When a hammer won't work on Labor day.

I was driving down Crowchild Trail in Calgary the other day on my way to work. There has been a lot of work getting done on the high ways and by ways of Calgary the this road is not exception. There are areas where the pay\vement is stripped back so repaving came be started. I hit one of these stipped areas and right away my front end started wobbling. I turn the wheel back and forth quickly and that seamed to smarten up the issue. Then on the next bump,the same thing. Ok,now it's time to have a look at this damn thing before it kills either myself ,my daughter or both of us. Saturday comes along and I decide it's time to get started. I get under the front end of the truck and find that the Pitman and the Idler arm are toast. Which I find very suprising. I really thought that there was an issue with a Tie-Rod end or a Ball Joint.

  When you are removing the Pitman Arm,you have to remove the nut holding it on and "Tap" the side of where it mounts to the relay rod. Never smack the end of the attachment bolt or use the nut. That's just an open invitation to grief and creating a money pit out of your hot rod. Getting the Pitman arm off of the output shaft of the steering gear was a little costly as well. I ended up going down to the neighborhood parts store and getting a Pitman Arm puller. That was another $40. The plus side is that it works for both the Pitman arm and the Idler arm. Sometimes it's a good thing when you have to get under your ride to do some work. I noticed other things that need attention and made a note of it for future referrence.

  I also decided to change my rear end gear oil as well. When you do this,it's probably best to change your axle seals at the same time. After all you have to take the differential cover off anyway and it's just aniother few minutes to remove the locking screw from the pinion shaft. By pushing in the axle shaft from the outside of the rear end you can see where the C-lock will come out. Then its just a simple matter of removing the axle and pulling out the axle seal from the axle housing. Now is a good time to inspect the axle bearings. It's cheaper to do it now then find out the hard way that they need replacing. After you've put the new seals in be sure to install the axle slowly back to where it goes. Watch the inside of the spider gear assembly to insure that you can slide the C-locks back into place properly and re-install the pinion shaft and lock screw. Be sure to use a seal installer or a block of wood to make sure that the new selas install straight and flat against the axle housing. Now is also a good time to inspect your rear brake shoes or pads. New ones should be installed at this time if it's required. There are a couple of ways you came seal up the rear duifferential cover. One is by using a new gasketanother is by using gasket maker. Either way works however the gasket maker is more cost effective and you should also give the silicone time to cure. so that would mean not driving the vehicle for a few hours after you have re-assembled it. This work was done on a 96 Chevy pick up with 320,000 Klicks or right around 200,000 miles on it. With a little know how and an excellent referrence book.Chevy S-Series Pick-Ups, SUVs, GMC Sonoma, Jimmy, Envoy, Isuzu Hombre, Oldsmobile Bravada Chilton Manual (1994-2004) is an excellent manual and is very discriptive with ecellent picutres and diagrams.

Chevy dumped for Chevrolet?

Ok,lets ask ourselves something. When you were a kid and you first saw the word Chevrolet,was it easier to understand than Chevy? I know I may be gettin on the soap box here but,let's get something straight. It's takes a lot less energy and sounds a hell of a lot sexier to say Chevy. I drive a Chevy,I buy Chevy parts. I Hotrod my Chevy's. I insure my Chevy. We all know that yes,it is a Chevrolet however when you say Chevrolet you sound like a dork. With the exception of the odd Speed channel announce that can actually pull it off and sound good doing it.

  When you see a Bow-Tie the word Chevy comes to mind. People relate to the word and they love it. Chevy built the most popular engine in our planets history. They may not have been the first of the GM divisions to do it but,that doesn't mean squat when they did it the best. The world loves a winner. The small block Chevy is and always has been one of the sexiest phrases ever coined. And lets not forget that when Chevy developed the 265 back in 1955 we found ourselves able to have an ago old rivalry with the big block boys. Ok,enough of my rant. What it boils down to is that I like the word Chevy more than Chevrolet,it doesn't mean that I will quit buying and hot rodding "Chevy's". It just means that somethings do not need to change. If GM just has a sick sense of humor and is bored and looking to piss die-hard "Chevy" fans off like me then they succeeded. More than likely it's simply because I'm a "Chevy" guy and uhh..hey GM board of directors...your "Chevy" division with it's engineering know how helped me convert many a Ford owner into buying and falling in love with a "Chevy".Our Chevy's have seen us through the good times and the bad and for the most part have never let us down. And if there was a temporary set back,the engineers that designed the SBC had their act together and made it extremely easy for the small block to be worked on. Try working on a Ford with just a 3/8",7/16",1/2" and a 9/16" wrench on the side of the road.

