Author Archives: bowtie6

Ecotec Intake Manifold Upgrade

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Been a long time since I’ve done any work on bowtie6.  This little car is just like a trusted Timex watch – it takes a beating and keeps on ticking.  This weekend I installed an upgrade:  the other day, I came across a vendor that offered a phenolic intake spacer for the Ecotec.  The advantage of a phenolic spacer is to help reduce heat transfer from the head into the intake manifold.

The intake manifold my cousin Jim made when we installed the Ecotec in bowtie6 is all aluminum (in case you want to know more about it, here is the link to a previous article with details about the custom intake).  We did this because the original composite intake from the Solstice was just too large and would not fit because the steering shaft lives where the factory intake is attached to the head.

You can see the intake in today’s featured image above, and as you can imagine it gets a bit warm.  I suppose the amount of time air hangs around the intake manifold is minimal, but any improvement would be helpful.  So, I sent the $99 plus shipping for the phenolic spacer and a couple of days later, one of the brown trucks delivered this:

The phenolic spacer matches perfectly the GM intake manifold plate Jim used to build the custom intake and is exactly 1/4 inch wide.  The “kit” comes with new gaskets and several replacement bolts.  Sadly the bolts did not fit the head of the LE5.  When I trial fitted all this, I noticed the factory bolts were about 1/4 inch too short (duh!), so I had to go find replacements.  Fortunately the local NAPA store not far from home had them in stainless, no less.  Torque settings on these bolts is not high, so the NAPA bolts worked just fine.  Not bad for $8 and change.

Taking the bolts out was a job!  There is just no room.  But, with a little patience and a few curse words, the manifold finally came out.  I remember I had used RTV on the original metal gasket and was left with quite a bit to clean up.  This is the intake manifold minutes after I had removed it.

And here we have the other side.  I had to remove the valve cover breather hose and the coolant hose.  You can also see the alternator is still bolted to the block (more on this later).After a little elbow grease, the head and the intake came clean.  From the mess in the the photos above, we have this:

Remember I mentioned the alternator being mounted?  Well, after trial fitting the whole affair, I found there was no way in hell the bottom bolts could be reached without dropping the alternator.  Here is what the phenolic spacer looks like in its new residence…

And here is a closeup…

I had to mark the spacer with “block side” and “intake side” so I could line up the new gaskets in the right direction.  Yes, they have a “side” – you can see that in the first picture above.

Then, the fun part:  getting it all back together.  As I mentioned the new bolts are about 1/4 longer, so it took some fiddling to get them lined up just right.  I had to pay close attention to the gasket orientation and used a bit of gasket adhesive on the gasket face next to the block and intake.  I left the faces that come in contact with the phenolic spacer dry because I did not want to risk damaging the phenolic material with the gasket adhesive material.

All that hard work, and you can’t even see the spacer!  So much of bowtie6 is like this too.

And so, it is time to start the engine and go for a ride.  But, we can’t have a good automotive project without the proverbial “oh shit” moment…

  • gaskets lined up – check –
  • bolts all accounted for – check –
  • no extra parts (yeah!) – check –
  • wiring connectors plugged up – check –
  • alternator properly bolted – check –
  • serpentine belt on – check –
  • engine coolant hose – check –
  • valve breather hose – check –

Get the keys, jump in and hit the ignition button.  Nothing.  Engine turned and turned, no fire.  Strong smell of fuel.

Damn!

I retrace steps.  Had to be something simple.  Turns out the plug for the injector harness is the exact same size as the one for the electronic throttle body.  I had them switched.  No wonder.  After swapping the electrical connectors, I tried to start the engine again.  This time, a cloud of smoke came out the exhaust – she was pretty flooded so I decided to let the engine idle for a few minutes.

Finally, backed the car up and went for a short drive.  I noticed no seat-of-the-pants improvement, but I did touch the intake when I returned and it felt much cooler.  I have no idea if all this is going to make a difference but there is no big investment here.  And yes, I would agree if you say that heat will still make it into the intake just by heat transferring through the bolts.

