Building an LN3 from spare parts plus a Supercharger

[2seater]

One more thing for today. A1 Cardone, the rebuilder people, answered my question about the power steering reservoir with the top hose fitting for remote fill and they replied with a part number. Upon looking up that part number, I found it was the same pump and reservoir combination with the fill cap as I had seen on their site before, which prompted my question. Essentially, we made a complete circuit by going in a circle🙄 Not worth pursuing further and as i mentioned before, it declutters the engine and solves a situation I won't need to deal with.

Getting down to the smaller details now. I plan to use my first set of ceramic coated exhaust manifolds from twenty years ago and possibly the latest modified rear manifold with the split outlet. I need to find a way to plug the EGR outlet on the rear manifold or I could use the one from the S/C engine, which doesn't have that port in the rear manifold, but it isn't ceramic coated and I have enough expense in this one already.

[2seater]

Some of the finishing parts are trickling in now, new belts and a reservoir for the power steering pump. Funny thing about the S/C belt I thought I had a problem with is exactly the same part number (Dayco) as the one I had? It is an extremely tight fit but that is just fine. Even though both are Dayco brand and the same part number, the one I had to start with is made in USA and the new one is made in Italy? Go figure

I installed the reservoir and I am a bit concerned there will not be enough clearance to the firewall. It has plenty of clearance for checking oil but not sure about fitting in the car. If anyone would be so kind, I need the dimension from the vertical face of the rear valve cover to the firewall (insulation)

 

I mocked up the exhaust manifolds I intend to use. The front and the crossover are from 20+ years ago and thousands of miles. The rear is a new one I fabbed up several years ago but never used.

[2seater]

Anyone willing to measure from the upper corner of the valve cover to the firewall (insulation)? Sure could use that dimension

[Ronnie]

23 minutes ago, 2seater said:

Anyone willing to measure from the upper corner of the valve cover to the firewall (insulation)?

My '88 measures 4-1/4" but my car has no insulation on the firewall. A '90 might be different.

 

EDIT: Unless the insulation is covered with a hard material. It doesn't have foil or anything like that...

[Ronnie]

Just by eyeballing it I don't think that black reservoir would fit back there on mine.

[2seater]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Just by eyeballing it I don't think that black reservoir would fit back there on mine.

I agree, it will not fit. It is a strong 5" to the rear of the valve cover plus engine movement as well. I didn't remember if there was insulation there or not. I am sure there is down lower on my '90. Okay, that settles that. Will need the remote fill type or save the one I have now or out to Gibsons to find a replacement. 

Looking at my engine overall, it sure is shades of gray🙄 Maybe some blue vacuum hoses and I think I have blue silicone heater hose too.

[DAVES89]

Wasn't there a song about shades of gray?

[2seater]

5 hours ago, DAVES89 said:

Wasn't there a song about shades of gray?

Fifty shades of gray was a book and movie

[jon L]

No, your power steering pump is not going to fit. If you use the 95-96 power steering pump, that one will fit.

But then you will need the long hose and the reservoir.

[2seater]

5 hours ago, jon L said:

No, your power steering pump is not going to fit. If you use the 95-96 power steering pump, that one will fit.

But then you will need the long hose and the reservoir.

Yes, I agree this will not fit. I do have the correct pump, the long hose and the remote fill for the throttle cable bracket but the plastic housing at the pump has the return line nipple broken off of the bottom. That is the reservoir I am looking for, the one at the pump. 

[2seater]

Small item added today, fuel injectors. They are not the color I was expecting, looks like something in a baby diaper, but otherwise are fine. I did have to modify the stock type clips that retain the injector to the fuel rail. These injectors are for a BMW which must retain them differently but it all worked out fine.

[Ronnie]

Good photo! Looks like the water neck has an air bleeder on top. Is that standard and needed on the SC engines? Where is the fuel pressure regulator? On the back side of the engine?

[2seater]

This is a rear view and the regulator lays on its side, small blue tube connected to it. The regulator itself is a little cartridge retained with a snap ring. The cylindrical housing is welded into the fuel rail. 
There are two views of the TPI manifold on my half turbo install. The fuel pressure regulator is the same type but it sits vertically visible in the upper right of photo. Also visible is a pipe plug in the top of the horizontal thermostat elbow and the other photo shows a bleeder in the back side of a similar elbow. It seems this style elbow, which just uses a conventional flat paper gasket, has a bleeder port somewhere as standard?

[jon L]

Here is the whole pump for 35.00, in Il.

1993 Power Steering Pump/Motor Buick Park Avenue

A

32862

$35

I-55 Auto Salvage Inc. USA-IL(Channahon) Request_Quote 1-877-467-2941 / 1-815-467-2938 Request_Insurance_Quote

[jon L]

Take the fuel pressure regulator apart and cut the tube inside off flush and install a adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

[2seater]

Thanks for the tips. 