  One final word, we as North American grew up with the Chevy,we all know it's actually Chevrolet but,we really don't care what you say as long as the guy behind the parts desk doesn't correct us when we ask for a Chevy part. It's a Chevy first,last and always. Anyway,these are my thoughts,not yours.

Keeping the grocery getter cost effective

It was time to fix up the grocery getter a little bit. After all it got used the most and got the least attention. I figured a set of decent rims and tires were in order. I got a decent deal on them so I went with it. Now this truck has been through thick and thin with me and there has been times where it has been on the back burner when it came time for maintenance. I've done the trial and error with car parts and tested some ideas to improve my fuel efficiency. And I'll tell you right now that the best fuel economy tricks were the ones I designed or re-designed my self. The are some "kits" out there that are supposed to give you gains of up to 20 horsepower and improve mileage by 10%. I'll tell you right now,there are no simple fixes like that. All those "kits" will do is separate you from your hard earned cash. They are promoted by marketing companies that probably have no idea what an internal combustion engine is. Their exec's get the mechanic to check the oil.

Anyway, there are little things you can do to keep the grocery getter together that are very economical. Instead of spending $80 for an interior door handle for your chevy truck, spend $14 or $15 on a Dorman Handle. I've spent $240.00 on interior handles and none of them have lasted as long as the one I spend $14.00 on. Now,a cost effective way to eliminate most wear inside your engine is to use synthetic oil. Most synthetic oils are actually made in the same place believe it or not. They all test virtually the same. Now,you might think the cost is too much but,think of it this way. When you use synthetic oil you can go twice as long between oil changes,sometimes longer depending on the brand. Synthetic also dissipates heat much better,doesn't break down like conventional oil does and it seals compression better. You will also notice that your engine will run better and your gas gauge will stay in one place longer.All for just under twice the price of conventional oil. And one other thing, less oil changes means less cash out of your pocket at mister lube or minute lube. It wouldn't be a bad idea to use synthetic in the transmission and differential as well if you are really interested in making your daily driver last.

 Now this might sound a little nuts but,believe me it's the truth. I had a crate motor in one of my trucks and believe it or not when I used high octane fuel,the gas mileage improvement offset the extra cost because it was a higher compression engine and it ran more efficiently with the better quality fuel. Other things like having your tires filled to proper psi also helps,proper wheel alignment as well. Now,one thing to consider is when an engine is operating close to the begining of it's torque curve you get better mileage. When you use a spacer plate it actually brings down the torque curve,as in brings it closer to the lower RPM range not lowering your overall torque.That means when you step on the gas,your not stepping on it as much as you would without the spacer plate. That translates into less fuel used to get the same job done and therefor better efficiency.

  One final thought. Don't believe for a minute that you can just jump in,fire it up and go. Your engine needs a warn up period,more so for any modified or crate engine. Everything on the planet expands with heat so it would stand to reason that the internal parts would need that as well. Let's imagine metal on metal grinding .Nuff said. Any mechanic or so called "tech" that says other wise better get his butt back to school.
I remember watching a television show with my girlfriend and a "professional" mechanic stated that you do not need a warm up time. Needless to say,when the girlfriends small block spun a bearing I wasn't fixing it.

Engine Explosion dyno room

Chris Kephart 7.46 @ 197 in Outlaw 10.5 at the 2009 Street Car Super Nat...

Now,my own Chevy truck

Now it's time for one of my personal experiences. My own truck is a Chevy Pickup. It's only mildly warmed over with a set of aluminum cylinder heads , set of Flowtech headers and a roller camshaft.

Now here's the issue I ran into. Since I have yet to update my ecm programming,like completely remove the programming for the oxygen heat sensors behind the catalytic converters,I had to leave those in and the result is a set of converters that are starting to plug up and I'll explain why.

One fine day I was dropping my daughter off at school and I noticed that my engine temperature was way higher than it should be. Then the engine started missing and I knew right away that there was something wrong. It turned out that the light casting factory Vortec head had a small crack in one of the intake valve seats. My machinist pointed to crack out to me. Anyway, the crack rendered the cylinder head useless and I was shopping for a set of new heads. I had been down to a buddies retail store a week or so before this little incident and remembered that he had a set of aluminum heads for a good deal. It turns out that it would be more cost effective to put these heads on my truck then replace them with stock since I didn't have a core to exchange for the factory heads. So after getting the parts I needed to go with the aluminum heads,I proceeded to go about putting these heads on the engine.

