Above 1200 Sq/FT Swanny's Garage Expansion Project

[zmotorsports]

Mike, thanks for the confirmation. I have had coil pack misfire issues with the '65 Corvette and they have always been isolated to a single cylinder as you mention. That's why I decided to attack the MAF issue first, then see if any codes are thrown after the repair is in.
I wish I had the under hood real estate you did for your swap. In the second picture above, the distance from the bottom of the turnbuckle to the underside of the fender is a little more than 2", so turning the intake tube down at an angle is absolutely necessary. The distance from the end of the u-shaped tube to the inner fender panel is about 10" at the rear (less in the front) and with a 7-1/2" filter element, I will absolutely have to invade the fender space.
I'm taking lots of measurements and noodling with options before cutting the panel. I only want to do this once!!

Gary, although not ideal, but being the car it is, I doubt you'll drive it in wet weather, but I helped a guy a few years ago redesign his intake and we mounted the air filter under the fender and used a silicone boot to join from the engine to the inner fender, then the air filter attached underneath. Granted, not ideal, but it did aid to the appearance of the engine bay by not cluttering it up with an air filter element. Just a thought.

 

[Swanny1953]

Gary, although not ideal, but being the car it is, I doubt you'll drive it in wet weather, but I helped a guy a few years ago redesign his intake and we mounted the air filter under the fender and used a silicone boot to join from the engine to the inner fender, then the air filter attached underneath. Granted, not ideal, but it did aid to the appearance of the engine bay by not cluttering it up with an air filter element. Just a thought.

Mike, you're right, not going to be driven in rain, which is why I'm even entertaining mounting the AF element in the fender. The silicone boot is something I hadn't thought of. More research to do . . . . .

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, you're right, not going to be driven in rain, which is why I'm even entertaining mounting the AF element in the fender. The silicone boot is something I hadn't thought of. More research to do . . . . .

I'm sure there are several ways to skin that cat Gary. I fabricated a sheet metal mount with a through mounted tubing that was ribbed on both sides to hold a silicone boot about 4" on the engine side and the air filter directly mounted to the tube protruding through the fenderwell. There are some nice black silicone boots available and clamps to minimize the eye being drawn to them as well.

 

[Swanny1953]

Little change of direction on this project. Rich has a tuner he has worked with extensively who he thinks may be able to "tune the problem out". He does all his work remotely, so I'm waiting for an introduction to him and then we will hook up and see what he can do. If that doesn't solve the problem, the car will run well enough to get onto and out of the trailer and into and out of the exhibit building for GNRS, after which Legacy will build me a custom intake which will be confined to the engine bay - we'll just have to relocate the radiator overflow to the passenger side of the radiator.
Now to get the paint chip repair scheduled. . . . . . .

 

[zmotorsports]

Little change of direction on this project. Rich has a tuner he has worked with extensively who he thinks may be able to "tune the problem out". He does all his work remotely, so I'm waiting for an introduction to him and then we will hook up and see what he can do. If that doesn't solve the problem, the car will run well enough to get onto and out of the trailer and into and out of the exhibit building for GNRS, after which Legacy will build me a custom intake which will be confined to the engine bay - we'll just have to relocate the radiator overflow to the passenger side of the radiator.
Now to get the paint chip repair scheduled. . . . . . .

Gary, I was going to suggest picking up a version of HP Tuners and playing with the A/F ratio map a bit, but it can be a daunting process, especially if you aren't familiar with how everything meshes. I have had to play with my mapping a bit when I changed to a different intake tube and shortened it a bit after turning my battery and TIPM in my Jeep a couple of years ago. After several small changes I was able to land at about as close to 0.0 as possible on my fuel trims. My fuel trims are regularly now in the -1.7 to .7 range on my fuel trims, but it did take several trial and errors downloading and uploading tunes after making alterations to the calculations.

