flaagan

Now I'm missing my '01 and can't wait to get my '86 back on the road!

3D87C4

BAR Referee appointment 8AM Monday

flaagan

Almost garaunteed they'll give you crap about something. Gotta love it. You've drastically improved fuel economy, performance, and reduced carbon footprint, but they'll still bitch about the most trivial stuff.

Best of luck with those jokers!

3D87C4

When I was making the appointment I asked if they'd ding me for my expired tags & she said no, I was ok unless I got pulled over on the way there.

I've still got a brake/signal light issue but am hoping that won't influence the smog check. I was hoping to get that fixed before the inspection but was given a choice of Monday or mid-December & generally prefer getting painful things over with.

Oh, and my wipers stopped working, d'oh!

flaagan

Can't tell you how many times I've had the wipers randomly quit on me. At least the bad rain's over for the moment! If they go out on me this winter I'm thinking I'm gonna finally start looking into alternative wiper control solutions. The door-based setup is neat, but the switch so ridiculously prone to failure.

3D87C4

The blades were crossed and the hood was closed over them. I freed them up but they wouldn't work. Checked fuse & it was ok. Chalked it up to another electrical gremlin. When I started it to drive home from work they perked up and parked themselves & operate normally.

Took my boys out to dinner to celebrate the youngest's birthday. Drove him in the Vette and my eldest followed so he could drive home after. Lovely dinner---big beef ribs---get in the car and it cranks but won't start!!! My VATS does this, but waiting didn't help. Ended up sending the boys home and called AAA. First dispatcher said they'd charge for the tow 'cause my registration is a couple of weeks lapsed so I hung up & fumed for a bit. Called back, the new dispatcher didn't bring it up and the flat bed driver didn't care either (tipped him nicely).

Vette's in my mechanic's lot. If the VATS wire goes through the same connector as the brake & signal lights at the base of the steering column this, and my dead brake/signal lights, could be related. On the other hand it could be a fuel problem too. We'll sort that out next week.

Looks like I'm not going to make my referee appointment. Grrrr....

3D87C4

It was the fuel pump.

Mechanic tried to get a replacement for a week then called to say none of his suppliers would sell him one 'cause it's a non-stock application.

Talked with Dan to be sure what to get. Could of bought it at JEGs, but Borelli's could get it faster locally (should have had it towed there, I guess). Received pump Friday and dropped it with my mechanic yesterday. Hopefully, he'll get to it this week.

In the meantime, I got a late notice from the DMV for this years registration & sent in a check. It didn't say anything about SMOG, though. Wouldn't it be fun if the CA bureaucracy slipped up and sent me a 2014 sticker?

Cavi

Man you are a patient one. I never would have lasted through this ordeal. All i can say isat this point stick with it!!

3D87C4

I've learned this is just the nature of the project. It's a karma thing I suspect.

My local mechanic just called:

• The new pump is in and she's running fine.
  
• He found another bad connection affecting the brake lights that hadn't been noticed before, and is confident that problem's solved.
  
• He couldn't recall whether the new hood latch cable had been installed & is going to double check.

I'm hoping to get 'er back tomorrow.

3D87C4

Aaaargh!

Went to pick 'er up this morning.

Cranked, caught, died...won't start. D'oh!

Handed the keys back to the shop manager & headed in to work.

ch@0s

I wish I was close enough to help you buddy. I cant believe these shops cant do a better job than what I have done in my garage. I am disappointed in them right now.

3D87C4

Thanks.

I wish I had the time and energy to be working on this myself---just don't have a lot of either any more.

I'm wondering if the problem was the fuel pump at all, now. We'll see what they say Monday. Hopefully it's something simple...

C4orce2

I'm not sure if this is helpful to you or not but when my build was going on the specs for the LS376/480 called for 60psi from the fuel pump. We put in a bigger pump that could more than generate that pressure, but we could never get anymore out of it than 55psi. Wes in Fla (the builder of my interface) finally determined what the problem was. Apparently the original wiring in the C4s going back to the pump does not have the capacity to give the pump enough juice to allow it to put out 60psi. Since I do not plan on ever racing the car we decided to leave well enough alone and just live with 55psi. Not sure what the Erod calls for but thought I'd share this with you just in case. Good luck!

3D87C4

Thanks. The new pump instructions specified a heavier gauge wire & one was installed.

I spoke with the mechanic this afternoon and he says the sending unit needs to be replaced, burned connectors and all that. Speaking with Dan it's not clear the sending unit should affect fuel delivery. But from the local mechanic's description it sounds like it needs to be swapped anyway. I speculate the burned connector may also be related to the pump wiring, but am in no position to check (even my FSM is in the vette). I'm going to call and ask he discuss this with Dan just to be sure everyone involved understands how things are wired up, since a lot of things have been modified.

It's quite possible the original pump was/is ok & the wiring problems are the root cause...time will tell.


Oh, and when I collected the car we measured the fuel pressure at 58lbs. At the time there was a theory fuel pressure fluctuations might be causing the bank lean codes. Borelli's looked into that as well and said the fuel pressure was fine.

3D87C4

New sending unit installed & the fuel pump ground beefed up. Shop finally noticed my tags are out of date, d'oh. I brought them 3 days worth of temporary permits so they can test drive it a bit to be sure all is done right. I expect to collect it late tomorrow or Monday.

ghlkal

Let's hope this is the last problem

3D87C4

It's an '87...there is no "last problem".

But yeah, I think/hope the final wrinkles in this build are getting smoothed.

I collected it tonight. I'll drive it for a few days & make another appointment with the BAR referee if nothing else shakes loose.

It's sure fun to drive when there's a little room on the road.

3D87C4

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I'm having my second cup of coffee, the Tree's lit, yule log's playing on Netflix, waiting for the kids to wake up & the fun to begin.

Snapped this pic a moment ago, happy to have my baby home:



Wishing you the best.

ch@0s

looking good brother Merry X-mas

3D87C4

I hope you had a Merry Chrismas too, Ch@0s.

Just got back from a 50-mile loop in the Vette: 280, 92, 101 & 280 home. Everything seems to be running fine! (Whew)

Made another appointment for the BAR Referee inspection. Hope to be squeaky clean legal soon.