The Project Pad

chaloux wrote:I feel schizo. Every time I think I've got it I end up two steps back. Troubleshooting for 4+months is not fun.

I feel that. so don't let it go in vain! press onwards!!!

Come on Matt, you got this man. Push through it, once you get back on the road you will see that it was totally worth it.

Hang in there Matt.

The look on your face while going to Carlisle before you had problems with the car was priceless. That's why we go through all the pain and bullshit in the first place.

Anytime your modifying, improving or just plain changing things, there is going to be a learning curve. That learning curve is what drives us forward and makes us wiser (well maybe sometimes) and more knowledgeable. No one said it was going to be cheap or easy, however we do it to fulfill a passion and a need to understand.

Yes some days just plain suck for sure. Once you get it running better all the emotions will come flooding back in and you'll remember why your were putting yourself through all this shit in the first place.

That first corvette you kill off the line will be priceless.

Matt you have a daily driver...........just walk away, think about it. Do some more reading......chill... figure that shit out !!!

We've all been there. Hell I even ordered a C+ programming book today so I can complete a Arduino project I'm working on.....
what the feck do I know about programming

When you succeed you will come out better, stronger and have a great feeling that you didn't let that stuff beat you.

Hopefully some of my dribble will make sense.

Cheers,

Craig

Mcstiff wins 100 cookies

highlander69 wrote:.

Matt you have a daily driver...........just walk away, think about it. Do some more reading......chill... figure that shit out !!!

The best advice ever... It's what I'm doing... You will regret selling it when you see another 4k out there that strives to be where yours is now... There will always be shows and meets... Always!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Psa: disconnect your knock sensors

...

chaloux wrote:Mcstiff wins 100 cookies

Seriously

hm. not normal, but 'ok'? if unplugging knock sensors makes it run, that leads me to believe you are somehow injecting noise into the triggers via the knock sensors.

Yeah, sounds like it was messing with the trigger signal (my original thought was that it could be messing with timing improperly).

This firmware is 1.2.10 - is that the newest? Weird thing is that it fixed problems I had before, namely a lull right at 3k rpm. It did it on the original build that I drive to Carlisle (diff engine and ecu). The drive I just took the car in was the best the car has ever felt. Exactly like it should with no silly nuances.

I don't understand but I'll take it as a victory. Thank you Marc again for the help. I feel like a broken record. Beers on me.

Craig, I think you missed your calling. You should be a motivational speaker.

Yay!

So you fixed it just a few hours after you were ready to sell it?

Man, it's an emotional rollercoaster in here

sweeeeet!!

EDIGREG wrote:So you fixed it just a few hours after you were ready to sell it?

Man, it's an emotional rollercoaster in here

chaloux wrote:Craig, I think you missed your calling. You should be a motivational speaker.

Not really. Trust me Matt, I've been there............not fun for sure. I really get it.

Look at my urq now.........fun times. I remember during the restoration process, I was so pissed off with the
car , I tied the front of the car to the fence and floored the truck after working on it for 1 week straight. A really quick
way to get the bare bodyshell off the trailer

You'll get there.

Cheers,

Craig.

Woot! Glad it's running right Matt! Definitely an emotional roller coaster but worth it in the end I hope

WOOHHOOO! Congrats man!

EDIGREG wrote:So you fixed it just a few hours after you were ready to sell it?

Man, it's an emotional rollercoaster in here

Reminds me of Darin's thread.

Hahaha. When you're in the moment it's easy to feel overwhelmed. You've got to understand where I'm coming from though... let me try to explain a little bit.

A brief history of my experience with the car: bought the car, found out it needed a new engine. My plan was to just tune it and drive it but it started really consuming oil so that wasn't an option anymore. So I rebuilt it with the best that I could afford, which was a built block but no fancy header/fuelling. Overall a solid build for ~400whp. It took a few days to get going as it was a setup I wasn't familiar with, but it got there. Then of course there's the Carlisle Saga, which could have been enough to make anyone else sell the car. But I (and by I, I mean dad and Craig) slapped another built engine together and swapped it in. Except it wouldn't run right, tons of issues. SO I go about diagnosing it starting in early June. It takes months to get my ECU back only for it to be broken still. Then it takes a month to get my new ECU. I can do nothing to the car while this happens. If I had known things would take so long (ie, the summer) I would have put different ignition on it and used Dad's VEMS. But it always seemed just around the corner. So then my new ECU comes and shit still ain't right. It turns out to be the same problem I had before with the car (VR polarity) and that helps. But doesn't fix it. So yesterday we troubleshot for 3 hours, searching and searching, thinking physical electrical connection but repeatedly getting cockblocked. When we think we've got it we stop and bleed the brakes, except when we finish they're worse than when we started. Which is bad. Pedal to the floor with mediocre stopping ability. And on top of that, my issue is still there. FInally, after talking to Marc and going through all-things-electrical, I decide to unplug the knock sensors. Another hour and a half in the engine bay to come to that last ditch solution.

And it fucking works. Two connectors.

Not to mention that in the meantime, I have an extremely patient wife with whom I have two wonderful kids. We are building a house, and by that I mean, we are building a house. We're contracting out very little - drywall mud so far. You can imagine that my time at the shop is very limited between work, work on house, extra photo work I do, time on the house we currently live in, and maintaining the other two cars as well. Plus, you know, the kids. The more time this car took, the more easily frustrated I got. Especially when I kept thinking I was there by either replacing something or changing something! By the end of it, any time I spent where no progress happened was a complete waste in my eyes. And there was a lot of that time!

Anyway, thanks all for support or the little jabs here and there because they really do put things in perspective. Giving up certainly would have been easier

Okay small update. Backfires are back this morning but no stalling or stumbling. The only thing that changed from last night is my base timing. I had an old config loaded last night with a tdc after the trigger value of 70. Dad and I timed it to 94 recently. That was with polarity reversed so perhaps that messed the value up. I'm just wondering which way the timing is out now... I have a feeling it's retarded.

be really careful with just pushing around your TDC after trigger setting blindly like that. Get out the timing light for sure.

reversing polarity changes your physical timing by 6 degrees, the width of one tooth.

That would make a difference. The first switch from 94 to 70 was a mistake, some settings went all crazy and I needed to reset them all so I loaded an old config. Then I put it back to 94 once I realized what happened. I think I should be at around 88 by that math. Going to baby it home and then time it again. Thanks Marc.

Yay! You _DID_ prevail!!

The width of one actual tooth is actually about 3 degrees [edit: assuming the teeth and gaps are equal, and as opposed to 6 degrees for one tooth and one gap] if you're doing the math. The timing can creep with revs if the VR sensor's polarity is reversed.

Enjoy your car now!

I guess that also means I can stop looking under the couch cushions in manic search of $6K.. :(