Dumbo The Flying Elephant

[Larry Hill]

Started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but you guessed it, it’s the train.
The outer main stud felt funny so upon removal it had a almost perfect aluminum spring stuck in all the threads. Not sure what caused the damage but my guess would be a “click” type torque wrench that was slow to click.
So it’s back to my dial type wrench.

I wonder if a stretch gage is available for studs?

Anyone have success stories using thread repair in an aluminum block?

Thanks

[TOSTO RACING]

Larry look into timeserts they work great on aluminum..Dealerships have been using them for years. We just used them on a BBC cast block they work great.

https://www.timesert.com/

[Larry Hill]

I went to the website and everything made sense. Thanks
On another note I pulled two pistons and rods and the rod bearings looked absolutely perfect. Just like I took them out of the box. The rings on one piston the top and the second ring end gaps we lined up over each other. The other piston had both oil rails lined up over each other.

[Larry Hill]

Just got some real nice parts from Blackbird Performance and very good customer service. Ordered Monday arrived Tuesday.

[Cglrcng]

Hey Larry, I just finished your build thread. How are you doing personally after not quite 3/4's of a year with the Holley Software Tuning so far? And I will assume you only started w/ version 4, is that correct?

It makes a difference if you do not have any V1-V3 files or folders. I too am about to make the leap to Holley tuning, am also older, but have 26 years of computer building, and repairing, troubleshooting, debugging, and tutoring experience in my pocket. Am a die hard will not quit kind of guy, no giving up on any problems even after decades w/an issue, I will eventually solve the issue, someday w/ enough research and with the internet we can find a solution to anything. Am not the smartest man on the planet, am sort of lazy in 1 way, I want to find, seek out, or invent the simplest and most simplistic
Way to do everything there is, since that just helps me to work easier, and get onto the next chore or task at hand, but do not mind checking something 3 times (as I have also learned you also do, to get it just right through your writings and attention to detail).

My motto in my years in my computer business printed on my cards is/was, since the avail. of covid cash to the general public, mainly most of my customers pretty much retired me, and allowed me to get back to racing after 2.5 decades away from it! "No night too long, no coffee to strong, to get to the bottom of exactly what is wrong!" It was more than a motto, it was simply that no stupid dumb electronic box, no matter what, was going to beat my researching skills. There are very few issues that someone else in the world has not conquered, and thanks to Bill Gates (and his cool friends like The Woz, and others), everyone has computers and pads, laptops, and smart phones, and to the US Military, (and my own oldest son Nate, who once worked for Global Crossing, and sent him all over the planet to help install the backbone of the internet switches, long ago, not just once, but again years later, when all those clunky big switches needed to be replaced w/ smaller packaged switches), and due to all of them being linked together worldwide, we can share info, find info in a flash if we just Go look for it!

Who needs a guy that has worked on their computers maintaining and repaing them for decades, when they can all go out and buy the latest best units all at once with Government supplied taxpayer covid cash!

Anyway, their loss, my gain,, but heading the Holley route now myself, I already have had the software since V2, never actually used it yet, just looked around within it a lot, and then watched that video on page 84 of your build thread if you never used it except V4, you like I are both lucky men, since Holley has followed Microflop and changed the folders and file system and locations just because they can, or to simpliy it for the rest of us, so we need to learn with each new version released how to handle the global file process for each version.

Anyway, I watched their video, and there are a ton of shortcuts I learned over the years to simplify any set of file tables. file and folder naming shortcuts so you know instantly what is contained in a folder, how to name a file (every different file by using only dates and times, events, etc., and saving absolutely everything, throw nothing away, both the good and the bad, save it ALL, files are tiny...you may not need it this week, but 3 years from now, it may save your life!!

At one point during the last 2.5 decades I had 1,000 plus customers strewn all over the country sending me their stupid boxes/laptops to setup, reformat, debug or repair, or dropping them off at my door by the dozens. And this guy, has never had a formal hour of electronic technical in class education in his 66 plus yrs. on the planet.

I was out racing a very rudimentary computer controlled 84 model car single point TBI EFI Mopar in 1995, luckily at the time travelling w/Bernie Cunningham an electronic wiz who was formally educated in electronics), and he knew more than a little something about that which I lacked completely at the time), a completely locked by EPA rules ECM/PW, yup...the same one I am driving now, that still has that same hardware in it, but is finally running right, just not yet going fast everywhere (I was an old carb guy, a Wizard if you want a Holley/ Carter single to 4 bbl rebuilt or tuned), but I knew zero about ECU's or ECM's /Power Modules.

To his credit (he and I both had zero idea at the time, that it was not an electronic issue, that was causing all my problems). But eventually I found out it was a design issue, and a mechanical vacuum line issue that worked together to create a very large vacuum leak every 2 seconds at full throttle only, to purge the sealed California Car gas tank of fuel fumes, just triggered by the ECM, and a simple selenoid.

His knowledge imparted in a very short amount of time sparked something in me 5 yrs. later, to go into the diagnostic computer repair industry and become a self taught IT Tech. And here I am, a lot of years later, a ton of determination to solve the issues, and I did.

