MG Sports Cars

Carl, I hope I don't experience the fire part of that video! :)

Time for another update.Finally got the car out for about a 20 minute drive in the country. Actually made it back home without incident so that was good. The temperature ran a little less than 200 F so I was quite pleased with that. As you'll see below, the ducting isn't quite complete yet so that is encouraging. The temperature was in the mid 80's F during the drive. I have not taken it out on the freeway to get it really warmed up and then allowed it to sit still for any period of time after that so there are still quite a few unknowns cooling system wise. So far so good.

Here is a picture of the engine bay in what I believe will be the "final" Indy state. Still need to paint the ducting but I can't think of anything major left to do here.



Artie and I co-designed and built this and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. It isn't perfect but it isn't too bad all things considered. This next photo shows the frame for the lower ducting.



I didn't have to drill any holes to mount this so it fits in well with my theme of minimal modifications. I'm using a couple of the sway bar mounting bolts and the rearward front bumper bolts to hold the thing on. I was going to cut some sheet metal for the skin to cover this frame but after thinking about it I'm going to use some coroplast because it will be easier and just as effective I think.

So the drive uncovered some additional "sorting out" issues. I got a check engine light with three trouble codes. Two were knock sensor related and the remaining was the cam sensor. It has been difficult to start at times and the symptoms it is showing fall into line with the cam sensor problem. I'll have some troubleshooting to do for this one. I'm not surprised the knock sensors are throwing a code but I'll save that issue until I get the cam sensor fixed. Should be interesting. Inch by inch.

OK, time is getting short. I figure I have 4 working days left before the meet counting the Tuesday before we leave. I'm still cautiously optimistic we'll make it. Additional progress was made over this past weekend. I pretty much completed the lower ducting, except for paint and a few miscellaneous tasks. Painting it may or may not happen at this point but you can't really see it from most angles. Here's one side.



It's a little bright :) but what you are looking at survived a couple of 70 mph runs no problem at all. So far so good. It took an incredible amount of time for me to make it. Probably somewhere between 6 to 7 hrs. total. It doesn't really look like it should take that long. If I used a metal skin it probably would have added at least another hour. Maybe down the road. So I took it out for a few tests to see how the upper and lower ducting worked and, all things considered, I'm pretty pleased. I got it fully warmed up and then took it for about a 15 mile cruise on the freeway at about 70 mph. The temperature, according to the factory coolant temperature sensor, ran about 205 F. with the air temperature in the mid to upper 80's F. Seemed to be pretty steady. It never got above about 215 F coming back home on residential streets at about 25 mph. The interesting thing is the factory temperature sensor isn't very accurate. When it's cold, it reads a good 10 degrees above the ambient temperature in the garage when compared to my wife's temperature display in her car and to the incoming air temperature sensor. I'm not sure if that difference is linear as it gets warm. I'm hoping that someone at the meet will have an infrared gun they can test my radiator with. I could potentially be running around 195 F with a high of 205 F.

I was able to get the cam sensor wiring squared away pretty quickly. The first test I did identified the problem. This may help someone down the road so I'll mention briefly exactly what this issue is about. I'm using the 0411 PCM that was flashed with LS1 code. The LS1 has a rear mounted cam sensor. My LS4, like the LS2, has the cam sensor mounted into the timing cover at the front of the block with no option for a rear mounted sensor. I went to an LS2 front cover and the LS2 cam sensor. The plug for both the LS1 and LS2 cam sensors are the same...works out great except that the order of the wiring in the plug changed. There are 3 wires in the plug, the sensor signal, a 12 volt reference, and a low (ground) reference. In the LS2 sensor the sensor signal and the 12 volt reference are switched when compared to the LS1 sensor. So I knew this when I built the harness and I thought I had accounted for it. Guess not because they weren't switched. I'm beginning to think I did the crank sensor instead of the cam sensor by mistake. The two plugs look identical. You might recall if you've been watching this thread for a while that I had a no start issue caused by a crank sensor wiring problem. It was switched and now I find the cam wasn't. Oh well. It was an easy fix at least. It starts much better now as you can imagine and the code is gone. I discovered another wiring issue the other night. It seems that one connector on the ignition fuse is deformed slightly and it's causing an intermittent issue. I'm going to replace it this coming weekend and hope that is the end of my wiring issues.

