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1979 242DL - Analog Motoring

Great write up. In such life situations I "try" to take the perspective that the failed and the successful efforts (expenditures) were just part of a process that ultimately led to the solution. Hind sight is a bummer sometimes.

Sweet ride.

Thanks. Yea I'm chalking it up to experimentation at this point.

How's radial play at the slip yoke?

I haven't put a dial indicator on it, but I can force the slip yoke up and down a small amount by hand. I'm assuming "zero" play is the target?
 
How's radial play at the slip yoke?

Thanks. Yea I'm chalking it up to experimentation at this point.



I haven't put a dial indicator on it, but I can force the slip yoke up and down a small amount by hand. I'm assuming "zero" play is the target?



I finally quieted my vibrations enough to live with it. Mine ended up being a sketchy DS adapter. Now that everything (tailshaft housing, bushing, slip joint, u joints) is new and well lubed it is much more agreeable.

Mine has zero radial play now.
 
Been working on some things:

1) NVH reduction: I was tired of all the interior buzz / rattle that turned up after the T5 swap so I added some 40oz jute carpet padding in the cabin / trunk. This helped to lessen the idle noise of the transmission and the general road noise while driving. I systematically replaced all solid / poly bushings in the rear with rubber (except for the panhard rod). The most noticeable improvement came from replacing the BNE solid torque rods with the BNE Hybrid version which resulted in a major reduction in cabin noise. The car is much nicer to drive now. It still has the “decel rattle” on hard engine braking in the same rpm band as before, but the noise level has dropped significantly. I considered adding the Aerostar dampened slip yoke to my driveshaft, but IMO there is not enough slip yoke engagement with that unit (it is shorter than the normal T5 slip yoke). If I had my ds lengthened by 1.5-2” then I would run it and the decel rattel would probably be cured, but I’m ok with it as-is for now.
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2) Turbo upgrade: I rebuilt a used 16T and paired that with a TD04HL conical turbine housing so I could use it with my current exhaust setup. I used a piece of 1/4" steel plate I had laying around to fabricate a re-clocked wastegate bracket. It's not pretty, but very functional. I also reused the 13C wastegate actuator. With my MBC I have the boost set at 10psi, AFR is ~11.8-12.0 in boost. I needed to reduce the preload on the wastegate a little bit to prevent boost spiking. With the same preload as the 13C it would spike to 12 and settle to 10. From a drivability standpoint, the 16T has a much smoother response than the 13C. In other words, the 13C had a noticeable "torque bump" when rolling onto the throttle. The 16T does not have this characteristic but has a more progressive power increase and the car feels like it has stronger acceleration than before and is more responsive at higher rpms. I know there is more benefit to be had by doing a 3" downpipe / exhaust / straight-exit turbine housing, but I'm pretty happy with the improvement as-is for now.
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Wastegate opening comparison.
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3) Headlight relay upgrade: I followed the Daniel Stern method of adding a H and L relay for the headlights. I did this more out of principle than need...it is nice to know that the headlight current load is no longer being carried through the headlight switch and also some of the ~40 yr-old wiring connections were quite corroded.

4) Added a wooden shift knob and a leather shift boot for a little class in the interior.
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5) When I have 1/3 tank or less of fuel and the temp is 75*F or higher my fuel pumps get loud and the main pump sounds like it's pumping a bit of air. The fuel lines also get hot to the touch after driving for a while. If I fill up, the pumps are nice and quiet. I wonder if with the Kjet pump setup, the pumps are moving a lot more fuel than I really need and are heating/aerating the fuel at lower fuel levels. I am considering converting to a single DW in-tank pump and getting rid of the Kjet pumps.
 
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Great update on this one Mike, I plan to finally slap on my 16T 3? DP this weekend, looking forward to it!

The fuel thing could be the rubber hose between the in tank and the pickup could be deteriorating or cracked. Below a certain fuel level the hose will be exposed and suck air and make the main fuel pump noisy. I?d check it if you haven?t replaced it.
 
The fuel thing could be the rubber hose between the in tank and the pickup could be deteriorating or cracked. Below a certain fuel level the hose will be exposed and suck air and make the main fuel pump noisy. I?d check it if you haven?t replaced it.

Good point..that hose should be ok b/c I replaced the in-tank pump a few years ago w/ the ipd "upgrade" pump and the hose supplied with the kit seemed stout and of good quality (and the proper fuel-submersible type), but it's worth checking I guess.
 
