More work accomplished this morning. I pulled the ECU, blew out all the connections, painted it black, painted the mount black. Made a bracket to mount the engine fuse harness and obd2 port to. Bolted all that stuff in. Reseated the harness in the computer and fired it up again.

This time, it was hitting on all cylinders. Sounds great.

Here's the video.

https://youtu.be/Lnx1zlLlOJs

Here's a couple of shots of the computer mounted and the bracket.

I still have a lot of routing and straightening to do, but it's getting closer.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438547968.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438547986.jpg

ata boy Hal
 

Congratulations Hal very nice ;) I'm sure there's more tweaking to do but you did a fantastic job all the way through. I personally have been reading and following taking notes and images. Thanks for sharing so much Hal. I do need to update my thread but it is on four wheels again suspension brakes and most welding completed. Need to keep pushing though. Jeff

Jeff,

That's excellent news. Congratulations. And, yes, post pictures!

Hal

Been working on it a little in the evenings.

I had a non-motor project. The sunroof gearbox wouldn't close it all the way. This led me to leave the sunroof headliner off it so I could press it up into place. I replaced the gearbox and installed the headliner.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438824096.jpg

I cleaned up the wiring as much as possible. My plan was to make all the cables run up either side of the center console, and from under the seat down the outer rail where the factory engine harness ran. I did ok, but couldn't get them all.

The connection from the computer to the OBD2 port is too short to do anything with and the pedal controller is very difficult to place. It just has to go on the floor. Nothing you can do with it. All in all, I'm not very satisfied with the wiring harness. It was lengthened and cleaned up, but not nearly enough - on either count.

I would have made the alternator connections longer, the pedal connection longer, the O2 sensor connections longer and then there's a line that goes to the knock sensor and the starter - those two are right next to each other on a vette, but they're on opposite sides in this configuration. I lengthened them all myself, but it would have been nice for them to have done it. I'm also not a fan of the covering material they used. It's basically that split corrugated plastic tubing you get at Lowes wrapped in wide black non-sticky tape. It would have been better with a modern kevlar cover. I used that stuff everywhere I could. It's like Chinese handcuffs. It's a woven material that accommodates different bundle sizes well.

It would also have been nice if the harness had been made to integrate the relays for the cooling fans, fuel pump and water pump. It had signal wires but no power connection or relays.

I'm asking a lot, I know, but that's just my thoughts.

Here's the cleanup of the wiring under the seat.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438824688.jpg

If you look at the bottom bolt on the parking brake you can see a little switch panel I fabbed up. This is a pair of manual override switches for the cooling fans. It's temporary for now, but I may keep it. Also, the pedal harness is laid out on the passenger floorboard because the plugs make it too large for me to shove it under the center console carpet. I'll leave that job for the upholstery man.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1438824820.jpg

Driver seat back in.

It's not on the road yet. I don't have brakes. I pressure bled it and didn't get a pedal. I had to dig around a little but it ended up having several leaky connections. I'll have to fix those before I can continue. I was too tired to do it this evening and I didn't have anymore brake fluid anyway.

I also ordered an A/C condenser. That'll be the next project. When the condenser gets here, I'll have everything I need except fittings and hoses. And the hose compression tool thingamabob, of course.

I'm still not happy with the electrical routing. The wires that run from the computer side to the battery side need work. Also, I have a ton of connections going to the back post on the cutoff switch. I've left those long for now because I'd like to devise some sort of power distribution block that can clean that up. I could put it under the passenger seat but I can't really find anything. I need something like 200 Amps and all the ones I see can only handle 30 Amps. Home Depot has some residential stuff that could handle it but it won't fit under the seat and wouldn't actually look better. So, dunno. I'll leave it for later.

Hal

Power distribution is easy (strip of metal with a few bolts in it). It's the fusing that can get ugly. Regular blade fuses go up to 40A, Maxi goes to 120A. What power do you need to go where?

