Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Bob, the restriction was 2.225"
Josh's Syclone build thread
- Thread starter Goodgollyjosh
- Start date
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Well, it has been a trying couple of months but I am back to making progress on the Sy. I was forced to leave my house for a week and go live in a B&B when that weird ass weather hit Texas. I immediately called up the lady I sold my bug out camper and generator to and asked if I could buy them back. Luckily she said yes. I regret ever selling that stuff, but figured I could use the cash to throw some parts at the Sy. Anyway, happy to report the camper is back in the driveway, I won't be shelling out anymore money on B&B's lol. That was a bone head move. Live and learn. Then I had a second round of sinus surgery that kept me out of the garage for a couple of weeks. But, I'm recovered enough to start wrenching again.
The second set of injectors finally showed up, got them installed. Been working with Rob on tuning. We don't have to start all over from scratch but we have been doing some cold start, idle, and light cruising, just to make sure everything is kosher before we get back into the WOT stuff. I'm hoping my fuel pump holds up (no idea what size it is) so that we can finish the pump gas tune and move on to the alky stuff.
The plan on the alky tuning is to have the ECM read off my wideband and we will set it to automatically adjust to 10.2 AFR at WOT when I am spraying the alky. That way, I can adjust my amount of spray and the ECM will automatically tune the 80 pound injectors to 10.2 AFR.
Eventually, I will go E85 once I put a big fuel pump in the truck and buy a turbotweek, but for the meantime, this should suffice for a fun little street truck that I can take to the track occasionally. I took her to work today, it was nice to get out for a cruise.
The second set of injectors finally showed up, got them installed. Been working with Rob on tuning. We don't have to start all over from scratch but we have been doing some cold start, idle, and light cruising, just to make sure everything is kosher before we get back into the WOT stuff. I'm hoping my fuel pump holds up (no idea what size it is) so that we can finish the pump gas tune and move on to the alky stuff.
The plan on the alky tuning is to have the ECM read off my wideband and we will set it to automatically adjust to 10.2 AFR at WOT when I am spraying the alky. That way, I can adjust my amount of spray and the ECM will automatically tune the 80 pound injectors to 10.2 AFR.
Eventually, I will go E85 once I put a big fuel pump in the truck and buy a turbotweek, but for the meantime, this should suffice for a fun little street truck that I can take to the track occasionally. I took her to work today, it was nice to get out for a cruise.
graham1524
Well-known member
Could you find out the number of the truck he has in his collection?
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Hey Graham,
Yes, that's an easy one. It's 2698, which is now my truck lol.
Yes, that's an easy one. It's 2698, which is now my truck lol.
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
A little update: Been having some tuning issues. We were getting some funky readings from the wideband and so I got that replaced. The first O2 sensor that came in was wrong, but finally got the right one in the mail. Then we had a code for a faulty MAP sensor. I have a genuine GM 3 bar and according to Rob they rarely go out so I re-soldered the methanol signal wire that taps into the MAP harness and we cleared the code and luckily it hasn't come back. We started to have a weird problem with fluctuating AFR with the 80 pound injectors and it only happens when it goes into closed loop.
After several attempts to solve the issue we decided to go with an open loop tune which also means that I'll have to dial in my Meth injection by hand till I get the desired AFR, which is fine with me. I have heard from some of you guys that 80 pounders can be a bitch to tune with the stock ECM (on 93 fuel, not E85). Rob sent me an updated open loop tune but then I started getting some spark scatter while datalogging. It looks like the plug wires are finally shot. I only managed to get about 1500 miles out of them, despite running boot protectors, they just aren't up for the task with that MSD distributor, cap, rotor, and blaster coil, not to mention that under hood heat. I have the down pipe wrapped but still need to pull the turbo to install my turbo blanket.
They were Moroso 8mm with Kevlar, I definitely can't recommend them, they are losing their flexibility already and getting brittle. I have always ran the wire seperators but the spark is still breaking up despite everything. I have fresh autolite AR24 racing plugs, gapped at .028" and the boost is only at 15 right now. We have Texas summer heat headed our way and I want to be prepared. Oh, and I don't have a cowl hood, despite everyone recommending them, I know it would help, just trying to keep as original a look as possible.
