'04 SRT-4 engine in an '88 Caravan build

[Vigo]

$15 seems very cheap for that long universal hose! I was thinking closer to $35-50! I have bought 1g caravan radiators for as little as $70 new in the past and even 'normal' replacement radiator costs are usually $100-110 when you have good pricing from vendors, so that's where my 2 universal hoses=1 new radiator idea came from. It sounds like you are pretty well set either way because the setup you built sort of prepares you for the worst case scenario as far as what kind of radiator you could get yours hands on on a road trip or something. As long as the water neck on the radiator is the same size, even if you got one with the outlet on the passenger side you could probably make your long flex hose do a full loop to hook up to it and just leave the excess laying across the intake until you found the proper fitting replacement.

The temperature idea is interesting but presumably as long as your radiator cap is functioning, the system never sees pressure beyond a certain point whether the engine is running or not. But, if the system never hits the 'blow-off' pressure while running and only hits it when heat soaking after shutdown, then yeah i guess the timer fan could keep the system from ever seeing that pressure. Interesting thing to think about.

[A.J.]

$15 seems very cheap for that long universal hose! I was thinking closer to $35-50!

I had to go to the shop today so I looked at the receipt for the hose, $15.68 for a 1.25" ID X 30" flex hose, my cost from O'Reilly.

[A.J.]

I got the lower hose done today. I'm really not happy with how close it is to the AC compressor but I don't have much choice. I tried to find a 1.5" ID silicone hose with a SHARP 90* bend but everything I found had a gradual 90* bend. I ended up settling with a '95 3.8/3.3 Caravan lower hose, cutting it and using a 10.5" flex hose to finnish it.

[RoadWarrior222]

It's not the compressor that would worry me but that metal edge, see if you can cap it with a length of split ~1/4" ID or so hose.

[A.J.]

I really need to wait to post pictures until I'm done because you guys and your eagles eyes pick out every little fault. Which is good if I thought I was done and then you'd be helping me. I plan on getting a bracket that's going to hold that hose away from the body so it doesn't rub.

[RoadWarrior222]

This is a crowd project now and you're just the labor, deal

But folks just tryna be helpful not nitpicky for the sake of it, although it looks like one of those hose clamps is tightened a half turn more than the other.

[A.J.]

This is a crowd project now and you're just the labor, deal

Yes sir. Thank you for letting me be a part of it.

[A.J.]

IT RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


For the past week I've been trying to get it running but my cam/crank sync was off. Turns out the instructions I got from http://www.diyautotune.com/tech_arti..._neon_420a.htm under "Using the QuadSpark on a Megasquirt-III V3.0 or V3.57 Board with MS3X" were wrong. Under "Set Ignition Input Capture to Falling Edge" it should be "Set Ignition Input Capture to RISING Edge." I did that and it flipped my cam signal and then it synced.

I have some incidentals to wire up to MegaSquirt like the cooling fan, check engine light, etc and my torque converter is in the mail. Getting closer.

[RoadWarrior222]

Right on! Congrats!

[DaveSkrab]

For that lower rad hose you might want to look at early 2000's Saturn L 200 or L 300 with V6 engine. Look at the hoses on that application. Might help you with the turn you are looking for.

[zin]

I hate it when you do something "correctly" and it turns out the instructions were wrong!

Good to hear it lives!!

Mike

[A.J.]

I hate it when you do something "correctly" and it turns out the instructions were wrong!

Good to hear it lives!!

Mike

I wrote an e-mail to DIYAutoTune.com informing them of what happened and I got this response within an hour:

Thank you for the heads up. I've fixed it.

Thanks,

Matt Cramer
DIYAutoTune.com

[zin]

Well... at least they are responsive! (assuming it was fixed).

Mike

[A.J.]

Well... at least they are responsive! (assuming it was fixed).

Mike

It was, I checked.

[Vigo]

Matt Cramer is on quite a few car forums and seems like a great guy to deal with. He posts a lot on GRM where i spend the other half of my forum time.

Congrats on getting the van up and running!

