Have everything back together - just made it a late night. Double checked everything I could think of, let the fuel pump cycle a couple times.... turned the key.... and dead batteries. :-)

Guess that's what happens when you let your project sit for the better part of a month while you're out of town.

On the bright side, it did give a few healthy sounding grumbles that sounded like it was trying to start before the batteries gave out. I'll find a charger today and post an update later on. Maybe while the batteries are charging i'll get a couple pices up. I've been a bum lately.

 

Hmm... cranked it 8 or 9 times... until the batteries got weak, but no start.

No error codes and it sounds healthy enough. The fuel system sounds a little burbley still, but I'm guessing it's just working the air out. I double checked the hpop, which seems to have plenty of oil in it.

Recharging the batteries and I'll have another go at it later on this afternoon. Any ideas for stuff to start troubleshooting, or think it'll just take a few more cranks to get the air worked out?

(It did sit for a month, in addition to swapping the injectors, fuel filter and adding the HPx...)

The only thing that seems to be leaking is my trans. dip stick tube. I recall a few other guys having the same problem after doing similar work. Want to get it running before I spent too much time on that though.

Any input is greatly appreciated :-)

 

Keep cranking!!!!

She'll get there.

 

Only getting 5 or 6 good cranks before having to charge the batteries - thinking it might be time for a new set.....

 

Yep, keep cranking on it. Does the charger have a "jump start" mode? That works pretty well for times like this, a good 100amp boost can work wonders.
It'll take time to prime the fuel and oil systems and to get them to operating pressures.

Working on my truck there's been times it takes a lot of cranking and leaves you thinking something else is wrong, and other times it'll start up like I didn't do anything to it.

 

my batteries are a few years old... so i'd crank awhile... then let them charge for a few hours. Did this 4 or 5 times (took most of the day waiting for batts to charge). Finally decided to go get a pair of batteries, but had to wait for the wife to get home from work so i could borrow her car. Put the batteries on the charger one more time just for the heck of it - and it ended up cranking up just as she was getting home. :-)

Ran all kinds of rough for a bit, could get it up to a high idle. Drove it around, maybe put 7 or 8 mi on it and it's starting to smooth out. First I could go 1/4 throttle without it getting too bumpy... then 1/2... so far it's up to about 3/4 throttle before it starts running rough and I have to be nice to it for a minute. Haven't had time to play with it yet today, but I'm about to go take it for another test drive to see how much more air I can get worked out of the system. I need to get it warmed up enough to change the oil since I know some fuel got in there during the injector swap. :-)

It's pretty amazing how manly it sounds with the exhaust and intake on. Can't wait to get it running smooth enough to switch it out of the 'modified stock' tune.

I'll eventually get pics posted of everything installed. I wish I'd gotten a sound clip of how rough it was running at first. I'll make sure to get a couple sound recordings today though.

I didn't know what it was initially - but did figure out that the 'plastic football' that sits over the pass side fender plastic is actually the vacuum reservoir for the vac system. It's not particularly important here - but it amused me.

 

Got it running, as previously mentioned - and hadn't had much time to play with it until more recently.

Problem: Smoking like crazy out of the CCV
Solution: Switched from chevron Delo HD I put it in there because it was cheap and I didn't expect to run it for more than a few hundred miles. I already expected to ruin the oil when I changed out the injectors and got a bunch of fuel down in the cyl... where it could dran into the oil pan and make a wonderful mess. From what I learned - apparently the Delo smokes a little more to begin with - not to mention when you've thinned it out with a bunch of fuel. It got a new filter and filled with Rotella dino oil - which it seems really happy with. Not even 1/4 of a tank later... and it's already running smoother and the smoke from the CCV is back to an acceptable level. I was much relieved.

