Alright, so I am 50 miles on the swap so far:

I checked for leaks with the carb cleaner and the funny thing was the leak went away. The technician said he didn't use any rtv on any of the phenolic spacers, but the best guess was it was the IACV since it only happened when the car was idling. The IACV adapter+nipple plate was bought off the org, it used a big piece of rubber as the gasket. Its possible it sort of sealed up or the hoses tightened up better on the barbs, not sure.

I had a scary moment where I aggressively shifted on the new clutch and it grabbed weird. This was as I was approaching an intersection, so I put car in neutral at the red light, foot off clutch pedal and it continued to shudder and make a loud knocking/rattling sound for about 20 seconds, so I shut it off. Decided NOW would be a good time to return home, so I started it up and the shudder continued for about another 20-30 seconds then it went away. Really freaked me out but I haven't been able to replicate it.

The tech suggested that a piece of the new clutch fused to the flywheel temporarily and then flew off. I think this is a possibility and I will work on improving my shifts, I am still not used to how hard the stage 2 engages. It shifts fine now. The clutch does not like to be slipped. This takes a lot of getting used to.

Also, the ECU seems to be improving its AFR, the idle is now 15.5, under WOT the AFR is 12.5, and its about 19-20 probably when cruising/coasting on the highway without throttle.

I apologize for not taking pictures, its like 20 degrees outside. I will drive it some more after dinner, maybe another 50 miles and then some more tomorrow to try and replicate those two issues.
The car feels really fast. Can't really tell how fast, since I have been driving a borrowed 2.3 N/A Saab 900s for the past week and a half, and that thing is really slow.

Here are two pictures the shop took, these are NOT my pictures:



Note the hoses feeding the independent IACV, the thick IACV rubber gasket which looks like it could potentially leak. The shop did a great job installing the PFTB, they cut the IM's flange off and welded on a matched flange to the PFTB. Intake is the stock, full 95 intake.

If I hear the leak again, I will separate the adapter/barb plate from the IACV and RTV the pieces together without any rubber gasket.

 

Haha I was just about to ask how your PFTB was mounted then I saw your edit. I think I'm going to take my IM up there and have them modify it that way so I can get rid of those big adapter plates.

 

Yeah I am very pleased with how they did that. It is very clean.

 

Yo, that barbed fitting looks alittle on the small side for the iacv. Also if they did not use alittle rtv with the spacer install I think you just found your leak. Remember vac increases at idle and low engine load which is excatly when your having your lean problem

+1 on the pftb install

 

Pictures:







Pretty happy overall with JE Imports, I would recommend them to anyone here looking for a professional install. I fixed the issue with the IACV by tightening the gasket down a bit, if it happens again I will RTV it but it is 15 degrees today so I don't plan on it any time soon.

 

nice job on the swap

 

Thanks.

I've been driving the car off and on, I have about 170 miles on it since the swap. I still have a week before it goes to the body shop for repairs from the collision.

I have tried fixing the vacuum leak sound. Here is what I have so far:

- The whistle occurs at idle - under 800 RPM. It doesn't always come on and sometimes it will come on, then I'll rev it and when it comes back to 800 it doesn't leak, etc.
- My IACV is the 4th gen one with an adapter plate and a hose barb. They installed it so it sits external. Initially it had the thick rubber gasket it came with, but I took that off and tried permatex ultra-gray today. It still makes the whistle. I only permatexed the outer join on the IACV, not the inner part where the valve meets the indentation on the adapter plate for the nipple
-The tech installed the phenolic intake spacers without RTV. He explained that this is the way he normally does them on 350z's. I sprayed carb cleaner but didn't notice any leaks on the upper spacers. I have not checked the lower intake.
-The car seems to have full power and it is not intermittent. Idle is fine, smooth at 750-800. Runs great, just annoying noise.
-I have driven the car at 15 degree weather and at 60 degree weather, not much difference in noise, but it definitely runs smoother in the warmer weather.
-The IACV input hose is about 3x the diameter of the adapter's output hose to the intake manifold. The intake manifold barb is the same size as the adapter's barb, i think it is 3/8

 

My Steven max IACV is just like this with my 00vi. Shouldnt cause a problem.

 

I guess the best thing to do is ignore it. Probably taking the entire intake manifold off and putting ultra black on all the spacers isn't worth the hassle. When I get a baseline dyno and if its lower than expected (<220whp) I'll go that route.

 

for a great build
excellent info
and functioning project
i commend you!

job well done!

 

why is the whistle bad? Mine whistles but I have an aftermarket intake too. I like it If the leak was past the MAF then you would probably have driveability problems. You can always check that gold color plate with the rigid lines running though it. Its over by your water pipes, the factory fuel lines go though here too (located below the throttle body). I had to block some of those lines off since I am not running EGR any more, make sure all of those are hooked up or blocked off. The EGR actuator (not sure if that is what it is called, but the emission lines/vacuum lines for the EGR run to it) is easy to pull off of its vacuum line, check that too, also located in the same area of the engine bay. Also there is a nipple on the bottom of the pathfinder TB that is hooked to a vacuum line, make sure that is hooked up or blocked too.

 

What shade of blue is your intake? Looks good...

 

thanks man

The car whistles at idle about 50% of the time similar to a vacuum leak, however I am not getting any driveability problems. I thought it was a leak between the IACV and the adapter plate but I RTV'd it together and it still made the noise. I'll check all that stuff when the car gets back from the body shop. I probably wont get it back for another 2 weeks.


Its the classic, Ford Racing Blue. Saw a cosworth engine with that color and loved it the classic look.
http://www.duplicolor.com/products/enginePaint/