Reviving a notch that sat for 10 years...
11-18-2016, 09:41 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 7
Reviving a notch that sat for 10 years...
Alright here is the scoop, When I was in high school a local guy used to drive around a red notch lowered with cobra wheels that I absolutely used to love. I happened to hear though the grapevine that he still owned it and that it had engine problems. I got a hold of the guy and behold he still has it. He rebuilt the motor in 2007, drove it 200 miles and said he bent some pushrods, replaced them and it still wouldn't run right, parked the car in the garage and hasn't touched it since I am picking it up this Sunday...lol I figure the motor needs to be torn down and see what he messed up in the valvetrain and go from there to decide weather or not to build this motor back up, or build a new one. Anyway, what are some things I should do to the car before trying to start it the first time? Is there a way to trick the fuel pump to run constantly so I can get all of the old fuel out? Is there a certain procedure for cleaning the fuel injectors? Do they usually gum up sitting that long with old fuel? The car has lots of aftermarket parts already from what I could see checking it out like a cobra intake, bbk cold air intake, full exhaust, msd dizzy with box, he says the maf and injectors are bigger but who knows. I made an account here years ago when I used to have my 87 Hatch ten years ago, as well as my 01 Cobra. I'm sure I will be around much more now that I am tackling this new project. It feels great to own a fox again!
11-18-2016, 04:13 PM
#2
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: IA
Posts: 258
Yes you can jumper the fuel pump by pulling the relay under the seat and inserting a jumper wire. I made one out of a short piece of 14g wire with small spades crimped on the end. Dont make a habit out of this and let the pump completely cool before putting any fresh fuel in. Definitely need to tear that engine down and see what happened.
11-21-2016, 07:27 AM
#3
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 5,061
Welcome to the forum, or welcome back to the forum I suppose.
Motor wise, does the PO have any idea on the cause of the bent pushrods ? Improper installation or just driver error on testing the rev limiter ? Who knows what pill he had in the MSD......
Since the installation of the new pushrods, the motor never ran again ? Is that correct ?
Motor wise, does the PO have any idea on the cause of the bent pushrods ? Improper installation or just driver error on testing the rev limiter ? Who knows what pill he had in the MSD......
Since the installation of the new pushrods, the motor never ran again ? Is that correct ?
11-23-2016, 04:44 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 7
As far as I know the motor spun a rod, so they tore it out and replaced just all of the bottom end bearings. He put it back together, drove it for 200 miles and discovered a couple slightly bent pushrods. He said he checked the valves, and replaced the pushrods, and it ran fine. He then said the next day he outran the cops with it, went to start it the next morning and it ran like this. Now it will barely run, and backfires and pops through the intake manifold. This was all like 9 years ago, and it has sat that entire time until this last summer when he got it out and tried firing it up to find it did the same thing. Its very possible the rev limit is set to high, and the pushrods keep bending because of operator error. I'm sure some of the issue is the 9 year old gas he was running it on, but it probably still has some other issues as well. I was thinking maybe it could be a ignition timing issue with the 6Al or the MSD distributor? I couldn't get that lucky. I wont know until I start tearing into it. I still haven't picked it up yet because we just got 30" of snow central NY got from this snowstorm, and I don't want to trailer it in the salt.
12-05-2016, 11:58 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 7
So I have the car home, haven't torn the motor down yet but it definitely has a pretty bad noise coming from what sounds like cylinder 3 or 4. The first issue I had to deal with was taking out the driver seat to find the fuel pump relay someone had buried under the carpet when they ran a wire directly from the fuse box to the fuel pump...idiots. I tested all the pins on the relay plug and it all was fine, just needed a new relay...whatever. I touched the key in the car for the heck of it and it fired right off and idled, but with a little surge and the upper valvetrain noise. I shut it down immediately, and have to see what's going on in there. I guess once I get a look I can make a decision on what the next step is. Probably will end up getting a set of heads, cam, lifters, start all fresh unless the ones that are on it check out fine, and I see some obvious assembly error that would be causing the bent pushrods.
02-02-2017, 04:57 PM
#9
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 7
Well I finally found some time to work on the car. I got the valve cover off, cranked the car over, and noticed the exhaust rocker/valve on cylinder 7 wasn't moving at all. I removed the rocker and pulled the pushrod and it looks straight with no issues. The car has had the heads off before because it has arp bolts, and 1.6 roller rockers that arent stud mount... So i'm thinking the lifter has to be collapsed? Or a bad cam lobe? The valve also doesnt seem to look quite right as it seems to be sitting lower than the rest of the valves in the head. Maybe the valve stuck/bent and that took out the cam or lifter? I would think the pushrod would go first? Either way I guess I should tear the whole top end down and see what I am working with.
02-02-2017, 06:12 PM
#10
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 7
