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1

General Buick Tech / Re: Have Had Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo 2004-R

« on: November 06 2020, 07:46:13 PM »

I sent wmsonta a PM with my number. I am in central Virginia.

The trans builder did say he builds them for factory pressures. Regarding the other rebuild parts it was supposed to be built to handle 400+ HP, but I can only trust it was......so IDK.

FTI offers 1 free re-stall within the first year, so I guess its just shipping. They came highly recommended and that is a nice service. Basically this one but lockup delete: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fti-esrl3082-27

Distributor: If you are suggesting that a different than simply HEI distributor is advisable I did see the following option, since the MSD stuff is an arm and a leg (BUt even this one is $$$) https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-csum2750   A small diameter like this is nice for the Nova/Firebird/Camaro ......so close to the firewall that the big HEI's are really annoying, I had to dent my firewall some to get access.

I do have a trans cooler.

Even with this lockup delete the 0.67 OD ratio is nice, 60/70mph its rolling at around 2k RPM.

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General Buick Tech / Re: Have Had Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo 2004-R

« on: November 05 2020, 09:54:40 PM »

The tighter cable I mentioned in my post last night did really help when I drove it today. Let me know if these readings sound fairly normal for trans operation.

Idle 700-800RPM it is around 60PSI

When you bury the pedal from a stop is burns some tire and going to 120PSI quickly then climbs to 150PSI

Shifting at 4500RPM into 2nd (~35MPH) at around 150PSI and stays around there while in 2nd.

And then into 3rd also I think 4500RPM not sure speed exactly but I think 60-70MPH and I am not sure what the trans PSI is doing, too busy watching the road at that point.

When it is just before 2nd gear and in early 3rd gear there is a fair amount of needle bouncing, probably +/-25 PSI, so that 150PSI I mentioned above stays around 150 but does bounce +/-25 if I had to guess. Its hard to read the gauge in the shaking video I made, the gauge is taped to the windshield so its got glare and angle to contend with as well.

When just cruising around 2kPRM the PSI is between 60 and 90, when I then punch it will jump to about 150PSI.


TO answer some of the recent comments:

Its a mechanical Holley Fuel pump and is giving the spec 5-7PSI regulated with a gauge inline shows that it is around 6.

It is a Large Cap OEM style HEI, I think it is one of the cheap ones Summit sells for around $75, came new with the engine. I did try a friends used one and likely factory HEI and no difference, but that was before I had gotten this carb on it and this intake and the 4degree cam change when I tried that distributor. New Taylor wires, new plugs.

I could dial the timing back to total of 35 and see how it does.

It sounds like the suggestion is to set idle around 1k instead of the 7-800 i have it at? If I do that it may make the 60PSI go higher at idle, so I my need to loosen the TV??

The new converter I got is an FTI and is a 9" dia 2800 stall, need to install it sometime. One in the car is stalling around 2200 (Hughes 12"converter rated 2k)
 

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General Buick Tech / Re: Have Had Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo 2004-R

« on: November 04 2020, 10:31:28 PM »

Welcome to the site. As you are finding out the 2004r is a mysterious unit and has many different calibrations from the factory. And being that the last one that was in a stock gm vehicle rolled out about thirty yrs ago there is no telling if it is stock or has been modified and what was modified or swapped in there.

The 3200 shift point is probably where the factory set it. Getting it to where you want to be will require some work. Just swapping a governor from a performance unit is rarely the answer as the VB and governor are a set and doing so could make it worse. Up side is it could easy be swapped back. Better is to get a VB and gov combo from a performance unit and install as a set. Not as easy and cheap but gives a starting point to work from that will most likely be way closer to the shift points you want while retaining the part throttle shift points that are not all over the place. This is why the performance cores are more costly than the regular ones out of the olds and such.

What other mods did the unit get when overhauled? Boost valve, rev boost valve springs and such? What about the accumulators where they spring swapped as with the sloppy shift I doubt either was blocked.

