Abaddon's Riv

Congrats!
& kudos to Karma, Love to hear that thing run.

Jbird

I wanna see her run Scott!

Awesome!  Glad to see the blower is performing as was originally expected! You should do up some vids, even some crappy cell phone vids or something.

Well, I bought another one. '97 S/C, Blue/Blue. Someone traded it in 2 weeks ago Tuesday. I saw it sitting on the Wholesale fence when I got work, and of course, it caught my eye. I was test driving it by 8:30am. It certainly isn't without "Riv" issues. The Steering Column is about to fall off (bushings), the Fuel Gauge doesn't work right (Level sensor), the air duct on the rear of the Center Console is broke (as is on the '98 lol), the ALC rod is broken, LF stab link wasted, Antenna doesn't completely work, S/C coupler rattling/knocking, the P.O must've parked by sound    and finally, it leaks oil bad. All of this is not surprising considering she's got 152k on her.

Now for the good.....
Like new Bridgestone Potenzas, EVERYTHING on the interior works, no cracked/ripped leather, heated/memory seat/compass, absolutely amazing condition chrome wheels, NO body/frame rust, no cracked lenses, no major damage. This car HAD to be garage kept. There's no way it's got 152k Michigan miles on it without being stored winters. The engine runs great and the trans feels tight. Actually, the whole car is tight.

There's definitely been work done in the Engine Compartment. There are numbers on the plug wires, and some marks on the RF frame near the mount. It appears to me that the engine was probably pulled at one point. The Air Intake has a wrong bolt, there's some "Christmas tree" retainers missing from the Fender liners, etc....just little things that I notice. Either way, it's all minor stuff to me.

I bought this car strictly for the body/frame. My '98 is showing its age, and I hate it. The rust has popped through around the RR wheel, the DS B-pillar, and there are holes in the under-body. Not Flintstone type holes, but I can reach in with my fist and knock on the floor. It's starting to creak, rattle, and clunk. IMHO, it's almost near time for it to go. It's still straight as all hell, but it's rotting from the inside out.

Abaddons Riv V2?

I fixed the oil leak and changed the oil on Saturday. The horrible leak ended up being a $23 Oil Pressure Switch. Here's a pic of it on my hoist.


Underneath. Right between the hoist arm and the cradle is where I can stick my hand up in the '98.


Engine. Notice the "numbers" on the plug wires. Who the f*ck puts dots instead?! It needs a good cleaning.


And here they are together (and the Jeep ha).


I think what I'm going to do first, is take apart the '98. I want to yank the Engine/Trans, the cradle, the Suspension, etc etc. I plan on stripping the engine naked, and starting from scratch. I plan on putting a fresh engine in the '97, along with my Trans. I'm also going to do a cradle/suspension swap. I'm not quite sure what's going to become of the '98. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'm still trying to convince myself to take it apart. I love that car. It's going to be hard letting her go.

Oh, and, I got the '97 for $1500    No way I was letting it hit the auction. I'd be stupid NOT to buy it for that price.

It was taunting me...just sitting there...on the fence  

So, I just found out that the Passenger door doesn't open from inside or outside. Yay. That should be fun.....

AWESOME. Love the side by side photo.

Maybe you me and Tyler and whoever else should go to the track once first before the transfer begins???

It appears that all the dedicated T&T's are during the week at Milan   

http://www.milandragway.com/racing-schedule

You sure you wanna go beating up a fresh engine?

I see lots of TnTs for Fridays and Saturdays.

Give me a little bit to break it in, then i should be good.

I am still terrified the thing will blow up. 140# springs scare me and my luck stats are moderate to low.

charlieRobinson wrote:

I see lots of TnTs for Fridays and Saturdays.

Give me a little bit to break it in, then i should be good.

I am still terrified the thing will blow up. 140# springs scare me and my luck stats are moderate to low.

Right. Friday. I don't get out of work until 6pm. By the time I get there it'll be useless. Maybe I can get out early? But even then, they're all T&T's with Brackets and/or Sportsman races at the same time. Our runs down the track will be extremely limited. Wednesday looks like a better day to get out early. It's just a T&T. You could bring your HPT and I'll bring my DHP/laptop. We might actually have time to tune a little with some good runs.

#140 Valve springs??? Please tell me you bought the proper retainers and had the Valve Seats looked over. Did you replace the Rocker bolts? Upgrade to studs?

Oh cool you found a new queen! You said strictly body/frame. Are you keeping the 98 electronics in the end?

Abaddon wrote:

charlieRobinson wrote:

I see lots of TnTs for Fridays and Saturdays.

Give me a little bit to break it in, then i should be good.

I am still terrified the thing will blow up. 140# springs scare me and my luck stats are moderate to low.

Right. Friday. I don't get out of work until 6pm. By the time I get there it'll be useless. Maybe I can get out early? But even then, they're all T&T's with Brackets and/or Sportsman races at the same time. Our runs down the track will be extremely limited. Wednesday looks like a better day to get out early. It's just a T&T. You could bring your HPT and I'll bring my DHP/laptop. We might actually have time to tune a little with some good runs.

#140 Valve springs??? Please tell me you bought the proper retainers and had the Valve Seats looked over. Did you replace the Rocker bolts? Upgrade to studs?

double row timing set?

turtleman wrote:

Oh cool you found a new queen! You said strictly body/frame. Are you keeping the 98 electronics in the end?

