I'll be using this guide right here to diagnose my ignition issues!
http://easyautodiagnostics.com/ford_...cus_coil_1.php
I'll be using this guide right here to diagnose my ignition issues!
http://easyautodiagnostics.com/ford_...cus_coil_1.php
Think I might be suffering a ignition issue keep getting miss fires at top end of rev band, could be fueling issues as well though or too lean. Running NGK non resistor plugs with direct hits seemed to run really nice to 8k then after a few hard miles started missing again maybe it's too rich and fowling the plugs but i find that hard to believe with this setup. Damn thing is just too touchy might get it setup found a really good weber tuner not too far away £92 plus tax and parts is pretty cheap too!! Failing that could be some other issue with valve clearances hasn't been done since the event. Seriously contemplating putting the A18 head on it instead though to raise CR ratio and to have the better snf bigger valves in there.
Rich, you really need to invest in a wideband!!!
Dude, rich, he's right... I remember just before i popped the motor last time i promised my self i wouldn't try and tune webers without it... Either way...
Mini update on my ignition stuff....
I got the HEI spark plug tester to see what was going on. I've got spark at all 4 cylinders right down to the wires. However, once i got the car started I ended up pulling the plug leads to figure out which ones were operating at a less than desirable rate... cylinder #3. I slapped a new plug in there (the old one was kinda damp) and with a turn of the idle screw, BAM i was going again. So i attempted to resync the carbies and i've now come to this conclusion...
Here is my current setup, throttle drive wise...
btw, i know the image is small... but this is the current linkage kit i have.
this is the actual parts i'll be talking about. These two pieces are what sync the two carbs together. As you can see they both go on the the ends of the throttle plate rod and come together to where the one carb is actuated by the other. For this we usually call the driven carb the main (the one with the actually throttle cable attached) and the other carb the slave (or at least this is what i'm calling it, but its the carb that is driven by the main carb with the linkage pictured about.) Now before the carb on the driver side was the carb that i call the main carb. With the passenger carb being the slave.
you can see in this picture how the linkage sits on top and how everthing looks like it works. In the middle you see the rod the pushes down on the ball jointed part that is on the linkage pictured above. Here was the original problem. There wasnt an adjustable screw for the sync plate, just a short baby screw. This caused issues with the lack of being able to adjust the "idle" speed of the main vs slave carb setup.
For the longest time in my silly "weber rookie days" i would adjust the idle screw for each carb, syncing them together, at idle. The only problem with that was, as soon as you give it throttle you were instantly "unsynced." This essentially went un noticed largly in part to the "full throttle effect." This is what i call the part where, while at full throttle, the cable is maxing both carbs out, therefore only synced at idle, and full throttle, making you think that everything is kosher, and its just the "big" cam that is making the partial suck.
Realizing this, I figured i'd dick with it some more. I moved one of the extra "idle" adjustment screw for the slave carb (cause it shouldn't need it right?) to the sync intercoupling. Now i'm on too something, i can literally sync the carbies again! Enter a NEW problem... on anything more than 1/8th throttle, the "adjustment screw" hits the linkage coming down from the throttle cable! FUCK!
So my newest fix was to move the throttle cable linkage to the passenger carb making it the main, and the driverside carb the slave. Now i can adjust the screw again, making everything dandy. I'd ajust the idle, play with the sync, have to lower the idle... kinda this weird thing where everytime i adjust the sync, i have to lower the idle, but there became this point, where i couldn't get the idle to drop down lower than 1500rpm while synced. Then you drive it, and it becomes unsynced again... ENTER IN YET ANOTHER PROBLEM!!!
And this was only something I realized today... the sync coupler only works one way. When i adjust the screw, its actually speeding up the passenger carb, not speeding up the driver... ok, this is weird right? This is why the idle screw was becoming more and more useless, everytime i turned the screw, i was speeding up the carb that is set on the idle screw... I'm adjusting the main carb, not the SLAVE!
So i tried to flip the linkages all kinds of ways to see if some combo would work. None of it would... Everytime it'd still speed up the passenger carb, rather than the driver (currently slave setup).
So lets try and make sense of all of this...
* Initially i was syncing the two carbs at idle with seperate idle speed screws. This would only sync the carbies at idle, making any off throttle time, slightly unsynced, outside for the "full throttle effect" the carbs were unsynced, but idled great.
*The fix for that was swap out the fixed length screw for an adjustable one
*This caused another issue with the linkage hitting the screw outside 1/8th throttle...
*Swapped the pecking order of the carbies, making the passenger the new "main" carb and the driverside carb the "slave"
*Yet another problem... adjusting the sync screw only speeds up the main, not the slave... making it nearly impossible to set both idle AND sync...
They way I see it I have three options...
One, buy this...
This peice would require me to change the carbs back to the old pecking order, but would move the linkage to the outside of the middle, out of the way of the adjustment screw, all while giving me full throttle movement, however requiring me to cut off a piece from the carb to allow clearance for the linkage to dive down...
