The Mule rides again (sort of) - pics.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I pulled the main bolts to swap out the oil manifold plate
I showed a friend and his 11 year old son around the engine while those were out
I installed the new manifold plate... I pulled the front alignment pin, because it looked like it fit better with just the rear one. I started all the bolts and ran them down until they were just shy of touching the plate. I could still move the plate around by rotating around the rear alignment pin, so I sharpied the extremes of its movement and centered it between the two before I started tightening bolts. I got the single stud-headed bolt in the right place and installed the oil pump pickup tube.

The bottom end is officially buttoned up except for the oil pan. I don't have my intended pan cerakoted yet, and my temp pan had more rust on the baffle than I was comfortable with, so I'll have my dad fill the temp pan with evapo-rust until I can get back to the engine in two weeks. GM's reseal procedure wants RTV on the oil pan as well. I don't think I'll do that. I did not have prior leak problems with the oil pan seal. Also, dropping the oil pan in a Fiero is not difficult. In the Caddy... the front bank exhaust pipe goes under the oil pan, then up between the engine & transmission, and over the top of the transmission. This means that to drop the oil pan, the exhaust pipe must be removed. To remove the exhaust pipe, the engine and transmission must be split. GM is strongly incentivized to maximize the probability that the oil pan will stay sealed. Since I can work on the oil pan in the car, I'm not super worried about the pan seal.



I snagged three 0.060 gauge pins from McSmasher and used those to shim the oil pump. They were a light drive fit, but I was able to install with just fingers. The oil pump torque spec is 89 in-lbs + 35 degrees *in sequence* (yes, a sequence of three bolts). After torquing the bolts, I needed pliers to pull the first gauge pin out, so I think I 0.060 was the perfect size.

I installed the front cover and seal, along with the cam covers, seals and bolt grommets. The cam covers are die cast magnesium. The thickness of the perimeter seal and plug well seals, working with the rubber grommets on the bolts mean that the cam covers are rubber isolated from the cylinder heads. This is done for noise reduction. It also means that the all the coil packs, both the waste spark+ICM pack as well as the COP arrays, need a healthy ground wire to the cylinder head or block.

I'll need to pop the front cover back off to dab RTV behind the front cover seal on the case half joints, but that's all I still have to do on the front cover. I have plans for modified cam covers as well... the stock oil fill on the front cover is right under the decklid hinge, while there's no fill on the rear cover. I'm going to change that... on a different set of covers, then have them painted '70's Pontiac Metallic Blue, then install.

[The Dark Side of Will]

ToDo list:
-Install Timing chain guide bolt access hole plugs (at the dealership waiting for pickup)
-Install Cylinder head oil gallery SS external hex pipe plugs (in the stash)
-RTV dabs between front cover seal and case half joint (snag more ACDelco RTV)
-Install rear main seal (Need 11mm bolts for RMS installation tool)
-Install balancer pulley (New AC Delco unit ordered from Summit along with M14x1.5 ARP balancer pulley bolt)
-Finish cleaning intake manifold (Simple Green soak?)
-Dress intake manifold with LC3 injectors, SS fuel rail, manifold harness & EV1 to USCAR connector adapters
-Install intake manifold
-Install (temp) oil pan
-Glamour photo with all the parts boxes!

-Measure & mockup starter drive to figure out exactly where the flexplate needs to go
-Design flex plate mods and attachments to flywheel
-Pick a flywheel and have it drilled for the Northstar crank pattern
-Order titanium bolts for clutch to flywheel
-Complete design & production of throw out bearing holder
-Build up clutch and install transmission

-Assemble powertrain to the cradle and put the rest of the car together!

Since the car is currently in borrowed shop space and has been there a LONG time, I'll probably install the waterpump after the fact in the interests of getting it back to my dad's house as quickly as possible. The same applies to the wiring harness... I'll break down the '06 Caddy harness that came with the engine I disassembled and find a Fiero harness to tear down for the body wiring. Having the engine in the car will help me figure out routing and wire lengths better.

My current harness, coil pack, ECM & throttle will work for a Shelby 0411 installation, so I'm thinking of seeing if I can sell that setup.

The Northstar water manifold is kinda bulky, but includes EGR passages in addition to just conveying coolant around. Because of the way it has to be cored to cast the passages, there are three pipe plugs on the exterior of the piece. I pulled those out of my 1994 part just for S&G's in prep for getting it bead blasted, maybe wire brushed, and cerakoted. After looking at the layout, it occurs to me that I could save a couple of pounds by milling away the EGR passages. This would also free up a little bit of space in the engine bay and make everything a little more elegant.

