Ed - If the problem turns out to be what he suspects, I think it's something I probably should have caught. It's been a while, but I think I remember that one valve was a little tricky to get into its bore - maybe I should have played with it some more before I buttoned it up. I consider it the price of learning.... I only tried the rebuild as a learning experience - I'd try it again if I had more time, but I'm more interested in the blower project right now, don't have time for both and want to get on with it. It's only about $350 + 80 hours of the learning curve - not so much to spend to learn that I have to do better next time. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Greg - I'd have to do a lot more reading on that piece, but it doesn't seem to be good for my purpose - it only controls "extra" injectors, not the entire engine. I have no experience with "extras", but my concern would be where to place them in my system so fuel supply/mixture would be the same in all cylinders.... the extra injector arrangement seems to me to be a good way to have some rich/some lean cylinders unless you inject the fuel before the blower. From what I've seen in advertisements, I'd probably choose a Haltech E6X unit if I went with an aftermarket ECU.... for now, I'm hoping that won't be necessary as long as I keep boost around 6-7psi.... at that level, I'm getting a theoretical 200-210HP with an effective C/R of 12.5-13.1.... and probably need to stop right there for this engine because I didn't build it for a lot of boost. Anyway, the power I'm already getting is plenty for this truck.

I don't think the blower has anything to do with the transmission issue - at least not this one - because the problem developed immediately on startup and before the blower belt was installed. He will drill the fluid passage if necessary to make sure fluid flow is sufficient.... he did say it's a common issue on Aisin valve bodies.

Javy - Thanks very much for the offer to help, but I already have the shop pulling the transmission apart and hope to have it back together by the middle of next week. I want a fresh unit behind the blower. If anyone else is interested, I can already vouch for the benefit of the lockup torque converter with larger tires. With the '89 non-lockup model and 32" tires, I was running below the torque peak at highway cruise, resulting in sluggish performance at times - although the converter did allow a little slip to get the engine up to speed (at some fuel cost). The '90/'91 lockup unit yields at least 200 rpms more at highway cruise - costs more fuel on level ground (maybe, maybe not), but becomes more efficient under load I'd think. It would be hard to calculate the true mileage difference due to differences in tire sizes, but for my tire size (and particularly with the blower) it seems ideal.... just cruises 65mph easily at 2600 rpms - solidly on the cam curve - and sits waiting for a stab of the go pedal. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I've used the down time to modify a spare idler/tensioner bracket to accept the new double bearing pulleys and I'll transfer these parts to the engine pulley bracket in hopes the improvement will stop the pulley wobble and be kinder to the serpentine belt. The tensioner pulley adjuster screw has a left hand thread, so not having a left hand tap, we couldn't just make a new pulley bolt screw head and bolt - instead, we cut the pulley bolt, welded on a new threaded length and ground it to shape - then cut a couple of adapter bushings and replaced the bolt on the idler pulley with a longer one:




Once I finalize the blower pulley diameter, I'll probably do something similar for the blower idler.

Frank