ridiqls

The engine is now in the car. Took forever to get the shock bolted in and the k-member lined up. Also installed the new heater core today. Took no time at all, 15 mins probably.

I need to install the transmission brace and slave cylinder. Do all the electrical connectors including power and ground. Install the fuel lines and vacuum lines. Connect coolant hoses. Add engine fluid and coolant and then prime the engine, and finally connect the 2 brake lines. I won't be installing the steering, driveshaft, or securing any minor thing down until I know the car is running well. Hope I'm not overlooking anything.


I have 2 questions that came up today...
1) Is the metal rod that comes out of the slave cylinder supposed to be able to bend and be all floppy?

Mine can bend almost 70 degrees or something. I don't remember how it was originally (I thought it was stiff and straight like a hydraulic arm) but when I was lowering the body of the car it got caught and I'm not sure if it's broken or just the way it is.

2) Is it absolutely required to put transmission fluid in if I'm not going to engage any gears on a test start up?

The car front end is on ramps and I plan to try to start it in this state with no steering, no brakes bled and no driveshaft installed. There's no way for the car to propel me forward since the driveshaft is not installed. I want to do the bare essentials to see if the engine is running first. If there's a problem there's no sense in installing all those things and having to drain the fluids again.

If I am planning on doing a test run on the engine for say, 5-10 minutes... transmission fluid or no?

I want to start it, make sure there's no funny noises, watch the temps with my scanner and data log it. And then push in the clutch and shift into a gear to see if the clutch is disengaging properly. I don't plan on driving it or release the clutch in gear.

Debating if I need to installed ATF or if I can run it dry....


Seriously hoping this will all start up.. exhausted ha

Chimera96

1. yes that rod will "flop around" It should have a plastic cup on the end of it

2. don't run engine with a dry tranny.

ridiqls

Ok thanks, will not run the transmission dry. Seems like the slave is OK then.

Chimera96

You can use a Tranny tail shaft plug to keep the fluid in tranny

DrewHMS97SS

Would this work for dropping the transmission for clutch replacement? I have fluid with maybe 200 miles on it.

Chimera96

yes. It's a tapered sleeve that is a interference fit.

I have also just drained the fluid into a clean gallon jug and re-used it. Just pour it in from up top before putting shifter back on

ridiqls

I just said screw it and put the driveshaft back in. Everything is hooked up and I pulled the fuel relay and ignition fuse and started to crank to build up oil pressure. I cranked for maybe 5-7 seconds at a time, giving it 10 seconds rest. I did this about 5 times total but the oil pressure isn't moving.

From what I'm reading thru search, some people had the same issue and said they just went ahead and started the car and oil pressure came up in about 2 seconds. I might just go ahead and do this... unless there's a reason I shouldn't?

Mechanically, I don't see any reason why oil pressure wouldn't build. Brand new pump, driveshaft is also new with the metal collar, mated it up with the oil drive up top and sits nice and flush.

I stopped cranking because my battery started to die. It's been on a battery tender a few times during the past 4 months since I had the car but not as long as I should have kept it charged. I'm charging it back up again.

I also ran out of coolant so I'm going to pick up a few bottles now.

So far...
1) The clutch works normally. Normal pedal pressure, no binding or rock hard pedal. (With the car off). I have yet to hear anything weird since the car hasn't run yet.

2) Engine cranks.

Once I add more coolant to the capacity, I will put the fuel relay and ignition fuse back in and just start the car up. Then start the bleeding process (kind of confusing, I gotta re-read this part again), and data log to check the temps.


Question:
1) Normally the way I bleed air out of a cooling system is to park the car on an incline or elevated on jack stands. Then fill the radiator with coolant. Then start the car up and once the thermostat opens up and circulates the coolant, start adding more until I can't add anymore. Then keep revving the car up, allowing the coolant to circulate and burp/bubble out of the radiator fill neck. Do this for about 20 minutes until I see no bubbles or burping. Close the radiator cap.

My pathfinder has a bleeder screw but I never use it. Because I park it on an incline, the radiator filler neck is higher than the heater core or cylinder heads so all the air should eventually circulate and come out the radiator filler neck.

I'm not sure why the LT1 has 2 bleeder valves but I'm been reading mixed things about how to bleed the system properly.

Anyone bleed air out without using the valves? Or is it just best to re-learn how to use these bleeder valves and do it specific to the LT1?

2) Injuneer, do you know where your datalogging thread is? I'll be sure to get this on the first start up in case it over heats.

Injuneer

ridiqls

Thanks, that makes perfect sense now. I'm going to use the method on shoebox's site.

