Two weeks ago I did a compression test on this engine right before pulling it. I used a HF gauge set that I had bought but never used before.
Every cylinder was exactly the same, but they all seemed really low. ( 120 p.s.i.). I came on here bitching about the possible cause, and my concern over how it could be a number of things,....but in the end did nothing to look into it further, orcome up with a plan of action to check, or remedy that.
I ignored it.
Since I’m now in a holding pattern waiting on the converter to get here, that leaves me with idle time. Idle time is the worst possible thing you can dump on me, because idle time means that I’ll sit and read,...or watch,...or read and watch way too many things about way too many possible issues that I may, or may not have to worry about.
Which brings me around to what I think is very low Cold cranking compression for this engine. There are several Youtube vids out there to balance that out,.....Multiple JDM importers posting vids of their engines, sitting on pallets in warehouses, displaying for all the world to see that every single cylinder on the engines that they running that test on have 175 pounds of cold cranking pressure...Which puts my engine 50 psi lower in every cylinder than the ones they’re showing me.
So,....I watch this last night and go to bed...I get awakened at 4AM....It’s my buddy. How in the fck can my engine be this low, and not show the typical signs of blow by that has to be happening if my cylinder seal is so freakin bad that I’m 50psi lower than any other stock 50k mile version of this engine? How is there not any smoke, or blow by vapor, or the kind of environmental oil disaster after a hard run that was always dripping out of the puke tank on the old engine?
Short of performing another compression test with a different gauge, I do have another option.....I can try to do a leak down test with my home made, handy dandy leak down tester.
Since #1 was at TDC, I decided what the hell...I put 100 psi into the cylinder, and the leak down gauge reads 94......
If it can be trusted, it’s telling me I have 6% leakage on a cold engine.
In other words...There ain’t sht wrong with this engine....And if anything is wrong,....it’s the piece of sht Harbor Freight compression tester.
So,...I’m letting this issue ride...MOF,....i’m just gonna say that it’s a “ non-issue”.
And.....since I can’t do the things I want to do, I‘m taking the opportunity to do the things I wouldn’t do if I had the things I want.
In other words,..I’m fixing sht that I’d probably let slide if the Converter was here..
When the OG monster engine was first running in its turbocharged version, I had one
Magnaflow straight through SS muffler and a catylitic converter. It was loud, but not overly obnoxious. ( as I recall anyway)
When I got the wild hair to convert the thing over to N/A, and the turbo came off the engine, the thing was way too loud. The turbo was adding some degree of noise “muffling”, but now that was gone. I added another muffler to try and quiet the thing down to a tolerable level ( for me). After all,....I wanted to be able to hear the LJK when he was talking to me.
Later that year, when I added the turbo back to the engine, I couldn’t be bothered to take the extra muffler back off..and then,....Well,....we all know what happened to the OG Monster shortly after that.
When I got this thing running with the 2j, having both Mufflers was just too quiet, so I removed the extra muffler. However, Removing it has now resulted in an exhaust note that just sucks. It kinda makes a Blllaaaahhhh...kind of noise.
I ain’t having none of that.
So,..I have this Three bears kinda thing going on..Having both mufflers installed is kinda like Mama bear,...the exhaust note is way too soft..Having the one round muffler is like Papa bear,..cause it’s way too hard. The leaves me with the oval muffler baby bear,....hopefully it’ll be just right. And instead of Blllaaahhh,...maybe it’ll be more like Blluuuurrrr....
All of this to say, that I cut up the exhaust system today, so I could put the oval muffler back in place. What you can’t see is the tube that I made to replace the round muffler,..it’s gonna have to wait till I get everything back in place so I can make it permanent.
