loss of power after H/C/I install. need help

[jrichker]

it falls on its face if i do that



How do i do this?

Cylinder balance test:
Warm the car's engine up to normal operating temperature. Use a
jumper wire or paper clip to put the computer into test mode. Start
the engine and let it go through the normal diagnostic tests, then
quickly press the throttle to the floor. The engine RPM should exceed
2500 RPM's for a brief second. The engine RPM's will increase to about
1450-1600 RPM and hold steady. The engine will shut off power to each
injector, one at a time. When it has sequenced through all 8 injectors,
it will flash 9 for everything OK, or the number of the failing cylinder
such as 2 for cylinder #2. Quickly pressing the throttle again up to
2500 RPM’s will cause the test to re-run with smaller qualifying figures.
Do it a third time, and if the same cylinder shows up, the cylinder is
weak and isn’t putting out power like it should. See the Chilton’s Shop
manual for the complete test procedure

Here's the link to dump the computer codes with only a jumper wire
or paper clip and the check engine light, or test light or voltmeter.
I’ve used it for years, and it works great.

See http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/

IF your car is an 86-88 stang, you'll have to use the test lamp or voltmeter method. There is no functional check engine light on the 86-88's except possibly the Cali Mass Air cars.

For those who are intimidated by all the wires & connections,
see http://www.actron.com/product_detail.php?pid=16153 for what a
typical hand scanner looks like. Normal retail price is about $30 or so
at Walmart.

Or for a nicer scanner see http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?3829 – It has a 3 digit LCD display so that you don’t have to count flashes
or beeps.. Cost is $33.

Do a compression test on all the cylinders.
Take special note of any cylinder that shows up as weak in the cylinder
balance test. Low compression on one of these cylinders rules out the
injectors as being the most likely cause of the problem. Look at cylinders
that fail the cylinder balance test but have good compression. These
cylinders either have a bad injector, bad spark plug or spark plug wire.
Move the wire and then the spark plug to another cylinder and run the
cylinder balance test again. If it follows the moved wire or spark plug,
you have found the problem. If the same cylinder fails the test again,
the injector is bad. If different cylinders fail the cylinder balance test,
you have ignition problems or wiring problems in the 10 pin black &
white electrical connectors located by the EGR.

How to do a compression test:
Only use a compression tester with a screw in adapter for the spark
plug hole. The other type leaks too much to get an accurate reading.
Your local auto parts store may have a compression tester to rent.
If you do mechanic work on your own car on a regular basis, it would
be a good tool to add to your collection.

With the engine warmed up, remove all spark plugs and prop the
throttle wide open, crank the engine until it the gage reading stops
increasing. On a cold engine, it will be hard to tell what's good &
what's not. Some of the recent posts have numbers ranging from
140-170 psi. If the compression is low, squirt some oil in the cylinder
and do it again – if it comes up, the rings are worn. There should be
no more than 10% difference between cylinders. Use a blow down
leak test (puts compressed air inside cylinders) on cylinders that
have more than 10% difference.

See the link to my site for details on how to build your own blow
down type compression tester.

 

[mackey]

Could be

1. Timing Related (reclock distr. with a screwdriver in Cyl 1)
2. Cam Not installed correctly


Fuel seems to be fine if your getting 40psi and all injectors are plugged in

 

[ShortThrow50]

Could be

1. Timing Related (reclock distr. with a screwdriver in Cyl 1)
2. Cam Not installed correctly


Fuel seems to be fine if your getting 40psi and all injectors are plugged in

thanks for the responses. The kit came with new cam and timing chain and sprocket kit. Its impossible to install it wrong unless you wanted to. The timing sprocket only goes on one way because of camshaft dowel pin. Next I aligned the notches like your supposed to.

 

[ozanracing]

Please don't just yank the plug wires to do a
"Cylinder balance test"
This is not a carb car.

 

[stangjunkie]

yeah i put the same kit on with all parts used except the cam.... and i had/have no aftermarket fuel parts and i still put it sideways comming out of the shop and scared the Poop outta myself.... something is wrong if you dont feel very large gains


edit to add have you ever ridden in an HCI car to know what it feels and drives like??
you really dont get any power till 3500 but i know that was said

 

[ronburgundy]

maybe your cam timing is off by a tooth?

 

[91notchbk]

Please don't just yank the plug wires to do a
"Cylinder balance test"
This is not a carb car.

I think you are confused between carb cars and fuel injected cars. Doing a cylinder balance test is no different between carb cars and fuel injected cars. This procedure is accepted practice in the automotive repair field and in fact the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) has this test listed as a requirement for and is listed as task P1. In order to pass the ASE certification exam for A1 Engine Repair you must have knowledge of this test because there are questions on the test that do pertain. When I worked at the Dealer I performed dozens of cylinder drop tests on vehicles with electronic ignitions. This is one of the best and quickest ways to isolate a miss without guessing and replacing parts. How else can a miss be isolated?

