So I have realized that I have a lot of dumb questions and I am in the process of getting the car on the road, so I figured I would start a build thread. So the story goes like this...
I was in the market for another car and was trying to buy a colt gt that was local but it seemed as though the seller was hesitant so I went searching for something else. That is when I found netninja2001's project. The car was 200 miles away but seemed like a pretty easy fix and wouldn't take long to get on the road. Well...I was kind of wrong lol.
This is the day it came home (not shown is the fact it is packed with parts and so was the back of the SUV that towed it home lol)
The tank was full of rust and bad gas so I had to deal with that crap. I tried a few over the counter rust removers but I couldn't get them to do anything worth while. So science to the rescue!
I used electrolysis to remove like 95 percent of the rust and it worked great.
Now it came time to tackle the wiring...
This was the MPI relay plug. He was having electrical issues and was having trouble trying to figure it out. He said he was wiring all the things the MPI controlled to switches to bypass it I guess. So I reconnected as many wires that were cut as I could find as well as removing the SAFCII, tubro timer, and putting the MAF translater back into the engine compartment. Goal was trying to get it as close to stock as I could, and starting over.
Was still having trouble figuring it all out and seemed to be missing some wires (maybe because the car was originally an auto?), so I yanked the engine harness and harness behind the dash and replaced them both. I also got an adapter harness from 89mirageman (If you read this I am still trying to get those plugs for you, I haven't forgotten I promise!). Unfortunately the car still didn't run...Turns out that pin 8 on the MPI wasn't getting ground from the ECU. I grounded that wire and it started!...then shut off immediately...UGH! After an hour me and my buddy tracked down the problem. The ECU wasn't recognizing that the fuel pump was getting voltage and there was another pin from the ecu that wasn't grounding. So we grounded that wire and it starts and stays running. WOOHOO!!! Pulled it out of the garage under its own power.
Unfortunately it sounds like it has a supercharger on it. I originally thought it was the alternator but its not. I think I have narrowed it down to the timing belt being to tight. So now to the questions. How to tell if its to tight. The service manual I was looking at says the tensioner should be extended 5/32 to 3/16 I think it said, but this is what it looks like.
There also seems to be a film of tiny shavings of metal all over. That could be from the harmonic balancer coming apart and wearing a hole through the timing cover though.
Edit 1:
Got an old bumper installed temporarily until I figure out a different way of running the intercooler.
It will have to do until I get this one on