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Ok, almost have all the bodywork done. No pics, sorry, new phone doesn't like my Mac. Crap. Also, put on the exhaust and fired it up. Starts and runs, doesn't idle the best right now but I know it needs a tune up so I'm not that concerned. I kinda like this newfangled fuel injection concept. They should start putting it on other cars, too. Just a thought...

next thing you know, they'll be coming out with digital distributors, and it wont matter where you put the spark plug wires.

speaking of which...?

Pffft. Digital distributors. HA. Next you'll tell me they use liquid to cool and heat cars. Funny guy.

Finally got camera linked up to my new PC. Pics to follow below...

Ok, so the weather this weekend was amazing. We sanded and prepped the roof for paint. Today was perfect temp for painting so I shot it with a high gloss white. Then, I got a little carried away and ended up painting the whole thing just so it would be all one color finally. I need to still do bodywork on the doors, slider and rear corners (filling and sanding) but by painting those areas, it really helped me see where I need to still fix stuff...and where I thought I did but it looks good. Once I get the other issues fixed, I'm going to shoot from the beltline down in a screaming yellow. I'll do the wheels in yellow and the hubcaps in white. The front grill, bumpers and emblem will be white as well. I think my daughter will like the finished product.

Also, got it running this weekend. Fires up pretty easily but doesn't idle. First thought is vacuum leaks so I'm replacing all the hoses and lines. If I wack the pedal, it runs fine, just wants to die off the gas. Once I get all the hoses replaced, I'll start looking at making adjustments as the air bypass screw is all the way in and the idle screw is all the way in as well. Probably not the way they are supposed to be.

it shouldn't idle with the idle screw all the way in, turn it out a few turns, you can dial it in later. The mixture screw is bad news that its been futzed with, iirc how to tune FI. been a few years, but it will come back to me quick. do yourself a huge favor and don't play with things inside the AFM to dial it in. its really easy to customise, but the factory knew what it was doing. as for the mixture screw, i think there is a reccomended setting in one of the FI manuals, start there. turned in it will run rich, turned out lean. only really makes a difference at part throttle and closed throttle IIRC. All my manuals are printed, my digital copy is awol, so I can't check it tonight. msg me anytime you get hung up!

of course you finish the bus up and drive it on down, I have a 4 gas analyser. We can get that thing running sweet.

Replaced all the vacuum lines, still wouldn't idle. Opened up the AFM and advanced the arm a little by wedging a piece of hose in there (no, I didn't actually make any adjustments to the arm, just manually advanced it) and now it runs like a charm. Once that was done, I was able to tweak it with the idle screw. So, what does that tell me besides something is AFU with the AFM??

And I have a vacuum leak still at the little dohicky in the booster line, what exactly does that thing do?

brake booster line? its a one way valve.

so you pushed the arm forwards a touch, in the direction it goes as you rev the engine? tells me you are running real lean at idle, hence the deadness. I need to look at a diagram again as it escapes me right now, but you may have extra air dumping in from that thing with the stuff. otherwise I would check for unmetered air, IE a leak coming in from anywhare after the AFM. and that brake booster counts! I like to pull all the vacuum goodies off and cap all their nubs, and then run it and connect em one at atime till problems come back. idling with the idle screw all the way in makes this pretty deffinate, you sitll have a decent vac leak somewhere. did you replace the TB gasket?

That's kinda what I was thinking. When I spray carb cleaner around the hoses and other stuff, the only place it makes a difference is around that check valve. I did have a few around the manifold clamps but tightening them up took care of that. Today I'll clamp off that line and see what shakes out. I assume that check valve is so the booster works in low vacuum situations?

right, there is no res or collector, so I just assume the 12 feet of hose (actually a steel pipe) front to back contain enough volume to give you all the braking you need. engine dies you get one last good kick, not that these are hard to stop without power brakes. Easiest thing is pull it off the plenum and electrical tape the nub shut. the check valve is just a one way, does nothing fancier than that. I think mine leaked and I pulled the hoses off, cut em an inch shorter, and put em back on. but that is because the factory hoses, which fit nice, were gone already, and what was there was falling apart.

Ok, so the latest on it: got it running nicely until the one fuel rail to injector hose (#3) I didn't replace popped and spewed gas everywhere. I replaced it and afterwards, it would only run on 3 cylinders. So, I checked to make sure I didn't crimp or plug up the line, nope. If I quickly connect\disconnect the injector, it runs but if I leave the connector on, I get no click on that one injector. If I swap injectors with #1, then #1 doesn't click so I'm pretty sure I got a bad injector. I found new Bosch injectors for $26 each so I ordered a set of 4. Also ordered a complete tune up kit while I was at it. Should be here next week.

Wrong. I ordered my parts yesterday at 10 am, paid for regular shipping. They were on the front steps today at 8:45am. I'm impressed. Bosch parts for decent price and amazing shipping. www.rockauto.com. Worked on the Ram today but next weekend I think it's the bus's turn.

keep the old injecgors for rebuilds. good to hear about progress, cant wait to post some of my own

so how many busses you got now?

Still just the two. Been struggling with the DD and a few motorcycle projects to generate $$, need to get back to these things, it's just hard finding the time....