So wait, you did or didn't pull the ECU and sniff it closely for the "rotten seafood" smell?

 

Did pull the ecu and it didnt smell or anything and I sniffed it pretty good lol. I paid 75 for my mirage head off of car-part.com and just bought a working ecu with 6 month warranty off there for 30 bucks but its getting shipped right now so I wont know if its fixed the problem yet. I love that site. The biggest reason I wanted the mirage head was for the cam. Like senate said, the mirage heads from 98 on are identical to the 4g94 lancer head. You just need to swap over the cam position sensor due to a voltage difference on the mirage one thats apparently not compatible with the lancer ecu. No big deal, one bolt and it swaps. And the camshaft is ground a little different but is compatible with the lancer. The reason my car wouldnt fire was because of the sensing piece on the end of the cam that the cam position sensor reads was missing from my junkyard head. It was causing the plugs not to fire and the injectors to not inject fuel. Easy fix. I had to replace the head anyway as I ran it two quarts low on oil and it scarred the valves. So rather than buy a mirage cam, I just bought the whole head. The reason my ecu is fried is because I hooked a plug up backwards and it sent voltage back to the ecu through a line that was a sending not recieving line and fried the circuit on my ecu that controls the 2-3 coil pack. Hey senate, for tuning and adjustability purposes as in also for future modding, would a head with mechanical lifters or hydraulic be better? Or does it even make a difference? Just curious. Oh and did you notice a difference with the port job you did? I did the exact same thing, just like the intake manifold but I kept it to the outside and stayed clear of the inside. I was just curious cause the exhaust holes are MASSIVE now compared to what they were before and my exhaust, albeit my car was running on two cylinders, sounded alot beefier than it used to. Hopefully Ill pick up somewhat of a gain. Im hoping for at least 1 pony, lol. My newest mods are 80 shore motor mounts, stage 3 clutch, ported head, and the mirage cam. Havent gotten to enjoy them yet and notice any difference.

 

I haven't installed my ported head yet. It's bolted onto my built engine that I've had ZERO time to install.

In regards to hydraulic vs. non-hydraulic lifters, the simplest answer is one you have to adjust at regular intervals and one you don't. If you picked one over the other you would have to make sure that any future camshaft upgrade is also for that style of lifter. I'd like the hydraulic lifters more if someone would come up with a process to bore ours a millimeter or two larger, like with the 4G63 lifters. The increased flow would make for better lubrication and it wouldn't be as easily dirtied or clogged.

 

Ah ok, someone had told me that mechanical was better than hydraulic for future mods. However, the same person argued with me about whether or not you had to adjust hydraulic. I said you dont BTW. Where the ef do you come up with all the money to do this stuff anyway? Im so jealous. I guess it would be different if I had a job Anyways, keep up the good work and good luck with everything. You've officially become my mitsu idol lol. Like I said, Ill keep you all posted on what that ecu does for me. The guy said it should take two weeks to ship to oregon That means I will have been 1 1/2 months almost without a car. Going nuts living with the grandparents. My grandpa makes stupid jokes ALL THE TIME. Like when my phone gets a text, it beeps really loudly. He likes to mimic it. Or one time he was all "whatcha gettin the phone for? Calling someone?" and then laughed for like a half hour. Ive got one for you. When I wake up in the morning, every morning he asks me "Did ya sleep fast?" What does that even mean? I guess its ok cause im losing weight through it. Everytime I make some food, he asks "Whatcha doin? Feeding your face?" which instantly makes me lose my appetite, put away whatever I was making to eat, and walk away. Ive gone without food for two days. Lol. Lots of anger can you tell? I just want my car to be done.

 

Interesting...I wouldn't mind to do the P&P job myself either, I have never done it before so I guess I wouldn't do it. Unless it is pretty simple? What goes along with the P&P of a head?

 

A real P&P job would be more involved. What we did was just a gasket match port job on the head. It would be similar to the how-to on porting your intake manifold. I went the extra step to remove the valves and smooth out the port all the way to the combustion chamber. I also smoothed out the combustion chamber itself to prevent any abnormal hot spots.

 

I found it to be very simple. It just takes quite a length of time and a steady hand. You cant leave any nicks or burrs from your work. And you have to be very careful with where the coolant flows through the head. You can very easily damage your head. Damn, I wish I had gone a little more in depth with my head. Oh well, Ive got a perfectly good lancer head to mess with now. I would practice on a cheap part like porting your IM if your wanting practice as you can pick those up for WAY cheap. I think I paid 35 bucks for my mirage IM. Once your sure you feel comfortable, like senate said, all we did was basically the same thing you do with a IM but we did it to our head. In my opinion, I think its gonna make my head flow WAY better as the exhaust ports had a lot of growing to do. I swear they are at least 50% larger. Maybe not that much but in comparison they look huge after the porting. The intake side has a lot less metal needing removal and its more of a smoothing process on the intake side. I only finished up the intake side with I think 120 grit cause you want it a little rough to aid in mixing the air/fuel. The exhaust side though I finished up with fine grit emery cloth in which case it should be very smooth. The closer you get to a mirror finish, the better.

