What's the next best mod for my S/C combo?

afarkas · 07-22-2002

My car is performing very poorly and erratically considering what's in it.

The car has been running hot so I'm flushing the cooling system and will use something similar to water wetter though this may not be enough.

I may put the stock 19# injectors back in cuz I don't have the patience or cash to wait to troubleshoot the 38#ers. I wont buy a chip and can't afford a $700+ EEC replacement that only a dyno expert can use. I only put these in becasue my car felt like it was running lean at high RPM (it may actually be the stock valve springs going bad?). It sucks that I just bought a calibrated MAF but the car runs WAY worse than with the stock injectors (which the EEC can handle). I was saving the injectors for after I bore/stroke this block to a 331 or more but thought I might need them now. I think I was wrong.

I may actually return the MAF and sell the injectors since I may not get to build my motor for the next couple of years. Since I'll have some cash, what would benefit my combination best or what order would you put these in?

Ignition system? (MSD?)
Boost retard?
Aluminum radiator?
Electric Fan?
Valve spring tuneup (or just wait till I can afford new heads?)
Boost, fuel pressure, temp guages
Gears

Vortex · 07-22-2002

Id say gears next, to get the most out, but you will want increased spark for a S/C. but by all means you dont want to run lean.. so its all kinda important. gears can wait until you get teh car running well, but they help a lot.

97 MGT · 07-22-2002

Sell the blower. Buy SVO heads and a bullit intake manifold. N/A all the way baby!

afarkas · 07-23-2002

Funny comment for the Power Adder forum, "Sell the Blower".

Why sell it? I like being blown. I suggest you try it.

I am dying for gears ( I HATE stock 2.73's) but figured the excessive heat is making my car erratic. What is the best mod for cooling system: electric fan or 3 core aluminum readiator?

I bought iridium plugs (awesome for forced induction) and a 130 amp alternator to make spark more efficient (and it did) but I realize that I desperately need more (ignition system).

Which should I do first? Cooling or ignition?

Any specific radiators, fans and ignition system recommendations for my setup?

Thanks!

Fast1 · 07-23-2002

I'd get the ignition down first mab MSD 6BTM?then get youre cooling issue down.Good al radiator electric fan stuart water pump ect.You ever think about running like 9 psi of boost till you get all the bugs worked out?Just an idea

97 MGT · 07-23-2002

I say get the cooling system in order first. That is always am important factor.
Yeah i was messin around about the "sell the blower" comment. :P
I just say that because that is the route im going. No FI for me. I just dont want to take chance of blowing anything up. For some reason i just dont trust it.

afarkas · 07-23-2002

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, this is definitely a tough call. I'll probably do cooling first, mainly because the car is barely drivable in Colorado summer. I also keep wondering how much power I'm losing to heat.

Yo 97 MGT, you're probably right. While I don't think I'm gonna grenade my car with the S/C, it certainly has been one big pain in the arse

Thanks for the advice on the MSD 6BTM. It looks great though I can probably only afford it on Ebay.

What about valves? My car has high miles (stock heads) and the top end falls flat on its face. Would a valve job be worth it even though I'll probably get Twisted Wedge heads in a year or 2? Could a novice do a valve job? What would I need?

afarkas · 09-01-2002

Just to follow up on this post, the guy who installed the injectors broke the pintle and left the o-ring in cylinder #8 and jammed the new injector on top

With AFM help and some hands on, I found and fixed the drivabilty problems

I also fixed the cooling system by replacing the radiator cap, doing a proper flush and getting a 180 thermostat.

The car still does poor 1/4 miles (for many reasons, not all of them known yet) but the car idles great and has good throttle response now! No Check Engine Light or stalling!

So, thanks for all the help. Now I can keep the 38#'ers which should save me from running lean (for a long while I hope!).

95MGTS · 09-03-2002

So why don't you want to dyno-tune? My tune/chip cost a total of $500, a bit on the expensive side if money is an issue. The extra 40rwhp/20rwtq that I gained was nice but the most important thing was the drivability. Before the tune, my car died at idle, bucked during acceleartion, backfired, ran extremely rich (no matter how much I played with the fuel pressure), and was a general pain in the ass. The dyno-tune solved all those problems and I'm running with a relatively safe tune. At least you solved some of your problems but even just a dyno measuring your air-fuel will let you know where you stand to help you in your tuning. Good luck.

afarkas · 09-03-2002

Quote:

So why don't you want to dyno-tune? My tune/chip cost a total of $500

Well, basically I do, but there are SO many other things I want, I'm having a big problem prioritizing.

Bottom line is that I know I'm going to be making constant changes for the next couple of years. If I dyno today and have a chip burned, any changes I make tomorrow may defeat the chip. As I understand it, the answer to this is to get a PMS ($900?) so that I can just go back to the dyno ($$$) for more fine tuning.

I just don't have that kind of money especially when I still have stock gears, tranny, and long block with high mileage and crave a stroker motor w/ great head/intake combo, gears and a strong tranny.

Frankly, I am going about my mods completely backwards (S/C on a high mileage motor to start - no guages, no aftermarket cooling and only a recent ignition install) and I'm trying to steer myself to a useful path. Right now, I have 3.73 kit sitting on my floor and I can't afford to have them installed yet, but if I sold my 38# w/ MAF, I could get them installed and have a few bucks left to play with.

I really thought that I was needing injectors, but in fact, I think I'm just not ready for them. If I put the 19# w/ stock MAF back in, the EEC will be happy. I dyno'd at 302RWHP at 6000' with stock injectors/FMU. My car is slower with the 38# (though I'm sure a dyno and chip would fix that) but I could SURE USE SOME 3.73

JUSTNLX · 09-03-2002

I have a question or two.

Does it miss and pop at higher rpm's?

What is your plug gap?

Blowers and turbos tend to blow out the spark at higher rpm's. They need to be gapped around 30-35 plus one range cooler

afarkas · 09-04-2002

Quote:

Does it miss and pop at higher rpm's?

It does often fall flat on it's face at high RPM's, especially in 3rd gear.
Also, I just installed an MSD 6 but she actually hesitates or hiccups repeatedly from like 3500 on up

so I don't know what's going on there. I'm gonna recheck the power and ground on my install and maybe ask MSD for a quick answer before I return it.

Quote:

What is your plug gap?

I'm not exactly sure but they are iridium plugs, one step cooler than stock. Iridium is awesome with forced induction. I think it is like an ignition system upgrade in itself, but probably is still not enough.

So, hopefully I get the MSD working and it helps solve a lingering problem.

I'm still finding big mistakes made by previous mechanics. The latest is a PCV drain hose routed to the fender well where the air filter is

So, in effect, oil was being dumped onto the air filter and was being blown through the intercooler

I've cleaned the air filter and as much as I could and (re)gained some lost power.

Boy, if ya want something done right, do it yourself!

JUSTNLX · 09-04-2002

I would check your plug gap right away. You could be blowing out the spark even with the MSD