Problem: Lag, not reaching full bost at wot, transmission hesitating for as much as a couple seconds between shifts, loss of power at high RPM, much louder exhaust note than I expected and a sounds similar to a slipping belt... or the flying car from the old cartoon "The Jetsons"... that my wife made fun of me for.
Solution: Exhaust leak on the pass. side up pipe. I fortunately still had the pass side fender well plastic out - which made it easy to find and easy to fix. After getting it tightened down (it was 4 am the first time) literally all of the aforementioned problems were fixed. Now I only hear the 'jetsons car' sound at WOT at high boost - so going to check the other side for the same problem.

I did think to start the truck when it was cold to use my hand to check for leaks - and in another thread a few folks suggested partially obstructing the exhaust. Can anyone think of a reason that it would be a bad idea (except for the smell when the exhaust heats up) to use a soapy solution to check for bubbles? I had to put the fender plastic back in while it's raining to keep water out of the engine bay - but after having it in and out once - I can pull it fairly easily. (I'll admit... I didn't excercise nearly the same finesse pulling it out the first time...) I do need to remember to pick up a few new body clips, bolts and plastic body plugs to replace stuff that was rusty or dry rotted when it came out.

I'm starting a list of "stuff to have before you take your truck apart" for anyone who's considering doing similar work. Extra body clips and plastic plugs will be somewhere in the list.

With everything bolted up and at least close to finishing the trouble shooting... and after a few nervous days of wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into... the truck is a ball to drive. I have only had enough room to bother putting it in "120 sport" mode a couple times - because I haven't had enough open road to enjoy it without traffic getting in the way. It's amazing how quickly cars get tiny in the rear view... and how quickly you come up on unsuspecting traffic that are having trouble making it up the side of a mtn. :-)

I have left in the 80hp Econo tune for this whole tank of fuel - and I'm genuinely amazed at how long this tank is lasting. I had to drive 150 mi before the needle moved over from F, which normally takes about 100 mi. I haven't even been being particularly easy on it. When taking my wife to work yesterday, there was a clean looking import trying to catch up to me on the round-about leading to the on-ramp for the freeway planning to jump in front of me before it narrowed to one lane. I'd been easy on the throttle because it was soaking wet - and if I kicked the rear end out - it would have punted his import off the high side of the banked round-about like a soccer ball... and apparently my being polite gave him the wrong idea. About the time his front bumper finally caught up with the drivers door and the road straightened out I dropped the hammer from a rolling start around 30mph, eased off because the tires broke loose, launched past him like he was standing still and made sure to ease off each time the transmission was about to shift in an effort to save the tranny until I can afford to build it too. The confused look on the guys face was priceless. The truck is running smooth enough now that my wife, who was letting her mind wander... realized that I was smiling for some reason and asked "what just happened?".

While I'm happy to have an excuse to tell you that story - it wasn't so much that I beat an import (although I'd have been upset if it had been close)... as that, after spending the first few rides in the truck listening for trouble sounds, watching for smoke, wondering why the transmission wasn't shifting and wondering what on earth I'd gotten myself into - this was only the 2nd drive where the truck felt really really good. I knew it was faster than before - but without a frame of reference it's hard to know how much is optimism after having done so much hard work. Having a snide driver with a confused look getting tiny in the rear view really snaps things into focus. :-)

I have a long drive coming up tomorrow morning - so when I finally top off again I'll finally know how optimistic my 'lie-o-meter' is... and be able to report back more than a guess on my mileage.

Edit x2: Can't forget to mention the 'band clamp' issue... :-) Local dealership still doesn't have it in - so in the meantime - the stock (read, much too small) clamp is still holding 3 sides of the flange using a hose clamp as a 1" extension - with high temp silicone working as a gasket for now. Seems to have held just fine so far.

Edit: Nothing against imports - I actually love them, and used to have a couple. There are a few out there that are more than respectable... I'd still love to get my hands on a good condition STI... but I'd have felt like I'd wasted my money and house of work if an unloaded 7.3 with a 38R ball bearing powermax strapped to it couldn't out pace a naturally aspirated 4cy up an on-ramp.

 

*permagrin ensues*


Right on Rob