Fourtraxjay

I've had 2 sss, Installed LT on both, Had to deal with this twice! One truck was winter driven, one was a garage queen, No difference, those freakin things don't want to come out sometimes. You state you can't get it out from top or bottom? by 'bottom' do you mean you've dropped the oil pan? If the top piece broke off so that the remaining bit is not flared to dip stick size, you should be able to push, hammer it into oil pan, That was what I ended up doing on first truck. but dropping the oil pan to retrieve the piece is a pia. I ended up there after some progress by tapping the broken piece, then threading a bolt through a socket to pull it out, It pulled half out,and left last bit behind, which ended up getting pushed into pan. For anyone reading this before they break it, here is my advice to a stubborn dip stick. ** with stock exhaust manifolds installed. 1- soak tube into block area with pb blaster or whatever penetrant. 2- remove bolt holding tube bracket to head 3- pull 4 pull some more, wiggle a bit, 5- RES|IST urge to twist as you wiggle. Thats what will break it. 6- Give up pulling a get ready to destroy it in attempt to get it out in one piece. 7- Grab some needle nose or appropriate vise grips and clamp onto tube in between the exhaust manifolds. By 'clamp' I mean hard, your going to squash the tube and destroy it, but the vise grips have to be on like a sob. 8- hammer down on the end of the vise grips as they rock against manifold and pull up on tube. the upwards hammering should pull it out in one piece. worked for me and saved me nightmare of my first, tap broken piece, pull out half, hammer remaining in, drop pan and retrieve fiasco... In either case you'll need a new tube. Wierd how some are like that while others fall in like a hot dog down a hallway.

Got my first SSS when my boy was 2. The full bore baby seat fit fine. He loved the sss so much he pleaded I buy another one when the first one burnt. Now that he's 7 and nearing the end of the 'booster seat' phase, he still has tons of room and adores the truck. The booster seat clips in and out in seconds. The full bore baby seat took more effort to re and re but they aren't in those very long anyway. Needing a baby seat is no reason to rule out the silverado ss. And the mutual love of the truck sure adds to the father son bonding. I mean my boy picks out every fake SS we see and explains to me why he can tell its not a real one. And has also learnt that we keep the supercharger a secret from strangers......lol. When he see's new trucks he says he like ours better cause it has "angry eyes"and looks meaner haha Just be careful, if you son is like mine, you'll be married to the truck. I can't even think of getting rid of it now or I'd crush him. As a bonus though, bad behavior is easily corrected with threats of using my DD with him rather than the truck.

Sorry I don't have time to read the entire thread at the moment, but 1 observation. I had this exact same problem using EFILIVE. I think on both of my SSS's. The solution was to uncheck the "use high speed" button. I see your program has the exact same box and you have it checked. It will take longer to load a tune, but at least it will load. Also make sure you truck's batt is really good, I don't know if I am way off here, but it seems to me that many attempts to load, reboot, reflash, etc. sucks up juice. Good luck Jay

