suprised how well it handles on stock wheel/tire combos. The sways are pretty serious.

Lol. Yep, I loved that cam and spring setup. There might be a few things you haven't seen in that thread.

Hey Don, Welcome to the party.

Cool to see another Bonnie on here. Welcome.

Can't wait to see the GP start looking new again on the underside.

This one will be a glossier black like the last one. The lower intake and trans will still be purple.

Marching forward.. I got the engine today. It turns out the carrier didn't have a lift gate on the truck. So, I had it delivered to a buddy's business/work, took the heads off and put everything in the trunk of the i30 to get it home. They actually gave me the whole uncut wiring harness. Not that I need it, it's just the first out of 6 or 7 L26s I've bought that actually had the full one. It also has that updated rear cover with metal gasket.. Again, kinda doesn't matter since I'll be swapping the covers.. but, it's still cool none the less. The cam and heads are still on the way. I lost a couple ARP washers for the head studs when I pulled the rear Abbott head but I was able to call ARP up (gasp), get an actual person on the phone (gasp), and order directly from them (gasp, gasp). I'm so used to not being able to do that, it was nice. I also decided I might as well just order new head gaskets.. I got those along with a few other things needed for the swap. The next plan of action is to get this thing on a stand and start taking care of business. That'll be Thursday.

Hopefully I don't jinx it but things are going quicker than I thought. The heads are done and should ship out tomorrow or Thursday with the new cam. Same deal with the new engine. So, it looks like everything is going back in at once. Maybe before December if I'm lucky. Time to get the misc. crap associated with a typical cam swap. And you can bet yourass I'll be taking more care with the cam bolt. It's only a failure if you don't learn from your mistakes.