The swap was fairly straight forward. I had to rent a cherry-picker because mine was not long enough. $50/day, so I needed to get it done swiftly pull one, swap over intake, accessories and the T5, re-install.
I suffered a few setbacks including the most annoying one: I snapped the nylon oil pressure sensor line
. For something as silly as that, I had to order some parts from USA. That means, I couldn't really drive the car comfortably for 10 days as I worried about the oil pressure.
Speaking of oil pressure it is good; 35 PSI at hot idle and it goes up from there.
I haven't had much opportunity to drive it, but overall it
seems to be a good engine - the
vibration is what bothers me, but I'll get back to that in a minute.
The idle vacuum is 14.5 inches. The EFI idle is good, even when cold. It has some lope to it... but not excessive.
The vacuum is easily strong enough to operate the brakes, headlights and wiper door .
I haven't really dipped into the power yet; I am worried about breaking this T5 that came off of a 1991 Camaro. On the other hand, I read that there are no known cases of breaking first gear, which is where I have my fun
. Dumping the clutch on this is a no-no... but I never plan to do that. I drive like a grandma 95% of the time. I rarely give it beans.
Power seems to be good. Strong in first and second. As I say, I haven't really given it any real onions, but it seems it will burn rubber at will in first and second.
It doesn't like anything under 1500 rpm. Once you dip lower than that you have to shift down. However, it is quite livable, you just have to drive it a little differently; more sporty. I think I may keep the cam as it is - to be honest, this is a sports car, a corvette. I do believe it should be a bit peaky to live up to its namesake.
There is a vibration - not a bad one, mind you. But it is enough to annoy me. It is clearly RPM-related. I don't think it is the rotating assembly.
My guess, is that it is because the T5 shifter base is touching the shifter console bezel and transmitting vibrations from the engine throughout the footwell and seat. This winter I will try raising the console a bit to see if that makes a difference. The vibration feels very "narrow"; not like an issue with the damper or flywheel. Hmmmm.
That, and oddly, two oil pan bolts are leaking
. I have never seen that before...