Richard Cranium

Yeah, I have long tubes, but it still sucks. Also I have a compression gauge somewhere, but I'd have to rig something up for a leakdown test. I could go back to trying to burp air out of the system. Maybe try a few more tricks, like putting the front end up on ramps to raise the thermostat and the bleeders. Maybe even remove the thermostat for the process. I'm stumped though on why the HUGE difference in coolant temp between the head and the pump. Even with some air in the system I would not think there would be a 100 degree difference. It doesn't sound likely, but the only thing that really makes sense to me is the pump isn't circulating coolant. So the coolant in the head just sits there and heats up, and the coolant in the pump heats up but much slower.

Man, I understand where you are coming from. Both of my parents are gone and the same for my girlfriend. Getting rid of stuff is hard. It's difficult to deal with the emotions that get attached to items. The only thing I know is I am happier living in a house that is not full of clutter. Don't make yourself unhappy holding on to things to try and make others happy. I'm assuming the items you are talking about only have sentimental value. Open the option to any and all family members/friends/etc... who want to pick through and take the things that matter to them. You grab a few things that matter to you. The rest of it goes, one way or another. I've held on to too much stuff for too long. I wish I had gotten a dumpster years ago and just started pitching stuff. I'd rather miss one or two items than try and live with hundreds of items boxed up and taking up living space. It sounds like as things stand you would never be able to find anything you were looking for in those boxes anyhow. Which means you probably won't ever do anything with them. If you're not going to do anything with them, then they have no direct value in your life. You could pay for a storage garage, but is it worth spending 600 or 1200 a year to keep items that you don't value enough to have in your home?

DAMN! I just don't know what else to say. That is one of the most fucked up looking cars I have ever seen.

Tested with the gauge in the water pump this time. I'm still seeing huge difference (I saw a 100 degree difference once) between the pump and the head. Also the temp in the head climbs 5 times as fast as the temp in the pump. I'm seeing this the whole time the engine is running, before and after the thermostat opens. Yeah, I do need to do a compression and a leakdown test. I just hate the idea because of how much work it will be to test all 8 cylinders.

Since the PCM is only seeing temps of 170 it may not be quite warm enough to turn them on. I did tell the tuner that I have a 160 t-stat, but I don't know what the trigger temp is in the tune.

I wouldn't paint wheels. If anything I would have them powder coated. I've had several parts done out at Performance Powdercoating on James Rd. and loved the results. They do a great job. Wheel medic would be on my list too, but I have never used their services personally.

Okay, mechanical gauge reads the same as the dash gauge. I watched the PCM reading and the mechanical gauge side by side. Both started under 100 degrees. In the time it took the PCM to read 100 the mechanical was reading 160. I can verify the coolant is not 100 degrees as I cannot remove the mechanical gauge until things cool down. Once things cool down I'll move the mechanical gauge from the head to the water pump and try this again and see how quickly it heats up. The only reason I can think of that the coolant temp in the head would increase faster than the coolant temp in the water pump is that the pump is either not circulating at all, or only a little.

Thanks guy. I'm going to run and grab a gauge. I have family coming over for dinner later, so I probably won't get much more done this evening. I just want to make sure I get this squared away for the track day coming up.

PCM is seeing 13+ volts I am afraid of that, but once I got the air burped out of the system it seems to be holding coolant. Every time I crack the bleeders now all I get is coolant coming out. Also I don't really smell anything sweet at the exhaust. Not sure that means anything though. Yeah, that is probably the best idea at this point. I'm terrified of over heating the motor at this point and turning a relatively small problem into a major one.

You read it correctly. The PCM is seeing a much lower temp than the gauge is reading. It could be the cluster.

Damn, that would suck. I didn't even think of that. I have not noticed any problems other than the temp.

Hey folks. I'm curios of peoples ideas. A couple weeks ago the LT1 started running rough. Was running fine one minute, then started acting up. Very drivable, no codes, but not right. We started looking for a vacuum leak and found a possible small one. While waiting for a replacement MAP sensor seal I decided to keep poking my head around. I found an fixed another possible vacuum leak. When I took the car for a test drive and couldn't tell a difference. When I got back to the house I was letting the motor idle in the driveway while I continued to look at listen. Then I noticed the temp gauge was way high. I shut the motor off and started investigating that. Turns out I was low on coolant, so I topped it back up and bleed the system. I do have all the air out of the system, but the temp keeps creeping up. Today, I head back out to continue troubleshooting and find a spark plug wire rubbing a pulley. It has rubbed through to the core, so I'm relatively confident that explains the running rough. But the temp problem is still bugging me. I check and see and the cooling fans are not running on the radiator. I've never had a problem with them before, so I plug my laptop in and the PCM is seeing temps of 168 - 172 while the dash gauge is reading well over 200 and climbing. I figured it was worth throwing a new sensor in and see if that solves things. But it does not. I continue seeing wildly different numbers coming from the gauge and the PCM. BTW, I know the thermostat is opening because the radiator is getting pressurized when the engine is warm. Since the gauge is fed by a sensor in the drivers side head and the PCM gets it's signal from the sensor in the water pump I'm starting to wonder if the water pump is not circulating coolant. I don't think there is a way to measure coolant flow. Is it worth pulling the water pump and checking it out? It wouldn't break my heart to do that since swapping out the bad spark plug wire would be easier without the pump there. Any thoughts, ideas .... am I on the right track?

Looks like I might make it after all.

I thought about reusing my stock one, but I hate cheaping out then regretting it later. Looks like I'll snag one from Summit or Jegs. Thanks though.

I had a douche bag whip around me to get on a ramp and did loose it. Was moving too fast to make the left hander and rolled onto the right side of his car. As I was going past him I saw him whip a bottle over the side of the ramp.

Bump, anyone?

Can't make it this weekend. One more for the year after this one?

This is the last piece I need for the transmission puzzle. I have the new trans from RPM, a new clutch is on the way. I don't want to dick around with the stock bellhousing. Does anyone have an SFI one sitting around they want to get rid of? I can pick one up from Summit for about $450, but figured I would see what was available.

Mine were held in by screws until the nuts worked their way off. I used a dremel with a spiral saw blade and cut some access holes in the fiberglass. Then used a Harbor Freight pop rivet gun this time. From now on it will be easy to drill out the rivets and put new ones in.

voted for you guy, good luck.

Good luck with 7s Mark. That would be awesome.

Strip club? Get her a lap dance? Not sure if there are any that allow under 21. Of course I'm kidding, but would be a good way to find out if she's a kink or not. I don't know of a damn thing going on Tuesday, let alone something classy. Bout the only serious suggestion I can make is pick a restaurant you can't afford (non-chain) and take her there. Afterward take her to a movie. I know dinner and a movie is a cliche, but it's been a standard date forever for a reason.

Crushing the cartels is not a possibility. For every one of them we kill two more pop up. The damn thing is like a Hydra. There is too much easy money for people to just walk away from. I'm going with the change the rules of the game theory.

I should be there.

I've had good luck with PCMforLess if you're considering a mail order tune.