Well okay, I might have lied a little bit, it's still the same 85 GN ive had for a few years now, but I got it running for the first time in a year or so today, and compared to how it used to drive, it might as well be a new car.
Some of you have been following my issues getting the car back together this summer (and providing a LOT of help for which I am very grateful). As a synopsis for those who haven't been, I started off thinking I had a head gasket leak (was overheating/losing a little coolant and had low compression on cylinder #1). After pulling the heads it turns out I had torched that piston and scraped up the bore. I got a good used stock piston (again, THANK YOU Jerryl) and new rings and bearings, gave the cylinder a quick hone and threw it all back together.
Obviously fixing that bad cylinder helped a lot as far as the car driving so much better, but its got to be more than that. While I had the motor half apart I replaced/repaired a lot of the engine wiring harness (previous owner had left it a mess), put in a set of new 42.5# injectors and matching chip from TT, had my headers welded up (cracks were so bad you could see daylight through some of them), added a 2.5" ATR SS downpipe, had my heads reconditioned (new seals, valve job, decking, and a tiny bit o' port work) and replaced some sensors that i know were either completely broken (knock) or getting there (o2). Theres more stuff I did, I'm sure, but I cant think of it all right now. Oh, and I also replaced my cat with a test pipe (the matrix inside the cat had crumbled and broken and I'm sure was causing a huge restriction).
Needless to say, the combination of all that has made my car drive like a different animal. I just drove it around the neighborhood today, so didn't get any solid numbers or really get on it more than a few times, but its drastic compared to how it was before, even at its best before the cylinder went south. Over the next week I need to do a little tweaking and adjusting (I'm pretty sure I'm running a bit rich judging by the 02s my SM shows, but I have no idea where my fuel pressure it at since I haven't gotten my gauge back from a friend yet) and hopefully get it dialed in nicely.
As far the semi-half-assed cylinder recondition i had to do, it apparently worked just fine, the rings seem to have seated jsut fine already (no smoke or anything else) and I've got good compression on the cylinder.
I just wanted to let all you guys out there who have helped me out with the endless questions this summer know how it all turned out, and how much appreciate all the assistance. I literally could not have done this without this board. I forgot how much fun it is to drive around in that car with the T-Tops off hearing the turbo spool, and I have you guys to thank for that.
When I get the car dialed in and running perfect I plan to take it to the local 1/8 mile track and see what she does (I went a few times before when I fist got the car, so I have some baseline numbers to compare to). I'll of course let y'all know how that goes.
Happy spooling
Some of you have been following my issues getting the car back together this summer (and providing a LOT of help for which I am very grateful). As a synopsis for those who haven't been, I started off thinking I had a head gasket leak (was overheating/losing a little coolant and had low compression on cylinder #1). After pulling the heads it turns out I had torched that piston and scraped up the bore. I got a good used stock piston (again, THANK YOU Jerryl) and new rings and bearings, gave the cylinder a quick hone and threw it all back together.
Obviously fixing that bad cylinder helped a lot as far as the car driving so much better, but its got to be more than that. While I had the motor half apart I replaced/repaired a lot of the engine wiring harness (previous owner had left it a mess), put in a set of new 42.5# injectors and matching chip from TT, had my headers welded up (cracks were so bad you could see daylight through some of them), added a 2.5" ATR SS downpipe, had my heads reconditioned (new seals, valve job, decking, and a tiny bit o' port work) and replaced some sensors that i know were either completely broken (knock) or getting there (o2). Theres more stuff I did, I'm sure, but I cant think of it all right now. Oh, and I also replaced my cat with a test pipe (the matrix inside the cat had crumbled and broken and I'm sure was causing a huge restriction).
Needless to say, the combination of all that has made my car drive like a different animal. I just drove it around the neighborhood today, so didn't get any solid numbers or really get on it more than a few times, but its drastic compared to how it was before, even at its best before the cylinder went south. Over the next week I need to do a little tweaking and adjusting (I'm pretty sure I'm running a bit rich judging by the 02s my SM shows, but I have no idea where my fuel pressure it at since I haven't gotten my gauge back from a friend yet) and hopefully get it dialed in nicely.
As far the semi-half-assed cylinder recondition i had to do, it apparently worked just fine, the rings seem to have seated jsut fine already (no smoke or anything else) and I've got good compression on the cylinder.
I just wanted to let all you guys out there who have helped me out with the endless questions this summer know how it all turned out, and how much appreciate all the assistance. I literally could not have done this without this board. I forgot how much fun it is to drive around in that car with the T-Tops off hearing the turbo spool, and I have you guys to thank for that.
When I get the car dialed in and running perfect I plan to take it to the local 1/8 mile track and see what she does (I went a few times before when I fist got the car, so I have some baseline numbers to compare to). I'll of course let y'all know how that goes.
Happy spooling
