Pig: '79 242 16vT

I'm sure RSI has a pile of them. They just stripped like 20 mani's to go to the aluminum scrap.

harribert said:

Nope. Going to borrow a tap from my father in law tomorrow and do it. Do you have any of manifold port plugs by any chance?

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For the plug plugs a regular brass 1/8" NPT plug from the hardware store will do it.

Thanks! Picked one up on my way to the in-laws'.



Not much to say here other than I forgot I had nitrile gloves stashed in the bench here. Derp.

Few impressions having now driven it for a few days. Overall it is as responsive as it has ever been and the extra couple pounds of boost have made a big difference. That said, I don't feel comfortable pushing the stock engine management any further than this. Load values are already maxed out, leaving me with no overhead should the MBC to get unplugged, for instance. I’ll get around to get a proper EMS in there after I retire it from daily driven duty. Anyway:

-The car seems to like the 3.73 and its slightly longer legs much more than the 3.91. Boost came on much more readily without anything else being changed.

-Turbo feels very restrained as it is, and feels like it wants to move more air...much more air. Now it feels sprightly and responsive, boost comes on strong. Can finally do a burnout with little effort (right tire fire at 4 PSI consistently).

-Need to install the LSD.

-MBC reference relocation. Creep has been greatly reduced. Turbo spools to 10 psi instantly and steadily climbs to 13 by redline in first gear. At top of second gear it sees 14.5-15 psi. Not bad. Something tells me I should consider taking out a little bit of preload from the wastegate actuator and see whether to crank up the MBC a little
more.

-Chucked in a stock EZK. Lost some midrange but at least it no longer pings close to redline or when shifting (currently at 17* advance with the MSD set to pull .7 degrees per psi...so 5 degrees retarded up to overall from the stock map).

-Stance looks off without rear adapters (gotta shorten 10 lug nuts again) and that bothers me...wheels don't have pockets between lug holes so adapters are annoying to fit, conversely the bolts are covered so I can't just run long studs without shortening them. Starting to look for a set of 17" or 18" Nebula replicas to powdercoat in gold and longer front control arms.

-In tank pump is starting to groan and complain.

-PCV needs improvement. I don't like it venting to the atmosphere because pollution, but having the intake free of oil helps drivability a ton, plus there is no longer any oil coking up inside the turbo after shutdown. Probably will end up using a Pro-Vent. Also thinking of getting a crankcase vacuum pump to deal with some of the leakage issues the engine has and to help the rings seal better. Yeah I know, better to put in a new RMS, but I have never seen anyone successfully install one that does not end up leaking within weeks, probably due to crankcase pressure.

-Stock intercooler piping looks ghetto with the NPR in place, just resting on the crossmember. Bought a bunch of black couplings to make the whole setup look more cohesive. Trying to get Eric M to weld some tabs to make the thing sit on the stock grommets. Once this done I can get a cold and hotside piping solution figured out. Pipes and intercooler will subsequently be etch-primed and painted gloss black for a more subdued look. Filter will still be blue for a lack of options in non-stupid colors in the aftermarket. Not too thrilled with the options I have for air boxes either (Diesel is my best option. Filter is likely to be too small...).

-Intake pipe: Idle and low speed drivability is hugely improved. Still need to enrich the MAF screw a hair as it barely gets any cold start enrichment right now (before the intake pipe it would just tend to run very lean. Once warmed up it was mostly fine. With the narrowband signal interrupted it would idle right at lambda without a problem. Super weird, but glad that's mostly solved).

Aw, I was expecting to check in and see that you had crushed the car. I'm disappointed.

Hey now, I don't go tearing engines out because the TC bolts come loose

harribert said:

Hey now, I don't go tearing engines out because the TC bolts come loose

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Hey, I WANTED to be without my nice 240 for 3 weeks. Psh.

Alignment is off, suddenly. Weird.

harribert said:

Alignment is off, suddenly. Weird.

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Harald's wife: ""

Drove the stupid thing to work on the highway. It just loves accelerating above 40 mph. It also loves it when it's not freaking 95 degrees outside.

where did you find the intake tube ? (air filter to turbo)

I made it. 3" 45? bend from Columbia River Mandrel Bending cut to size with a 1" weld-on nipple from ATP turbo for the CBV. Haven't bothered with a PCV nipple because my current solution is ****.

Set the wastegate actuator rod to zero preload and took out the MBC. Still goes to 10 psi at the top of first and 12 psi at the top of 2nd. Ugh. Hope I can pick up some midrange with the MBC While keeping creep at bay. So far it's kind of laggy...

It's probably laggy because at zero preload you are bleeding off exhaust out the wastegate before full boost hits.

Oh yes definitely. At the same time I'm still experiencing some creep. I was expecting this wastegate to be much better at controlling boost I'll tighten it back up and see how I like it.

Where are you tapping in to get boost signal for your manual boost controller? The longer the hose, the more creep you will see usually.

It's right above the coupling at the outlet of the turbo now. Made it as short as possible.

I think this is a sign that you need to recalibrate for 12 psi. If you don't want to do that, you can start porting the wastegate housing.

All of the symptoms and behavior you mentioned indicate that the wastegate is choking with the setup you have. If it's opening early then the creep is due to the wastegate port not being able to flow enough exhaust gas to regulate turbo speed below the 12 psi level.