[DeTomaso] Unhappy motor - looking for suggestions

[Forest Goodhart]

Charlie,
 
What are you using for an ignition system? Points, duraspark, MSD?
 
Forest
 

________________________________
 From: Charles McCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com>
To: detomaso at poca.com 
Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 11:13 AM
Subject: [DeTomaso] Unhappy motor - looking for suggestions
  

   Hi all


   I just got back from a Supercar event in northern Spain with 35 cars
   attending - Lambo, Ferrari, Viper, Porsche, and, as usual, a lone
   DeTomaso!


   The highlight for me without a doubt was an 8-minute burst on the
   highway with the police clearing the way for us, cruising at a steady
   GPS-indicated 180 k/hr in a 35 car convoy... the people out for a
   Sunday drive must have had their minds boggled...


   Anyway, my engine is not happy. This morning in the hotel parking lot I
   really thought that we'd have to skip today's event because it wouldn't
   start and didn't sound like it was even thinking about starting. Took
   probably 5 minutes of crank-wait-crank-wait before it fired. Yesterday
   at the gas station it took 2-3 minutes to start, something that has
   never, ever happened before. It is really hard to describe the problem
   so much of it is "feel", but I'll do my best.


   A few weeks ago I noticed that the engine would tend to stumble if I
   would floor the throttle, then clear its throat and pull. For example,
   I like to heel-and-toe, just because, and when blipping the throttle it
   would stumble instead of rev. The engine also felt a little rougher, as
   though it vibrated more than I remembered it. I don't remember if this
   was before or after I did a short tune-up, by adjusting the valve lash
   (I have mechanical lifters), and cleaning the K&N air filter by
   applying K&N filter oil, etc. or if it is irrelevant. So I was messing
   around in the engine bay recently...


   This weekend the engine felt considerably worse. It felt like it would
   stumble under partial throttle as well. It would stumble a little bit
   under trailing throttle going downhill as well, so I don't think it is
   a clogged fuel filter.


   Oil temp is perfect. Oil pressure is perfect. Water temp is perfect.
   The engine idles perfectly. But if you floor the gas from idle, it'll
   stall. The engine doesn't feel crisp, it feels bloated and soft, if
   that makes sense. It feels rough, and it feels like it occasionally
   stumbles under constant throttle at highway speed. It pulls hard when
   accelerating, but I don't think as hard as it used to, or as high (I
   have a 6500 rpm limiting chip in the MSD that it used to pull very
   easily to).


   Suggestions for where to begin looking? And other info that would help
   in troubleshooting?

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-------------- next part --------------
   Charlie,

   What are you using for an ignition system? Points, duraspark, MSD?

   Forest
   From: Charles McCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com>
   To: detomaso at poca.com
   Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2014 11:13 AM
   Subject: [DeTomaso] Unhappy motor - looking for suggestions
     Hi all
     I just got back from a Supercar event in northern Spain with 35 cars
     attending - Lambo, Ferrari, Viper, Porsche, and, as usual, a lone
     DeTomaso!
     The highlight for me without a doubt was an 8-minute burst on the
     highway with the police clearing the way for us, cruising at a steady
     GPS-indicated 180 k/hr in a 35 car convoy... the people out for a
     Sunday drive must have had their minds boggled...
     Anyway, my engine is not happy. This morning in the hotel parking lot
   I
     really thought that we'd have to skip today's event because it
   wouldn't
     start and didn't sound like it was even thinking about starting. Took
     probably 5 minutes of crank-wait-crank-wait before it fired.
   Yesterday
     at the gas station it took 2-3 minutes to start, something that has
     never, ever happened before. It is really hard to describe the
   problem
     so much of it is "feel", but I'll do my best.
     A few weeks ago I noticed that the engine would tend to stumble if I
     would floor the throttle, then clear its throat and pull. For
   example,
     I like to heel-and-toe, just because, and when blipping the throttle
   it
     would stumble instead of rev. The engine also felt a little rougher,
   as
     though it vibrated more than I remembered it. I don't remember if
   this
     was before or after I did a short tune-up, by adjusting the valve
   lash
     (I have mechanical lifters), and cleaning the K&N air filter by
     applying K&N filter oil, etc. or if it is irrelevant. So I was
   messing
     around in the engine bay recently...
     This weekend the engine felt considerably worse. It felt like it
   would
     stumble under partial throttle as well. It would stumble a little bit
     under trailing throttle going downhill as well, so I don't think it
   is
     a clogged fuel filter.
     Oil temp is perfect. Oil pressure is perfect. Water temp is perfect.
     The engine idles perfectly. But if you floor the gas from idle, it'll
     stall. The engine doesn't feel crisp, it feels bloated and soft, if
     that makes sense. It feels rough, and it feels like it occasionally
     stumbles under constant throttle at highway speed. It pulls hard when
     accelerating, but I don't think as hard as it used to, or as high (I
     have a 6500 rpm limiting chip in the MSD that it used to pull very
     easily to).
     Suggestions for where to begin looking? And other info that would
   help
     in troubleshooting?
   _______________________________________________
   Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
   DeTomaso mailing list
   [1]DeTomaso at poca.com
   [2]http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com

References

   1. mailto:DeTomaso at poca.com
   2. http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com