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Now I am really bumped .. the shop just finished installing my bigger injectors that I got from Devin Novak in Japan, which I sent to RC Engineering for balancing and came back right on the numbers @ 450CC/min each. Then I ordered Ashspec chip to replace my stage III JWT chip, since he sent me 3 chips to choose the one which would give me the ideal A/F mixture. I put the middle one, since he said one is programmed to run slightly richer and one to run slightly leaner, from the calculated theoretical value for these oddly sized nismo injectors. The car run super smooth, I said to myself, Ash must have gotten the right calcualtions for these injectors. The idle was perfect, couldn’t even tell the car was running, even with my hand on the shift knob, with the windows closed (I have a quiet Genie exhaust). I took it for a spin on a unusually cold San Diego night, no audible detonation .. the car pulled really hard, enough to snap your neck ...great .. I took it to full boost (12PSI) with boost jets (I don't have a boost controller yet), as per Greg Dupree, he drilled my boost jets to give me a safe 12PSI boost only... then at that moment ... bang, the car started to idle like shit .. then it started missing and stuttering. I went back home to check out on what could have happened, I found out that the hose clamp for the big hose from the passenger side turbo to the IC was not tight on.. they put the hose back on but forgot to tighten the clamp(no big deal), I pushed the hose back into position (the boost might have pushed it out slightly, causing some vacuum leak). I took all the spark plugs out (new cold plugs installed with the injectors with all new fuel and water hoses) they were all on tight and they all still looked like new, nothing unusual. I took the Z for another spin again.. no more stuttering (I knew it was the vacuum leak from the hose), but now it still idle like shit.
The next day I started hearing the auxiliary fan coming on and off .. checked the coolant .. it was low .. I added some, but it kept disappearing, and there was no leaks whatsoever.
One time after topping off the coolant, the car would not start at all, it wasn't even turning. The next morning, it started but with a big cloud of white steam ... if I leave it idle, steam will start coming out from the exhaust and coolant will quickly disappear.
I knew then it was the head gasket, I talked to the shop, they said that it might have run lean, for some reason, in one of the back cylinders, which caused the heat to blow the headgasket ..
At this stage, I am not sure what went wrong, or why this happened. I don't even want to mess with the engine ...if they need to pull it out, I will just put in a J-spec in .. Your advice and input to what exactly happened ,and what would be my best options to fix it, is greatly appreciated. Matt PS: Compression as tested by Greg Dupree last year, was still within specs, but it was at the lower acceptable limits, with no big difference between all the cylinders .. all around 125-130.
This is why I am thinking of a J-spec instead of an expensive rebuild. But I don't like the risk involved with an unknown engine status.
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.
  
PLEAZURE in SD Matt
91TT Aztec Red stg IV+ |
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