 

[Swanny1953]

Mike, think the phrase you used - "daunting process" - pretty much describes my comfort level with approaching any computer tuning! I have a buddy with a modified C6 ZR1, which has a tune that needs to be cleaned up every so often. He has a tuner wiz that comes to his house, he'll hook the computer up to the car, go for a spirited drive, head back to the kitchen table in the house where he'll attack all the various tables, back to the car for another spirited drive, rinse and repeat, until everyone is happy with the new tune. It's all voodoo to me - I'd probably just screw something up if I tried to attack it. We'll see what Rich's guy can accomplish.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, think the phrase you used - "daunting process" - pretty much describes my comfort level with approaching any computer tuning! I have a buddy with a modified C6 ZR1, which has a tune that needs to be cleaned up every so often. He has a tuner wiz that comes to his house, he'll hook the computer up to the car, go for a spirited drive, head back to the kitchen table in the house where he'll attack all the various tables, back to the car for another spirited drive, rinse and repeat, until everyone is happy with the new tune. It's all voodoo to me - I'd probably just screw something up if I tried to attack it. We'll see what Rich's guy can accomplish.

I'm much the same way Gary. Back when everything was carburetors, distributors, mechanical and vacuum advance I prided myself on being a pretty good tuner and had a decent reputation in our area. However, with plugging in a laptop, making adjustments to a digital table and hitting the road, although it seems so much "easier" there is something about the smoke or "voodoo" in that black box that I am less comfortable with. I can do the basics, but much more than that and I am outside my comfort zone with computer performance tuning.

 

[Swanny1953]

The last weekend we had at the lake, the cover over the rear bilge on the Malibu ski boat finally gave in, as in collapsed into the bilge. After getting it home and torn apart, I discovered it wasn’t made of wood as I suspected, but 1” aluminum honeycomb. It had just endured a little too much weight over its 21 years and both ends bent in!!

I was able to find the same product at McMaster Carr (duh!!), but the first panel they sent me had all 4 corners bent. When I reached out to them about it, they were quick to agree to send a replacement panel, better packaged - and told me to keep the damaged panel.
After sourcing a metal cutting blade, I got it cut down to the proper dimensions. The most time consuming portion of the project was to wire brush the old glue from the marine carpet.

Then a little Permatex headliner adhesive to hold everything together.
Last, I had to source some stainless steel staples as what I had on hand would not penetrate the aluminum.

Not quite as pretty as the original, but hopefully will last another 20 summers!!

 

[HogDude]

The last weekend we had at the lake, the cover over the rear bilge on the Malibu ski boat finally gave in, as in collapsed into the bilge. After getting it home and torn apart, I discovered it wasn’t made of wood as I suspected, but 1” aluminum honeycomb. It had just endured a little too much weight over its 21 years and both ends bent in!!

I was able to find the same product at McMaster Carr (duh!!), but the first panel they sent me had all 4 corners bent. When I reached out to them about it, they were quick to agree to send a replacement panel, better packaged - and told me to keep the damaged panel.
After sourcing a metal cutting blade, I got it cut down to the proper dimensions. The most time consuming portion of the project was to wire brush the old glue from the marine carpet.

Then a little Permatex headliner adhesive to hold everything together.
Last, I had to source some stainless steel staples as what I had on hand would not penetrate the aluminum.

Not quite as pretty as the original, but hopefully will last another 20 summers!!

Swanny, any concerns with stainless in contact with aluminum in what I'm guessing is a pretty high humidity area?

 

[Swanny1953]

Swanny, any concerns with stainless in contact with aluminum in what I'm guessing is a pretty high humidity area?

Given normal galvanized staples wouldn’t penetrate the aluminum honeycomb, I didn’t really think about it. It’s only holding the trim piece as everything else is glued down, and since it’s on the bottom of the cover, I’m not really concerned.

 

[Swanny1953]

Exchanged texts with the tuner and he told me what I needed to get from HP Tuners. It’s on its way - we’ll see how long it takes to get here. Meanwhile, the air intake kit is on its way back to Summit. I really appreciate their free return shipping - they make it very easy!!

 

[Xti04]

What model Malibu is it Gary? My first " real" boat was a Malibu Sunsetter. I loved that thing. Low and mean, built for a perfect ski wake and was a blast to get a wide open run.

