Plug colors were all different, #1 caked, the other front 3 were black, the rear 4 were golden brown (when I removed them originally, they've since been replaced) and I plan to try and read them after a few more tanks of gas. Also, the old air cleaners were ill fitting, which may have caused some of this issue.
Most of my driving is tame street driving, so it could just be my injection, it being hard to get all 8 butteerflies to open and close exactly when they are BARELY being opened.
On song, any throttle above easy cruising and the motor sounds and runs like a champ.
I'm just thinking about down the road, when this Haltech (that came with floppy discs) konks out, I'm going to need to upgrade, and I might as well do it right.
Again though, the car's running fine now, I'm broke so I can't do anything for a good while anyways, so this is all just discussion about what I might switch to when the time comes.
Like you said, it's a race engine, and I think for being so "racy" it actually is running pretty good for the street. I can hop in and go anywhere now, it all seems to run solid, coolant temps, oil temps and pressure are good, starts every time, it goes VROOOOM! every time I hit the gas pedal, I'm happy!
quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
The best you are going to do is to go to a full electronic distributor with a CPU that handles fuel and ignition and let the CPU do it all.
My SUSPICION with all of that though is that on a cost per gain, it's going to be little gained for a lot spent.
Although a CPU is capable of some ridiculous amount of changes per second, the engine is not. So if you want to think of the CPU making the engine "digital", that is the theory. The problem is the engine is mechanical and is analog.
The CPU is capable of modifying fuel and ignition maps according to minute changes in the environment of the engine, such as air temp, engine temp, engine load, fuel quality, etc., but when it comes down to it the difference in a very fine tuned engine and one that is not is 10 to 12 hp. On a 6 or 7 hundred horsepower engine that is insignificant and in my opinion a waste of time, energy and money.
What you MAY be referring to is simply you expect better idle quality, off idle throttle response and things like that but to a large extent those were determined by the mechanical equipment in the engine such as camshaft, throttle bore size, header tube size and length, fuel octane quality, intake manifold design and intake port design. Those were compromises and ALWAYS will be.
IF that is the case, then you are attempting re-invent the wheel and what you are experiencing is why "we/I" say this is a "race engine" that is streetable. That more than implies compromise, it says flat out there is compromise and if you can fix it, you just made the wheel better?
You need to pull the plugs again and see what they tell you. Take pictures of each one and save them.
I had a 85 930. It was as different from the Pantera as it can be but it had similar issues. Those issues ultimately made me loose favor with it and pass it on to a new caretaker.
When you would start this thing up, it would belch and fart and would blow smoke like a diesel.
Around town in traffic conditions it sounded just like a diesel.
At speed or on a track, well, that is an entirely different story. So in MY view driving a real high performance vehicle (and it doesn't get much higher performance on the street in '85 as a 930) THEY SUCK. They are a toy that you take out on the open road to get away from everything and have to concentrate or focus on driving this beast that the rest of the world, except for the other cars on the road, disappear.
If you don't like that, then the car is just wrong for you and go buy a Mercedes with an automatic transmission and expensive sun glasses?