In my last version, I had an inline filler neck connected to the water manifold upper connection via a straight hose coupler. I'm also thinking of machining the upper connection to be able to weld on a fill port. That would make the fill point slightly higher, more accessible in the Fiero engine bay, remove some connections & potential leak points from the system and clean up the engine bay.

[The Dark Side of Will]

A long-time friend's kid had his 5th birthday over the weekend and I worked on the WKGC since I finally had parts.
I got the timing-chain-guide-bolt-access-hole-plugs installed, which is super-easy. I also cleaned up the crank and cam sensors and popped those in place. I still need to drop blue loctite on a set screw to plug the old cam sensor retaining bolt hole and maybe a little green Loctite on the shell that the machinist pressed into the cylinder head to fit the new style cam sensor. I also need to blow out the cylinder head oil galleries from the oil filter adapter port and then install the exterior plugs in those, or else my giant oil pump will pump out all the oil really quick.

I also installed a starter... probably temporarily, in order to take measurements from the starter drive. I wasn't really able to get very far with that, partly because the engine is still on the stand. I have a flexplate for the 11mm flywheel bolts which I measured, along with the older one I had for the 8mm flywheel bolts. Those are almost identical, but also different to the tune of >0.200" from V6 flexplates, in terms of starter gear position relative to the crank flange. That's weird. I would have thought GM would have that completely standardized across the FWD portfolio.

I also discovered that due to a feature on the lower crankcase actually coming flush with or proud of the crank flange, my homemade flywheel would have to be modified to work on the Northstar anyway. That and being based on a V6 flexplate, it has the V6 starter gear location. That probably works fine, as my modified V6 flywheel worked fine with the Northstar starter... but wasn't the same as the stock Caddy flexplate.

Have a bit of design work to do, but should be able to figure something out. Worst case scenario: I'll have to buy some HSLA 60 to make the flexplate, and then weld on the Pioneer ring gear that I already have. At least if I do that, I can bolt it directly to my flywheel of choice instead of having to have any spacers or other junk there. That may actually be the best way to go, if I can find HSLA 60 in small quantities. I don't need a whole coil.

[Series8217]

I haven't seen an oiling schematic for the Northstar, but if the bypass flow has already passed through an oil cooler, then the larger pump should improve cooling performance even if the added flow goes to bypass.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I haven't seen an oiling schematic for the Northstar, but if the bypass flow has already passed through an oil cooler, then the larger pump should improve cooling performance even if the added flow goes to bypass.

The bypass is internal to the pump... are you thinking that the bypass flow would go through the oil cooler for every "round trip"?
The cooler is on the high pressure side of the pump... I've never seen an engine oil pump with the regulator separated enough to have a cooler on the bypass circuit.

//

I finished the flexplate design. Once I get it back and get photos, you'll see how weird it is. I dropped the flexplate and PTT flywheel off with the machinist. The generic flywheel needs the Northstar crank pilot and bolt pattern drilled in it. That might be done as soon as next weekend, so I need to have a bunch of stuff ready.

I also blew out the cylinder head oil galleries and installed the exterior plugs.
Still to do:
-Install rear main seal
-Install crank damper
-Rework valley harnesses for sensors & starter
-Finish cleaning, dress & install intake manifold
-Wire brush oil pan & drop off for Cerakote (couldn't find older large SS wire wheel we dedicated to aluminum, so I have to order another one)
-Carve up water manifold, bead blast & drop off for Cerakote

After that, install flywheel, flexplate & clutch and take it over to the car to start installing it to the cradle

//

Also started to design offset forward cradle mounts. My design can be installed either concentric or offset, but need to be welded in place. That means that it's best to get them installed now, but I don't have to come up with rear mount spacers until later.

Tilting the cradle back via eccentric front mounts and spaced rear mounts reduces the pro-squat geometry in the original '84-'87 suspension. The original Indy pace cars had spaced rear cradle mounts.

[pmbrunelle]

Tilting the cradle back via eccentric front mounts and spaced rear mounts reduces the pro-squat geometry in the original '84-'87 suspension. The original Indy pace cars had spaced rear cradle mounts.

Will you need to redo the engine and trans mounts so the powertrain stays in an OK spot?

[The Dark Side of Will]

I wasn't planning to. I have stock-type Rodney Dickman brackets and urethane mounts for the 282 right now. The two Northstar mounts are built around those. I'd have to alter all four to tilt the powertrain a little bit. It'll be single digit degrees of tilt, so won't mess up sump performance or anything important. Worst case I'll have to trim my new hinge box a little more.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Got the rear main seal done over the weekend.