We shall see how this little experiment goes…

 

My Honda S2000, Six Years Later…

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I’ve owned my 2003 Honda S2000 for six years now.  Hard to believe it actually.  I remember six years ago in April of 2012 when I drove to Russellville, Kentucky to make the purchase from the estate of its former owner.  You can click HERE to see the post I made, with details from when I made the trip to pick the car up.

One of the blogs I read regularly and highly recommend belongs to a fellow car enthusiast like me.  His name is Tyson and he has a thing for Acuras.  His blog is named drivetofive – as in drive to 500,000 miles!  I thought about him when I started putting this post together because Tyson documents how many miles he logs on his fleet of breathtaking Acuras.  And yes, he is lucky enough to own the Holy Grail:  an Acura NSX.  So Tyson if you are reading, take a look at this:

Yes, that is a picture of the dash of my 2003 Honda S2000 taken this past Friday, April 6, 2018.  The S2K had a milestone:  the sweet sixteen!  Doing the math, I’ve owned this car for six years, and have put just a tad over 11,000 miles on it.

Even though this car is 15 years old, I get looks and comments as if she had rolled out the dealership recently.  I have gone out of my way to keep this thing as clean as possible.  Matter of fact, I can’t say I’ve ever driven this car in the rain during the past six years.

The first major purchase for the S2000 was a new set of BF Goodrich summer-only tires.  Well, I need to get a new set of rears because 11,000 miles later, they are down to the wear markers.  I’m not surprised.  From my research the S2000 is similar to Tyson’s NSX in that the rear tires wear prematurely in exchange for optimal handling.

And so, there you have it.  My 2003 S2000 has been an amazing car.  It has its shortcomings in the torque department but what a joy it is to drive with the top down, revving up to the 9000 rpm redline.  This thing has F1 DNA.

Expenses have been negligible.  Other than the previously mentioned BFG’s, all I have done is replace fluids and filters. And, oh yes, I did buy a titanium factory shift knob and the factory front air dam and rear spoiler.  Honda (ahem, Acura) dependability I suppose!  😉

 

New Set of Tires for My 2014 Camaro 2SS

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BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S

So the factory Pirelli P-Zeros finally gave up the ghost – time for a new set of tires for my 2014 Camaro 2SS.  The TireRack is my favorite tire supplier and I used their website to see what’s available…

Given the Camaro is my daily driver and it won’t be tracked, I made the decision to view all options on what tire choice to make.  You see, the P-Zeros are summer-only and given the temps fall below freezing here in the Upstate of South Carolina, I decided to buy a set of “ultra high-performance all-season” tires.  BF Goodrich G-Force Comp-2 A/S fit the bill.

I’ve purchased BF Goodrich tires in the past with good results.  Specifically my Honda S2000 is wearing a set of the summer-only version Comp2’s (you can read about it here). The S2K is a garage queen and seldom (if ever) has been out in anything that would remotely be called “bad-weather”, so the summer-only tires is not an issue.

I made a few calls to find a place that would mount and balance the new tires.  I was quoted several prices and settled on Costco:  they told me they would do the work for $15 each.  After locating the proper locations for the jack stands I lowered the Camaro and eventually got the tires over to Costco.  About 3 hours later, I had them back.

Several things I realized:

  • They boys at Costco don’t have a clue how to read a tire pressure gauge:  I had four freshly mounted tires with four different tire pressure readings!.
  • The rear tires are w-i-d-e!!  275/40ZR 20’s are huge.
  • The rear tires are h-e-a-v-y!!  Came close to giving birth to my colon lifting these things.

It is way too early to tell anything – hell I only have about a week so far on these tires.  I barely have scuffed them but they are very quiet and the car feels sure-footed once again.  I haven’t pushed them yet but so far I am very pleased.

And finally…  I found this:

This is the brake cooling duct mount.  Turns out the 2014/15 Z28’s came (from the factory) with a duct mounted in this area that enables cool air routed into the front rotors.  Pretty nifty.  I checked on this – the kit is not too expensive.  The kicker is the install:  it requires removal of both front fender liners as well as the entire front fascia.

