Zigroid

well, my car is finaly running.
heres the skinny on whats done:
383 , forged eagle crank, 5.7" forged eagle h beams, -16cc dish forged SRP pistons
LE3 ported LT1 casting head
LE3 cam
LE ported intake
38 lb/hour injectors
madz28 tune
comp 'R' lifters
comp hitech 7.2" pushrods
comp 1.6 7/16" stud NSA roller rockers
7/16" studs
GM guideplates
MAC headers & Y pipe
carsound high flow cat
SLP LM catback
SLP CAI
LT4 knock module
rebuilt 4L60E
TCI super street fighter 3500 rpm stall torque converter
tranny cooler
3.73 rear
BFGoodrich DRs

If it hasn't been listed, its not on there.

it BARELY starts. I have to hold the gas down a bit for it to fire.
the car sounds great. its a little too loud with my exhaust though. it idles at 950ish rpm when warm. the idle seems very choppy but very good to the ears.
driving it is night and day from bolt ons to this. the problem is it doesn't seem to be much faster. its night and day because: the brakes work like crap, but that was expected. the high stall makes it so that its always above 2000 rpm no matter how fast youre going. it dies as I come to a stop unless I hold the idle up. I am tolerable of the car because I love it to death but for a daily driver this is not a good choice. I would probably drive it every day just because the car looks and sounds awesome now and runs better.
The car does have useable power down low. the torque converter locks at 50 mph. the car bucks slightly at this speed but its nothing bad. it will pull up a hill with the converter locked. I've wound the car up to about 6800 rpm in 2nd gear where it was definitely pulling stronger than before. it seemed to break up a bit on the very high end (like 6500 rpm+) or the power was falling off.
As I drove it more and more the PCM seemed to be "learning" or maybe I was just getting used to driving it. it drove better and better the longer i drove it.
I need a new fuel pump, larger throttle body, and a tune bad. possibly a starter since this cranks agonizingly slow. I seriously hope a tune really wakes this car up. my seat of the pants meter says this car isn't that much quicker. From a stop it'll spin the tires till about half way through first but it wont sit and fry them. 1-2 it doesn't even seem to chirp them but its so loud I wouldnt be able to tell anyways. there is absolutely no problem with traction though which I thought was odd.
I hope to take it to the track tomorrow. I wanted to run mid-high 12s at around 115 but now im doubting my figures .
overall I'm pleased with it. it doesn't have the driveability it once had but hopefully when its tuned it will scream like it should. maybe my seat of the pants meter is broken?

No I don't have video, I have pictures but they don't do any justice.
I don't want to dyno/tune it till I at least get a new fuel pump installed.

and now some comments or expressions I got the whole 30 minutes I was driving it:
old people stare at me as if I am satan.
cops stare me down from the moment im in view till im outta sight.
just about everyone else looks at the car in amazement or stops what theyre doing to gaze. its quite cool actually
I was asked to race twice, denied both times.
the one guy who wanted to race said he could listen to the car all day and wanted to buy it. he had a 3rd gen firebird formula with a 355.
the other guy who wanted to race said he had a late 80s mirage with a 4GS1 or some code like that engine with turbo upgrades and various other things. he said he wanted to swap a talon rear into it and convert it to AWD. I think he was a few fries short of a happy meal.
all in all she gets attention hehe.

madwolf

How did you find out your fuel pump is dying?
Did you adjust the rockers properly? If they are too tight, that would explain some of the issues you are having.
The car should not die at a stoplight and should drive fine on that tune. I have done a bunch of similar setups, some even with your injectors and they don't have the problems you are having.
Hook up a fuel pressure meter and see what PSI you're getting at WOT. If you're not getting enough pressure, that would explain the lack of power as well.

Zigroid

my fuel pump was loud in general before the engine swap. I figured it was on its way out but I have no way of knowing for sure.
the rockers are not tight at all. we got them to zero lash then made 1/12th of a turn (since its a 6 sided nut that was easy.) that should put them very close to where they need to be, no? we were thinking that since its a 7/16" stud not a 3/8" stud the thread pitch would be different.

I figured there would be some wrinkles to iron out but thats the fun in all of this! Ion your tune works very good. throughout the whole rpm range the car runs good. only when im braking just about to stop does the idle dip down to about 600 or so. if I put it in nuetral and blip the throttle it'll bring itself back up to 900-1000. my dad said it seems to have alot of timing though. if there is a problem I highly doubt it is in your tune.

my biggest problem is I have never driven or ridden in a car like mine. I don't know what it should feel like at all. this also means im not very good at diagnosing problems heh. I'll try to get her to the track to get some new numbers to see where I'm at.

madwolf

I would hook up a fuel pressure gage to verify fuel pressure before beating on it again or taking it to the track. A loud fuel pump does not always mean it's on its way out, but you should get it checked if you have doubts. The fuel pressure tool is about $35 from Autozone and you can return it in case you decide not to keep it.

