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

[Vigo]

I have forgotten the specifics but i think 'we' figured out the early TCM was practically a standalone and only needed a few inputs from the engine harness like TPS and MAP which are just 0-5v signals, along with rpm and the stuff it needs from the trans itself like TRS, ISS, OSS, etc.. You'd probably want to be able to run some of them off of dedicated outputs instead of just tapping your actual sensor signals so you can actually trick the trans into behaving differently.

I replaced the entire tcm harness on my cousin's 2g 604 van and it is basically a whole separate harness. The TCM and its harness are almost a whole separate system from the engine harness.

[A.J.]

Okay, v3.0 lower radiator hose is done. It's a good 1/2"-5/8' away from the belt.





I also dropped my flex plate off to have it tigged and welds trimmed on the lathe, my 58mm throttle body to have a bead put on where the hose slides on so it won't blow off, and my t-stat housing because I hate having two radiator caps. I'm going to put a GM bleed valve in it's place. I also swung by AGP to pick up an aluminum mounting flange to weld to my intercooler. I'm going to borrow a friends Tial BOV to make sure I like the sound and if I do I'm going to get this one: http://www.agpturbo.com/tial-q-50mm-blow-off-valve/.

[A.J.]

I got a bunch of stuff welded and the last things I needed to make my van move under it's own power.

In case you missed my thread "Flexplate Balancing?" I got my flex plate welded on the engine side and the welds ground off on a lathe on the torque converter side so it will sit flush not needing any spacers.

Engine side tig welds and you can see in the hole, the thread of the torque converter and that it's sitting flush.


Welds ground off.


I couldn't use my old dipstick tube (off of a '98 Caravan N/A 2.4 31TH) because my larger relocated intercooler is in the way. I'm using the one I got with the '03 Neon 2.0 40TE. It has a nice S bend and I only had to bend it a little and make it a new hold-down bracket.


I got the Neon SRT-4 thermostat housing radiator cap flange removed and welded over. I then put a GM bleed valve in it. That bleed valve makes it SOOOO much easier to bleed the air out since my upper radiator hose is hard with the spring in it. I can't squeeze it to get the air out.


I got the BOV flange welded on. I've gone to this welder for the last time, at least for anything that seals fluids. I'm surprised the thermostat housing didn't leak. Every other time I've gone there I've had to go back because he doesn't check his work. All I use is soapy water in a spray bottle and a blow gun, nothing magical or sophisticated. I went back to get it redone and he wasn't there. I called AGP to find out if they could refer me to an aluminum welder and they said, "We weld Aluminum." "I'll be right there." I didn't have any money on me because I figured the guy who did an incomplete job would fix it for free. I told them I didn't have any cash and that I could leave it and come back with money. They did it while I was waiting and said not to worry about it. Awesome bunch of guys down there.

I'm borrowing a friends Tial BOV to see if I like the way it sounds. I drove my van in the parking lot and got it to release. I got a chubby. I think this will be the one I go with and AGP sells them so I'll buy it from them.


Since my van can move on it's own now, I was going to bring it down to my AC hose builder to get the hoses made, to and from the plate heat exchanger, but Jon Trotter is in town. Since he's been such an integral part of this build (barf) and he can't come to see it until Monday, I made my appointment for Tuesday.

[Vigo]

Is that bleeder actually the highest point in the system, or do you not need it to be?

[A.J.]

Is that bleeder actually the highest point in the system, or do you not need it to be?

The heater core is higher but when I was draining just the engine to build my lower radiator hose I was having trouble getting the system to fill and get the air out. Now it's a breeze. I have a tool that pulls the cooling system into a vacuum for when I do flushes to prevent air getting trapped in the heater core.

[A.J.]

I finished my throttle body and installed it. I had to have a bead of weld put around it because the 58mm throttle bodies don't have a lip to keep the hose from blowing off.


The 58mm throttle body doesn't have a place for the kick-down cable either. I tried to use the shaft from the 52mm throttle body but it wasn't long enough. So I took the cable end, cut and ground on it a little and welded/tacked it to the 58mm throttle body.




I took it on the road toady. It needs A LOT of tuning. I didn't go far, maybe a half mile.

[turbovanman²]

Nice. I can't remember but I either used the 52mm shaft or welded the 52mm auto plate onto the 58mm shaft? Ack, its been too long.

