Well, one more stab at this before the year is done...

Yes it was. The only difference between our combos is the cam itself. He has a Ford Motorsport roller cam, and Mine is the Boport 1.5. The Boport cam has the same base circle size and same advertised power band. The only difference is the Boport cam has a bit more lift and a bit more duration than the motorsport cam.... both are rollers. He was even running the same 18PSI at the time too, I've been chatting with him on another forum for a couple of weeks.

If you need a leakdown tester you can use mine, I don't think it's going to tell you much. If you need help using the leakdown tester just let me know and we'll work something out.

When it falls on it's face does the boost fall off also? Hate to say it but you may need to put it on a dyno so you can see what all is happening while it's under boost.

you really cant compare two different dynos like that. yours was on a mustang dyno, and 275 isnt bad at all especially with a "stock" turbo. sounds like everyting will be in order when you get the boost back.

I spoke to the cam grinder today. I went over the issues I'm seeing and what I think may be wrong. According to him, the cam/spring/stock valve/ ect combo in my head shouldn't cause the kind of issues that I'm dealing with. The combo that I'm running in this head is one of his best selling kits, with over 100 of them sold complete, and a lot more sold by individual components. He mentioned possible valve leakage as well, and suggested that I get a leakdown test performed. He said with as many miles as are on my engine, its a good possibility that the valves are leaking just enough to affect the car while under boost.


Cracked Head: Thanks for the offer! I might send you a PM if I cant get ahold of one here soon. When it falls on its face, the boost stays right where it should, without falling off or fluctuating. Here is my most recent dyno sheet with this combo:

https://2img.net/h/oi54.tinypic.com/2cz6iqv.jpg

I'm getting full boost by 3K FWIW.


3vs197:

True, there is a big difference between the two. Just for comparison, here is my new dyno run at 18PSI superimposed over my ORIGINAL BASELINE pull from 2 years ago, same dyno, and at only 15PSI.

https://2img.net/h/oi51.tinypic.com/b46yk4.jpg


The normal looking curves are from 2 years ago, the fucked up looking ones are from 2 weeks ago. Something is definitely wrong with that picture.

sounds like you may be narrowing it down!

............ I'm crossing my fingers.

one more question.... from the time that it was running great to now you put on almost no miles can anyone tell me how, now, all of a sudden, your car has enough leak down to cause the problem?

Ok....

I think that the leakdown problem was present BEFORE the modifications that I did. The car bone stock seemed to not make much power until almost 4K and then it would take off pretty good. (this was 2 years ago) I remember bitching to Pete about this a couple times. Shortly after it started acting like that, I threw a follower off the cam. When I pulled the valve cover to see what had happened, I realized my stock slider cam was pretty much toast, and I attributed the whole issue with having to rev the piss out of it to make it go decent to that. I was pretty sure at that point that the cam was the whole issue. SO, after storing it that winter, I took it out and drove it to my buddies house one night. On the way to his place is where i got in the accident which smashed the front end of the car. I had a pile of aftermarket parts laying there for it, and since the whole front end was off at Roman auto body getting painted, we put the Turbo, intakes, manifold, fuel regulator, and a bit more boost into it. I drove it all summer in 2009 and it steadily got worse ( Bucking issues, car was getting slower) until I parked it last fall. This spring, the car wasn't running worth a damn, partly due to a weak fuel pump. We finally changed the cam, followers and fuel pump this spring, and it still didnt run right. I finally got the money together for a replacement turbo this summer, so i slapped that on there and we get to the point I am at.


So really, the car has had ...... in the range of about 9K on it since i really noticed it having to be revved to make power, and about 8K since that follower fell off.


So I guess the car wasn't really running correct when it was bone stock....and the parts that I've put on it since havn't fixed whatever issue its having. The first thing we should have done (ON ITS OWN) was replace that cam. After that, I should have actually diagnosed the problem instead of slapping the parts i had accumulated on it. I know better now....

ok

looks like its missing. thats what the squiggly lines tell me.

3vs197 wrote:

looks like its missing. thats what the squiggly lines tell me.

just looked at the pics and id agree with that. plugs are new? gap? heat range in compairson to stock?

I agree with that. Plugs are relatively new, and I put that gap at .028. They are just standard Motorcraft Copper plugs, same as came stock so the right heat range. When it was on the Dyno, It had a no-name older cap and rotor, and a 3 year old set of standard motorcraft wires. The rest of the ignition system (PIP/TFI, distributor itself, Coil) is brand new Motorcraft replacements and tests out within factory specs. There wasn't any carbon tracking inside the cap at all, but we have *accidentally* pulled the plug end connectors off of the wires on 3 out of 4 of them. we re-crimped them, but I'm pretty sure that if it IS misfiring its the cap, rotor, or wires doing it. Its definitely not doing it bad enough to feel it when you drive it though.


FWIW, we have changed plugs, wires, cap and rotor out at least TWICE in that 2 year period, without a change in how it runs.

I really think you need to do another compression test.

I agree with what 3v said. After looking at that dyno line it's breaking up, I suspect an ignition problem. I'm not overly familiar with what your car has for an ignition system but from what you posted it sounds stock. By any chance do these cars have an ignition module that goes bad on them?

Oh yes, the infamous Ford TFI module.... Very well known for being susceptible to heat, causing failure. 99% of the time they fail only one way..... The car shuts itself off until the module cools down. The other 1% of the time it just dies, with no restart.

I have 3 good spares, and the one in the car is new. It's been tested, and is operating correctly.