I recently bought a 93 GT (5.0 HO and T5), that has a few minor engine mods from the previous owner: BBK headers, throttle body & EGR spacer, and what I'm told is an E cam (really wish I had a way to verify). Smog pump and O2 has been also deleted.
When I got the car it ran like a scaled dog, good throttle response, and would burn the tires in the first 3 gears. Problem was it bucked at low speed and would surge at idle sometimes.
I knew it had at least one vacuum leak because the A/C vents were stuck on defrost only. Found 3 vacuum leaks and got those sorted out. Didn't help my issues. So I went on to timing and base idle reset using Ford Racing procedure. After I did the base idle reset the first time, I didn't disconnect the battery. Car ran strong still but needed some tweaking to get the idle right with the a/c on. So I did the base idle reset a second time (IAC at 0.98v) but disconnected the battery this time. The idle is great and most of the bucking is gone, but the car was knocked in the head power wise. It runs like a dump tuck. I've tried 12 - 16 degrees base timing and ended up settling on 14 just as a safe maximum (93 octane). I did run it up to 18 and heard no detonation, but the car is loud and I didn't want to take a chance of me just not hearing it and messing it up. It didn't seem to bring in any low end power anyway.
I though maybe the previous owner had a chip or dyno tune that got erased / unprogrammed when I disconnected the battery, but I've looked at the EEC and its stock with no chips or cables hanging out, so I'm thinking that's not the case.
I'm a a loss. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions on where to go from here?
When I got the car it ran like a scaled dog, good throttle response, and would burn the tires in the first 3 gears. Problem was it bucked at low speed and would surge at idle sometimes.
I knew it had at least one vacuum leak because the A/C vents were stuck on defrost only. Found 3 vacuum leaks and got those sorted out. Didn't help my issues. So I went on to timing and base idle reset using Ford Racing procedure. After I did the base idle reset the first time, I didn't disconnect the battery. Car ran strong still but needed some tweaking to get the idle right with the a/c on. So I did the base idle reset a second time (IAC at 0.98v) but disconnected the battery this time. The idle is great and most of the bucking is gone, but the car was knocked in the head power wise. It runs like a dump tuck. I've tried 12 - 16 degrees base timing and ended up settling on 14 just as a safe maximum (93 octane). I did run it up to 18 and heard no detonation, but the car is loud and I didn't want to take a chance of me just not hearing it and messing it up. It didn't seem to bring in any low end power anyway.
I though maybe the previous owner had a chip or dyno tune that got erased / unprogrammed when I disconnected the battery, but I've looked at the EEC and its stock with no chips or cables hanging out, so I'm thinking that's not the case.
I'm a a loss. Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions on where to go from here?