So I did a thing today.
For a while now, I've been looking into details for the car to give it a bit more personality. I found a shop in the UK that makes custom badges so I contacted them to get me some molding badges made. Took about two weeks to get them but well worth it.
Big thanks to Richard at www.vehicledecals.co.uk for getting these done.
That's perfect!
Looks like you're gonna need some flares!
Impressive on the badges...looks factory!
Wheels...don't look factory! Seems excessive for the wheel well without flairs. Certainly a lot of stick if you can make them fit.
Celebrated 'Merica Day.
https://youtu.be/Q6qoxEthh8w
So after months of driving the car with open headers, I finally got it too quiet down.
Exhaust is a dual 2.5 to a Borla Pro XS resonated y, to a single 3" with massive dual tips.
https://youtu.be/HuFArQayDk8
Last edited by ponchiz318; 09-23-2017 at 01:20 PM.
Sounds great!
Hey, you put the Borla in the middle! I have been thinking of doing that, but I haven't been able to work up the courage. I keep thinking I'll be messing something up. But it would make the job easier in some ways, even though I'm going with 2.5" dual all the way back.
If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.
My options were dual 2.5 with resonated borla or magnaflow X pipe but they didn't have the X pipe available, so the guy said he'll run true dual straight pipes and just install it once it arrives.
Dual 2.5" to regular X pipe with dual magnaflow bullets.
Option three was this one and was recommended by several Ford people I talked to to increase torque. I really liked the sound and more torque is a good thing.
Muffler is Borla 40349
Last edited by ponchiz318; 09-25-2017 at 07:47 PM.
Yum, more torque. With mine, that's where the car really shines on track versus a regular E36 M3, so I might as well make it shine even more. I have a Borla 400286 in my garage, which is the same thing as yours except with dual 2.5" outs instead of the single 3". I'm about 90% decided to follow your approach here with the placement.
But instead of that nice custom-bent pipe out to the rear bumper like you have, I'm gonna have to cut and weld something of my own out of straight pipe and whatever bends I have left over from the front end job. Oh joy. I have a real band saw now, so that should make it easier to cut butt joints that actually fit up well. I did it with an angle grinder and a disc sander for the front end.
If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.
I installed a offbrand temp gauge just to keep an eye on things. Apparently, my car runs at 205-210℉. I only have the high speed fan wired in off the sn95 relay which triggered the fan at 210℉. If I wire in the low speed fan which kicks on at 190℉, would the low speed relay shut off once the high speed kicks in, or will the fan get power from both relays? It's something I'm tackle this weekend.
What thermostat are you running? I think I have a spare 180deg lying around if you want it.
What's your running temp during a steady half-hour cruise on the freeway, where the fan is no help?
I'm afraid I don't know about the Fox relay/thermo switch setup. I used the junkyard 2-speed Volvo relay.
The Oracles of the Internet say 210 is "high normal." 200 being normal-normal. They say start trouble-shooting somewhere between 210 and 220.
I'm using an aftermarket probe-type thermostat controller to trigger my relay, but I have to remember to keep an eye on it. In another car I have, I have seen them fail and/or drift, even the expensive ones. The permanent screw-in switches, like the one in the stock E36, are supposed to be more reliable and I guess the 80/88 one might be okay for you in Texas. I tried one but I mounted it into the drain port on my radiator with a metric adapter, and it never turned on. The snout apparently needs to be right in the flow, like in the radiator hose.
I have seen old thermostats that open up ten degrees late, or only open up a crack. I put in a new one when I replaced the intake. It's too much trouble to pull one out and test it. Maybe start it up cold and use a laser thermometer on the hose to ball park what the water temp is when it starts flowing?
If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.
I use a stock BMW 80/88 switch with the Volvo fan (mounted as a pusher where the A/C fan was) and Volvo relay setup. To mount the switch to my aluminum radiator I JB welded a 14mm 1.50 nut to the side of the radiator a couple of inches below the radiator cap. Except when it's in traffic with the A/C or it's 90 to 100 degrees out my car runs at 170 with the 195 degree thermostat.
So the tip of the BMW switch is just pressed up against the aluminum radiator body? Interesting, makes sense.
If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.
Took this video after removing the SCT chip and starting up the car without it. It didn't work. Really rough idle and borderline stalling. Reinstalled the chip and this is the result. Idle is a little low but stable. Temporary temperature gauge is wired in and it shows the temperature it's always at.
https://youtu.be/x54n1juSuyE
200 makes sense for a functioning 192 T-stat. IIRC, 210 is where your fan turns on high now, so at high fan speed it's getting the job done stalling the upward progression.
The 200 reading on the highway tells me the fan's best case utility range is 200 to 210. I doubt turning it on low at 190 would keep it down at 200 in stop n go traffic.
Do you have a front undertray at least as large as the stock one? I ran without one for a while and it created a bit of a high-pressure zone behind the radiator. That interfered with airflow at speed and hindered cooling, until I fabbed up a new one out of aluminum.
I really doubt you would ever get below 200 on a regular basis with a 192 T-stat. I have no idea what a 180 T-stat would do for you in a street car. There's no point using one in my car because I run it at WOT whenever there is enough traction to be there, and the car is going fast enough on the track that the fan is irrelevant. With a 16# radiator cap (puke tank system) it stabilizes at 210 and stays there. Without an oil cooler the oil temps will get to the high 200s in 15-20 minutes. But I have an oil cooler now.
- - - Updated - - -
I don't know what your SCT chip is doing. But with an unmolested EEC-IV box, there is an adaptive table that the ECU populates with data based on actual experience running whatever your motor is, in closed-loop mode. It's kept alive even when the ignition is off. Clearing it requires a battery disconnect.
Try it again only this time, pull the SCT chip, disconnect the battery long enough for the capacitors to drain, reconnect, and drive it for 15-30 minutes to repopulate the adaptive table. Then check the idle.
Last edited by JBasham; 10-06-2017 at 11:59 AM.
If God meant for man to motor-swap LS engines into track cars, He wouldn't have created Corvettes.
I have a 180 deg thermostat and it sits on 180 on the highway. If it's in the 90s outside, it might sit on 184 or so. My fan is driven through a relay by the Megasquirt, it's programmed to come on at 200 and turn off at 190.
Well I have a chance to change out my thermostat now......
Last night I changed the pcv hoses and pcv valve since I was having some blowby. Under heavy acceleration, the oil dipstick would pop out. Plugs looked good so I decided to go over the pcv system and then do a compression test. After all that, I took the car out for a test drive. It was running gear with no issues at all. Got on the freeway and gunned it. A GT500 passed me so I figured I'd try and keep up. Needles to say, that didn't happen. Let off, got off the freeway and made a uturn. At that point I noticed my temperature was climbing significantly. At 230°, I pulled over and turned the car off. Waited a couple of minutes and checked the temp. Once it was close to 210, the car started right up and drove home about 3 miles. At a red light, a ton of white smoke was coming from the exhaust. It looked like the foggers at clubs. Temp was still at 220is and started climbing. When I accelerated, the temps went down again and I made it home. What's weird is that the engine never lost a beat. It was running well which leads me to believe that water didn't go into the cylinders. Then again that doesn't make sense with all the white smoke.
Regardless, today I'll remove the lower intake manifold and see if that seal gave out.
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