360demonRT's 78 build

[360demonRT]

There has been a small amount of progress today, and some knowledge gained. I still despise wiring. I, for whatever reason, have a terrible time comprehending how the sh*t works and I'm not ignorant... just can't get it to sink in for me real well...

Anyway, got the Holley wired up, have to tighten the grounds on the back of the heads, swap out my oil pressure sensor, put in the map sensor and make three connections at the battery and I should be able to hear it run.

Ran into what seems to me, to be a conundrum. The Holley harness is laid out nicely, everything is labeled well. I have a couple of sensors that I have no idea what to do with...

Firstly, I have an IAT plug which is Intake Air Temp, correct?

Secondly, I have a MAT plug, only thing I can come up with is Manifold Air Temp? (getting ready to google it)

Why do I need two that read basically the same thing? (again, might be wrong on what MAT is)

Lastly, where the hell am I supposed to put a Fuel Pressure Sensor at? Do I really need it?

And some pictures of my home made AC block off plate, and radio delete plate (some old tin I found at my dad's). You'll notice a switch which acts as a keyed 12v, and a push button start. I had already taken out the engine harness and associated wiring, and I don't care if it has a radio or heat/air, so I'm good with that. Don't mind the wires, I'll have to pretty up after I get it going.

 

[360demonRT]

May be I just misread the plug as IAT instead of IAC, because looking through the Holley software, I see no mention of an IAT, only MAT... need to get that sensor and figure out where to hell to stick it lol.

 

[360demonRT]

First fire today! Having some weird *ss issues. I don't have the waterpump operational yet so they where quick 10-15 second and cool down. trying to find an Fbody radiator and hoses so I can run it proper

this is with the self learn turned off (o2's not it yet) and a slightly modified 480hp ls2 custom cal from the program. Idle goes from 800 area to 1200ish... Got that lined out and idle's steady at 800.

My issue, the driver side, in the 10-15 second run times, is getting warm but not hot, the passenger side is getting freakin fiery! boiling my cheap paint off in the same time frame... the fuel rail is hot, the base of the intake manifold is hot on that side. pretty much the whole head. I understand there's no coolant in there, thats why its only getting short run times, but why wouldnt they heat evenly? Also, driver side (cool side) puffs a whitish vapor (not firing cylinder?) and the passenger side (hot side) puffs black smoke. so confused lol, help?

video.

you'll have to look over my ghettoized setup, I just wanted to see if my wiring was good, I'll clean stuff up later

 

[360demonRT]

Cooling system on, everything seems leveled out now (after I changed wires and checked everything). Going to try to rig up a little exhaust tomorrow so I can get an o2 in the system. Thinking about ordering my PTC th400 and converter shortly.

 

[360demonRT]

Decided I didn't like the up and forward manifolds, cut off the ends and welded on some pipe I found in the garage. I think it turned out ok. Manifolds weld pretty good. Clearance is pretty tight, but I think it's gonna work out. Driver side is barely touching the rag joint and the blue steering shaft cover has to go. Just going to have to make a couple cuts and rebend the pipe a touch. Next day I get off I'm putting a little more pipe on so I can put the o2 sensor in. So far I'm pretty impressed with the Holley EFI. Starts right up no questions asked after just a SMALL amount of fiddling. I still have a lot of work to do and a lot of cleaning to make it pretty.

Here's some pics of the manifolds, and a Video, everyone loves Videos.

 

[360demonRT]

Got in some exhaust and my transmission and converter. Trans and converter are almost in, couple more bolts. Going to work on exhaust after I get the trans in where I want it.

 

[360demonRT]

welded reducers on my bullets (3-2.5)


and fabbed up a solid mount of sorts for the transmission (cut off factory mounting pad and cut it to pieces and welded a 'T' on top of my crossmember since it was directly under the mounting point on the th400

Today I hope to get my th400 Yoke in and get the driveshaft to the trans shop to get it shortened about 1.5". then its just putting my shifter in, finishing the exhaust, figuring out an alternator and a cooling fan from getting to drive it! Getting pretty excited!

 

[Doober]

Everything I've read is don't run a solid mount, too much torque on the case and it often splits the bellhousing. Those are some pretty welds

 

[360demonRT]

This may be stupid... Can I maybe use some thick rubber washers? Serve the same purpose.
. Yes?

 

[360demonRT]

I didn't want to dick with the stock truck alternator so I went to the parts house and bought a true one wire alt. Works really well, one bolt fits in the right hand side of the bracket and I hacked up the 305's alt bracket to make a 'tensioner bracket' and eliminated the stock idler pulley deal. one day i'll come up with something to git rid of that damned truck bracket all together. here's a vid of the car running. I still have alot of work.

I'm too stupid to figure out how to imbed it, so you have to click the link lol

About the trans, I took the bolts out of the mount and jacked the trans up, then put some pretty stiff hose on the bolts (between mount and trans) to make a rubber washer of sorts... hope that will work. covered them in lock tite and just lightly 'snugged' them up...

also have some baller exhaust leaks i guess, the damned learn function on my holley efi woulnt work because of the erratic o2 readings, they're way lean and when it tries to correct them down into the 14.0 range it floods itself out. reading super lean when it's not. got a helicoil kit to replace the stripped out manifold bolt i have, and a gasket to go between my vbands because i may have slightly warped them while welding... also a can of copper spray. tired of jacking, or being jacked by this damn issue!

got my battery rear mounted, used 1/0 welding lead to the starter. used 4/0 from alternator to starter. charges at 14.5 at idle. just a low buck stock replacement one wire.

i'm done with my spill now. got aggrevated at the car real bad yesterday when my driveshaft was to short and I couldn't get the computer to work on the fuel tune, had a bit of a toddler temper tantrum and my wife threatened to kill me if i tried to sell it all off. This project is starting to feel more like a job than something fun.


ALSO

for future reference, if you have a project, don't keep tabs of what all you spend on it, dear god... my excel spreadsheet is scary, I could never recoup half what i have in this pile of sh*t, and if I had it all back I could buy a super nice driver, probably already swapped...