924 rebuild nears completion (right!!)
 

After devoting most of my spare time since January (which was considerable since I was unemployed) the 82/924 is registered and on the road. First my impressions: This is a very nice little car, especially considering it is old enuf to vote. It handles as well as everyone told me it would and only lacks in the hp department (but that may improve as I am still debugging the fuel injection. Not the easiest car to work on though.....
To quickly summarize, the work done included clutch, brakes, all brake lines, entire front end, electrical work, and tons of little stuff. We've had the engine out, exhaust off and the tranny on the ground. It was quite an education.
Two questions that you guys may be able to help me with: The engine starts well but runs poorly during warm up. I have replaced the aux air regulator which was bad but the problem still exists. All the temp sensors check out ok and the wiring and vacuum lines are all in place. Is there any component that typically fails and causes this problem. Any suggestions on what I should check next?
Who sells replacement hoses for the fuel injection, the flexible section in the line from the fuel filter to the fuel dist. Can I buy replacement hose and put this together myself or do I have to replace the whole line, rigid metal sections and all?
Also, the car leaked under the battery for a while before we got it and subsequently developed that moldy, funky smell inside. I have removed and cleaned all the interior but the problem still exists. Is there a product on the market that will eliminate this odor. People are impressed until they get in for that first ride and discover it smells like somebody died inside!!!!!!
Any comments would be appreciated.
Jon Aborn

Vacuum it again really good then clean it with a Bissel "Little Green™ Machine", let it dry and air out then spray it down with Febreze Car Forumla, let is air out again then get Arm & Hammer® Pet Fresh Carpet & Room Deordorizer and sprinkle that all over the carpets let it sit for an hour or so then vacuum and put a little Pine Tree air Fresner in there and that should do it... if that doesn't buy new carpet...

could be the mold and mildew growing in the sound deadening material/carpet sponge stuff...... well whatever was under obins carpet only worse, might have to replace the carpet.... or hell mabey there is a dead rat in your air ducting for the AC.... I mean thats happened before eh?

You could always take it to a professional detailer and have the interior done.

Jon,
You might want to check the pressure that you have in your fuel system.I have had 3 924's now and two things that I noted were that the fuel pump and the fuel accumulators caused some problems that may be related to your situation. Also, the plugs you are using may also be causing this.I am now using the BOSCH 4 pronged ( sorry, forgot the real name)spark plugs and they are great. I used to use NGK's religiously.

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Gordon
1981 924 N/A

you may have a leaky fuel injector

Thanks for your comments guys. I will check out the fuel pump as it appears to be original and I've been suspicious of the fuel injectors all along (two are very loose in the head) so I'll pull them and test. The good thing is every time I work on this puppy it gets a little better and so right now we are encouraged.

We had some time last weekend and found some more problems with the fuel injection: The temp sensor that activates the lambda feedback circuit when the engine is warmed up was bad, always closed, and causing problems with the warm-up. that was disconnected for now and the improvement was very noticeable during warm-up. I also discovered that all the fuel injectors had bad seals and were leaking air by. One was pretty extreme. New seals have been ordered. We also test fired the injectors and found one with a bad spray pattern. This replacement is also on its way. There still may be other problems in the system but I'm optimistic that these fixes will make a significant improvement.
It's been quite a journey but we keep making progress. I guess I'm hooked....
Jon Aborn