Some leaves are beginning to fall and Silvia has been sucking them up and plastering them on the front of the AC condenser, so I thought it time to do something to prevent it. At Home depot I found a piece of black plastic coated metal mesh screening that is meant for covering gutters. It was just about the right size and for less than $4, it looked perfect. This is the outcome:
It appears to work fine around town, but when I took it out on the Interstate at 80 plus mph, the temp gauge was showing 215°, but to be fair, the ambient temperature was 95°. I plan to remove the screen and take it out again to see if the temp is any different. I may have to find some screen with bigger holes.
PS: Did some searching on the web and learned that 215° is not excessive for this car, all things considered.
PPS: To whom it may concern, this is the coated wire mesh screen I used:
First, I'd like to report that my debris screen is working as expected. Many small leaves on my driveway are sticking to the screen and being deposited on the garage floor when I pull in and shut it off. Nothing has gotten by the screen.
Secondly, the passenger side exhaust manifold gasket has sprung a leak. The other evening I was out for a top-down ride and I had a chance to wind her up, so I did. Slowing down for a red light, the trashy exhaust manifold noise started. All along, I've been hearing a noise at startup that would go away after a few minutes. It has been there since I got the car.
With the usual struggle, I was finally able to get the exhaust manifold out of the car, but not without damaging the dipstick tube and two sensor connectors. I had to use a slide hammer to get the dipstick tube out of the engine. All the parts are on order and expected next week. I miss her already.
After the usual struggles, the new exhaust manifold gasket was installed along with the broken connectors and dipstick tube. I was expecting a whisper quiet start up, but that was not to be. This time, though, It had a different exhaust noise. OH BOY! To take a break, Randi and I went to the beach for the weekend. When we got back yesterday, I was ready for a full blown search to find the new leak. Before that, though, I just crawled under again and started looking and touching and feeling and discovered that the RH, downstream O2 sensor had unscrewed itself and was all the way out laying on top of the exhaust pipe. I guess I need to take credit for not tightening it when I had the exhaust system out last time. I cleaned up the sensor and spread on some anti-seize and put it back in all nice and tight. All fixed. In the process of removing the exhaust manifold, I had found a plug wire that was not seated all the way. I need some seat time to evaluate if correcting that had any effect on anything. My sense is that it will. My test ride this morning was great fun. Top down, beautiful weather, all good.
In the last week or so, I've been driving Silvia and enjoying it, but the "BOG" "was" always there to remind me that there is still something wrong. I shouldn't have to run with 58 psi of fuel pressure. I've always suspected that the injectors might be the problem, but I always talked myself out of buying another set of new injectors. Finally, I called Fuel Injector Connection out of Cumming Ga and talked to their tech support guy, Cole. Once he understood my symptoms, he honed in on the Accel injectors as the problem. He stated that he suspected that the Accel injectors were not delivering their rated 26 pounds of fuel at 43.5 psi of fuel pressure. He suggested I get a set of Bosch III injectors and that he had a set of rebuilt, matched and tested Bosch III's. His reasoning was sound so I sprung for them. They arrived today and I installed them and set the fuel pressure back down to 44 psi. What a difference in drivability!!! The idle is rock solid and even switching on the AC does not upset the engine like before. I am so stoked. It's been over two years that I've been fighting this problem. Hi Yo, Silvia!!
That's awesome news for sure. Drivability issues make driving not fun. I wonder if the Accel injectors are fixable? If a guy like him can cure their woes or if they're just plain junk?
I've been wondering the same thing, BP. They are practically new, maybe only 1500 miles on them. It would cost me another $120 to find out. Maybe I'll just take my win and move on.
I've had them on my home made test rig. They sprayed fine. I just don't know how much gas they sprayed.
I was at Fuel Injection Connection last week. They cleaned my 305 TBI injectors on the Trans Am. It did make a big difference.
They have a nice little business there.
Since the Vette is running so well now, I decided to find out if I can tell if the stock fuel pressure regulator runs as well... and it does! I installed the stock FP regulator yesterday and she still runs like she should. I'm at the point now where I can now listen to the radio. Before this, I always wanted to listen to the motor to try to avoid the unexpected bogs/coughs/backfires through the intake. None of that now. I put in my Bonnie Raitt cassette and go down the road. All is good.
