Global files loaded, we've got that TPS autoset done, we just want to go over a few things
before we try and start this engine up for the first time.
Think of it kind of like a little check and measure sheet that we want to go over before
we crank this thing over.
I want to make sure that my main battery power and ground are connected straight to the battery
from the ECU, talked about that several times before but it is one of the most important
steps of your installation process.
Take a look at your wiring, take a look at your hoses, fuel lines, make sure that nothing
is going to be in harms way when it comes to high heat or moving sources.
You definitely don't want to start his engine up for the first time and catch some wiring
in that fan, it's not going to be good.
Before we proceed, as a safety measure, I like to disconnect my injector harness, to
make sure that when we're initially cranking the engine over, we're checking a few other
things out, it reduces the risk of the engine potentially starting when we don't want it
to.
We've got that disconnected and I'm going to move on, we're going to check a few things
that pertain to the fuel system, as well as the oxygen sensor in placement, we're going
to go put this thing on the rack and we'll take a look at those next.
So we've got our vehicle up on the rack, at this point we've got our global file loaded
and we've done our TPS autoset, we want to pay some particular attention when we did
our installs as far as our O2 sensor placement's concerned.
Ideally it should be at least 6 to 8 inches back after a merging set of headers, and you
want to have at least 18 to 24 inches of exhaust after the O2 sensor and that helps make sure
that you get a good mix and averages of the gasses of at least 4 cylinders as well as
eliminating any chances of some atmospheric reversions giving you some false readings.
Make sure your using quality hard ware clamps, you don't want to have any exhaust leaks upstream
of the O2 sensor because it can also give you some erroneous readings.
If you've read your instructions and you followed the notifications, including the label that
was on your O2 connector when you opened up the kit, at this point you shouldn't have
that thing plugged in.
It's important to make sure that you program the global file for the right Oxygen sensor
before connecting that O2 otherwise you can damage that thing pretty quickly.
Since we've got our global file loaded, and we've got the right O2 sensor set up, I'm
going to go and I'm going to connect this, go ahead and plug it in and in order to keep
it away from some high temperatures, so many moving parts, I'm going to go over here and
zip tie this thing securely up out of the way to my frame rail.
In order to clean things up a little bit and keep that zip tie from melting on the exhaust
I'm just going to go up here and trim this edge off and clean that installation up.
We also want to check our fuel system, make sure that all of our fuel lines are tight,
check for any potential leaks that you may have, make sure that they're thoroughly away
from high heat as well as any moving components that could cause you some damage.
I think we've got it pretty well wrapped up underneath here, we're going to go back up
top and we're going to check some other things, check our fuel pressure, as well as our return
line pressure and we're about to get this thing fired up.
We've marked off our check sheet on the under carriage, we're going to come back up to the
engine bay and we're going to check a few things.
Some of the things you want to check is going to be your line pressure, as well as something
that's often over looked, we're going to also want to check our return line pressure.
So our regulator's got a gauge port, we've got a gauge that we're going to keep in there
permanently but I've temporarily installed a gauge into my return line.
Ideally your return line pressure should be zero, you really never want that return line
pressure to be more than 4 to 5 PSI.
If you find that you have a high return line pressure, you really need to take a little
bit of time and figure out what's causing that restriction and rectify the situation
before you proceed.
What I'm going to do next is just check for some fuel leaks, I'm going to have a buddy
of mine cycle the key on and off a couple of times, pressurize the system, allow me
to verify my fuel pressures where I want it and also let me double check for some fuel
leaks.
Go ahead and turn that key on for me.
Ok, I'm running right at 60 PSI where I want to be, go ahead and cycle that again.
And my return line pressure is less than 3 PSI, so I'm good to go there.
I don't see any fuel leaks any place, everything seems good and dry.
The next thing we want to do is check the timing before we put a little bit of fire
in this thing, so I'm going to go grab my timing light, we're going to come back and
we're going to check some timing.
Before we go to start the engine it's important that you know that you're timing is correct.
One of the things that you want to do, whether you've got a vehicle that's got ignition or
a vehicle that is set up with a distributor, so you want to make sure that you're not 180
degrees out.
The principle's really the same between the 2, even though we've got an LS application
here, you check it really in the same fashion.
The easiest thing to do is to bring the engine around so that it's close to top dead center
on number one coming up on a compression stroke, and come down and remove your number one spark
plug, lay it off to the side, put your finger down in the hole and you roll the engine over
and make sure you're getting compression on that stroke.
At that point you can make sure that your cam sync is properly aligned as well as at
your rotor's properly aligned for your number one cylinder in your distributor.
Once you've confirmed that, we'll go ahead and put that spark plug back in, we'll get
the plug wire back on it, and we'll check our cranking timing.
We got our spark plug back in number one hole, so we're going to go ahead and check our cranking
timing.
In my software I've got the timing set to 15 degrees, again to make this easy, you get
a bud of your's to help you crank it over.
Before I do so I'm going to go in and I'm going to check, and I'm going to make sure
that the wires from my timing light, my inductive pick up, there's nothing in the way, the accessory
driver or the belt, because again we don't want that stuff getting caught up so.
Alright we can go ahead and see if where we're at on our timing, go ahead and crank it.
Alright we're good, we're right on our 15 degree mark, right where we should be, at
this point I'm going to go ahead and put the injectors back together in the connector.
We've gone through all of our pre-start up checks, I'm going to go ahead and get the
timing light out of the way to reduce any chances again of it getting stuck in the accessory
drive.
We've gone back through everything else, we've checked all of our sensor readings and our
data monitor, we've gone through previously on that, we've made sure all of our sensor
readings are correct, Oxygen sensor is hooked up, we have it programmed properly, we've
checked for fuel leaks, we don't have any, we made sure all our wiring and everything
is away from moving sources, we've checked our timing, we're about ready to start this
thing up.
Sometimes it might be a little bit of an extra step but I'd also recommend, especially with
DIS ignition systems, before you start it the first time, take a couple of minutes and
actually check spark on all 8 cylinders, just make sure you didn't get any of those wires
crossed up, it's easy to do.
If your dealing with an LS engine, as odd as this may seem, make sure you didn't flip-flop
the odd and even harnesses because that will basically make the engine 180 degrees out.
At this point everything seems pretty clear, I'm happy with it, let's go ahead and start
it.
Go ahead and try starting this thing!
Alright we're good to go, time to go do some tuning!
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