[A.J.]

Nice. I can't remember but I either used the 52mm shaft or welded the 52mm auto plate onto the 58mm shaft? Ack, its been too long.

That's one of the reasons why I do write-ups, so I have a record of what I did incase I need to go back to see what I did to do it again.



Back when I first did my air to water intercooler I bought this gauge kit: http://www.frozenboost.com/prosport-...uge-p-987.html. The gauge is awesome but I don't like the sensors. The wires just come out with no support. Well my wires finally broke off, flush. I thought about using GM IAT sensors but I would have to put in resistors (about 5K worth) but as the temps rise the amount of resistors needed changes. Today I was testing the GM IAT sensor with the ones I got with the gauge and my last sensor with intact wires broke. Since I had my heat gun out I tried to heat up the sensor to dig out the epoxy so I could get to the wires. They use aluminum wires and solder wouldn't stick so I'd have to use crimp connectors. Heating up the epoxy made it so I could dig it out.

I vice gripped my heat gun to my drill press so I didn't have to hold it as I dug the epoxy out.


The sensor on the left is the way you get them with the gauge except this one has one wire broken off. The one on the right is a sensor with the rim cut off to give me better access and with the epoxy dug out.


Here it is with the crimp connector attached. I then soldered it hoping the solder will fill in and stick. I then slid individual pieces of shrink tube over each one.


I then shrink tubed the wires together and put ANOTHER piece over it so I had a total of three layers of shrink tubing for rigidity.


I used JB weld epoxy to fill in and give my wires the support they need.


I'll probably use two wire GM weather pack connectors that I got with the kit I bought from DIYautotune.com to connect it to the wiring harness. The connectors that come with the gauge kit also suck.

[A.J.]

The epoxy dried faster than I thought so I got the connectors installed and the sensors installed.

With the air filter out.


From the other side with the air filter installed.

[RoadWarrior222]

That's one of the reasons why I do write-ups, so I have a record of what I did incase I need to go back to see what I did to do it again.

Heh, I've had to do that, look back at stuff on forums to figure out what I did or when I did it.

I vice gripped my heat gun to my drill press so I didn't have to hold it as I dug the epoxy out.

I've found I needed something to hold my heat gun when fussing with electrics or electronics, and I used a drill press too, BUT, one of those stands for a handheld drill, made for wolfcraft or black and decker drills. I bought one back in the day, just to have some kind of drill stand, and then I bought another for a couple of bucks just because I wanted the 3000 RPM drill that came with. Anyway, I've permanently mounted a heatgun to one where the drill goes now, very handy.

I used JB weld epoxy to fill in and give my wires the support they need.

Some things to know about JB Weld... it's steel filled, this gives it the approx thermal properties of steel, expands about the same. It also makes it a reasonable thermally conducting epoxy for thermal interface applications. However, it does also mean that it may be marginally electrically conductive across small gaps. I think you've got everything swaddled up enough with heatshrink there to avoid problems, but if a 10 Kilohms or so short makes a difference, and things seem off, then you may have a problem with that. Also, the body/plug on the pics there looks brassy. This may be a problem long term, due to brass expanding more than steel does, and JB expanding about as much as steel. So keep an eye that it doesn't crack out. This probably isn't too much of a problem at the temperature ranges I am assuming that these are going to see, but if they were going to see a wider range, to 150-200C, I'd think it would happen sooner rather than later.

[A.J.]

Some things to know about JB Weld... it's steel filled, this gives it the approx thermal properties of steel, expands about the same. It also makes it a reasonable thermally conducting epoxy for thermal interface applications. However, it does also mean that it may be marginally electrically conductive across small gaps. I think you've got everything swaddled up enough with heatshrink there to avoid problems, but if a 10 Kilohms or so short makes a difference, and things seem off, then you may have a problem with that. Also, the body/plug on the pics there looks brassy. This may be a problem long term, due to brass expanding more than steel does, and JB expanding about as much as steel. So keep an eye that it doesn't crack out. This probably isn't too much of a problem at the temperature ranges I am assuming that these are going to see, but if they were going to see a wider range, to 150-200C, I'd think it would happen sooner rather than later.

I've gotten just below 300* F coming out of the turbo. My pipes are steel and the temp sensor is brass and I haven't had any problems except for the fact the wires broke. Good information to know though about JB Weld.

