1dirtyZ's Conversion by 1dirtyZ

5 minute(s) of a 304 minute read

update time!

well there have been quite a few changes that took place

first off I got the intercooler all plumbed and pretty . but I then decided to swap out the rule 500 GPH pump I had in the back to a 1100GPH one for more flow after I saw how inadequate it was on my blue Camaro .
so I ordered the motor alone thinking that its just a simple motor cartridge swap and that the impeller is just a direct swap ,,,, wrong ; after I swapped it I noticed the water was not circulating so I investigated moe and it turned out the pump was binding ,,, long story short : buy the whole pump assembly and don't try to save a few bucks

the other thing that changed from the initial plan is that I ditched the stock pcm and harness and got me a holley dominator ecu and wiring . so that got installed and wired up ,,, and now I have a nicely running mustang

I also got a few other things done , like new front runners , new 4 speed B&M shifter , installed the rear seats , new battery , new starter ( old one was trashed), and some other stuff I can't recall right now 

I did get the car baseline tuned , it idles good now and has pretty good throttle response. I did however run into a few issues regarding the transmission .
the first seems to be fluid level related ; the car would be very sluggish in D and requires some RPM to move forward , but it does not do it in reverse ( it rolls back as soon as I lift my foot off the brakes) . I added a quart of fluid to the tranny and it seemed to get better . it now has a small hesitation and then it lurches forward when giving it a bit of gas. I tried removing the lokar flexible dipstick tube to make sure the level is correct and as soon as I pulled the tube fluid came out ,,,, so I know I'm not low on fluid level.

could this be a converter issue , or a pump issue ( the tranny was a used unit built locally and I don't think anything was changed except the clutches and shift kit.

another issue that I am having but seemed to have figured it out is the trans temps that seem to get really hi just idling or driving around. I noticed they reach about 180-190 F on the gauge and that is with the car idling.

first I thought it was a faulty cooler or trans - but if it were a cooler why would the trans preform ok for a bit then start creeping up in temp. well after a few head scratches and looking over the logs it hit me ...... I had a trans heater and not a cooler ,,,, how you ask ??

first off the trans cooler is located in the passenger area inner fender ,,,, right above where the blow off valve is. the blow off valve I'm using is a vortech Mondo valve with a hose discharge ,,,,, and in my infinite wisdom I have it pointing up at the cooler thinking it will provide some air to it while the BOV is open.

what I forgot about is that the intercooler pump is not connected ,,, so there is no circulation in the intercooler ,,,, and looking at me logs I was seeing about 170-180F intake temps at idle after a while . which means the blower is huffing quite a hot charge on to the transmission cooler through the blow off valve .

so to verify this I will try to rotate the BOV around and away from the cooler and see if that helps.


another issue that popped up is transmission shifting ; the car has a $L80 controlled by the holley pcm ,,, the issue I'm having is that when trans temps are under 190f the tranny shifts great just like it was commanded through all 4 gears, the issue I'm getting is that when it gets warm - around 200f ) the thig gets stuck in 2nd gear and will not shift into any other gear but reverse. is this normal for a 4L80? or is there some issue I'm having that needs to be addressed??


so this is where it stands right now ,,, I can't do any long driving or boosted test runs or tuning until I get these things sorted out ,,,, but so far I'm really happy with what this car feels like. the only annoying thing is that the BOV is LOUD when open! the car gets vey quite once you get to 0 vacuum or boost 

so next up is fixing the cooler issue , figuring out the trans problem when heating , cleaning up the interior ( shifter boot - center console clean up and panels , etc) then hitting the dyno to see how it does