My 1987 Two Door Crown Victoria AKA THE BROWN BLOB

[Grand Marquis GT]

Did you ever run the car with that new booster you put in?

That's the potential for a massive vacuum leak...

[gadget73]

Get you a cigar, give it a good drag and exhale into a vacuum line. I'm not a fan of cigars either but it will tell you stuff. Check for leaks around the EGR spacer. If it didn't seal from intake to spacer or spacer to throttle body properly you'll get air sucking through what used to be the coolant passage around the spacer. Same if the gasket is wrong or not installed properly.

Not sure I buy that the MAF won't generate the proper voltage if its not warmed up. I've never gotten that code from my car other than the one time the MAF crapped itself. Not having the MAF powered or having the wires out of place might do that. Would be worth confirming +12v across the appropriate pins on the MAF connector.

http://www.grandmarq.net/oldfuelinjection/page26.html

Should be 12v from A to B in that connector with the key on.

Are you 100% sure you have the two MAF wires where they go, and fully seated? The fact that it wouldn't give you codes until you pulled and re-installed the ECM makes me think your connector might be crusty. Could be worth douching it out with some electronics cleaner and having a look in the connector with a flashlight to confirm the pins are all fully seated. If the little clip breaks or it didn't latch in, the wire will push back and not actually make contact with the ECM pin.



I have actually heard 24# injectors run with a stock un-tuned mass air ECM. Stinks and doesn't idle well, but it does start and run. Unless the tune is terrifically lean, I have a hard time imagining it won't even idle. Doesn't take much petrol to make that happen.

[Bobcat]

I don't know. I'm pretty sure I had some MASSIVE vacuum leaks on my car and it still ran just fine.

That is if we're inferring that the vacuum leak is impeding the run-ability.



Hurry up and fix this pig so I can see some burnouts. Also want to hear that exhaust growl.

[86VickyLX]

If you got an acquaintance that vapes. This would be the best time to use their stupid habit to blow some smoke at the problem.

[monterey1962]

It's probably been mentioned, but ... is it possible it's the wrong crankshaft? Were numbers verified prior to finish assembly of the engine? Only asking since you bought a pre-assembled block. Years ago, I had a shop build a stock engine for my mom's '90 GM, and they rebuilt a 302 from a Bronco thinking it would work. It didn't. It was a fight to get them to build the right engine and install it.

[87gtVIC]

I isolated the engine from all external vacuum things and te sound and shitty running was still around.

I am 100% sure wires are where they should be. I pushed the power probes probe into all pins and none moved. At that time I also checked for continuity to everything.

The self test connector was crusty.

No idea if it is the wrong crankshaft. Engine is a rebuilt from LMR.

[gadget73]

302 cranks are 302 cranks for most practical purposes. The only real difference there is late vs early, and thats more to do with the imbalance and the rear oil seal. I do not believe they will physically interchange from a late block to an early block anyway. The camshaft is what determines the firing order.


I think I found your problem. Looking back through the thread, I don't see near enough alcohol bottles open. There is an empty Corona bottle, but thats almost not really beer.

More seriously, some other questions. Is the misalignment of the intake gasket vs the head port as bad as it looks? Seems that the gaskets are shifted towards the front of the motor, and the stamped "ring" around the ports in the gaskets might be hanging out into the port on the head. Might just be the camera angle, but it looks funny.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?26257-My-1987-Two-Door-Crown-Victoria-AKA-THE-BROWN-BLOB&p=767605&viewfull=1#post767605

How many times did you run through the torque sequence on the lower? I find usually at least twice at final torque is needed before bolts stop moving by any appreciable amount.

Same question for the upper. I've also knocked that lower gasket on the spacer out of position before, so maybe worth checking for leakage there. Dumb question, but all of the vacuum ports are accounted for right? No open holes, and nothing connected to the baro sensor?

I think I asked this, but the plug wires are in HO firing order, and wired for counter-clockwise distributor rotation?

[87gtVIC]

302 cranks are 302 cranks for most practical purposes. The only real difference there is late vs early, and thats more to do with the imbalance and the rear oil seal. I do not believe they will physically interchange from a late block to an early block anyway. The camshaft is what determines the firing order.


I think I found your problem. Looking back through the thread, I don't see near enough alcohol bottles open. There is an empty Corona bottle, but thats almost not really beer.

More seriously, some other questions. Is the misalignment of the intake gasket vs the head port as bad as it looks? Seems that the gaskets are shifted towards the front of the motor, and the stamped "ring" around the ports in the gaskets might be hanging out into the port on the head. Might just be the camera angle, but it looks funny.

http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?26257-My-1987-Two-Door-Crown-Victoria-AKA-THE-BROWN-BLOB&p=767605&viewfull=1#post767605

How many times did you run through the torque sequence on the lower? I find usually at least twice at final torque is needed before bolts stop moving by any appreciable amount.

Same question for the upper. I've also knocked that lower gasket on the spacer out of position before, so maybe worth checking for leakage there. Dumb question, but all of the vacuum ports are accounted for right? No open holes, and nothing connected to the baro sensor?

I think I asked this, but the plug wires are in HO firing order, and wired for counter-clockwise distributor rotation?

Funny you mention the open beverages. None are mine as I do not drink at home, but I recently thought about how many drunk idiots put together motors and have everything work out perfectly okay. Just me venting some. lol

Honestly I think for the most part that is how the lower intake gaskets were installed. This has been in the back of my head as a problem. I discussed with John that I believe it may be the lower intake gaskets...just not sure how that sound could be caused by this?

Definitely torqued down once for sure.

When the intake is off I will go over them again....And When the intake comes off again to replace the lower intake gaskets I will torque them twice.

Gaskets are in place for upper and lower. Have good visibility on all that stuff.

The firing order is correctly wired on the dizzy.

Thank you for your help. Without someone asking these questions/checks I could certainly be missing something.

[packman]

I know this is a lot of work with this suggestion; you may want to check the lower intake and upper intake gasket. When I replaced the intake on my Ranger, I failed to notice that a wire tab had sandwiched itself between the upper and lower intake. When I attempted to start it, it would rev up to 3k with a high pitched whistling (almost like yours) and then stall out after 10 seconds (1st start, 2nd start I shut it down). After removing the wire tab (thin piece of metal), it ran fine. Just my 2 cent from my boneheaded mistakes.

[87gtVIC]

Thanks Jacob.

Next on the list is replacing the intake spacer and gaskets.....Checking for flatness of mating surfaces at that time. If no good after all that the lower will come off and proper gaskets will be installed.

[MattsLincoln]

This might be a guess david but it could explain the hughe vacuum leak, when i did the intake gaskets on my sisters car the intake whistled just like yours, i found out that there was a crack in the upper intake, replaced it no more whistle sound, when you take off your intakes verify there isnt a crack in them and also that the intakes are seating correctly, if its not seated correctly it will cause a massive vacuum leak and whistle, verify that the intake mounting surface is also flat and flush, any imperfections in the mating surface will cause it not to seal right, and make that whistle sound you hear. Im leaning towards your intakes are not sealing properly to there mounting surfaces, probably the lower is the one not sealing correctly, if it was the upper not sealing it would whistle at a much higher pitch. Another possibility is the lower intake end gaskets shifted when the lower went on.

[gadget73]

I like the idea of using the friend with the vape habit.

[Grand Marquis GT]

I like the idea of using the friend with the vape habit.

[87gtVIC]

Thats fantastic^

[DerekTheGreat]

Thats fantastic^

X2