weekend results for cam and intake install!

kbchevlvr

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ok..so. first off thank you to all who responded to my questions pertaining to my weekends project. for those reading for the first time. i installed BBR stage 1 cams and a FRPP intake.

friday afternoon about 1pm. start disasembling. removed valvecovers and intake. everything was opened up and ready to begin by about 2ish. so following the instructions given. everything went well. i did NOT use a spring compressor. i did clock the crank positions as recomended, and was able to get all but 3 followers without tension. jambed in the wedge, and walked the cam up. reinstalled the same way. peice of cake. i was literally done both cams by 4pm. im thinking wow, i should be done by dinner....lol. YEAH OK.

it was the installation of the intake that kicked my ass....lol. well not really, but i didnt have the correct bolts. i was able to get all but the 2 long ones. im telling you, trying to find a M6x100mm bolt was like looking for a unicorn on the moon. so i spent untill 10pm trying to find 2 bolts, or even a peice of allthread....nothing. i did go to fastenal, but they wanted to sell me a box of 50 for $27. that was at 5 (they closed at 6) and by 9 i was wishing i had spent the money....lol.

well, long story short. i had bought longer 70MM long bolts earlier. around 11, i decided to cut and make longer ones. all went well...buttoned her up. i had wanted to clean and paint the valvecovers, but after the "great bolt search" i just bolted them back down as is.

so i fire it up. ill be honest, i was and still am a little dissapointed in the rap of the cam. granted i have stock mufflers, but i have american racing long tubes and off road x. i was expecting a little more rat-a-tat, as heard in many youtube vids. it was late so i waited till morning to test it out (besides it was raining).

so morning comes....warm it up, roll it out. after pulling the idol down with the SCT to 650rpms, and it NOT being in the tin can garage....the cams had a little more grump to them. so i take it for a spin. i get to my first straight away...and from a 10mph roll....i stab it. the trans has to downshift, but prior to getting there the motor had some sort of bog. i cant tell if its dumping fuel or not getting any. but once it cleared itself....the bastard jumped out. the car actually porposed the front end a little. keep in mind this car prior to these changes, runs 12.40's at 112-114mph. and i have had low 7 second dragsters, and currently own and race a 9 sec blazer....so it takes alot to get my butt dyno's attention. well this sure got it. BUT, i look in the rear view....and the cloud of smoke behind me literally killed any and all insects within a 20 mile radius! lol

so i get her home, and figure its a valve cover gasket. what esle could it be? so i take them off. start calling for a set of gaskets. cant find any. they need to be ordered. fortunently i can get a set in on sunday from advanced auto parts. brand new fel-pros with "gromets". so i take advantage of the time....clean up the valve covers, paint them with VHT low gloss black, and clear them with the VHT high heat clear. they come out nice. in the process, i knock out what i considered to be the "gromets" becasue im getting new ones tomorrow, and i can get a better paint job. turn the lights off and go to bed.

next morning, get the gaskets. open them up. oh i got "gromets" alright! lol, yeah those little rubber nubs that sandwich in between the valve cover and bolt heads....lol. apparently the "gromets" i need are actually the VTC sensor seals....and are hiding with the 100MM long bolts and that unicorn on the moon. cant find them, so im ordering a set from FORD today.....hopefully!

well i put the valvecovers back on....clip all of the sensors back on. figuring i can knock on the "gromets" when i get them today (monday). like i said i get it all done. turn around, look on the ground....guess what i see? the god damn oil dipstick. yeah the one that i removed friday at 1pm...the very first m'fing thing i removed. yeah, you guessed it...that was my oil leak. NOT THE VALVE COVER GASKETS...lol.

so, hopefully everyone gets a chuckle by my misfortunes and it may help someone else remember to do certain steps, prior to starting. BUT i got a nice set of painted valve covers...lol

so today i will be talking with BBR about the hesitation down low. i am hoping it is just a simple tune adjustment. but if anyone has any suggestions in the mean time....im all ears.

thanks again everyone.
 
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TexasBlownV8

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Wow, nice job on the cams, though! Yeah it's always something. Cant find bolts, forget stuff...hey, we've all been there.