SS MPSTR

Congrats on getting it running. Sounds like the rockers are set up satisfactorily (did you use Shoebox's guide?) and may not be the sole source of your issues. A few comments: The LE3 cam is huge and it wants to idle over 1k RPM. Once the idle is adjusted and the car won't die when coming to a stop, you'll find that the brakes work a little better

Your combo would respond well, and be better suited, to a dyno tune. Like Ion stated, check fuel delivery.

med_reject

I had similar problems, rocker adjustments, putting the maf on forwards and cleaning it, plugging in unplugged sensors, cleaning the throttle body all helped. In the end, replacing and wires and the opti made a huge difference, it was a different motor altogether. If you gave the proper specs to madz, then the tune should be good, mine was off only because my heads were not really ported.

LT4POWR

If I were you, I'd take it to a dyno with a good wideband and get the A/F ratio ckecked first. No offense MadZ28.

SStrokerAce

LE3 cam ain't that big but it's not small. A higher idle speed will help.

Bret

Ram Air 9C1

My LE3 383 idles at 950 rpms and pulls 12 inches of vacuum. And the cam was designed for a little more vacuum than the usual LE3 grind.

madwolf

The idle is set to 925 for gear and 950 for neutral on his tune. That cam WILL idle fine on those settings. There is something else going on.

med_reject

check ignition, work out all the bugs. i had a madz tune with my setup, car ran like crap but after spening a few months working out the bugs, the car ran excellent on the mail order tune. I'll be getting another one from him when my 383 le3 is done.

Zigroid

well after leaving it sit overnight and driving it around for a good 80 miles today it seems like every time I shut it off and start it back up it runs better. I don't know what it is. my one friend who rode with me right when I took it out for the first time rode in it again today and said it seems like a different car. it doesn't seem to be running out of fuel now, it pulls strong up till it shifts. it just loves to go WOT now. I don't think im putting out the full potential of the car but I didn't expect it without a dyno tune. I'll still go about checking the fuel pressure.

med_reject, the spark plugs are new on it, the opti is relatively new, the plug wires are a year old but they looked good, and the coil wire is new. all wire harness plugs have been put back in. the throttle body was cleaned out real good as was every piece put back on the car.

SS MPSTR, we didn't use shoebox's method of tightening the rockers. I watched the very top of the lifter while my dad tightened. when it started to move he backed off a little bit. then he went about 1/12th of a turn while the top of the lifter dropped very slightly.

the car hasn't died on me all day. when coming to a stop the idle drops a bit but it wont die and I no longer have to keep nipping at the throttle.

parallel parking is fun when the brakes dont work too well and the power steering starts to go too (which is a whole nother problem)

Is there something I can install so that I can lock the torque converter whenever? it would be nice to have it lock around 40-45 mph.

No track times yet, the track was running jr dragsters all weekend.

Oh, and mileage. I went about 90 miles on 11 gallons of gas. granted it was spirited driving heh. she likes the gas.

NightTrain66

One more thing about rocker adjustment . . . . . most people think that zero lash is the point that you can't spin the pushrod or when you can't slide the rocker side to side and then they add 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 a turn to this. Zero lash is the exact point that the rocker and valve make contact. You CAN spin the pushrod and move the rocker side to side at zero lash. Just making sure that you are starting from the correct "zero lash" as most are not.

Ion has done a few of these tunes on my set ups with good results. If you can find someone to do some hands on tuning, you should be able to get the idle, brakes abnd drivability a lil better. There is only so close you can get the tune that far away and with one shot at it. It will atleast give you a good starting point.

Double check the fuel pressure and as mentioned, fine tune the rest of the bugs.

I am sure it will run great for you and still be very drivable. That cam is not really that big. ALOT of people are running more duration in their 350/355. Your 383 can handle even more duration. When everything is dialed in, it will be very streetable.

Lloyd Elliott
972-617-5671
Eportworks.com

Jameslt1TA

Try adjusting your rockers with the engine running, helped mine out alot. When i got my old setup running it took it awhile to run good it seemed like...but that was on the stock tune so... Also i would check the fuel preasure as said above and check all little things spark plug wires and such.

WildThing94Z

Did you bleed the brakes properly? That may be your issue right there.