Ok, haven't got to updating the site yet, but I got it back Saturday and it's on the road (about 150 miles over the weekend) so I wanted to put up a little update.
The exhaust sounds awesome. It's 2 1/4 all the way back without a muffler. It's nice and quiet in the cab, but roll down the window and it sounds awesome. Really throaty and the turbo sounds nice.
The transmission shifts a little harder than I'd like when it's cold. It doesn't grind or anything, mainly just 1st to 2nd requires a little more umph to get it in. Now that I'm figuring it out, I can match the rpms better and it's not too bad. Just not how I'd like is all. After driving a few miles and things warm up, it shifts like butter.
It drives very well. All the suspension and steering work I did to it paid off. No funny vibrations or noises.
Still a few things to do to it, but nothing that will keep me from driving it as I finish this stuff up---
Fix glow plugs. It starts fine without them, but it runs rougher than I'd like unless you give it a little gas, and it blows a lot of blue smoke for half a minute or so until it builds a little heat.
Replace leaky sliding rear window with a solid one. It vibrates and I hate it.
Convert to power steering. This engine came with a pump, so I just need to round up the other parts. From what I understand it's a pretty straight forward swap from a Trooper???
Add cruise control.
Fix my blinker dealy as it only returns when it decides to. And the washer button doesn't work.
Fix wiper motor. Only low speed works, and they won't park themselves.
Maybe relocate the gauge pod on the dash. I'm mad at myself. I mounted it right above the speedo cluster and it fits and looks good, but I found at night the gauge lights glare on the windsheild and it drives me nuts. I should have put it off to the side above the radio like I had originally intended. I put holes in my then perfect dash pad to mount it where I did, so I don't know what to do now. As Homer would say- D'oh!
If I can find a heater box with a/c, I'll put that in someday too. My engine came with an a/c pump also.
After I run a few tanks of fuel through it, to establish a baseline, I will replace the timing belt and tweak with the pump (timing and fuel rate) and boost a little. It has plenty of go right now, but more wouldn't hurt. It gets about 12 psi of boost, but I hear that can be turned up to about 16 easily.
Oh, and I figured out my glow plugs. Or how I am going to make them work at least. I'm going to use a VW glow plug relay to switch a Ford solinoid. The VW relay has the timer, temp sensor input, and dash light feed all built into one little relay. My plugs are 12 volt, so going this way will allow me to wire it all up to work as original. No push buttons or nothing, just turn the key and wait for the light to go out and start. The VW relay lights the dash light for about 7 seconds and then has about a 20 second after glow. I had one laying around so I started tinkering and its going to work well. Except I fried it on accident, so I have to get a new one.
Will report back with MPG when I burn through this tank. I put about 100 miles since filling it so far, and have used about a 1/4 tank according to the gauge.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> -Thats how I looked driving it this weekend.