The "new style" Northstar RMS is a type I hadn't seen before. It's a two piece seal that's delivered assembled and will be damaged by separation during assembly. Sounds fun.



The inner gold/blue part presses onto the crank seal journal and seals to it. This part turns with the crank. The black part presses into the block and stays stationary. Because the two pieces need to maintain their relationship within a 0.020 or so window in order not to be damaged, they need a special tool that presses on both parts at the same time in order to install the seal without damaging it.

Here are the pieces of the used one that was in the '06 engine I disassembled:



There appear to be at least SEVEN individual sealing edges in contact between the two parts... so it should be a damned good seal.

New and used:



The gold/brown part is actually part of the stationary ring and overlays a surprising distance of the inner ring... I guess that's what it takes to get 7 sealing contacts.

The tool had to be updated. I was able to snag a used unit for the cast crank with 8mm flywheel bolts from eBay for <$100. The new units for the forged cranks with 11mm flywheel bolts are $350+ new and I never saw one on eBay. I had prototype machinist carve up old style 11x1.5 Northstar head bolts into 11mm bolts for this tool. He grooved them and I installed low profile retaining rings from McSmasher. They worked well enough to install the seal, but my last little bump on the wrench for good measure was too much and coned the retaining rings.



Here are the components of the tool



The seal slips onto the part on the right. That temporary assembly then bolts to the crank flange. It has a bore that locates on the flexplate pilot journal.
Then the component on the left slides into place and screws down to push the seal into place.

Shot of the modified bolts



Intended target:





Applied RTV to the ID of the block bore, as recommended in GM's reseal procedure. AC Delco doesn't sell the engine sealant I used on the case halves in a tiny tube, so I used parts store Permatex Ultra Black for this.



First part of the tool installed with the seal



Second component of the tool installed and about to be driven all the way down. This is where I gave it that little coup-de-grace squeeze and coned the retaining rings on the bolts.



Ta-da:
[project managment] The critical path is clear [/project management]



The Cerakote made the RTV SUPER easy to clean up!

ALSO: I figured out how to mill a pound or two of aluminum off one of these, so I'll do that before I bead blast it and drop it off for Cerakote

[ericjon262]

Looks ready for a flywheel! That's an interesting RMS design, almost makes me wonder why gm didn't use it elsewhere that I am aware of.

I'm curious how you're going to carve 2 pounds off the water manifold, that's a significant amount of aluminum!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Looks ready for a flywheel! That's an interesting RMS design, almost makes me wonder why gm didn't use it elsewhere that I am aware of.

I'm curious how you're going to carve 2 pounds off the water manifold, that's a significant amount of aluminum!

Maybe they use it on a bunch of newer apps? Maybe they were just sick and tired of Northstars leaking?

I need to weigh the bare part... a pound might be aggressive. The top half of the horizontal extent of the casting contains EGR passages which can simply go away in my installation.

Modifying this casting and going to an HTOB transmission will free up significant space around the back of the engine and clean up the installation noticeably.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Looked up the 3 wire oil level switch which includes oil temperature sensor: AC Delco PN 12603781

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.ph ... 0&jsn=1761
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/che ... ensor,5700

Listed for '05-'13 Corvette as well as '06-'09 XLR... should fit the Northstar pan without problems. The regular XLR lists the 2 wire sensor, while the supercharged XLR-V shows the three wire sensor... so they both fit the same oil pan.

[ericjon262]

not very expensive either. would be nice to have the information available. That's a good find.

[The Dark Side of Will]

not very expensive either. would be nice to have the information available. That's a good find.

I'm wondering if I have space for a dash gauge, can have the ECM read it and put it in the data stream (or both?). I've also thought about switching the in-dash temp gauge between oil and water... Since the oil temp sensor is only one pin, it might be a 12V to ground through the housing, similar to the three wire coolant temp sensor having 12V to ground for a gauge, as well as the 5V to return for the ECM. I guess I need to figure out what type of element it is.

Edit: I guess it could be 5V to return and share the return with the oil level switch.

[Shaun41178(2)]

3900 came with an oil level sebsor but not sure about temp. But I bet the vette is a direct bolt in. Pisses me off because I just took my oil pan off and welded in a bung for an oil temp sensor.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Sorry I didn't publish the info sooner, Shaun...

At least now you have an oil return for your second turbo.

[The Dark Side of Will]

ToDo list:
-Install balancer pulley (New AC Delco unit ordered from Summit along with M14x1.5 ARP balancer pulley bolt)
-Finish cleaning intake manifold (Simple Green soak?)
-Disassemble and re-dress starter harness, valley sensor harness & injector harness
-Dress intake manifold with LC3 injectors, SS fuel rail, manifold harness & EV1 to USCAR connector adapters
-Temp Install intake manifold
-Glamour photo with all the parts boxes!

