baxsom
15+ Year Contributor
- 480
- 5
- Jul 10, 2004
-
san antonoio,
Texas
So I have been running my portfueler for a few months now and even though it has ran good, it hasnt ran great. These past couple of weeks I decided to get underneath the car and take everything off and check what might be wrong.
Ever since the install it has always had a bad cold idle. It wouldnt die but if you hit the gas while it was cold it would backfire and almost die.
I figured that I would learn to live with it.
When I got underneath the car and started looking around the studs that come with the kit had backed themself out of the head an average of 2-3 turns per stud. Everyone could be turned by hand. Ok problem one identified.
To fix this I took a stud to Lowes and bought 10 (2 extra) 8mmX 1.5 (i think that is the correct thread pitch, anyway the bolt went into the head with no binding), some flat washer, and some lockwashers.
I took the entire intake off and cleaned up all the broken gaskets from everything. On the reinstall I took another look at the portfueler rail to the valve cover. The directions from hahn say to shave some of the valve cover and a few tabs on the head down. They are not kidding. The first install I shaved some down but apparently not enough. On the valve cover right where the coil mounts is the main spot. These two spots have to be shaved perfectly or the lower intake will not seal right. This time I would put a piece of paper between the PF rail and the valve cover and press the lower intake tight against the head. If I couldnt slide the paper out easily, I would slide the lower intake back out and shave some more off. When I was finally finished, the lower intake to PF spacer to head was locked in perfectly with the new bolts and lockwashers and there was enough of a gap between the rail and valve cover to guarantee a seal.
I then used more lockwasher to hold the two halves of the intake together.
When it was all back in and completely reinstalled, after a few fuel pumps primes and an ecu reset, it cranked. I let it run for 30 seconds and shut it off to check for fuel leaks.
Finding none, I recranked and happily noticed that the cold idle was 1100 rpms. Normally at this stage if I were to press the gas it would die. I am happy to report that the problems are solved. When the gas pedal goes down now, even with a cold engine, it responds with rpms going up, not down.
Once again, I cant stress enough the importance of shaving the head tabs and valve cover. Hopefully this post keeps someone else from making the same mistake.
Ever since the install it has always had a bad cold idle. It wouldnt die but if you hit the gas while it was cold it would backfire and almost die.
I figured that I would learn to live with it.
When I got underneath the car and started looking around the studs that come with the kit had backed themself out of the head an average of 2-3 turns per stud. Everyone could be turned by hand. Ok problem one identified.
To fix this I took a stud to Lowes and bought 10 (2 extra) 8mmX 1.5 (i think that is the correct thread pitch, anyway the bolt went into the head with no binding), some flat washer, and some lockwashers.
I took the entire intake off and cleaned up all the broken gaskets from everything. On the reinstall I took another look at the portfueler rail to the valve cover. The directions from hahn say to shave some of the valve cover and a few tabs on the head down. They are not kidding. The first install I shaved some down but apparently not enough. On the valve cover right where the coil mounts is the main spot. These two spots have to be shaved perfectly or the lower intake will not seal right. This time I would put a piece of paper between the PF rail and the valve cover and press the lower intake tight against the head. If I couldnt slide the paper out easily, I would slide the lower intake back out and shave some more off. When I was finally finished, the lower intake to PF spacer to head was locked in perfectly with the new bolts and lockwashers and there was enough of a gap between the rail and valve cover to guarantee a seal.
I then used more lockwasher to hold the two halves of the intake together.
When it was all back in and completely reinstalled, after a few fuel pumps primes and an ecu reset, it cranked. I let it run for 30 seconds and shut it off to check for fuel leaks.
Finding none, I recranked and happily noticed that the cold idle was 1100 rpms. Normally at this stage if I were to press the gas it would die. I am happy to report that the problems are solved. When the gas pedal goes down now, even with a cold engine, it responds with rpms going up, not down.
Once again, I cant stress enough the importance of shaving the head tabs and valve cover. Hopefully this post keeps someone else from making the same mistake.
