2seater

Good advice. When in doubt, put a gauge on it.

Is that car still there? I wish I had snapped more detail but I think my mission was for a S/C engine on that trip.

I think this is what we saw but it isn't really a remote or maybe I don't have a pic. It looks like a similar setup to ours but attached differently and it looks like a banjo fitting below the accumulator but no detail. Maybe the Ford setup from a T'bird?? On pic is pretty good the other is blurry☹️

There was some sort of Rube Goldberg setup on it. I will look through my photos to see if I took a pic. Good memory😉

Out of the box thinking which I like greatly. I think I would use a brake hose with that banjo bolt to transition to steel line, as large a bore as possible, as hose clamped connections at the expected pressure would be less than adequate. I would have to be faced with complete loss of standard type supply of accumulators to pursue at this point.

You can remove the accumulator with a strap wrench or even a big pipe wrench if the assembly is already removed. It may get scarred up but it shouldn't hurt it. It only needs to be hand tight, same as the pressure switch, as long as the o-ring is intact and they will not seal without it. The lessons learned from mistakes will now be yours for life, not such a bad thing. As mentioned before, if the junkyard unit is an '88, be sure it has a steel pressure line and not the hose, they cannot be interchanged, unless the entire assembly is replaced.

The accumulator is sealed with an o-ring and only needs to be hand tight to seal. My guess is your pump is just fine but the o-ring has been deformed or blown out by tightening while pressurized.

I would go for two sets if you do proceed. Thanks

Barney is right about the probability the strut tower brace will need shimming. I know I had to do so but the larger capacity of the Hydac unit is a plus. I did do a modification of the bar as well by indenting the bottom of the bar in my shop press but it is very stiff. For anything more meaningful would probably involve sawing a notch and rewelding.

Sorry, I see the diagram shows the mounts are some distance apart so I am all wet on that. I would say some flex between the mounts in the center would be inevitable.

That would be a damn good buy if it would work but the couple places I looked at said it was incompatible with our system. I couldn't find any other details like capacity, pressure rating etc..

I think I am not understanding the question. Are you referring to the original transverse leaf spring? Not having one apart, I am not 100% certain but I have always regarded the original spring as flexing independently on each side of the center, much like a conventional leaf spring clamped to a solid axle.

I am afraid I was in sales and not in the hands on part of the company at the time so I do not know.

Take everything right down to where it bolts to the cast aluminum support on the engine. The ICM and mounting plate are specific to the Delco setup

One other thing: the stock injectors should be Bosch 280 155 901, the part number is on the plastic upper part near the electrical connection. They are a decent injector with a multi hole spray pattern. Spark plugs, I don't know. I generally prefer Autolites but then I change my stuff around, including the engine, regularly.

We seem to have several threads going on that are interrelated, or have some of the same information included. That is probably the right way to do it for separate topics but I suspect we will lose some good information located in different places? It also sounds like there is a bunch of things that are less than ideal and previous advice ASSumed the basics were in good shape. Alas that isn't the case. The best way to do it transplants the whole engine, but yes, the top end of the S/C engine can be transplanted. It does require modifications to the existing engine, wiring and fuel and water plumbing to do it. It has been done before and I am debating doing just that or refurbing the donor '95 engine I have. For the time being, the coil pack and ICM will work on your existing engine, and is a useful upgrade. I haven't checked the injector part numbers on the S/C engine I have but they should be higher capacity than your stock ones, by how much I do not know. At the very least, the engine will run rich when in open loop, and possibly also in closed loop if the ECM can't adjust far enough to lean out the mixture. In short, the injectors will be too high a flow rate to work properly on the normally aspirated engine unless the Prom is reprogrammed. The injector harness is routed differently on the later model engines. It might be made to work, but will likely need to be taken out of the covering wire loom and reconfigured. Even if it won't work directly, it certainly might be useful to repair your balled up wiring. Actually, grabbing as much of the engine wiring as possible may give you the materials and connectors needed to repair what you have. None of the wiring we are talking about is sophisticated shielded cabling and can be repaired with proper splicing, sealing and recovering with protective wire loom. Only you can judge if it is a wise investment. The $100 price isn't bad, but notice where things like the alternator, power steering pump and reservoir and other things are located in that photo. Some of the parts are specific to the S/C engine or at the least require the brackets on the engine to rearrange the existing, so you need much more than the S/C itself. I suggest you optimize your existing engine first and then decide which way to go after school.

