Alright guys, finally got some bucks to throw at the new acquisition. Here are some problems that I note, and my ideas. Please let me know what you think/recommend:

Oil pressure issue: PERFECT under all conditions except heavy braking. When I lay into the brakes, the pressure plummets, bottoms out, check gauges light comes on... get out of the brakes and it comes right back. Did some research and sounds like my pickup tube has an issue, so I'll be trying to pull the pan and reattach. Have a small arc welder, thinking about tack-welding the pickup tube on.

Oil leaks/breather smoke: Most of the gaskets appear to leak. However, if I wipe them off/clean them up, and baby the car around, they won't leak anymore. Get into the throttle, under boost, and they leak again. Did some searching again, and I have purchased the Mr. Gasket crankcase evacuation kit and another passenger side valve cover to hook into. Hopefully this will knockout the leaking problem. The valve cover breather smokes lightly... I've always been told this was an indication of blowby, that the rings did not properly seat along the cylinder wall anymore. I don't have ANY exhaust smoke however so I am somewhat puzzled.

MAF problem: Has a Granatelli MAF that indicates 495 g/sec or whatever the maximum is at all times. Currently running in SD mode. I plugged up my perfectly good stock MAF from my vert, and got what LOOKED like correct readings, but the PCM registered a MAF circuit failure, and ignored it. I can see where some splices appear to be bare wire, leading towards the MAF, so I'm hoping there the source of the problem.

Idle: When I first got the car it wouldn't idle at all really. I removed a throttle body air foil, as it's inlet for the idle passages was TINY. This seemed to help EXCEPT for decel. It will bog momentarily after I release the throttle, and sometimes stall. If I BARELY keep my foot on the throttle it will stay running no problem. The only thing I can think of is a table in the PCM that seems to set the IAC to a certain value on throttle release. I run high counts on the stepper motor in general, I just attribute this to all the intake piping.

fuel smell in oil: this is a recent occurence (tonight). I took the car to the gas station right around the corner. I hadn't driven it in about 2 weeks, so I had to jump it to start it. Anyway, I obviously didn't let it run long enough. Leaving the gas station it started just fine. But at the stop sign it stalled on me, and then wouldn't start again. I tried for about a minute, as I got the partial engagement, a turn or two... hoping it would fire. I walked home, got my jump start pack... walked back, and the pack didn't have enough juice left either. I turned it over a lot but slowly. Then jumped with my truck after ANOTHER walk home. It knocked for a second on startup, then I smelled fuel, and when I got it home I checked the oil. It was still full, and slightly dirty, but it smelled (slightly) of fuel. I'm hoping this was just from "flooding" it on all the "not quite" starts. Not sure what to look for after changing the oil, leaking injectors???

Sorry for the book guys, but trying to knock it all out at once. I appreciate any input and/or guidance.

Thanks!

Jonota

 

Pull the motor, rebuild it, and fix the MAF wiring.

 

In short; I agree. Sounds like you need to open it up and fix the problems.

 

yeah, the leaky gaskets, breather smoke and gas smelling oil mean your rings are gone...rebuild time

 

Hmm... was hoping that wasn't the answer. I do plan on going that route eventually, but right now probably don't have the time/money to do it. I'm buying a new MAF and MAP today (Map is physically broken but still reading ok), changing oil, and installing the Crank Evac kit if I think I can do the welds alright myself. It had dyno oil in it when I got it, and I used Mobil 1 when I did it's first oil change. When I first got it running it didn't smoke at all from anywhere... now the breather... maybe running some thicker dyno oil can keep it happy for a while. I won't be hardcore rodding this car or anything, just want to fix the smaller stuff until I can put her under the knife.

Jonota