THE GERMAN WOKE UP THE NEIGHBOURHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bronson@inwave.com (Nate Mellom)]

  Yes, it's true, after more than a year, a bunch of pondering, 
heartbreak, heartache, hopes, disappointments, and all that other stuff.....

THE '84 LIVES AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The saga continues....
Went out this afternoon, tried to start it, cranked but no pump, as 
usual. I had the timing light hooked up to the coil wire and I was 
getting spark as soon as I turned the key, and again when I let it go, 
but not while cranking. Swapped the ignition switch with another one I 
had (per recommendations of Meze and Daun), cranky, cranky, and the pump 
ran, I got lotsa spark, but alas, it still didn't start. I checked all 
my distributor connections, coil connections, everything seemed right, 
so I decided to check cam timing. Here's where you can all call me 
Dumbass. I changed the timing belt on my new motor, and followed the 
Bentley procedure to the letter, align the crank pulley notch with the 
intermediate shaft punch mark, and align the cam punch mark with the top 
edge of the rear timing belt cover, spark plug side. What I failed to 
realize is that there are *2* marks on the cam sprocket, the fender side 
(which is the one I used) and the engine side (the correct one). Well, 
okay, so my cam timing was a wee bit off. So, since I had to pull the 
timing belt again, I decided to swap in my Autotech cam from my old 
motor. I was going to wait to get my new motor running, but oh well. 
Swapped the cam, checked all my connections one more time, and fired her 
up. It started, but it wouldn't stay firing for long. Like, as soon as 
the cold start injector quit injecting, it quit running. So, damn, I 
checked under the hood again. This time I made sure all my vacuum 
connections were back on (pulled them when I pulled the valve cover), 
and I started to get tingley.....got in, crossed my fingers, turned the 
key......

AND IT STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(let me clarify......IT STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

It was goddam loud, but oh man, I was ecstatic!!!! I let it idle a bit, 
I had good oil pressure, good volts, it was sooooo good. It settled into 
a nice lopey idle (I was told a while back a 276 cam [if I remember 
right] would result in a lopey idle), it sounded freakin' awesome 
(straight out of the downpipe!!). I tell ya, you couldn't have wipe that 
smile off my face for anything. I checked under the hood, no leaks, 
nothing weird at all. Shut her down (it's kind of a quiet neighborhood), 
called my buddy and my girlfriend and told them the good news. My car is 
alive once again!! I've never had both the '81 and the '84 running at 
the same time, I bought the '81 to drive while I worked on my '84, a 
year ago last October.

I haven't taken it for a drive yet, I figured I'd wait until the weekend 
so I can make lots of noise when everyone is home. The tranny felt good 
(full of Redline MTL), haven't had a chance to check the clutch yet, but 
at least she's alive again!!!! I'll have to check the idle after I get 
it warmed up, it was a bit high (1100) but pretty good all the same.

So any ways, now that I have it running I'm on the look out for a 
complete exhaust system. I need downpipe back (as you all know, I 
upgraded to the 4-2-1 exhaust). Any recommendations? I'm keeping the 
cat, I'm planning on looking into a TT system, but there's a guy local 
that does custom exhaust and I was planning on talking to him as well. 
Anything else I should look into? I'm trying to get some more 
performance out of it, but I don't want to spent a million bucks either.

A special shout out and thanks go to Jasin, who provided the new heart 
for my car, Meze and Daun for clueing me on the deceptively simple 
ignition switch problem, my friend Jason for the muscle, my girlfriend 
Caryn for putting up with me and long nights of car workin' on, my 
landlord for letting me store my car where it shouldn't have been, and 
last but not least everyone on the list who helped make this a reality. 
You guys (and gals) are a wonderful asset, I've never met most of you 
but I consider you all friends and comrades in arms.

As soon as I take her for a ride I'll let you all know how it goes.

Nate (Mr. Happy Guy!!!!)

'81 (now has competition for my attention)
'84 (loudest German on the block, and proud of it!!!!!!!)