Rob had suggested I pick up a set of Magnecor wires from Cotton's Performance. I placed the order online and waited a week for some sort of confirmation or shipping info but never got anything. I contacted them and they seemed back logged and completely unaware of my order. Finally, they found it and said they were out of stock and refunded my money. Unable to find any other sets available online I contacted Magnecor directly and they said that they normally prefer for people to go through their distributors but since none were currently available they agreed to make me a set. I checked back in a few days for an update only to discover that they had shut down to move their facility to a new location and planned to reopen in a few days...typical of my luck lol. Anyway, I finally got the set in today after waiting weeks. I'll throw them on and resume datalogging. I have a car show that I'm hoping to make this weekend if I can get the old girl running. Her favorite thing to do is to sit in my garage on jack stands and wait for the UPS guy to bring goodies.
Check out this bitchin set of 10mm wires, custom cut with proper four 90 degree boots, one 45 degree, and one straight. Oh, and a coil wire too.
After several attempts to solve the issue we decided to go with an open loop tune which also means that I'll have to dial in my Meth injection by hand till I get the desired AFR, which is fine with me. I have heard from some of you guys that 80 pounders can be a bitch to tune with the stock ECM (on 93 fuel, not E85). Rob sent me an updated open loop tune but then I started getting some spark scatter while datalogging. It looks like the plug wires are finally shot. I only managed to get about 1500 miles out of them, despite running boot protectors, they just aren't up for the task with that MSD distributor, cap, rotor, and blaster coil, not to mention that under hood heat. I have the down pipe wrapped but still need to pull the turbo to install my turbo blanket.
They were Moroso 8mm with Kevlar, I definitely can't recommend them, they are losing their flexibility already and getting brittle. I have always ran the wire seperators but the spark is still breaking up despite everything. I have fresh autolite AR24 racing plugs, gapped at .028" and the boost is only at 15 right now. We have Texas summer heat headed our way and I want to be prepared. Oh, and I don't have a cowl hood, despite everyone recommending them, I know it would help, just trying to keep as original a look as possible.
Rob had suggested I pick up a set of Magnecor wires from Cotton's Performance. I placed the order online and waited a week for some sort of confirmation or shipping info but never got anything. I contacted them and they seemed back logged and completely unaware of my order. Finally, they found it and said they were out of stock and refunded my money. Unable to find any other sets available online I contacted Magnecor directly and they said that they normally prefer for people to go through their distributors but since none were currently available they agreed to make me a set. I checked back in a few days for an update only to discover that they had shut down to move their facility to a new location and planned to reopen in a few days...typical of my luck lol. Anyway, I finally got the set in today after waiting weeks. I'll throw them on and resume datalogging. I have a car show that I'm hoping to make this weekend if I can get the old girl running. Her favorite thing to do is to sit in my garage on jack stands and wait for the UPS guy to bring goodies.
Check out this bitchin set of 10mm wires, custom cut with proper four 90 degree boots, one 45 degree, and one straight. Oh, and a coil wire too.
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graham1524
Well-known member
I just got my magnecor wires yesterday after almost a year of being on backorder.
Thunder_Lloyd
Active member
good luck!! those are a great looking set of wires!
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Won best truck award at the car show. Was super happy about that. Had some problems tuning, ran out of fuel pump as I suspected might happen. Going to be installing Fuel cell, frame mounted pump, pre and post filters, new stainless lines for feed and return, and also am re-ordering new 80 pound injectors as it appears I got Chinese knock offs. I ordered some from turbo tweak so this time I will get actual Deka units. Will post pics as things progress. Truck will be down for a bit for mods.
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corsair231
Active member
Good looking truck, good looking trophy, and good looking dri...., err, well, you know what they say, two out of three ain't bad.
J/K of course. Congrats on the win and on one hell of a truck build.
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Lol, Thank you sir. Slowly, but surely the truck is becoming more and more my build and less and less someone else's unfinished build. I am getting to know every nut and bolt on her. The phrase "while you're in there" never rang home so true as it does with this truck. But, I'm enjoying it.
corsair231
Active member
People are right about these trucks. They can become an obsession and it's never one thing, but one more thing.
RealFastV6
@jb_and_his_coffee
This is actually pretty funny, it might be indirectly my fault.
I've helped out there and travelled to shows \ races with them for the last 20 years. Jack's son Brian just took over the business a few weeks ago. My brother was the parts guy there for about 6-7 years too. I don't think they figured out how the online parts business was going to continue to run after Brian took over the business. I'd been talking to Jack on and off about running it from my place. I probably need to get up there and sort it out.
