Builds hairy_apple's 2FE build (1 Viewer)

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Woooooo hoo. Started it for the first time last night. I am suuuuper happy. It wouldn't idle, but it was trying hard to run... I suspect it's just going to need things buttoned up a bit better over all. There were a few vacuum lines still missing and some small stuff.

Now at least I'm re-motivated to work on it again. I had really lost steam for a while. Now I'm excited to get it buttoned up and driving. Hopefully I can get it to idle tonight, and then get the fan hooked up, and the PS lines hooked up and it should be good for a test drive! Man I am excited.
 
Let us know how you like the 2fe. I.have an old 2f out of my dads old 40 (swapped for a sbc) and thinking about building a 2fe to replace the 3fe in my 80.
 
So frustrated with this whole thing... I sure hope it's all worth it in the end. THe motor runs. It starts up pretty easy,and runs. Idles pretty nice. It revs and sound and feels strong... but the minute you try to drive it, it falls on it's face. Just starts coughing and sputtering and stalls. THen it won't restart. I rechecked timing. We adjusted the valves. Just trying to rule out mechanical issues. CEL somes on after it does it, gives a code 32. Looks like Air Meter issue... and I really doubt it's the air meter it's self, since all these parts were on an 80 that I drove for a day before we parted it out, and it ran strong.

So... looks like I'm ripping open the harness again.... Very frustrated. I am over a year now from when I pulled the v8. I haven't worked on it much the last few months, but still... this shouldn't have taken this long to get to driving.
 
The Holley Sniper EFI kit has entered the market and found raving success on 2F's on Mud since you started this project. Not sure if the Sniper is adaptable to the 3FE, and it isn't an inexpensive unit...just food for conversation.
 
G-Cat said:
The Holley Sniper EFI kit has entered the market and found raving success on 2F's on Mud since you started this project. Not sure if the Sniper is adaptable to the 3FE, and it isn't an inexpensive unit...just food for conversation.
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If I had this to do again, I would have run a AFI or Holly with a 2F. Would have been much, much simpler. I am sure the 2FE will be worth it in the long run, but I am pretty burned out on working on it, and really just want to be able to go for a drive soon.
 
hairy_apple said:
So frustrated with this whole thing... I sure hope it's all worth it in the end. THe motor runs. It starts up pretty easy,and runs. Idles pretty nice. It revs and sound and feels strong... but the minute you try to drive it, it falls on it's face. Just starts coughing and sputtering and stalls. THen it won't restart. I rechecked timing. We adjusted the valves. Just trying to rule out mechanical issues. CEL somes on after it does it, gives a code 32. Looks like Air Meter issue... and I really doubt it's the air meter it's self, since all these parts were on an 80 that I drove for a day before we parted it out, and it ran strong.

So... looks like I'm ripping open the harness again.... Very frustrated. I am over a year now from when I pulled the v8. I haven't worked on it much the last few months, but still... this shouldn't have taken this long to get to driving.
Click to expand...



What you are describing really sounds like a bad/mis-adjusted throttle position sensor or AFM reading out of whack. If it's throwing a CEL #32, have you run through the resistance checks in the FSM to test the AFM and the ECU?


By the way, the first time I tried to drive me old 3FE around the neighborhood kind of started off the same way. It idled fine but as soon as I tried to put the engine under a load and start moving, it bogged down and barely ran. No amount of throttle helped and it took me a day or two to realize I had the distributor off by a tooth and the timing was seriously retarded. Setting the distributor in the block on a 3FE requires a little bit of black magic.
 
Last edited:
lelandEOD said:
What you are describing really sounds like a bad/mis-adjusted throttle position sensor or AFM reading out of whack. If it's throwing a CEL #32, have you run through the resistance checks in the FSM to test the AFM and the ECU?


By the way, the first time I tried to drive me old 3FE around the neighborhood kind of started off the same way. It idled fine but as soon as I tried to put the engine under a load and start moving, it bogged down and barely ran. No amount of throttle helped and it took me a day or two to realize I had the distributor off by a tooth and the timing was seriously retarded. Setting the distributor in the block on a 3FE requires a little bit of black magic.
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We rechecked the distributor this weekend... and am pretty sure its correct.

I did not have time to start checking resistance on anything.
 
lelandEOD said:
By the way, the first time I tried to drive me old 3FE around the neighborhood kind of started off the same way. It idled fine but as soon as I tried to put the engine under a load and start moving, it bogged down and barely ran. No amount of throttle helped and it took me a day or two to realize I had the distributor off by a tooth and the timing was seriously retarded. Setting the distributor in the block on a 3FE requires a little bit of black magic.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what happened to me while breaking in my rebuilt 3FE a few years ago.
 
Wow, no update in a while.

I found the problem. I was an idiot. I plugged the Idle air control valve off when installing stuff to keep the dirt out. Forgot to ever hook it back up. Doh!