The Ford EEC IV system does allow a balance test through the computer as previously posted. This is a good idea. But I prefer doing it manually because you can determine the drop very quickly yourself instead of relying on the computer to do the test for you.

Note: When pulling the park plug wire make sure you give the current a path to flow by holding it close to the head.

You can minimize potential shock in several ways. One is to wear rubber gloves and use insulated spark plug wire pliers to momentarily disconnect each plug wire. Another is to make sure no part of your body is touching or leaning against any metal surface on the vehicle (the fender, hood, grille, etc.). Or, you could turn the engine off, remove a plug wire, restart the engine, note any change in idle, then repeat for each of the remaining spark plugs.

 

[ShortThrow50]

I havent ridden in a h/c/i intake car, but ill tell you what, with my stock 302 it was able to do rolling 15 mph burnouts with my 373's. this is pathetic.

Things i just did today:
I but the engine back at tdc on compression stroke, and put the rotor one tooth over to 11 oclock and postioned the number one wire so that it is just about to get struck by rotor. As you can see in the picture in the first page that the distributor plug hits the thermostat waterneck at 15 degrees timing and wont go any further if the rotor is at the 12 oclock position. So that tells me that that cant be right. When i put it at 11 oclock it can get timed way past 15. Anyway. I took the car for a spin and it wants to go fast up until about 2-3500 rpm. It really moves out at 4000rpm to redline. during the 2-3500 rpm it wont get out of its own way. I cranked up the fuel pressure to 45 pounds this time too. I dunno

 

[Foxfan88]

the rotor should be more towards 11 o clock not 1

and when correctly time the igniton module should be pointing around 4 o clock, no close to the water neck at all

just try to get it close as possible to number 1 terminal.

like i said before upgrading to a bigger cam and bigger valves and more open intake will soften up your bottom end ALOT, but will make more power up top. this may be what your feeling

go to the track or get to a dyno or race a friend you have raced before, and note if you beat him any worse or beat him less or w/e

your ass dyno/sotp meter can fool you into thinking your car is slow but when its actually faster.

and judging by tirespin and burnouts in NO WAY to guage your cars performance. there are MANY factors that determine if your going to spin them or hook.

my car with its stock engine would roast them in first punching it at 10-15 mph and spin a bunch in 2nd

with my newer ending it lost a little low end torque and didnt seem to want to turn them over so easy.
after i worked on it a little and got it tuned in and its running way faster and the track and now that i recently added some aftermarket suspension parts and my car is hooking alot better. i can now floor it in first and have it HOOK and put me in the seat and it sure doesnt feel like its down on power lol its a cool feeling.

your car may be hooking better due to the softer bottem end and fooling you into the thinkings its slower, spinning the tires always creates the illusion of a more powerful and faster car.


my friend uprgraded his heads cam and intake on his mustang, to pheads and explorere intake and he swore something was wrong with it, i told him it felt fine but he chased non existant problems forever and nothing ever changed, then he made it to the dyno and made some pretty good numbers for what he had. he over hyped his parts he put on a bit.
seeing how i havent see or rode in your car its very hard to tell, there are alot of things that could cause problems,but these are just some ideas

good luck

 

[ShortThrow50]

the rotor should be more towards 11 o clock not 1

and when correctly time the igniton module should be pointing around 4 o clock, no close to the water neck at all

just try to get it close as possible to number 1 terminal.

like i said before upgrading to a bigger cam and bigger valves and more open intake will soften up your bottom end ALOT, but will make more power up top. this may be what your feeling

go to the track or get to a dyno or race a friend you have raced before, and note if you beat him any worse or beat him less or w/e

your ass dyno/sotp meter can fool you into thinking your car is slow but when its actually faster.

Nah bro, Im telling you, it is not accelerating at all, It walks up to 4000 rpm. It is slow. No balls. I think it might be fuel problem at this point. No way to tell unless i get a gauge for inside the car.

 

[Foxfan88]

if there is a problem just keep at in, you'll find it.

and dont just look at the bit stuff check everything, replace the plugs and wires, fuel filter, PCV, if you havent already, if it doesnt help then you got new fresh parts lol. do like people said earlier, take some time, look at everything and see if maybe some elec connection isnt chewed up or missing. it could be something simple.

one time my car ran like ASS and i couldnt figure out why, i got all into a mad rage and turned out it was the MAF unplugged. i felt silly after that.

 

[ShortThrow50]

I bought brand new everything for under the hood. The only thing old is the short block with 65k original miles on it LOL. Im not buyin another thing for this car except maybe a box of SS109 steel cores for my ar-15 that will in turn deliver them to the car haha

 

[Dr. Wu 2000]

Carmen, Mike said you touched base with him and he thinks the cam was installed incorrectly maybe, I am sure he told you this already. Just keep at it man, you'll figure her out. I should have mine back by the 16'th and if you are still having problems I can come up and we can take a ride in it so you can feel mine and see what the difference is. From what I have heard and what everyone is saying the power should really hit above 3K or so but it should not be a dud below it like you are saying. I did not even get a chance to wind mine out so I have no point of reference until I get it back.

