Altered Mental Status (1G AWD 5spd)

[Dericsh]

Congrats on getting the ac going- Was totally worth pushing thru a few struggles!

 

[DreamChaser7]

See good thing you didn’t go nuclear . Very happy for you. One day maybe I’ll be able to say the same thing.

 

[CrackedDSM]

See good thing you didn’t go nuclear . Very happy for you. One day maybe I’ll be able to say the same thing.

At this point I know, even at the height of my anger, I'm never going to get rid of this POS. Lol. It's why I've stopped threatening to sell it, and instead just say "I hate this car".


Still gobsmacked. Went to the store, did a bunch of grocery shopping with the family, had a great time. Took like an hour or two, came home...still rock steady at the same PSI it was before I left. (car was off, I didn't leave it running )

Seriously. I cannot believe this. I really thought I was going to either never have A/C, or have to pay a shop I trust to do it for me, which is demoralizing considering I've done literally everything myself thus far.

Thanks a billion guys for all your help along the way. Couldn't have done it without you! Yes, Stapl3, including you.

Congrats on getting the ac going- Was totally worth pushing thru a few struggles!

Thanks buddy. Couldn't have done it without you! The Freeze12 came in clutch. Next time you come here we'll go for another ride, but this time we'll cruise with the A/C on!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Got the intercooler mounted and front bumper/lights back on. It's like nothing ever happened, and everything fits a little better than before because since it was off I went OCD and made sure stuff looked and fit good.

I'll get pictures tomorrow when it's daylight out. Or I'll use my ridiculously bright flashlight(like 25,000 lumens) to recreate the daylight. Haven't decided which.


Either way, it's so wild how you can have the car completely blown apart and in a few days it's back together like nothing ever happened. If I had an idle switch I'd test the car tomorrow by driving it to work, but good things to those who wait as they say.



Also: how cool is it that on my 100th page, I got the A/C installed and functional. God this car has come so far. After I toss on the cruise control I honestly think the build is complete. Just maintenance and fixing what breaks. But idk if I’ll bother with those updates unless it’s big. Mind blowing. I can’t believe I got this car exactly how I wanted it to be.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Got the intercooler mounted and front bumper/lights back on. It's like nothing ever happened, and everything fits a little better than before because since it was off I went OCD and made sure stuff looked and fit good.

I'll get pictures tomorrow when it's daylight out. Or I'll use my ridiculously bright flashlight(like 25,000 lumens) to recreate the daylight. Haven't decided which.


Either way, it's so wild how you can have the car completely blown apart and in a few days it's back together like nothing ever happened. If I had an idle switch I'd test the car tomorrow by driving it to work, but good things to those who wait as they say.



Also: how cool is it that on my 100th page, I got the A/C installed and functional. God this car has come so far. After I toss on the cruise control I honestly think the build is complete. Just maintenance and fixing what breaks. But idk if I’ll bother with those updates unless it’s big. Mind blowing. I can’t believe I got this car exactly how I wanted it to be.

You got me really itching to try and put a/c back in mine now too damn it.

Only issue for me really is the driver side line off the condenser needs modified to fit with MY Fmic.

Congrats on getting a/c back in it! You're probably now in like the top .5% of DSM owners with a/c still haha

 

[CrackedDSM]

As promised, here’s pictures of it back assembled like nothing ever happened!

Crazy. You’d never know it was blown apart a day ago. Lol.

You got me really itching to try and put a/c back in mine now too damn it.

Only issue for me really is the driver side line off the condenser needs modified to fit with MY Fmic.

Congrats on getting a/c back in it! You're probably now in like the top .5% of DSM owners with a/c still haha

What intercooler do you have? If it’s an ETS back door style it’ll fit, mine did! I can take pictures if needed.

 

[Anfurnyy]

As promised, here’s pictures of it back assembled like nothing ever happened!

View attachment 769444View attachment 769445

Crazy. You’d never know it was blown apart a day ago. Lol.




