Help me tune this car!!

[REGL8R]

Hey everyone, I have just finished restoring my Turbo T. The problem is I have spent more money then I expected to get it finsished so I have to wait for a scan tool from santa.

The car has stock rebuilt block w/ a 214/214 cam, iron ported heads, ta-49, stock intercooler(powerstroke soon), 42.5 lb fuel injectors,poston headers w/ 3" THDP and flowmaster exhaust, and custom chip. The car is running very well in my opinion for normal street driving, but problems occur when I get on it my knock sensor goes crazy. This is only at 12 lbs of boost!! At first I thought it was the intercooler but it is in decent shape with no leaks and this is only 12 lbs of boost here. There is a slight ticking noise coming from around the headers/crossover but could also be valvetrain because none of the tests I can pinpoint a leak.

Now if anyone in the chicagoland area w/ a scan tool could be a HUGE help and help me get this car tuned it would be greatly appreciated and I would compensate for any troubles. By the way I am in the northwest suburbs.

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

 

[turbowidow]

getting pretty cold in these parts, you have a place to work on it? do you have any more info; stock MAF?, do you have motor tied down?, stock or adj fuel regulator/ fuel pressure settings? sounds like you have exhaust leak, i feel your pain, spent the last month ruling this out on my car. i wonder if an exhaust leak was severe enough, would it "set off" knock sensor?

 

[cathan]

Hello:

I sympathize because I have had knock at low boost before as well. Could be inadequate fuel system....adj. regulator, fuel pressure gauge, hot wire and better fuel pump were the first things I did to mine....I also had severe retard when my downpipe had come loose and was banging.Have also heard it can be from weak motor mounts.

I use a a scanmaster and at 13 psi I regularly see a 1-3 degrees retard only on shifts under heavy load. This is with 93 octane gas which is (gasp) hard to find here. When I have to get the lousy 91 octane, It gets worse, sometimes 5-6 degrees. With race gas the retard goes away, even with 18-20 lbs of boost.

Hope this helps...and Santa gives you a scan tool!

 

[REGL8R]

Ya I have plenty of room to work in a garage, its funny you mentioned a tie down strap because my eye bolt broke and has yet to be replaced, so I'll do that. Motor mounts is a possibilty, looked to be in decent shape w/ the motor out but not great. By the way, I do have an adjustable wastgate and fpr set at 43-44 psi.

 

[turbowidow]

sounds like dp might be hitting somewhere at wot. do you have dedicated fuel pressure gauge? if so, what are readings at wot, does gauge "flutter" or does it stay steady? what kind of fuel pump and how old? put some race gas or xylene/pump gas mix in car and try it again. still want to know about your MAF ( that was a HUGE problem with my car: light load/cruising semmed ok, put the boost to it and car would stumble, miss, tons of knock signals). does car seem a little slow to spool up? might be a little hard to get car out in the next couple days with this weather!

 

[salvageV6]

A forged eyebolt from McMaster-Carr will hold up longer with the strap.

A poly mount from HR Parts will eliminate the need for the strap completely.

 

[REGL8R]

Looks like this weekend is actually going to be some pretty nice weather. MAF could be another possibility, I never get on it enough to tell if its misfiring but the car seems to have to idle modes where it sounds one way for about a minute or so then changes. Also, when I let off the gas at a higher RPM the rpms drop to the point where the engine is not heard and then it pops back up to idle.

The fuel pump is hot wired and my fuel pressure gauge is mounted under the hood. Is there anyway to test out or tell if a MAF has gone bad.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[turbowidow]

this is starting to get good. TONS of info on this this board about MAF testing(do a search on maf and get comfortable). only test i know of without scan tool is to unplug maf sensor while running and see if car idles better or worse(this WILL set off check engine light, DO NOT GET HEAVY ON THE GO PEDAL- just checking idle quality here). did you remove engine when you restored/modded your t-type? have you checked ALL your grounds? are you using factory tach? WHAT MAF ARE YOU USING( original, aftermarket stock, translator/+) what chip and by who? real good idea to get that fuel pressure gauge where you can see it while driving.... i hooked up a/c hose to fuel rail and routed hose to windshield with gauge attached while i was troubleshooting my car.

 

[REGL8R]

Just unplugged the MAF while car was running, idle did not change much really. By the way its a stock MAF. I did remove the engine from the car however I beleive my ground are OK because I was have some voltage drop problems that were caused by a bad alternator and ground wire from battery which were replaced. As I said earlier the RPMs (autometer tach) would drop below idle. When I had volt probs the car would often stall when I would let off the gas and the RPMs would drop that low but now it has enough juice to stay alive. I tried picking up a stock MAF but no one has them in stock so I can not see if thats the problem and I hope it is.

 

[2QWIK4U]

I've had the same problem.When I still had race gas in my car no kr up to 18-19lbs.Had to put some "93" in it and almost instantly started seeimg kr at 12-13 psi with the same street chip with only 20 degrees of timing.No matter what "93" I used Amoco/BP,Exxon,Texaco,etc. The same results.Put race gas back in it and all is well now!!!

 

[turbowidow]

not trying to send you on any "goose chases", just tied up this weekend and trying to help out so you can enjoy this weekend. did you search this site for maf problems? can't remember off hand but isn't idle suppost to change alot if maf is good. mine would idle better unhooked then would die when i plugged it back in. did you get motor tie down bolt fixed? how are you monitoring knock? did you check grounds at the back of motor? problem could be as easy as dp hitting somewhere- any signs of hitting on dp or areas around dp? did idle go up or smooth out at all when you unhooked maf. starting to wonder about vac leaks after maf, do you have vac gauge handy? if i understand you correctly: car idling ok( 800-900 rpm & steady), when driving part throttle car runs fine, when wot car is fine until 12# boost then knock sensor goes crazy, when you let off the gas pedal the tach drops to zero and you can't hear the motor then tach goes back up to idle point and car is still running. no codes, dim lights, dead gauges? have you set TPS(you can do this with volt meter- do a search, got spoiled with scanner and can't remember the wires to check).