Kind of second guessing myself.. should I be concerned that the oil pressure on the gauge is not going up despite cranking it over a couple times? I kind of want to just start it up but I also don't want to ruin the new engine

shoebox

If you did not prime the engine beforehand, it may take a bit of cranking to get the pressure up.

Chimera96

OP

get the battery charged good and crank the motor without spark & fuel until you get some oil pressure. IMHO 1st start up is very important and you want oil pressure "before" the engine starts running 1k RPM+

While you have a hydraulic roller cam I have always used a coin or something to hold the TB blades slightly open after starting to keep the motor about 2k RPM. More to keep oil going to top end, not because of breaking in flat tappet lifters & lobes like on older sold cam motor builds. I use a IR temp gun and quickly monitor exhaust tubes to confirm one is not running hotter, or colder, than the others. During this time you top off, bleed cooling system. Yeah a lot going on these first 15 minutes or so checking above and under the car for leaks. Oil and stuff burning off headers and or block.

After all is buttoned up, no leaks I shut of motor and get it off jack stands. Take the car for a drive but you want to set the rings. If M6 car accelerate to 35-40 mph in 1st and let motor do the braking till about 5 mph. Repeat about 10 times.This loads the pistons both ways and sets the rings.

ridiqls

Ok great thanks I'll keep this in mind I need to remember to set the rings.

It's a lot to remember to do in the first few minutes.. check for leaks, get the datalogging going, bleed the cooling system, etc.


We have lift off.. kind of. I was cranking and cranking but the oil pressure would not come up. I gave it a good 30 second-1min (total, spread out) of crank between last night and today. So I just took a gamble and was prepared to turn it off if oil pressure didn't build right away after it fired up.

Oil pressure instantly went up to 80 according to the cluster gauge the minute it fired up but I am having trouble keeping the car alive.

The car will start up every time, but will die after a few seconds. This is the 4th attempt I decided to record it:
https://imgur.com/jZCRzDt (Click volume button on right to hear sound)


Basically, it will crank and fire up. So I know ignition and spark is there. I just gapped and installed brand new spark plugs, installed new ACDelco plug wires, and installed a new Optispark cap and rotor. It will fire up every time after it dies too, it just won't stay alive.

So in my limited experience, that tells me it's either fuel or vacuum. I don't think I'm missing any vacuum hoses, there aren't that many. I double checked this over and I don't see any hoses on the Intake Manifold that's missing or broken. I made sure to install the EGR vacuum properly (also installed a new EGR valve), fuel line vacuum, HVAC vacuum on the passenger side, etc. The air intake is on with both MAF and IAT sensor as well as the secondary air pump hose.

I also primed the fuel pump a few times by moving the key to the ON position (I can definitely hear it).

I am wondering if it is old fuel. I didn't do anything to stabilize the fuel because I hadn't foreseen how long the car's rebuild would take. It sat without a start since early July of this year but who knows when the previous owner originally filled it up with gas. So about 4 months. I unfortunately don't have a fuel pressure gauge but I could buy one if I can't fix this simply.

I don't see why I would have any fuel pressure issue though because other than the 2 fuel lines on the intake manifold and the vacuum line I didn't touch anything else. It starts up every time it just doesn't seem to want to stay alive.

Any suggestions welcome

Once I can keep it alive, I'll start the bleeding procedure and data logging and then I can clean up all the little wires and stuff I have hanging around and bleed the brakes.

I read that if you have kind of old fuel, you can add a little bit of new fuel and it doesn't take much to get it going?

Chimera96

if the car has a cam in it and not tuned for it it likely will not idle on its own until you get it tuned

ridiqls

Chimera96

if it is a "stock" rebuild it should run fine with stock programming.

If it won't run on its own you need to find out why. Motors with vacuum leak typically have a high idle

If your gas is crap, it should not be if the car has been sitting since June, adding some additive will not "fix it".

Doing a engine R&R there can be several things causing it not to idle. Maybe the IAC is sticking, could be anything.

Trying to log a new motor that will not run on its own while also going through all the initial motor start up stuff, bleeding the coolant, etc. and logging while the car comes up to temp it may show all kinds of "not ideal" readings. If it threw a code that could lead to some idea wtf may be going on. A 0300 code for example would me misfire but a engine not running right because, for example, valve lash is all F'ed up won't throw a code saying "your valve lash is screwed up"...it will just throw 0300 or some non related code because the motor is shiating itself trying to run. You need to methodically go through all connections, plug wire on correct, fuel pressure check. Those kind of things to see why your "stock" rebuild is having problems idling. From this side of the internet we can only guess based on your general descriptions. We can't hear what is going on or monitor fuel pressure, etc from our end.