Thread: Dirt cheap mods: my never ending struggle

Originally Posted by selliott

Vroom vroom

Haha watch out selliott! My wire cutters are coming for your car next! lol (that is, if my car doesn't blow up driving up there...) You know you need that remote start!

Originally Posted by wstefan20

Haha watch out selliott! My wire cutters are coming for your car next! lol (that is, if my car doesn't blow up driving up there...) You know you need that remote start!

Sounds good I could use one although my car hardly ever leaves the garage. The other night was the first time in a couple weeks

Originally Posted by selliott

Sounds good I could use one

Sounds good to me! Let's just see if I don't manage to deep fry my car with this install first... but yours definitely could use a security system more than mine! haha steal mine, you get a $200 stock gp, steal yours... WAY different story!

Mines nothing special

Originally Posted by selliott

Mines nothing special

lol you're too humble selliott. I could spend $5000 and I wouldn't have anything near your car!

Originally Posted by wstefan20

lol you're too humble selliott. I could spend $5000 and I wouldn't have anything near your car!

Nonsense, just need a turbo kit and your set

Originally Posted by selliott

Nonsense, just need a turbo kit and your set

Well, you're definitely right about the turbo part! Haha should probably get those negative fuel trims under control first though... lol

Originally Posted by wstefan20

Well, you're definitely right about the turbo part! Haha should probably get those negative fuel trims under control first though... lol

Then comes the transmission build

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by selliott

Then comes the transmission build

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Yeah.... That and the tuner cost is what I'm really avoiding.... I've already rebuilt the transmission once, trust me, I'm not excited to go back in... lol

Time to stop that annoying belt squeal and find that coolant leak!

Also got to change the gaskets on the headers, exhaust claps, troubleshoot my remote start system, install a transmission for a friend, and change the breaks for another friend. Oh, and find time for homework and studying for thermodynamics.... fml

Valid point, but I'm broke and I didn't want to throw away a perfectly good throttle body mainly. My local yard charges like $50 for throttle bodies or something crazy. That, and I have a N* throttle body just lying around along with an LS1 throttle body and I really want to install it, but haven't had the time or money. So instead, I filled in the throttle body and rounded it out. It's a few pages back, but it actually turned out really well!

So the saga continues! I ended up replacing the ECT sensor, thermostat, and IAT with no change.

Found an exhaust leak, so I swapped from my sd header gaskets to the mil oem acdelco gaskets (sprayed with copper gasket adhesive), used copper rtv on the crossover pipe and upgraded to stepped 2.25" band clamps, and exhaust leak is gone.

Also went ahead and deleted my egr since I just got the code removed with the tune. Much more room now!

Broke a spark plug wire in the process, so I got a replacement set from the junkyard (8mm ultra low resistance brand from summit racing).

I'm thinking the old spark plug wires were higher resistance than the new ones because the power and throttle response made my car an entirely different ride!

However, then I got a code for the bank 1 o2 sensor and found that the fastener had come loose and melted the plug, so for a quick fix, I used a good plug and spliced the wires.... yes, I know, not the best practice. Got a new acdelco sensor on the way.

Even with it spliced for now though, I'm getting much better mpg and throttle response. No more P0420 now too since I used the spark arrester spacer trick.

So to close, I'm at 0% stft and ltft idle and deceleration, and around -7% ltft on acceleration. Hopefully the new o2 sensor helps? If anyone has anything else for me to try, I'd be very open to suggestions!

o2 sensor in the mail along with a better catch can! (I'm hoping this one doesn't leak...).

Finally got around to fixing my sagging squeaky door hinges! Much better than before (and now I can keep the rain out)!

Not too much to see, but here's a short clip of the first time starting after installing my remote start! Used a CM7000 with Blade-AL immobilizer module, DAS module, siren, and one way remote (I know, went cheap on that, but I can always upgrade later). Yes, I know, my car and my garage are very dirty... lol

Well, the plot thickens... turns out I have a vacuum leak again! lol didn't think that could happen with negative fuel trims.... anyways, figured I'd post a really quick video of me doing the smoke test and where it's leaking from. I'll definitely be going with a new throttle body. This one is just too warped. Definitely just using rtv and no gasket this time though.

Good news is I used the same method on my exhaust and there are no leaks! (finally)


Still have to take out the o2 spacer. Still not sure how that works, but maybe it'll help. Looks like I have my weekend cut out for me...

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

How do you figured you warped a thick piece of metal? The whole thing would have to be quirked. Maybe you torqued the nuts to tight and bend the base inwards

lol good question. I should have known better to even use this throttle body in the first place. This is the last piece off my blown engine. Let's just say when the original engine overheated, it caused cracks in the heads, a rod to punch a crack in the block, warp the entire block and the camshaft to warp 6 thousandths (enough that it wouldn't fit in the new block but turned fine in the old block), and the upper plastic manifold to start to melt.

Don't worry, I didn't let the engine overheat like that. The prior owner let it run out of oil on the highway going 70 and hydrolocked the engine while it was overheating and seized the engine. That's how I bought the car for $200

It's possible the throttle body was already overtorqued though from the prior owner. it was on there pretty good.