I think I’ll pass.

New tire mileage…

 

2017 Mileage Roundup

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Time for the 2017 mileage roundup for the fleet.  I started this type entry a year ago when I summarized the mileage totals to start collecting history on mileage traveled.  I made it a point after acquiring RedRock to create an account at Fuelly.com and then installed the app on my iPhone.  With a little discipline, I’ve recorded every fuel-up and the results are interesting.  The website provides a yearly totals view and that is where these screenshots came from…

Here is my 2017 mileage roundup:

Totals for: RedRock

Totals for: S2000

Totals for: bowtie6

Comparing to the totals from last year, I must drive MORE!!!

Finally, like I did last year, here is a gallery of the three dashboards taken on New Year’s day, 2018.

Note:

This might be one of the few times I post a picture of the mileage on bowtie6.  It shows 23,519 miles and this is a bit misleading (adding this as a reminder to myself too!):

  • I’ve driven my 1972 TR6 for 23,159 miles since I put it on the road after the full restoration.
  • The first engine – a 3.4L V6 from a Camaro –  ran for 14,513 miles.  That is when we discovered an irreparable frame failure with stress cracks and my cousin Jim built the new frame from scratch.
  • The 2.4L Ecotec engine/gearbox came from a Pontiac Solstice with only 8 miles on the odometer.  This powertrain was then installed in a new frame built at Jim’s shop.  On October 15th, 2011, bowtie6 left Jim’s shop and has been a hoot to drive.
  • The new Ecotec powertrain has 8,998 miles so far.

 

Chevrolet Volt Fuel Stats

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2013 Chevrolet Volt

My friend Lee purchased this 2013 Chevrolet Volt about 2 years ago.  Lee’s goal from the beginning was to achieve as much efficiency as could be obtained by driving as smooth as possible (more on this later, see below).  He has made it a priority to avoid gas stations!!

I’ve read much about hybrids and from my research there is a mind-shift one must make to meet the highest level of efficiency.  For yours truly, this would certainly be a steep learning curve but I digress.  Back to Lee’s Volt and the subject of this story.

You see, this week Lee texted me the following pair of photos when he filled the Volt’s tank with regular unleaded for only the third time since he bought the car!!  

Mileage since last fill up

This is the first photo of the Volt’s dashboard.  It shows mileage since the last fill up.  Lee explained he only resets the “B” odometer every time he fills up with fuel.  And here is the follow-up on the note in the first paragraph:  notice the indicator with the ball framed between the two brackets on the right of the picture.  Lee explained that is the indicator that helps you drive as efficient as possible:  the goal is the keep the ball in the middle the majority of the time.

Mileage since purchase

And this photo shows the “A” odometer, displaying total mileage since Lee purchased the 2013 Volt.  15,734 miles on exactly 23 gallons.

How the 23 gallons were used is an interesting story in itself.  Once the batteries are exhausted, the 4 cylinder engine kicks in and generates power to replenish the batteries.  During winter months, the engine helps provide heat and during summer months the engine provides help cooling the car.  The Volt’s computer also engages the engine when it “needs to run”.  On several occasions Lee has told me of the indicator that reminds the driver of this.  Pretty cool, huh?

Finally one of the neatest stories Lee has shared was shortly after purchasing the Volt.  You see, he bought the car in Asheville NC and drove around town a bit on electric power.  Then, on the way back to Greenville SC, the steep drive down I-26 provided enough braking (energy recovery) to recharge the battery almost to capacity.  Pretty cool stuff…

Needless to say, driving a Volt takes discipline.  Lee has proven with these results that a hybrid car is a very practical and real alternative.  I am a big offender because my Camaro is the complete opposite to the Volt.  It is downright embarrassing:  Lee has owned his Volt for almost 2 years and has filled up 3 times.  I have owned my Camaro 2 years (on the 10th of December) and I have filled up 70 times to travel almost the same distance.  Granted, we are missing the electric part of the cost of ownership but I think these stats are remarkable.

Thoughts?  Comments?