Adding a thin plate on the outside of the sides of the upright and extending over as much of the lower bend as possible would seem to be the only possibility. Even 16ga or 18ga mild steel or stainless steel (better) would do a lot to stiffen that area. I suspect it is made of a high strength steel so I wouldn't put a lot of heat into it, just short welds and keep it cool. No need for a continuous weld. The other option might be to plate the same area but bond it with one of the modern automotive adhesives. The bending force, if any, would be in shear, so an adhesive might be a good choice. We attached a lot of body panels to support bracing with adhesives a decade or more ago where I used to work. Can bond dissimilar metals that way as well, such as aluminum. Multiple layers becomes extremely stiff in shear, sort of like plywood.

I believe you are on the right track. I am certainly no expert on the headlight system but I did do an extensive rewire to add twin relays with a lot of helpful input from people smarter than me. Dave's89 found an aftermarket harness that pretty much does the same thing, more simply, so my suggestion would be to do that upgrade at the same time if you need to replace some wiring. I don't remember the specific part numbers but if the wire broke at the socket on the headlight, you will need a socket with 90* connections.

What sometimes happens is the wiring behind the drivers side headlight will flex and break a conductor inside the outer sheath. I am pretty certain for all years, the harness goes to the drivers side light and then on to the passengers side. Especially common if the harness isn't routed properly at the headlight.

I see, the mileage issue may, or may not exist at all?? From the first comment, it sounds like it does go to closed loop and you have no way to measure speed and distance. You really need that to calculate the actual mileage, and a gps unit can do that for you or even on your phone but it would need to accumulate the mileage.

I agree with Ronnie that a reset makes sense but I am most familiar with the non-touchscreen '90 which doesn't have as much functionality, so I defer to his knowledge. If it is indeed an average MPG reading it will take a large change to show up quickly, so starting over seems like the thing to do. Three things may help clarify what the ECM is seeing: look at live O2 cross counts to get an idea how active it is, more is better, look at the Fuel Integrator and the Block Learn live readings as well, best to do while on the move at various speeds and rpms. In a perfect world both fuel readings would be 128 but most systems aren't perfect and the readings should move around above and below that target at different rpms and engine loads. If they are stuck at 128 it is indeed open loop and more investigation is needed. It will give a good cross section of what's happening and keep the O2 good and hot. A good idea on the fuel pressure check but for zero dollars, pull the vacuum hose from the fuel pressure regulator and check for fuel leaking into the hose. It should be bone dry. Actually scrolling through the sensor readings is a good idea too, check TPS moves up and down with the throttle smoothly, idle at about .4volts, watch the MAF reading and see that it responds to changes to rpm and load changes as it should, more engine power = higher MAF reading, check ignition timing while moving, warm idle in park around 20* and a little higher when shifted into gear, and can rise over 50* coasting down. One other thing I forgot: the torque converter will not lock up unless in closed loop either, which has a large effect on cruise mileage. What is rpm at highway speed? 2000 rpm in 4th gear and lockup is a bit over 70mph.

Cam sensor has nothing to do with closed loop and as I mentioned in a previous post, the cam sensor is not necessary at all for running of the engine. The addition of the cam sensor to the 3800 may help engine smoothness at low speed and possibly a small efficiency for emissions but there are lots of non synchronized injected cars running around out there that operate perfectly well. The little brother of the 3800, the 3300 in tons of granny Buick Centuries of the early 90's, all the hundreds of thousand V6 Ford Taurus'es of the similar time period are batch fired injectors.

I assume MFA is the MAF sensor in the air intake? What engine temperature is indicated when not in closed loop?

Yes, I think he had both ideas rattling around and there was also a young guy doing a lowering plan but can't remember his handle, RedRacer or something like that. As for the strength of part #1, I just don't know. I am not an engineer but at first blush, I would guess yes. My estimate of the corner weight with a small trunk load would be in the neighborhood of 750#, but of course transient loads over bumps and rough terrain is unknown. At the least, I would insure there is a sturdy bump-stop for the lower control arm short of the strut bottoming out or tire contact with the body.

Any idea what happened to "old man jimbo" ? He was working on something like this a year or more ago.