Hot white G8 GT

[Vonrottes]

This last week has been nothing but me trying to figure out the cooling system.
2020 I replaced the radiator with a store brand or style. And its been fine since.
2021 I replaced the cap and thermostat with the same store brand and fought overheating until I replaced both with OEM parts straight from the Chevrolet dealership. And its been fine since. Usually sitting around 98c.

After the cam swap it's been wonky. Reaching 106c in traffic and then dropping down to 97c once the fan kicks on. Run with the AC on and it stays 96-97c. Did a flush yesterday and checked the thermostat to see if any crud left over from cleaning the block made it into the coolant passages. After the flush I had a steady stream of bubbles from the steam vent on start up.. continued my normal bleed process and still had a steady stream of bubbles. Today I did a pressure test on the system.

Installed the gauge and started it up, no pressure built in the system. Pressurized the system to 20psi and it held for an hour. Started it back up and no bubbles... To be clear there have been NO other signs of a blown head gasket... Calling it good for now and I'm going to keep an eye on it.

This weekend is a pretty big local "Holden" meet at a nearby shop and I'm hoping to throw it on the Dyno of I can get the timing sorted before Saturday

 

[J_D 2.0]

This last week has been nothing but me trying to figure out the cooling system.
2020 I replaced the radiator with a store brand or style. And its been fine since.
2021 I replaced the cap and thermostat with the same store brand and fought overheating until I replaced both with OEM parts straight from the Chevrolet dealership. And its been fine since. Usually sitting around 98c.

After the cam swap it's been wonky. Reaching 106c in traffic and then dropping down to 97c once the fan kicks on. Run with the AC on and it stays 96-97c. Did a flush yesterday and checked the thermostat to see if any crud left over from cleaning the block made it into the coolant passages. After the flush I had a steady stream of bubbles from the steam vent on start up.. continued my normal bleed process and still had a steady stream of bubbles. Today I did a pressure test on the system.

Installed the gauge and started it up, no pressure built in the system. Pressurized the system to 20psi and it held for an hour. Started it back up and no bubbles... To be clear there have been NO other signs of a blown head gasket... Calling it good for now and I'm going to keep an eye on it.

This weekend is a pretty big local "Holden" meet at a nearby shop and I'm hoping to throw it on the Dyno of I can get the timing sorted before Saturday

Aftermarket radiator caps are normally crap from what I’ve heard. Genuine is definitely best when it comes to rad caps.

My SSV would normally run around 106-108c in traffic when it had the standard 86c thermostat. Now I run a 71c thermostat and it runs about 98-102c in traffic.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Bleed the air out. Buy a genuine cap.

 

[Vonrottes]

Cap and thermostat are genuine ‍
I was thinking it was possibly the rear steam vent plugs leaking, had that issue on vehicles before and even stock engines just over time. Turned out to actually be the from right crossover leaking ever so slightly. New orings and bleed the system again seems to be running just fine.

Didn't get to do a Dyno pull because 1. I thought running e85 with stock injectors would be fine, even though it was seeing 90% IDC before the cam on e85. And 2. Im pretty sure a 1,300hp+ dodge charger that broke on the Dyno, and took the Dyno with it.


Other than that finally got the wideband wired up to a serial port on the laptop to start properly tuning the VVE with EQ error instead of fuel trims, since I had an incredibly lean spot off idle that wasn't showing up in the fuel trims.

 

[Vonrottes]

Well, I think I found the root of my overheating issue... the store brand radiator I bought in September of 2020 decided it wanted to exploded in the parking lot at work... top tank split open at the edge... thankfully it has a lifetime warranty and the new part number feels much nicer, tanks are actually marked PA66, and it's a dual core like the original, the one that popped had no material marking and was a single core.



While I had the front end apart I took that opportunity to remove the headlights and refinish them as OEs are actually pretty hard to come by in good condition, everyone loves the crappy Spyder headlights, or gets Reproduction OE style. but I sanded these down with 1000 grit, wet to get all the oxidation off, Buff/polished the plastic and then put Scotchgard paint protection film on them. they look *almost* as good as new, the PPF did add a bit of texture to the surface, but did not affect light output or clarity, and hopefully if the film when the film starts to oxidize I can just peel it off and reapply without any sanding or polishing the headlight. but eventually these will be retrofitted with new projectors and HID bulbs, stock optics are fine, and light output with clear/clean lenses is actually not bad but I just want to actually upgrade, instead of putting LED bulbs in crappy housings just to get close to stock output.
Also, is there a popular fog light upgrade the aussies use on these things? everyone here uses the Morimoto XB led fog lights and I personally absolutely hate the way they look




And lastly... it took me a few months but I admitted defeat in trying to tune the car myself, no matter what I did or how close I thought it was getting drivability issues would just move around in the RPM range. so I took it to a very well know and reputable tuner in my area for a legitimate dyno tune, took him about 3 hours, including me trying to take the tailpipe off since it leaked so bad around the flange he couldn't get an accurate AFR on the dyno, ended up just using my wideband in the cabin. but she made a whole 406hp at the wheels on 88 octane, which I think is pretty respectable for such a small cam. 415-420 is what others are seeing on 93 octane with RCR Little lunati cams.

 

[Vonrottes]

Finally finally finally got the cooling issues resolved. Wasn't overheating but getting hotter than I like and was pushing coolant into the overflow but not pulling it back in. Turned out the crossover was leaking on the front right side. Replaced the rings and cobbled together a 4 corner crossover with a space vortec crossover on the rear, some tubing and a T fitting. No more missing coolant, no more getting warm at idle.

Just to keep track of the ECT without running in engineering mode I got a banks iDash and made a custom single gauge pod for the center speaker cover.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5596706 rev 2 doesn't even require the supports to be cut out, should just sit on top after the mesh is removed. free alternative to some others on the market.

 

[Martbar]

Just been looking at the dyno sheet, your over 300kw, that'll make it go a bit better.
Cheers.

 

[Vonrottes]

Unfortunately last Monday some "uninsured motorist" rear-ended me on my way to work.
The damage isn't awful on the surface, but with some wrinkles in the trunk and a bent pinch weld by the impact bar mount I fear my insurance my call it a total loss..

Currently is filed for repairs, but insurance wants the shop to disassemble the rear of the car to make sure that isn't more damage than what can be seen *which I have pictures*
They're quoting $3,500 in repairs at the moment but that could change.

Guy that hit me jumped out of his 2009 Camry that looked like it had been wrecked several times already screaming "don't call the police I don't have insurance, my uncle can fix your car"
Then went on to tell me "I put my foot to the floor and my car just didn't stop" like this is why I wish my state had a yearly Safety inspection, just checking tires, suspension, brakes, and just other safety devices that put you and others at risk because the amount of people driving cars that are no where near safe to be driven on public roads is absurd.

Photos that are too big for the server
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XfIyiGoN37cspRhWdk6hBXntO9ZcIw2j

 

[Fu Manchu]

A Camry.
#ToBeSaidWithDistainedTone

 

[Derekthetree]

A Camry.

https://www.facebook.com/dentedcamryclub/