What intercooler do you have? If it’s an ETS back door style it’ll fit, mine did! I can take pictures if needed.

It is an ETS but mines the thick ol 4" IIRC

 

[CrackedDSM]

It is an ETS but mines the thick ol 4" IIRC

Oof. Yeah my drivers side a/c line juuuust kisses the core. If it was an inch thicker that’d be a problem.

 

[DogWhistle]

Great work on the A/C. Congratulations!

We worked on car A/C systems on GM vehicles before and the old adage was “replace everything because you never know what parts are bad or will damage the new parts.” It almost ensures success and doesn’t even cost that much overall. We bought the gauge set and a vacuum pump and even used the ‘hot water’ trick you mentioned to get ad much freon as possible out of each can.

When it came time to dive into our ‘99 Spyder’s A/C, we replaced all the components and lines, including the evaporator and expansion valve, which surprisingly wasn’t that difficult.

Having working A/C makes using the car as a daily feasible.

Enjoy!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Let the car sit as I got absolutely ground and pounded at work this weekend. Three+ days of sitting, and she still blows cold. No loss of Freon. I do think 23-24oz is a little low. But then again, it's like 97* outside today so maybe that's a factor. I am gonna put a few more oz in and see how she does though. I think just a kiss more and it'll be perfect. If not I'll vacuum it down again/evacuate the refrigerant and probably try to shoot some canned air/R-152 into it for giggles because I have a side-tap can attachment and I've heard good things about it in an R12 system.


But, this is awesome. Still blows my mind, man.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I made a separate help thread, so if anyone can pop in there that'd be great. But the short of it is, now that I installed the new compressor and the belt, I'm getting a supercharger whine at like 4k EVEN IF THE A/C IS OFF. It goes away-ish in the upper RPMs, but it disturbs me. I loosened the tension of the belt a bit and it didn't really seem to super noticeably help.

Anyone with A/C in their 1G know whats up? Is this normal or is there something else happening? Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

[CrackedDSM]

Jesus. Lmfao. Found the problem.


Got the bearing in today, and pulled the A/C tensioner. The bearing felt a little...dry..and somewhat stiff, but didn't feel bad. The new one felt way smoother by comparison and kept spinning long after I flicked it. Video below for comparison.



Pulley I spin in the beginning has the new bearing. Then I spin the old bearing, then I spin one of the spare new bearings(came in a pack of two) to compare it. So, it didn't exactly HURT...but that wasn't the issue.

After thinking about it and looking at it, I immediately discovered the problem.

The TB elbow/UICP joiner coupler's t-bolt clamp was loose. It was only hand tight, so tight enough to hold it somewhat on during boost, not loose enough for it to pop fully off. The result was a hilarious supercharger whine under boost, and SD being SD was hiding it by not running like ass.

Good grief. Ah well. At least I found the problem.

Car drives great in the rain too and with the A/C on the interior doesn't fog at all. Good stuff. Problem is completely solved. Yay.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I know I sound like a broken record but I am so damn pleased with this car.


Today has a heat index of 100* and every single road near me is brand new black as the void asphalt.

I drove the car probably 100-130 miles of mixed backroad highway and city driving and it never overheated. It didn’t even get above 200*. The car actually runs cooler with the A/C on than without it. I was so worried it would overheat with it on, as I’ve heard horror stories, but man. Over the moon.

I do need to adjust the throttle stop more and the TPS as a result because stop lights with A/C on are a struggle, but yeah. Small potatoes.

Couldn’t be happier. Being OCD with all my heat shielding has paid off dividends. As well as keeping both OEM fans.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I'm so dam happy for you. The AC thing is a lifesaver. My son and I spent the last week putting all new parts on an old Honda. We didn't touch the hardline that had the fill valve (R12) and converted to 134a. Pulled a great vacuum, 28hg so we filled it only to have the Schrader valve leak on the high side hard line.
So happy for you!
We going thru a 103-105 heat index here.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Small/short update. I drove the Talon to work today and enjoyed the A/C. It cools so well, the windshield actually fogs.

