Progress Thread Hoopty v2.0 - Back in action!

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I went and got the coupe today. It’s cleaner than described. How often does that happen?!?

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I’ve got a trunk load of trim, pieces, and parts to go on to complete the paint job. Hands down the nicest car I’ve ever owned. I’ll take more pics when I can.

Also, the tune is FUBAR. It’ll hardly idle but it’s an easy fix
And this FUBAR'd tune is what the p.o. was using while beating on it, and blowing HG's?

You look smaller than I imagined you'd be.
 
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And this FUBAR'd tune is what the p.o. was using while beating on it, and blowing HG's?

You look smaller than I imagined you'd be.
Yeah, that’s what it sounds like.

It’s also smoking a little bit, so that’s a bit of a concern as well. May be saving up for some fresh heads as the first ‘mod’ since there’s no telling how many miles this motor has or what condition everything is in.

It does have good oil pressure and the oil is clean. I may hit Steve up for a tune, get it running well enough to drive and then start chasing gremlins past that.

That was my #1 in the seat. Can you believe she’s already a year old and walking/running?!?
 
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Holy cow, I had to go WAY back and find this thread. I'm moving forward here finally, albeit slowly.

I got the front windshield trim stripped, painted, and reinstalled along with a new cowl panel and plastic bottom trim:

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I also sold some P heads for $100, which in turn set my budget for a new radiator to replace the one that has a hole somewhere between the veins:

627094



I need to get the tune over to Steve and see what needs fixing there too, just havent had time yet. Hoping for this weekend!
 
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Did you put the seats you had refinished in?
I've put the rears in. I'm not 100% crazy about them either, but I want to get the fronts in as well and see how it all looks. I got some fox seat brackets this weekend so I can start modding the s197 seats to fit. My wife is leaving this weekend, but not taking my daughter, so we will see how much can get done while yelling "dont put that in your mouth!" every 10 seconds.
 
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I've put the rears in. I'm not 100% crazy about them either, but I want to get the fronts in as well and see how it all looks. I got some fox seat brackets this weekend so I can start modding the s197 seats to fit. My wife is leaving this weekend, but not taking my daughter, so we will see how much can get done while yelling "dont put that in your mouth!" every 10 seconds.

Had to laugh at that.

23 years ago I ended up with #1 for the day, and I wanted to go to the machine shop where my engine was so that I could do some work there ( I think I was assembling it). Sean was all dressed up as most 2 yr olds are typically, and taking him to this filthy place dressed as he was was just begging to go badly. Not only was there grease and oil, and sharp edged, easily knocked over steel everywhere, there was all kinds of caustic sht at every turn just begging to get on him or in his mouth.

I ended up being able to put him in a big cardboard box that I put on the work bench next to me and gave him a couple of pushrods that became drumsticks. He beat on things for a couple of hours, I got the Pistons in,..and his little outfit came out looking spiffy. All in all a good day.
 
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627187


Some things you just don't understand until you can experience them for yourself. I've always had manual transmission cars, less a couple of oddball outliers. Last night, I was able to roll slowly into the throttle and let the turbo sing a short song while the gears went 1-2-3-4 all on their own. The smile got wider with each gear. I get it now: Auto trans + turbo = seamless acceleration and endless fun.

Backing up to the beginning of the story, I got curious last night. I wanted to find out where the leak(s) were, so I started messing around. I ended up finding the clamp for the upper radiator hose at the radiator was loose, so I tightened it. Then, and decided to fill the radiator with water. When we first moved in to the new house a few weeks ago, the water was turned off so my wife bought a few gallons of distilled water, a few of which were now in the beer fridge in the garage. I pulled 3 jugs out, one of which was half full (or empty in this case).

I popped the top on the 1/2 jug and poured it in the radiator. As it emptied, I saw sharpie written on the back side "AWESUM SAWCE"

PHUCK.

Remember a few years ago I had the bright idea to distill some spirits in the garage? Yeah. I still had half a gallon. It was now in my radiator.

After a flush and refill with distilled WATER, I jacked the front of the car up to burp it and let it get up to temp. Once it got warm, the funky idle went away and it was running as smooth as a stock motor should.

