Cold start issues, and non-functioning temp gauge in my new E21 W/ M20 stroker motor
Hi all,... first post in the E30 page.
Just traded my old E21 SCCA race car for an E21 with a M20 stroker swap; 'E' bottom end, with an 'I' head. The new car seems to have sat for a bit. She ran somewhat horribly as soon as I get her home. She improved a bit with a fresh tank of fuel, but after the second fresh tank it was pretty obvious that there was a miss. ....Side note* If you ever want to confuse some of Subaru guys just pull the wires off of #5, and #6. They'll swear it's a flat four until you open the hood.
But I digress.... After some fiddling around I got all six firing again after swapping the injectors on the aforementioned #5, and #6. Still having a couple and/or perhaps new issues though. After swapping the injectors the car seemed to start having a much more difficult time starting. It takes a couple minutes to get her going when she's dead cold, and needs another minute or two to warm up before you can get going. She also seems to want to stall right after starting when warm. Though the car didn't start perfectly while running on 4 cylinders, she never stalled out on me, and started much more readily when cold.
Also since swapping out the bad injectors the temp gauge seems to now be inoperable. When you turn the ignition on the gauge jumps and moves up a slight bit from its dead rest, but never seems to read any higher after the initial nudge. I could have sworn that she used to read correctly prior to the injector swap, but now I'm not so sure. After much searching on the forum, and even a trip out the junk yard for reference on other cars, it seems that the temp sending unit on my thermostat, brown plug, only has one male pole. The connector on the injector wiring harness has a provisions for two poles in the female part of the connector. After comparing to another car at the junk yard, it appears that the later M20s should have a two prongs coming off the temp sender to match the double slotted female connector off the harness.
I'm not sure if I just missed, or mixed up, some connections after re-installing the fuel rail, injector harness, ect after the injector swap. After some of my initial researching on the forum it sounded like I my have not hooked up the thermo time switch. I'm not sure where, or even if, my car has the switch or not at this point though after comparing an early M20 with a later M20 at the junkyard. After said forum searching I though it was on the thermostat housing, but on my car, and the later M20'ed car at the junk yard, it is not there. Also, not sure if I potentially could have missed a connection which would explain the connectors not matching re: the temp sending unit, even though the later M20'ed car at the yard definitely had a two prong temp sender in the same location where mine is just one pole.
Any help, guidance, and/or thoughts to bounce around? I know that the fact that my car is a hodgepodge of parts complicates matters, but hopefully somebody can set me going in the right direction. I have been working on cars almost my entire adult life, but this is literally the first time I have ever messed with fuel injection.....I'm old carb motor guy.... and everything I have learned up until this point has been searching the forums over the last coupe days.
Any input would be much appreciated.
Just traded my old E21 SCCA race car for an E21 with a M20 stroker swap; 'E' bottom end, with an 'I' head. The new car seems to have sat for a bit. She ran somewhat horribly as soon as I get her home. She improved a bit with a fresh tank of fuel, but after the second fresh tank it was pretty obvious that there was a miss. ....Side note* If you ever want to confuse some of Subaru guys just pull the wires off of #5, and #6. They'll swear it's a flat four until you open the hood.
But I digress.... After some fiddling around I got all six firing again after swapping the injectors on the aforementioned #5, and #6. Still having a couple and/or perhaps new issues though. After swapping the injectors the car seemed to start having a much more difficult time starting. It takes a couple minutes to get her going when she's dead cold, and needs another minute or two to warm up before you can get going. She also seems to want to stall right after starting when warm. Though the car didn't start perfectly while running on 4 cylinders, she never stalled out on me, and started much more readily when cold.
Also since swapping out the bad injectors the temp gauge seems to now be inoperable. When you turn the ignition on the gauge jumps and moves up a slight bit from its dead rest, but never seems to read any higher after the initial nudge. I could have sworn that she used to read correctly prior to the injector swap, but now I'm not so sure. After much searching on the forum, and even a trip out the junk yard for reference on other cars, it seems that the temp sending unit on my thermostat, brown plug, only has one male pole. The connector on the injector wiring harness has a provisions for two poles in the female part of the connector. After comparing to another car at the junk yard, it appears that the later M20s should have a two prongs coming off the temp sender to match the double slotted female connector off the harness.
I'm not sure if I just missed, or mixed up, some connections after re-installing the fuel rail, injector harness, ect after the injector swap. After some of my initial researching on the forum it sounded like I my have not hooked up the thermo time switch. I'm not sure where, or even if, my car has the switch or not at this point though after comparing an early M20 with a later M20 at the junkyard. After said forum searching I though it was on the thermostat housing, but on my car, and the later M20'ed car at the junk yard, it is not there. Also, not sure if I potentially could have missed a connection which would explain the connectors not matching re: the temp sending unit, even though the later M20'ed car at the yard definitely had a two prong temp sender in the same location where mine is just one pole.
Any help, guidance, and/or thoughts to bounce around? I know that the fact that my car is a hodgepodge of parts complicates matters, but hopefully somebody can set me going in the right direction. I have been working on cars almost my entire adult life, but this is literally the first time I have ever messed with fuel injection.....I'm old carb motor guy.... and everything I have learned up until this point has been searching the forums over the last coupe days.
Any input would be much appreciated.