Final Gear Racing 2012/2013

In case you doubt the wisdom of a twin-turbo Crown Vic, just listen to this soundtrack:

The video is pretty neat, too. Speedycop is in the E36, which means it's running absolutely BLISTERINGLY fast times. The guy that built that thing is my new hero, and I now have both information and future plans.
 
(youtube did some funky stabilization to the video, so it looks strange..)

The GTP runs, and has quite a bit of go to it.. in first. Transmission speed sensor may be toast, as the speedometer does not register, and it does not shift out of first. Also have some electrical gremlins, as the OBD port has no power and wont return codes over the serial bus.
 
YAY!

Any plans for it?
 
The current plan is to hit some open track days at CMP, and go from there.

Two updates:
Turns out the ECU problem was because GM requires the Cig Lighter's fuse to operate... strange.
ECU codes being thrown are for the O2 Sensor (failed), and the cooling fans no voltage (because we bypassed them. Run them on high when we want, rather when the car thinks they should be on).


I will upload more photos and video sometime tonight. Internet here in the boonies is painfully slow- 16KB/sec upload on a *fiber* connection.
Short driving video and a walkaround..
 

Minor frame scrapes from when the wheel tore off the hub at CMP, causing the car to hit the pavement and slide off the track.

General underside photo;

Painted the transmission cover to show the oil leaks better.. and added exhaust/heat shield fabric to keep driver's shoes from melting at speeds.
 
The VSS reading 0 certainly would cause the lack-of-shifting: The trans is all-electronic and its shift map is an RPM vs. speed deal.

I'm a bit confused as to how a VSS could possibly stop working, though. They're prettymuch idiotproof. I have one off the Vic that's prettymuch smashed and it still returns a signal. Things to check:
1) Is it plugged in? (Derp.)
2) Are the teeth engaging with the trans output shaft?
3) See if you can track down its electrical properties and try manually rotating it connected to some test equipment. Usually they just pulse a couple times a rev.

Finally, which PCM did you use? The GTP unit, or the one from the new engine? The GTP had different gear ratios, so another PCM may be confused.
 
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I just wanted to comment on two things about this shot. One, you'll notice that the oil pan is not the fancy aluminum one that came on the engine, we did end up having to go back to a stamped steel pan to clear the engine mounts. This also shows why it's such a pain in the ass to change the gasket on these cars with the engine still in. Two, you'll notice how shockingly clean and mostly rust free the underside of the car is, GM really had their shit together in the 90's when it came to their undercoating.

Finally, which PCM did you use? The GTP unit, or the one from the new engine? The GTP had different gear ratios, so another PCM may be confused.

The PCM from the Park Avenue is not interchangeable with the GTP far as I know.
 
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The VSS reading 0 certainly would cause the lack-of-shifting: The trans is all-electronic and its shift map is an RPM vs. speed deal.

I'm a bit confused as to how a VSS could possibly stop working, though. They're prettymuch idiotproof. I have one off the Vic that's prettymuch smashed and it still returns a signal. Things to check:
1) Is it plugged in? (Derp.)
2) Are the teeth engaging with the trans output shaft?
3) See if you can track down its electrical properties and try manually rotating it connected to some test equipment. Usually they just pulse a couple times a rev.

Finally, which PCM did you use? The GTP unit, or the one from the new engine? The GTP had different gear ratios, so another PCM may be confused.
Swapped the connector and it works and shifts between gears now.

We are using the GTP PCM, as the PA model has different connectors and an entirely different harness than the GP models.
 
Posting these again from last year, just to emphasize the size of the GTP.
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Maybe it's just because I drive a Buick, but I don't think the GTP is THAT big, and its size makes it all the better when it passes a miata or E30.
 
Seriously, it's size seems quite normal to me. I think I'd be quite comfortable driving it. :lol:
 
A surprisingly heavy box arrived at my door yesterday, and inside it was the fancy aluminum oil pan that came off the GTP's "new" engine, a gift from Quiky. Why do I have this in my possession? Because as I've mentioned before, the original stamped steel pans on these engines can develop leaks around the gasket, and after 15 years of abuse the one on my car is no exception. I replaced the gasket on mine a few years ago but it's begun leaking again and my pan is bashed up as well. So at some point in the future I will be swapping it over to my Buick.

IMG_1474.jpg


I will say, GM really did put effort into trying to stop the oil leaks. As I mentioned before, they added a channel on the lip of the pan for the gasket to sit in which allows for much better sealing, the lip on the pan is also a good deal thicker than on the steel version. The gasket design is totally different as well. For the steel pan the gasket is basically a large plastic thing that acts as a windage tray with a thin strip of rubber on the top and bottom to act as the gasket. When I pulled my pan to do the gasket some years ago, whoever had worked under there before had used a shit ton of RTV all around the lip and block in hopes of preventing future leaks, but all it did was make the pan so hard to remove a crowbar was required to pry it loose.

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The new design eliminates the plastic windage tray, which is now metal and integrated into the pan itself, and the gasket is just one piece of molded rubber. The new design also surrounds several of the bolts while the previous one just went behind them.

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But due to these changes the pan is not a direct swap, it is close however. The oil pickups are different depending on the pan you're using and have to be swapped over as well.
 
So LeMons held a race at the famous Road America track a few days ago, not over the weekend like normal, and a few interesting cars turned up.

Here's a Cadillac Northstar V8 powering the rear wheels of a mid 90's Nissan Maxima.

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My hat is off to this team, not just for the cool engine swap, but actually deciding to run a Northstar. There's been a few Northstar and Aurorastar (4.0 version that Olds had) in the series before, but they've always suffered some horrible failure which is normally the head gaskets. There was a Deville that raced at Summit Point back 2010 and they blew their engine at some point during the weekend, they opted to just leave the car there for dead rather than drag it home. Why would they do this? Because the NStar is notorious for being a bitch to work on even at the best of times, just changing the oil pan gasket will take you 12+ hours because so much shit needs to be removed just to get at it. From what I understand they had some hiccups during the race but were able to see the checker flag.

Then there's this Team Fortress 2 theme, those familiar with the game will understand it, those that don't... well it would take too long to explain it.

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I'd love to do a TF2 theme one year, if only because of my resemblance to the Heavy.

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There was also a late model Cavalier with the engine out of a Cobalt SS. Before you think "CHEATER!", it was the older supercharged 2.0 Ecotec making "only" 205hp and not the later turbo version which made 260hp.

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And lastly, here are some pictures of a Star Spec tire that was torn to shreds in some sort of impact, I don't know the story behind it though.

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Anybody still here?
 
Always. Updates on the purple pimp yacht will resume shortly, because my lift is getting installed tomorrow (FINALLY)
 
Final Gear Racing 2012

Final Gear Racing 2012

Always. Updates on the purple pimp yacht will resume shortly, because my lift is getting installed tomorrow (FINALLY)

Woohoo! Congrats!
 
Woohoo! Congrats!

Challenger CLFP9. 9000lbs, floor-plate style. It's actually been on site since Monday, but the factory forgot to include the box of hardware to put it together, so the tech offered to come back on a Saturday so I didn't have to take off work again.
 
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