I don't think I have the extra anymore. The other car got sent to the scrap yard in order to keep up with local ordinances. ie: my dad got sited. So that car is officially dead. Haven't worked on the 86 4x4 in a long time. Its sitting there just needing a fuel system. Really the return isn't hooked up anymore and needs to be plugged and it will drive. So i just havent gotten to playing with the new gauge.

My car is still sitting where I moved it for my sons birthday party back in August. I got a Performer RPM from a guy selling one cheap. I used my other intake on the truck. So now I can run a carb but am wanting EFI in the worst way. Just for something to make me use my head while tuning.

Have you ever heard of Megasquirt? http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/megasquirt-iii-c-76.html?osCsid=b5d92711f26394a5dc4ddd8d07e2374a

I have saved the money for this but am scared chitless to order this close to Christmas. If the woman finds out I dropped $600 on something this "useless" this time of year. She'll kill me. My point is I'm the one killing myself 70+hrs a week and as long as I pay the bills, leave me and my car alone. Buying presents is an option. I have some cash for that as well. Just not as much as if I didn't buy a new toy.

The Megasquirt itself is something I have been interested in for years now. To save on coast it comes basically as a box of parts. you literally have to solder all the resistors, capacitors, IC's and diodes to a circuit board. The instructions are good. I have read the manual a couple times. Plus that electronics back ground I kind of have. I dropped a year ago now but have enough to make assemble a breeze. The ECU itself, the way I want to buy is ready for just about anything. It runs sequential efi. Meaning I can adjust the fuel and spark for each cylinder. Older stuff runs batch fire where the computer fire 4 of the 8 at a time. Regardless if the intake valve is open or not. Wasting fuel. So add that to running coil on plug like the new LS motors do. I can now run different timing on every cylinder.

I would be talking out my rear if I said I could tune the stuff. I want to learn and believe this is the best way for me. Dive in ***** deep and go for it. I know just enough to either make something really cool or spend a ton of money and pop my motor in minutes of firing it up. Hmmmm. Helleva price to pay to learn a new trick.

 

I have actually heard of the Megasquirt EMS, read about them in some write ups from various performance sites. As you could probably guess, I don't know crap about them. It's fascinating stuff really, I need to break down and start doing some more reading and get myself educated about the way things are going performance-wise. Not trying to be negative about them but it looks like the systems are constantly being updated/upgraded so when you finally get one, it'll be outdated by the time it gets to your door. Sounds like you've got a specific plan for the use and as long as that's covered, guess the updates aren't mandatory. I'd say go for it though, is there ever really a part that you buy that isn't going to temporarily set you back? If it's not presents that need to be bought, it'll be school stuff, things for the house and so on. Could be worse, like say, on a credit card with accruing interest?? Don't get me wrong though, not advocating domestic disputes or lying that's for sure!

I thoroughly respect your courage to "go for it" on assembly and tuning. I'm of the same mindset. I'm in the process of porting and polishing my new heads right now. Nervous doesn't quite accurately explain my approach. I'm not hogging anything out but there are some massive machinist ridges in the chambers and under the seats is a mess. Just couldn't bolt them on right out of the box knowing they were like that. Slow and steady...

 

No keep the cutter moving. The slower you move the more it will gouge. Keep your movements fluid. Cover the entire section on every pass, this will reduce stop marks. I am not a head porter by any means. But I got my start in life as a metal finisher, taught by my dad. polishing custom parts for people was my job so work with a die grinder was mandatory. I did my own heads once. No sure about the results. I'm sure it was better than stock but then I got a ZZ4 crate motor and later the Canfields and havent done anything like porting since. I do gasket match my own stuff because i still have all my old polishing tools.

 

So far they're looking really good (I think) and knocking down those ridges where a couple are around .125" can only help flow. I want to blend the throats in where under the seats there's some dips. Appreciate your suggestion, it's easy to get in the habit of cutting a little and then looking at your work. I only meant that I'm not turning a carbide burr at 25k and seeing how fast I can get them done. I would have loved to have a before/after flow test but doubt there's anywhere around that has the capabilities. It's actually enjoyable doing this but I can't wait until they're done. I did my intake already and it looks beautiful. It's good inside work for when it's really cold - like this week!

 

I run my cutter as fast as it will run not to cut down the time but to get the burr to glide over the surface and not get stuck in one spot long enough to leave a dip. Try and imagine locking your shoulders so that all the movement comes through your waste and torso. Its sounds odd but that helped me. As opposed to moving your wrists to guide your self. Your torso is much stronger than your wrists giving you more control. This is how i was taught, we were taught that way to save our wrists from carpel tunnel. Which is kind of goes with the tennis elbow that all polishers have.