 

[Swanny1953]

The Malibu is a 2005 Sunsetter LXi. It's a great ski boat (and I've spent a lot of time behind it, not so much in the last decade or so), not so much for throwing a wake for wakeboarding or surfing. Because it lives on a lift at the lake house, it doesn't have a ton of hours, even though we've had it for 21 seasons.
I've had a ski boat continuously since 1978, first a 15'9" runabout with a 115 hp Merc, that was propped to tear your arms off out of the hole, then a 1992 Tige that we enjoyed in the CA delta before moving to Texas. I can't tell you the number of people I have taught to ski behind those 3 boats!! I've also gotten pretty good at creating "double up" wakes to launch tubers way into the air!! We also have a party barge and 2 SeaDoos, so the kids can generally find something to have a good time with!
We're just getting the grandkids and our kids' friends' kids into water sports (4, 6, 6 & 8), so the fun will continue!

 

[Swanny1953]

When I first got the '60 Corvette back from the shop after its upgrades back in 2021, the T-handle shifter seemed to dig into my knee constantly. I had them replace it with a very nice handle from Lokar. However, I was never happy with how tall it was! I did a lot of searching and couldn't find anything I was really happy with, and had resigned myself to having to go back to the T-handle. That is until I met the owner of Modern Driveline at SEMA. MDL is a Tremec dealer, and he assured me I would find something I liked on his website. I did find a 5" handle (the Lokar one was 8"), which looks much better and gives me a shorter throw when rowing through the gears.
Final install -
Comparison to Locar stick -

 

[Swanny1953]

Well, another project reared its ugly head yesterday. When I took the kids for a ride in the '49 Caddy on Thanksgiving, my youngest daughter asked if one of the tires wasn't flat. Sure enough, the left rear went full flat during the week, to the point I couldn't get it to air up at all with the weight of the car on it. Luckily, with the air suspension fully raised, I could get a low profile jack under the car. Even with the suspension at full droop, I had to raise the car to the point the front wheel was also off the ground in order to have enough room to remove the tire.
Once off the car, I was able to get the tire to fully inflate, but it did have a slow leak. I took it to the local Discount Tire to see if they would fix it (the DOT date code was 1316, so almost 10 years old - I kinda doubted it), but before leaving the house, I noticed the tire had a bit of an unusual tread "profile" -

You can see the tread is not flat along the top of the tire in this shot. In fact, if the tire is rotated to have this spot at the bottom, it will not stand upright on its own. Nevertheless, I took it to Discount as Lori’s Audi also had a slow leak I need to get fixed. I had the manager take a quick look at it, and he told me the tire had separated and was irreparable. Luckily, I didn't have any issues with it while I was driving the car!
So, when I get home I call Diamond Back Classic Tires to see what the lead time is to get a replacement. As it was after hours for them when I got through, I have to wait until Monday to see how long it will take.
The only need for a rush is that our local car show promoter is having a Toy Run show next Sunday, and he is using images of the Caddy on the plaques and trophies. It would be a shame not to be able to take the Caddy to the show, but sometimes things just don't work out. We'll see where we stand on Monday.

 

[Swanny1953]

I reached out to Diamond Back Classic Tires yesterday to order replacements for the '49 Caddy. Unfortunately, with their normal manufacturing schedule and planned shutdown for the holidays, it looks like I won't see the replacement tires until early 2026. Oh, well. . . . . . .

 

[Swanny1953]

The HP Tuners box arrived today.
I’m busy with the laptop trying to get the software installed and the interface unit ready to go. I have an appointment with the remote tuner tomorrow at 9 AM. He had me replace all the spark plugs prior to our session.

Hopefully the session will go well enough to be able to drive the car trouble feee.

 

[thammel]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see any photos of the '49 Caddie you mention. I've thought that would be a cool year Caddie to have - my birth year. Got any pix you can share?

Tom

 

[Swanny1953]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see any photos of the '49 Caddie you mention. I've thought that would be a cool year Caddie to have - my birth year. Got any pix you can share?

Tom

Tom, take a look at post 441. Several pics there.
Thanks for following along.

