Rebuild Running: some help with tuning for he break in.
 

I got my rebuild (no porting or anything, but all emissions are removed) in a couple days ago. Fired right up (surprisingly). Lots of smoke, rough running, holding it with the pedal at 2500 rpm as youd expect. Warmed up good, saw the tstat open in my water temp gauge, im happy. upped the idle rpm to 1750 via the spedo cable adjustment nuts (was this ok?). So I got it idleing, and went to do the timing (after restabbing the CAS via the fsms directions). Unfortunately, with the light on L1, and me aligning the yellow (right mark?) with the pin, it required me to turn the CAS all the way to the right.

This adjustment brough the running speed up about 500 rpm and smoothed it out a lot. Did this richin the mixture or lean it out?

Further more, I let it run again today, up to tstat open temp. Let it go for a little while, then I went in to adjust the TPS and I could see glowing metal coming through the heat wrap on my header.

I figured it was running lean (lean means hot right?) so I turned the CAS CCW a bit and it would barely even run. Backfiring, sputteringm popping like hell. Lots of smoke too (though this is to be expected at this point in the break in...)

I continued adjusting to adjusting the TPS. I had to release the tension I had put on to the cable before I could do it correctly, but I got it to the correct setting with the light method. Didn't help the running condititon at all.

So that's where you come in. Am I too rich. Too lean? Is the tensioned cable causing problems?

no codes other than those from emmissions removal btw.

the idle needs to be under 1000 RPMs in order to set the timing properly.

ok good to know... what do I do then? just get someone to hold the throttle under (which is incredibly difficult right now, just wants to stall)

wold it be best for me to put the CAS back to where it was prior to the rebuild and leave it there until it is broken in enough to hold an idle under a grand?

I'm not really an expert on rebuild engine break-ins, but you should be fine with the CAS as you have it... it does not have to be perfect and your rebuild will be gaining compression over time and the idle will change, you will need to re-time it... etc.

So just get it running and treat it good, re-time it when it has enough compression to hold it's own idle.

At that point you should do the whole system over... TPS, Timing, idle speed, anything else I'm forgetting... I haven't slept in over a day haha.

--Gary

--Gary

so keep the timing where it was before the rebuild (ie.. not cranked all the way CW)

Did you stab the CAS right?

I would restab it and then retime it.

Really no way to know if it is rich or lean. And not like it maters....you have no way of controling that.

James

yeah the stock ecu shouldnt have any problems with ric or lean unless you have a standalone??

nope stock ecu.

maybe I will restab it, becuase this is sort of rediculous.

I was just fiddleing with it some more. I put the CAS right in the middle (about where it was before I blew the engine. Did about the same thing. Heated up, tstat opened, ran pretty well, then after a couple minutes it started climbing above 190, hit 205 and was running really rough. Misfiring, backfiring a rediculous amount. Cut it off. This time it was the worst I've seen it. Header was bright red, glowing THROUGH the heat wrap. looked under the car, resonator was glowing too. cat back was fine. hot enough to make the (spilled) coolant on the ground steam up.

Does anyone have any really specific instructions on how to restab the cas? hopefully thatll help. just on a side note... right mark yellow, left mark red right? ( my marks are barely visible, just have a dab of white out where (I think) the yellow mark was

As long as you can see the marks, that's good enough.

Initial idle quality depends on how the motor is rebuilt and how "tight" the tolerances are.
Excessive blow-by from loose tolerances causes rougher running and red exhaust like you mentioned.

Leave the timing where it is now, and see if you can get the car to drive around a bit?
If it drives around, don't mess with the timing and get miles on the engine, pronto.

Once you start to put on mileage, the idling will smooth out, and then you can actually shoot for factory spec timing.
It's more important to get as much as your can on the engine first - as long as the timing marks are seen, it's close enough.
You're not going to romp on it anyways, so you cannot blow the engine up even with the slightly off ignition timing.


-Ted

note to self: never listen to ted. :P

Spent about an hour last night reading just about every CAS and timing thread on the server. Got hoem from school today, took it out, aligned it all perfectly according to photos I found. ANYWAYS! stabbed it back in holding the gear so it didnt rotate to much. rotated it back CCW a bit manually to get it back where it was before I stabbed it.

Long story short, she's like butter. Fired RIGHT up, steaight to the 1750rpms where I set her. No red exhaust, no rich smell.

I managed to get the idle down to 1150rpm or so, and put the first 7km on the odometer :).

I am a VERY happy camper. Thanks to everyone!

now all I have to do is figure out why the headlight fuse keeps blowing...


PS. just jokin ted :P <3

Excellent, glad to hear it is running well. Having a smooth running rebuild you did your self is an amazing feeling:)

8<

This is why doing automotive diagnostics is fricken a PITA over a forum like this.
If I were there in person, it would've been a lot easier, but I'm assuming you were competent enough to stab the CAS correctly the first time...

So do I call you an idiot for not getting it right initially? :D

See what I mean?
Too many things can go wrong which I cannot attempt to cover.
You think my name is HAILERS? :D


-Ted

buu to hailers..