I do some serious pencil grinder work on the job now days. I rag on the dentist because he thinks he is good. LOL

 

That's great stuff to hear, thank you. What you explained is exactly the way I would instruct students on their golf swing (back when I could play) and it makes sense. The electric grinder I'm using is quite long and I tuck the back of it in by my shoulder/armpit and wrap my entire hand around the shaft which really takes my wrists out of it completely. Now, if I was trying to use the dremel like I started my intake with, all you use is your wrists. I bought a router speed control so I could use variable speeds while working. At 25k it makes short work of the drum/cone sanders and it starts to wobble like crazy.

Maybe you should moonlight as a "custom dentist?" I can see it now "Damon's House of Grilles" Put one of your Camaro seats on a floor jack, shop light overhead, half emply nitrous bottle with some vacuum hose hooked up to a respirator and you're good to go! Man, you'd have that Megasquirt in no time...

 

Haven't done any head porting in probably 20+ yrs., but one thing I learned is less is better than too much! I spent a day at a friend's shop watching him port heads and was still confused at what was good or bad depending on which head you were doing. He told me to really stay away from the lump around the valve guides other than to polish them, as most people take too much off and weaken the support there. He also reccommended that I mainly cleanup the casting flaws and match the gaskets on intake and heads. Don't get too smooth on the intake runners, and there's no such thing as too smooth on the exhaust runners. The intake runners can be less polished and it helps break up fuel/air mix. Exhaust runners flow better if they're smooth, so they can be highly polished.
Stay clear of anything near the seats, or the chamber. That should only be done by guys who know head porting well, as you can damge, or change volume easily. Just don't get too caried away and make the walls too thin, creating a possible place to crack or leak.
Chevy High Performance had a good article on do it yourself head porting. I don't think it all applies, as they had access to a flow bench, but it does give some pointers that help. Especially the part about going too fast with cutter speed, but making sure you DO keep moving as Damon said.
Do-It-Yourself Small-Block Cylinder Head Porting - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine

 

Appreciate the article, I've read quite a bit about porting/polishing but reading only tells you what you're supposed to do, then comes the actual doing. LOL I use some pictures for reference and keep going back to read again. I'm really not going crazy on these heads. There a couple areas that need to be done because there's just too much meat. I'm only taking the sharp edges off the guide bosses too. The guides on the intakes stick WAY up and I might take them down a bit. The scariest part is in the chambers where the ridges are absolutely huge! I'm using some old valves to help keep away from the seats. I know I'll be increasing the volume a bit but nothing extreme. The compression is going to be pretty high anyway with 64cc chambers and these domed pistons so it should work out to be good. Other than that I'm just getting rid of the casting marks like you mentioned and blending in the throats, short turn radius's and gasket matching. I really dont want to mess with the throats but where the casting was machined to install the seats has left good sized dips right underneath the seats and that can't be good for flow. Not going to touch the floors on the exhaust or the roof on the intakes. The intake runners are only going to 240 grit and the exhaust's will get polished to 400 and then use the polishing buff's. I'm really using actual cutters as little as possible. Bought a bunch of tootsie rolls and cones and would rather take a long time than try to do the removal with the burrs. Some places are screaming for a burr though! All in all, I'm actually enjoying this work. If it takes me half the winter to get these done I'm just fine with that. Thanks again!

 

I'm thinking of getting a Megasquirt to use a GM TPI setup on my 92 K1500 truck. I'm looking to get rid of the TBI setup for something more efficient and tune-able. I have the setup to tune and I'm learning to tune on my Grand Prix. The other option will be to swap in an LM7, LQ4 or LQ9. Either way tuning will be a necessity. I have a buddy in Kansas who does the swaps and tuning so I have a very good source for knowledge and he also makes wiring harnesses. He really like the Megasquirt.

 

What year GP? I have been thinking of practicing on the one I inherited from the wife after she got the Jeep. Mine is a 98 Gt. As far as making a harness its way easy with the diagrams they have on their site. I will drop the extra 80 bucks or so to buy theres though. I like the fact that the 30+ wires are all labeled every 6" and they are all different colors. I'm used to wiring machines now at work and have gotten used to all the wires being the same color and having to use numbers to track stuff. I want a cleaner look on the Camaro though. I think I will order tonight. I just got a bonus today. They lumped two quarters and my Christmas all in one. Nice