I really haven't had time to play with this much yet but I'm trying to get the wide band sensor data into my TunerPro logs by trying different, unused outputs that are included in the OBD2 ALDL output. I got the brilliant idea of trying the air conditioner pressure wire. So I start the car and about 30 seconds later the cooling fan comes on. It seems that's how the computer knows if the air con is running or not. I had to laugh. It appears the wide band controller is putting out some voltage at least. What I'm trying to do may not be possible but trying further will have to wait until after Indy.

I finally got some time with the car on the road. I've put close to 80 miles on it so far. It's fun. I don't think of myself as one of those guys that select an engine just for the sound. I love the sound of all sorts of engines. I think the original B motor sounds great as a matter of fact. But I grew up lusting after Camaro's, Chevelle's and Corvette's. Back then, as a 14-15 year old kid, watching one rumble down the street got my blood boiling. So listening to the LS4 while going down the road brings back the notion of how I think a performance car should sound. Kind of hard to explain and I didn't mean to get all philosophical about it. Bottom line, it sounds great....like it means business as you go through the gears. The torque is unreal! According to the factory dyno chart it gets above 300 ft. lbs. at something like 1800-1900 RPMs. Going down a residential street in third at 20-25 mph and accelerating is effortless, the engine hardly sounds like it's working. Absolutely no problem breaking the tires loose in third. It's going to be fun learning about how this new motor has changed the car. I haven't driven the car hard at all yet either. Got to be careful I don't kill myself with it!

If things continue to progress like they have so far, Indy should be doable. The car is by no means sorted yet especially when I compare it to how sorted Mike Moor's car is. That is my benchmark. Mike's car is the best sorted conversion I've ridden in to date. I'm a looong way from that point. I don't think I'm going to be able to compete in the autocross and that will be a little disappointing.

Looks like I wrote a novel so I'll close for now.

I'm bringing my infrared gun.... :)

Cool!

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I don't think I'm going to be able to compete in the autocross and that will be a little disappointing.

C'mon Scott, I bet we could sell tickets to the drift event! :)

Hello scott
I'm just wondering this ls4 is it a 5.7? you may have already said but I missed it. thanks fellow ls man (lol)

It's a 5.3L rated at 303 horsepower and 325 ft-lbs of torque at the crank.

Looks like you are supposed to run 91+ octane, Scott. I have to run high test in my 215.

Hey Bill, as Carl already pointed out it is a 5.3.

Carl, yeah, I'm running high test in it.

Thanks I run 91 in mine also, mine is the 4.8 carbureted you have to love it good luck scott. I know I still after 15,000 miles can't get enough

Thanks Scott, but these cars are always evolving. Mine has had nearly twenty years of it. I just got a head start on you!

Indy should be a blast!

Two more days to work on the car! No pictures tonight but things are progressing. I have just shy of 200 miles on the car now. It is running better than where it started from for sure. Got the radiator ducting painted but not installed yet. I put the car up on jack stands last weekend and inspected things. Nothing seems out of place. I did tighten and use some blue loctite on the two motor mount bolts.....one of them was slightly loose. It was something I've been meaning to do. So my brakes started feeling weird. It is the master cylinder. Just what I needed but it's better it happened now. The new one came today. I can't complain, I got over 25 years out of a rebuild! Also noticed a squeaky idler pulley so I'm going to replace it too. I'm feeling pretty confident the car will make the trip but it's still very rough at this point.

Artie is coming in on Monday afternoon and we will spend Tuesday on the car. He's going to detail it for me. Hope I'm not spending the whole day under the car!

Several of us are going to meet up at Mike Maloney's on Wednesday and caravan to Indy. Mike Moor, yeah, Indy is going to be a blast! Looking forward to seeing everyone!