[A.J.]

MegaSquirt TunerStudio's MAP pressure readings/displays are in kpa and it can't be changed. So I spent this weekend making a conversion chart for kpa/PSIA/PSIG so when I'm tuning I can know what kpa translates to. When I'm driving I don't want to be looking at a conversion chart. I was looking for a kpa gauge but could only find one that went to 200 kpa/15 PSIG. So I came up with the idea to just put a ring around the -30/30 vac/boost gauge. It looks a little cheesy but it does the job.





Here's my chart incase anyone needs it. PSIA and PSIG made this confusing for me but I finally figured it out.
(EDIT: my first chart was inaccurate. I ended up pulling vacuum and applying pressure to MegaSquirt and my gauge and recording PSIG and KPA).

[A.J.]

I got my AC lines made for the plate heat exchanger. The discharge line from the compressor to the '95 Caravan condenser needs to be redone. I'm going to tow the van over there so they can make me a better routed one tomorrow. Because I got the suction line done I was able to mount the plate heat exchanger.


I was looking at E85 sensors awhile ago and I was seeing prices of around $300. I did some more searching recently and found that that was GM's 1st generation sensor. It was big, all metal, and had two different sized lines going to and from it. Well I found a newer one that they use on 2012ish vehicles. I got the part number and called GM and got one. It was about $87 my cost and had a 3/8" line going in and out. Perfect for my application because I have 3/8" feed and return lines on my van. Now I just need to find a plug. GM doesn't sell the pigtail, just the harness. It's $35 but I'm going to see if I can find the plug elsewhere. I have some time. I don't even have it tuned for 91 octane yet.


On a side note, Jon Trotter was in town and made time to come down and get in the way, err, I mean, HELP by offering me his insight, wisdom, and vast knowledge of everything turbo Mopar. He even set up a mini-meet by inviting Vic, Chris W, and myself to lunch aaaaaaaaaaaaand stuck Chris with the bill. Even after Chris was gracious enough to come bearing gifts for all of us.

[minigts]

No need to thank me AJ. I was more than happy to help you figure out how to mount, route and install the parts on the van. AJ and I discussed many topics at lunch with Chris and Vic, of course, AJ took many notes which I know will be beneficial for him going forward.

And while we did not text Harry or Rich about going, I was 99% sure Harry was working and confirmed with AJ earlier in the day today and I was pretty certain Rich wouldn't be able to make it either, although I should have asked them both. :-\

I'll get some action shots tomorrow of some of my handiwork with the van to ensure the vehicle is up to spec for operation.

[A.J.]

Got some more done. I had to go back two more times with my AC lines because I'm a perfectionist. So now they are done done. I had to build a support bracket for the condenser hose block because one line is putting too much stress on it. There were holes already drilled and tapped n the block which made things easier.




I had to move my intercooler water pump AGAIN to under the radiator so it pushes through the intercooler. It couldn't push through the heat exchanger, plate heat exchanger, and intercooler. I now have it between the plate heat exchanger and the intercooler. So it pushes through the intercooler and sucks through the plate heat exchanger and the front heat exchanger. I do have to burp the system at the highest point at the plate heat exchanger. I was going to put a T with a GM bleed valve but it looked too cobbled together. I didn't want to run a bleed line to the reservoir across the engine either. So when I fill the system, I just use my pocket screwdriver to purge the air out of the line out of the plate heat exchanger and then the system bleeds itself with the two bleeds I have at the intercooler and the front heat exchanger.








And on a side note, for all the talk that falls out of Jon's word hole, and all the promises about all the help he's going to give, Jon's visits are a hugely unsatisfactory. He coerces a ride to the airport out of me (he can't even get his girlfriend to do it which should tell you something) in exchange for a steak and lobster lunch. He shows up just in time for us to leave for lunch so we can make it to the airport in time so no, as he says, "action shots of some of my handiwork with the van to ensure the vehicle is up to spec for operation." He shows up and parks his girlfriends Jeep in the way like he owns the place and throws a fit when I ask him to put it in a better place so I can pull cars in and out of my shop, you know so I can pay the bills! Then he just hangs out in the parking lot soaking up the awesome Arizona sun before he returns to miserable 20* temperatures in Tennessee. When it comes to ordering lunch, the steak and lobster was a ruse, I could only order a chicken salad. Then while I'm eating he criticizes the work I did on his girlfriend's Jeep. It came in without working AC and left with working AC (that HE couldn't figure out) and then says a day or two later it stopped working and HIS fix is what really fixed it. He also skimped on the tip. This poor woman had to endure his abuse so I had to pitch in to make up the difference. I'm not sure how much more of his "visits" I can withstand. It's easier when we're at a meet where Jon's antagonism is spread out amongst others, diluted if you will. It's quite a task to bear the the full assemblage of Jon's persona.