2, modify my current one, by drilling out the back of the ball (part the throttle attaches too) and flip, then weld the back side through the whole. The ball is a 2 piece press fit style part, so drilling out the "flared" inside would allow me to flip it, and essentially modify the potentially useless bracket anyway. Doing this would NOT interfer with the actual sync part, so should i decide to go back the current setup, i could. But I would still have to cut the piece off the carb...
3, Keep the current pecking order, don't move the throttle linkage, don't buy any parts, don't cut anything up, don't drill/weld/modify any pieces before this... Move the idle adjustment screw to the Driver side carb, sync the main carb from this adjustment, while letting the throttle linkage make everything else Kosher...
I'll of course start with 3 and work my way to 1... But i figured i'd let you guys in on the mysteries of carbs...
oh yea, and after some inspection of the picture, it looks like i could turn my throttle linkage on the bracket that bolts to carby and have it drive the far driverside of the carby, which wouldn't cause me to have to cut anything, but i would have to buy another part, a part that would go onto the end of the throttle rod that the linkage could snap too... another idea i guess...
I just cut that bit off I know the one you talking about it holds the idles adjust screw if you were using it on the other side. But as these are never gonna be used on anything else but this engine or any other 4 pot in same config I figured it's not gonna be a problem. As for the linkage and adjustment screw being a right pain in the arse it is these linkages are often changed out for better quality items. Mine's completely out of whack at the minute one thing you need to double check is that both carbs are completely level with each other you need to take off the manifold with carbs attached take the top of the carbs off so that you can put a metal rule along them both or visually side check them to see they are both level. Because of the rubber vibration mounts being quite soft and squiggy it's very easy to have one that is a degree or so out from the other and this can play havoc with idle balancing.
alright guys, So i moved the screw over and it seems to help loads... First i was using the inside carbies for the sync, but noticed that my inside driverside carby is low flow, so I decided to check it against the #1 cylinder barrel... With the idle bypass screw adjusted it was a whole point lower than the 1st cylinder barrel... and wouldn't you know, one of those silly nuts with the quirky springs has fallen off giving me a pretty substantial vacuum leak... hahaha. So i got the two synced pretty close, so i'm going to replace the nut and re-re-re-final-re sync the carbs again... hahaha
And I thought getting my ITBs synced was a pain.
C|
hahaha, your not kidding! I finally got my linkages going. Word of advice to anyone doing a Dual Weber swap... The carb that has your throttle pulling on it, has to be the same carb that has the idle set screw. The carb that gets the screw for the sync can't be the same carb that has the throttle or the idle set screw. So essentially, I have to run the driver side carb with the set screw, throttle linkage, and the linkage with the adjustable screw has to be on the passenger carb, because the screw accelerates that carb, to match the idle adjusted screw...
Ok so now its picture time all!!!
This is the linkage that gets modded...
drilled out the ball from the back side...
Welded back together
Piece I had to grind off the carby
almost done...
And of course I still had to bend the bracket in a little bit, and of course, like a mad fail, I didn't get a picture of it fully installed... I'll take one and edit this post when I do...
I drove about 90 miles this weekend with no issues sync wise... Checked it multiple times and no problems to report. Time to start working on the tune again.
And on to my other project from this weekend. I swapped the good (competition) suspension from the white prelude to the red prelude. Top hats and all... So here is a little before and after shot...
Before
After
In the process I got to bust out the welder a couple of times, and once was to fix this...
2 pieces...
1 piece!
I've broken 2 of these bad boys over the years... Silly rear shock mounts... Although the after thought leads me to beleive that i should have experimented with off setting it as much as i could and welding it back together there! F*ck!
Also with my top hats, taking them apart i realized how much of a bitch it is to try and hold the carriage bolts as you take the multi nylocs off... So i decided that i'd tack weld those pesky bolts into the proper location...
Yeah they look pretty crazy... either way, got all my suspension worked out on the two cars, but here is what i'm currently running on the two preludes suspension wise.
White Prelude...
Koni Front adjustables shocks from an ef
Koni Front Sway bar
Koni rear adjustable inserts
Addco rear sway bar
Intrax lowering springs
NO TOP HATS :'(
Red Prelude
Koni Front adjustable shocks from an ef
Stock DX front sway bar
Koni adjustable rear inserts
Addco rear sway bar
Extended ghetto tops in the front
Fronts have 6inch long, 2.5inch diameter 500lbs ERS
Rears have 7inch long, 2.5 inch diameter 600lbs ERS
EBAY threaded perches.
I can still go about 1.5 lower in the front (provided i have shortened shocks)
but without getting 6 inch springs for the rear, I'm lowered as much as possible. Kind of sad really.
I will say my intrax suspension has been the death of all of my konis. They are aweful. And the car doesnt ride very well at all either... I HATE THESE SPRINGS! Jared is going to try and hook me up with a spare set of perches and I can run some of my extra ERS springs on it, and maybe make some top hats using just one of the shock mounts rather than 2 per corner...