 

[ShortThrow50]

Carmen, Mike said you touched base with him and he thinks the cam was installed incorrectly maybe, I am sure he told you this already. Just keep at it man, you'll figure her out. I should have mine back by the 16'th and if you are still having problems I can come up and we can take a ride in it so you can feel mine and see what the difference is. From what I have heard and what everyone is saying the power should really hit above 3K or so but it should not be a dud below it like you are saying. I did not even get a chance to wind mine out so I have no point of reference until I get it back.

ah man, yeah, i think everyone thinks im exagerrating. My dodge dakota v6 would take a piss on my car. lol. Thats no sheeeat!. I would bet my left nut it isnt the cam. I told your buddy this too, the cam only goes on the sprocket One way because of dowel pin. You cant mess that up unless you want to. Then you have to line up the notches. The one on the cam sprocket and the one on the crank. You would have to be completely drunk to screw that up as well. I cant see that as being possible. Then again, with my luck anything is possible. This project has cost me well into high 7k dollarsfor the engine mods and tremec tranny.+ 2000 dollars for the whole suspension and rear assembly + 6500 dollars for the perfectly good original 65k mile car I tore to peices.Final bill 15,500.dollars.crapola After all that cash, i could payed the 03 cobra off. I only owed another 10k on it. And i payed for this thing with cold hard cash. Never get it back either.
Let me know when you get your car back mike. I may meet up with you. I know your **** is fast though. I saw the videos lol.My **** dont sound like that.
I took another sound clip of my car when i went WOT,. listen

http://www.farts.com/farts/santa.wav

 

[86bluecobra]

Did you restab the dizzy? I noticed you talking about 11 o'clock not 1 o'clock. Just so we get it straight where exactly was your rotor on your distributor pointing when it was installed and the #1 cylinder was at TDC of the compression stroke?

 

[Dr. Wu 2000]

ah man, yeah, i think everyone thinks im exagerrating. My dodge dakota v6 would take a piss on my car. lol. Thats no sheeeat!. I would bet my left nut it isnt the cam. I told your buddy this too, the cam only goes on the sprocket One way because of dowel pin. You cant mess that up unless you want to. Then you have to line up the notches. The one on the cam sprocket and the one on the crank. You would have to be completely drunk to screw that up as well. I cant see that as being possible. Then again, with my luck anything is possible. This project has cost me well into high 7k dollarsfor the engine mods and tremec tranny.+ 2000 dollars for the whole suspension and rear assembly + 6500 dollars for the perfectly good original 65k mile car I tore to peices.Final bill 15,500.dollars.crapola After all that cash, i could payed the 03 cobra off. I only owed another 10k on it. And i payed for this thing with cold hard cash. Never get it back either.
Let me know when you get your car back mike. I may meet up with you. I know your **** is fast though. I saw the videos lol.My **** dont sound like that.
I took another sound clip of my car when i went WOT,. listen

http://www.farts.com/farts/santa.wav

Well I have faith in you that it will get worked out. Like I said if you are still having problems when I get mine back well take her out. I will also touch base with my buddy Lou (RedfireBeast), he helped me with mine when I first got it and he had a fox for over 15 years I am sure he would take a look at it in person if the problem persists, he is right down there in Exton, Pa. Keep us updated....I think a lot of us are really interested to see what the problem was, and keep your head up man I know you are hot right now but it will be OK.

 

[90_Red_LX]

Does the car rev any quicker? SOTP I really didn't feel ****, but then again I lost some low end torque. The car revs like hell now though.

 

[ShortThrow50]

yeah, it revs and is real responsive. Im gonna see if this mechanic down the road has time to look at it. They say this guy knows his way around fox body stangs better than anyone. Well shall see and ill let you guys know

 

[dcurtis]

Sorry to here that, hope you figure it out after all that work.

 

[iLkYsPoNy]

I will tell you past experience....

I have a 1992 GT with 95k on it, I switched to the TFS Trackheat kit with the Stage 2 cam, BBK 75mm t-body, 75mm MAF, 24lb injectors, and I was having issues, too. Car ran like hell with the new MAF, it wouldn't gain rpm's at all.

Everyone swore it was MECHANICAL MECHANICAL MECHANICAL. Well, I put the stock MAF on and drove it to the dyno. Put the new MAF on, got it tuned, and haven't looked back.

I'm not saying it's not mechanical, but don't put it past the computer to mess your stuff up. I've spoken with Trickflow and they're actually considering to put a disclaimer on to let people know it's NOT ALWAYS A BOLT ON AND GO situation. You may just need a good tune.