The Resurrection of Vixen Continues...

["Dave Stragand" <dave.stragand@xxxx>]

Hi All,

I'm anxiously preparing the Vixen for the trip to Cleveland in a couple
of weeks, but I had an engine problem that was driving me nuts. You can
chalk this one up in the "Intermittent Failure" category on the Zen
scale (see http://www.ProjectVixen.com/zen.htm to know what I mean).

The Problem:
The frequency valve circuit worked intermittently. Some days it worked
just fine, others not at all. My situation was that I currently did not
have an Oxygen sensor attached, as I still need to have the nut welded
onto my exhaust pipe.

What I Tested:
- There was power from the RPM relay when the engine is running.
- There was constant power from the fuse.
- The relay was functioning correctly.
- The temp. sensor was functioning okay.
- When the full-throttle microswich is triggered, the frequence valve
-did- operate.

I was under the assumption that the Lambda ECU was shot. I jumped to
the wrong conclusion. Darryl Tinnerstet guessed the correct answer -- a
bad ground wire. It was the one from under the resistors to the engine
block. The wire -looked- just fine, but only worked when I wiggled it.
New connector, and voila! Running fine. Of course, she could probably
use a good tune up, but a running car is a good place to start.

Ever since I got my brakes hooked up, I've been able to 'drive' the car
around a bit. Pretty strange site to my neighbors, I'm sure. I've
heard the car described as 1) a dune buggy, 2) a Fiero, and 3) a
go-kart. Huh. Well, they aren't "car people" I guess.

For an untuned, stripped down little car, she sure does get up and go,
though. Of course, I haven't left my street yet, or shifted out of
first, but I can feel quite a bit of pep when those turbos get to
kickin'.

For anyone interested, I have updated my web site up through Week 30.
Check it out if you'd like.

That's about it recently. See y'all in Cleveland!

-Dave Stragand
Vin# 05927
http://www.ProjectVixen.com