 

[Swanny1953]

"Tried" to get a remote tune on the '40 Chev to deal with the trouble codes. Bought the HP Tuner and needed credits and waited for 9 AM this morning to connect with the tuner. Once we got everything hooked up and ran the car, we learned that the existing computer is "locked". I reached out to the builder to see if they had used HP Tuners to lock in a tune during the build. He told me the engine came with its tune from Street & Performance in Mena, AR, but their owner died several years ago and they are no longer in business, so dead end on that point. We did send the file to HP Tuners hoping for some direction, but crickets so far. We'll convene again next week. . . . .

 

[Swanny1953]

Happy Day After!! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!
Our holiday started with our eldest hosting Christmas Eve dinner for all 11 of us. We missed out on a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving, so we went all in for Christmas Eve. I was in charge of deep frying the bird, Lori made the dressing and gravy, the eldest and her husband made green beans with bacon and brown sugar and the mashed potatoes with the youngest providing perfectly baked crescent rolls. What a feast!

After the traditional reading of Clement Moore's "The Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids (from the book I was given as a one year old!!), everyone headed home and Lori and I got to finish preparations for Christmas morning, most of which involves laying out all the stockings and related stocking stuffers. I think we finally got to bed around 11 PM.



Christmas morning, everyone came to our house after doing their family Christmas package opening at their houses. We had Mimosa's available, and I made my traditional "Dad's breakfast" (sausage patties, pepper bacon, O'Brien hashbrowns and scrambled eggs) that everyone wolfed down so we could get to the main event - the gift opening marathon !
Lori really goes all out for Christmas, with myriad stocking stuffers for everyone and lots of presents. Since she wants to see the fruits of her labor (i.e., everyone's expressions), we do present opening one at a time, from youngest to oldest. Needless to say, that elongates the time to get through ALL the gifts, and we generally abandon the routine as we get to the end of the line of package opening. Then, everyone opens their "big gift" one by one at the end. My normal routine is to send Lori on a scavenger hunt for her big gift, but I gave her a break this year. With her being in a wheelchair for 10 weeks and then another 2 with a walker, we got way behind on getting ready for Christmas, so it was a mad dash at the end to get everything ready and I didn't want to add insult to injury (literally!!) this year.
My favorite gift was a show board for the '49 Caddy I asked Lori to have Don's Showboards (https://www.donsshowboards.com/) make for me. While I wouldn't have thought of the city scape as a background nor the colors he used, I really like what he did and I guess that's why I'm not the creative one in our family!!

We ended the day by heading back to our eldest's for lamb dinner and winding down after a very long day!
We hope you and yours had a wonderful day!

 

[Swanny1953]

The saga with the tune on the '40 Chev continues. After learning that the ECM was locked and Street & Performance is no longer around, my tuner did some research and learned that it would be much easier to just order a replacement ECM and tune from there. He found a company, Flagship One https://www.fs1inc.com/ that specializes in just that, including programming the replacement ECM with the requisite VIN info to allow proper interface. After ordering, waiting for the ECM to be programmed and shipped, it finally showed up just before Christmas.
Back in post 80 I recounted the project I had to undertake to get the brake system to work properly. I recalled from that project that the ECM is mounted on a cross brace behind the dash.

I thought that I could reach the ECM by only partially removing the dash, but not taking it out of the car. That would involve removing the windshield surround, dropping the steering column and disconnecting the dash and holding it in place while R&Ring the ECM. I thought this would be easier as I wouldn't have to disconnect all the dash wiring and A/C ducting, and removing the kick panel behind the steering column is a real pain.
First, I have to get some protection on the dash and steering column to keep from scratching anything, which is inevitable regardless of how careful I hope to be. I also taped up the running boards since I would be in and out of the car on my back and would certainly be rubbing against them during the process.

With that all done, I could remove the screws holding the dash and pull it back to access where the ECM is mounted. I was able to get the mounting screws out, so the ECM is loose, but there’s not a lot of real estate to manipulate it and it’s pretty awkward trying to balance the dash on my knees while working in that confined space. Besides that, I was running out of time as we needed to leave for our daughter’s house for Christmas Eve. So, the dash is back in place (at least somewhat). My cousin comes in tonight and I’ll draft his extra set of hands tomorrow to help steady the dash while I attack getting the wiring removed from the ECM.
Wish me luck………..