[A.J.]

I bought the upgrade for TunerStudio and MegaLogVeiwer. With the upgrade TunerStudio has a "self tune" feature. You set what you want for your air/fuel ratios, set up your wideband (so TS is reading your wideband), and drive it. You have to do more than just tell it your using a wideband. You have to select YOUR wide band otherwise the readings will be off. TS was displaying 14-15 afr and my wideband was displaying 11-12 and I couldn't figure out why. I searched online and found my answer.

Here is a movie of TS self tuning.



I got my plate heat exchanger. It's a 20 plate. Once it moves under it's own power I can bring it to my AC hose builder and they can make my hoses.



I had to build a new lower radiator hose. After it warmed up and expanded it was rubbing on the AC compressor pulley.





I had to reroute my serpentine belt. Under higher RPM's it slaps the engine mount bracket. It was doing it before because it had rub marks but I didn't know why. Well running it with the hood open I could hear it. I though it was spark knock at first because I was running lean. Nope, belt slap. It did go from the crank to the alternator, around the idler pulley, down to the AC pulley, and back to the crank. Now it goes to the idler pulley first so it's not near the mount.



Torque Converter. So my LU has gone out TWICE in my Hughes converter. I talked to the diesel shop next to me and they suggested I call Suncoast Converters in Florida. I sent them my F'd up Hughes converter so they can match the stall. They called me and told me the reason the LU keeps going out is because the cover that bolts to the flex plate flexes too much and I need to go to a billet converter. The only problem is the 31TH uses a 9" converter and they only make a 10" billet cover. So I'll have to go to basically a 41TE converter. It spines into the 31TH pump and input shaft and fits the case, I just need to drill new holes in my flex plate. So I had to buy a 41TE flex plate to use as a template and build a jig to get the holes PERFECT.

The new holes are right next to the welds.



Welds ground flat for the spacer washers.



10" billet converter that I have to shim with washers because the welds hit the converter. I'm going to be welding the washers to the flex plate and have it balanced.





My jig.

[Vigo]

The converter itself is neutrally balanced. Why not just orient it where it wouldn't interfere with any welds? Looks like it was possible?

MANY MOONS AGO i had a ~3400 stall LU converter built by Precision for my 606 intrepid. You probably know the 606 converter is basically a 10" 604 converter with a longer hub coming off the back. It had a billet front half and only cost me ~$300-350 at that time. I never had any problems with it, but that engine only made ~240tq and wouldnt stay in lockup at WOT anyway.

[RoadWarrior222]

The converter itself is neutrally balanced. Why not just orient it where it wouldn't interfere with any welds? Looks like it was possible?

It's round, I think he's saying it won't sit in there right, not much to do with where the holes are. Could take a hammer or grinder to it though ... but, will the flex plate flip? or same story other side.

[A.J.]

The converter itself is neutrally balanced. Why not just orient it where it wouldn't interfere with any welds? Looks like it was possible?

MANY MOONS AGO i had a ~3400 stall LU converter built by Precision for my 606 intrepid. You probably know the 606 converter is basically a 10" 604 converter with a longer hub coming off the back. It had a billet front half and only cost me ~$300-350 at that time. I never had any problems with it, but that engine only made ~240tq and wouldnt stay in lockup at WOT anyway.

I wanted to make sure the drilled holes were perfectly centered. The 41TE flex plate also had the 31TH bolt pattern also so I bolted the 41TE plate to the 31TH plate so I knew where to drill the holes. They happen to fall where the welds were.

The reason I went to Hughes was because the are local. I had to have the stall adjusted so that saved me on shipping. The Suncoast converter was half the price of Hughes and even with shipping to have the stall adjusted it still would have been cheaper than Hughes. Once I test this out I'll probably do a write up on the converters to let people know about the LU failures on the 9" converters. I know Simon has a Hughes and his LU went out also.

[RoadWarrior222]

Could add weld on the back side and grind it all out on the convertor side I guess. Snot like that ring gear sees full engine torque or anything, just for starter.