No signs of leaks.

I went to the park in the neighborhood, about a mile away. I popped the hood and crawled all around the car.

No sign of leaks.

I went back home, and did a small burnout at the stop sign in front of the house.

No sign of leaks. Oil was still clean and clear. Still running smooth and quiet.

I went to the gas station and got into about 5# of boost, AFR looked a hair rich. But still, no sign of leaks. Got home and still nothing.


So, my deduction after all of this is that the motor is fine, the radiator is fine. I had it running for a half hour or more, had it under a decent load a couple of times and couldn't replicate any of the issues he was mentioning. The guy simply forgot to tighten the radiator hose and it blew coolant a few places and he assumed he popped another head gasket. It runs fine, it drives fine, and there isn't a single drop of any fluid coming from anywhere on this car.


How's that for dumb luck?
 
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sweet, do you have a datalog and a tune file for me to look at?? I just want to sanity check it before you get into the throttle heavy.

:leghump:thissafe:poo:WOTredlineallthegears

Not yet. I need to dig out my laptop and get that together.

So, what you’re really saying is alcohol saved the day.

I might try that moonshine trick if my truck gives me any trouble......

Highly inadvisable. Ethanol boils and evaporates at 190°F.
 
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Some things you just don't understand until you can experience them for yourself. I've always had manual transmission cars, less a couple of oddball outliers. Last night, I was able to roll slowly into the throttle and let the turbo sing a short song while the gears went 1-2-3-4 all on their own. The smile got wider with each gear. I get it now: Auto trans + turbo = seamless acceleration and endless fun.

Backing up to the beginning of the story, I got curious last night. I wanted to find out where the leak(s) were, so I started messing around. I ended up finding the clamp for the upper radiator hose at the radiator was loose, so I tightened it. Then, and decided to fill the radiator with water. When we first moved in to the new house a few weeks ago, the water was turned off so my wife bought a few gallons of distilled water, a few of which were now in the beer fridge in the garage. I pulled 3 jugs out, one of which was half full (or empty in this case).

I popped the top on the 1/2 jug and poured it in the radiator. As it emptied, I saw sharpie written on the back side "AWESUM SAWCE"

PHUCK.

Remember a few years ago I had the bright idea to distill some spirits in the garage? Yeah. I still had half a gallon. It was now in my radiator.

After a flush and refill with distilled WATER, I jacked the front of the car up to burp it and let it get up to temp. Once it got warm, the funky idle went away and it was running as smooth as a stock motor should.

No signs of leaks.

I went to the park in the neighborhood, about a mile away. I popped the hood and crawled all around the car.

No sign of leaks.

I went back home, and did a small burnout at the stop sign in front of the house.

No sign of leaks. Oil was still clean and clear. Still running smooth and quiet.

I went to the gas station and got into about 5# of boost, AFR looked a hair rich. But still, no sign of leaks. Got home and still nothing.


So, my deduction after all of this is that the motor is fine, the radiator is fine. I had it running for a half hour or more, had it under a decent load a couple of times and couldn't replicate any of the issues he was mentioning. The guy simply forgot to tighten the radiator hose and it blew coolant a few places and he assumed he popped another head gasket. It runs fine, it drives fine, and there isn't a single drop of any fluid coming from anywhere on this car.


How's that for dumb luck?
So,...another convert over to the land of “Lift to shift a gear? PFFFT! what ever would you do that for?”
If you put any form of forced induction on a car, and you have to lift to shift, or risk missing the shift, and dumping the crank on the road.
Better to plant the pedal and stuff the shifter........forward,....twice.
 
So,...another convert over to the land of “Lift to shift a gear? PFFFT! what ever would you do that for?”
If you put any form of forced induction on a car, and you have to lift to shift, or risk missing the shift, and dumping the crank on the road.
Better to plant the pedal and stuff the shifter........forward,....twice.
Whoa now. I said it was cool, never said I was sold!

But lemme just revel in the fact that i can creep around my neighborhood with the ac cranked while watching my neighbors watch me.

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