I know. Honestly doing the mechanical work is getting old. LOL I am trying to hold on, but we just put the house up for sale Friday. Not sure if its back to NYC, or North Florida (where I grew up).
Anyway, I wanted to write a better description now that I am on a computer and not a phone.
This morning, I was getting ready to take the first drive. I spent all day Saturday running new wiring with heat shrink. Toggles fit beautifully in the panel I picked up and its conveniently located in the cup holder. This also allowed me to clean up alot of the wires that I just tie wraped in loops (which as you can see from the older photos, just looked messy). ECU is still on the top of the bussed electric box, and I was able to run the MSD ignition box up by the firewall on the drivers side. Hours went into this just so I had perfect connections, wires in looms that run through the center console to the switch panel, etc.
So Sunday afternoon (today) I hopped in and fired it right up. The odd part was it wouldnt stay at 1000 RPM's (even though it had run perfectly the last few times). It kept dipping down to like 400 RPM's and stalling. I decided to just start over with a fresh tune. Went through all the steps in order to calibrate the TPS and such. Fired right up, but this time, the RPM's would go from 500 all the way as high as 3000! only stayed at each end for a few seconds, but honestly the engine was getting warm quick just sitting still in the driveway even with both fans (because of the 3000 RPM's). Right before it overflowed/ over heated, I heard a small "POP". Very light noise, but I heard it. Seconds later, it boiled over.
Frustrated (as you can imagine) I decided to take the wife and head to a nature preserve in Jupiter FL. Needed the fresh air and the quiet. Couldn't understand why I had the EFI working perfect the weeks previous, Idling at 1000, A/F was on target, etc.... and today it went bonkers.
When I came home, I needed to get it back into the garage. Started by running a fresh tune (yet again) and oddly enough, Fired right up.... and was right on target at 1000 RPM. Even after it reached temperature and went into learning mode, it didnt need any calibration! It was right on target!.... Started to pull it into the garage, and thought.... now or never! Put it into reverse, backed into the road, and started out around the block.
Now, I havent driven any ferrari's or lamborghini's, but I have driven a Viper GTs.... and this was just as scarry. In 1st gear, it threw me back a little in the seat! On positive notes.... Transmission worked perfectly. Hydraulic clutch was responsive and pedal was firm, no whine from the rear end....... Worked great.
However, 4 or 5 houses down, it just shut off. Didnt sputter, or anything. Just off.
When my neighbor got it back to my driveway, we saw that there was a sliver of belt in the driveway. It was at that point that I realized that that "POP" was the belt. Later this evening, I actuallly came across the alternator adjustment/ tension bolt. So it would seem that the alternator slipped down the bracket, the belt came off the pullleys, and just was sitting between the pulleys getting chewed up. This means not only was the water pump not functioning, but the alternator was not recharging the battery. Hence the overheating and high temps earlier in the day.... and the car shutting off 5 houses down.... battery is dead (so dead I couldnt get the electric windows up).
Anyway, new (correct size belt) on its way.... I am going to use a lock washer with the alternator bolt this time.
Until next time guys :0)
