Everyone that has followed this epidemic of mine knows the story but for some of the new guys......A short detailed description.
Purchased 396 Longblock Dec 00'
Received Mar-Apr 01
Problems associated w/ 396: extreme richness, hard starting, terrible throttle response, engine vibration, exhaust leaks, master slave cylinder crapped out, & unbelievable custom program by SuperChips.
Fixed leaks and vibration. Vibration caused by flywheel being properly balanced but weight wasn't removed prior to installation. Luckily no damage to rotating assembly even though running it past 4K during break-in. Purchased new Mcleod MC and curried my clutch problems. Helluva clutch too. Still couldn't cure program ...sent back 3 times and each time came back the same w/ codes. Went through Must go Faster and the chip worked a little better but still had the SES light and extreme richness. Replace plugs and still had same problem. Initial start up was great but car would hunt for idle. Car wasn't at op temp and you turn off and try to start engine again? No go it would just turn and turn...you get the idea. Engine smelled of raw unburnt gas and also coming out the exhaust. NOT GOOD.
Anywho....redid the rockers for giggles, checked timing, etc. No go. Take car Tony's he fixes by clearing the codes Hanks scanner wasn't doing for whatever reason while Tony's could. Car ran a little better but nowhere near 100% more like 65%. Drove car for aprox 1 month then went TDY Sept 01. Came back decide to do FLP's and the problems get worse. Cats glow red car car catch fire & doesn't want to start etc. Sits in garage 6 months. Never could restart the thing and smelled of fuel. Ship back to Tony's
Decide to by Ed Wright Chip Dec 01 bingo cleared all my codes after installing Apr 02'. Damn.
All problems aren't over still rich and no starty. Pull plugs completely fouled out. Dry them off and try again. Manage to start and put on lift. Change oil and mucho problems......Oil filter has 60/40 mixture of fuel and oil.
WTF?! REALLY NOT GOOD. Here is where it gets interesting.
Always knew I had a fuel/ecm problem. (93Z) Hard starting had to apply gas to fire up? Doh no fuel!! Wrong. Get to that later. Couldn't figure out wire fuel was being dumped in droves. Too much fuel? Yep but not like you think.
Get to that later.
Since I knew I had fuel how was it getting past the rings?
Remember for 6 months I'd try and crank it w/ no go. Maybe twice out of 6 months it'd fire. Didn't let it run just wanted to make sure it still had life. Fuel would sit on top of the pistons and over time work there way down past the rings into the crank case. Possible? I guess since it's thinner than antifreeze and oil. Rings seated can't say but I believe so since I did drive it and put close to 400 miles on it. But who knows for sure? That's the only scary part but I believe so. Compression out of this world along w/ oil pressure. It's worth the read because everyone will learn something from this.
The finale..........Ryan and I went down there yesterday to bring it home since the chip worked. Put the ORP pipes in still had the banging though from the exhaust off the TA still. SO no drivey. Replaced the oil as stated above. Fired her up took her off the lift and pack her in the back of Tony's shop. Decided what the hell lets play w/ the fp even though my guage hasn't arrived yet. Turns out the fpg was turned all the way down!!! Turned the opposite direction bout 10x's and she fired righ up. Pedal/throttle response was fixed! Hard start ups fixed. Richness fixed!
The sound was incredible and it felt 100% different. You say hu? Turns out the Superchip was bad also MGF. Ed Wrights was on the money but I can guarantee the others will work too after this. They'll still through codes though. Well after talking w/ some members on the motherboard cz28 they said if the chip is programmed for specific psi or certain range and your fpg isn't w/ in those specs or turned all the way down....it'll dump fuel vs make fuel scarce and you won't get proper atomization!!
So the conclusion is. If you can spend 12K on a block you need to have alll the little stuff 1st! 35 bucks for a fpr wasn't gonna kill my budget and I've spent 500 in programs alone not to include 300 in inj swearing up and down my SVO's were junk (not the case at all). And the bad part is I didn't even follow my own advice in telling Dave aka fbod97 "it's the little things that's gonna kill you get that squared away 1st". 13 months I've been down because of screwed up priorities and pushing back the fpg knowing all along that that and the ecm were related. And you know what? I still haven't bought one!! Waiting on my check to clear so my CC is paid off. So it'll still be another 2 wks!!
Hopefully my rings are still good...........
