Never meet your heroes! '86 Grand National

[Jon Early]

I have two days left to get this thing drivable again, and I still have no idea why the narrowband is claiming lean.

I went to check and clean the MAF just in case. I thought I was on to something.

All that nasty stuff is the goo that's used to protect the circuit board ozzing out. Post clean test drive revealed a very stable and reactive measurment, but still running lean. I'll note this oozing MAF and plan to upgrade to an LT1 sensor but for now I don't think it's the problem at hand.

At this point I really don't have time to wait for 600 degree turbos to ccol down before removing the down pipe, so I was just as careful as I could be. I did accidentally graze the header though which was an odd sensation. it was cool to the touch. This ethanol may be doing it's job afterall.

I measured the hole at 1/2" with my small drill set. I don't have a full index or anything larger than 1/2" so I had to Amazon Prime a 33/64" and 17/32" drill bits. I'm pretty confident that 33/64" will do but I'm not taking any chances on wasting another day. While I was at it, I ordered an O2 bung. I need to get my spare wideband into this car and figure out if the narrowband is lying to me. I think the header would be very hot if the pistons were trying to go into meltdown mode.

 

[Jon Early]

To make a long story short the GN did not make it to Bowling Green.

To make a short story long I fought like hell all the way until about 9:00 Monday night. While waiting for Amazon to deliver some things, I started installing a wideband that I yanked from a car I sold last year. I didn't want it visible at all times, so I put it in a nifty little box that I could hide away in the glove box.

Then my drill bits showed up, and I was able to finish the wastegate.

Here goes nothing.

I was scrambling to get this stuff done so I never got a picture of the completed downpipe. When I thought I was in the home stretch, disaster struck. I was completely baffled. I just tried putting the little c-clip back on and the mushroom broke off!

After removing it the rest of the way, I filed the end a little so that you can see better. It looks like it wasn't my fault afterall. There must have been a bubble when Bowling Green Customs had this cast. There's barely anything holding it together!

 

[Jon Early]

I didn't quit though. I pulled the welder back out, buzzed a nub onto it, mini-filed a groove until my hands cramped, then filed some more.

Then I thought I was in the clear again. Nope. The turbo needed two more helicoils.

After all this and screwing up the o2 bung twice, I thought I'd never make it to this point.

I was finally able to go for a test drive. I was really hopeful at this point that I had fixed the fueling issue after finding a bad engine ground or the wideband would at least show me something I hadn't noticed before. I only got the latter. The car was for sure running lean, but it was also running very rich. It was doing that thing where the car falls flat on its face if I hold the throttle wide open for too long. When this happens, the wideband shows the car going so rich that it wants to die. (about 8:1) Finally, I captured this on the Powerlogger too.

I had finally hit the end of my luck. There was no way to get a MAF locally, and I was leaving the next day no matter what. I was thinking about risking it because it was possible that I could find a one at the Nats and my car was able to cruise on the interstate without any issue.

Excited to leave, I started packing a tool bag. When determining which wrench would fit the wastegate arm I learned that my weld was really bad!

So that was it. The car just didn't want to go to KY.

Now that I'm back I have a new attitude towards the car. Before the Nationals I was all about keeping the car relatively stock for ease of service and reliability. As you can see, that hasn't really worked out for me! I ordered an LT1 MAF and translator from Full Throttle, and I bought this thing of beauty in the pits.

This TA downpipe was never used. Supposedly the guy decided he wanted a 4" pipe before the engine even got running. Oh well! I'm still not exactly excited about converting to a remote wastegate, but I know they work better and should give me less grief. At $325, how could I say no? I also found a factory uncut but tarnished turbo shield for $25. Another steal! Given the price and condition I don't mind cutting it up. However, it should clean up pretty nicely with some WD-40 and lots of scuffing. More on that later.

Given that I spent several nights in the garage and my wife took care of the baby almost exclusively while we vacationed in KY, I think it's only fair that I take a break from the car for a while. She's a great wife for putting up with all this. Plus, I don't want want to rush anything. Yes, the engine is going to start getting modified again which I am very excited about, but I want to make sure that I continue to do the car justice. I'll have to build a new cold air intake and brackets for this MAF. The downpipe will also needs to be polished up a little and probably clear coated. We will get to all that once I get the swimming pool set-up and my wife gets a fair break from the baby!