LT1 Relocate Move Coil / Ignition Control Module + new Thermal Paste ICM Caprice Impala Upgrade Mod
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- I have seen people put washers but I figured why not put it even further away? I figure it should be an upgrade as it will keep it much cooler but I will see how it goes.
Hope it works better for you. Watching 👀..
Dude, I just moved my ICM to the bracket located above head on that pained bracket that is hidden under home plate. I'm not sure if that is a bad Idea. But I am going to take a thermal camera to it after I drive it 25 miles this morning. The ICMs are dying like crazy this summer. I think the factory ICM are hitting end of life. The new ICMs can't take the high temps like the old ones. I have 2 spare ICMs in my glove box. I have 4.3L V8 1994 Caprice that was made for Cops. This car was manufactured in Ontario Canada for a detective.
**SUMMARY**: To sum it all up: I had to add more aluminum to the heatsink of the ICM and mount that sucker to that black bracket that exists near the throttle which is somewhat under the homeplate and beside the wire harness; its the only place I could find without cutting the ICM plug and butt splicing on a new cable. I did not want to cut wire. The ICM was 140F to 160F sitting in the new spot. When the ICM was sitting on the heat block, I was getting 190F to 225F. That is a huge difference in chip temperatures.
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I just got back -- I took a infrared video of the heat coming off that engine head where the bracket is located. It was getting temps from head of 190F-260F; I would get 190-220F on the engine head while the motor was running. I literally got 260F when the motor was off (probably because coolant wasn't circulating). That side exhaust manifold measured 523F-612F at the collar where the exhaust manifold heat shielding intersects with the pipe.
My infrared didn't measure the heat coming off air, but I felt the hottest breeze of air coming off that manifold. It was the same type of heat you get when you open a oven door at 450F when you finish a "oven cleaning" cycle; really f'in hot. Its 101F in my area today. That heat soak breeze is most definitely kicking that ICM's butt when it sits right there on the head. I move that crap to the top.
All that heat was killing my brand new GM ICM; I think I still need another one because it might be damaged. I put some 1/2inch space between the head the coil bracket. My coil only got 160F while on the bracket with the spacer; remember, I took the ICM off the Ignition Coil bracket. What the heck made the GM Engineers put that bracket right there on the hottest part of the engine. My engine's thermometer is 180F.
I put the ICM on a the original aluminum heat sink and I added another layer of a computer CPU heatsink aluminum. I have some metal shears to take off the CPU radiator fins. I was left with a 1/4 thick of aluminum thats 4 inches by 4 inches. I used M4 CPU paste and the tube ran out. I then use Artic Silver 5. The CPU heatsink was hotter than the ICM aluminum heatsink. I made an aluminum bracket from a 1/8 thick aluminum sheet. You can bend aluminum with you man hands and gloves. I drilled a 1/4 hole. Your hole is probably a 1/4 hole too for the bracket (that black bracket on top that is sitting near the throttle). The original heatsink comes with m3.5 x 0.6 (pitch) screws that thread into the coil bracket. I went to Lowes and bought a 6-32 Tap and Drill set and made some holes so I can hold my frankenstein stack of aluminum together (because it will no longer sit on the coil bracket). I originally bought a 3.5 x 0.6 (pitch) tap and screw, but the seller sent the wrong one. Any the 6-32 screws were better because they are readily available at Lowes and HomeDepot. It took me about a day to think/design a new bracket+heatsink for the ICM. I suggest you add more aluminum to it.
The new batch of ICMs are dying when they get 190F and over. They stutter for about 3 days of abuse, but by day 4, they just won't crank. I am now kind of assuming that even the GM parts are made in China. I also do computer repair and we see this type of heat failure with Chinesium in computer parts, when they use low melt solder. I repair alot of different embedded and device things. I am guessing they use a solder that is melting around 250F, which is just enough to make it flow over a exposure time of 3 days or so. Something is making even the Genuine GM parts fail when they get hot. The old 1990s ICMs could take the heat over a long exposure of ~40 years.
I am so tempted to de-lid my original ICM and look at connections. But I need to study first. I am wondering if I can repair them. But I see a UV hole, that I usually see with EEPROMs for flipping the bits to zero: UV programming. I might have to do it in a dark room.
-- These comments are here for posterity and made on 2024-July-14 at 3:40 PM Eastern Standard Time.