Geeto67 Posted April 28, 2021 Report Share Posted April 28, 2021 It feels like there is a market here for either these companies or an aftermarket company to sell a tunable solution and kits for the shaft connections. Maybe it would be easy enough to put some basic info in to get a 'base' tune e.g. some basic vehicle or suspension geometry and vehicle weight. There is, e-assist steering columns like the EPAS unit have a potentiometer that lets you dial in resistance: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/eps-2013?seid=srese1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkqTav9ah8AIVY2tvBB1qKQNuEAQYASABEgITs_D_BwE For c1 corvettes there is a bolt on kit using a brand new unit, all the fittings and adapter parts in good quality, a homemade electronic "brain", instillation instruction videos, etc. The cost? $1440. I understand the cost and for the level of work that went into it it's justified, but a used prius steering unit is between $150 and $250 at junkyards, and to physically adapt it isn't that much work if you are handy and have access to or know someone with a lathe and welder. I am thinking about doing this with the GTO (dad balked on the vette), where there are no kits. I hate the existing pneumatic power steering in the car now, it's been a hassle to keep fluid in it even when all the parts were "new" (rebuilt). Also, 60's PS is super floaty and difficult to get underdrive pulleys and belts for. sorry for the thread hijack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ackbar00 Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 Can those systems work outside of the car they were designed to go in by some miracle or do they require some box that spoofs the CAN signals they expect to receive? Classic Mustang guys are using things out of everything. They sell controllers for them on Ebay. Certain ones when installed go into some sort of "limp" mode and I guess that works just fine. https://www.ebay.com/itm/143595477708?hash=item216ef51acc%3Ag%3AZ9EAAOSwPyRerukD&LH_ItemCondition=3 https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/anyone-want-a-100-electric-power-steering-here-you-go.670865/#post-4535281 https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/best-200-mod-ever-eps.787114/#post-5947282 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted May 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 Afternoon Gents. Sort of a misserable, frustrating update this week. Had the car back at the tuner to try and sort out the cold start idle issues. He said he made the adjustments necessary to get it sorted. And he did as far as the cold start idle was concerned. So I picked it up again up at ON3 last Thursday. I get .5 mile from my house, pull up to the light, clutch in and the car idles down and shuts off. Then wouldn't restart. SWEEET. I push it through the turn (in the pouring rain) luckily its down hill so I attempt to bump start it from 2nd and it fires back up. cool, at least I can get it home. In the garage I rev it a bit and the idle drops down and shuts off again. The car sets a fault when it dies and wont restart until you clear it. I found a SIB about it so I think fixing the idle will solve all that. Still frustrating. On the short trip home I immediately notice the engine has a vibration now. Like if I were to have installed super stiff or solid engine mounts. I drove it a bit this weekend and it feels like everything is gonna vibrate off the car. The charge pipe rattles, the fender rattles, the shifter feels like its gonna fly off the car around 4k it buzzes so bad. I looked the car over looking for a busted mount or something and cant find anything. It makes NO sense. Its not like a misfire or anything, I pulled each coil just to check. No codes in the ECU. My mind keeps coming back to if the bump start could have messed something up internally to the engine or flywheel. (still vibrates while coasting, but seems slightly worse under load) It appears to rev ok but seems like it might be down on power, its that or the vibrations are so distracting that it just feels off. So then to make things even better I pulled the oil filer just for kicks and found a small about of metal in the pleats of the filter. That oil and filter may have 100 miles on it? I dont even know where to go with the thing now. Pull the valve cover and front timing car and look for possible timing chain/balance chain issues? (chains are sorta common on ecotecs I guess) Maybe do a compression test? The car made good power so I assume thats gonna check out but maybe not now that is has a vibration... Pull the trans and check the flywheel? Not even sure what I would look for there with a dual mass. See if it has excessive play? Im open for any fresh ideas.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl1647545492 Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 How is the fuel system injector/pump/filter ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted May 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 How is the fuel system injector/pump/filter ? The pump and regulator are new. Filter is older and injectors came with the engine. I cant imagine this vibration being a fuel issue though. To start suddenly after a bump start. It doesnt misfire. Its a fast vibration. Like the balance shafts are messed up now. Ive read those chains can fail.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted May 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 Happy Monday Gents. Time for an ecojunk30 update After my last post in regards to the vibration I decided to investigate the balance shafts. Thats the only thing that made any sense. So I pulled the timing cover and valve cover, set everything at TDC. The drivers side balancer shaft gear should be at 12 oclock and the passenger side at 6oclock. Well, low and behold the shafts were about 180* off. No broken guides or anything else that seemed worn but it definitely jumped time, but just on the balance chain luckily. The tensioner seemed slightly sloppy but not it still seemed crazy that it just jumped that far. I decided to just go ahead and replace all the balance shafts parts and timing chain components. The engine looks to be in very good shape. Im hoping the small about of metal in the filter is just from it sitting for so long, who knows. I picked up all the components and went about replacing everything. Assembly was pretty straight forward. I stopped by chevy and got some new cam bolts. They torque to 62 lb ft and 30*. Well for whatever reason the one bolt bluetoothed before I even reached the initial torque. Luckily it stayed together for removal. The other bolt was fine. I reused the old bolt