Pizza

Thanks Mike, Shane and John,

John. I was wrong about my fuel pressure. It reads 31# at idle. I disconnected the battery, unplugged the O2 sensor, hooked the battery back up and cranked it up. I let it idle for a while and there was no change. What should full vacuum be at idle? Thanks!

FlyingDog

~30psi with vacuum at idle
36psi without vacuum

bd0nalds0n

I think Derek may have been running rich, too. Is there any chance that these are greater than 30lb injectors? Or maybe the 86.5's don't really like the 30 lb injectors...

John Speake

Hi Pizza
According to my info, the 30# injectors are rated at 42.5psi fuel pressure. So if you use the square law rule for a fuel pressure drop to 31psi, I calculate they "look" like 25.3# injecrtors.

The O2 loop has a control range of +/-25% which means it can cope with something like 23.75# injectors at its limit of range...so basically the O2 loop may not be able to keep thr mixture in range.

Dropping idle pressure would get the mixture within range, but spray pattern and pick up response may suffer. 24# may be the best option.

Pizza

Thanks Matt, Brian and John,

I think I found the problem. The vacuum hose that goes to the auto trans would not hold vacuum. I could hear it leaking somewhere past the bell housing. When I tried to disconnect my Mityvac I ended up with an 18" piece of vacuum hose in my hand. Crap! That should be fun trying to fish a new vacuum hose from the engine to the tranny. I just plugged it for now and I'm putting everything else back together to check my idle and AF meter. Thanks again everybody for all the help. I WILL make it to SITM come hell or high water!

Tony

BTDT..its an easy fix. Just get some of the rubber vac line and snake it down there then run a new line to the tranny. Try and run it away from the exhaust obviously...odds are it may have been leaking anyway due to the loose fit.

bd0nalds0n

I thought a vacuum leak usually creates a lean condition due to the "fast" (unmetered) air...? Unless the lack of vacuum is causing your fuel pressure to be higher on the BEGI (which it doesn't sound like it is, with ~30 psi fuel pressure)...?

Maybe someone can chime in to help me get my tiny brain around this...

Shane

A vacuum leak will cause the stock regulator to up the fuel pressure. When I first rolled up to Heinrichs' to get some help with mine, I had zero vacuum to mine and it was running full rich at the stock reg.

mspiegle

same here... tranny shifted uber-hard until that was fixed

Pizza

I got all the vacuum leaks fixed. I'm reading 20 in hg vacuum at idle. It still has an iractic idle and is running very rich. Whenever I take my foot off of the accelerator while driving it dies. When I took the hoses off that go from the manifold to the pop off valve they had condensation in them. It had a blight blue tint to the water. I'm running windshield washer fluid in my washer tank for the intercooler. When I first start my car a black watery spay shoots out of my exhaust and onto my garage floor. I suspect that my intercooler is leaking into the manifold. UNF_ _ KING BELIEVABLE!!!! What could go wrong next? Might have to cancel my trip to SITM.

Sab

Make sure the throttle cable is adjusted right and closes completely. Mine was just a bit too tight after the install and it caused similar problems. If you change anything, disconnect the battery to let the car readapt. Might be something simple.
Without running the sharktuner and getting a perfect chip for your setup, the car runs too rich at idle and tends to stall coming of high RPM's.

Tony

I wouldnt start the car if you truely think your I/C is leaking internally. Quick and easy way to bend a rod or do other serious damage. Water does not compress.

The black spray could be a result of you running rich and "sooting" up the exhaust. When you first start it will blow it out plus what ever condensation you get inside the exhaust.
Is your I/C resiviour level going down at all...quickly?

bd0nalds0n

Why not drain the intercooler and the reservoir, disconnect the IC pump, and drive it around for a bit to see if drivability improves as a result? It won't hurt to not have the intercooler working for a while--just don't go crazy.

Pizza

Thanks everyone for the replies,

I do have a leaking intercooler. I disconnected the supply and return hoses from the intercooler, blew out all of the fluid and rigged up my air compressor to it. I applied 5 psi air pressure to it and the air bled off very slowly. I then plugged off one of the intercooler lines, put a gauge in the other and applied 10 psi air pressure to the intake manifold. The gauge on the intercooler slowly came up as I applied pressure to the manifold. I then plugged off both ends of the intercooler, disconnected the pump (Thanks Brian) and ran the car without the intercooler. It runs fine. No soot coming from the exhaust, idle is stable and my AF meter is reading high end stoich/ low end rich. I'm going to drive it like this for a few days. If I have time to take everything apart and get the intercooler fixed I will. If not I'm just going to take it easy for now and fix it after SITM. Thanks again to everyone who helped with all of the advice. I couldn't have done it without this message board.

Tony

you can drive it with out the I/C. As said, just dont go crazy with it. So we will see you at SITM!
Post some pics of the manifold I/C set up. Odds are it is leaking where the threaded fitting goes into the I/C and penertrates the "pressurized" part of the manifold. I wasnt too impressed by the "craftsmanship" and the way mine was sent to me. I made for damn sure it wasnt going to leak.
PITA for ya but an easy fix.