Also I'm pretty sure I took the last 2 sets of Magnecor SyTy wires they had at the shop - I have them on both my trucks and they're awesome.
WyoSyclone
Active member
Congrats, Josh! Awesome
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Fuel cell is finally installed. Went with a 20 gallon from Rhodes with a drag sump. Decided not to cut the bed for sump so I installed 2" square stock instead and mounted the cell to that. Traditionally, I would have mounted the pump and filters on the frame but external electric pumps have one major drawback...they aren't submerged in fuel and tend to run hotter, at least that is my theory. I have been stranded on the side of the road too many times to count in old hot rod jalopies with the pump on the frame and no floor jack available. For this reason, I decided to mount everything in the bed and I also put together a fuel pump replacement kit that I will keep behind the seat and remove at the drag strip. The pump is 300 LPH. I'll get something bigger if I go E85.
I installed a 100 micron pre-pump filter and a 30 micron post pump, both are serviceable. I also did a ball valve so that I can cut the fuel off when swapping parts out. I went -8 on everything before the pump and -6 after which seemed to reflect roughly the same sizing as the stock 3/8" feed fuel line. I also did -6 on the return even though that might be over kill as the stock return line was only 5/16", better safe that sorry. I may upgrade to -8 feed line if I decide to go E85 in the future.
I installed E85 friendly foam baffling in the fuel cell to a height of 1/2 the cell. It now holds 16 gallons instead of 20. I ran the fuel cell vent to the gas filler door. I decided against venting inside the bed with the bed cover on. Also, the safety check ball for roll overs is already installed inside the cell so I didn't need to purchase one. I am however, still trying to source a tube style fuel level sending unit as it appears Rhodes has stopped making them. The genuine deka 80 pound injectors came in and I got those installed too.
I also installed a fuel pressure gauge in the glove box and tapped into the fuel pressure port on the rail. I will get the truck dialed in with this and then will remove the fitting from the rail as it is not meant for a permanent installation. While I was at it, I installed a fire extinguisher, for obvious reasons. I also took off my tail pipe and just put a turn down on the end of the muffler so it dumps before the axle like an old school hot rod truck. I'm always on the look out to save some weight.
I'm using the factory fuel pump circuit so the pump kicks on by itself when I turn the key on. I'll keep an eye on the amperage to make sure it doesn't tax the factory system. I looked at the wiring diagrams on alldata and couldn't locate the fuel pump circuit fuse. It's definitely not labeled fuel pump. I may just start pulling fuses till the pump cuts out lol. I got it running this morning, set the fuel pressure, and drove it. It gave me an opportunity to datalog it. Back to tuning with Rob. It's nice to have the truck on the road again. More to come later.
I installed a 100 micron pre-pump filter and a 30 micron post pump, both are serviceable. I also did a ball valve so that I can cut the fuel off when swapping parts out. I went -8 on everything before the pump and -6 after which seemed to reflect roughly the same sizing as the stock 3/8" feed fuel line. I also did -6 on the return even though that might be over kill as the stock return line was only 5/16", better safe that sorry. I may upgrade to -8 feed line if I decide to go E85 in the future.
I installed E85 friendly foam baffling in the fuel cell to a height of 1/2 the cell. It now holds 16 gallons instead of 20. I ran the fuel cell vent to the gas filler door. I decided against venting inside the bed with the bed cover on. Also, the safety check ball for roll overs is already installed inside the cell so I didn't need to purchase one. I am however, still trying to source a tube style fuel level sending unit as it appears Rhodes has stopped making them. The genuine deka 80 pound injectors came in and I got those installed too.
I also installed a fuel pressure gauge in the glove box and tapped into the fuel pressure port on the rail. I will get the truck dialed in with this and then will remove the fitting from the rail as it is not meant for a permanent installation. While I was at it, I installed a fire extinguisher, for obvious reasons. I also took off my tail pipe and just put a turn down on the end of the muffler so it dumps before the axle like an old school hot rod truck. I'm always on the look out to save some weight.