Just look at that beautiful sight. It fogs 100x worse than this the more time goes on, and I love it. Great problem to have.


Anyway, I lowered the launch RPM from 5400 down to 4900, and did a test pass. The launch was significantly better. It felt better, and there was still wheel spin but less so. I made a full pass, and it didn't really feel like it was ripping as hard as it normally does. Turns out, I forgot I turned my boost controller off(I turn it off when I have the A/C on because I don't wanna see 24lbs+ with the compressor on. ) so these dragy passes were basically on wastegate pressure only. 15lbs creeping to 18.


Very pleased. Absolutely slap full tank of E85, all of my EMS gear in the car, full weight...literally as heavy as you can make the car, and only on wastegate pressure. I'm stoked.

I'm half tempted to lower the launch RPM another hundred RPM and see if the launch improves more. Slightly less wheel spin and I think we've got 1.6X 60 foots in her as she sits. Which is where I want to be launch wise. But yeah. Slightly annoyed and bummed I didn't make a pass on 24lbs but meh. The launch being so much better is encouraging.


Plus...AIR CONDITIONING!!! Lol.

 

[pieceofcloth]

Every time you post something happily about your AC, just know I'm over here saying.. there goes my ac compressor doing well" .

Nah Idgaf, I hate and love this Texas heat. I was just brought up that my racecars can't have power steering and ac "accessories". So I try i be "cool", know what I mean, vern.

But yeah, congrats on that! Much love

 

[CrackedDSM]

Every time you post something happily about your AC, just know I'm over here saying.. there goes my ac compressor doing well" .

Nah Idgaf, I hate and love this Texas heat. I was just brought up that my racecars can't have power steering and ac "accessories". So I try i be "cool", know what I mean, vern.View attachment 770733

But yeah, congrats on that! Much love

I appreciate the hell out of it. It works great! Little compressor that could.



Also, I forgot to add to this. I was doing some research and stumbled upon a thread where @steve had mentioned how important it was to ground the throttle body. The OEM TB has a little metal tab that goes from the TB elbow, to a small bolt location on the top of the TB and that's the only way to get a ground. I didn't have a metal tab or anyway to fabricate one, so I used a nice wire and tucked it out of the way. After testing, viola! The IPS works now without simulating it in ECMLink and I swear the ISC works better too. But either way, it was a small thing but kinda cool to see how important grounds are for the engine.

So..if you're having IPS issues or etc, ground the TB to the intake manifold or to the TB elbow bolts.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I am the preacher on GROUNDS, YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY.
On a old 4 door Honda that the boys used to drive, they didn't hook up the motor ground on the valve cover and guess what the next best ground was??? The throttle cable at mid throttle. Welded it to itself.
That grounding tab does the same thing you did so I'm glad you thought "outside the box". I have one that has a ground wire on the screw that goes to an unobvious place also. I made a template for that strap, I need to fab a few. Good job on the Ole AC too! We are still having a few issues on this car we're retrofitting to R134a. Hopefully that gets cured tomorrow.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I need to learn how to drive this damn car. I cannot get past the high 12's because I either launch too hard and spin. Or I slip the clutch too long and give myself a 1/2 second handicap. My shifting is also like..permanently slow because I can't bring myself to just monkey APE it into the next gear.

I need to take it to the track soon and practice launching/shifting, because my "test track" around here since it's so heavily populated only allows like one pass before "security" comes to break it up. Alas. The local track is also exorbitantly priced. (1/8th mile, $40 for driver, $25 for anyone else in the car older than 2)

But, on a better note this car absolutely rips. It doesn't smoke, it doesn't misfire, it doesn't use coolant, catch can doesn't just smoke like a chimney like I've seen cars with loose end gaps do. It's just driver mod at this point, I think.

