1984 K10 LS Swap - Lots of Little Problems

[Bruce Wingate]

You are joining this program already in progress: I have a 1984 K10 that I had someone swap in a 6.0L LQ4 with a 4l65e transmission. He did a really poor job; there are a ton of loose ends and a lot of the simple details were completely missed. I am going through the truck trying to find and fix them. Truck has a Terminator X Max set up for drive by cable for now. I'll probably keep revisiting this thread as I work through my issues. I keep meaning to take pictures to document my work, but I usually get too involved in actually trying to work.

First problem one is odd: I replaced the throttle body with a cheap knockoff. It ran OK yesterday but I forgot to block off the vacuum port on the throttle body. Today, I blocked off that port and tested fuel pressure [It is in the 40's and drops quickly - that's for another day.] Like I said, yesterday it ran, and I could blip the throttle no problem. Today, I went to reset the TPS via the wizard, and the throttle plate is locked up tight. I disonnected power and it is still stuck. I cannot move it by hand at all.

I have a new Evil Energy throttle body on the way and this one is on its way back to Amazon, so I don't care about fixing it, but what could have caused this and is there anything to do to prevent this from happening again?

I'm in the Northeast and it will be cold as heck for the next few days. I'll report back once I can tolerate working outside.

Thanks for any suggestions you guys might have.
Bruce.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Unfortunately the worst thing you can do for an LS is buy an aftermarket, cheap throttle body. You need to either find a real OEM one or at least a Genuine GM/AC Delco to put on there. Every cheapo TB I've ever played with has been junk and wouldn't work/run right

 

[Bruce Wingate]

Updates: Replaced the throttle body with the 92mm Evil Energy TB, and so far, so good.

Right now, I have done no tuning beyond what the self-learning helps with. The truck starts REALLY rich at 9.8 - 10.3 AFR, but after warming up, it settles in to 14.x or so. I am assuming that with some basic tuning it will start slightly rich and get to 14.x a little quicker.

Next steps for me include:
1) Fix the fuel system. Currently, it is set up to go from the tanks to the distribution valve to the fuel pump to a Corvette filter/regulator. On return, the fuel goes to a tee that splits back to both tanks. This was causing one tank to regularly overflow. I disconnected one tank from the return tee and now just use one tank. Unfortunately, both tanks are full of fuel so I have to run them down before I put in an in-tank fuel pump
2) The wiring is odd. Both fans run off of one output from the Terminator X and look like they are just twisted together. The fuel pump might be run straight from the Terminator X harness without a relay. I have to double check all the wiring to make sure there are no other oddities
3) Put in a dip stick tube so I stop splashing oil
4) Tune it initially and then have a proper tune done
5) Dakota Dash install, re-install the dashboard, and clean up all the wiring.

This may turn into more of a build thread, so this might have to be moved.

 

[Ricko1966]

Updates: Replaced the throttle body with the 92mm Evil Energy TB, and so far, so good.

Right now, I have done no tuning beyond what the self-learning helps with. The truck starts REALLY rich at 9.8 - 10.3 AFR, but after warming up, it settles in to 14.x or so. I am assuming that with some basic tuning it will start slightly rich and get to 14.x a little quicker.

Next steps for me include:
1) Fix the fuel system. Currently, it is set up to go from the tanks to the distribution valve to the fuel pump to a Corvette filter/regulator. On return, the fuel goes to a tee that splits back to both tanks. This was causing one tank to regularly overflow. I disconnected one tank from the return tee and now just use one tank. Unfortunately, both tanks are full of fuel so I have to run them down before I put in an in-tank fuel pump
2) The wiring is odd. Both fans run off of one output from the Terminator X and look like they are just twisted together. The fuel pump might be run straight from the Terminator X harness without a relay. I have to double check all the wiring to make sure there are no other oddities
3) Put in a dip stick tube so I stop splashing oil
4) Tune it initially and then have a proper tune done
5) Dakota Dash install, re-install the dashboard, and clean up all the wiring.

This may turn into more of a build thread, so this might have to be moved.

I am sure the fuel pump signal on that system is supposed to be the trigger for a fuel pump relay,same with your fans. Also I'd run 2 fan relays optimally using 2 different triggers but regardless use 2 relays and 2 fused power leads for the relays. The way you are set up is probably going to overload the fan driver in your control module,especially if one fan wears out it's bushings,gets something stuck in it,or shorts out. Same with running 2 relays and fused power,you don't want a problem with one fan to take out both fans. If you use 2 different triggers you can have the fans come on a different temperatures.

 

[Bruce Wingate]

@Ricko1966, the Terminator is supposed to be able to drive a fuel pump up to a particular amperage (which I cannot remember), but I am going to set it up to use a relay. Fans will be set up with dual relays as well.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Sounds like you have it well in hand.

