JohnCh

And for those of you who wish to learn more about this great cause, see Ross's blog post here. If you wish to donate, you can do so through this link. -John

Congrats on completing this epic journey. When I first read about your plans I thought you were nuts and would never make it. Glad I was only half right -John

Welcome and glad you found the site! One option to consider is the dry sump. This increases ground clearance by over an inch (some say 35mm). The downside is that the bellhousing becomes the low point as it is normally flush with the bottom of the wet sump. If that's a concern, Raceline make a compact sump that requires a different flywheel and starter which corrects this and is flush with the bottom of the dry sump. -John

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the Ford ECU, so I'm not sure if you can even access a live events view, let alone log. Someone here might know. I used to live in West Seattle and would run down the back roads to Alki. Lots of fun, but crowded. I'm now closer to the foothills East of Seattle. Less traffic, more corners -John

BTW if you have the ability to do data logging with your ECU, it's worth doing. It might help you narrow down the issue (e.g. if the TPS load site keeps changing rapidly under steady throttle, then you know that sensor circuit is an issue.) -John

My wife has a Palisade (SUV on the right in that photo). Scaling seems accurate to me. Not to hijack the thread and have someone report me to the overly zealous admin, but... -John

I don't think marijuana would cause that. Psychedelic mushrooms or LSD is more likely. -John

Vapor lock is a possibility. Has anything under bonnet changed that would impact airflow, heat generation, or fuel line routing? If not, and given this sounds like a new issue, I'd be more inclined to look for an electrical issue, and likely start with the coil pack. As they age, heat soak can cause internals to expand and either break electrical connections or reduce contact area thus increasing resistance and performance. Next time it happens, check for spark. Over the years, I’ve had one coil pack, one TPS, and one engine loom all fail with similar results to yours. The only difference is that when the engine loom failed the issue slowly morphed and was no longer limited to poor running after the car had sat for 5-10 minutes on a warm day. -John

If you were previously using the throttle cable to set idle rather than have it a little loose as you do now, that would make sense. See my earlier comment about the shroud and cable expanding at different rates when hot. If it does happen again when things are truly hot, check if the slack you put in the cable is still there. -John

Congrats on the purchase! How does it compare to your old LS3-powered car? I imagine traction is now a little easier to find over 100mph? -John

Congrats Steve! Sad to see you se7enless, but hope you continue to hang around here. -John

Car looks great and it's always good to see another person who recognizes the virtue in owning both a Se7en and a Miata Hope the registration goes as smoothly as your late night run. BTW I fixed the sideways photos, but see the FAQ for the steps to avoid the issue in the future. -John

@Vovchandr not to be the master of the obvious, but you could solve both your TWM and center cap issues by simply being the high bidder on Brightonuk's car Less than 2 days left! -John

Looking forward to watching this and having another se7en in the area! -John

The Pectel should control the IAC. Does it have an electrical connector? I wonder if the butterflies are not designed to close completely under normal return spring pressure? With a normal setup sans IAC, that's not an issue. The butterflies need to allow some air through them to achieve idle. However, with your set up that may not be the case. The size of your IAC and the associated settings in the ECU may require complete closure. Didn't you also mention that Borla made some comment about the state of your air bleeds prior to the rebuild? I wonder if renewing them is allowing more air to enter when the IAC valve is open, thus making things more pronounced than before? -John

Thought I'd follow up with the outcome. I left the car at VRM Monday so they could weld in an O2 bung in the exhaust for temporary use on the dyno and try again. With the O2 in that location, reading changed dramatically and matched what we expected. After optimizing the ignition curve and playing with needle height, the torque curve increased about 5-8 ft-lbs across the entire curve. Peak HP went from 88.2 at 5720 rpm to 95.34 at 6120 rpm, and peak torque from 86.09 at 4990 rpm to 93.22 at 4520 rpm. The numbers not only went up, but the distance between the peaks increased. Well worth the effort. Thanks again to all who chimed in earlier when I was trying to figure this out. -John

Thanks Vlad. I've never seen a set up like this. That certainly doesn't mean it won't work or is wrong, but it raises questions given the odd behavior you've been seeing. As I recall you were having heat related rpm changes before. That can happen when the throttle cable and the throttle shroud expand from heat at different rates. If the shroud expands more, then it has the net effect of tightening the throttle cable and increasing revs. I would follow @ashyers advice and rule out the throttle cable first. -John

How do you adjust idle speed with that linkage? I don't see a screw adjustment anywhere. Is that not shown? The issue (or part of the issue) may be down to funkiness in that throttle linkage. I'd follow the steps @ashyers suggested. Easiest first: when the issue presents itself, reach underneath and see if you can manually close the throttles. Next try removing the throttle cable and see what happens. Murphy's Law states that you might have multiple issues going on. Occam's Razor does not apply to Se7ens. -John

Looking at the various photos Vlad has posted here and elsewhere, it looks like the TBs have air bleed ports behind each butterfly that connect to a manifold, then the IAC opens/closes to adjust the amount of air bypassing the butterflies. The part that confuses me is how do you sync the throttles? If the air bleeds are linked, that's not an option. The linkage under the TBs links each throttle shaft via heim joints. Given this is under the TBs, it seems difficult/frustrating to adjust this way. @Vovchandr is there an easier way to sync these that I'm missing? Thansk, John

I have used mine on tours and while they are feeble, they are better than nothing and do come in handy on early morning blats when condensation forms on the windscreen (not heated on my car). That said, given you run aeroscreen and there is work to install the windscreen, how much extra work is there to install the wiper motor on those rare occasions when you may need it? Maybe you could do some mods to make the R&R easier/quicker? -John

Can you do data logging with your ECU? It would be interesting to see if the TPS position is changing as expected when this is happening or if anything wonky is showing with the air temp readings, air temp and AIC adjustment tables, or AFR. -John

Does it affect the reading if you wiggle the end of the tube at the gauge, or jut at the sensor bulb? Given that you have multiple gauges acting this way -- fine out of the car, but intermittent when installed -- it makes me wonder if the capillary tube is being partially pinched or kinked with it's current routing? -John

Is this a mechanical temperature gauge with a temperature bulb and non removable capillary tube connecting it to the gauge, or an electrical sensor that connects to the gauge with wires? Very different animals with different things to check. -John

Looks like Anglesey Circuit. I believe Croc has some on track video taken from a visit there on an older thread. It is stunning. -John

You may have already tried this, but I've found that a good approach to finding a DCOE expert is to connect with your local vintage racing scene. The shops that focus on vintage race car prep often have a Weber expert in house or one they work with as needed. -John