Stupidity, bad luck, bad karma.

[Mazda Carnage]

Were to begin.

For the last week or so I have been porting an intake manifold, dynamic chamber, throttle body and AFM in my spare time to put on my 89GT which I am driving.
I haven't had much free time and none are finished yet.
I have ported these parts before on my 88GT and they all work fine and have for years.
I spent the day helping Rob swap his 626GT from auto to 5speed...
Around 11 pm I decided I was going to borrow the ported AFM from my 88GT and put it on my 89GT t'ill the other one is finished (going to the track tomorrow).

The air flow meter has a flap in it, the way I port them I remove a divot that the flap sits against when it's wide opened, this allows the flap to open about 1/8" farther, then I port the rest of the AFM to match the new larger opening of the flap.

I push my car back a few feet into the light and I put the ported (88GT) AFM on, ground the test connector and adjust the idle A/F's to where they where with the other AFM. I notice walking into the shop that theres a fresh crushed toad, I check both my boots to see if I did it, then I realize that my front passenger tire is what crushed it when I pushed the car back, know I feel bad.
I take of down the road (Vernon, never traffic, nothing but industrial, very rough...) I take the same test run every time:
YouTube - MX6 GT Bumper View
(Posted this link before)

So I get going, as soon as I start spooling in fourth I see 12.6 and 13+ A/F's so I let of the gas, I turn around at the same place I did in the video, turn the boost down (in-dash boost controller) and increase the fuel gain (SDS electronic injector controller running 2 talon N/A injectors via MAF sensor) spool 1st, 2nd, 3rd (I'm at about 10lbs) and the A/Fs are getting leaner ???

I don't know how fast I was going but off in the distance I see what looks like a lump of dirt in the road, I move to avoid it but it's moving towards where my cars going and theres 4 or 5 smaller lumps behind it, a family of raccoons, I swerved as much as I could without ending in the ditch, I made sure not to hit any with the wheels even though they where everywhere, the mother and one of here kids passed under the car, I tried to keep the gap between them in the center of the car cause the exhaust dump would have torn them to bits, the young one didn't get touched but I felt the mother get hit twice, once by the bumper lip and once by the frame rail.

I stopped and turned around to see what horrible things i had just done.
All the young ones had scattered the mother was on the side of the road still breathing but just lying there, I felt awful and still do, there was no bleeding but I don't think theres much chance of survival.

So I return to the shop, take a while to clear my head.
And put the stock AFM back on the car figuring the flap on the ported on was opening past the point that could be read by the ECU (even though this never happened with this AFM on the 88GT.

So I try the car again, IT'S WORSE? I'm seeing 13- 14- 15 A/F's and it's getting leaner??? boost is turned down to 7lbs and still as soon as I get to higher gear it's leaning out, IEC is at 100% ????
I see the mother raccoon still on the side of the road, now I feel even worse.

Go back to the shop. Reset the ECU, check all the injectors, codes...- worse, increase the base fuel presure, change the MSD to a stock soil, check the gas lines for raccoon damage and the tank for a dent where the pump pickup sits, put a new wideband A/F sensor on and recalibrate....-worse.
The car is now at the point it barely runs at light throttle, 17- 18 a/f's.
The mother raccoon has dragged herself a couple feet onto the road.

I take my shame and busted ass car back to the shop, I'm tired and sad, if I can get it to run enough to limp home and back to the shop then I'd deal with this tomorrow, put in another AFM , I barely made it back to the shop, the mother raccoon was gone I had stopped and checked the ditches but couldn't see here.
I still think it's being starved for gas via line restriction...
The fuel pressure at idle has dropped to 8 lbs at this point, we start squeezing lines by hand around the FPR and fuel filter, the car stalls, I turn it off.

<< Here I must sidestep, a while back I installed a Walboro 255lph pump and the sending unit that was with it, the gas gauge was screwed up, I pulled the pump to make sure the arm on the gas level float wasn't bent or touching the tanks dividers, still off, pulled it and changed the float unit, figured it was O.K. everyday I started the car it would read 5 bars on the gauge (1/2 tank) then after one minute of driving it would give me what I thought was an accurate reading>>

So I am now frustrated, sad, confused and tired, I jack the car and we check the lines again, Rob taps the gas tank and it sounds PRETTY HOLLOW, crap, I pull the pump out and the damn tanks dry, bone dry, nothing in it (gauge was reading 5bars 1/2 tank of course and 3 bars after 1 minute) .
I have been low on fuel before, like at the track I used to bring about 20 xtra liters of gas and keep the tank 1/4 full, when I would turn at the end of the track the car would bog, or many years ago, spooling in 5th on a near empty tank and just bogging out.
But never with the walbro in the tank, It didn't have any of the symptoms of the stock pump, It ran like crap in a the straights and curves, it sputter more then bogged and ran lean like the injectors where slowly dying.
Rob went to the gas station with a tiny gas can (5 liters) while I put the Walbro on the original sending unit from the car (which I should have done in the first place) put it in and the gauge flashed empty, Rob got back with the gas, I put it in, checked the gauge, still flashing empty (5 liters or less) seemed right and I had enough gas to make it to the gas station.

