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First off, what indications on the stock cams are there that identify one as the intake and the other as the exhaust? Are there stamped labels on the cams?
Because, the shop's best guess is that the person disassembling my motor physically stamped the cams improperly, the exh as the int and vice versa. As well, they did the same mislabeling for the cam phasers.
Once they swapped the cams into their proper places, they double checked the timing as the motor was still running a little rough, but better than before. Turns out the chain was off by one tooth there as well. They did not charge me extra for redoing the timing work since they'd done it once before and concluded it was fine.
Anyhow, she runs like she's new out of the box now, and she's heading back to the tuner in the morning. I'm so close to the end!
Very true. Do you know how or if our camshafts are labeled? How do you tell the difference between the two other than labeling them properly when you remove them?
Idk, there may be a part number cast into them, other than that i would have to physically look at them and compare tbe reluctor wheels.
Originally Posted by Slowbalt2000
Idk, there may be a part number cast into them, other than that i would have to physically look at them and compare tbe reluctor wheels.
Roger, so that definitely means the shop in town here physically stamped them and they didn't come from the factory incorrectly labeled.
Picking the car up Monday. It's almost done being tuned and the guy at Westech has got it running at 8psi of boost. any higher and he doesn't like what he sees with the fuel flow, can't get it to be consistent since I've still got the stock fuel pump in there, albeit a new one, replaced it at 145000 miles.
So, he's currently seeing 230 whp and 300 lbft at the wheels. Super happy with the numbers, cannot wait to drive it back Monday.
And then I get to try and get some money back from the machine shop in town haha.
What injectors do you have? I was on 12psi on my k04 with the stock pump.
Also id love to see that graph. 300lb-ft seems like a lot for 8psi. Are you revving to 7?
60# Siemens injectors. They came with the ZZP kit.
And yeah, I'll def be loading the graph up here once I pick the car up Monday. 300 sounded like a lot to me too on such low boost. Granted, maybe the weight diff in the pistons and rods and the porting I had done is helping with those increases. And the UD is freeing up some output too.
And he's got it revving to like 6-6.2k rpm. He says above that it really doesn't want to do much more and it doesn't like revving higher than that.
What kind of dyno is it? 6k is lame. Yeah the power drops off hard with the k04 but the le5 was built as a high output screamer. Stock redline is 6750.
What kind of dyno is it? 6k is lame. Yeah the power drops off hard with the k04 but the le5 was built as a high output screamer. Stock redline is 6750.
I'm not sure the model, but it's a dyno where they drive the front wheels up on to the rollers then strap it down.
Interesting, well I did change the compression from the stock 10.5 down to 9.5 with my new pistons. Wiseco recommended that for my planned turbo application.
Anyhow, I guess the graphs can't lie, so we'll see what I find out tomorrow.
Here we go, the numbers don't lie I guess! I'm def happy with it. Torque hangs on pretty well too as hp comes up.
Unfortunately the cold start didn't go well. Cranked it and it idled really low and then died. Same on the second try. Tuner jumped in to see what he could do, and once it got closed loop everything was fine. But they want to redo the cold start tuning tomorrow morning.
So now I have to drive back to LA again when I was supposed to be starting my drive.
And on top of that, my machine shop back home is saying I should've brought the motor to them first, even though they don't work on motors in cars. And honestly, I didn't know if it was their fault initially so I wanted to know the problem first before I called them out on it.
Well, I've made if from Cali to South Carolina in 9 days. Definitely went the long way to see friends and family. Almost to Maryland though, so that's good.
Picked the car up last Tuesday and took it right on this cross country move! Here's some of the things I've noticed on the build:
1) the tune is still not complete. I'm 95% positive they didn't take it out and drive the car on actual roads. I think they did all of the work on the dyno. Within minutes of driving from their shop to the highway, I was getting some very unhappy noises from the motor and exhaust around 2300-2800 rpm under half open or more throttle. I got power loss and what felt like the engine was "coughing". I can't replicate it in neutral, it only exists while driving. If I use minimal throttle around those rpm's then it will slowly move through that band and then I can open it up, but yeah. I would've turned around and made them fix it, but I was already a day behind on my move, it cruises fine on the highway/around town, and it didn't pop any codes.
2) It's setup to idle at a fairly high rpm on a cold start so it doesn't stall. This has triggered a P1400 code which is honestly a nuisance code as I give zero ***** about my emissions being rich, but it's staring me in the face which is annoying and I want it gone.
3) The suspension has been the saving grace of this build. The sway bars, engine mounts, and coilovers/struts/springs I installed are working exceptionally well. I highly recommend the BCRacing set to anyone looking for a fully customizable ride that can handle serious curves (I had so much fun driving across the Rockies) and can also give you a modern, softer feel in a performance setup. I barely feel all these bumpy highways, and I've got them set to 15, right in the middle of the softness/hardness settings.
4) I need a protector for my bumper. The exhaust is so rich and hot without that extra cat in the downpipe that it's melting the plastic back there haha.