 

Hmmmm...sigh...lol

 

Whats with the sighing? Are you wanting a detailed, in depth writeup? Cause I can very easily provide you with mine that I wrote up in another forum. I didnt post it up here because for some reason, alot of the people cruising around through this forum frequently seem to always have something negative to say about what I do. I have to be honest, senate is the first person Ive really received help from that hasnt been demeaning or rude. I really appreciate that by the way senate. Hence why I say thank you like 50,000 times cause you really deserve it. I dont see a point in calling a person stupid when they are learning like so many people out there. I have a full writeup with pictures and everything that Im more than happy to post a link for you. Just like senate and I said though, you have to be careful. Its not that hard but its also not that hard to mess up. Just let me know if you want a link.

 

nah bro, it's okay. I was going to do the head swap, but in the end it looks like I'm not going too. This car might not be mine much longer...

 

Just keeping you guys updated. My new ECU just shipped out of Ohio yesterday and its supposed to be about 5 days for me to receive it they said. So hoping mid-week next week. Cross your fingers and wish me luck. Enjoy the fourth everyone.

 

So Ive already sent senate a PM but I was wondering if anyone else had thoughts. I installed my new ecu. I started the car and it was running very very rough. To be expected with all the new intake mods I have. So I let it run for about 15-20 minutes hoping it would get better. It did what it was supposed to, got used to the air intake so it wouldn't die when you give it gas anymore, however, its still running super rough. Its throwing a code po300 which is random misfire. Ive changed the spark plugs back and forth, changed the coil packs back and forth, checked for vacuum leaks. Everything is getting spark and fuel. It really seems like a timing issue to me but Im virtually positive that I got the timing dead on while the engine was out of the bay. I think that maybe I got the sensing piece on the end of the camshaft backwards but I really dont think there is a way to put that on backwards. I have no idea what is causing this misfire. I will probably dig in and check that my timing is correct tomorrow but Im waiting on a PM from senate with any suggestions. It sounds like there might even be some valve slap. Sounds like a metal tinking coming from the upper part of the motor. I really am pretty much absolutely positive I got this timing right but it doesnt hurt to check twice. Anyways, any other suggestions on what might be the cause? Is there a way to make the crank angle sensor piece, the gold piece that looks like a bow-tie and slides over the crank go on backwards maybe? It looked like it wouldnt matter how it went on other than which side of the piece faces the block and which side faces outward. Anyways, I really feel this is an ignition issue but need to know how to go about diagnosing it. Thanks guys.

Edit: I forgot to say that the issue is all throughout the RPM range. I once had a TB leak that the car would run fine when you gave it gas but this time its still shaking and ticking all throughout the RPM range. Oh and when I cleaned my TB, I didnt realize you were supposed to keep the fluid out of the IACV on the side of the TB. Would that have anything to do with it also? I assume thats just for idle though so I feel like there is another underlying issue behind this seeing as its all through the RPM.

 

So took the little bastard out for a test drive. Drove cleanly and smoothly with not much power loss but its been awhile since I drove it so I wont know till I fill. As for the timing, its dead on like I thought. Now that tinking sound however is starting to bother me. Would a spun bearing have anything to do with it acting the way it does? I have a really bad feeling that I should have changed the bearings. Worst comes to worst, thats what Ill have to do but want some input from you guys anyways before I decide thats what it is. It tinks till about 3500-4000 RPM and then the sound goes away. Im not hot rodding it, just took it up slowly to try to diagnose. Anyways, let me know what you think please.

Edit: so just went on youtube and have been listening to rod knock and lifter tick and Im pretty much fully positive its lifter tick. Especially since it goes away at the higher RPMs. Maybe Ive got a stuck lifter and that would explain why the engine is running rough. I really wish we could see what was going on while our engines are running. Anyways, anyone have any solutions for it? Just let the oil try to penetrate or should I get in and give those lifters a good cleaning? What is the best way to go about cleaning our lifters and can I do it while the head is on the block? Is it safe to be driving with lifter tick? To be absolutely exact, my car sounds like its got a boxer in it till higher RPMs. Its gotten alot better but still sounds rough on the low end. Actually come to think of it, it kinda cuts out a little on the low end. It actually sounds alot like my buddies car when he had a bad spark plug wire. But all my wires are completely fine. It actually sounds just like this video I just found. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa_Mr...eature=related

 

So went and got a compression test done. As I thought, no compression in 3 and super low in four. Cause was the cylinders not the head. Now Im just saving up and buying a complete engine. A junkyard close by literally got one in 3 days ago that they are selling for $400 so imma buy that since its guaranteed to run. I went and tried to get my money back for the block. They stated that they only guaranteed it rebuildable not running. I pitched a fit and finally they gave me a partial refund on the block and I get to keep it. Not that itll do me any good right now as Im unemployed and would rather have the full refund to help get another motor. Anyways, thanks senate for all your help concerning all this and hopefully it helps someone out in the future to avoid a situation like this.

 

Dang! Sorry to hear those problems. That is crazy with those guys saying it is "rebuildable not running".