Very similar to my setup apart from I can go as low as I want to but it's as low as I dare at the moment just about clearing most things on the road without damaging anything important!! The front springs are 550lbs and the adjustable damping makes such a big difference really glad I got these coilovers done in the end one of my better purchases for the old girl!! :0)
Yeah I think I got my carbs a bit better balanced, I got my steel rule out and managed to level the carbs properly on the manifold, then discovered that my syncing screw had worn a massive hole into the tab which was making the screw too short to fully balance them out, so I ghetto stuck a washer underneath the screw to stop it sinking into the hole it had worn into it!! Seems to work for now but need to find a longer screw from somewhere, also the top end seems to be good for now but the much colder air could be helping with this, when running the inlet manifold is so cold that it's getting condensation on the outside of it from the hotter air hitting it from the engine!! lol!!
Hahaha, I'm really thinking hard about your suspension...I'm honestly truely thinking about buying me some GAZ next spring. I'm just waiting to hear your full review on these babies. I also want to make sure they are actually able to deal with the high rear spring rates. I'm Thinking going 600f,750rear if i go GAZ...Seems cheaper than all race valved Konis with new springs...
Oh yea, and i just blew 65 bucks on an accel super EDIS coil pack...
Sweeeet
Lol you are mad 550 and 600 is hard core enough!! One thing I have noticed though all my suspension travel seems to be from the tyre side wall and the rubber bushes in the rear top hats! lol! I think once I've put in some decent dry tyres with reinforced side walls and poly bushed the top mounts it's going to be even harder!!
Originally Posted by hondalude86
So did you figure out that the coil was bad? I've always heard the factory EDIS coils were pretty reliable. Guess they won't last forever though.
C|
I think I've found out whats caused my high end miss fire dodgy alternator/regulator (hoepfully reg on the way out go through a few) It's been fluctuating up and down like a yoyo recently.
When I did the test using the HEI tester (spark plug dealy) I could see the spark easily on both cylinder 1 and 4 from the driverseat of the car. When i tested cylinders 2 and 3, I had to get someone to start the car for me, cause I wasn't completely sure i could see the spark coming out. I could hear it, but it was a much weaker spark on both those two cylinders. I put about 100 miles on the current spark plug and i've noticed that its starting to run a little rougher again, and i'm contributing it to the spark plug again, possibly on cylinder 3 or 2. I used to just have the coil ziptied to the motor and it pretty much sat (and vibrated) on the thermostat housing, so i wonder if its a partial reason for the break down.
Installed my new accel coil last night, and wow did it make a difference. It has smoothed it out so much! I'm definetly happy with it for sure! So with that me and my buddy with a 1st gen, d16a1 swapped, dual DCOE, full suspension crx decided to see if we could go flip these little babies... We went canyon carving in near Boulder CO. He's running on Nitto NT01s and I'm on my new Hankook RS3s and we had a blast! His car is so fast (1st gen integra gears with lsd). This one really tight section he did spin, on the MOUNTAIN!! fwew! I was literally on his tail when it happened... I was just so proud of the lude... Pushing one heavily modded crx to the breaking point, and I hung in there without spinning! This car literally has grip all day... And the torque that this motor puts out is amazing. Really made the difference up there. We did line up next to each other a couple of times side by side, and it was pretty close, even with his shorter gearing, and 400lbs weight advantage. It wasn't until the top of his second that he started pulling away from me. That motor is a Damn screamer! I did feel pretty good hanging with him last night!
Just read through this entire thread, as I'm building a similar setup this winter. Just wanna say thanks for putting up all the info and pics! Super helpful!
Low is a Lifestyle, and I'm living the life.
Thanks buddy, it definitly means a lot coming from you! I have subscribed to your thread, so I get the updates every now and then. Ill hopefully be dynoing this weekend, so ill have an idea what kind of power I'm looking at. I'm driving it all week so ill be tweaking with it to try and pull more out of the top end.
Hows the engine running these days? you down a psi compression test lately be interesting to know what numbers you pumping out? mines at around 180psi on a warm engine. Not great normally use to 200-220psi on a fresh build but I've done a few thousand on this now, and also the bores weren't fresh just did a hone as it was rebored about 18k miles ago before. Next time I'll be reboring to 83mm and using the oversize pistons.
can't wait to see dyno results.
Low is a Lifestyle, and I'm living the life.
Yeah I'm pretty interested in the numbers too!
One thing I noticed on your linkage then looked at mine which may explain my awefull idle and bad return to idle is the tab that goes in the balancing screw it's so soft the screw eats into it, this needs to be smooth as possible, on mine it has actually worn a great big hole into it!! I've had to glue on a new tab of metal that slots on either side and now have rounded the end of the screw off a little to make it not dig in as much! I'm hoping this works! Or I'll have to take the whole thing off and put a new balance lever on. (I do have one just in case!!)
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