Nice, lookin good!
Those tq rods are nice. I have similar but homemade and its very noticeable how the rear suspension works better for going fast and is still quite comfy at the same time.
 
Another comment about the 16T...the overall drivability is improved, seems like it has more torque out of boost as well. To me it is noticeable during hwy cruising. With the 0.68 5th gear, 70mph is ~2700rpm and previously small throttle inputs / hills were enough to start spooling the 13C, but now it generally stays out of boost but still feels torquey...if that makes sense.
 
Did a few things...

-swapped from 785 "orange top" injectors to 831 "brown" injectors to support some more boost from the 16T.

-installed an NPR intercooler. It fits alright after installing a spacer on the top and bottom. The oil cooler had to lose the top bracket and air guide in order to remain in the stock location. I followed a similar method as Simi (link) to clean up the charge piping. Hot side is a 2" 90* elbow, 2" 45* pipe, 2"/2.75" 45* reducer. Cold side a 2.75"/2.5" straight reducer + stock pipe (minus ~1"). Also added t-bolt clamps to all the charge pipe connections. The IAC hoses needed to be redone as well, but nbd. Conveniently found a loose hose connection here which may have been part of the reason why I was having trouble boosting over 10psi. Is there a noticeable difference? IMO, the boost comes on more smoothly.
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-been having some erratic boost behavior as I have attempted to up the boost >10psi. MBC is primary suspect right now (homebrew Grainger unit). After adjusting the MBC as I have many times previously, I would get no boost increase for a few pulls and then it would let loose and I had a few 2nd gear blasts to over 15 (pegged gauge) which while fun, brought on some higher AFRs and a few audible pings...no bueno. I have a replacement MBC to swap in and if that doesn't sort it out I'll look at the wastegate actuator (currently using a 13C actuator on the 16T).
 
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Did a few things...
-been having some erratic boost behavior as I have attempted to up the boost >10psi. MBC is primary suspect right now (homebrew Grainger unit). After adjusting the MBC as I have many times previously, I would get no boost increase for a few pulls and then it would let loose and I had a few 2nd gear blasts to over 15 (pegged gauge) which while fun, brought on some higher AFRs and a few audible pings...no bueno. I have a replacement MBC to swap in and if that doesn't sort it out I'll look at the wastegate actuator (currently using a 13C actuator on the 16T).

I found that I was having wild over boost settings with the 13c WGA and rigged up mount on my 16T. In my thread is a pic of the mount I fabbed for a Kinugawa WGA setup, I highly recommend you try one out. Rock solid boost settings at 17 PSI using the 1.2 bar spring and an MBC.

I also found that I gained almost 2 psi when I switched over to the NPR and all hard pipe setup, did you notice any increases in pressure?
 
Hmm, I didn’t really notice much of a boost increase after the NPR swap.

I may follow what you did with the WGA change but was also considering one of the higher psi rated 13C actuators as well. We shall see.
 
Very nice 242 build young man! Seen your posts popping up, but finally got a chance today to look thru your entire thread. Nice quality workmanship which seems scarce these days on TB, what with the LS love fest in full stroke.

Couple Q's I couldn't discern: is the engine still the original B21 NA, just plus boost? You also still running LH2.2 engine management?

To the latter, if you intend to keep this deuce for the long haul, consider a MegaSquirt conversion...... you will learn MUCH more about what these 4 stroke engines need to thrive. I put EFI into a 1970 Chevelle (speaking of analog motoring) with MS2, and really enjoyed the experience. You will come to love Tuner Studio, datalogging, etc. etc.

Keep it up.
 
Thanks for the kind words!

-Yes the engine is the stock ‘79 B21F with the added turbo bits.
-Yes it is running LH2.2 engine management & EZK ignition.

I would like the learning experience of doing an MS conversion for sure...but prob not going to happen on this car for a while.
 
A step forward on the NVH front...
I changed from my 45.25" Mustang driveshaft to a 46" driveshaft from Pit Stop USA (PST310460) (link) which allowed me to use the Aerostar dampened slip yoke I bought a while ago. End result is that some driveline vibrations are eliminated and that the decel rattle is reduced, but not totally gone. It is really only noticeable during engine braking right between about 2500 and 2750 rpm instead of up to 3500 rpm as before, so I'll chalk that up to a success.

Pic for reference.
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