Running a thermoquad on an 88 ELB conversion?

[8v-of-fury]

Makes sense.. Extra air entering the cylinder causing a lean condition.. blocking the carb air supply adds more fuel to the mix and idle raises. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Yeah, I don't see any obvious leaks topside. CRAP. Guess its coming apart, crap. CRAP. Yeah, 35 lb.ft with proper sequence. Guess I go order new intake gaskets tomorrow morning and pull it all back apart again. (don't suppose I could reuse the intake gaskets do you? just asking.. lol)

 

[NoCar340]

...don't suppose I could reuse the intake gaskets do you?...

You're lucky I can't reach through the internet and throttle you (pun intended). :icon_biggrin:

No, you can't. If you get the stamped steel ones, use Permatex High Tack spray. It coats more evenly. If you get composite gaskets, don't use any sealant except at the water ports. Leave out the end seals and use Ultra Black or Ultra Blue across the ends of the block, with a glob in the corners as mentioned previously.

 

[8v-of-fury]

You never know! some gaskets can be reused!

Yes, it was metal ones that my parts guy got me. Will do on the tack spray and Ultra Black'n'Blue instead of the cork end gaskets, with a glob in the corners as mentioned previously.

 

[8v-of-fury]

I wish this car was A) mine and B) smog exempt..

I could have had the cat just left out when i had the exhaust fixed 2 months back. That was a friggan run around, trying to find the right cat for these things.. Took me days of searching the web. RockAuto finally pulled through. Run some headers.. through a single 2.25 exhaust system likely with a moderate sounding muffler. I'd pull it out and pull it apart and de-sludge the thing. Maybe do a new chain and gears.. probably a cam while I was in there. And paint it up all nice like! Oh, AND COMPLETELY DESMOG IT.

 

[Monkeyed]

:eusa_eh:

I wish this car was A) mine and B) smog exempt..

I could have had the cat just left out when i had the exhaust fixed 2 months back. That was a friggan run around, trying to find the right cat for these things.. Took me days of searching the web. RockAuto finally pulled through. Run some headers.. through a single 2.25 exhaust system likely with a moderate sounding muffler. I'd pull it out and pull it apart and de-sludge the thing. Maybe do a new chain and gears.. probably a cam while I was in there. And paint it up all nice like! Oh, AND COMPLETELY DESMOG IT.

while admirable sentiments, just focus on getting that intake sealed properly, and the 4v running right first. TRUST ME don't bite off more than you can chew! or you could have a corvette you paid almost 10 grand for with an engine you spent about 8 in parts for sitting in your garage worthless..... sorry, I digress

 

[NoCar340]

Before you disassemble it, make sure your carburetor is tight. I know it sounds obvious, but mistakes get made and maybe you won't have to take it apart. Before you reassemble, make sure all gasket surfaces are totally clean and straight.

For the record, I'd much rather see composite intake gaskets on it than the metal. Metal gaskets have to bend to seal (hence the need for High Tack), whereas composites compress. The seal better under the different expansion characteristics of aluminum and iron. Ideally, I'd go with something with printed sealing rings and only use sealant on the end rails (such as a Fel-Pro 17350.

 

[jasperjacko]

some air filter bases won't fit the tQ without hitting some of the linkages and increasing throttle. Make sure the base isn't touching anything.

 

[8v-of-fury]

while admirable sentiments, just focus on getting that intake sealed properly, and the 4v running right first. TRUST ME don't bite off more than you can chew! or you could have a corvette you paid almost 10 grand for with an engine you spent about 8 in parts for sitting in your garage worthless..... sorry, I digress

Biting off more than I could chew would be like a frame off-resto or something CRAZY! I love being elbows deep in projects! lol. I have a cougar I don't drive, it needs just a touch of love.. but I never give it any. But that I am only in to for like $3k ten years ago. $18k !?!?!? I'd be spending some love on it.

Before you disassemble it, make sure your carburetor is tight. I know it sounds obvious, but mistakes get made and maybe you won't have to take it apart. Before you reassemble, make sure all gasket surfaces are totally clean and straight.

For the record, I'd much rather see composite intake gaskets on it than the metal. Metal gaskets have to bend to seal (hence the need for High Tack), whereas composites compress. The seal better under the different expansion characteristics of aluminum and iron. Ideally, I'd go with something with printed sealing rings and only use sealant on the end rails (such as a Fel-Pro 17350.

Already tore it down and back together. Only took me like 2 hours this time around! (ok so I had my brothers help..) I tell you, the intake being easily 30lbs lighter makes for A VERY EASY INSTALLATION!

New intake gaskets - $19
High tack (spray) - $6
Tube of Ultra Black - $7

I'll set the timing tomorrow and give it a fire off, Damn I love how easily it is to pull and stab these distributors guys! Just so simple. Ford has the worm gear ON the dizzy.. which makes for a rather painful install to be honest lol.

some air filter bases won't fit the tQ without hitting some of the linkages and increasing throttle. Make sure the base isn't touching anything.