I can only imagine how many pics the previous owner put all over Instagram with the captions buy once cry once, or done right. With no one ever knowing what kind of crap he really did lol.

 

[Bruce Wingate]

Sounds like you have it well in hand.

I can only imagine how many pics the previous owner put all over Instagram with the captions buy once cry once, or done right. With no one ever knowing what kind of crap he really did lol.

No, unfortunately, I am the "previous owner." I got the truck with a bad 350 SBC that used almost as much oil as gas and never got more the 9.5 mpg. Based on a recommendation from a reputable hot rod shop near by, I used an independent mechanic who really had no idea what he was doing and lied to me consistently about what he was doing.

And I keep finding new problems. Right now, it looks like at least cylinder #2 is cold. I'm blowing a lot of white smoke and raw gas out of the tail pipe. Picked up all new plugs and will start troubleshooting in a day or two. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and rainy - a terrible combination.

 

[CalSgt]

Pictures...

My ADHD demands pictures, lots of them!

 

[Bruce Wingate]

Pictures...

My ADHD demands pictures, lots of them!

I know. I don't know how guys photo or video document their projects. I might take a picture or two at the start, but once I start, I'm too focused on the work and forget about pix. There will be pix.

 

[Ricko1966]

I know. I don't know how guys photo or video document their projects. I might take a picture or two at the start, but once I start, I'm too focused on the work and forget about pix. There will be pix.

While you are changing plugs check compression. Actually that's where I'd start,I'd check compression on number 2 before I did anything

 

[Bruce Wingate]

While you are changing plugs check compression. Actually that's where I'd start,I'd check compression on number 2 before I did anything

Changed all 8 plugs. There were all very black and sooty. Oddly, #2 was the least dirty. The problem was maybe a little better, but not enough to say that new plugs did anything.

I did not have a compression tester so I skipped that step, but I went and got one - more testing tomorrow.

I also tried hooking up a laptop to the Terminator X, but was not getting any connectivity, so I'm off to those forums to see what the issue might be

Right now, I'm looking at a few potential problems:
1) Wrong injectors entered into the Wizard
2) Bad Coils
3) Bad Injectors
4) Really bad compression
5) Electrical problems due to either poor grounding or the Terminator X not being connected directly to the battery.

So tomorrow, weather permitting, I will test compression and double check the wiring. I'll try to pull a couple of the injectors to identify them. If I can figure out the connectivity issues, I will also test that the injectors are firing (and I think I can test if the plugs are firing too.

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[Bruce Wingate]

The plugs are all about equally sooty. I have better close-ups if anyone is interested

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[Bextreme04]

I don't really know how to help with the Terminator system. All I can say is it is way overkill for a setup like this. The Terminator likely cost more than the entire rest of everything combined, and will not control the system any better than the stock 0411 would have been able to.

Ring out all of the wiring to make sure it is actually going to the correct spots. Was this a prefab harness, or did the mechanic make them?

You are going to have a lot of problems with that fuel system. The returns being y-d into both saddle tanks is going to cause A LOT of problems. What pump are you using? The correct solution to this would be to use 87 EFI saddle tanks with EP381 pumps in tank. Use a 6-port switching valve, Holley makes one that is rated for 58psi. https://www.holley.com/products/fue...pumps/efi_electric_in-line_pumps/parts/534-39

The corvette filter/regulators are notorious for going bad. You want it as close to the engine as possible. Since the rail inlet is on the opposite rail from your factory switching valve, I would have the switching valve stay on the factory side, then run your feed and return hose across the crossmember to the drivers side frame rail near the shift linkage and then mount the regulator there. Single braided AN line from there up the trans bell housing and connected to the fuel rail. You should be able to pull the factory fuel injector data from a late LQ4(04-06) .bin file and universal patcher. Fuel pressure too low will completely trash all of that data though.

 

[Bruce Wingate]

Well, the Terminator is in there now, so there's no going back. The harness is a Holley product, so no kludges from the mechanic. Temporarily I fixed the fuel system by removing one leg of the t on the return so I'm basically running from just one tank thru the selector valve. In the future I'll have to determine exactly how the tanks will be set up. I'm leaning towards mimicing the 87 style setup with the 6 port valve.

 

[CalSgt]

I know. I don't know how guys photo or video document their projects. I might take a picture or two at the start, but once I start, I'm too focused on the work and forget about pix. There will be pix.

It's a hard habit to learn, I get excited and forget to snap pictures sometimes too. A big reason I started taking pictures while working is I use them for my memory. I've referred back to my photo log countless times to look for how things were assembled before I put hands on it. They've also come in handy to use as examples for other GMSB members when they have questions.