okay, so I put a new headgasket back on. check TDC at the crank pulley, align both cams, slip the timing belt back on and fire it up...

it was great at first...bleeed the air out of the radiator...

then took it for a drive...after about 1.5 miles, idles started to drop really low...it was in the 400 ish rpm ( according to AVC-R), then it died on me twice...

then I jack it up, ,check for obvious leaks, nothing. check engine light, nothing...
I checked the plugs, it was black and the car bogs and backfired after revving it...

so I bypass the FMU and ran the fuel return line back to the stock FPR...

then I palced my foot on the gas and held it at 2000 RPM, THE STRANGEST THING HAPPENED.....

the idle kept going back about 500-750 rpm then back to where it was...I held i tup at 3000 RPM now and it's doing the same thing...

at the same time I am hearing a clanking noise somewhere around the tranny and block area....under the distributoir...

so what do you guys think ? mistiming ? what about the clanking noise, I know it;s kidna hard to diagnose noise, but the REV ?

TIA

stan


PS: also my vac reading went really low than usual...it used to read aboutt 550 mmHG, now, it's around 450-480mmHG. I checked all vaccum lines, no leak




[Modified by Flamenco-T, 11:41 PM 11/4/2002]

 

Did you recheck the timing marks after warming it up and letting it idle for a while, making sure the crank pulley and cam gears are still all aligned when piston #1 is at TDC?

 

yep, did that and verified it...

 

put your car on a truck and bring it back to texas. We'll take care of it.

 

What scares me is the clank. It may be time to drop the pan and pull #3 and 4 rod bearings and #4 and 5 rod caps just to check to see if all is ok. Is oil pressure still good? Could a rocker arm come loose? Clanks aren't good. Why did you pull the head in the first place? Something else wrong?