It definitely wasn't that, (good thought though) it was only as i tightened it down and sealed the topside of the Carbonation Device.

 

[8v-of-fury]

This is what everything looked like as soon as I pulled the manifold. didn't touch anything else prior to the picture. Seems like you were correct on the issue.. lol

 

[Monkeyed]

Biting off more than I could chew would be like a frame off-resto or something CRAZY! I love being elbows deep in projects! lol. I have a cougar I don't drive, it needs just a touch of love.. but I never give it any. But that I am only in to for like $3k ten years ago. $18k !?!?!? I'd be spending some love on it.

that thing wipes it's arse with 100 dollar bills. I've put love into it, and it craps out hate. I haven't contacted an exorcist or anything, but I was so convinced it was cursed that I wrote this guy, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantinos_(occultist) about it back when myspace was a thing. he even wrote me back.

 

[Monkeyed]

I saw his myspace name on the back of one of his books, wrote him with some basics, not expecting a reply. he wrote back wanting more details, so I sent them, the next time I checked back, my account had been closed, shortly thereafter myspace became a virtual wasteland.. so, yeah, that happened.

 

[8v-of-fury]

So you have a curse that is in your corvette.. and was the single handed reason responsible for Myspace's demise?! The horror! lol

 

[Monkeyed]

So you have a curse that is in your corvette.. and was the single handed reason responsible for Myspace's demise?! The horror! lol

lol that's the only reasonable conclusion that a rational mind could possibly reach. :naka:

hey, I only implied the possibility. lol

all joking aside, I attempted to build a bored over, aluminum headed, throttle body injected 400sbc in my basement, put it in the car and program the computer myself. shocked I even got the thing to run at all.

 

[Monkeyed]

broke the cam in, and it actually ran like a bull on steroids, just as long as you didn't actually put a load on it.. then it'd puke fire out the intake.

 

[8v-of-fury]

So I set the timing this morning and ran the engine up to temp while I was burping and filling the coolant system.. It seems to run better but still has the bog on HEAVY throttle from idle. And putting the air cleaner on now causes the engine RPM's to raise even higher than they did before. I don't know what is going in there. A weird one eh?

So without the cork gaskets to hold the intake up, and a very good helping of spray on high tack gasket maker around the intake ports. I sprayed it on the heads, both sides of the gaskets, and the intake just to be absolutely sure. Putting the air cleaner on causes it to rev up considerably, I'd easily say like 5-600 RPM's. So that is one hell of a vacuum leak no?? I dunno, kind of at a wall here.

It would appear that with the breather off, to get it to rev really well it works best if the choke plate is like half closed. This causes it to pull LOTS OF FUEL through the primary side, which I guess judging by all the blackness on the ground behind the tail pipe.. is super RICH. So why isn't reving when not being choked?? No sense.

This is being such a pain in the ass.

 

[Monkeyed]

So I set the timing this morning and ran the engine up to temp while I was burping and filling the coolant system.. It seems to run better but still has the bog on HEAVY throttle from idle. And putting the air cleaner on now causes the engine RPM's to raise even higher than they did before. I don't know what is going in there. A weird one eh?

So without the cork gaskets to hold the intake up, and a very good helping of spray on high tack gasket maker around the intake ports. I sprayed it on the heads, both sides of the gaskets, and the intake just to be absolutely sure. Putting the air cleaner on causes it to rev up considerably, I'd easily say like 5-600 RPM's. So that is one hell of a vacuum leak no?? I dunno, kind of at a wall here.

It would appear that with the breather off, to get it to rev really well it works best if the choke plate is like half closed. This causes it to pull LOTS OF FUEL through the primary side, which I guess judging by all the blackness on the ground behind the tail pipe.. is super RICH. So why isn't reving when not being choked?? No sense.

This is being such a pain in the ass.

what does the vacuum gauge read?

 

[8v-of-fury]

Thought I had one around here.. but apparently I do not. So I will get one tomorrow I am very curious to see what the hell it is.

Could this be the carb? Like is there somewhere on the carb that could be sucking this much air??

What does the needing the choke on a little bit to rev properly say? If i hold the choke say, half on.. the engine will rev from an idle without an issue!

 

[Monkeyed]

Thought I had one around here.. but apparently I do not. So I will get one tomorrow I am very curious to see what the hell it is.

Could this be the carb? Like is there somewhere on the carb that could be sucking this much air??

What does the needing the choke on a little bit to rev properly say? If i hold the choke say, half on.. the engine will rev from an idle without an issue!

if it had been running like that the entire time, I'd have said maybe it was fueling ok off the primaries, and going ultra lean on the secondaries, and would recommend rejetting. since it was running better before, I'm more inclined to suspect that some other component has failed, or is in the process of.

 

[Monkeyed]

dumping extra fuel in cools the ignition charge, and a cooler charge isn't going to ignite as quickly, and will require less ignition advance.

 

[Monkeyed]

if you had your advance set for a lean condition with your vacuum leak, you may want to revisit your timing,