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First start of the forged LE5 Flex Fuel

5K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  skersfan 
#1 ·


So the engine is in the car and it lives! A short running video:

First start of the built engine in my Saturn Sky

So the good first:

She fires right up and the idle is strong. Boost controller is reading a solid -15 in/mercury at idle. Before she would jump around from -14 to -6 and I could never find where the leak was. Still don't know where it was but it's gone now. I had to rev the motor to make sure the eBoost2 was actually reading. It is!

The flex fuel sensor is in too. I haven't turned it on yet because I want to get it tuned with 91 octane first. Once that's done I will turn on the flex fuel sensor and see what happens from there.

Of course no fluid leaks either so that's a good thing.


There is some bad though:

The Engine Coolant Sensor wiring is not happy. With my first setup the turbo had gotten really hot and melted the wirings for the sensor. Sensor still worked and the plug was okay but the wiring looked sketchy. Not listening to the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" I rewired a new pigtail into the harness to "fix" the damage. Now the coolant temp is all over the place and sometimes doesn't read at all. So I have to tear back into the loom and fix it...again... At least this time it IS broke.

There is also a bit of air still in the coolant but we're getting that addressed. The block and radiator were completely dry so I expected this to be a bear. It is.

Finally I am waiting on an adaptor pig tail for the new MAP sensor. Apparently the 06-07 cars have a different MAP than later cars. Got to love that first year build quirkiness. That should be here tomorrow.

After all this, it's time to flash the new tune on the car (it's running this well even though the new injectors haven't been added to the tune...I'm running 80# injectors over the 60# injectors I had). I'll be setting the boost controller to run the turbo off spring pressure and then working with PAW to finalize the tune and get boost up to where it needs to be. Once the 91 gasoline tune is dialed in it's time to work the flex fuel part of the tune. Hope to start doing that in December.

Still a ways to go but I really can't wait to get her on the road now. Wish the shop I was doing this at was closer so I could work on it during the week but is what it is.
 

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#4 ·
Congrats! I love reading all of your posts even though most of it is over my head!
Thanks guys. If this thing runs like it idles, it's going to be a beast. Of course, still have to work out the above issues, put the tune on, break it in (though we did do the start up, bring up to temp, and drain the start up oil already), then dial in the first tune so I'm guessing end of November she'll be 100% on 91. If you have any questions though CoopSky, I'm always happy to answer. :D (Might wind up being a short novel for the answer but...) LOL
 
#6 ·
Hey Robo,

I have been keeping up with these forums for a couple years now, and in all honesty, I don’t think I would have even bought a sky if it wasn’t for you and some of the others that are always so dependable on answering everyone’s questions. I totally appreciate your guy’s experience and helpfulness. Good luck with it, hopefully she comes out working like a finely tuned machine!!! Great pics, always curious to see what kind of a machine you guys are putting together.
 
#10 ·
Well done Robo!

But once you have finished all the hard fixes and completed the tune, would you PLEASE revisit the clashing mish-mash of colors under the hood? :willy: :barf:

Maybe just stick to the orange and grey?

.


.

>:)
 
#11 ·
LOL believe me that's on my list. Not sure what I'm going to do with the charge pipes and intake but I have some ideas kicking around. Then part of me kind of likes the look of all that. So who knows what I'm going to do. LOL

You're right though, getting it mechanically sorted is my first order of business. :D
 
#13 ·
Today we got her on the road but not finished. We have been trying to bleed the coolant and getting nowhere. Today we finally traced it to the thermostat Brand new thermostat bad out of the box. Uhg Got that sorted but found the clutch to be out of adjustment (PAW adjustable master cyl. on the car) and had a hell of a time driving it with the engagement point so far off the floor. Got that adjusted and it was just a matter of getting used to the lightweight flywheel and new clutch. That didn't take long and the car felt good.

Tune is super rich across the board but now we can sort that out. Hard to start it and runs so fat it almost shuts off when decelerating. The rest, however, felt good. About 15 miles on it today for shake down and troubleshooting. Ever so closer.
 
#14 ·
There is also a bit of air still in the coolant but we're getting that addressed. The block and radiator were completely dry so I expected this to be a bear. It is.
Get the vacuum fill tool, suck the air out, and fill. If you start with a vacuum you can't end up with air in the system.
 
#16 ·
You'd think...but not so much it turns out and we have no idea why other than we are dealing with a block, an extra large radiator, and head that were totally dry and a thermostat that was not opening.

I am hoping you guys wrap that thing up this week end. I would like to get started on mine. But I still don't have the radiator yet. So guess we are going to wait until it gets here. Been close to three weeks now.

It was kind of neat seeing your car with the hood on it. I had forgotten what it looked like. lol
I haven't heard from Dave today so I'm going to contact him tomorrow to see what is up with the next tune. That and coolant are all that's off right now...well and theb3 bar MAP...lol
 
#15 ·
I am hoping you guys wrap that thing up this week end. I would like to get started on mine. But I still don't have the radiator yet. So guess we are going to wait until it gets here. Been close to three weeks now.

It was kind of neat seeing your car with the hood on it. I had forgotten what it looked like. lol
 
#19 ·
Did you drill a small hole in the t-stat? Sorry if was already asked, I jumped straight to page 2.
 
#20 ·
Curtis thinks it has the wrong thermostat. Supposed to be a 160? But both he has are 180, is that correct. I still haven't received my radiator and am thinking about cancelling it. It has kept us from working on the car now for two weeks. Not here by Wednesday of next week, I am going to cancel. Tired of waiting for parts. Want my car fixed.
 
#21 ·
Our cars come stock with a 180 t-stat. The old t-stat has a hole in it (and is in the car now but sticking). The new one was supposed to be a 160 but I got a 180 and we hadn't drilled a hole in it before we installed it. may just get a 160 from Autozone and drill it out since it needs a new one anyway. Just got to check it.

i got the new MAP and tune installed today. Fired right up and purred but didn't get a chance to get it on the road.

Skersfan, I'll be sure to talk to Dave this weekend about that radiator.
 
#22 ·
My radiator took MONTHS to get. And when I drilled my t-stat I think I used 1/8" bit. I need to do it again and use a smaller bit because it takes WAY too long to heat up in the winter because of it. I don't drive it much at all in the fall and winter, but sometimes I have to because of my or my wife's SUV being in for maintenance or something.
 
#24 ·
I was told ten days approximately. I have no need for it months from now. I have the hood off, the engine comes out shortly and when it goes back in the original radiator goes back in and the order will be cancelled. No excuse for things taking this long form vendors. Sorry. I can't do business like that, don't feel others should either.
 
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