Attila the Fun

iTrader: (1)

The trail from "run at all" to "run well" is littered with tears...and
dollars (always - the dollars). As I mentioned in the original post,
the car needed a lot of TLC inside and out. Although not strictly
necessary for running well, the inside needed to be completely re-done.
It had been in poor shape when I got the car, and four years of
sitting at various shops and/or in the backyard had not improved it the
tiniest bit.

I had another parts car with little left to harvest except a custom
interior. It featured red, sculptured velvet in a button-tufted
pattern that gave the car the ambience of an upscale,
down-at-the-heels, turn-of-the-century San Francisco bordello. (Well,
my insurance policy DOES say "for pleasure use".) Transferring that
interior to the ResurreXion-7 gave me a car that not only runs but is
pleasant to drive.

Returning to the "runs well" part...it doesn't.

I had Mitch Piper fabricate a custom intake, and Bret dePedro installed
a number of gauges - boost, temperature, EGT and a J & S knock sensor
with an integrated fuel/air ratio meter. When I got the car back -
after almost 5 months - the J & S wasn't hooked up properly, and the
EGT temperature probe wasn't installed, which diminished the usefulness
of the gauge considerably. I took the car to Harris Automotive, my
local everything-but-rotary car shop and got the temperature probe
installed. This was a good-news-bad-news situation.

The good news: I could now monitor the exhaust gas temperatures.

The bad news: They were off the charts--close to 1100 degrees.

When I asked David Lane for his opinion, he recalled having had a
similar situation when his timing was retarded by 11 degrees. Taking
the car back to Harris, I asked them to check the timing. It turned
out that a bolt was missing from the crank angle sensor. Replacing the
missing bolt and setting the timing did wonders for the exhaust
temperatures. However, the car didn't have as much power. Go figure.

Meanwhile, I got the rear fenders from the Mariah kit installed and
mounted the custom wheels and sixteen-inch tires.

The good news: they look good.

The bad news is that the tires were really too close to the inside of
the rear fenders. I purchased some spacers for the rear springs that
let me raise the rear up to one-and-a-half inches. I've raised the car
one inch. I'll have to do some testing to see how the handling is
affected.

While all of this was going on, I had been having problems with the
engine crapping out. The symptoms were consonant with a clogged fuel
filter. Back to Harris and replace the filter. The car ran very
well...for 55 miles; then it crapped out again. Knowing that the car
had been sitting for four years, I reasoned that there was crud in the
gas tank (that's a technical term) and took the car back to Harris to
have the tank dropped and cleaned.

The good news: The tank is clean.

The bad news: There is still no power. The car will run nicely on the
level at normal (legal) speeds. A demand for more power is met with a
great deal of coughing and stumbling.

I suppose I'll have to take the car back to Bret for some
troubleshooting and tuning. Now that the racing season is winding
down, he should have time.

So...

The path to "runs well" seems to be a rocky one. I suppose that makes
this installment "Part 2a". If I decide to invest the time and money
into getting the car up to snuff, then there will be a "Part 2b". If
not, then there won't. That, I suppose, leaves us with the question:

2b or not 2b


For those who like pictures, there is a prototypical website at:

http://www.cris.com/~Asam/Res7/Res7.html

The "Part 2a" link has a picture of the interior and a picture of the
exterior in addition to this text.

13BT_RX3

What is the temp scale °C or °F?

Attila the Fun

iTrader: (1)

Celsius.

13BT_RX3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTX9X64eK7s

That's hot.

GavinJuice

sounds like you have fuel injector problems.....pull them all and have them cleaned and flow tested.

Naegleria_Fowleri

+1 on that being hot.

Attila the Fun

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the suggestion. However, they were refurbished prior to being installed.

13BT_RX3

What filter, pump(s), injectors, turbo, intercooler and air filter are you using?

Attila the Fun

iTrader: (1)

The filter and pump are stock GSL-SE. The injectors are stock 550 cc, T-II injectors. The intercooler is an HKS fmic (not sure which model). K & N air filter.