5) I get between 32 and 38mpg highway depending on ambient temperature and humidity and flatness of the road. It's a decent improvement over the 30mpg I used to average on the highway.
6) I need to go through and figure out every single thing I did to make this build happen so I can share all the little details that really don't make it into discussions about adding x or y part to your build.
Anyhow, thanks for all the help everyone! I'm gonna get the car in for a tune to fix that problem as soon as I can and we'll see what the new power curve looks like after that.
Slowbalt2000 I see that you're very experienced and knowledgable with the LE5, hopefully you can help me out with questions I'll have when I do my supercharger swap. I know I'll definitely need some help. I'll be doing a thread on it soon.
Slowbalt2000 I see that you're very experienced and knowledgable with the LE5, hopefully you can help me out with questions I'll have when I do my supercharger swap. I know I'll definitely need some help. I'll be doing a thread on it soon.
Definitely make a thread. There are a lot of guys on here that know more about the SC setups than me. Ive never ran one.
Well, it’s been a pretty crazy 2.5 years with the build! I’m not sure how many folks are still active on here, but figured I’d post some pics and info and lessons learned.
After getting the car across to MD, I started experiencing some cooling problems. At the gate on base one day the temp was skyrocketing and all of a sudden I got a big whoosh and a huge puff of white steam. Turned out that the heater hose mod required by the ZZP turbo kit ended up having the hose rest on top of the turbo housing. It ended up melting a hole through it!
Had a shop install a new heater hose from an LNF that has a small heat shield wrapped around it for the area that passes over the turbo, and it’s held up since then, though it has a kink in it as I think it’s a little longer than the stock heater input hose.
The heater has been interesting too. Using it causes my coolant temp to increase (into the 220s-230s then stabilizing in the 210s). I have a feeling the heater hose routing on the LE5 was not designed to stay away from the massive heat being generated by an extruded exhaust mani and the turbo. I’m not sure what to do about it. I thought about maybe getting the heat tape they wrap motorcycle exhaust pipes with and wrapping that around it. See if that could shield the hoses from the heat. Anyone else ever have issues with the heater hoses after popping on a turbo to a 2.2 or 2.4?
I recently started having issues with a coolant leak too. Even with the heater off, the temp started jumping into the 220s and 230s. I was having to put a half bottle of coolant in a day to just keep the temp from going higher. I thought it was isolated to the drain plug on my ZZP Aluminum radiator that I put in, but that was wrong. Finally got it into a good mechanic and they pressure tested it and found a large hole in the radiator and a crack in the reservoir on the driver-side that I couldn’t see. Turns out the cooling fan had been rubbing against the radiator core since I installed it. From what they could tell, the fan shroud wasn’t damaged and it was installed properly and even the fan is ok. They think the ZZP radiator didn’t leave enough clearance for the fan. I’ll post pics when I get it back tomorrow. I’m just putting a new OEM radiator in and hoping for the best. Maybe the leaks have been there since I made the drive to MD, and maybe it’s part of why the heater has been driving the temp up since the radiator wasn’t effectively getting fluid back to the thermostat. Fingers crossed. I put a new thermostat in a couple months ago and did a flush and didn’t see anything then. No gunk came out in the flush either. And the old thermostat worked when I heat tested it with a lighter, so it wasn’t the problem either.
I did get the tune mostly sorted. It cost another $2k, but it’s been mostly great. If I don’t watch the idle on a cold start, it’ll sometimes idle too high and set a code. But no chugging anymore. It cost so much because I went to a shop that specialized in tuning muscle Vice FWD cars. Only shop in MD that would work with me and had a dyno. He had to buy HPTuners to do the work too, so that cost was passed on to me. Here’s where the tune ended up. It’s damn close to the work WestTech did, so that’s good. The cost was just nuts.
Either way, it’s been interesting. Parking brake cable recently snapped, so I’ve had to park it by just leaving it in gear. Chilton’s doesn’t have a procedure for replacing it, just adjusting it, so not sure what I can do there. Rear window defroster electrical connector has popped off two times from the original rear window and a brand new replacement. The age of the car is starting to show haha. Had to put a new right front wheel hub on because the bearing catastrophically failed. New control arm on the left front because the original ball joint was toast. Original battery finally kicked the can so I’ve got a new one in which has magically cleared up a couple electrical gremlins I as having (false air bag light and tire pressure system lights). My AEM Boost gauge has stopped showing suction, it only shows boost. I can’t find where it was hooked up for suction to the engine. The list goes on but a lot of it I can do and I think most of it is not tied to the turbo build, which is nice. Means that my own work is holding up.
I’ve tracked the car a couple times. The handling is amazing and the power is great, really love the pull I get too. I found out quick though that my brakes are not up to the task though. And my wheels are a little narrow, could use wider tires vice the street all-seasons I’ve got. Kyle Dewey over at ZZP turned me on to their Brembo upgrade kit with larger slotted rotors and stainless still lines. He also recommended the Enkei RPF1 18” wheels and the Continental DWS06 and the Pirelli P-Zeros for tire options with the new wheels. So that’s on the to-do list too. Anyone have any luck with upgrading the stock calipers to Brembo and larger diameter rotors? Are there clearance issues for the stock rims? I wouldn’t want to run my new wheels during the winter.