I'm using the factory fuel pump circuit so the pump kicks on by itself when I turn the key on. I'll keep an eye on the amperage to make sure it doesn't tax the factory system. I looked at the wiring diagrams on alldata and couldn't locate the fuel pump circuit fuse. It's definitely not labeled fuel pump. I may just start pulling fuses till the pump cuts out lol. I got it running this morning, set the fuel pressure, and drove it. It gave me an opportunity to datalog it. Back to tuning with Rob. It's nice to have the truck on the road again. More to come later.
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Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
I finally found a tube style fuel level sending unit that will work with my 10" deep fuel cell. This one is 9" deep so it will leave me a bit of reserve when it shows empty. Plus it is the old GM style with 0-90 ohm range. I got it from Tanks Incorporated, they have a whole selection of sending units of all shapes and sizes. I also got my fuel pressure check valve for the outlet of the fuel pump so that my fuel pressure doesn't bleed off when I shut the truck off, been waiting on that part for a while. Tuning has been going well, had to make some small adjustments for the real deka injectors but we are back on track and ready to start doing some WOT pulls.
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
After doing some reading on some old threads on the forum, I decided I probably shouldn't wait to make a dedicated circuit for the new fuel pump. Stories of forum members having multiple fuses blown, one being for the ECM, and I figured I better get that circuit made. I over built it just in case I install a bigger pump in the future. It's on it's own relay and fuse and it still comes on with the ignition.
I also installed the sending unit, seems to be working fine, just getting a feel for when I need to fill up and learning how much fuel was actually on reserve when the gauge reads empty or close to it.
Tuning has been going well. Rob and I have been doing on average one datalog and one tune update almost everyday. Nearly finished with the street tune and we were getting ready to start adding the alky when I discovered a weird problem with the truck being limited to 100 MPH. Rob is taking a look at the data to see if we can figure out what is going on. Feels like a governor. Maybe a nanny in the ECM associated with the truck not knowing what gear it is in.
On a brighter note, Rob says the new "real" 80 pound Siemen's Deka injectors are a significant improvement over the fake ones I had. Much easier to tune and more consistent. I'll attach a pic of the fake Deka logo in case anyone ever runs across them, there is a clear difference between the two.
The only other thing I did to the truck this week was remove and paint the wiper arms. I got dinged a few points at the car show because they were faded. They look a lot better now.
I also installed the sending unit, seems to be working fine, just getting a feel for when I need to fill up and learning how much fuel was actually on reserve when the gauge reads empty or close to it.
Tuning has been going well. Rob and I have been doing on average one datalog and one tune update almost everyday. Nearly finished with the street tune and we were getting ready to start adding the alky when I discovered a weird problem with the truck being limited to 100 MPH. Rob is taking a look at the data to see if we can figure out what is going on. Feels like a governor. Maybe a nanny in the ECM associated with the truck not knowing what gear it is in.
On a brighter note, Rob says the new "real" 80 pound Siemen's Deka injectors are a significant improvement over the fake ones I had. Much easier to tune and more consistent. I'll attach a pic of the fake Deka logo in case anyone ever runs across them, there is a clear difference between the two.
The only other thing I did to the truck this week was remove and paint the wiper arms. I got dinged a few points at the car show because they were faded. They look a lot better now.
Goodgollyjosh
Active member
Found issue with truck being limited to 100mph. It was the MSD box. I normally shift around 4800 in 1st and 2nd, but when I hit 4900+ in 3rd gear at or near 100 mph, the truck would hit what felt like a soft touch rev limiter. I have the rev limit set to 6500 so that it never interferes, instead, we use Rob's setting of 5300 rev limit which he sets in the tune. I removed the MSD box and the truck went 110 MPH without even having to punch it. I had some previous issues with the box when tuning with Rob, so I had moved the ground to the frame and made sure to solder and heat shrink everything, but still ended up having to remove the box from the truck.
This is the third vehicle that I have had MSD problems with. The other two weren't even boxes. One was MSD coil packs and the other was a small MSD two step box. I think I am done buying their products. I'm sure they get a bad rap because a lot of people don't install their stuff right or don't get good connections. But, I remember all the circle track guys always running two MSD 6AL boxes with a toggle switch so that when one box failed, they could switch on the fly over to the other box and keep on racing. So, I won't have a two step anymore. I will just try racing without it. The good thing is that I still have my trans brake and the 3200 stall, so I should be able to build plenty of boost on launch.