..I'm surprised Fastenal wouldn't sell you just one or two bolts; I've bought hardware from them like that before.

Your idle tune may need tweaking with those cams, especially with the LTs.
 

Cuttinh

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Murphy's law. Big stuff can be fine, nothing more frustrating than getting to do it again because of a detail. Anyone who tells you they've never gotten to experience that fun is lying ;)

My favorite is finding extra screws...
 

SeanD

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The hesitation can be caused also by dropping the idle rpm down to low from what your tuner created it at. I did a cam install last spring and had American Muscle create me a new tune for the Brenspeed Detroit Rockers. Same thing with me, I started up the car, but the idle rpm was to high and i couldn't hear the cams at all. I dropped the idle rpm to around 700 and it sounded great. Only problem was that the car bogged down at WOT. I decided to get a new tune from Brenspeed thinking that they could tune it better, well the same happened. I then inquired about the idle rpm and they told me their tunes are written for a certain idle rpm and the bog could be cause by me lowering it. They said they can rewrite the tune for my lower rpm, but it could cause the car to stall. It did. I went back and forth with them and it took maybe 3 revision of the tune for them to get it right. Well the car now sounds good and I can lay down a stripe of rubber on the road, which I could never do before. I then emailed AM and asked them to do the same and they did and their tune worked a little better but still had some issues, so I just stayed with Brenspeed.

So you may want to ask your tuner to see if they can reprogram the tune for the lower idle rpm and see if that helps.

Sean
 

kbchevlvr

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The hesitation can be caused also by dropping the idle rpm down to low from what your tuner created it at. I did a cam install last spring and had American Muscle create me a new tune for the Brenspeed Detroit Rockers. Same thing with me, I started up the car, but the idle rpm was to high and i couldn't hear the cams at all. I dropped the idle rpm to around 700 and it sounded great. Only problem was that the car bogged down at WOT. I decided to get a new tune from Brenspeed thinking that they could tune it better, well the same happened. I then inquired about the idle rpm and they told me their tunes are written for a certain idle rpm and the bog could be cause by me lowering it. They said they can rewrite the tune for my lower rpm, but it could cause the car to stall. It did. I went back and forth with them and it took maybe 3 revision of the tune for them to get it right. Well the car now sounds good and I can lay down a stripe of rubber on the road, which I could never do before. I then emailed AM and asked them to do the same and they did and their tune worked a little better but still had some issues, so I just stayed with Brenspeed.

So you may want to ask your tuner to see if they can reprogram the tune for the lower idle rpm and see if that helps.

Sean

yeah...here is what the problem is/was i think and hope. i bought bbr stage 1 regrinds from bbr on feb 1. they wrote me a file/tune for it (also with the frpp intake install). my wife didnt want them (the cams), so i sold them...then she changed her mind and luckily a set of billets came along (bbr stage 1) so i grabbed them. put them in and loaded the tune that i was sent for the regrinds. apparently that is the problem.....why? im not sure, i plan on picking thier brains over it, but as of now that is what im told. the guys at BBR have been nothing but great with me, so i trust what they are telling me. so i anxiously await my new tune today....in hopes that it fixes it all. then im gonna do some livewire data logging, and resend them that info...and hopefully at that point there is little to NO tweaks needed.
 

Mach2burnout

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Yeah I have a little case of CRS so i do stuff like this.....
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A roll of blue painters tape and a sharpie are great tools!!!! LOL!!!
 

kbchevlvr

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Sorry to go off topic. But your blazer and Nova are badass! Very nice rides you have.

thanks man....not off topic. im only in Bensalem, so we arent to far apart. i actually do all of my work in either Hulmeville or L-town.
 

Irishman

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Even my mechanic will had me blue tape all connections and odds n ends during my install, saves a ton of time. Oh and frustration when you go to start it and you forgot that one connection deep down I side somewhere that leads to 4 hours of work haha. Good luck on the new tune.
 

TungstenGT06

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thanks man....not off topic. im only in Bensalem, so we arent to far apart. i actually do all of my work in either Hulmeville or L-town.
Yeah your not far at all. After I'm done rebuilding my car and working a boatload of overtime I'll have to meet up with you.
 
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