So thats my friday night.

[Stealth]

Car should be running better with fuel though

The story about the animals was pretty depressing, but its bound to happen as human occupation continues to grow and we push the wildlife out of their natural habitats.

[KING6]

Raccoon Killer.


I ran over a family ducks on the highway a couple years ago.. 2 big ducks and a bunch of babies grouped around them. Wasent anything I could have done.. for some reason they were on the highway.. and there wasent any stopping or swerving since were doing 70mph, boxed in by big rigs....
Watched them tumble on the road after I went over them.. wind sweeping them along.. and the rest of the traffic behind me got'em.

[Turk]

Animals should know to cross at the appropriatly signed animal crossings.

[Mazda SpeedFeen]

Racoon Killer!
Hope the weekend was better budday!

now running over a porcupine...

didnt think i did any damage to the car....a week later put her up on jacks and there is quills everywheres....and some dried blood. Im surprised it didnt puncture any of the lines...those things are pretty [fizzle]ing sharp!!

feen

[Goatcrapp]

hate to tell you this but you likely will need a new walbro shortly.

running a stocker dry is bad.. but walbros like it even less.. they quickly overheat when run very low/dry.

happened to myself, and two friends over the years (one with another hp 255, and another with a 190) - and i've read more anecdotes about the same online.

seems like its easy to change though - no dropping the tank like in the 2nd gens lol.

[Mazda Carnage]

Goatcrapp, burning the pump was my first concern when we realized the tank was dry. So far it's still working fine. Luckily I monitor the wide-band all the time under acceleration (not, speed, rpm or boost) but A/F's (you know sorta shift on sound and timing) so if the pump starts to fail hopefully I will catch it right away.

Originally Posted by Mazda SpeedFeen

Racoon Killer!
Hope the weekend was better budday!

Nobody cares about the toad?

I WISH, saturday (14th) I tightened up an oil fitting, 10 minutes later the rubber hose going to that line popped off and shot 4L of 20w50 all over the engine and car. Spent the week cleaning the mess. Have been running 10w40.

Last saturday (day after running out of gas) before going to the track the only thing I wanted to do was drop the oil and put in 20w50.
Because the oil in the car was still very clean, Rob wanted to keep it, I told him to clean the oil catch pan.
Instead he grabs an empty oil can and funnel (looked like a mess waiting to happen), I already had the car jacked but not high enough to fit this under the oil pan, so I put two jack stands under the front frame rails and lower the car onto them, THEN I WATCHED THE OIL COVERED FRAME OF THE CAR SLIDE ACROSS BOTH JACK STANDS AND OFF THE JACK WHICH WENT INTO MY LOWER RAD SUPPORT AND PUSHED IT WAY UP IN THE AIR, FOLDED THE HOOD LATCH IN HALF, TWISTED THE UPPER RAD SUPPORT, BROKE THE GRILL...CRAP!(The goatless kind).

So as an encore Saturday night I got to cut out the lower rad support from the edge of the front passenger side frame rail to the other side of the lower intercooler pipe hole on the driver side.
(The lower rad support was in rough shape when I got the car, I knew I would have to change it at some point, so I had cut the complete rad support and some of the front frame that was in good shape off one of the 6's we where parting out about a year ago. And I have piles of the other parts that where damaged.)

Other little things I was going to get around to doing at some point anyway,
While I had the rad off I drilled and threaded the lower cooling fan bolt holes and installed a thin profile 12 blade 14" cooling fan from some type of Chrysler I had chopped the shroud on to fit the my rad and also changed the lower coolant hose going to the rad (it was soft and swollen at the engine side clamp).

The lower rad support fitting and welding went well.
Fitting and adjusting the hood latch was a joke with the bumper and grill off.
Cooling fan bolted right up to the rad and the wires where already spliced to a Mazda plug.
The pumper, intercooler and all the rest fit right back on the car.
I put the coolant in the rad and after about six liters I notice it pouring out the lower rad hose at the engine side clamp, I checked it for holes or cracks, none, I put a second hose clamp on it and moved the first one forward, it leaked more I tightened the clamps as tight as they would go, it still leaked.
I drop the coolant, I found another lower coolant hose and pulled the leaky one off expecting to find a hidden hole, piece of rust or something or even a short length of brake line taped inside the hose as a joke from Rob before he left. Nothing, the hose was clean and had no holes? I thew it out anyway cursed leaking thing, put the newest hose on filled the rad, No leaks, started the car, put it down, put the grill on and was all done in a little over 5 hours.

Still haven't done that oil change.