I am posting this to thank all sss members/ posters for sharing so much knowledge on this site. I finally have a 12 second street truck. The full size syclone of my dreams. Best pass yesterday was 12.88, with 2 more passes in 12.9's I started the quest for a 12 second sss when I inherited my fathers last daily driver. A red 03 awd ss. I had that thing in the low 13's and wasn't going to stop until I had a 12 second tribute truck for the old man. Well as I posted on here at the beginning of the summer, that pride and joy tribute truck burst into flames when driving home one day and burnt to the ground before my eyes. I had failed my goal of a 12 second truck. I was feeling pretty blue about the propect of replacing it with a run of mill avalanche or something, So I flew half way across the country to find another blank canvas SSS then sent an email to Justin at Blackbear for some " do over advice". I basically built the same truck since I was so happy with all my past mods. Only I used the tvs1900 this time. I cannot express the feeling I get looking over my shoulder at supercharged mustangs watching to see if they can reel me in...... This awd launch always pretty much gaurantees that you will be winning a least for a little bit....... haha This dream truck of mine would not have been possible without the knowledge and help provided by: -My father- rip. Your lessons were hard, but i feel they stuck... -My mother- for giving me his old red SSS and starting this whole thing. -Silveradoss.com- Saving me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours. Use the search button people. you can save thousands from wasted mods that don't work, or don't work well together, etc. Thanks people. -Justin at Blackbear filled in the giant hole of what to do about tuning. As well as selling me my second blower and a pile of other parts. A very helpful fellow. -Joe and Julliano at Mr. Transmission on St. Regis in Toronto. Talk about standing behind your work. These guys talked me out of a 4l80e conversion and claimed they could get my 65 to hold. It was not a 1 shot deal. They had to work out a few things initially, but they totally delivered what we discussed. Great shop. -Mike- You know who you are. Other than tuning and trans all mods were done my Mike and I. Thanks for all the help wrenching, thanks for busting my ballz to go find another SSS after mine burnt since I would be miserable in anything else. And congrats. You finally beat my truck! (* note: Mike is selling his beautiful Kenne Bell Mustang GT because he had to buy an SVT cobra in order to finally beat me!!! haha.) Now to spend the winter perusing silveradoss.com for further knowledge....... I wonder how long I can put off the urge to splurge...... what to do next. Hmmmmmmmm Thank again Silveradoss.com Jay

Hi, I have a pin kit from magnacharger. If yours is the same jig, my instructions say to "Drill the supplied bit into the second step of the bit" When I measure the length of the bit up to the step it is approx. 43mm. Again, this is for use with the maggie jig which is about 23mm thickness at base and total 26mm total thickness 23mm+3mm raised center. Hope this helps. P.S not to hijack, but I'm getting ready to re-use my maggie pin kit and want to know if it is safe to use old drill bit shafts for pins, or if this is a dangerous idea. And what is part number for required replacement GM bolt? I've searched and can't find, d'oh EDIT: just picked one up from dealer. part number 12557840 good luck breaking that crank bolt use. To date that is the tightest bolt I have ever removed in my life..... Jay

Hello, I have no idea what is wrong with your truck. I am simply encouraging you to deal with it. http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/7/vrdb-bdrv/search/RecallDetail.aspx?lang=eng&mk=0&md=0&fy=0&ty=9999&ft=&ls=0&sy=0&rn=2011074&cf=SearchResult This may or may not be related to your truck. This may or may not be related to my truck, which burst into flames with what appeared to be a fire started around heater/ac box by firewall. Good luck.

I'm not a religous person at all, but I did find solice in the idea that if there is a car heaven, then my father is ripping around in that thing with the biggest $h1T eating grin!!!!!

There were many reasons I got so into the SSS. Edit. wow I can really ramble on..... My father taught me everything about cars, fixing things, etc. When I was a teen we'd do father son road trips to Bonneville to help our friend pit. Those were long drives full of talks on engine theory, the new developments in turbos, what are dream cars were etc...... Well my dream truck was a Syclone. My father oversaw my first build when I was a teen. He gave me an old company truck with a blown motor ('82 s10) and another old company truck that was wrecked (full size p/u) and said "here, I bought you your first truck, be careful......." With his help, I stuffed the v8 out of the full size into the s10. Can you say sleeper, beater, high school hero? Syclone, Syclone, Syclone that's all I'd talk about. So 13yrs later when he gets the SSS I totally get on him to build it right. Modern day, Full sized Syclone. Come on who can resist a 13sec daily driver that you can put your dirt bike in the back? I never got my father's SSS into the 12's. I did not want to think of this as a failed goal. So. I spent 30hrs on my computer, flew half way across the country to drive 20hrs back with what I am going to call "the Phoenix" (rise from the ashes). Blk, 05, awd, only 80 000km, factory sunroof. Super nice. The build starts again. This I will get into the 12's!!! Wasn't really in my budget to build 'revision 2', but whatta ya gonna do? I'll figure something out. I think an Mp122 instead of the 112 ole red had, may help the cause??(12sec)

