2seater

Coolant temp. sensor is two wire as you stated. The water outlet neck uses a rubber o-ring to seal and a rubber ring spacer that sits on top of the thermostat to take up the space between the outlet neck and the thermostat. The outlet neck rarely sits flat, and it isn't important if it doesn't, the rubber ring between the two is flexible to take up the uneven space and hold the t'stat in place. Does the coolant temperature ever read lower than 118* prior to starting? What does it read if you disconnect it?

Yes, it is possible the crack can allow ambient air into the manifold and since it is upstream of the O2, it may read as leaner than it actually is.

The price for the parts isn't too bad, if the parts are name brand and not Chinese knockoffs. A Garrett, Turbonetics or Precision turbo would make the kit price a reasonable deal. There are no exhaust parts in that photo (except for the turbine down pipe) or the description, and that is the major headache on the Reatta; I know about that. The sizing sounds sorta right, and a T3/T4 hybrid was similar to what the Grand Nationals used but the one in the photo doesn't have an internal wastgate. Ricer style aftercooler and fans don't fit it?? Doesn't look like a weekend install to me. The neglected to mention the computer control issues, larger injectors and upgraded fuel system too. Needs a photo of a system installed and operational on a Reatta.

If I am not mistaken, the cars to be used in the government plan must be less than 25 years old. Not a lot of the vintage engines referred to in the last 25 years.

I tried the phone number (twice) and it wouldn't go through?? The number comes back to a person named Adam and two different addresses (apartments) in Watertown, WI. I do have relatives there, but it's too far away for a casual drive to check it out. Maybe one of our own in southern WI can to give it a try?

If I have the chance I will see how close the car is to me. The area code is the same as mine but covers a fairly large area. I would say those are stock posed photos. Wisconsin cars are supposed to have a front plate, not that the law is observed 100%, or the car has moved in it's lifetime. The mixing of the photos doesn't make sense unless the real photos would kill the interest. The low cost and availability of digital cameras would seem to make actual photos easier than finding stock ones?

Any decent size cone style filter has the advantage of greater surface area which is lacking with the stock airbox flat filter. The air inlet to the factory airbox is much better in operation than appearances would suggest. The foam inlet cone is about the most efficient inlet shape there is. The diagram below illustrates the coefficint. The small size is adequate for the air flow needs of the engine and removing the inlet funnel will actually hurt airflow. I have verified that it is true on my flowbench. The tested airflow with the inlet tube and foam funnel in place is almost exactly equal to the airbox flow with just the open hole in the side of the box, but you lose the cold air inlet effect, at least partially. The stock inlet is also in a decent high pressure location. I do run a large K&N cone, in a fenderwell installation, dictated by the turbo installation, but the location is not optimum. A cone filter, in the approximate location of the stock airbox, semi-sealed in an enclosure to pull air from the stock location works very well.

Bad injector? Can you narrow the affected cylinder(s)? You can turn the injectors on and off in diagnostic overide mode. Deactivate IAC so it doesn't correct idle speed and turn each injector on and off in sequence to see if there is a cylinder imbalance. Also, give the MAF the "tap test".

Parking brake cable adjuster. Shouldn't be hanging down. It should be under spring tension to hold it semi-taut unless the cables are sticking internally or the rear park brake is jammed on.

The general consensus on performance forums, such as SpeedTalk, is the Flowmasters are inferior to the Magnaflow brand or Dynomax, which is what I am using. Barney is right about the model numbers also, and a series 40 will likely be noisier than you want. I have run V8's (single pipe) without any muffler but did have a cat. and it was acceptable to me. I have a single 2.5" exhaust with two sequential cat's and no muffler on a 4 liter Ranger and it is on the edge as for acceptable sound. It seems a 4 or 6 cylinder is harder to muffle, at least with a single exhaust, than a v8 (no overlap??) The stock muffler appears to have been painted black from the factory.

Not really wasted power. The total path for the spark involves both cylinders connected to the coil. One fires with the opposite polarity to the other. Try it with an inductive timing light and see. The two plugs on each coil will wear differently since the polarity is opposite and if using a single style platinum plug, half of the plugs will wear similar to a standard plug.

Did they actually install the new crank sensor and still have no spark? More common for the crank sensor failure to be a no start condition than to quit while driving, but it is certainly possible. Coil or ignition module failure usually gives some warning, such as rough running, since it is rare to lose all three coils at the same time. Check for damage to the crank sensor and coil pack harness that runs across the front of the engine. The initial spark is to start the car is generated through the crank sensor and ICM so if no spark, that is the place to start.

Did it run hot before the cooling system service was done? Generally they do not have overheating issues except for occasional thermostat, or cooling fan failures which show up in slow moving traffic, but shouldn't be an issue in the conditions you describe.