Let us know and we can try to help.

Well, I guess I should have spent a bit extra and gotten one from a performance builder, but that did not pan out nicely with the engine builder. I had it rebuilt to handle 400HP, so along with that was supposed to come better than stock parts since many folks indicate these are underbuilt if stock. The following is basically what was done to the rebuild: "It will handle 450 to 500 horsepower. I replace the sunshell and stator shaft with heavy duty hardened components, and I rebuild the rest of the transmission with Raybestos Pro-series clutches, TTK seal and gaskets, new filter, 10 vane pump, and shift improvement modifications." Here is his site: https://www.kellinperformancetrans.com

Is there a code on the VB I can look at?

Can VB's be modified manually, if so I should ask the trans guy what he thought/did as he worked on it. (See my other post tonight, it may be shifting later now....more later when I can test it under better conditions).

The trans came out of a car with vin:1G1BU54E9LR135 681. The converter was #CG6F, I think that is like 1300 stall. The tag on the trans tail is yellow and says   CT____F in big letter on the first line, stamped along bottom of tag it says in smaller print 305-901CTF0552. But a valve body could have been swapped regardless of all that. It did have a 13big/14small toothed "Drive" speedo gear that is a light yellow/tan color, I installed one to match my 3.42&tires.

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General Buick Tech / Re: Have Had Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo 2004-R

« on: November 04 2020, 10:05:36 PM »

I did use a degree wheel and piston stop when I reset the timing/crank gear and I think it checks out. Was about 1 degree retarded so its now about 3-4 advanced. I was wondering about impact concerns myself but the lift on the cam was apparently not of concern for that based on the forum help I got. The cam change might have helped a little, but not really sure. The biggest change that was night and day was the intake, it was a speedmaster dual plane low rise and wouldn't dream of braking traction off the line, with the Weiand on it can certainly break traction from a start, and then swapping the 670VS for the SS650 mechanical I do think off the line is better. Is the split-overlap method redundant to what I did or is it testing something else? Regarding HP/Torque low at around 275, with this intake I put on it is up on one or both of those some for sure but I am not sure its worth the $ for a dyno check/tune just to post a number, but I am curious.

Pump gas is 91 or 93, I can set the timing to something else easily enough, this is what one fella suggested. The engine guy said advance it until it pings and back it off some. I prefer a number to set to, but I understand the keep advancing it tactic can get you to peak power.

It was basically dark when I got to look at it tonight but I noted last night reading somewhere that I need to see if the trans PSI instantly started to rise with pedal application or if it lagged, checked tonight and it was lagging. SO I reset the TV ratchet device and reset the pull, its tight at WOT but it gets there. With it like this the psi rises immediately with pedal application. Again, it was dark, but it hits 2nd better. I think it shifted at a bit over 4k, so that was welcome and new. I need to mess with it in daylight more so my neighbors don't want to kill me. I will try to get a video of the Tach and trans PSI under acceleration and normal driving so I can focus on driving then focus on watching. Its hard to be safe driving and read at the same time at night, but the preliminary is I think its up to 120 or 150 when it hits 2nd but then at some point later, perhaps in 3rd gear while still accelerating the PSI is literally all over the place, going from low to high really fast, If I had to guess down to 100 up to 200. This seems odd, but I am not sure what the PSI is suppose do to under accelerating load and could not find anyone with a video. Is there a way to post a video here, otherwise I may be able to figure out a youtube post. Since these trans are so finicky it would be great to have a vid showing idle PSI in all gears, WOT PSI in all gears, a demo of how a slight push of the pedal should get the PSI increasing, as well as moderate/normal accel as well as WOT accel to show what PSI does at each shift (of a car with ideal RPM shifts would be nice but i guess RPM can vary some without impact to performance).

