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Posted by: zymurgist Mar 13 2006, 10:04 AM

I finally had an opportunity to work on Babydoll yesterday after getting the injectors cleaned and checked by Rich Jensen (and bad weather, and a second trip to Florida, yadda yadda...).

Onf of the first things that I noticed was that the FI electrical connectors on the passenger side were so loose that the plugs wouldn't stay in the injectors... and only one of the connectors still had its rubber boot. I pulled the contacts out of the plug housings and squished them down with pliers so they would seat on the injector pins better, and voila! I was able to get all 4 injectors to buzz when I worked the throttle without jiggling the plugs around! This was a good thing, because I hadn't ever gotten that far before with the proper injectors.

Try as I might, I couldn't get the engine to fire. Worked just fine with the starting fluid, as it had done before, but it wouldn't keep running. It was like a feeling of deja vu all over again. I pulled the injectors on the passenger side and put them in jars, and no fuel was coming out when I cranked the engine. I was thinking, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? So I hooked up my handy dandy homemade fuel pressure gauge and I was shocked to see that there was no fuel pressure. This was never a problem before, I always had good fuel pressure! A quick check revealed that the splash of gas I put in the tank for testing had either evaporated or leaked out from my opening the fuel lines over and over, so I poured in about a gallon and a half. After cranking for a few seconds, I saw the fuel pressure go up to 30. Then I sprayed a bit more starting fluid in the throttle body and got her to crank on the 3rd try! Woo hoo!

Now I have to adjust the clutch cable again... apparently I don't have it tight enough, and the clutch isn't releasing all the way. I've seen soft brake pedals before, but not a soft clutch pedal. Also going to hook the cold start injector back up... and I even have a deceleration valve sitting in a box (Babydoll never had one as long as Caroline has owned her).

Posted by: type47 Mar 13 2006, 02:11 PM

Posted by: Headrage Mar 13 2006, 02:19 PM

Excellent news!!!!

Posted by: swl Mar 13 2006, 02:21 PM

yee hah! Atta boy Ken!

Posted by: zymurgist Mar 13 2006, 02:47 PM

Woo hoo! I'm taking Babydoll to Hershey this year... so I have until mid-April to work out all the bugs I can find.

(Sorry to my tail dragger, I need to install a Rennshifter before you're ready for the road again...)