330,000km on body, 100,000km on rebuild

[FunnyGas]

Its been 4 weeks since i bought my DSM... 4 weeks of searching and attempting to fix this damn car...
The car:
1992 Talon Tsi AWD. 330,000km on body, 100,000km on rebuild. 6 bolt motor (dec. 91 build)
Mods:
K&N air filter, hacked air can, no honeycombs in maf, evo3 16g (runnin 8psi boost) - came with car, stock turbo was ####ed so i installed the 16g, a-pillar gauges (tach, boost, a/f), more a/m gauges (water temp - "working", oil pressure - not hooked up, volt meter - not hooked up), short shifter, pacesetter header, magnaflow muffler, cat replaced with glasspack, ac removed (ac fan was removed in this process as well)
Issues:
- the car sometimes idles solid at 750.. other times it bogs (drops 100 - 200 rpm for 1/2 a second)
- does not idle higher when its warming up, hot or cold its always 750
- BAD gas mileage (300km to a tank)
- some flat spots in accelleration sometimes
- stock temp gauge was disconnected. the sensor it was hooked up to was replaced with the a/m water gauge's temp sensor. it says (now) that i run 200 - 220 under normal driving conditions. (this is down from 235 all the time once it was warm). but on a long pull up a hill, it will heat up to 235 again.
- car will stall after starting it up when its hot... (lordo guys always make fun of me cause they think i cant drive stick and stall it all the time). but if i shut off the car for 5 min, then fire it up again.. it will sometimes stall.
- after 5 min of driving up a slight hill, (car had been sitting for 4 hrs prior), the exh mani heated up red hot, i could feel the heat from it inside the car
What I have done so far:
- set base idle at 750 (as per instructions in haynes manual)
- checked / set base timing at 5* (as per instructions in haynes manual)
- changed t-stat for 180* one (stocker is 195*)
- wrapped header (helped the most in the cooling issue, got me from runnin 235 all the time to runnin 200 - 220 excluding long hard runs)
- plugs (bpr7es) , wires (NGK), oil chg (5w30 synthetic), coolant flush
- fixed about 10 vacuum leaks so far
To do:
- alot of the vac lines dont have the little clamps on them anymore, and come of very easily, none of them have come off in regular driving yet, but they arent very tight. i am going to be replacing them soon.
- fuel filter

So with all this information, what im lookin for is help as to why im having the issues i am, what to check for next, what to consider fixing / replacing.
Thanks in advance!

 

[talonalex92]

maybe do a leak down and compression test?

 

[FunnyGas]

oh forgot to add that.. leakdown test is comming... my compression tester was stolen out of the back of my wrecked skyline while it was waiting for the insurance company to look at it... just waiting to borrow one from a friend

 

[staticbrainwash]

Compression test, leakdown test, boost leak test. Then put some bpr6es's back in there unless you're boosting over 17psi. Then, get a logger, and run some logs to see what your timing, knock, and icd's are doing.

 

[talonalex92]

off subject- of all the things to steal from a skyline, a compression gauge. wowwww.

regardless, keep us updated w/ the car

 

[FunnyGas]

i will do all of those test in the next day or 2...
as for the theft of a comp. tester.. they took all the tools from the trunk (smashed up badly) i couldnt get the trunk open, so someone with tools to pry it apart did. they took a 300+ piece mastercraft tool kit, brand new advance timing light, and the comp tester.

 

[staticbrainwash]

Wow, what an asshole. Who does that? Seriously, stealing is stupid anyway, but come on. Out of some poor guys wrecked skyline? What a slap in the face.

Let us know the test results!

 

[snox135]

Check your cam timing. It sounds like timing is off. Your exhaust manifold should not get that hot that quick. Unless you were getting on it pretty hard. It would be a good thing to check anyway. Plus it's about time to change the timing belt.

 

[FunnyGas]

ok.. spent 2 hours trying to change the effing fuel filter... the bottom fitting wouldnt budge... ill try again tomorrow... now... after alot of driving tonight... i noticed that after a driving up a LONG hill... the temps rise up to 235 - 250... when they do this i pop the hood to see a bright orange pacesetter header. i turn around and drive down the hill.. temps are back down to the 190 - 215 range before the bottom of the hill... i know its normal to an extent for this to happen. this happens only when driving uphill for an extended period of time (of course, in boost). i have an evo3 16g turbo installed. but it doesnt run more than 8 psi. even from cold (below operating temps, after sitting for a few hours) it will do this in 5 min or less..., i can drive around moderate hills, on the hwy, or around the city for hours, and it will stay between 190 and 220... what could cause this? i heard something about running lean... could that be it. i will be hardwiring in a logger soon, hopefully i can find some info out from that.
THANKS!

 

[FunnyGas]

also did a compression test...
from left to right...
144 - 160 - 144 - 135
im gonna do a leak down test soon, see what comes of that.

 

[spooln4fun]

My header used to get red hot after driving for a while.......not so much bog down or some other symptoms you talk about. My problem was a clocked catalytic convertor. So I went with an Apexi N1 turbo back exhaust and no more red hotheader

 

[FunnyGas]

previous owner replaced the cat with a glasspack. i dont think all my issues are related. but the the running hot is from the header, and i want to know why it heats up like that. now i am relying on an aftermarket gauge. from what i can see the stock temp gauge sensor was replaced for the a/m sensor, hence why my stock gauge in the instrument cluster isnt working. i am going to setup the logger and see what that says i am running for temps. the fan kicks on and off like its working fine. but when it gets that hot... i dont hear the fan kicking on. would I benefit from getting a stock a/c fan and wiring it to the existing fan?