-Order titanium bolts for clutch to flywheel (ehh... probably not)
-Complete design & production of throw out bearing holder
-Build up clutch and install transmission

-Assemble powertrain to the cradle and put the rest of the car together!

-Disassemble & modify 3 bolt oil filter adapter
-Anodize 3 bolt filter adapter, A/C Comp/Alt combo bracket, alt upper bracket (if aluminum?), thermostat housing, Storm Trooper control arm adjusters
-Make/install eccentric forward cradle bushings (anodize eccentric components)
-Remove heater tubes & take A/C tubes for either POR or anodize
-Modify water manifold (weld-on top-side fill?), media blast & Cerakote (batch with oil pan...)

[The Dark Side of Will]

Productive weekend...

I got the first article TOB Holder back from the machinist. I checked it out and it had binding. The throw out fingers were worn by the original stamped TOB holder. The fingers overhung the TOB holder, so there were unworn ridges at the outer edges of the fingers. My screw ups in cutting the prototype had allowed the throw out fingers to contact the prototype unit on the worn surfaces rather than the unworn edges. When made correctly, the part overhangs the throw out fingers slightly, so the unworn edges of the fingers contact. This is good, as it duplicates the interface of an unworn set of fingers. I milled each contact surface down from 0.250 to 0.200 and the TOB Holder cycled smoothly up and down the TOB guide. Now I have that element of the TOB holder design finalized and I can set the bearing height up for clutch combo I'm actually using. Snazzy.

I tore the 3 bolt oil filter adapter apart and started to look at it relative to the old 2 bolt unit. The 2 bolt part is a highly optimized die casting. The 3 bolt part is a high quality sand or 3D printed mold casting... the difference in casting methods shows, as the 3 bolt part is noticeably heavier than the 2 bolt part. The oil cooler connection bosses on the 2 bolt part do not have enough wall thickness to upsize from M20x1.5 to M22x1.5. The 3 bolt part DOES have enough wall thickness at those locations, so I'll at least be getting something in exchange for the extra ounces. I ordered an M22x1.5 HSS tap from Home Depot Racing, so should be ready to tackle the mods to the 3 bolt part next weekend... it needs plenty.

I managed to ruin my 1995 water manifold, because GM optimized it as an EGR cooler a bit more thoroughly than I was expecting.
Here's the initial setup to carve off that plug boss just on the other side of the radiator connection:



I was surprised when I made my first cut and found THREE passages instead of just two:
The dark colored ones are the EGR passages I was expecting. The lighter colored passage in between is coolant I was NOT expecting. In a fit of thermal optimization, GM shaped the coolant passage in order to be an even more effective EGR cooler.



Here's a look back toward the waterpump end... Can't tell in the photo, but the center slot has straight line visibility into the water pump volute



Sooo... Oooopsie



I still have my '94 water manifold, so I'm not screwed. I don't think I have another 95-99 part... I'm thinking of seeing if I can snag one on eBay for next weekend... now that I know what I actually need to do.
I also bead blasted the '94 water manifold to get it ready for Cerakote.

I also got the weld-in shells for the my anti-squat forward cradle mounts cut:



And threw my intake manifold into a purple Simple Green soak for the weekend... seems to be very effective



I'm not sure why SImple Green is purple, but Soylent Green is people, so maybe it's not as weird as I think it is.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Northstar water pump bolts: M8x1.25x110 (Qty: 3), M8x1.25x72 (Qty: 4), M8x1.25x35 (Qty: 1). I don't remember which right off, but some of the holes are through and some are blind. Obvs the through holes need sealant on the threads.

ARP has M8x1.25 ARP Stainless bolts in 115, 100, 75, 70 & 35
I guess I need to figure out which holes are through and whether they can take over length bolts or not.

[pmbrunelle]

There is green Simple Green, but I don't think it's aluminium-safe like the purple one.

So far your front cradle mounts don't look very eccentric; what will keep the insides from rotating with respect to the welded shell?

[The Dark Side of Will]

There is green Simple Green, but I don't think it's aluminium-safe like the purple one.

So far your front cradle mounts don't look very eccentric; what will keep the insides from rotating with respect to the welded shell?

I did email the MFG of Simple Green for their recommendation to be nylon-safe for soaking and the pro-HD is what they said to use.

65 ftlbs on a 12mm bolt will keep the guts from rotating
Identical plugs will insert from each end of the shell. They'll squeeze the shell when the bolt is tightened.