 

[Blackbyrd]

@Swanny1953 your tuner is probably aware of this, but a speed density tune would be a good option considering your location.

That type of setup would let you revert back to your short inlet tube and you dont need a maf with that type of tune.

 

[Swanny1953]

@Swanny1953 your tuner is probably aware of this, but a speed density tune would be a good option considering your location.

That type of setup would let you revert back to your short inlet tube and you dont need a maf with that type of tune.

He did mention this when we had everything connected up remotely the first time, and he thought it would be a good work around option. However, the locked ECM prevented him from being able to do anything other than read the codes (and maybe clear them).
Other than having heard the "lingo", all this is beyond my current comprehension, and I'm too old to go down that rabbit hole when I can pay experts to get it done right the first time rather than FUBARing everything, then having to pay double to get it rectified!!!

 

[Blackbyrd]

Oh you will get no judgement from me. I have Hp tuners, my skills dont extend much beyond looking at VE tables and disabling fault codes and Vats.

 

[Swanny1953]

Oh you will get no judgement from me. I have Hp tuners, my skills dont extend much beyond looking at VE tables and disabling fault codes and Vats.

I’m the same. The only time HP Tuners has run on my laptop is when the tuner was manipulating it remotely. I have a Blue Driver Bluetooth scan tool that I generally pull to read and clear codes and a more complicated Autel diagnostic tool that I haven’t spent near enough time with to fully understand. Project for the new year!!

 

[Xti04]

I love that board for the caddy, looks awesome.

 

[Blackbyrd]

I’m the same. The only time HP Tuners has run on my laptop is when the tuner was manipulating it remotely. I have a Blue Driver Bluetooth scan tool that I generally pull to read and clear codes and a more complicated Autel diagnostic tool that I haven’t spent near enough time with to fully understand. Project for the new year!!

Autel is a nice piece of equipment, but dont skimp on HPtuners scan tool! Its a little bulkier since you need a laptop to use it, but vcm scanner is pretty powerful.

I still use my cheapo autozone scanner 90% of the time though haha.

 

[Swanny1953]

I love that board for the caddy, looks awesome.

Thanks. I’m looking forward to using it. It’s much nicer then the laminated car fact sheets I normally display on the windshield!!

 

[Swanny1953]

Got the old ECM out and new one in and connected. Did a quick start just to make sure it would. Got the dash all reassembled and ready for date with the tuner. Didn't take any pictures as hands were full!
Am working with the tuner this morning. The car will start, but will not keep running. Because the old ECM is locked, we don't know any of the parameters used by Street & Performance in setting the engine up. Tuner has tried adding and deleting fuel, but it will only start and run for a few seconds before it starves out. He's doing some additional research and we will reconvene. Stay tuned. . . .

 

[LXCam]

If it’s been punched out, a larger cam, larger injectors and he’s guessing it’ll take a while. If you don’t have any luck, let me know Gary. A few of my buds are the best in the business.

 

[zmotorsports]

It's amazing how crappy they will run on fuel being off, but they run. Air however, will kill or not allow the engine to do anything so I'm sure he is already doing this, but air flow readings/mapping may be more critical place to start than fuel just to get it running and establish a baseline.

Looking forward to seeing you get it sorted out and running to where you're happy with it Gary.

 

[Blackbyrd]

Got the old ECM out and new one in and connected. Did a quick start just to make sure it would. Got the dash all reassembled and ready for date with the tuner. Didn't take any pictures as hands were full!
Am working with the tuner this morning. The car will start, but will not keep running. Because the old ECM is locked, we don't know any of the parameters used by Street & Performance in setting the engine up. Tuner has tried adding and deleting fuel, but it will only start and run for a few seconds before it starves out. He's doing some additional research and we will reconvene. Stay tuned. . . .

Too bad street and performance is closed, my father inlaw was a dealer for them and i could have told you who to reach out too. The harness on my 414 stroker came from them.

I dispise people who lock out ecms though.