About wiped flat tappets......I did not open the filter after break in (insert face palm smile here) but I did change that oil/filter. I did cut the filter open after the initial 500mi and it had some paint flecks, bits of small dirt, and some small shavings, oil itself was dirty for sure. I figure nothing that looked scary for the initial but IDK. Is there a way to verify if lobes are wiped, I think the #1 cyl seems to check out with the degree wheel to spec lift.

Vacuum at 1k RPM is 12-13 inHg and ISKY indicated that was about right for the cam. They said they want to know vacuum at 1k, the 9-10 inHg is at 7-800RPM which is where I have the idle set.

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General Buick Tech / Have Had Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo 2004-R

« on: November 03 2020, 11:23:05 PM »

Lots of Troubles with my New Engine/Trans Combo
Greetings all,

I am a new member this is my 1st post.

I am here with you guys because no one should know more about 2004-R's than you folks, but mine is behind a SBC V8 and I am having difficulty figuring if I have engine issues or trans issues. But most certainly at least some of both?

If you want a good read go over and check out this Forum for all the background to my woes, sorry its super lengthy but very informative: https://www.stevesnovasite.com/threads/help-diagnosing-performance-crate-engine-runs-ok-but-fairly-stock-bottom-end-mid-and-peak-power.673177/page-3#post-5902418

I have been through the ringer trying to get this right and need a good solution without dumping tons (more) cash, and ideally not tons (more) of time.

The car does well off the line but then you can barely tell it hitting 2nd and so on despite being a fresh build with a shift kit. Basically a soft mushy hit of 2nd, and early, at like 3200RPM. Seems to bog or be low on power, but also a better shift may help even that feel better. Engine is a 350ci in a 72 Nova, 3.42 rear.

The 2004-R was out of a 1991 Caprice, I think. Got it out of a junkyard since I just wanted to have it rebuilt to go in the place of a TH-350.....teh OD of course. I only needed a cross-member to do the swap, drive shaft was still fine otherwise I may have done a 700 or something else, but that takes a cross-member and shaft, etc.

I have tried 2 carbs (The link to that forum chronicles my search of the engine for issues, carbs was one suggestion).

1) 1st carb, a Holley 670 Street avenger vacuum secondary with the Sonnax kit for the TV to add to the throttle arm as well as the bracket to hold the throttle and TV connections to the rear bolt of the carb. At full extension I was getting about 1.100" @ WOT.

With this arrangement I got the following pressures:
PND3@idle=60, R@idle100, 2&3@Idle 157

Then holding TV cable full extension (TV cable disconnected from throttle so that the car can still stay running at 700-800RPM idle) the trans read pressures as follows:
PND3@idle=155, R@idle=250, 2&3@Idle=160

2) The 2nd carb on it now is a Quickfuel SS650. This carb has the TV spot built into the throttle lever, so it needs no converter kit. I also still used the bracket to hold both throttle and TV connections to the rear bolt of the carb. I think its even less firm of a shift to 2nd with this carb despite being a mech secondary. At full extension it was giving 1.400” @ WOT which matches the Sonnax suggestion better.

I have not double checked my pressure readings for this 2nd carb since it had the preset throttle arm I thought I was good but it is still soft shifting, actually I think even softer just when I thought that was not possible.

Again you can see this forum where I have been trying to chase engine power issues coupled with how this trans just does not seem to perform well: https://www.stevesnovasite.com/threads/help-diagnosing-performance-crate-engine-runs-ok-but-fairly-stock-bottom-end-mid-and-peak-power.673177/page-3#post-5902418

Trans has a 2k converter and I got a 2800 converter I just ordered but have not yet installed it.

No idea about the 2004-R governor I have, I expect in the long run I will need to modify it to shift later than around 3200 RPM. Open to suggestions on shift RPM and what exactly to do to the governor to get that with the least drops of the pan. I did have it out to get my speedo internal gear right, I know it has at least 1 spring in it, might have 2 but I forget. Didn't realize at the time that that mechanism affects shift points or I may have guessed and checked without a spring to get this project going since surely it needed less spring than a 91 Caprice.