Well, got that hooked up and wow, it runs amazing now. lol

Took it for a short test drive up the road last week, and MAN I am impressed. Even with stock gearing, and 35s, that motor pulls hard. Way better then the 350 did in low and mid RPM. I can't wait to get an H55 and regear. It's going to be a beast.

Still a TON to do before a real road drive. I need a fan shroud. I need the power steering hooked up. I need to find a small coolant leak. None of the lights or cruiser electrical is hooked back up. And shocks. lol. A no shock test drive down my road was interesting.


Full speed ahead again!
 
Glad to hear you figured it out and are progressing again. That’s awesome.
 
I can't believe it was something that simple and dumb for the last few weeks. Oh well. I have sorted out a lot of other issues that needed to be dealt at some point with trying to hunt down this issue.

I am hoping to make it to my club meeting in two weeks... short time to get a lot done... or at least done enough for a few test drives. :)
 
And... now I'm back to frustrated. I pulled the cruiser out of the shop a few days ago. Removed the radiator outside so I didn't make a huge mess with the coolant in the shop. It started right up, totally running normal. It sat out there for a few hours while I cleaned and worked on a shroud. I went to pull it back in that night, and it was running a little rough.. like it had a slight miss. I didn't run it long... 15-20 seconds.. just enough to drive forward into the shop, since it had no radiator. However, it got rougher and rougher until it was barely running, and then stalled on it's own before I could shut it off.

I tried to start it again, and it coughed a few times, and then wouldn't do anything at all. Cranked and cranked and cranked. Damn. OK. The next day I started going through stuff. No CEL. 12v to the main EFI relay. 12v to the coil and igniter. Spark plugs are wet with gasoline after cranking. Pulled a spark plug and had my wife crank. No spark. Pulled the wire to the distributor and stuck a spark plug on it. No spark. OK.. nothing past the coil.


I checked everything, found the coil bracket was a little loose, and since the igniter seemed to ground through that, cleaned it up and tightened it down. At this point, a few days later, I got a LITTLE pop from the engine. But not much. Ok.. well, weird timing, but maybe the coil or igniter went bad. I replaced them both, and no change. I checked the distributor, and the contacts look brand new... everything inside the distributor looks perfect actually.

I have checked and rechecked everything to make sure something just didn't come unplugged, or something stupid like that. I can't find anything wrong or different. It will pop a little while cranking, and if you hold the throttle wide open it will run horrible, like it's barely getting enough spark to fire... just pop pop pop... enough to just keep it's self spinning but not really much else.


Any ideas what I can check? I'm so frustrated with this it's not even funny.
 
Did you happen to remove or loosen the ground strap to the body? Try running ground straight to the coil?
 
Engineer8000 said:
What was your issue with the no run above?
Click to expand...

A combanation of things. The ignitor bracket wasn't tight... the ignitor wasn't grounding well. THen I bumped the distributor and it was loose, and knocked it out of timing. Even once I got it running agian, it was running weird.. I suspect the coolant sensor was the issue there. It still had no radiator back in yet, and I wonder if the coolant sensor was tripping out not reading coolant. It was stumbling a bit, and running rich. As soon as I put coolant in it and let it warm up... the stumble went away.

Yesterday I drove it to my parent's house and back. About 15 miles or so total. Drove it to work today, another 20 or so total. Everything engine wise is working good so far. I messed up bad though yesterday, and forgot to latch my hood. It came open on the highway and smashed it's self pretty bad. I am pissed. 18 years I've managed to never do that. The hood is pretty messed up. It kinked and bent over a pretty bad. The hardtop fiberglass got smashed up too. It's fixable... tthe hood I'm pretty sure is toast. We'll see. I smacked it with a mallet a bunch and got some of the kink out so it would sit a little flatter again.

Going to just keep driving it to work the next few weeks. It's warm enough in the mornings right now it's OK with no heater. I do need to change the muffler. It's way too loud. The flowmaster was always too loud, but the 6 is even louder then the v8 was and it's got to go.
 
Dang that really sucks about your hood. You will find the the 3FE fuel injection system can be frustrating to trouble shoot but is pretty reliable when you get it going. Just follow the test instructions in the FSM for the sensors. I can see your temperature sensor throwing it off since it would never tell the ECU the engine was warmed up so it would run rich.
 
Yeah, I am still learning a lot. This has not been an easy learning curve for me, but I'm getting there. Starting to think how I need to to trouble shoot the OBD1 EFI. I'ts not so simple as air/fuel/spark with a 3FE. lol

Hopefully I find a good hood here soon, or can at least make mine look less awful. I was pretty bummed... after the terror of going 65 blind was over. lol
 
hairy_apple said:
Yeah, I am still learning a lot. This has not been an easy learning curve for me, but I'm getting there. Starting to think how I need to to trouble shoot the OBD1 EFI. I'ts not so simple as air/fuel/spark with a 3FE. lol

Hopefully I find a good hood here soon, or can at least make mine look less awful. I was pretty bummed... after the terror of going 65 blind was over. lol
Click to expand...
Can you show a picture of your hood?
 
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