Rob and I were getting ready to start adding Meth and working on the tune for that set up when Rob had worked some more of his wizardry and figured out a way to make the factory ECM run in closed loop with the 80 pound injectors and the BBK throttle body. We had previously had major idle issues in closed loop so we had been playing around with open loop stuff, which is a pain.
We are just about done with the street tune again. I know I keep saying that, but every time I change a part to fix any issues or any time Rob switches things up in the program we have to do some level of datalogging to straighten things out, it comes with the territory. Hind sight being what it is, I probably should have gone with a turbo tweak at the start of this thing but it has been fun to work with Rob on all this stuff. I have been learning from him along the way. He had to remote log into my computer the other day to fix a glitch in Tuner Pro, which ended up being a corrupt BIN.
The Texas summer has not been kind to us thus far. High IAT's are leaving some power on the table but a summer tune is always safer in winter than a winter tune in the summer. I've been able to make a full pull through all three gears with no knock on a 100 degree day, with IAT's starting at 115F and finishing at 155F. Boost was 15.5 (mind you, bigger turbo), timing was 12.8, and AFR's around 11.2. Fuel is 93 with Royal Purple octane boost added.
Once we start adding Meth, I will dial in more boost, and see if Rob wants to put more timing in the motor. I may wait till winter to put it on the dyno and see if Rob wants to get more aggressive with the tune when the air temps are lower.
I picked up top 40 at the Father's Day Car Show here in S.A., not bad out of 231 vehicles. There was some stiff competition, lots of trailer queens that I most certainly couldn't compete with.
Oh, and this last part is kinda funny. My girlfriend surprised me with a homemade cheesecake to celebrate the Sy's 30th birthday. June is the build month on my truck. She's a keeper for sure...both girls.
This is the third vehicle that I have had MSD problems with. The other two weren't even boxes. One was MSD coil packs and the other was a small MSD two step box. I think I am done buying their products. I'm sure they get a bad rap because a lot of people don't install their stuff right or don't get good connections. But, I remember all the circle track guys always running two MSD 6AL boxes with a toggle switch so that when one box failed, they could switch on the fly over to the other box and keep on racing. So, I won't have a two step anymore. I will just try racing without it. The good thing is that I still have my trans brake and the 3200 stall, so I should be able to build plenty of boost on launch.
Rob and I were getting ready to start adding Meth and working on the tune for that set up when Rob had worked some more of his wizardry and figured out a way to make the factory ECM run in closed loop with the 80 pound injectors and the BBK throttle body. We had previously had major idle issues in closed loop so we had been playing around with open loop stuff, which is a pain.
We are just about done with the street tune again. I know I keep saying that, but every time I change a part to fix any issues or any time Rob switches things up in the program we have to do some level of datalogging to straighten things out, it comes with the territory. Hind sight being what it is, I probably should have gone with a turbo tweak at the start of this thing but it has been fun to work with Rob on all this stuff. I have been learning from him along the way. He had to remote log into my computer the other day to fix a glitch in Tuner Pro, which ended up being a corrupt BIN.
The Texas summer has not been kind to us thus far. High IAT's are leaving some power on the table but a summer tune is always safer in winter than a winter tune in the summer. I've been able to make a full pull through all three gears with no knock on a 100 degree day, with IAT's starting at 115F and finishing at 155F. Boost was 15.5 (mind you, bigger turbo), timing was 12.8, and AFR's around 11.2. Fuel is 93 with Royal Purple octane boost added.
Once we start adding Meth, I will dial in more boost, and see if Rob wants to put more timing in the motor. I may wait till winter to put it on the dyno and see if Rob wants to get more aggressive with the tune when the air temps are lower.
I picked up top 40 at the Father's Day Car Show here in S.A., not bad out of 231 vehicles. There was some stiff competition, lots of trailer queens that I most certainly couldn't compete with.
Oh, and this last part is kinda funny. My girlfriend surprised me with a homemade cheesecake to celebrate the Sy's 30th birthday. June is the build month on my truck. She's a keeper for sure...both girls.
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Mikeysy15
Donating Member
Been a while since I’ve been on here, congrats on the accomplishments and awards . Truck looks clean . Be careful with those MSD ignition boxes , I had one and light was green ana was giving me ignition problems . The box was behind the dash and would get hot. I took it off and all my ignition problems went away. I just bought it for extra insurance but it didn’t work out