Newbie with a lot of dumb questions

[04yfzkid]

I bought a 95 gs-t tonight and glad to finally own a dsm. Been browsing random forums over the last 10 years or so. Ever time I had the cash for one, I couldn't find one I liked. Finally I sprung for this one. I paid $2,000 for it. It was missing a motor and some other things when the previous owner got it. He put it back together with cams and gave me some of the left over parts from his other dsm builds (fmic, 680cc precision injectors, 90 talon ecu with eprom, and possibly an ebay 20g with rebuild kit). I took it for a test drive and thought it was reasonable car for the price but I only drove it around base. After driving it home I have some concerns.

The tps is unplugged but I have spare intake manifold with a supposedly good tps I need to swap over.

1. It shudders a little under 2k rpms when cruising around / taking off. He told me it had 260 something cams so I am assuming they are 264 / 272. I have read they are very mild cams and I have only driven a car with a huge cam (see video below). Is this normal?

2. After accelerating on the hwy the temperature gauges shoots up to 3/4 on the gauge (with the heat on max and 7 degree ambient temperature). After reading some older threads people have said to get a new t-stat, and burp the system. Should I look into a new temperature sensor also? Any other ideas?

3. It smells pretty rich out the exhaust. I am assuming having the tps unplugged with cause it go into closed loop and possibly cause it to run rich.



This not my DD, and I bought it to learn more about tuning. My plan is to get it driveable to have a little fun for the next couple weeks before playing over in the sand box. I am not new to working on cars (owned 20 or so in the last 6 years), and have owned some heavily modified cars ("prerunner" race trucks, 820+ whp cobra, big injector diesel). I'm glad to be on here and learn as much as I can. As soon as I get back, DSM link will be here along with an lc1, and other gauges. Hopefully this post is readable I am working on 20 hours awake . Excited to finally own a DSM.


Video of the cam'd car

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e_wQFKHDVg&feature=share&list=UUQDtcT4Zq9wdRh2ViRI02nA]Vette Exhaust Clip - YouTube[/ame]

 

[mike96]

The tps is unplugged but I have spare intake manifold with a supposedly good tps I need to swap over.

1. It shudders a little under 2k rpms when cruising around / taking off. He told me it had 260 something cams so I am assuming they are 264 / 272. I have read they are very mild cams and I have only driven a car with a huge cam (see video below). Is this normal?

2. After accelerating on the hwy the temperature gauges shoots up to 3/4 on the gauge (with the heat on max and 7 degree ambient temperature). After reading some older threads people have said to get a new t-stat, and burp the system. Should I look into a new temperature sensor also? Any other ideas?

3. It smells pretty rich out the exhaust. I am assuming having the tps unplugged with cause it go into closed loop and possibly cause it to run rich.

You really need the TPS plugged in for the car to run correctly. Are the 680cc injectors installed now? Did he give you anything to tune with (SAFC, MAFT)? If you have them installed and don't have anything compensating then you are running pig rich and are doing more damage than good. It could also cause the shuddering issue you have.

Start with the basic maintenance; change the plugs/wires, oil, ect. Might want to change the timing belt also just in case he didn't use a new one (you didn't mention how long ago, or if he rebuilt the engine himself). Also do a boost leak test and fix any leaks. A leak in an intercooler pipe or at the manifold will wreck havoc on how the car runs.

Lastly... Be safe over there.



Edit: Your at Minot..... Burr... Cold...

 

[04yfzkid]

You really need the TPS plugged in for the car to run correctly. Are the 680cc injectors installed now? Did he give you anything to tune with (SAFC, MAFT)? If you have them installed and don’t have anything compensating then you are running pig rich and are doing more damage than good. It could also cause the shuddering issue you have.

Start with the basic maintenance; change the plugs/wires, oil, ect. Might want to change the timing belt also just in case he didn’t use a new one (you didn’t mention how long ago, or if he rebuilt the engine himself). Also do a boost leak test and fix any leaks. A leak in an intercooler pipe or at the manifold will wreck havoc on how the car runs.

Lastly... Be safe over there.



Edit: Your at Minot..... Burr... Cold...

The 680cc injectors and fmic are not installed. Sadly nothing to tune with, which has me worried about the cams. I don't know if it was rebuilt or not because he was going to give me a 6bolt motor with it but "his wife" said he was losing too much money already.

I can still do a boost leak test on the stock system right? My buddy has the pressure tester. The idle does drop when you hit the brakes so it might have a vaccum leak.

Thanks I should be fine and make some car parts money


Yeah it's a little chilly up here. Definitely a shocker from southern california

 

[04yfzkid]

Well one step forward, two steps back.

It was leaking out of the thermostat housing until the thermostat opened. The temperature gauge read in the center pretty quick, but the motor felt warm (not hot) and the heater was blowing really cold still. I am guessing the sensor is bad but I am also going to replace the thermostat.

Well I am going to replace it after a new tire. Stupid right rear tire blew driving home today. It has some random lug nuts on it that I need to buy something smaller then 1/2" allen socket and a lot bigger then a 3/8" allen because that didn't fit. I'm not sure if the tires are too wide / bad offset on the wheel or the tire was low. It blew the inside sidewall which looks right now like it was rubbing on the strut. Also to add to it the truck and driver door locks wouldn't turn so I had to go buy door lube before I could put it on a trailer.

Also to add the rpm's drop a couple hundred when the clutch is pushed in, so does that mean crank walk?

 

[04yfzkid]

The tires are 215 50 17 and are definitely rubbing the strut in the rear. After a 2 week wait I finally got a 12mm allen head socket to take off the "tuner" lug nuts. Once I got the tire off I could see where it was rubbing on the spindle. I am ASSUMING the rims have the wrong offset. Not sure what they are but this seems to be a common tire size on a 2g. They are icw racing rims.

Couple pictures of the car

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and the tire

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[WES_393]

215/50 is a tall tire for a 17" rim. The standard size for 16's is about 205/55. Typically people use a 45 to keep the stock overall diameter. But depending on exactly where your rubbing, the offset could definitely be too far inward.

 

[gst96spyderman]

235-45-17 are what I used on my old gst. never had a rubbing issue. What happened with compression test? hopefully 160's accross the board. Check oil to see if its chocolate milk color... this would help identify a blown hg. many other ways as well. congrats and welcome

 

[Thungar]

when doing the tps sensor make sure and hook it up with a dmm and turn it to get the lowest ohms then tighten down.

 

[Wildside22]

Get the tps set up and do a compression test. Once those are done do a complete tune up and maintenance on her.

Grats on the good deal

 

[pauleyman]

215/50/17 is stock size on 97 up 2g.

 

[turboglenn]

THe problem that makes them rub in the rear most often (given the proper offset wheel was used to avoid it elsewhere) is that the 97 and up had a diffferent spindle arm shape to it that dipped further "in" and away from the wheels where the 95-96 were shallow and would let the tire rub rather easily when going any wider than OEM.. I have to run 10mm spacers on the back of my 97 because my AWD swap used 1995 rear subframe and suspension, but before when i was FWD the 97 parts cleared perfectly with 225/50/16's (they havge a lot of sidewall, and you gotta drive em with the "slingshot" method of thinking when changing lnes but they hook nice )

 

[talon314]

i recomend buying dsm link to tune the car. its an amazing program and fairly easy to work with

 

[turboglenn]

heat issue is probably head gasket or low coolant