 

[Swanny1953]

If it’s been punched out, a larger cam, larger injectors and he’s guessing it’ll take a while. If you don’t have any luck, let me know Gary. A few of my buds are the best in the business.

Once the builder told me he bought the package from Street & Performance, I knew we would be going down a rabbit hole, particularly with them being out of business. Thanks for the referral offer - I talked with Andrew (Andrew Starr - Starr Performance Tuning, www.starrperformancetuning.com) about his background, and it's pretty impressive. I think I have one of the good ones!

It's amazing how crappy they will run on fuel being off, but they run. Air however, will kill or not allow the engine to do anything so I'm sure he is already doing this, but air flow readings/mapping may be more critical place to start than fuel just to get it running and establish a baseline.

Looking forward to seeing you get it sorted out and running to where you're happy with it Gary.

Mike, I ain't gonna lie - I was more than a little concerned when it wouldn't keep running. But (stay tuned), we did get past it!

Too bad street and performance is closed, my father inlaw was a dealer for them and i could have told you who to reach out too. The harness on my 414 stroker came from them.

I dispise people who lock out ecms though.

This would have been much easier on all concerned had the ECM not been locked. But, I have to play the hand I'm dealt!!

I'm happy to report that we have achieved at least some success. The tuner realized that the stock ECM (which we essentially bought from Flagship One) has an antitheft circuit built into it that basically shuts off fuel delivery unless certain parameters are met. He was able to turn that circuit off, and, magically, the car runs. I did one drive while logging and he made a few more changes to various tables, then we ran out of time for the day. I took it out for another drive and logged everything so he can look at it later. It ran really good - in fact, broke the rear end loose in 2nd gear (hadn't done that before, but then it's a little chilly here today, so traction isn't all that great)!! We'll convene again next week once I know the schedule to get the car to the paint shop for a minor, self inflicted, paint chip repair on the leading edge of the hood.

Altogether, I'm happy with where we ended the day. We're going to try and tune away the really harsh 1-2 shift and hone in on what he wants to see in all the various tables.

Thanks for following along.

 

[Mr.zippy]

This is great news! I would be a happy camper right about now!

 

[bugnut]

Gary, that is great progress!

 

[zmotorsports]

Great news on getting the ECM sorted enough to run and drive Gary. Looking forward to your thoughts once it's really dialed in.

 

[Blackbyrd]

Congrats! Have a good tuner is extremely helpful!

 

[Bob Heine]

Gary, seems like you've receiving an Eastern Orthodox Christmas present (January 7 on the Julian calendar). Going from dead to driving is fantastic.

One of my calcified brain cells recognized the headlight bezels on your Cadillac Sedanette. It told me they were from a '57 Oldsmobile but that brain cell was way off. My Google brain tells me they are '56 Olds bezels. In any case, all the pieces on the car work so well together it looks like something Harley Earl would have created in the 1940s. His custom show cars put GM on the map.
1939 Y-Job

1951 Le Sabre

It's possible I'm biased. First time I saw the Corvette I thought it was another one-off dream car. It took me 24 more years to buy my dream car (1969 convertible in 1977).
1953 Corvette

Only fault I found with Harley's designs was the 1958 GM lineup. I like chrome but holy cow those were over the top.

 

[HogDude]

Gary, seems like you've receiving an Eastern Orthodox Christmas present (January 7 on the Julian calendar). Going from dead to driving is fantastic.

One of my calcified brain cells recognized the headlight bezels on your Cadillac Sedanette. It told me they were from a '57 Oldsmobile but that brain cell was way off. My Google brain tells me they are '56 Olds bezels. In any case, all the pieces on the car work so well together it looks like something Harley Earl would have created in the 1940s. His custom show cars put GM on the map.
1939 Y-Job

1951 Le Sabre

It's possible I'm biased. First time I saw the Corvette I thought it was another one-off dream car. It took me 24 more years to buy my dream car (1969 convertible in 1977).
1953 Corvette

Only fault I found with Harley's designs was the 1958 GM lineup. I like chrome but holy cow those were over the top.

Dude, I was born in '58. Go easy on me. Don't you remember American Graffiti? Classic.