I have a bunch of circuits. Each of the circuits is fused. If the individual circuits are fused, do I need to fuse the distribution block?

And McMaster-Carr had a nice one. I'll probably do that. It just a strip of metal, like you say, but it has some posts on it and it's mounted in plastic - which can be mounted to the floor - and it has a nice clear cover.

The individual circuits are as follows.

3 from the Porsche - from the main chassis harness panel.
2 radiator fans - 30A each.
1 radiator fan manual bypass signal
2 Ignition system - one switched and one hot all the time. Multiple fuses.
1 coolant pump - 30A
1 fuel pump - 30A

So that's 10 connections. No wonder it looks so messy on that single post.

I also still have the main power feeds to the new AC unit to do.

Hal

I spent some time on the brakes. There were leaks. I evidently didn't tighten all the connections. Guess I'll go through all of them tomorrow.

Good thing I already re-torqed all the other bolts on the car. It just doesn't pay to let a project car sit. Entropy and the Human Memory Model are working against you all the time.

Any time the wire gauge is reduced (so like 8 to two 10s), you should fuse the smaller wires, even if the larger wires are fused. This hideous website is solid gold (check out section 14 on the right):

Basic Car Audio Electronics

I buy most of my stuff from Waytek (they have a few nifty fuse junctions):

http://www.waytekwire.com/

I gotta swing by McMaster-Carr if I'm ever driving through Jersey...I didn't know it existed.

Excellent site! Thanks!

My small wires are all on separate fuses so I'm good to go.

Hal

So this was it. This was the day. Wait for it...

First thing I did was bleed the brakes again. It had a small leak at the 90 fitting that goes into the tunnel from the front. I tightened that up and it held pressure perfectly.

We put the decklid and hood on. Installed the passenger seat and the tires, then....

Drove it! Yup. Big day.

Here's the videographic evidence that said event actually took place.

https://youtu.be/9BzwZjQp4JY

And here's a flyby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9HxzYspRPo

You'll note that it sounds much more like a Porsche than a Chevy.

Hal

We didn't stop there.

The next thing we did was work on the AC. I have all the parts on order for delivery next week so I couldn't install it but there were details to work out.

The factory AC controls look like this.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439083999.jpg

The OldAir AC control panel looks like this.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439084033.jpg

Well, obviously, that wasn't going to work.

So I bent up some sheet aluminum and did this.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439084088.jpg

And after paint, it looked like this.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439084325.jpg

That's much better!

And, why stop there?

After all that, there was another issue to be sorted.

I don't know why, but for some reason my rear swaybar won't fit. The crossmember interferes with it. This is documented earlier in the build. I decided to defer that project and the deferment is due. I installed some long bolts and let the mounts hang, then threaded the swaybar through and tightened them up until there was minimal clearance with no interference. This yielded a .625 inch gap.

A friend of mine just acquired a Grizzly mill and this seemed like an excellent first project for it. I already had a 1.5"x1.5"x5' bar of 6160 Al stock.

So, we set off.

Here's the process and results in images.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439085292.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439085317.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1439085356.jpg

I'll install it tomorrow and post a picture. Next weekend is the AC installation hopefully.

I just read through the entire thread and really enjoyed it! Excellent work thus far! I am in NW Houston and would really like to see your car in person when it is finished. Any progress since your last post?

Nice build !

DOHC :)

C'mon by! I'm in Katy.

OK. Tore it apart again. I'm adding the AC in. As it turns out: "I'll just add it in later" wasn't such a good idea.

And then, of course, you get the five most expensive words ever spoken: "While you're in there." (four words, I guess, with a contraction).

So, here's the list of stuff we're trying to do.

Ditch the Evans. Didn't like it. Going to water and water-wetter.

Create and install a duct from the bumper to the radiator.

Install the AC.

Install the AC includes several sub-items - because before you can do anything, you have to do something else first.