Not much new to report today except the new idlers and tensioners arrived late yesterday, installed this morning but it looks just the same, so no photo.

 

The new oil level sensor also arrived but it does not fit. The thread size is a good .040" undersized so is going back. This is one of those unfortunate costly returns to Rock Auto but even with a return and a new genuine GM sensor from them, I am still money ahead. I initially thought perhaps the threads in the new Spectra brand oil pan were non-standard but I tried my O.E. sensor from my 1/2 turbo engine and it fits perfectly, so in this case the first sensor is junk.

[2seater]

A little progress on the power steering pump and reservoir. It was just happenstance that in my searching, I found the pump and reservoir combination I wanted on the Autozone site. It appeared it was something that could not be ordered, reason unknown, but at least it showed that it had existed. I checked with the local store and in fact it cannot be ordered under the part number that comes up when the Riviera S/C is entered. The one thing it did give me is the "Endurance" moniker, apparently the Autozone house brand. A Google search on that comes up with BBB Industries, much like Cardone apparently. In any case, I called BBB Industries and got their tech line. A nice guy named James, who apparently had been around the block more than once, understood exactly what the problem was without a lot of explanation. He stated the reason for so much of the confusion comes from one company being bought by another then another and along the way each one consolidates and streamlines their offerings. While this is going on, part numbers get lost and big mistakes spread throughout the parts industry. That gets baked into the systems and inexperienced parts people only are presented with items that appear as correct for the vehicle used as the search criteria.

 

He stated they do lots of things for many outlets, and gave me several part numbers, one was for Autozone, and when they entered the number, sure as can be, the correct item appeared. Now this is a pump and reservoir assembly and I opted not to pursue the tank alone after speaking with the rebuilder person. The new one will be here tomorrow. He did mention he saw a tank only available from Cardone but it was $70 which he stated was outrageous, since the assembly with pump is +$12. The topping on the cake is, when this part is entered under the Riviera S/C search, a big red flag comes up that says it is not compatible. For the very small number that may be interested these are the part numbers:

 

Autozone: 6358

NAPA: 38-1340

Delco: 36P1528

 

As you can probably tell from the above, these are all the same part. All show as available.

 

 

[2seater]

It was maple syrup making this last weekend so that became the focus, but back to assembly this morning. I couldn’t get the original pulley off, which was no surprise, so a new pulley was installed as well. Boiled the pulley and froze the pump but it still required quite a bit of force with the borrowed install tool. It may not have been necessary to replace all these pieces but now I am sure it will be good to go. The photo is with the remote fill in the standard position for this type but I do not like the appearance of that big black hose laying on the back of the engine so the remote may be installed differently. The reservoir spacing on the pump relative to the valve cover is now 2.75” which will clear everything easily.

Next up will be assembling a pre lubing pressure vessel. I haven’t done so in the past but this engine was assembled with minimal lubricant so maybe this would be a good time to do so.

[Ronnie]

I agree with you on the hose. It seems out of place.

 

It might not be possible, but if there was steel tubing (pipe) laying between the injectors and the valve cover, then make a 90* turn under the alternator and connect to the fitting with a short piece of hose, it would probably look more like a factory installation. Just throwing out a suggestion.

[2seater]

I am going to hold off on worrying much about the remote reservoir. I am pretty sure I will mount it somewhere else or perhaps a different style remote will be used. The critical piece was the tank on the side of the pump itself and that has been solved. 

I forgot to mention the correct oil level sender arrived and installed as well as a throttle body gasket that took more than a week to arrive. I have not looked at the prelubing yet and maybe getting a set of spark plugs and new cables. The engine is pretty much fully dressed now.

 

One item I did start looking at and that is the files for programming a chip. I downloaded the early, and late, Series I S/C files and they both contain strange looking timing tables. I haven't done much comparison yet, but they don't look anything like what I ordinarily see and maybe that is part of the issues I have encountered with my turbocharged forays. There are strange holes in the timing tables where an entire line corresponding to rpm, say 2000rpm, the timing is fixed at 11.25degrees running halfway across the load scale. Timing that drops to 3deg for one cell and then back into the teens or twenties. I will try to photograph a screenshot of what I am talking about. It looks just plain odd. I also noticed the MAF frequency vs air flow seems to be skewed much lower than our LN3. Maybe it has something to do with the increased diameter of the MAF or something else. Peak airflow of 76gm/sec??? That's less than half of the peak of an LN3 chart, so something is very different. I guess I only mention this because it shows I have a steep learning curve, especially for an almost Luddite.🤢 Maybe one of our resident guru's has an idea.