[Cglrcng]

Ok, long story not so short. Holley building of global files can be shortened to a simple batch file to instantly add all those switches together with 1 click (so you cannot forget anything). I can teach you in a few hours, the easiest file naming systems, folder naming systems, and to save every single change and tie those files to the track, or dyno you are tuning on at the time.

Let an older, slower guy teach you some new tricks. If you brought me a computer to fix 10 yrs ago, every single page I visited on the internet to read up on the solution to repair or debug it, buy a part, the hrs logged doing the work, all the files I downloaded for it were all in a single link folder with your name on it, everything automatically logged to the single folder, amongst the millions of link folders for everything else I did! Every computer you owned that I would have touched was right there at my fingertips and I have 3 separate copies of said links folder, since every single drive ever made, eventually fails. Make it simple, back it up twice.

Have I ever HOLLEY TUNED? Not yet, but I will, soon, too, and I will have folders pre-made and labeled for every track before I ever arrive. And will write simplified batch files first to help me learn with fewer mistakes and a bit more speed than the rather confusing video presentation on page 84 of your thread, though, that is a great starting point. They have a great product. I am too old not to use my hard learned talents and I will share. We don't have a lot of time left to waste, neither of us.

First, I need to choose my ECU, buy an un-terminated cable, strip it out, and build it myself, wire it up, replace all my existing connectors, and not see smoke on that first refire, as letting the magic smoke out is bad, and that I learned over the last decade mentoring high school robotics students in FIRST Robotics. I just learned a bunch from you and your Dumbo build thread, thanks so far for the ride along.

[Larry Hill]

I’m computer illiterate! Without help from Robin, Chris, Geoff, Jeff, Cooter, Bob, Holley, and a host of others I would be very lucky if I could get it to start. I’m trying to get better.
I worry about lack of parts so I’m very protective if something is off by .003”, the thickness of a hair, I’ll work until I’m confident it will perform.

My dream vacation would be a week on the dyno answering the few simple questions I have about, fuel, spark timing, lowering the time from X to Y on acceleration, and on and on

[Cglrcng]

I get you there, I will soon be in the same position, just back every file you (or your tuner's have created (not once), but twice), on other than the device you are using in association with the car. To a pen drive, another hard drive, or other media.

All, and I mean all drives eventually fail, they are manufactured to fail, each has failure/failed sectors when sold, those are just pre marked do not use, and each has a very limited amount of spare
sectors, so as a working sector fails during a read/write process, and damaged sectors happen and are found by the operating system, the data within
(written to a damaged sector will attempt to auto recover, and write it to a new spare sector....as much as possible, including any corrupt data), then that sector is crossed off as unuseable forevermore. Once, all the spare sectirs are put into action, that is all she wrote...impending drive failure warnings will begin, the drive is eventually dying, or will have died without warning, and without expensive data recovery processes (the data may become unreachable).

With the 2 backup copies, a new drive or device, download the Holley Software, update to latest version (or Borrow someone else's device, with the latest version on it), and Plug in that pen drive w/all your backup files on it boom, back
In business in minutes.

Just treat those files you create even better than your grand kids pics on your phone or computer, precious, diamonds, pure gold. (Only we can make multiple copies for emergency use!)

I have only had my FWD car on a roller dyno once, low HP, nearly stock, on slicks in a tuners shop in Gainesville, FL (a local tuner w/a not that busy shop in 1995 walked up to me in the lanes at the Gatornat's just before Q2. Says I live your budget Stocker, and we chatted, and when I was next in the lanes for Q3 later, he said if you need anything, my shop is open to you, come on by, work on it there please while in town.

I did, and he got it up on the rollers, on slicks. Me in the seat facing a gray big tall cinder block wall just 2 feet away
from the front bumper, and had me go through the gears slowly, and put all the steam to it that lil' 99HP engine could muster and produce. No drag race in my lifetime has ever created as much fear to my psyche, as staring at that block wall as 6,700 rpm in high gear did while listening to his instructions and hearing the scream of those rollers under load.

When it finally came to a stop (after a lot of really bad scenarios flashed through my brain), as FWD is a lot different than RWD, those wheels you know are closer to your body, and you usually are not facing a wall that close...My heart was pending out of my chest. I could not imagine doing that with a high HP elephant motor.

I will dyno, and let the tuner do the driving next time. I have seen just too many youtube dyno failures at this point in time. Going om a pass is nothing, racing great competition gets the blood flowing, that dyno ride was though, not afraid to admit it, flat terrifying as I had just pulled the transaxle out. Sent the converter in to Turbo Action for a pinhole leak in a weld repair, and reinstalled it that day, and luckily checked everything over 4 times on reinstall knowing the dyno pulls would
be next. Needless to say, he did 4 more pulls, and it was more fun watching than driving.

The first 1 was like parachuting out of a planlate me without a parachute on.

Good luck w/Dumbo brother.

[Larry Hill]

I received some good news yesterday Jeff Taylor said my head was fixed!

[1matcoman]

Originally Posted by Larry Hill

I received some good news yesterday Jeff Taylor said my head was fixed!

Cylinder head? Or, that thing between your ears???