Well I did not sleep for about 3 nights thinking of what caused this. All kinds of possibilities went through my mind. Only 1 makes sense...... First I thought maybe a tranny cooler line went and soaked the header wrap until it got hot enough to combust, but I did not smell any oil burning smell... Maybe a cat overheated? My wideband was on drivers side bank reading all good, but possible problem on pass bank? I doubt this. Maybe a fuel rail broke, popped?? Again, I doubt it, this would have been a whole different kind of fire..... All my lines were good, no tranny lines were rotten despite the fact she was within 500km of turning 200,000km. (125,000miles) I was under this thing all the time tweaking stuff and inspecting at the same time. All my gear head buddies and mentors actually called me to make sure I was not beating myself up about this that maybe is was something I had done. "Dude, your so meticulous when you build stuff its irritating. Do not think this was your fault......" Also, I had put over 40 000km on the truck with all the major stuff done, so if something was gonna go it would have by now, no? Then I researched some more and found this: http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/7/VRDB-BDRV/SEARCH/RecallDetail.aspx?rn=2011074&lang=eng When I drive I feel I am really in tune with the vehicle. Especially if I have worked on it for a long time. That day, I was watching my gauges, listening to stuff, etc. and I was listening to the Blower motor. I leave the Climate control on auto. That day was very hot. I heard the blower motor change tones, and thought 'huh, the temp in here is constant and right around where is should be....." then whooof. Every time I re told the story, no one really cared about that part. Then I spoke to another mechanic who said his buddies truck started on fire cause of the blower motor..... I read that recal. My truck never had ANY symptoms before this happened. When it combusted, it combusted. and I assume that when a certain part melted got air, then whoof!! I did not smell burning plastic or rubber, no smoke in cabin, NO SIGNS OF TROUBLE until too late. I do not know if this the cause. But is makes the most sense considering where I saw the flames when I opened the hood. Regardless...... I do not like it when "life kicks me in the balz" I'm never got my dad's truck to 12.99 so......... see my next post.

I'll totally admit it, I'm a grown man, but I cried when this happened. No one was hurt so I am very grateful. Stuff can be replaced right? Driving home from my cottage on a very hot long weekend with the A/C pumping, my 3 1/2 son sleeping in his car seat, my sister riding shot gun, with all the gauges reading perfectly, I hear a whooof! I look in the rearview and for a split second thought my tonneau cover had somehow flopped up over the rear window untill I realized it was smoke! Luckly there was an exit right there, so I got on the binders and pulled off. The truck was still running perfectly, but I had a horrible, horrible feeling...... I maintain this thing to a 'T' and I knew this was no rad hose. Once stopped, told my sister to get my boy out of the truck immediately and go away. She did, but I could tell she was wondering why I was so worked up. I'm a gear head, break downs don't phaze me, but she could tell I was serious. Shut down the perfectly running 13 second SSS for that last time, ran around the truck trying to find source of burning rubber, plastic, smoke smell. Praying to find a bad tire, I opened the hood to find a few tiny flames between the firewall and the blower on the pass. side. I grabbed some water bottles knowing full well this truck was done. Water 1- flame out, flame, up, water, 2 flame out, flame up. water 3 same thing. I start scrambling thinking of disconecting the battery when I realize this is done she's gonna go no matter what I do with out an extinguisher. I empty what I can out of it as the fire starts to rage then simply walk away and try to console my son who's screaming like someone is killing his puppy. He loved that truck so much watching him scream "daddy fix it, I don't want the red truck to burn, Fix it now!!!" I say what I can to help him and his crying that "you said I could drive the red truck when I was an adult!!" This didn't make it much easier. By the time the Fire dept. arrived the forest beside my SS had caught fire. Caution for SSS lovers the following pictures are graphic. This SS was my father's last truck before he passed in 09. I pledged to build the truck GM should have to honor his last vehicle. (he was a big hot rodder, car collector, gear head, CHEVY guy). Oversized brakes, Radix, 3'pulley, Dynatech longtubes and hi flow cats, Magnaflow, 2 inich drop w rear sway, E fan conversion, Self taugh EFIlive basics but with tuning from Blackbear, JVC double din, with sub, amp, etc. And a bunch of other stuff. My goal was to get this thing to 12.99 ET as a true daily driver. I got to 13.3 while infuriating all the Mustangs and most other daily drivers at the strip. This story goes on...... This is what many would call the sad part. I'm over the loss and am simply grateful no one was hurt, so I don't see this as sad anymore. Stay tuned.