That's the plan. I'm still not exactly certain on what the minor differences are between the two. I noticed that the S/C vacuum setup is different (which we knew), and there's a module attached to the driver-side strut tower that the '98 doesn't have. I'm assuming that the entire Engine/Trans harness needs to be swapped over....

I can't picture what's near the strut tower on a 97 that's not on a 98...   There's definitely other things that are relocated I know.
Yeah I was gonna kinda warn you there's some differences I saw. A lot of it is just routing and positioning of stuff. The wire routing is way different in the back of the car so If you were to put the 98 electrical into the 97 shell, you'd need to drill a hole on each side of the trunk panels and patch a hole up under the left back seat for starters. I think that'd be easier than hacking up either of the factory wiring systems to make it all reach where it needs to be.

Thanks for the heads up. I was most concerned with Engine/Trans wiring. Can the '98 stuff be dropped in to make work? I'm not opposed to taking my trans apart and putting everything in the '97 case if I have to. I'll even rebuild the '97 block if it's easier than swapping in all '98 stuff. I'm not really opposed to anything. My main concern is getting the entire cradle/suspension swapped in.

The engine and trans shouldn't be an issue. If I swapped a 98 trans right into my 97, I don't see why you couldn't do the opposite. I don't think anything is different on the actual engine harness aside from the evap. Maybe just compare the C100 or whatever connector and make sure the pinouts are the same with the exception of the evap to make sure. I can take a look late tonight - I have a 97 and 98 service manual

Thanks. I'll look in my Service Information and pull up the schematics. I'll get a pic of that module I was talking about too.

Went out scanning again today, as I've been playing with the tune for a couple weeks now. I'm a little confused at what I can only believe is false KR.

At WOT, top of second gear......
12.054 psi Boost (max reading   Karma you rock)
.703* KR (big deal)
10* Spark advance
~9140Hz MAF
182 kPa MAP
833.28 O2

Even after shifting into 3rd, MAX KR was only 3* which dissipated back to 0.

I keep getting these intermittent spikes of 14* KR, which quickly subside and disappear. It's only happening at lower RPMs.
Today it happened at only.....
7.7psi Boost
~7000Hz MAF
152kPa MAP
841.96 O2
The KR was completely gone at....
9.9psi Boost
~8450Hz MAF
167kPa MAP
824.6 O2 (leaner??   )

It's strange. Above 4500RPMS this thing screams.

AANNNDDDDDD as I'm sitting here typing this, I notice that PE below 4000RPMS is still set to stock 40% TP
I suppose I'll just change that setting and report back.....

only 10* timing advance at WOT? I thought the goal was to get ~20 degrees with 0 KR. If you cant do that then you go up in pulley size until you can?

charlieRobinson wrote:

only 10* timing advance at WOT? I thought the goal was to get ~20 degrees with 0 KR. If you cant do that then you go up in pulley size until you can?

Look at the stock settings. 10* is MAX timing advance WOT @5500rpms.....

I still have so much to learn....... Can't wait until I start to get the hang of it though.

Abaddon wrote:

charlieRobinson wrote:

only 10* timing advance at WOT? I thought the goal was to get ~20 degrees with 0 KR. If you cant do that then you go up in pulley size until you can?

Look at the stock settings. 10* is MAX timing advance WOT @5500rpms.....

Maybe I missed it.. why are you running stock timing?

charlieRobinson wrote:

Maybe I missed it.. why are you running stock timing?

Because I'll blow it up if I don't. This pulley is the razors edge. Anything more than stock timing would just be non-stop KR.

Thinking about it, that KR I had might have been when I eased into 4th on the freeway until it downshifted into 3rd. That was Converter lockup....it had to be. No other explanation makes sense. I apparently didn't bother to log "gear" or "rpm". Dumb ass.....


Matt,  you're going to get hooked. Something about having the ability to COMPLETELY change the way your car drives...it's like a drug

so why not get a bigger, safer, pulley and up the timing to get more power?

charlieRobinson wrote:

so why not get a bigger, safer, pulley and up the timing to get more power?

Because I don't have to. Would you put a BIGGER pulley on a bone stock Riv just to advance the timing? No. The stock Timing Table is fine where it is. I have no needs nor desires to change the timing. Besides, if you go up in pulley size to advance timing, you'd lose boost. The engine already runs as high as 32-35* advanced at lower RPMS. You'd lose power. There's no way I'm having an engine run 40+* advanced. I like it where it is

Yep. It's definitely during Converter lockup in 4th is where all that KR is coming from. It's 85* out today and more humid. I just got back from another scan after making a few minor changes.
0* KR
99.06% TP
~9400hZ MAF
6000RPMS
That's for 1st, 2nd, and part way through 3rd gear (speed limited on the road of course)
Minus the little KR blips (2* now at shift point, which is gone after 2 cells), it's all at 0*. One of the minor changes I made was set PE A/F to 12/1 instead of 12.1/1, and set PE enable to 25% TP above ~2600RPMS.

I FINALLY got the trans shift/Fuel Cutoff thing set where I want it. The shift at WOT is fuggin cool.
I ended up having to set WOT shift (1st to 2nd) at 40mph, and set the RPMS to 5800. Fuel Cutoff is set at 6200RPMS. Yes, it still takes the trans that long to make its shift even with shift time set to .01, and shift pressure at 96. I suppose putting a manual shift kit in it would help it shift faster, but that isn't an option until the new engine gets done. I guess I'm just getting my fix on tuning. I swear I've had the laptop in my car almost every day for 2 weeks.