I saw someone at the V8 Meet that could not wipe that ear-to-ear grin off his face....... :)

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I saw someone at the V8 Meet that could not wipe that ear-to-ear grin off his face....... :)

And not without good reason. Outstanding workmanship.

Hey Carl,

Yeah, still can't! :-)

Made it there and back with no real issues which was great. I've got over 500 miles on it at this point. The only issue we had was a slight hiccup every once in a while at speeds above 65 mph and going up hill. Kind of hard to describe....like letting off the throttle for just a moment. I'll have to try to get logs of this happening at some point.

I was real pleased with the cooling system as well. The weather was quite hot and we had no issues. The drive to and from Skillman's was a great test. I got a Volvo fan from Calvin which I'll get installed at some point before winter I hope. That should give me some extra insurance. Barry Glass has one installed with a manual switch and he turned it on for us. It moves an amazing amount of air!

It was good to see you and everyone else!

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And not without good reason. Outstanding workmanship.

Thank you Dan!

Yeah, very well done Scott. Clean install. You can tell you took time on all the little details!

Scott, the car is a "Work of Art", This is the way Abington could have done it :-). Hate we all did not get to share a DIckel, I just barely got to have a lite 2-3 hit during the situation. See you and Artie in Townsend.

I wasn't there but, I can picture Scott smiling the whole time! Great job! As far as I know, the only RWD LS4 starter solution!

Thank you Rob, Kelly and Jim, I appreciate it!

Kelly, I regret we didn't share a Dickel too. The time just flew by! There were several people I didn't get to talk to as much as I wanted. Hard to believe it's been about a week since the meet got started. Guess it's good that we leave wanting it to go a bit longer. Artie and I were just saying today that we're ready to do it again! :) Oh, I'm so glad Sandy is recovering so well. She scared us there for a little while!

I'm planning to document the sorting out phase in this thread but it will be a few weeks before I get back to work. I'm going to get some things on the honey do list done first.

Scott

I thought I'd do a small update and talk about weighing the car at the V8 Meet.

Pete Mantell brought his scales to Indy which was great since I was/am very interested in where the car stands. To give a point of reference, the last time I had the car weighed was in 2008 at the Wisconsin meet. Just so happens on the very same set of scales. At that time I had my 3.1 V6 in the car and it weighed 2019 lbs. with half a tank of gas. In Indy, I believe Pete said I weighed 2106 lbs. with only a 1/4 tank of gas. So if I add 25 lbs. to account for the lack of gas in the tank it puts the weight at 2131 lbs. give or take. So I've added about 110 lbs. going with the LS4. I never weighed the V6 unfortunately but that generation was very light. I'm guessing at or just below 300 lbs. I have a reprint of the factory owner's manual for my 68 somewhere...looked briefly but couldn't find it. Anyway, I seem to recall the manual had the "curb weight" at 21xx lbs. Can't remember the exact figure. Bottom line, I think the car weighs close to what a factory 68 weighed. I'm pleased with that.

So, as you can imagine, there are a few things on the list to be sorted. The things I'd like to do before the Fall Gathering are:

o Try to sort out the knock sensor issue
o Fix a leak in the transmission
o Get the tach sorted
o Adjust the pedal heights
o Put in a new windshield to top seal

I've pushed the car a bit harder this past weekend than I have up to this point. I was giving some dinner guests a ride around the block and nailed it in 2nd and then into 3rd. I think they liked it...I know I did. I thought I might have heard some pinging though so the knock sensor thing moved up the list. One of the things I'm seeing with the issue I'm experiencing is the sensor's might not be torqued correctly so that's one thing I'll be checking.

This winter I'll try to get to the following things:

o Install the Volvo fan
o Get the fuel pump I really want to use installed
o Perhaps get a new rear axle and maybe even get it installed
o Maybe add factory cruise control
o Finally install the GAZ coil over shocks on the front end
o Re-enforce the front of the rear spring mount
o Several other small things to numerous to mention

I haven't had a chance to touch the car since the meet but hope to soon. :)