Once I had everything bolted up I noticed that the factory valve covers would not fit the head properly like the service tech from the manufacturer assured me,neither were the gasket mating surfaces from one side to the other the same size. So after some modification and a constant oil leak I got the truck running. Now,since I essentially changed to physical properties if the combustion chamber buy using these heads,the temperature senor behind my cat converters was giving a false reading.And at the time I was not aware of the fact that my oxygen sensors needed to be replaced. They started reading leaner exhaust and signaled the injectors to add more fuel. Now,we all know that more fuel can be a cool thing! However,when your getting more fuel all the time,it fouls up the spark plugs,injectors and more importantly,your catalytic converters tend to start plugging up and restrict your exhaust. K,now you see where this is going right? Just remember this little note when you see your catalytic converters glowing cherry red under your Chevy.

Bascally,I was asking my ecm to operate outside of it's parameters. And that just doesn't work. The truck would start to run like it had water in the gas and mis-fire all over the rpm range. This turned out to be a serious problem on the hyway. What it was doing was resetting its programming. So,yesterday a buddy of mine plugged a scan tool into the truck,erased the ecm and it started to run like a top. Then we started to up-plug sensors and we figured out that the oxygen sensor for the right hand bank is not even working. This little bit of news was great,so now I know what I have to replace. However I still have to get the programming redone because this little problem will just happen again. Or the other option,a Power Programmer would help get some of that horsepower I was hoping to gain when I put the aluminum heads and headers on the truck. Basically,the heads are aluminum so the combustion temperature will be different,the headers create an exhaust pulse that helps to scavenge more burnt material out of the chamber as well as help to create a negative pressure situation inside the cylinder which helps the intake pulse into the cylinder more effectively and faster. And I was hoping to gain at least 50-75 horsepower with these add-ons. Well,it didn't happen. So before you start something like this,consider the programming in you vehicles computer.

Cold Air Intake Kits

So your looking for some quick bolt on horsepower. One of the first modifications a lot of enthusiasts will do is a cold air induction or intake kit.And depending of design and the level that your engine is modified to,you can gain 10-20 horsepower.
The idea behind these kits is to bring in fresh cold air from outside the vehicle into your engine. remember cold air is denser then the air under the hood. A denser air charge means that there is more air going in to the engine. Now,let's talk about the stock air intake assembly for a minute. It gets the job done..barely. It is designed to help keep noise down and that's fine however is seams that in keeping the noise down it is also very restrictive. And remember folks,you engine is an air pump,the smoother and more effectively it can pump air the better it's gonna work.So why not get a good start and get the air coming in efficiently?

Some cold air kits like the Spectre Performance 9900 Air Intake Kit and the AEM 21-426P Polished Cold Air Intake System have shirt ram kits that bolt pretty much right into where the stock air intake assembly is. There are some kits that allow you to mount the intake pipe down by the bumper but,you might want keep in mind that rain can get into some strange places.

Aftermarket intake systems smooth out the air flow coming in and that is primarily how they work. Most if not all kits have smooth stainless steel or aluminum tubing with gradual bends and will accommodate most if not all the sensors that may be a part or the factory assembly.


Another modification I would recommend is a throttle body spacer. The install between the throttle body and intake plenum (the flat surface in the intake manifold where the throttle body bolts to). What these spacers do in effect is increase the length if the intake runner so to speak. This brings your torque curve into play at lower RPM. That is the simple version. The long version sounds more like this. The intake pulse is the charge of air fuel mixture that goes into the combustion chamber when the intake valve opens,the denser and bigger the charge is,the more air fuel mixture you are going to get into the combustion chamber. The trick is to create a increased pulse without sacrificing vacuum. Throttle body spacers like the Airaid 400-531 PowerAid Red Anodized Aluminum Throttle Body Spacer and Jet Chips 62137 Throttle Body Spacer also incorporate tapped throttle plate holes that twist the incoming air. What this does is assist in helping the air fuel mixture mix better for better combustion. The jury is still out on whether or not the tapping actually works. I can tell you that my personal design bolted horsepower onto my truck that I felt in the seat of my pants. So I think it does.

Supercharging a 2010 Camaro SS

Now with the available power that comes with the brand spankin new 2010 Chevy Camaro like a 300 HP V-6 that will propel the car from 0-60 in 6.1 seconds and through the quarter mile in 14.5 seconds or the 422-hp 6.2-liter LS3 V8 that will take the car from a standing start to 60 MPH in just under 5 second and rape the quarter mile in 13.4 seconds,you would think that most people would be more than happy with the performance. Well Edelbrock has already come out with a supercharger that will help the SS produce 599 horsepower and 547 ft/lbs of torque!

