First drive and a few driveability problems.

[Whistler]

Backed my timing down to 11* and took the car out for a test drive. Fuel pressure was set at 41 psi. When driving above 2000 rpm's, my power steering pump would screech. I'm pretty sure it was the power steering pump and not the belt slipping. That's the first problem (this is my second pump already).

Second problem is with my alternator. It wasn't charging the battery. Even when I gave it gas, the needle wouldn't move at all. It was on the last white mark, almost in the red. I don't know why the battery isn't charging...the alternator is less than a year old and was working fine before the Novi.

Third problem is when I'm slowing down and downshift, the car wants to stall out. If I come to a stop, the car wants to stall out. Before I left my house, it was idling great and wasn't surging at all. While I was driving it, it would surge if I was coasting and would stall if I downshifted or let the rpm's drop.

On a good note, I didn't hear any detonation in first or second gear so I put it in third. I came to a straight stretch and put my foot down. My head was pinned against the seat, I looked over and saw 4.5 psi on the gauge! This was about 4500 rpm. At that point, I chickened out and backed off the gas but I was still happy that I didn't hear any detonation!!! With only 4.5 psi, the car was pulling like crazy. I can't wait to get these bugs worked out and really open it up!!

[root]

Good news man!

Not sure about the P/S - It could be a bad pump, loose belt, or a pulley out of alignment.

For the alternator, I would not trust the stock gauge. Grab a volt meter and do it that way. Did you install the alternator pulley that came in the NOVI kit?

For the stalling, that could be too much fuel. Maybe bring your FP down a touch.

It is an old wives tale that when a mod is done, the computer must be reset. After the reset you have to take the car out and just beat it down. That way the computer will know what to do at WOT, and should learn how to idle again. This has worked well for me, and many others ;)

Ian

[Whistler]

Originally posted by novipower
After the reset you have to take the car out and just beat it down.

I like your thinking :D .

I think the pwr steering might me either the belt or a pulley. It wasn't screeching when I revved the car up the first few times but then it started to after that. I could steer so it wasn't completely dead (if it is indeed the pump).

Taking some fuel away for the stalling is a great idea! When I was retarding the timing, I noticed that the idle would get smoother with more timing (i.e.14*-16*) and I just didn't put it together that since I backed the timing down, I should back the FP down too.

As far as the alternator goes, I didn't install the pulley that came with the Novi. The battery has been sitting in the garage out of the car for the last 5 months so it probably lost alot of juice over that time. I'm going to try charging it and putting it back in the car. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

I can't wait to make a run up to 6k rpm. If I was seeing 4.5 psi @ 4500, I should see around 6 @ 6000 correct?