1986 SPG

[Geoff]

I use the Chevron Techron fuel injector cleaner. I've noticed differences after running it through C900s.
My method is I wait until the gas tank is pretty empty, light starting to come on, and then dump in a bottle.
I drive it until the tank is quite close to empty and then go to the gas station, dump in another bottle, and fill up.
I run that tank quite low and then put in fresh gas and change the oil.
(the oil change is a good idea because you can introduce contaminants to the oil with the injector cleaning process)

[99Super]

In other news I think the battery is officially dead, I had been charging it for a day straight but the car wouldn't start this morning. Also found the radio dies whenever the lights get turned on but I'm hoping that's just a dead battery symptom...

Think about replacing the terminal on the battery cable. I've fixed a lot of "battery", "starter"and "alternator" problems w/ that simple fix.
About $2 and a couple of minutes to solder it on.

john

[hutch]

I use the Chevron Techron fuel injector cleaner. I've noticed differences after running it through C900s.
My method is I wait until the gas tank is pretty empty, light starting to come on, and then dump in a bottle.
I drive it until the tank is quite close to empty and then go to the gas station, dump in another bottle, and fill up.
I run that tank quite low and then put in fresh gas and change the oil.
(the oil change is a good idea because you can introduce contaminants to the oil with the injector cleaning process)

Thanks for the advice, I got a jug of oil to change it the other day and didn't notice it says it's a 'part-synthetic' which probably isn't a huge deal on a car like a 900 but maybe I'll use that as a 500 mile or so flush while I run the cleaner through there.

Think about replacing the terminal on the battery cable. I've fixed a lot of "battery", "starter"and "alternator" problems w/ that simple fix.
About $2 and a couple of minutes to solder it on.

john

The car actually has the battery in the trunk so the terminals are relatively new, I might try cleaning them now that you bring them up though. The battery is pretty old and it sat for so long it doesn't owe me much and batteries at Costco are pretty reasonably priced.

[SwedeSport]

What size cable are you using?

[hutch]

Umm not exactly sure, I wasn't the one who ran the cable back there, it's slightly larger than OEM would be though. I also checked out the terminals and the positive one looks fine, I know visual isn't everything, but the ground one looked a little aged so I might look into replacing that down the road if a new battery doesn't fix everything.

[turbo stephan]

Go for Redline MT-90 for the transmission. It will thank you.

Coming from you guys living in the cold New England winters I assume it works well in the cold.

[SwedeSport]

I have 4, doesn't take alot to kill the battery. At some point I plan to re wire with heavier stuff.

[SalemSaab]

Also found the radio dies whenever the lights get turned on but I'm hoping that's just a dead battery symptom...

Mine did that today
Usually my stereo powers off / loses all settings randomly, like when I hit a bump. Or for no reason. Ground/short issue & not battery I'm afraid.

[hutch]

So no big updates except I got a new battery and drove the car around today and it seems to be running just fine. Even the drivetrain seemed, slightly, quieter today so no need to go mucking around for no reason at this point. The coolant temp gauge even started working towards the end of the day so that was a bonus.

I also decided to redo the harnesses to the radio last night and remembered why it was a good idea to get Jordan to do the T5 harness. Some idiot (me) did a quick and easy job on the harness some 7 or 8 years ago and even though it's lasted all these years I figured now was a good time to fix it up. Old versus new halves of the harness:

[hutch]

I had the day off and finally got around to starting the Trionic install, got pretty much everything taken off or ready to be taken off.


Can anyone ID what this connector would be for? It connected to the LH harness and runs into the main harness that goes to the fuse box. The split wires were a surprise to me, they look like the same color (white, and grey/white) as the ones that were resoldered and connected to the LH harness. I obviously need to do something about the exposed wires but was just curious what this would be for as I don't think I need it for Trionic.



And then does anyone know how far in the distributor plug is supposed to go in? I tapped it in with a socket and small hammer but didn't want to push it in too far but also don't want it falling out.

Hopefully I can keep up the progress and update this as I get to installing the new harness.

[hutch]

Slowly ticking away, tried to devote 2 hours a day for the past few days to knock this out. I'm about 90% of the way there, mostly just need to put the CPS shutter wheel on and take care of a few other little projects I have meant to do for a while now.

Engine harness:



Snaked the harness through the engine bay holes and down into the cabin of the car (still need to put that rubber grommet back in)


MAP sensor mounted:


/Sidenote: the PO of this car LOVED that blue silicone sealant, put it on pretty much everything. Valve cover gasket, intake manifold grommets, that A/C block off plate, I'm sure I'm forgetting more. I also just noticed you can see the broken fresh air box from trying to get the crank pulley off.

So in the coming days I need to do wrap up a few loose ends and then hopefully fire it up shortly.
- mount CPS wheel
- mount ECU and relays
- buy some more vacuum hose
- take dash off and redo boost, oil pressure and temperature gauge wiring and also connect some wires for T5

Then I need to make use of my CANUSB adaptor and tune the ecu, from what I've read it should start up and drive around with pretty much any tune but once I get it running I'd like to take care of that.

[Jordan]

That looks familiar ... make sure you leave a little slack in the main harness between engine and body run just so it can move a little when the motor mounts flex. Also, I think it is somewhat important to have the injectors clocked all together straight. I think the injectors are "aimed" to certain extent for maximum atomization on top of the valves.

[hutch]

A well deserved hat tip to you Jordan for making this harnes for me, it really did fit right up and knock on wood I haven't run into any snags with it, well worth the purchase price if you ask me.

I made sure to leave some slack in the harness and I haven't finally tied it down for good, I still need to mount the CPS and then I'll finalize it with some more zip ties on it. I also had the same thought about the injectors, when I took the LH harness out I noticed the injectors were sort of all over the place. I put the plug in the 9 o'clock position (when looking from the front of the car), I think the wires are just a little curved in the picture I believe the injectors are all lined up straight now.

[SwedeSport]

The red injectors have a plastic clip that connects the 2 forward together, and the 2 rearward ones. They keep the investors pointed the right way.

[hutch]

Update 5-3-12

Status: "dropping a bomb to kill a fly"



While installing the T5 harness I decided to take the extra bit of time to take off the dash and rewire some gauges, fix the dash surround a bit, and fix the bracket that the instrument cluster mounts to. These were all things I had been wanting to do for a while so I figured it would be best to get all of these things done at once. The gauges took longer than expected but it wasn't so bad, I went with a boost gauge, oil pressure, and voltage. I hope the other two small jobs will fix some really annoying dash rattles that happened from around 1500-2500rpm.

(not that you don't all know what a few gauges look like but what the hell...)




After I put everything back together I tried to fire it up for the first time and something seems off because the car wouldn't start. I still need to troubleshoot but I'm leaning towards the CPS being off. When I put it on I know you are supposed to line up the 20th tooth but that just was not possible for me, I tried to mark where whole actually lined up.
My thumb is roughly the tooth that is in the hole when the flywheel and the missing teeth are at TDC. Does this look about right for anyone that has one of these kits?




It really doesn't seem like I could screw this one up, the instructions said you can install it 120 or 240 degrees off but mine seems more like its 30 degrees off. I verified the flywheel and camshafts are both at TDC and to the best of my knowledge the crank pulley can only be installed one way, though I should note I had someone install the sensor bracket so I can't be sure. I can line up the 20th hole to be under the sensor but then of course I can no longer bolt the wheel to the pulley.