[Vigo]

^lol!

This and RGL10's ac/awic setup are giving me a terrible itch to build my own setup.

[A.J.]

This and RGL10's ac/awic setup are giving me a terrible itch to build my own setup.

For the mere fact that it's easier to plumb 3/4" silicone hose to the front of the vehicle to a heat exchanger compared to routing 2 1/2" steel or aluminum pipe is the reason I'll never run an air to air intercooler ever again, unless a customer pays me to do it. And then if you want to add something extra to an air to air, your only option is to spray the intercooler with something and that's fine but 1) you have to refill it and 2) if you have anything dripping on the track you're going to get booted. If the AC chilled intercooler doesn't last for a full run I'm might put a 1-2 gallon reservoir after the plate heat exchanger and before the pump/intercooler where the charcoal canister is and relocate the charcoal canister to the other side.

[Vigo]

All of my cars (that are turbo) have some sort of air-air intercooler setup already. May sound funny but ive been thinking about it mainly in terms of adding a small air/water cooler in series with the existing air/air using an intercooler such as this in the top charge pipe on an 8v and changing little else: https://www.frozenboost.com/air_wate...82ed28e725fdc2

In my case the annoying air/air stuff is already done, it just isnt capable of crazy low charge temps like yours or RGL10s.

[A.J.]

I buttoned up the intercooler plumbing today. I finished wiring the AC switches (high side and low side cut-out) and wiring it to MS so MS knows it's on and can bump up the idle and turn the fan on. I also installed the last piece of the AC system, the receiver/dryer and charged the AC.

I drove it home today. I drove it like an old lady because MS has to adjust the air/fuel ratio. I also checked the lock-up and it works. Turns out I was using my old MPTune timing tables when I thought I had the stock SRT-4 timing tables loaded. The stock SRT-4 tables have a lot more timing added to them. It was nice to have it back on the road again.

[minigts]

....

And on a side note, for all the talk that falls out of Jon's word hole, and all the promises about all the help he's going to give, Jon's visits are a hugely unsatisfactory. He coerces a ride to the airport out of me (he can't even get his girlfriend to do it which should tell you something) in exchange for a steak and lobster lunch. He shows up just in time for us to leave for lunch so we can make it to the airport in time so no, as he says, "action shots of some of my handiwork with the van to ensure the vehicle is up to spec for operation." He shows up and parks his girlfriends Jeep in the way like he owns the place and throws a fit when I ask him to put it in a better place so I can pull cars in and out of my shop, you know so I can pay the bills! Then he just hangs out in the parking lot soaking up the awesome Arizona sun before he returns to miserable 20* temperatures in Tennessee. When it comes to ordering lunch, the steak and lobster was a ruse, I could only order a chicken salad. Then while I'm eating he criticizes the work I did on his girlfriend's Jeep. It came in without working AC and left with working AC (that HE couldn't figure out) and then says a day or two later it stopped working and HIS fix is what really fixed it. He also skimped on the tip. This poor woman had to endure his abuse so I had to pitch in to make up the difference. I'm not sure how much more of his "visits" I can withstand. It's easier when we're at a meet where Jon's antagonism is spread out amongst others, diluted if you will. It's quite a task to bear the the full assemblage of Jon's persona.

I offered to take you to lunch at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, maybe you didn't hear me offer that. Regardless, that salad you had I'm sure was just as good as the steak and tails! Thanks again for the ride to the airport. The rest of the conversation listed above is AJ mis-remembering. I would never call what he did with the Jeep work. hahaha JUST KIDDING!!

Van looks really good too, looking forward to seeing some decent numbers come from this setup. I'll be hitting you up for suggestions/support when I go to MS3, which will be next year some time.