TOPIC: '93 Silverado with 5.7 liter TBI Grooved

I did my second groove last night on my daily driver, my 93 silverado with 198k miles on it.

Followed the IAC reroute procedure, and then grooved the tbi ports. I was amazed at how much easier it was to groove than my previous vehicle. I still need to complete the pcv reroute and map sensor reroute, currently just have pcv venting away from the engine towards the ground.

Once again I am amazed at how well the engine responds, and how quiet she is running. But the quiet may be due to the capped vacuum locations and all new gaskets. First day out was on wet roads near 32-34 degrees, not the best day to relearn how to handle the new throttle response but luckily I still have a little weight in the bed.

I will update with mileage when I get through about half a tank, but with everything I have experimented on this truck with the 'Gadgetman Groove' is the best 'seat of your pants' dyno experience i've seen so far. I've tried hho (up to 6 liters per minute), vapor carb, just about any fuel additive out there. This engine has put up with a lot from me, but i'm hearing and feeling better results already with the groove after only one day. I am definitely hooked, and will be looking into regapping the plugs and giving all of my other gaskets the once over in the coming weeks.

Don't ever stop experimenting, sooner or later you'll find something that works and maybe even something you've done in the past could help someone else.



Ken Bittle

Keep it up, Ken!

Everybody in Gadgetman Land is very proud of you and your brothers in the Personal License Program. You are doing everything right, and it is a great pleasure to have you aboard!

Ron

Ken from what you have said so far--

Well if you were a Baseball player, Agents from the Major League Teams would likely be at your door now!

You've really been down some Rabbit Holes alright! HHO, 6LPM...!? Vapor Carbs?

Stuff like that and the Groove gave superior results, eh?

That's almost Exactly what I said to Ron last year...

The Groove Really Works, folks.

Really.

Ya gotta pay some attention to details, be willing to learn some new skills, etc.

Or find a good Gadgetman to do it for you.


Only advice I have for ya Ken 'bout your Chevy truck is connect the PCV hose into a Breather hose or at least into the air cleaner inboard from air filter (that's how I did it on my '74 Dart w/ Slant Six and Super Six intake/ Dutra Duals exhaust, and it's not even Grooved yet!)

That's right the PCV Re-Route in itself is a worthwhile mod IMHO.

Keep swingin', Ken! check your email...

Tracy G

Thank you both for the kind words, i'm very excited to be a part of this technology.

Tracy, I am in process of finishing my pcv re-route this afternoon while i'm changing out a few more gaskets. Might see if I have any connects for the map sensor re-route, don't want to have to buy a new connection because that's usually when you find one in the garage. heh. Throttle body was put on in the morning before work so time was limited.

I have been down a few rabbit holes so to speak but what we know of efficiency in vacuum is the same efficiency you have to apply to all of these technologies. I'll take my camera outside with me today and try to get a few shots of the engine for this thread.

Ken

Re-gapped the spark plugs yesterday to .045" over .035" stock, truck was not happy at anything past .050. Ignition is very stable at .045, I could probably go higher with newer than original coil/distributor but working with what I have for now.

So far highway mileage is up from 17 to 21, I am going to be checking vacuum and rechecking my grooves in the next couple of weeks as I go through some more city driving.

Ken




Overall of my 5.7 liter.

Future Gadgetman Oklahoma here with an update.

Mileage on this vehicle in town was at 16 over the previous 11 for the first couple of tanks and now has dropped back down to 13-14. I am hoping to get a chance to take another look at my groove and see if it needs to be redone and while i'm there maybe i'll change out the intake gaskets.

Everything on this truck is 20 years old so it could be a sensor or two, my vacuum pump will hopefully be in next week so I can check them. Might change out the 12 month old o2 sensor, need to check with my local autozone for parts first.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, if you have run into any issues on these engines that I could watch for.

Hope everyone has a 'Groovy' Weekend.

Ken Bittle

Hey Ken!
You are 100% on the right track, but I don't think the O2 sensor would be an issue if they're only 12 months old.

It is probably in the intake manifold gaskets. Weakened by age and then presented with the enhanced vacuum curve, they probably just gave a little more. I always recommend changing the intake manifold gaskets on any engine with more than 50K. Use the new Aluminum based gaskets by Fel-Pro. They won't break down.

When you vac pump comes in, be sure to check your master cylinder, as these frequently fail to hold much over 5" HG. Take a picture of the area under the master cylinder for me, would you? If there is any sign of brake fluid leakage, then it most certainly is bad.

Great work, though! From 11 to even 14 is a respectable gain!

Ron

PS: These vehicles are easily capable of delivering 19-35 mpg's.

Thank you Ron for the tips, I'll start tearing into the truck tomorrow afternoon hopefully.

And i'd absolutely love to get this thing up over 30 mpg with the groove, with everything else I could add to it 35-40 would be possible I believe. Talk about a rolling advertisement for the groove. At 30 i'd have more business than I could shake a stick at, there are tons of these tbi trucks in the texas and oklahoma panhandles.

I'll take some pictures and update as the process progresses.

Ken

Well I have discovered that I was running on original intake gaskets, apparently they aren't warranted for 200k miles or 20 years. I'll spend an evening or two getting everything cleaned up again and regrooving the tbi, poor thing looks like it was my first ever groove.

This will consume my week and probably most of my saturday, but I took some pictures for everyone to enjoy. And I was getting 18.5 to 19" of vacuum with these gaskets, can't wait to see how much it goes up with the new ones.



RTV gasket at rear of engine, clearly failing. So glad to find this leak finally.






The better of the two gaskets



Top view after removal. Plan on utilizing that extra vacuum port when everything goes back together. Also noticed that I had some fluid in the vacuum port to the brake master cylinder, I was not expecting that.


Stay Groovy!

Ken

Another update on gasket replacement, evening #3. I was spending so much time making sure that my gasket areas were super clean, the question about the rest of the manifold was asked. I am going to be showing off this engine after i'm getting better mileage so I might as well make it worth looking at.



A little elbow grease, some sand-blasting, a little 500 degree engine paint and she cleans up quite well.

Gaskets will start going back on tomorrow night, hopefully the rest of my parts will be in tomorrow so I can finish this thing up by Friday.


Ken

Maybe we were separated at birth, Ken! This sounds so much like me it is SCARY!

You are going to be GREAT!!!

(and so is this job!)

Ron

Thanks Ron!

Hoping to get the gaskets started back on tonight and a regroove on the tbi, so i'll upload some more pictures of that when it happens. Also will be re-routing the EGR and MAP to the spare manifold vacuum port so that if anyone needs to know how that is done they will have a reference.

Ken