Here's a log of a 2nd gear into 3rd gear pull for anyone curious enough though. I wish I had someone local to me that could physically show me how to properly launch this car. Like, how fast or how slow to slip the clutch.

But yeah, at least the car rips. One of these days I need to switch it over to 93 Octane to clear out the black goo from E85, plus it'll allow me to fine tune the gas fuel settings, so I can install my flex fuel sensor.

 

[CrackedDSM]

So...is there any kind of surefire way to diagnose a head/valve problem vs piston ring problem? Aside from doing a leakdown test or pulling the head?


I feel like my car should trap higher in the 1/4 mile even if I have a bad launch/spin decently. It's on E85 and 24lbs. I'm not arguing there isn't a problem, just curious how to go about finding it. I really don't wanna pull the head off though if I'm 100% honest.

Any tips from those who have done? I promise I won't question you or argue. If you feel more comfortable you can always just PM me. I may clarify and ask a little more details on how exactly to do it, but follow your words I will. Lol.

If it's not a compression issue, does a stock unported 2G o2 housing really limit power/flow that much? Also stock unported 2G Exhaust manifold. Just spit balling here.

 

[pauleyman]

So...is there any kind of surefire way to diagnose a head/valve problem vs piston ring problem? Aside from doing a leakdown test or pulling the head?


I feel like my car should trap higher in the 1/4 mile even if I have a bad launch/spin decently. It's on E85 and 24lbs. I'm not arguing there isn't a problem, just curious how to go about finding it. I really don't wanna pull the head off though if I'm 100% honest.

Any tips from those who have done? I promise I won't question you or argue. If you feel more comfortable you can always just PM me. I may clarify and ask a little more details on how exactly to do it, but follow your words I will. Lol.

If it's not a compression issue, does a stock unported 2G o2 housing really limit power/flow that much? Also stock unported 2G Exhaust manifold. Just spit balling here.

Is there a reason you're against doing a leakdown? Its quick and easy.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Is there a reason you're against doing a leakdown? Its quick and easy.

I worded that incorrectly, sorry. I plan on a leakdown but I've never done one before. So how would I be able to tell it's a valve leaking vs the rings with just a leakdown test?

 

[99dsmer4g63]

You will hear air rushing out of the exhaust if it’s exhaust valves.

You will hear air rushing into the intake manifold if it’s intake valves.

Pull your dip stick or oil cap. If you hear air rushing out it’s a cylinder/piston problem. There is usually always a little bit of air from this area but within reason obviously.

Im sure someone will tell me I'm wrong and say totally no offense just a correction and proceed to type a book.

My thoughts and .02.

-Daniel

 

[DSMPT]

I need to take it to the track soon and practice launching/shifting, because my "test track" around here since it's so heavily populated only allows like one pass before "security" comes to break it up. Alas. The local track is also exorbitantly priced. (1/8th mile, $40 for driver, $25 for anyone else in the car older than 2)

Besides checking the engine condition, I think practicing is anyways important. I understand that it costs some, but you can focus to practice without paying attention to cops or the other cars on the road, that's a priceless benefit.

I used to go to a local track just to practice launching for the same reason as yours, but I was avoiding the days there were many cars running like before major events or so, only when the track was almost empty. I could run as many time as the time allowed with the same money, cost effective.

Do you have adjustable cam gears? If you have a chance to check the 1/4 mile time again, you should try to retard the intake cam a few degrees to raise the power band little bit, if you haven't touched the valve timing or if you are not planning to dyno soon.
This may make you feel less torque and slower a bit on streets, but usually you would be able to lower the 1/4 ET for a few tenths of a sec instead.

 

[pauleyman]

I worded that incorrectly, sorry. I plan on a leakdown but I've never done one before. So how would I be able to tell it's a valve leaking vs the rings with just a leakdown test?

Thats the beauty of a leakdown. If its valves you hear the air coming out of the exhaust or intake. If its rings you'll hear air coming out of the crankcase. You can literally listen at the exhaust, oil cap etc.