AnthonyB13
06-20-2009, 07:12 PM
Well it seems as though my car is not only a Greek tragedy, but also some sort of Karmic revenge bent on getting even with me for all of the wrong I have done and will do for the next thousand years. My mechanic buddy and I finally started to get everything back together, in the process of reassembling the head, a large "crack" was heard, low and behold, a snapped cam shaft, strike one.
Replaced it and kept on working. Received my downpipe back from the welding shop only to realize that the bung for the wideband is in the wrong spot and the O2 sensor won't fit, strike two.
Got everything assembled (finally, took a lot of drilling, grinding, sweat and blood, and the occasional live sacrifice in front of the grill of the car) and started her up, it was running really rough and come to find out the ground wire of the MAF had snapped. In the process of trying to get that worked out the wires shorted out and fried my ECU, strike three.
I managed to isolate the fried circuit and associated electrical components, repaired them and got the ECU back into proper order, started it up again and realized I had a number of serious vacuum leaks, and my fuel rail wasn't seated properly, which was odd as it never left the manifold, strike four.
Got the vac leaks managed, at least so far, and started it up again. Still running really rough, with a VERY VERY slow throttle response. That is when my buddy noticed a rattle in the valve cover. We took it off and wouldn't you know it, two of the rocker arms had come off, thankfully they cam off in such a way that they were out of the way and didn't scar the lobes on the cam. One of them had a stress crack that was visible to the naked eye and I wasn't about to chance the other one, so to the spares pile I go, strike five.
Now we are taking a break and going to tear into everything tomorrow. I am crossing my fingers and making offerings to every car and performance deity that comes to mind, perhaps another live chicken is in order? Or maybe I should go with something a little bigger, maybe the neighbors obnoxious teenager?
Replaced it and kept on working. Received my downpipe back from the welding shop only to realize that the bung for the wideband is in the wrong spot and the O2 sensor won't fit, strike two.
Got everything assembled (finally, took a lot of drilling, grinding, sweat and blood, and the occasional live sacrifice in front of the grill of the car) and started her up, it was running really rough and come to find out the ground wire of the MAF had snapped. In the process of trying to get that worked out the wires shorted out and fried my ECU, strike three.
I managed to isolate the fried circuit and associated electrical components, repaired them and got the ECU back into proper order, started it up again and realized I had a number of serious vacuum leaks, and my fuel rail wasn't seated properly, which was odd as it never left the manifold, strike four.
Got the vac leaks managed, at least so far, and started it up again. Still running really rough, with a VERY VERY slow throttle response. That is when my buddy noticed a rattle in the valve cover. We took it off and wouldn't you know it, two of the rocker arms had come off, thankfully they cam off in such a way that they were out of the way and didn't scar the lobes on the cam. One of them had a stress crack that was visible to the naked eye and I wasn't about to chance the other one, so to the spares pile I go, strike five.
Now we are taking a break and going to tear into everything tomorrow. I am crossing my fingers and making offerings to every car and performance deity that comes to mind, perhaps another live chicken is in order? Or maybe I should go with something a little bigger, maybe the neighbors obnoxious teenager?