That’s it for now. I’ll add that radiator pic when I get it. Thanks for all the help and big shoutout to Slowbalt! Couldn’t have done it without your advice!
I had cooling issues with the heater on when i first turbod my car as well. I think what fixed it was just making heater core lines that are as direct as possible to the engine but avoid the turbo/downpipe. FYI, when I bleed my coolant, I just fill it up and let the car idle until warm, then screw the cap on loosely(enough for air to escape) and just go drive around town for a few minutes. This helps increase water pump speed and helps push all of the air out of the system. Once you get back home, top the coolant off again and youre all set.
As for swapping to brembos, they are an awesome upgrade but the smallest wheels you can run are 17" so you will be limited there. You may want to consider buying a set of winter wheels and tires. OR, you could swap the brakes for winter/summer. Its not that bad of a job.
Im glad youre enjoying the car and doing some things to have fun with it. I still need to get out and use my car for what I built it for after all these years. Good luck with everything! dont hesitate to keep asking questions here.
I had cooling issues with the heater on when i first turbod my car as well. I think what fixed it was just making heater core lines that are as direct as possible to the engine but avoid the turbo/downpipe. FYI, when I bleed my coolant, I just fill it up and let the car idle until warm, then screw the cap on loosely(enough for air to escape) and just go drive around town for a few minutes. This helps increase water pump speed and helps push all of the air out of the system. Once you get back home, top the coolant off again and youre all set.
As for swapping to brembos, they are an awesome upgrade but the smallest wheels you can run are 17" so you will be limited there. You may want to consider buying a set of winter wheels and tires. OR, you could swap the brakes for winter/summer. Its not that bad of a job.
Im glad youre enjoying the car and doing some things to have fun with it. I still need to get out and use my car for what I built it for after all these years. Good luck with everything! dont hesitate to keep asking questions here.
Thanks a ton for the info Slowbalt! I’m gonna start using that filling procedure when I need to. Yeah, I’ve got stock 17” alloy wheels, so the Brembo may fit with them, but I’ve heard you can drill out your 5 lug wheel hubs and open up the tire and wheel options you can run? Not sure how that works. Honestly, just swapping the brakes in the winter wouldn’t be the worst thing. Plus it’d reduce wear on the parts. Just would be a few hours and then bleeding the brakes.
Do you daily drive yours still?
I got the car back yesterday from the mechanic and found some interesting damage to the ZZP aluminum radiator.
Needless to say, it wasn’t damage when I installed it. I’m not sure the damage is consistent with the fan rubbing, but it could be. Apparently coolant was just pouring out of nearly the dead center of the radiator into the engine compartment. Also it was pouring out from the welds on the fan shroud supports. Such a bummer because the part seemed so promising. I’m going to send the pics and all to ZZP just to let them know it happened and to see if they want the part back to inspect the failure. As I understand it l, they’ve never seen it fail like this. To be clear, no fluid was pouring out of the core where the mesh was smashed or gouged, it’s like it was coming from behind that. Super weird!
Thanks a ton for the info Slowbalt! I’m gonna start using that filling procedure when I need to. Yeah, I’ve got stock 17” alloy wheels, so the Brembo may fit with them, but I’ve heard you can drill out your 5 lug wheel hubs and open up the tire and wheel options you can run? Not sure how that works. Honestly, just swapping the brakes in the winter wouldn’t be the worst thing. Plus it’d reduce wear on the parts. Just would be a few hours and then bleeding the brakes.
Do you daily drive yours still?
I got the car back yesterday from the mechanic and found some interesting damage to the ZZP aluminum radiator.
Needless to say, it wasn’t damage when I installed it. I’m not sure the damage is consistent with the fan rubbing, but it could be. Apparently coolant was just pouring out of nearly the dead center of the radiator into the engine compartment. Also it was pouring out from the welds on the fan shroud supports. Such a bummer because the part seemed so promising. I’m going to send the pics and all to ZZP just to let them know it happened and to see if they want the part back to inspect the failure. As I understand it l, they’ve never seen it fail like this. To be clear, no fluid was pouring out of the core where the mesh was smashed or gouged, it’s like it was coming from behind that. Super weird!
I THINK the brembos will fit under the stock ss/na wheels with just a 5mm spacer, but ill let someone else confirm this. I did the 5x114.3 swap on my car, basically you just need a machinist to drill 5 new holes in the hub at whatever diameter you want. 5x114.3 is the most common because of the wide variety of wheel choices available.
I do not daily drive my cobalt any more. I actually didnt drive it at all in the past year since I bought my house. Its looking like ill be able to play with it more once spring rolls around. I picked up a 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution to be my daily driver/grocery getter for here in the snow belt.
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06-09-2016, 03:01 AM
