Green G0blin

i have a 1996 formula convert.

72K oringinal miles. these are the mods i have.

jet hot hooker long tubes (new)
vortech elbow (used)
k & n cold air induction (used)
air foil (new)
NGK plugs (new)
Taylor Wires (new)
lt4 KM (new)
lt4 hot cam KIT (new)
lt1 port and polished heads (used)
tranny cooler (new)
ported intake (used)
dual exhaust (new)
3.73 gears (new)
2600 stall (used)
comp programmed by ion (madz28.com)
alum. driveshaft (used off of a 1LE)
alum. differential cover (new)
BMR LCAs (new)
BMR STB (new)
BMR torque arm (new)

thats about it. i had all this installed, and the car was working fine before. so i go pick up the car, and its running kinda rough, mechanic tell me its cus i changed the computer to the programmed one and the plugs were probably foul. so i am driving home, the car turns off on me, i turn it back on, it cranks really slow, so i buy a battery, install it and it cranked pretty good. but it still drove like crap. so i drive it home. park it. call the guy. and he said. change the plugs, its probably cus the car was running rich with the stock programming, so i switch the comp. and put all new plugs. turn the car and on still. i put the car in gear and it stumbles, so i take it for a cruise and there is no power, i step on it and it wont go past 20, and the RPMS dont escalate. so i take it back home. do a lil research and come to a conclusion that its the opti/coil. get on the phone. call Jason, get a new opti, get a coil from Summit. take it another local shop, he installs it. i go back and he tells me that it wasnt the opti and coil cus its running the same. LIKE CRAP. and now it wont even turn on. so i ask him what he thinks, and he tells me it can be a number of things, he is leaning towards something internal. so today he is gonna run a compression test to see whats up and go from there.

any of you guys familiar with something like this? he stated my car is only running on 4 cylinders. can the programming have something to do with this? he said it could be a broken spring (still hasnt torn it apart yet until we run a compression test) rounded lobes on the cam, valves on the heads arent opening, or some other stuff.

i just put in about 3500 of mods in my car and paid 600 of labor. so i was hoping i would be kicking *** and taking names later. and it appears i aint doing crap. any help and recomendations are welcomed.

please help me get my beast back up and running

Fastbird93

Is it throwing any codes? In neutral/park, how high can you rev the motor? Does it hit a wall @ about 3000 rpm?? Is the SES light on??

Green G0blin

we tried to leave the car on to get a code, but i put the old computer back since i have an obd1 conversion, and my scanner is a obd2 reader. put the old comp back on, turned the car on to try to get a code, and it wont pick a code up at all.

as far as revving. i havent really sat there and revved it. but while driving, i dont think it went past 1500-2000, if i remember correctly.

BUBBA

If you had all these mods done and the car was running fine BEFORE you had them done, and...you only paid $600 labor (10 hrs at 60/hr)


My guess your answer is in your question. JMHO

BUBBA

Don't mean to sound like an a$$, but if I paid to have car fixed and it wasn't running right, I'd leave it at the mech's until it WAS running right.

Green G0blin

well thanks for your help.

i paid 600 bucks cus it was a friend. not cus he doenst know whats wrong with it.

and i am gonna take it back to him so thats not a problem i just want to have an idea of what it can be.

he has a 1990 cougar running 11.04 at the track. so i think he knows what hes doing.

Toast

This is just a thought but....

I have very similar mods and before I had the computer reprogrammed it ran like crap. It would buck and hesitate. After I had the computer reprogrammed it ran perfect, but I wanted to lower the idle. So I had another computer w/ an updated tune sent out to me. I installed it, started the car, and the car died after about 30 sec. Tried again and the car would not start. Swapped in the old computer (the first one that I had reprogrammed) and the car ran fine. Had Bryan at PCMforless send me another computer to replace the bad one and the car works fine.

He said that maybe the pcm was bad or it didn't accept the program when he flashed it. So you might want to swap in another computer that has a program for your mods.

Or you could have possibly burnt a plug wire or installed the opti wrong. Are you sure it was installed flush and not pulled on with the bolts?

Green G0blin

well i thought it was the computer too. but i installed the obd2 computer back on to read it and it still acted the same.

and the opti is connected correctly and the wires are in the correct order, and the wires are brand new. i have the over the valve cover set up so its kinda hard for them to burn, and i checked them out before i bought opti.

thanks for your help,

i am gonna email ion about the computer.

any other ideas?

Fastbird93

I would be inclined to think computer too. When we were just having tune issues with my other 93, the tune was BAD. Corrupted file on the chip. The car ran like crap, sputtered and hesitated, and wouldn't rev past 3K. It sounds like what is going on with your car.

BUBBA

Just curious. Does the hotcam kit come with all the valve train components, and were the valves all adjusted with the correct lash?

Was the cam degreed or can it be put in wrong?

Sounds like a timing issue to me.

You don't necessarily have to have your PCM programmed for your cam, although you won't get the benes of the cam without a change in the A/F ratio. etc.

I see nothing else in your mods that would cause your problems if your electrical sytem is ok.JMHO

jonaddis84

My buddy just put the hotcam kit on his car that he bought of another buddy with 270/200 heads and all the other bolton crap. Layed down 205 at the wheels. Turned out the springs were so weak you could push them down with your hands. Fixed that, now much much better

Green G0blin

i was leaning towards the computer cus all the mods seem ok and they were new. but i dont know. i was thiking it had something to do with the computer or the springs/roller rockers or cam.

i narrowed it down to those 4 things.

turbo_Z

so you are saying the mechanic installed all those parts?

all i can tell you is the car would run fine on a stock program... better with a tune but it would still kick the crap out of a stock LT1 on the stock tune. somethine must have been installed incorrectly.

Green G0blin

so then your ruling out the computer?

and your saying with all those mods including internal. i could have used stock tune? of what i read, i disagree.

what could have been installed wrong tho? cam? rockers? springs?

jonaddis84

Not the computer, maybe if you installed a 240+ duration cam at a 108 lsa, not the hotcam though. Its mechanical.