Sub-item 1: Seal up all those holes in the "firewall" including making a backing plate for the extremely cool Rennline smugglers box cover with all the holes in it.

Sub-item 2: Move the AC system box so that the hose connections will fit in front of the gas tank.

Sub-item 3: Install the switch block in the center console (done)

Sub-item 4: Run more giant lines all the way up and down the bottom side of the car.

Also, in order to swap out the coolant for water, I'll need a coolant reservoir.

Here's the progress pics. That damn vent took 3 weekends. It's finally done except for the final welding.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1442088728.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1442088751.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1442088774.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1442088789.jpg

Radiator vents...
 

Nice work... What goes in gotta go out... Have you thought about that? I increased the airflow over my center radiator by changing the bumper to a 997 GT2 bumper which has vents on the top of the bumper. I believe I'm moving more air now across the radiator. Before the radiator was tight to the trunk bulkhead and no where for the incoming air to go. I tipped the radiator forward so the air hopefully now passes through the raditor and out the vents. I appreciate my solution won't be the same as yours since the model difference.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1442097641.jpg

Mitch,

On these cars, the radiator is laid back. The air passes in the front, crosses the radiator then exits under the car like any other normal car.

The hole in the front pan where the gas tank used to sit is where the air comes out. The back half of that hole is taken up with the new gas can. The radiator and the shroud actually sit over the front half of that hole. The exit hole is a little larger than the entrance hole so the air pressure decreases across the radiator. This reduces the air temp.

In this car, the front bumper has the big oil cooler hole. That hole is slightly smaller than the cutouts through the slam panel and it's lower. When you looked directly into it from the front, most of what you saw was just nothing - air would flow in that hole and then go under the car.

I'm pretty sure it was creating a high pressure area right in front of the radiator, stalling the air out, roiling it under the car. When I left the fans on, it would cool normally, but without the temps would start to climb again. I expect the duct work to eliminate that problem.

Also, the ductwork was always part of the plan because it looked really bad without it. It was just on the second punch list. The one with the AC.

Even without the duct though, it never overheated - just ran hotter than I wanted it to.


Hal

Hal,

I should have known you had that figured out... My last trip to California I pulled into Tucson and it was 111 degrees. In traffic at those temps my engine gets very hot, but doesn't boil. I haven't figured out the difference in cooling from my Escalade (LS1) to basically the same engine in the 996 (LS3) why the cooling in the 996 doesn't perform as well. I've got over 6 gallons of coolant in my car, albeit the engine is in the rear and probably doesn't get the airflow that when it's in the front?

Maybe the mechanical water pump moves more water than the electrical water pump? However I'm guessing if you move the water too fast then the radiators won't do their job... The point is that the front mounted engine in the Escalade will idle all day in high temps without getting hot, I still can't do that in the 996 conversion. For most driving it's rock solid at 190 degrees.

Maybe some Sunday morning meet half way for brunch...

I can fill you in. There's two things going on.

First. LS engines are good to 240 degrees. They run at hotter temperatures to assist with emissions and power.

Second, there's a thing called Hysteresis. This is an engineering term meaning that the response to the input is nonlinear.

How it applies in this case is with your temperature gauge. Most commercial cars do this, but I cannot confirm that the Escalade has it. I think it's a 99.9999% chance.

How it works is this. The gauge is linear from cold to say 185 degrees. Then from 185 degrees to, for instance, 240 degrees, the gauge doesn't move at all. Once the temperature goes past 240, it's linear again.

This eliminates people stopping for service because they're worried about their cars temp yet still allows the car to have a gauge instead of an idiot light.

The gauges in your porsche don't do that. They report the actual temperature. That's the difference you're seeing.

Get yourself an ultragauge or something like that and plug it into the obd2 port on the Escalade, you'll see the temps bouncing all over the place.

And, yeah. We should do that. I still have to build some confidence in the car. It's been running great but, I'm still a little nervous about it.

Hal