Reccommend Good Machine shop?

[Guest Simpson36]

Our '82 has ongoing idle problems despite a supposed expert's high doller fooling around with the injection . . which he states is working right and that there is 'no indication' of vaccuum leaks.

Compression test on a cold engine shows all cylinders within about 5lbs of each other and a bit over 150.

I bought a leak-down tester and if it shows leaking valves or head gaskets, then I would need to yank the heads.

If the heads are off, then I may as well get a valve job done on them. Can anyone reccommend a good macine shop in Phoenix?

[Togo]

it's not in phoenix, but i had my L98 block machine work done as BASKO in gilbert

they came recommended from a buddy's dad that is' into old school hot rods!

other than that, i can't help

[anmracing2]

B&B Machine in Mesa does real good work.... On broadway east of Alma School....

Andrew

[Desertdawg]

I think your best bet for tuning is going to be Jim (Elkabong on the crossfire forum & here), get in touch with him about your idling issues.

The stock 82 heads are junk, it's not worth paying to have them worked on, the castings are weak, and prone to cracking. If you are taking the heads off, look into upgrading them with some Dart Iron Eagles, or World Products Sportsman 2's. You will see a performance boost over the stock heads, especially if you go with a cam change while your in there.

The stock heads and cam are a big contributing factor to the crossfire's lousy performance.

[Guest Simpson36]

Thanks for the info, everyone.

For this car, we are not concerned about performance at all. The objective is to keep the car as original as possible, so unless the heads are cracked, we would just want a good valve job.

I have been built many small block chevy engines and one of the problems I've noticed over the years is a tendency to blow the factory head gaskets if the engine is overheated.

It doesn't burn oil or run rich and has great compression, runs fine, but just idles like crap. The plugs, wires rotor and cap are all new and the Fuel Pump and fuel filter are new.

I already wasted money at the vette shop where they 'solved' the problem by simply setting the timing rediculously far advanced. When I discovered this (a hint was the severe detonation on accelleration) and set the timing to spec, the idle problem returned.

My thinking now is to assure that heads and intake not cracked and are sealed properly with some fresh fel-pro gaskets, put in a new heated Oxegen sensor and then I would have a good base from which to start trouble shooting the injection system.

[elkabong]

Try Scott at CBA (480-917-5803) for the machine work. He is in Chandler across from Chandler H.S.

What kind of idle issues are you having? As you know there are many reasons for a rough idle. Drop me a note and we can go from there.

[Guest Simpson36]

Thanks for the machine shop ref, Elkabong.

Once the car is warmed up, at a stop, the engine idles pertty rough, but the longer the car sits idleing the worse the idle gets. It is not a distinct miss, just really rough to where the whole car will start shaking.

The idle speed stays at 600 the whole time, and I have confirmed that the IACs are working properly. Both injectors are working but the spray from the rear injector is slightly coarser than the front, and they seem about the same as a TBI truck I had in the past.

It has been suggested that the ignition is acting up, but with new wires, plugs, cap & rotor, that doesn't seem likely. Also it seems that a heat related ignition problem would be most evident on accelleration and there is no problem there.

The car idles not excellent, but OK when cold although the fast idle is only around 800 instead of 1100 or 1200 as it should be.

There is no water in the oil, the plugs are clean, and the inside of the tail pipe has no soot. The engine does not smoke or burn oil.

I'm thinking if it is a mechanical problem, it would have to be a vaccuum or valve or head gasket leak that only starts then the engine warms up. I recently bough a leak-down gage, but haven't tested the engine with it yet.

In all my years of fooling around with chevy engines, I've never come across one that can idle this bad with such good compression. In every case I can remember, a really bad idle was alwaya accompanied by a bad cylinder (or two) so it is something of a mystery at this point.

In the ecm side, I think perhaps the oxy sensor is bad (although it was checked and is supposedly good) or it cools off at idle to the point where the readings go south and the ecm is working off bad info and leaning the engine out.

I haven't spent much time on this problem yet, and I plan to get an old laptop and set up to scan the ecm myself. I'll have a learning curve to go through, but this is my wife's dream car and she tells me she will have it forever and wants it all original, so I may as well learn how to troubleshoot and tune a crossfire V8 . . :-)

There is no substitute for experience, so I am trying to get as much insight from these excellent forums before I chase my tail too much.

Any help is greatly apperciated!

[elkabong]

Steve - Sorry for the long delay in the response. I would first look at the ignition module. Other items to look at are the EGR (this can cause funky problems), MAP sensor, O2 and the coolant temp sensor in the front of the manifold and a real PITA to get to (oh this would be my first choice). You can test the MAP sensor by pinching off the vacuum line with the motor idling. When pinched (zero vacuum) the ECM should think you are at WOT and it should start to spray more gas and it will idle rich. If the ECM is not throwing codes it should be something in the ignition. I would rule out the other stuff before focusing on the TBI system. It has been my experience with my 84 that either the TB's work or they don't. Unfortunately there is not much you can do with tuning the ECM. Very little is known and no hacks of the code exist.

If you want give me a call @ 480-236-4184 cell #.