Best answer I have found so far is here: http://forum.efilive.com/showthread.php?13915-Wiring-NGK-Powerdex-AFX-to-the-V1-scan-tool Basically saying to connect brown anaolog ground to V2 handheld pin1 ext1 And to Chassis ground. Jay

Thanks, Ok got the wideband working now. I had read what sinr98 suggested before, but re-read it and it now makes more sense. I was assuming the pids in efilive for the ngk afx controller would be 'ready to use'. I am starting to understand the difference, as stoich value for the afx and the pcm do not match. I will re read some stuff on integrating the afx to efilive, but before I can go any further, can someone please clear up what to do with the brown anaolog ground wire from the AFx? Connect it to pin 1 of ext 1 (analog ground) of efilive handheld, OR connect it to same chassis ground I used for AFX controller (as directed in AFX manual) OR both? (ie run wire to handheld as well as have it jumpered to chassis ground?) I think I simply run it to the handheld along with the yellow signal wire, but I don't understand why the AFX manual reads: "When utilizing the analog output feature of the AFX, always be sure to connect the system ground (two black wires) to the same location as the analog SIGNAL GROUND (Brown wire). " Can someone please clear up this simple issue for me. Enough AFX controllers are out there that somebody must know. Thanks again.

Hello all. Ok I took the advise of Mr. P and picked up a NGK AFX wideband for my truck. Was hoping to play with autotune. Install was pretty straight forward. Cut and re spice the o2 sensor connector after running wires through firewall. Powered the 12v from the SEO connector on the MBEC (up by the brake pedal). Changed corresponding 10a fuse under hood to a 4 amp. grounded to firewall Did the free air calibration for about 10 minutes. installed, went for drive, worked beautifully. After maybe 10kms. (okay that about 6 miles to you guys) went home and parked it for night. Next morning I hooked up the analog output wires to ext1 of my efilive vs and load the appropriate pids per the autotune tuturial. (using NGK pids). I am not 100% clear on how to wire the anolog output of the AFX. After much research with no clear answers, I wired both yellow and brown to the ext1 connector of the V2 handheld. ****the AFX instructions say to make sure this brown anaolog ground wire is grounded to same ground as the 2 black system grounds? But since the EFILIVE handheld needs an analog ground, I wired it there instead. Should I have also jumpered the brown analog ground wire to the chassis ground as well as the connecting it to the handheld? Anyway, something screwed up when I started the truck with the wideband installed for the second time (after only 6 mile drive at pretty much stoich) while monitoring output on my laptop. This is how it went. Wideband did it countdown, started truck. efilive said AFR of 10 (no idea if this was right for cold start) , wideband said 14.5, then read sen4 error. Disconnected anaolog outputs from handheld and retried. AFX reads 14.5 for a few seconds then goes to SEN4. Checked wiring. changed ground position for piece of mind, attempted to free air calibrate sensor again. Only reads Sen4. Called NGK and got few if any real answers other than obvious, check your wiring, maybe sensor failed. NGK could also not answer my question about the brown analog output gournd wire. Told me to check with EFILIVE. I know wideband 02 sensors are delicate measuring devices, but could I really have screwed it after a 6 mile drive Edit: The sensor is Ok. I tested with a brand new one tonight and same result. I will completely yank out the harness and see if I can find anything........ To Summarize my questions. 1) opinions on wideband sensore failure? I got a bad one? I hooked the handheld up incorrectly and toasted it? Bung is welded in at the 4 or 5 o'clock position as there was not way to get it in the top half of the pipe. condensation damage from 1 evening??? Shut up Jay and go buy a new sensor, that's the nature of the beast?? ( I will if this is the way it goes....... just don't want to throw $150 at a 10minute old system until I exhaust the obvious. 2) When you wire AFX to EFIlive does the brown analog ground wire go directly to the handheld ext1 pin, or the chassis ground, or to both? 3) When monitoring your wideband with EFIlive, I pick a gauge on dashboard to change to AFR (wideband). under properties I can select from my selected pid's. DO I want to watch. Wideband AFR 1- NGK AFX (afr) OR Wideband AFR 1-NGK AFX (v) . I assumed (afr). Thanks in advance for any input you may have. Jay If anyone says 'use the search button' , rest assured I ALWAYS search high and low for an answer before I post. If I missed it, EXCUSE me.

