The All About My Monte Carlo SS Thread

[Charlief1]

Check with JayC on the big board Mike. Cal would also be someone in the know. Both of them have worked on LPG systems before and they may be able to help you.

[motorhead]

Check with JayC on the big board Mike. Cal would also be someone in the know. Both of them have worked on LPG systems before and they may be able to help you.

Yeah, I am dealing with adapting one of Jay's old kits to the car.

Seems that the CGA certification for Type III hoses (which are for full bore LPG automotive conversions) includes:
■■ Inner Tube - Thermoplastic.
■■ Reinforcement - Stainless Steel braid over a textile braid.
■■ Cover - Oil Resistant Perforated Synthetic Rubber.
■■ Rated for 350 PSI at temperatures from -40° to 200° F.
■■ Hydraulically crimped non-reusable hose ends.
■■ Hydrostaticall y tested at 1.5 times the working pressure and CGA tagged with the test date.

The funny thing is most certifications aren't worth the paper they are printed on... until it comes time to sue. Just looking at the figures presented, and comparing them to the ones from the hose I have in hand, I can't see how there is a much of a risk involved in using it? Especially for such a light duty LPG injection system (150psi regulated).

Here are the specs for Type II:
■■ Inner Tube - Black Nitrile Tube
■■ Reinforcement - Stainless Steel braid over a textile braid
■■ Cover - Oil Resistant Textile cover impregnated with Neoprene
■■ Rated for 350 PSI at temperatures from -40° to 200°F
■■ UL approved for use w/ LP gas MH8393
■■ Two piece manually installed hose ends
■■ Hydrostaticall y tested at 1.5 times the working pressure and CGA tagged with the test date

[motorhead]

Got a little done this weekend between weeding my front lawn and shopping.

In short: I mocked up the throttle cable/TV cable/cruise cable bracket and you can see the potential connector for the throttle cable hanging off the throttlebody; I have an alternate if this doesn't work out. The MAP sensor is in (drilled and tapped the feed in the elbow), as are the cooling fan switches, and the IAT/MAT is in the up-pipe. From here I can start running the wires for all the sensors.

Next I took some time to run the hoses for the supplementary fuel systems. Gasoline and propane will be injected at different stages as boost rises. I am thinking about getting my hands on a progressive controller for the propane. The propane is currently setup as a dual stage system with a large solenoid at the tank controlling the -4AN main line (under the up-pipe merge) and a smaller solenoid controlling the secondary injection (which happens to be a nitrous plate spray bar). The gasoline is running through the other side of the plate which is good for +/-100hp worth of fuel this will be triggered off of a (Hobbs?) switch at 1psi give or take. This should be plenty of additional fuel and octane to run the car up to 500hp at the crank on top of the 28pph injectors that will be going in (42pphs will be substituted if I run E85).

[motorhead]

Mounted up the new throttle cable last night, being from a 3rd Gen F-body it took a little grinding to get it to fit through the firewall. But we now can gain full control over the throttle body! I also mounted up the cruise control module and ran that cable; I may have to shorten the slider bracket at the throttle body to get more than 25% throttle angle... before I do this I need to determine what the factory range is supposed to be as I don't believe it is supposed to get to WOT with the cruise control on. Lastly I rigged up the connector for the TV cable at the throttle body, seems that I am going to have to measure out 78* of travel for proper TV actuation (as seen here: http://news.compperformance.com/Instructions/gm_tv_cable_adjust.pdf)

I am also ordering up the 4000ppm VSS adapter from Jags That Run needed for the 1991 ECM I am running. http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/SpeedSensors_Speedometer.html (P/N 4PAC)
There is already a 2000ppm VSS mounted in the Monte's dash cluster that will drive the '91 cruise control.

Next I move onto hybrid wiring the 1991 electronics into the 1987 electronics - some stuff is very similar, other stuff not so much.

[motorhead]

My VSS from jagsthatrun.co m showed up today and it looks good.

Also sandblasted and painted up some stock Buick wastegates over the weekend. Big thanks to Paul Beal for hooking me up with one he had laying around. Because of how the turbos are clocked there is going to be a need to alter the far end of the arm to get it to hook to the arm on the puck... no biggie.

Does anyone know the "precise" pressure these open up at? I tested them both and it looks like 14-15psi (EDIT: 12psi according to Steve Wood). But that is obviously without any pressure on the front side of the puck.

[firebird_1252]

 

[motorhead]

Well not much has transpired since August with this project for reasons of competing priorities and what not...

But, I do have two weeks of vacation left and feel it would be a good idea to put a dent in this car before our little girl shows up in mid-March.  So to start I built these wheel cribs which give me 21" clear under the frame, with a taller jack I could much higher.  They are built on a 16"x16" frame, if I had to do it over it would be on a 18" or 19" frame... at least in length.

Pictures were taken with our new Canon T4i... primarily bought for baby documenting.

[SuperSix]

I like those rims..

[TWIN86GNS]

Mike,
 
Keep up the good work, it is very impressive to say the least.  I can't wait to see it actually run, I might have to make a trip Ottawa way to see it. 

[motorhead]

Mike,
 
Keep up the good work, it is very impressive to say the least.  I can't wait to see it actually run, I might have to make a trip Ottawa way to see it.

Thanks, Paul.  If everything goes the way I plan, it will see a lot of road time.

Can anyone confirm if .0015" to .002" is an acceptable tolerance between the mounting surfaces of the turbo, header and downpipe flanges - before torquing?  I've been truing them up for a good final fitment.

[daveismissing]

Apparently Kirbans thinks 120 thou is acceptable in the 4 bolt converter flange
based on the part they sent me.

[motorhead]

Apparently Kirbans thinks 120 thou is acceptable in the 4 bolt converter flange
based on the part they sent me.

Yikes.  There is a reason I don't shop there.

I've torqued down my "elbow" and have 0.0015" in one spot (below the wastegate hole/puck)... this MIGHT be fillable with temp silicone, no?  Thermal expansion of the parts should draw them tight too, right?

[SuperSix]

Kirban's is way too expensive - the one order I did place with them came with the parts not packed at all and banging around in the box. NOS4GN has set the bar very high.

[daveismissing]

By the time I was done grinding and filing I still had more than 0.002 but it sealed up OK. It was a smooth transition tho, if its straight I would think it would be ok

[motorhead]

By the time I was done grinding and filing I still had more than 0.002 but it sealed up OK. It was a smooth transition tho, if its straight I would think it would be ok

I did a "light check" and there is nothing sneaking through so I should be okay with a little goop in there.  So that is one turbo refreshed... one more to go.

The next question is: port the wastegate hole or not? 

I know boost creep becomes an issue with a stock housing at higher pressures (20psi+) on the stock 3.8L.  Since I am looking to run only 2.9L through each turbo @ 14psi I believe the stock WG hole will be even less of a factor.