Project "Fiat V-Spec" (page 7) |
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The end is
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- - - 1/28/04 - - - Status: The PCV valve (see page 7) changed nothing. The smoke is now gone, all of it was caused by a combination of fuel over a year old and running WAY too rich. We put in 5 gallons of new fuel and ran that through the system, and Ron installed a variable pressure fuel regulator and dialed it down to lean it out. After running it this way the smoke cleared then...completely went away! The car now runs and drives, albeit still exceedingly rich. It's fattens up too much to give it wide open throttle, and it fouls plugs too fast to reliably drive it anywhere, although Ron has probably put a mile or so on the car in several very short trips. Ron used the factory service manual and checked each reading at the ECU vs factory spec, and every one of them was in spec. We called Jim Wolf Technology and confirmed we had the correct ECU by reading the numbers on the EEPROM. The injectors were new in box and it's extremely unlikely we have bigger than 555cc injectors. We tried to think what was different from this TT compared to how it is in the '90-'96 300ZXTT's. Distance from MAF to turbo is very different - probably 3-4ft different, so we tried adding 4ft but this had no effect. Jim Wolf recommends a modification to the idle circuit (information not available when we bought the "Dual POP" kit over a year ago). I will try that modification and see what we end up with. Here's what it SOUNDS like (.WAV file) - - - 2/05/04 - - - After installing a idle/low speed "kit"
the idle is now pretty smooth. We (yes I actually went for a ride this time
while Ron drove) took the car out for a short spin (700ft maybe), it worked real well and pulled pretty hard even from lower
RPM's. We then removed the makeshift variable pressure fuel regulator and put in the factory one, as well as removing other temporary
troubleshooting stuff. We took the car out again..and it runs like crap! The only thing different was the vacuum reading at idle. With the
makeshift regulator it reads 12-13in, and with the factory regulator it reads 18-19in! This makes no sense - 1) why would the car run WORSE while
reading more vacuum and 2) why would changing a fuel regulator change the vacuum reading? - - - 2/06/04 - - - The remaining list for those keeping score at home:
- - - 2/07/04 - - - I installed the filter for the idle bypass, and then I couldn't take it any longer, I had to drive the car. More on that in a minute. I pulled the car back into the garage to finish up the other stuff, and the next thing was to change the oil to synthetic. The original oil I put in to "break the car in" put in 4qts as well as filling the oil filter before installing it which was made easier because the oil filter is mounted vertically. When I tried to check the oil, the dipstick was very difficult to get out - in fact I tried for just a minute and then decided since it was being difficult I'd just worry about getting the car running and then worry about that when it came time to put the expensive stuff in. I wasn't worried because the manual says it holds something like 4.25Qt anyhow. Well...I drained the oil, and before putting the expensive stuff in I decided to see what the dipstick looked like. I tried to get the dipstick out, and it would hardly budge! I used vice-grips and I got the dipstick out about 4" and there it stuck! Knowing this dipstick is basically a stiff cable with a piece on the end for reading the oil level, I decided not to use all my effort to get it out because if that piece on the end came off the cable....well let's just say I don't want to go down that road. So currently I am stuck until I can figure out what to do next! The good news of the day is I finally drove the car myself! Since we hadn't yet driven the car when the coolant was up to running temp I was still a little paranoid on how it'd run once fully warmed up. I needn't have worried. I pulled out into my street and gave it a little juice and it ran clean and smooth. I made a couple "laps" down the street - there's a school about 7 houses down that makes for a nice turn around - and everything felt ok. I came back to the house and checked for anything amiss and all looked good. I then took it around the block as the street behind my house is next to a railroad and a little more conducive to small test runs. At about 10mph I put it in 2nd and gave it maybe 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, oh man it pulls strong. I make another casual lap and circle around to this road again. This time I put it in 3rd at about 15mph and gave it probably just over 3/4 throttle. Even here lag is minimal any by probably 30MPH things are starting to happen pretty quick! The tires grabbed much better this day than on the 5th and the car felt really good, and this is without full throttle and the boost turned way down! When this thing is sorted it is going to be a helluva exciting ride, and I'm very happy at how flexible the power band is. Now if I can just exorcise the bugs out of this thing!
- - - 2/12/04 - - - I found out that with the Nissan "VG" series of V-6's that having the dipstick in the engine while installing the oil pan will result in the situation I have, it turns out I am not the only one to have created more work for myself in this fashion. ** NOTE TO FELLOW VG USERS - IF YOU REMOVE THE OIL PAN LEAVE THE DIPSTICK OUT UNTIL THE PAN IS BACK ON **. Anyhow, I decided to see if I could drop the front suspension and remove the oil pan that way. It turns out I an and it's not too difficult. After supporting the transmission and the front of the engine the only real sequence is remove the front swaybar first because this allows easy access to the bolt that holds the u-joint assembly from the steering rod to the rack. Everything else can be loosened in any sequence. I only have about an hour to work on it, but I managed to get the crossmember dropped, the oil pan off, and the 1 second dipstick removal. Next is clean the sealing surfaces and button everything back up - this should be done by tomorrow night. - - - 2/14/04 - - - The car is buttoned up and ready to go! With the boost controller off we first drove it around the block and came back and checked everything. Everything looks great. There were a couple people over at my house by the time I was ready to drive it, so I gave each of them a short trip around the block. I then gave it it's "first official drive" and drove 3 miles to a friends house. He wasn't home, but on the way back I decided to see if the boost controller actually worked, so I turned on the controller and set it to HIGH. I took off gingerly, shifted to 2nd and gave it the boot. I backed off as the gauge got past 10PSI so yep, it works! Later that evening I ended up giving four people a ride (including my two sons). Each of them got to feel the power at 6psi then I'd turn on the controller and let it rip to 15PSI in just one gear (no tach yet and no blow off valves so I want to be careful yet). The difference between 6PSI and 15 PSI is simply incredible!! Around 9-10PSI under full throttle it simply takes off - I know, as if the 6psi/270hp setting is slow, right? - with wheel spin being an issue by the time it's past 12PSI especially this night as the roads were damp, and this is at about 45mph in 3rd! I will be gone the week of the 16th but hopefully when I come back it will be dry and I can get a couple of high boost, dry pavement runs. Also my wife Sara is ready for her first ride :-) |
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