She runs!!! Hunting idle problem though

[Def]

Well - I finally got her in and took her for an inspirational test drive with only a turbo outlet(whew this thing can get LOUD with no exhaust!).

Everything was pretty straightforward when cranking it up. I primed the oil after about 30-40 secs of cranking, then plugged in the fuel pump fuse and CAS and she fired right up and held a steady fast idle.

After the car warms up, the idle does hunt a bit from about 700-800RPM. It is not violent, and actually does it pretty slow(takes about 4-6 secs to go from 700 to 800RPM, then back again is the same time). The only issue I'd have with this is that the revs dip pretty low when putting in the clutch - down to 400-500RPM. I even saw the oil pressure idiot light flicker for a split second once. It bounces back after a second at a really low idle to the 700-800RPM hunting. Every once in a while it'll kinda jump up above that to 900-1k RPM if it stays down low for a while. I was running without an air filter for this short trip to the gas station, so not sure if that'd mess with the MAF readings enough to cause a funky idle.

BTW - I have all stock intercooler piping and the stock recir. valve. No vacuum leaks that I know of(capped off everything I could see). I wonder if my TODA flywheel is just so light it revs down quicker than the ECU can compensate.

[long rambling story alert]I had a pretty funny episode where I just topped it off on 93 octane at the local gas station while getting alot of weird stares(no hood, and car sounds like a broken down LOUD dump truck with an open turbo outlet - the turbo spooling is very obvious). Well, on a backroad back to my house(maybe half a mile tops), I just had to open her up and see what it'd feel like. Well - first gear I take up to about 3.5k RPM and kinda felt it spool up, so I gave it about 75% throttle in 2nd gear and man, this thing flat out MOVED around 3.5k when it spooled. I guess I've been driving the Jeep for too long, as it felt pretty similar to my E36 M3 when it had ~240rwhp as far as speed. The jump in torque is pretty fun tho'.

Well, immediately after I spooled in 2nd the rubber pipe going directly to the throttle body decides to pop off and the motor starts smoking due to running way rich, and it finally stalls as I pull into a parking lot. A little friendly ribbing by my GF as I wrestle the pipe back on and we're off again in the LOUDMOBILE.

I did alot of stuff to the motor, and man it's actually pretty hard to drive. I'm pretty turned off to the ACT 6 puck clutch with the TODA lightweight flywheel. Love how the motor revs with the flywheel, but really hate how the clutch engages. Especially on hills. It's an exercise not to stall this thing on any sort of incline with the lightweight flywheel. I was trying to keep the revs down and the throttle position a bit low due to the noise, but I'll be damned if I didn't stall the thing out TWICE on the test drive. Not that I'm the greatest driver, but I've only driven manuals for the past 6-7 years, and I've never had such a hard time getting used to a clutch.

It almost reminds me of this '89 Porsche Carrera I drove. It had a pretty vague clutch pedal and NO low end torque due to the aircooled engine. So it was a PITA to get started even tho' it was a 3.2L engine.

I think the 6 puck will get better once I get a bit more time on it, but if this is your daily driver I would DEFINITELY stay away from it. It is probably easier to drive with the heavy stock flywheel, but I still imagine it'll be way too grabby to be easy to drive.

I had heard the 6 puck wasn't that bad, and while it isn't horrible, I'd definitely think twice if it's your primary vehicle. All I could think of during the drive was how bad it would suck to get caught out in gridlock ATL traffic with this clutch and flywheel combo. On a sidenote, the clutch pedal finally got stiff enough for my liking! Feels pretty close to my M3. If it wasn't such a PITA to drop the trans, I'd have an ACT street disk kinda high on my list of things to do. I took a gamble, and it looks like the clutch was just a bit too aggressive for my application. I can't imagine this thing slipping with even 400-450rwhp on it...

Another mod I did was to fill my engine mounts with construction adhesive. It sends pretty noticeable vibrations all through the chassis, but it really isn't terrible(for a daily driven vehicle probably too much). I like the feeling, so all that stuff is definitely staying.

The car also has to weigh WAY less. I took out about 110lbs of interior out of the back, and then put in the SR with no AC. The car sits up ridiculously high with the stock suspension. I actually tightened down my driveshaft with the car just sitting there in my driveway. Can't remember the last time I could get anywhere near the underneath of a car I owned without lots of jackstands. Heck - the M3 had only ~4-5" of clearance stock...

So all in all, can't wait for my GReddy turbo outlet to come so I can bolt up the rest of the exhaust then finish up a few odds and ends(wire up fans, put back interior etc.). The swap took a HUGE amount of time, but I was anal and did change alot of things and really look over the whole engine and do all the stuff I felt was necessary. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of $1k to install the thing isn't a bad deal at all. It was a huge headache at times. Although I will say that with this warning - there are ALOT of places where someone can cut corners with something like this. They could just do a shoddy job of putting something together, or just generally glossing over the rough points and missing some finer details that make it all "work." So I'd be wary of most shops, knowing that most will not spend the time to do something "the hard and right way" over just getting it "kinda there."

Sorry for the long post, but it was a really fun and trying experience. I'm glad it's mostly over now, but I learned alot and proved to myself I could do it. Should be a fun car once I get it all sorted out.

[WhItES13]

If the air filter does not fix the idiling problem, try adjusting the idle by the adjuster. It is located on the intake manifold between the middle two runners. Hope this helps you out. I adjusted mine to get it to idle right.

[180fan]

check the MAFS connection

[Def]

Just for future reference, I threw on an air filter and got my exhaust bolted up and the idle is rock solid at ~750-800 RPM.

I had heard that the engines didn't really like to hold a steady idle with no exhaust on, but it never really crossed my mind until I fired her up with the exhaust on and it was dead on.

All in all, if you take the time to be careful about what you are doing, there is a very good chance that you can complete an SR install with no problems.

I really need to crank the boost up - it's ADDICTIVE!