Thanks for the input people. I already pinned the crank. "did they do any main drum high-RPM oil control mods, etc"- I doubt it. I got very little out of the shop regarding the torque converter. I assumed part of the stal chioce. was for reliablilty, I had read, and started to believe about putting the base pressues back to stock. I only did this for 1/2 shift, should I do it for the rest of them? I guess I need a tune then, because if you say tow haul should slow me down, it is the opposite. I consistently ran .1-.2 better with the two haul button on. The tow haul button only affects shifts right? the engine parameters are unchanged correct? If my tow haul parameters raise shift points, increase line pressure, etc. why wouldn't it be faster? I don't haul anyting heavy, I could probably do without a haul button, but If i can program normal shifts for daily driving, then have the tow haul button set up for best e.t. wouldn't that be the best way? i wish I could tell you more with the tranny. When I suggested supplying my own, they said sure, but any problems you have with it, we have to charge you to fix. If you use "our guys' converter we will cover all the costs of fixing replacing it. Incidentally, After I first picked it up. the torque lock up would stick on when it got warm. they fixed it n/c, here's is the items on the tanny invoice. Gm 4l65E trans overhaul 2600 stall torque converter deluxe overhaul kit boost valve/ sleeve, high performance, sungear shell Force motor Transgo stage 2 shift kit fluids, labor, etc. He also told me that the 'hd clutch pack" they installed increases number of clutch plates sigificantly because the 65e already had more plates than the older 60's, so mine has 7? Mr. P. I know, I know, you keep urging me to get a wide band. I will one day, but this 12 second truck project is 1 of many I have on the go and I want to have time to dedicate to learning it before I keep throwing money at it and having the wide band sit on the shelf while other projects take up time. Anybody ever hear of a '66 yenko stinger? (yes I think corvairs are lame as well, but this was another of my father's old treasures) It had the Crown conversion, Mid engine set up with 302 chevy in back seat. the wrenches gotta start spinning on that now.... I hope the SSS doesn't need much more to get a 12.99!!

Is this possible? A good idea? A bad idea? Thougths please. Can I use the EFI live scan tool DVT tab to command the fans 'on' prior to a 1/4 mile run to suck as much air through the rad/ intercooler while | am lining up to run, then switch them off right before it is my turn? I assume alternator drag with them commanded on is high enough to lower e.t and you would want them off for the run. I am also assuming that once switched off, the battery level will not have dropped and the alternator will not be working to recharge the battery and its drag on the engine would be nil. Is this a common practice? or Am I way out to lunch with this idea? thanks in advance for any input. Jay