I got a ride in Silvia and it's running great!! I'm surprised at the low-end torque. Those tires don't break loose with some power-on shifts so it really sets you back. Fun car!!!
Since Silvia is now running well at oem fuel pressure, I decided to remove the Aeromotive adjustable regulator and put the oem FP regulator back in to see if it changes anything. It didn't. She is still running very well. With the Bosch injectors, the drivability took a big step up and so did the fun level. I don't give the Bosch brand injectors all the credit for fixing the problem. All they brought to the table was the correct fuel flow that the PCM was expecting. Accel, unfortunately failed miserably at it.
I've decided to tackle the cruise control next. The first thing I saw was a very badly damaged vacuum hose going from the cruise servo the the brake pedal switch. As usual, this is not a trivial fix. It will take a dive under the dash. Oh, my achin' body. Anyway, I've got all the panels off and the new silicon hose ordered. Stay tuned.
My cruise doesn't work either, but the multifunction switch looks to have actual damage to it and I believe it's the culprit. I'm curious if this fixes yours. I'm actually planning to pull the cruise assembly off for weight savings this winter. I'm assuming our systems are significantly different at this point anyway.
I don't really think the vacuum hose will fix it. It's only for disengaging the cruise when I hit the brakes.
So if I need parts, I know where to go? I think it might be the same components. I'll check.
C4 cruise control parts for the 96 are the same in most cases back to 1990.
I've been checking out various points in the cruise system, but so far, no joy. I installed the dump hose from the brake pedal to the cruise servo. I checked the voltage from the cruise switch on the steering column. It is 8 volts at the servo as it should be. I checked the resistance of each of the coils in the servo and they are correct. There is a cruise dump relay under the dash which checks out fine. The vacuum at idle is 18-19 in/hg at the cruise servo now that the new injectors are installed. The Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) is part of this system, but I'm assuming it is working because the speedometer is working. There is a cruise control board somewhere in/under the dash. I'm going to hold off on messing with that only as a last resort. Something obvious that is a potential cause for this is the ground for the system. Now I run into another hurdle. Believe it or not, my factory manual (for some unknown reason) has had a major part of the cruise control system removed, including the diagnostic diagrams that show the grounding points. I have found the diagrams on some images on the web, but they are of such a low resolution that I can't read the pertinent information. Regardless, I will persevere and get what I need, eventually. In the mean time, Silvia is running and driving perfectly.
“Rowing through the six-speed’s gears is immensely delightful, like giving the torquey V-8 a firm handshake.”
I started noticing the battery voltage was lower than expected so I ran some tests on it and they showed that it was going bad. It was a new Interstate battery from Costco in August. I returned it and got a replacement just in time for colder weather.
I was reading some posts on the forums regarding the cruise control not engaging and a couple of them mentioned the switch on the clutch pedal could be maladjusted. So once again, I tortured my body and went upside down and head first to get under the dash to investigate. There was no continuity between the contacts on the switch. Ahah! This could cause it! The factory manual provides a procedure for correctly positioning the switch with respect to the clutch pedal. The first step is to pull the switch all the way toward the rear. It has a ratcheting mechanism to allow the adjustment. Well, as usual, this was not anywhere as easy as it sounds. No amount of pulling and tugging moved the switch. I tried everything I could think of to get it moving, but no success. In the mean time the weight of my body was pushing me downward jamming my forehead against the brake pedal, so I gave up and went to the web and read through all kinds of posts and found one that had a nugget buried in it. The guy suggested inserting a small block of wood between the end of the switch and the clutch pedal and to pull on the clutch pedal to push the switch back through the bracket. Simple and easy and it worked. Whew! All that took about 2 hours. Once the switch was all the way back, the rest was a piece of cake. Jam it back in, pull up on the clutch pedal and it's adjusted. I took a test drive up the street and poked the Cruise button and it came alive. All the functions worked! Whoo hooo!
Now that the leaves are coming down in earnest, my debris screen is also working beautifully.
It sucks them up and deposits them on the garage floor in front of the car instead of plastering them up against the AC condenser.
