"Lil Alky", the epic build thread

[alkygto]

Bizarre I can see them here but no one else can? I copied them from our local forum, I did'nt take the pics, stlmo_gtp did so they are'nt in my photobucket. Yep, fail on my part lol. I'll take some more soon.

[stlmo_gtp]

Here are those photo's man

[alkygto]

Thanks Brian! Look forward to seeing you Sunday for the install...........

[Bio248]

no pictures of the valve seats and the porting? boooooooooo

[blueguy]

Boo, I agree.

UPS delivers.

[alkygto]

Page 4 for pics of the porting. Sorry no pics of the finished valve seats (smacks forehead).

[alkygto]

Well.............. She's Alive!!!!!!!!!!

Again, a HUGE thanks goes out to stlmo_gtp for all the help, not sure I could have gotten everything together (or found out where all the shiz plugs in) without his knowledge. Plus giving me a good alternator and cruise unit and utilizing his double jointed arms to reach some of those impossible to reach fasteners and plugs.

Car started right up and settled into an idle within less than a minute and took her around the block. First time the car has moved under it's own power in almost two years and it felt great to drive it again. Stiege has been slammed so I just put on my previously ported blower with the 3.4 on it for now and still on gas. Once everything is sorted out we'll do the conversion but it just feels great to have my GP on the road again. Also means I've freed up garage space to bring the GTO home!

One snag is the fuel pump I ordered from TRE is different from the on in the car. My Airtex replacement pump has two inlets at the bottom and the TRE pump has only one. Also the TRE pump has a very small brass fitting on the top on the pump that mine does'nt have. Not having my factory setup I'm wondering if the Airtex is different than the factory unit and maybe I need to go to the boneyard to get a complete factory pump/bucket assy. Anyone know? I was going to contact TRE customer service but figured I'd wait to see if anyone here knows.

BTW the idle with the XP cam, SSAC headers and my SLP catback sounds GRRRREAT! (anyone remember Tony the tiger lol?) purrs like a baby tiger!

[alkygto]

Also, my "extra" L67 is going to Stiegemeiers to do mock up on a M112 or M122 conversion so that might be going on the car at a later date.

[MoarkatsINmuhtrailer]

did you put the tre pump in yet?

[alkygto]

^ No, it's so different from my stocker (Airtex replacement) that I don't see how to make it work ie. one inlet versus two plus the small fitting on top I'm not sure what to hook that to or if I just leave it, plug it.

Anyone have pics of a "stock" 97 pump? How many "inlets" does it have? The TRE pump says it fits 1997-2000 GTP's. TRE-344 is the part #.

[MoarkatsINmuhtrailer]

the tre pump you have is venturi.. the airtex replacements fet rid of the venturi tube. do not put the tre pump in unless you have a venturi canister...unfortunately i just sold the canister i had so i cant help you there. if you go to the junkyard, look for all 97-00 gtps or regal gs' and get the canister out of them..youll know it is venturi if you see a small black nylon tube going to that brass nipple.

[MoarkatsINmuhtrailer]

This is what an upgraded fuel pump should look like with the venturi tube hooked up.

You cannot just plug the fitting. Without the venturi system functional, the pump will live a very very short life.

[alkygto]

Looks like I'm on the hunt for the venturi style pump assy then . Still can't believe I threw out my original when I replaced it with this overpriced Airtex POS.



Thanks for the help and pics guys .

[blueguy]

lawl @ Airtex pumps.

[alkygto]

And I paid like $300 for that thing.

lawl @ Airtex pumps.

[MoarkatsINmuhtrailer]

My airtex is fine so far.

[matt5112]

I can't help but recall faintly that you've tried numerous blower designs and settled on one already?

[alkygto]

I can't help but recall faintly that you've tried numerous blower designs and settled on one already?

Correct. Settled on the last one before I stretched a rod. As an update I've been DD'ing the car for a couple weeks now and it runs very well. I commute 54 miles one way to work and I've been averaging 28.5 mpg (still on gas). I let the wife have the newer car and there just arent any E85 stations convenient on my commute. I am going intercooled though and still plan on changing from the 3.4 to the Snake Bite with either a 3.6 or 3.4 pulley. I'm just trying at this point to make my stock 151,000 mile transaxle last. I've gotten on it a couple times where it sounds like it slips in first so I just baby it for now. Otherwise it drives fine and shifts perfect so if it gets me to and from work I'm happy with that. I'm just jonesing to get the GTO out now!

[matt5112]

Sounds good.

The transaxle wont like the pulley drop nearly as much as you will.

Probably best to avoid wot in first.

[alkygto]

Probably been asked before but any ballpark on FWHP with my mods? Ported L67 heads, XP cam, SSAC headers, SLP catback, no egr, no cat, ported LIM and 3.4? All the rest is stock just a lil beefier for strength.

What do you guess is the gains I'll see going stage 2 intercooler (actually should get it today) and recommend a pulley drop for me that won't kill my MPG. Or should I just stay 3.4 and then could I run a lower octane fuel?

I'm getting a killer deal on the intercooler setup. Once that is on I'll hook up the Venom Cooler to do a lil dyno testing. Using this beast as a DD, longevity and MPG are my biggest goals right now. I can still use the extra power on the highway though right? I don't like getting passed or cutoff so a lil extra oomph would be good.

Bummer about not being able to use much of first gear. If I punch it from a roll at 30 she'll light em up and then bark second pretty hard. FUN!!!