8/1/2006
Damn, I was supposed to receive all this stuff in the middle of June? I had a bit of a problem getting everything. Nash Lift Truck (which is where I ordered all the fittings and hoses, plus the regulator/converter and filter/lockoff), jipped me a couple fittings, and then had a hard time figuring out how to make it all right. Not to mention I became very much a non-priority to them as they switched into SNAIL MODE and took almost a month and a half to send me 2 F-ing fittings. But least they did fix it, eventually.
Hopefully now I can get going on this project, though I’m still delayed a bit while I figure out why my car is acting up lately.
8/9/2006
Still not sure what’s up with the car. It idles like poo and it has no power. Not that it had much to begin with, but it doesn’t have any to spare. I had replaced the Idle Air Control valve because there was an obnoxious sucking noise from it’s port, but that didn’t do it. I did a compression test which was excellent. I also replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Nothing. Next I’m going to have to start thinking about the sensors. It seems like the computer isn’t getting the proper info from a sensor, so it’s not telling the IAC valve to close as much as it should. That’s what I’m figgerin’.
So, as I said, I have all the pieces parts I can buy.
The tank fitting:
The electric lockoff, converter and fittings:
The mixer and hoses:
I haven’t been able to find an adapter to mount the ca300 mixer directly to my throttlebody, and even if I did it’d probably be too tall for my application, so I bought an adapter that looks like it’ll be easy to adapt to my purpose. It attaches to the bottom of the ca300 and has 2 ports about 1.5″ each coming off horizontally at a right angle. I’ll probably be mounting the mixer upside down with the adapter on top right next to the throttlebody. Yep, you can do that with propane. I’ll then have to build an adapter for the throttlebody to mate with the mixer’s adapter, and then an air filter housing for the mixer. The TB adapter should be fun, look at what I have to work with:
This is a crude doodle of my solution:
8/21/2006
So, still trying to figure out what’s up with the car. Let’s see, I’ve replaced the Idle Air Control valve, the Throttle Position Sensor, the Oxygen Sensor, the fuel filter, the injector, and the catalytic converter. Still nothing. It’s also running really hot, especially around the exhaust. The saga continues… to stall. Any ideas?
LATER THAT DAY…
Ok, it’s running, and well. I’d tried to check the timing earlier, but the exhaust was running so hot it melted the coil pickup of my timing light. I was able to rig up the timing light to work with a hose clamp, and it was indeed off. That’s all it was. The power’s back, the idle is back, and it’s running cool again.
I’d tried to reset the timing when I got the car, but after loosening the distributor clamp I couldn’t turn the distributor. I checked the timing then, which was fine, so I didn’t bother with it. Today the distributor was still frozen, so I’m not sure how it would have drifted. Once I got it loose, and set correctly, the car ran beautifully, and not hot at all. Go figure…
Now it’s time to get back to the task at hand.