As a temporary fix, I generally use transmission hose and double hose clamps offset 90 degrees. I don't believe the pressure on a stock transaxle is over 50 psi. That crimped fitting is really only acting as a 360 degree clamp, although neater looking.

Check to be sure it is the correct TPS. The connection is marked with symbols so check the new and old are the same. GM used two different senders that are externally identical but the ground position is different between the two. Perhaps the original was incorrect as well. I am not certain what the result would be, but it may explain the reversed operation.

Yes, it is a modified stock manifold. A friend of mine is a welding instructor and he did the welding. My upper radiator hose is made of welded copper, not brazed or soldered, which we also did as an experiment. The hat on top is removable and in addition to the added volume I was considering adding a small air/water intercooler inside. It's mostly an experiment. I had considered using a snakes style manifold lower intake with a big box on top, but there are too many differences in the manifold connections to make that worth the effort. The individual ports still flow within 2% of each other, so it didn't destroy the internal balance I had been working on. It certainly looks different.

I don't know about shaving the heads, except to clean them up if necessary, but you can install vin L pistons in the vin C engine to gain about .5 compression ratio. The aftermarket pistons, I used Silvolite, are about .050" higher compression height. I am a little concerned that if the heads are shaved a bunch, the non-adjustable rockers may cause a valve geometry problem? New pushrods might be required?

That is a great find. It didn't surprise me that the Reatta would be slower, it is a heavy car. It is likely a couple of hundred pounds heavier than the Regal, close to the weight of an older generation Grand National. Of course there wasn't any other detail, like gear ratios and so forth.

EDBSO, have you been peeking

-14F right now, without that silly wind chill, unless of course you ARE silly enough to stand out in the wind. -18F this morning. I did notice we aren't bothered by mosquitoes at this time of the year, tee times are easy to get (if you can find the ball in the snow) and we can all walk on water

What does the ignition timing look like in diagnostics? It sounds like it is running in the limp home mode with fixed timing around 10 degrees or so. The other item is a possible vacuum leak. I left a hose disconnected once and it started and ran, maybe a little elevated rpm, but as soon as it warmed up, it blubbered and coughed. Check the PCV closely as it is buried on the back of the manifold and you may want to look at the EGR for a hung valve.

On the rear of the engine, passenger's side, sort of above the oil filter adapter. It points straight back.

The cfm requirement is a lot lower than you might imagine as Padgett pointed out. I think it is actually lower as the volumetric efficiency is lower at 5k rpm, somewhere around 65%-70%, per information I received from Vortech many years ago. It takes just a few pounds of boost to reach the maximum flow rate capability of the MAF. It will flow a lot more, the system simply cannot read it and you have to go by dead reckoning. GM did a pretty good of matching components. The MAF and throttle body air flow rates are very similar although the screen does reduce flow, but you need to keep it in most cases. Try a PM for Master Philip (F14). He had a very extensive writeup.

Yup, forgot about the charcoal canister. I don't know what effect the positive pressure would have since mine was removed for a fenderwell air intake. I would guess the valve on top has a check valve function but I don't know if true or not. He wants to do a blow through setup which is the same as mine, although I run twice the boost. The N/A system already operates at atmospheric pressure and he just wants to add 25%-30% more, which isn't a lot. I am not promoting any particular option for supercharging, as any partially developed system will have its weaknesses. Swapping in a complete L67 has its attraction, since it is a fully developed system, but it all depends on what you want to do. Sometimes it's just to answer the question; "what if?", not because it is practical. F14's first experiment actually went very well and exceeded almost all expectations. The weak link was the transmission, not the engine, and the trans. was already high miles.

A few psi will probably be okay. The vacuum modulator on the transmission can handle up to 6 psi of positive pressure according to what I have found but I do use a cheeck valve that vents to atmosphere when under boost. The vacuum to the heater controls inside the car have a check valve to hold vacuum when the engine is off or under full throttle, so it simple blocks the boost. The same is true of the cruise control vacuum reservoir. The pcv valve is actually a crude check valve, that works fairly well. If you are adding more than a few psi of boost, like I have, I added a check valve from an old power brake booster to be sure it seals. It is a pain to fit that in the goofy placement of the stock valve. The vacuum to the fuel pressure regulator will need to sense the boost anyway to increase fuel pressure, so that should be left connected as stock. The last line is the fresh air vent tube to the forward valve cover for the pcv system and that must be relocated to the inlet side of whatever compressor system you are using, or it can be left open to atmosphere with an inlet filter if need be. The MAF and TPS don't care about the boost at those low levels. There is no MAP sensor. My experience has shown that the MAF reading will max. out @ 4-5 psi of boost and the injectors will be marginal, although you may be okay if you raise the base fuel pressure with an adjustable regulator. Watch the readings in the diagnostics and whatch carefully for knock. Good luck.