RoccoC5 Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Teh previous owner of my FRC had a bad enough battery leak that they replaced teh PCM and harnesses. Yeah, I've heard that it's a fairly common problem with C5s. There's no other evidence of a leaky battery that I can see, other than the white corrosion on the sides of the PCM... We've got a 411 PCM at the shop should you need one ..... Cool, thanks for the heads-up. As far as I know there is no damage to the PCM; it was working fine before I started the tear-down, so hopefully it stays that way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Y Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Any reason you removed it rather than programming it through the OBDII? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Any reason you removed it rather than programming it through the OBDII? That would have been easier, but I don't have the equipment to program it and I don't know of anyone who would make a house call. This way I can drop it off with the tuner to get a base tune so I can drive the car to the dyno for the final tune. Only took about 10 min to remove, so not a big deal so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmxp69 Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 FYI: When I talked with Andy about this, he said what he recommends now is to leave the stock injectors in, drive it to the tuner, stay out of boost, swap 60lb injectors in when you arrive. I had planned on doing this, but decided just to flat-bed the car to the tuner. So my injectors go in tonight. Sounds like you're already committed though, so this info may be moot. Who's doing your temp flash? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 17, 2014 Author Share Posted June 17, 2014 FYI: When I talked with Andy about this, he said what he recommends now is to leave the stock injectors in, drive it to the tuner, stay out of boost, swap 60lb injectors in when you arrive. I had planned on doing this, but decided just to flat-bed the car to the tuner. So my injectors go in tonight. Sounds like you're already committed though, so this info may be moot. Who's doing your temp flash? Joe has the PCM right now and will be getting it to Nic at some point. Just got back from Las Vegas for my wedding and I'm still in recovery mode, but hopefully I can get the car wrapped up this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P51tj Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Just got back from Las Vegas for my wedding Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmxp69 Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Just got back from Las Vegas for my wedding and I'm still in recovery mode, but hopefully I can get the car wrapped up this week. Congrats and Good Luck! Looking forward to your results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 DAY EIGHTEEN - RADIATOR TEST FIT (1 hour) After a hiatus of ten days of not working on my car due to my wedding (where I spent all the car money ), I'm finally back at it. Last night I worked for an hour or so re-installing the radiator support and test fitting the radiator. I didn't want to use the spacers to lower the support and I so I went with a Dewitt's cutdown radiator to give me the clearance I needed. The Dewitt's is about 2.5" shorter than the stock rad, so I was hoping that not only would the A&A dongle fit with no issues, but that I could run a straight 3.5" or even 4" inlet. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to be that easy... Here's the new radiator with the stock fans attached. I'll have to do some trimming, obviously. Looks like it should sit a bit lower, but it's seated all the way: I pulled the fans off to get a better idea of what will fit...looks like there's no way I'll be able to use a straight inlet without lowering the radiator a bit more. In fact, the A&A dongle would even be a super tight fit! Bummer! Looks like I'm going to pull the radiator support off again and do some cutting. I should be able to relocate the tabs an inch or so lower, trim the fan shroud, and grind a bit off the condensor tabs so it sits lower and then be in business. : The never ending project continues! When under the car I also noticed that the clearance between the water pump pulley and supercharger bracket is pretty tight. They aren't touching, but damn close! I assume this is normal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmxp69 Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I think you have a different rear bracket than I do because mine is no where near the water pulley. Thanks for sharing on the Dewitt. I've been thinking of getting one of those and raising my basket back up because it hits everything now. I can live without the 4" dongle, but I have to be seriously careful of driveways--and it's not just the shroud scraping, I've touched the basket and gotten the thunk out of it once or twice. Don't be afraid to trim the coupling 1/2" on each side. And what worked well for me on install: Get the SC inlet side on first, get a clamp on it, then put the dongle in along the bottom edge and pry it upwards until it seats. A hose hook works really well getting that last 2" of hose over the top of the dongle. Mine looked tighter than that when I started (that's what she said). PS You might want to consider putting the SC outlet coupling on before you go too much further. It starts getting very tight in that area. I had mine on before I installed the head unit. PPS Can the fans go lower than that against the radiator? When I cut my fan shroud I was RIGHT up against the lip by the fan blade. I didn't want to go any further and risk the integrity of the ring surrounding the fan. Based on that pic, it looks like you're going to have fan shroud above the top of the radiator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 Thanks for the tips! I think you have a different rear bracket than I do because mine is no where near the water pulley.Hmm, as far as I know I have the latest gen bracket, but could be wrong. The piece of bracket you see next to the pulley is actually the front bracket with the idler/tensioner. PPS Can the fans go lower than that against the radiator? When I cut my fan shroud I was RIGHT up against the lip by the fan blade. I didn't want to go any further and risk the integrity of the ring surrounding the fan. Based on that pic, it looks like you're going to have fan shroud above the top of the radiator.Yeah, they are definitely above the top of the radiator. I might be able to trim the mounting tabs to lower them a bit, but not by much. I'm going to modify the radiator support first and see how much cutting I need to do. I should be able to make it work (at least based on this: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-forced-induction-nitrous/3073453-ditched-cradle-spacers-and-keep-4-intake-pic-heavy.html). If nothing else, I'll be buying the cut-down Spal fans! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmxp69 Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Ahh, never thought to check the front bracket. Come to think of it, did have to fuss with the belt in that area a little bit, so it is snug. A&A does top shelf machine work though and both the pulley and bracket are fixed, so it should be fine. That radiator will probably wind up on my shortlist after clutch/headers are installed. Looking forward to your results. Keep that camera handy and take lots of pics ok? Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Weird. My cut down radiator sits lower than that in my C6. Joe did have to modify some stuff for the fans though. Ask him about it or maybe he will pop in here and say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe@cpr.com Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Jon you still have the front radiator support spacers. You still run them with even a cut down radiator. Rocco the cut down radiator is really best with the Dewitts fans, but it can be done without. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Jon you still have the front radiator support spacers. You still run them with even a cut down radiator. Rocco the cut down radiator is really best with the Dewitts fans, but it can be done without.Thanks, Joe. I've trimmed them but will have to figure out how to bring them down even further (see my post below). Maybe I can trim the mounting tabs a bit to make them sit lower... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 DAY NINETEEN - RADIATOR INSTALL (8 hours)First of all, WTF. Seems like I've been working on this project FOREVER. Stupid day job! And screw today's 105 degree heat!!!After the other day's radiator test fit I decided I'd do what I've seen a few others do and lower the radiator supports to get a bit more room for the supercharger inlet.Here they are in stock location:I chopped them off with an angle grinder and ground off the paint where they would be welded:Here they are tacked in their new location. They're about an inch lower than before. Any lower and I would get interference with the crossbar and the condenser:After painting, I re-installed the support and radiator. I also removed about 7/8" of the condenser tabs to bring it a bit lower. It ended up being about 1/4" too much because now the condenser rests against the radiator support. I'll have to figure something out to keep it from rubbing...Here's a comparison of where the radiator and condenser sat before and after the mods:Hey, that's better!I also trimmed my fans as much as I could:But it looks like I'll need to figure out a way to drop the fans about 3/4" lower. Damn, those spacers would sure have been a helluva lot easier than this!!! But hopefully after I get the fan situation straightened out I'll be able to run a 4" inlet.Oh, and of course I beat the crap out of my power steering cooler installing the blower:All in all, I think I made good progress today. I know a lot of you are probably thinking I am slow as hell, though. As a side-note, ever since installing the new oil pump I've been worried about a pinched o-ring and no oil pressure. Guess I've read too many posts about it. So after installing the radiator, I couldn't resist the urge to add coolant and test fire. Started right up and had 40+ psi within 3 seconds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmxp69 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 That's exactly what I thought would happen with your fan shroud when I saw it against the radiator. My radiator is stock and I had to trim the shroud down to that same fan ring. Otherwise, it looks like you've got lots of clearance for the air bridge now which is cool. Did you install the belt for the blower in those vids or is that belt less? Cam sounds wicked! Have to go back now and see if you posted specs for it Keep plugging, you're almost home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 That's exactly what I thought would happen with your fan shroud when I saw it against the radiator. My radiator is stock and I had to trim the shroud down to that same fan ring. Otherwise, it looks like you've got lots of clearance for the air bridge now which is cool.Yeah, I should have expected this would happen when I test fitted the fans with the radiator. I could clearly see that the fan itself sat higher than the radiator core, but I figured dropping the whole assembly another inch would give me the clearance I needed. Did you install the belt for the blower in those vids or is that belt less? Cam sounds wicked! Have to go back now and see if you posted specs for it Keep plugging, you're almost home.Yep, the belt is installed. I didn't want to have to pull the blower off yet again to install the belt. Cam specs are 230/242 .609/.615 115 LSA.Today I think I'll install the intercooler and catch can while I try and come up with a plan to lower the fans some more. Feel free to send any ideas my way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 This morning I trimmed a bit more off the top of the fan shroud and notched the mounting tabs to lower it some. I'll test fit it as soon as I get back from buying a fan for this damn garage! Dying of heat exhaustion already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 I plan on using a 3.75" tube for my intake pipe. That's the size of the blower inlet and it's got to be leaps and bounds better than the squished dongle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe@cpr.com Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Rocco just delete the power steering cooler. A lot more room and they are not needed. You'll overheat other things before your power steering lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 I plan on using a 3.75" tube for my intake pipe. That's the size of the blower inlet and it's got to be leaps and bounds better than the squished dongle.Cool, sounds like it's worth a few more HP at least. This is just a little Si trim with a 3.5" inlet, but I already have the 3.5 to 4" coupler and a 4" pipe so I'm going to try and make it work.Lowering the fans looks like it did the trick:There's still a tiny bit of interference between the coupler and the fans but I think I can get the pipe in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Rocco just delete the power steering cooler. A lot more room and they are not needed. You'll overheat other things before your power steering lolDamn Joe, now you tell me! I tried to fit the hose from the discharge pipe between the sway bar and cooler and busted my knuckles pretty good. I'm guessing that it's not supposed to be sandwiched between the two like this?Also looks like it needs to come up another inch or so? How snug should it be to the engine cradle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe@cpr.com Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Ya the instructions should tell you to delete it. And it looks like it could come up a tiny bit more, but when you cut the plastic for the pipe to go through it'll come up some too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoccoC5 Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Well shoot, guess I missed that part of the instructions...but thank you for bringing it up. It will certainly make things easier with some more room freed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shifty Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 What about relocating to a more functional area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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