Custom Novi install done!!

Well after many months of cursing and throwing tools the Novi 2000 is in the Firebird.

Since Paxton decided to neglect us 3rd gen Camaro Firebird owners when they made the 2000, I decided to do this on my own. Motivated by the need to do this for far less than the cost of a kit, lusting after that rod stiffening whistle, sorry got alittel carried away, hehe.

Made an aluminum mounting bracket, got an FMU and crank pulley from an ATI kit. Automatic tensioner from an 18 wheeler. Certainly the most involved project I have ever undertaken to date. The biggest problem by far was getting the belt properly aligned.

Tonight was the big road test and she passed. Unfortunately since it was raining all day and I had no inspection sticker, I couldn't really give it a full run through. Did make about 6psi at just under 5000rpm. What a vast improvement over stock, even with a VERY conservative prom tune. Just gotta sort out a few small issues, and possibly a big one. The small ones are simple, oil leak on the drain, fmu not quite right.

The big one is a little disturbing. At idle 700rpm, I have an unidentified noise, kind of a metallc groaning, goes away completely by 1500 rpm, also goes away alot if I let out on the clutch and put some load on the engine. If I remove the blower belt it's gone, so it's defiantely blower related. Oil pressure is 40psi at idle so that aint it either. All that really leaves is the blower itself or one of the idler pullies. Anyone have any thoughts, or similar problems? recommendations?

show us some pictures! :)

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Originally posted by MarkA 91Formula

The big one is a little disturbing. At idle 700rpm, I have an unidentified noise, kind of a metallc groaning, goes away completely by 1500 rpm, also goes away alot if I let out on the clutch and put some load on the engine. If I remove the blower belt it's gone, so it's defiantely blower related. Oil pressure is 40psi at idle so that aint it either. All that really leaves is the blower itself or one of the idler pullies. Anyone have any thoughts, or similar problems? recommendations?

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Donor rejction from putting a Ford blower on a GM car:D . J/K :D :D . Have you tried spinning all of the pulleys by hand? You can feel a bad tensioner pulley by how "rough" it feels when your spining it.
Doug

Tomorrow I'll pull the belt and check all the pullies, hopefully it's just a pullie, I'll have plenty of time to check it all out this week since it's supposed to be rain or snow most of the week. I'll try to get some pics up as well.

Make sure that the oil feed to the blower is clear. Pull the nozzel and start the car. It should spray oil all over the place!! At least mine did.
Congrats and lets see some pictures!!!!

Eric

P.S A friend of mine is putting a P1SC on his 96 T-56 equipped Impala SS:)

I installed a Novi 2k on my 1993 Lightning. I built a Bi-Plane type bracket from 1/2" 6061 aluminum. It's similar (in design) to the bracket that Paxton sells for it's renegade set-up.

Pics can be seen on the NLOC forum. Just do a search for 93whitelightning pics! :D

I have the same metallice, scratching kind of sound, but mine's present in the 2000 rpm range. Let us know if you find anything out.

Well I still dont know, got a stethescope and checked everything out, unfortunately it's all mounted to a large piece of aluminum which transfers vibration quite well, sounds the same everywhere I check just cant seem to pipoint the sound. It's getting oil, I know because it was leaking and is now fixed, one prob down 2 to go.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm kinda at a loss here, dont know how to isolate all the components to see whats making the noise. No real way to take out a component at a time, if only the noise were constant, hell anything over 1000rpm and it sounds just peachy, below that and the noise is alot louder than the whistle. I'll see if I can get a recording of the sound tomorrow

Depending on the size of the pulley, too big you may slow the blower down to the poing where it would make kind of a grinding noise, you might want to check the blower pulley to make sure the bolt for the pulley is tight, I was helping a buddy put a blower his chevelle one night, and we couldn't figure this noise out, almost like it was grinding, the pulley was going back and fourth on the blower input shaft... we wrenched down on the pulley a good turn and a half, and problem solved.
good luck.
k.

Well I really dug into it tonight, pulled everything apart, partially disassembled the blower, bearings were smooth as glass, everything looked perfect no signs of anything amiss. I'm leaning towards the problem being the tensioner pulley, it felt a little tight trying to spin the pulley by hand. Pulled the pulley off carefully put it bach together. So I guess we'll wait and see tomorrow, if it wasn't so late I'd roll her out of the garage, but the neighbors dont complain and I try not to give them a reason ;)

I would love to install one in a camaro lt1!!!

I guess that modifying the vortech plate works... it shouldn't be that hard..If I ever get my hands on a novi... I will install it...

I'm surprised paxton doesn't make a s/c for your model car. I know there are more mustangs, but they're turning their backs on a lot of people.

good luck!

Woo Hoo! Fixed the mystery noise! turns out the piece of PVC pipe i was using to angle the air filter for clearance was pushed into the rubber connector too far so it would vibrate on the blower housing. :bonk: always the stupid things. Also verified the FMU is working as well. Next order of business will be the custom water/alky injection setup. I hope to have some pictures soon, need to borrow a camera as mine is dead. Also need some nice weather for a change, old man winter just wont let go, and inch of sleet freezing rain mix in the last 24 hours. :(

Well she's been road tested :santa: Goes like stink untill about 4500 rpm where it starts to backfire out the exhaust something fierce. FMU appears to not be functioning, fuel psi stops at 41, which is where it is stock. If I test it with the mity-vac she works just fine, looks like tomorrow I go over the vac lines with a fine tooth comb. I know it works so it must not be getting proper pressure from the intake. Good thing I modified the chip. All my other scan data reads just about right where it should be.

Will have some pics tomorrow for sure! Got a new digital camera tonight!

if it's backfiring, the FMU may be working too well. Usually backfiring is from too rich of a mixture.

Well it's definately not too rich, the scans indicate it's leaning out and beginning to detonate, and fuel pressure is only 41psi and should be much higher at 6 lbs boost. It kinda threw me too because I thought the same thing at first.

are you using the tbi injection?
6psi and 42 spi should worK!?

Nope the Fmu should be kicking the fuel pressure up to about 60psi at 6 lbs boost. 41 is what I normally see at WOT without the blower. The FMU actually tests out just fine with the Mity-vac, if I apply 6psi to it, my fuel pressure goes up to 61psi. It just wont do it while I'm driving for whatever reason. Gonna go through it tomorrow and find another vac line on the manifold, as it is now it's tee'd off of a tee, off a tee. Everything else works just fine too. If all else fails I do my computer swap earlier than planned.

Heres a pic too, got some tidying up to do but it's at least functional :cool:

oops forgot the pic

I just wanted to congrats on getting your custom set-up running, if for a few minor probs yet. I'm real impressed to see how far and hard you worked to get your baby together. Good luck straightening out your fuel problems.

ah ya! a little pvc never hurt anyone. I used it on my car at one point in time. Glad to see your setup is working out.

Brandon

looks like a L-98 intake, nice set up!!:cool:

Dangit man...That's why I've been a Ford man for so long...

They Squeeze those motors in there.

Much Kudos to you for your hard work.

mark, very nice work you did

Update time, after much BS and misc unrelated problems, she is back up and running again. New and improved with no fmu, 36 lb injectors and the computer from a syclone/typhoon. Revs effortlessly to redline, pushing 10lbs boost at 5500rpm. Just gotta get the new chip dialed in now and we're ready to have some real fun!

What a sleeper, strong platform. Plz post some vids if possible!