Really wanted a happy update on the car after tonight, she was running so beautifully and the HKS 264's had given her a new personality - an aggressive one that begged for a night ride.
Unfortunately this is not that update. And I apologize if I seem especially whiney or upset, but this was the culmination of 7 days in the shop - with nothing to show for it. I am somewhat crushed.
However I will bring you up with the fun stuff before I crush you and bury you.
Everything was a success at first. The HKS 264 cams were in, brand new laser welded lifters, the tuning was wrapping up. We had lower numbers than expected but after playing around with a CAI style intake bypassing the now-dead MAF we saw some interesting gains that would have led the next portion of the build (leading up to the ITBs eventually). We realized that the cams created an air imbalance, and the stock breather was not going to be enough in the long term. It wouldn't hurt her, but knowing the engine was feeding on the cold night air and saying "please, can I have some more" was satisfying. She ran beautifully, and even sung a new song out of the engine from the cams and lifters lilting their sweet tune. The only thing missing for perfect throttle response was a variable TPS, which was proving difficult to implement on my `90 1.6 intake manifold. We could survive without it until we figured out a solution, everything was going well. I had already began planning my airbox/maf delete for the extra 10-15hp we were observing on A/B dyno ramp runs (much cheaper than the ITBs, which have to wait 6+ months for their lime light). I was excited to take her for a spirited drive home to really feel the work done.
While this may all still become a reality, I now have a new pain to deal with before she is even reasonably drivable again.
My ECU (MS3 Basic) died after tuning, entirely, as I left the shop to go home. Started with the tac slamming to 0 during acceleration and progressed through stalling up to the car not starting at all. This continued to progress to the ECU shutting off and not responding entirely. The shop owner stayed up with me until 4am in their parking lot troubleshooting but it simply was an issue outside anything he had ever seen before - as we systematically ruled out everything from low voltage, to the CAS, to bad grounds.
We finally opted to reinstall the stock ECU so I could limp home. It was hard, as I have to avoid WOT entirely until I get the ECU replaced or fixed, as the cams will lean me out too much to the point of causing damage. And of course I am a carhypochondriac, so every little difference meant (in my head) that the engine was about to blow up.
It is now 5:12am, I just got in the door, I have a move across the state in a few days to finish planning and packing for, and I am sipping a small bit of (Blood Oath Pact 2 - on the rocks) bourbon to ease this whole headache. The whole debacle will likely have to wait for a bit.
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