Abaddon's Riv

BUY WHAT I MADE!!!!!!111!!!!

charlieRobinson wrote:

Any update on those rear bars? Dude needs to make a dozen of them and liquidate.

kickstart this thing!

No interest on making more. It was all fitted, tacked, then finished. No "blueprints" or anything. Guess I got lucky

Yo, Scott! Does your bar go up against the bottom of the speakers or is it front?

It's just behind the speakers. It doesn't touch them at all. It clears everything nicely.

Well, I finally had some spare moments today at work (I'm still here). My Riv has been shifting funny for awhile now. Specifically when I'd have to slow down for someone turning right. You guys know....when you don't necessarily have to hit the brakes, but you can get away with just letting off the throttle anticipating their turn. When I'd get back on the throttle, every now and again the RPMS would go up, and the car wouldn't move. Then BAM! into the gear it decides it wants. This usually happened around ~20-25mph. It's been buggin me for months. I took a close look at the trans shift tables (shift speeds) side by side. 1-2 upshift next to 2-1 downshift, etc etc for all gears. Come to find out, my 2-3 upshift and 3-2 downshift were only 1mph apart in a few cells (lower speeds). I'm going to go ahead and assume that at a specific throttle position, the PCM had no effin clue which gear it wanted, causing the "neutral slam". I fixed it I think. It'll take a week or two to actually find out given that it was a rare occasion. I also lowered some of the trans/engine torque table at lower RPMS/speed. It gets a little harsh once its good and warmed up. Wish me luck!
EDIT: I know I said I fixed this issues before, but I didn't. I think I was in such a hurry the last time, I missed a few cells, or even loaded the same tune back in....    I know I loaded the "revised" tune this time.  

Different note. I'd like some of your opinions on this, as I'm "stuck" on the decision making process.
I finally have the money saved up for an engine build. My '97 is sitting in the garage just waiting to be taken apart. My choices are this......

BRAND NEW L32 (Series III) from GM. This includes new, complete heads (long block). Everything in it is new. I'm thinking I'd toss a cam in it, and send the heads out to get fitted for springs/retainers, and maybe a valve job.

-OR-

Yank the '97's L67 out, rebuild the damn thing with some Diamond pistons, use the L32 rods that I have, and do the same as mentioned above to the heads.

The idea of a BRAND NEW engine is ever so enticing, but at the same time, for the price of a *NEW* engine, I can build one with forged pistons....just rebuilt. Thoughts?

I'd just mod the original motor in the 97. One of the greatest things about 3800's is they still work great with tons of miles and they're cheap and common so buying a brand new one kinda throws that advantage out the window. As for rebuilding with forged pistons, that's a tough call. I've noticed there are more unsuccessful stories about bottom end building than successful ones. Personally I'd still rather do that and have it possibly break or whatever than buy a brand new stock crate motor and brake that haha. One thing though is I wouldn't use L32 rods with the forged pistons - I'd get the forged H-beams that zzp sells now. Then you know everything is tough. Get all recommendations from zzp about any special install techniques and maintenance with the new rotating assembly, bearings, fasteners.

+1 on just rebuilding. As long as there's nothing wrong with it, why not? IIRC you said you had gen V parts laying around anyways, so mix those with L32 rods and you're set, right?

Orrrrrrr... You could get one of the Aussie stroker kits and make it a 4.2l..........

twin turbo?!

charlieRobinson wrote:

twin turbo?!

Um no. I want something I can drive every day, and runs right....not something I have to constantly eff with.

That 4.2L Stroker would be sick, but for $4500!! Nope....

Dude... LS4 swap...

You know..... That divot where the exhaust runs is almost perfect for a driveshaft.......

Yeah Scott, why don't you just put a Cummins in it with six turbos, hooked up to a Viper-spec t56 going back to a Ford 9"? Might as well do a chrome-moly tube frame while you're at it too. Oh and don't forget to acid dip the body and strip the interior too.

Buy my old engine VS cam, Gen V blower already installed for you!

deekster_caddy wrote:

Buy my old engine VS cam, Gen V blower already installed for you!

Nah. Gonna build my own. I want a "hotter" cam anyways. I was looking around at prices of everything. It seems doable with forged pistons. I was even considering ZZP heads. Who the hell knows. I was just looking for ideas....and you see what I got in response

Turtle...I'll be shooting you a text with some Q's

Scott, with forged pistons, you'd have no real reason to not go for nitrous, especially since it wouldn't change the streetability of the car as a DD at all.

Were you planning on decommissioning your current Riv to get this one going? As in taking the blower, n*, headers and such? Have you considered making it an e85 car?

As for actual advice, I don't know how active you are on Facebook or if you even have one, but there are lots of "3800 parts for sale" type pages on there, and occasionally some really good deals pop up.

I don't want Nitrous, nor E85. It's all a giant hassle to deal with. The blower, LIM, headers, N*, transmission....it's ALLLL getting swapped over. Let's not forget about the ENTIRE suspension system. Before all of that though, there's an empty engine stand waiting for a 3800.

What cam you thinking of, Scott?

Do a nic cam! Nic cam cars idle always sounds sweet.

Not pulling the trigger yet, but after emailing ZZP with some questions, we've arrived at a possible "solution".....

-ZZP CNC heads
-upgrade to #140 Valve springs
-XPZ cam setup
-double roller T-chain w/front cover

With my current mods, and the IC, I should be able to run a 2.6" pulley and still get some timing advance out of it. An exact # wasn't mentioned for obvious reasons, but I'll be well over 300whp. I'm going to keep the bottom end stock, just rebuild it. I'm going for a DD, not a track car, so streetability is a concern. I'm sure the "new" Riv won't see winter, but I'll be driving the hell out of it the rest of the year. I'm still pondering at this point, but this is the most possible direction I'll be heading. Once I get ALL numbers and figures added up, I'll make a final decision.

Damn dude, with all that and your 3.29 trans, won't you be getting like 8 mpgs? It will be a monster though.

Sir Psycho Sexy wrote:

Damn dude, with all that and your 3.29 trans, won't you be getting like 8 mpgs? It will be a monster though.

Shhhhh! Let this happen!

+1,000,000 on SHHHHHH.....I need no bad mojo on this. Let's let it happen....

EDIT: I'm examining all options at this point. I've got it all cleared through the woman (she's awesome), so it's just a matter of what I'm buying now. I've got an "in" at a local place that will build/machine some heads for me if I buy all the parts. Friend of a friend kind of thing. The XPZ is a done deal. I'm going to buy it all at the same time once I figure out the head situation. I need to go talk to the shop that will be doing the heads and see what they say first.

I'm pretty sure that once I have a ginormous pile of engine stuffs sitting in the garage, motivation to get the ball rolling will set in REAL fast....

Cannot wait to see sir psycho and Abaddon line up this fall. Milan sound good?

Scott's still going to eat my lunch.

Sir Psycho Sexy wrote:

Scott's still going to eat my lunch.

Ha! Who cares who eats who? The best part of it all is going to be watching 2 Rivs beat "everything" else