This new design is completely different that you might expect. Just have a look,

Notice that the rotor assembly is actually under an and inter-cooler! The design also increases runner length and smooths out the air-flow. There are no sharp bends to restrict the incoming air charge and the horsepower produced for the low lever of boost is incredible. Lower boost equals less stress on the rotating engine assembly. This supercharger also bolts into the lifter valley of the engine and completely replaces the intake manifold for a completely seamless look and less components. This results is less of a chance of vacuum leaks.

The Eaton Gen VI TVS® rotating assembly is a 4 lobe design with 160° of twist that gives max flow and minimum increase in operating temperature. That will help when it comes to everyday drivability cause then you won't be "hitting" your engines knock sensor from heat when you hit the WOT (wide open throttle). Now,have a look at the runner length and design. The length takes serious advantage of the intake pulse and the design is smooth & fuel efficient. Man I wish I have one of these,and a new Camaro too but,that is for the future...lol.

Here are some of what this design features:
Installs under the stock hood while maintaining factory accessories
2300cc (140 cubic inch) Eaton® TVS® GEN VI rotor assembly
Unique intake manifold design with 15" long runners (Increased low-end torque)
100,000 mile self-contained oiling system
Optional 3 Year/36,000 mile warranty
599 HP and 547 ft./lbs of TQ with low boost!
52 lb/hr injectors

So the bottom line is,if you want to add to the already great power that comes with the new Camaro,then this kit just might be what your looking for! It can be purchased from AJGeneral

Camshafts

Ever wonder what is actually working to get the air charge into the combustion chamber? This little miracle of engineering is called a camshaft. It causes the valves to open and close in a timed manner that makes the internal combustion engine a reality. Now-a -days,factory grinds are a very well engineered to gibe a  good compromise for low end torque,drivability, durability and fuel economy.And then there's the smooth idle that comes along with that.

Have you ever heard the expression that "It's all in the Cam and the heads?" Well,to a certain extent that is true. However,most engine builders build the bottom end of the engine to allow for more aggressiveness from the top end of the motor.Performance camshafts like Competition Cams Hi-Energy Camshafts & Edelbrock Power Packages like Edelbrock 2099 Power Package and Edelbrock 2098 Power Package Kit are designed to make big horsepower gains just by themselves. Now,think about this for a minute. If there is more vacuum to pull the air charge into the cylinder and higher compression pistons to compress the air-fuel mixture more effectively then you are going to produce even more power.This is why a decent engine builder will always build the bottom end of the motor as well but,more on that later.

You have a few things to consider when deciding what type of camshaft you would like to install and keep in mind the this is a fairly complicated undertaking so you want to get it right the first time.

Flat or Roller Tappet
Flat tappet cams use a flat bottom lifter and Roller cams use a roller lifter. Now for obvious reason the roller is generally the better choice. Less wear,less friction and smoother operation inside the top end. Most newer Chevy engines use a roller cam from the factory. That's not to say that a flat tappet cam will not suit your needs but, in my opinion a roller is the way to go. There is also the choice of solid lifter or hydraulic lifter. The difference between the two are a solid lifter is solid through out and a hydraulic has a small piston like set up that pressures up. The hydraulic lifter does this to help accommodate for engine temperatures.

When you talk about a "cam" with most hot rodders one of the first things you're going to hear about is lift. 

Lift is basically how much the cam will open the valve. If a cam creates a .454" lift and you have 1.5 ratio rocker arms then the initial cam lift is .302". Now if you have 1.6 ratio rockers then your total lift will be .483"with the same cam shaft.Now for the most part,I'm not going to get real technical just for the simple reason is,most of us are just interested in whether or not a particular cam profile will work for them or not.Now keep in mind most stock springs will accommodate a camshaft that is slightly bigger than stock. Anything more and stronger springs will be required like Competition Cams 93816 Valve Springs.

Duration of lift 

Generally this term is just referred to as duration. Duration is how long the valve is open inside the combustion chamber. The value will open gradually and reach a peak in the center of the cam lobes duration. Different cam manufactures may use different standards for measuring duration. Some like Competition Cams may use .006 and another like Crane Cams will use .004. This means that that is where they start to measure when the lifter starts to open the valve. Now,most people will use the number .050 inch tappet lift when they advertise duration simply because it's a common ground. Camshafts with different durations between their intake and exhaust figures are called dual pattern cams.