on the one side and matched the torque between the 2. Dumb Then in a lack of intelligence moment I didnt clock the crank pulley into the keyway during reassembly and mushroomed the key..UGH So I had to pull it back apart to fix that nonsense. What a pain. Anyway its all back together now and running. Ive also been collecting parts to add power steering to the car. Its misserable to drive as is I stole the method the ecomiata guys use for their cars and copied it for mine. I picked up a regal bracket and pump. It basically just spaces the alternator off the engine, and adds the bracket for the power steering pump. I ordered a hose kit from chase bays but it backordered so I ordered up a bunch of random parts from amazon and through work. Worked out I only spent about half the cost of the kit. i already had some ptfe line from the C10 that I was able to use for the pressure hose. The only bracket I had to fabricate was to hold the coolant hose from rubbing on the pulley. Everything else pretty much bolted together. Small cooler I zip tied to the radiator. Having power steering is like driving a whole new car. Makes it so much more enjoyable to drive. Im still not driving it much because it stalls so often, but Ill be back at the tuner this week. Can't wait to getting the tuning situated and be able to drive it a bit. Tired of just looking at it in the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted May 17, 2021 Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 way to stick with it, good call on the balance shafts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstmg8 Posted May 17, 2021 Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 Excited to see how she runs when it's all tuned up! Good work. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mace1647545504 Posted May 17, 2021 Report Share Posted May 17, 2021 Man you are like a bull dog...grab on and hold until you can't anymore...you'll get through it Great update..I would have pulled my hair out by now..lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted May 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 Man you are like a bull dog...grab on and hold until you can't anymore...you'll get through it Great update..I would have pulled my hair out by now..lol haha. There was a moment or two I wished it would have just caught fire. The build went so smoothly up until these past few weeks. Im a stubborn SOB so Ill work through it. Maybe that will make it that much more rewarding? Doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis Nice Posted May 18, 2021 Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 I stopped by chevy.... Found your problem. :gabe: It will all be worth it. Just a few stumbling blocks. It happens on any build of this caliber. Keep at it. It's a sick ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted May 19, 2021 Report Share Posted May 19, 2021 Found your problem. But the Chevy was dry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted June 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2021 I wanted to update the progress on this turd bucket. Ive been driving the car a bit on and off and just wasn't happy with how the car drove. The throttle was super touchy and jerky. It just wasn't fun to drive. Along with the fact any cold start rev'd to nearly 3k rpm unless I loaded it with the clutch and or put it gear and used the brakes to slow it down. The tuner at ON3 thought the car not having a speed input into the ecu could be part of the problem. I talked to several other people that thought it should be a non issue, including the guy that built the harness and sold my my ECU. So eventually I just bit the bullet and bought another tune and HPTuners license through ZZP in Michigan. I sent him some logs and he confirmed he thought the car would do a lot better with a VSS signal. I started out by just buying a 2011 Regal manual speed sensor for a manual trans. But no matter what I did the ECU would not recognize the input from the sensor. HPTuners always registered the MPH at 158mph. I ran the vin from the ECU in the car and determined it was from and automatic car. The only thing I could think was the auto car was programmed to not see/sense the VSS input since it would normaly be wired up to a TCM module. I dug around on car-part.com and found a 2011 regal 2L manual in Toledo and bought a ECU for $30. I lucked out and it had the same OS system as my current OS. I had to buy 2 more HPTuners credit because the VIN was different...Whatever...I swapped it over, wired up the VSS sensor and it immediately showed 0 mph on the speedometer through HPTuners. DOPE! I had ZZP send me a base tune for it since I had already bought their "custom" tune service. The moment of truth came when I started the car.... It rev'd up to about 1800 and immediately fell back down to 1100 or so where the cold start RPM was set too. This was an exciting moment. So now came the trouble of trying to actually get an actual operating MPH reading into the ECU other than zero. The regal ECU expects a 3 wire input and the Solstice I have is a 2 wire sensor. I heard good things about the Dakota Digital SGi-100BT. So I bought it and emailed them for suggestions. They replied back right away and sent suggestions. I wired it as they said but couldn't get any input into the ECU. The DD box was seeing a signal but the ECU was not. I finally tried a different combination of wires and got it to work. What a relief! The Solstice trans now reads accurate speed into the regal ECU. Along with the VSS input I wanted to add a clutch position sensor so that the ECU could use the correct rolling idle, tables etc. I made up a crappy bracket and wired it up. The sensor rotates against the clutch spring but it works as designed. Finally yesterday I got a chance to drive the car with the new ecu, tune, working VSS and clutch sensor.... OMG it drives retardedly better. As soon as I pulled out of the driveway I could tell the difference. So much smoother. The new ZZP tune works night and day difference as well. And thats without any adjustments. I took the car out this morning and enjoy driving it so much more. Its the car I've been expecting since the start of the build. Just a couple of 2L turbo "german" coupes. They couldn't be more different. But both fun none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted June 28, 2021 Report Share Posted June 28, 2021 Hell yeah! I thought we had gotten past the needing a VSS thing in GM tuning, but I guess not. My Porsche kit came with a VSS add on which I wasn't sure I was going to put in, but I think I will now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstmg8 Posted June 28, 2021 Report Share Posted June 28, 2021 Awesome! What's the power band like on that motor? Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted June 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2021 Awesome! What's the power band like on that motor? Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk I posted the dyno from when ON3 tuned it on the previous page. Its feels just about right for the car. Its maybe just a little bit slow to spool up (compared to my TT-S) but I also have a bit too long of a gear in the car. It pulls pretty hard to a little over 6k. Its sorta kinda like my s/c BRZ was but with a good amount more bottom end and some mid range. Plenty of grunt but not too much where it blows the tires off. Ill see this week if ZZP makes any more changes to the tune. I think they might have a little too much boost dialed in. Most guys say these turbos only last to around 22-23psi. I think I saw 26 yesterday while driving around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted November 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 Thought Id update for anyone that cares and just for my own info. Pretty much been driving the car all summer with very little issues. Haven't had any break downs or really any failures (knock on wood). Im not 100% satisfied with the tune that ZZP "finalized" for me. The drivability still sucked. I basically had to fail the maf and force the car to control via speed density. The fueling isn't nearly as accurate but the car drives pretty great. Id still like to get it right but after paying 2 different tuners to tune it I cant justify it for a little bit. Recently the engine clatters a little under light load, slightly above idle. I narrowed it down to the cam phasers. I swapped them out and the noise got better but not resolved. I put new solenoids in and again that helped but its still there. If you unplug them or turn the ignition cam timing off via HPTuners the noise completely goes away. So I dunno whats going on there. I checked the engines oil pressure tonight and it seems on par with what guys on the net see with theirs. I may drain the oil, put 10w30 in it and see if that changes anything. I think this winters projects for it are a diff rebuild and some black seat leathers. The diff I swapped into in earlier this year is noisy. I think its the pinion bearing. It whines under light load at highway speeds. Ill probably do a full rebuild on it. I think new seat leathers to match the rest of the interior will help the interior drastically. Im still working out a plan for power brakes. I have a Tesla iBooster but the master cylinder comes out on the wrong side. I need to find a RHD donor car to get the correct one. Hopefully I can get that working before next summer as well. Couples pics from today with my wife. We drove down through Hocking Hills, Lake Hope and down to Jackson for lunch then back up. Not sure how many miles cause the odometer is dead but the car handled everything awesome. I enjoy this far far more than I ever thought I would. Its not very precise or fast or quiet, but its just a really fun car. It sounds good, is reliable, quick enough to slide it when you want and gets thumbs up everywhere it goes. And its a 10 footer so I never have to worry too much about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis Nice Posted November 8, 2021 Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 Nice. It's all about being able to enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted November 8, 2021 Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 great stuff... no clue if its an option, but can you lock the cam for good and delete all the cam phasing stuff just to troubleshoot to see if thats the issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted November 8, 2021 Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 Great work and a really great car. I loved my E30 but always thought it needed more power, I am super envious of your swap and all the hard work you put in. Congrats on making it this far and I look forward to more updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted November 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 great stuff... no clue if its an option, but can you lock the cam for good and delete all the cam phasing stuff just to troubleshoot to see if thats the issue? I dunno if you can permanently delete them. Id hate to introduce another thing to try and tune around. Im assuming there is power to be made with the cam timing as well. If I set the cam timing at zero versus the 6-10* it request on intake and exhaust when it rattles the noise is gone. So Im pretty confident its something in the phasers but I dunno how to fix it. Ill figure it out one way or another. Im stubborn like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted November 8, 2021 Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 Love the car, I bet this thing is a blast to drive and probably handles great too! I like that you got a pic of the rear ends together :lolguy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted November 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2021 Love the car, I bet this thing is a blast to drive and probably handles great too! I like that you got a pic of the rear ends together :lolguy: I set the suspension up pretty soft just because its strictly a street car but due to its lightness and decent tire it does pretty well. I did add some aftermarket sway bars to keep the roll in check. bahaha, nice catch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Alex- Posted November 9, 2021 Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 Pretty sure I was right beside you at Sixth Sense on Sunday lol. I recognize your wife because when you guys sat down, I kept thinking she looked a lot like someone I know. I live about a mile up the road and get lunch there about every weekend. Wish I would’ve know the E30 was there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruizin01 Posted November 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 Pretty sure I was right beside you at Sixth Sense on Sunday lol. I recognize your wife because when you guys sat down, I kept thinking she looked a lot like someone I know. I live about a mile up the road and get lunch there about every weekend. Wish I would’ve know the E30 was there! You were big guy behind me with the boy? What the heck are the odds of that? World is weird. Yeah, first time we've ever been there. Pretty decent little place. Yeah i was parked around back. I should have parked on the street I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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