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Back on the road!!
Just got my 93L back on the road this weekend. After sitting for 4yrs with a bad bearing in the 5sp trans, I was worried about stuck injectors, sticking brake calipers, leaky seals, and all the other stuff that deteriorates. Pulled the motor and had the trans rebuilt with all new bearings and seals ($320). Installed a new clutch kit, timing belt, water pump, thermostat (FoMoCo), hoses, fuel filter, radiator, etc.. I pulled the head off to have a machine shop remove a seized spark plug and resurface it. Also installed all new HLA's, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, drained the tank and refilled with fresh gas and a bottle of concentrated Techron injector cleaner. With 110K miles, the hone marks were still very visible in the cylinders and the suspension components and shifter bushings were tight as new. The exhaust was rusted out in 4 places and had a major leak right behind the cat. I drove it 50 miles to work and was very depressed in the complete lack of power! It would barely pull hills in 5th gear. I started to wonder if I had been off a tooth when I replaced the timing belt, but the engine idled smooth as glass (no vacuum leaks) and had good throttle response but slightly surged under load like it was fuel starved. When I got home I removed the complete exhaust system (head pipe to tail pipe) from another 91L+ I bought for parts. The exhaust looked like new so I installed it on my 93..........WOW!!!
I can not emphasis enough the difference the full exhaust makes! Acceleration is better than ever and cruising at 65mph in 5th is effortless. I can only determine the lack of exhaust pressure was making the engine run so lean the injection couldn't compensate. Just something to keep in mind when installing exhaust on a B3. I never would have guessed the difference would have been so severe. Obviously, there is some extra power potential to be had with a free flowing exhaust if you can get enough fuel. Can the fuel mixture on an EFI B3 be adjusted via the regulator or adjusting the VAF flapper door (loosening the spring tension to fool the ECM into thinking it's flowing more air)? Also, How do you set the timing on a 93? I can't seem to see any marks on the crank pulley and there are 2 pointers on the timing belt cover, one narrow pointer @ 12 o'clock and another with multiple degree segregations @ 2 o'clock.
I can not emphasis enough the difference the full exhaust makes! Acceleration is better than ever and cruising at 65mph in 5th is effortless. I can only determine the lack of exhaust pressure was making the engine run so lean the injection couldn't compensate. Just something to keep in mind when installing exhaust on a B3. I never would have guessed the difference would have been so severe. Obviously, there is some extra power potential to be had with a free flowing exhaust if you can get enough fuel. Can the fuel mixture on an EFI B3 be adjusted via the regulator or adjusting the VAF flapper door (loosening the spring tension to fool the ECM into thinking it's flowing more air)? Also, How do you set the timing on a 93? I can't seem to see any marks on the crank pulley and there are 2 pointers on the timing belt cover, one narrow pointer @ 12 o'clock and another with multiple degree segregations @ 2 o'clock.
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