Camshaft Centerlines 

Now here is where things will get a little more technical but,with a little patience and understanding we'll get through this and hopefully be better for it.

Your camshaft centerline refers to the middle or the duration curve. This is very important in terms of timing. To figure out where the camshaft is in relation to the crank shaft we used the lobe centerline of #1 intake. When the #1 piston is at TDC,that is the start of the intake phase of the cylinder.Camshaft centerline are generally designed to be anywhere from .106 and around .114 degrees ATDC,some may be .116 degrees ATDC. The difference between the intake and exhaust centerlines is call lobe separation . Now,baring in mind that no matter what you will always have a certain amount of time when both valves are open at once. This is called valve overlap. Have a look at the picture and you'll get a basic idea.

Now you can figure out the lobe separation angle by adding the intake centerline and the exhaust centerline together,factor in the fact the cam spins at half the crankshaft speed so that means you will divide the added numbers by 2. Intake centerline .108,exhaust centerline .122. So .108 + .122 / 2 = .115 lobe separation.
Now,valve overlap as mentioned above is the time that both valves are open at the same time. Here's a little something from personal experience. The Tuned Port Injection on the third gen Camaros of the late 80's took advantage of what is referred to as the intake pulse. This was simply due to the length of the runner and how it worked in relation to how the air charge went into the cylinder. The reason it worked so well is because of the valve overlap. At higher engine speeds this created an environment where the escaping exhaust gases actually helped pull the incoming air charge into the cylinder more effectively. Now I'm not sure if that was the intented idea behind the design or if it was stumbled on by mistake. Non the less it works. Now increasing or decreasing your valve over lap can have a huge impact on how your engine performs. In a nutshell,increased over lap helps the engine produce more power higher up in the RPM range and decreased works the same for lower RPM,theoretically. Bare in mind that increasing lift will increase overlap,Now depending on your advance you don't want a small lobe separation angle because you may run into a little thing called reversion. Reversion refers to a situation where the exhaust pulse momentarily flows backwards during the overlap phase.

I hope this information helps, I used a few references off the net and a couple from books like the ones found here.
Good luck with your build up.

Turbo Chargers

Now,I'm going to be honest with you about something. I was not a big fan of Turbo chargers till I had a 1980 Trans Am. I could drive the hell out of that car and it took everything I threw at it. It was durable as hell. No matter how many times I spun that turbo up it always performed for me.

Now,let's have a look at how these things work. exhaust is plumbed through a turbine that mounts somewhere along the exhaust be it either on the manifold or further down the line. The exhaust gases pass threw this turbine and make it spin. The turbine is connected to what is called an intake wheel. the intake wheel spins at the same rate as the turbine. There is a component called the compressor involved as well. The exhaust gases cause the turbine to spin,the turbine is connected to the intake wheel . The intake wheel draws air into the compressor,this pressurized air gets forced into the intake manifold and you have more power.The more you put your foot in it,the more power your engine makes,theoretically.

Now,the housing that holds the turbine,intake wheel and the compressor is called the turbine housing and there is a component called the Turbo switch that sends the power from one housing to the other.

Using a turbo can give you an advantage when it comes to fuel economy,under normal operating conditions it's not spinning very fast and does not effect power in a manner that adversely effect your fuel consumption. You can customize your turbo with different housing and wheels that allow you to bring more power at almost any RPM range. 

Now,a turbo kit will run you anywhere from $2500.00 to $4500.00. A good idea would be to shop around and find a good complete kit designed for your particular application.

You may also bare in mind the when air gets compressed it creates heat,this warmer air going into the intake is not actually a good thing compare to the potential of using an inter-cooler. When the air is warm,it's bigger. When it's cooler,it's smaller. And you want a cooler denser charge going into that intake for more efficiency. I won't explain why this is what you want just take my word for it. The inter-cooler should be installed where direct access to cooler air is readily available. The forced air is plumbed from the turbo through the inter-cooler and from there into the intake. Below are just a few samples of inter-coolers out there on the market.

Now I'm gonna be honest, the inter-cooler is a good idea simply because if there is too much heat you can run into detonation. Other things to think about are timing,fuel quality and not to mention how the computer is going to handle the extra sensory input. Your injectors may not be able to supply enough fuel for the amount of air going into the intake. Detonation is a nasty thing to have to deal with,valves and piston bosses don't mix well with it. A power programmer is a wise investment in any event to help you with your turbo application.