Time to Vent!!

[32valvZ]

Maaaaaaaaaaan, I'm going nuckin futs!!!! I can't stand walking by my car anymore & seeing it all apart!! Waiting for a dumb-assed little secondary actuator!! Unbelievable that GM has a bunch of parts listed as new, that dont work!! The most frustrating part is that I have like an hours worth of work left to do once I get the actuators replaced!!!

Not bitching, cause Stan from Tom Henry is really helping me out......I just can't stand the waiting!!! I live in southern Colorado & we have many, many days that you can drive without snow on the ground throughout the winter....if your car is running!

I know, I know

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by 32valvZ

Maaaaaaaaaaan, I'm going nuckin futs!!!! I can't stand walking by my car anymore & seeing it all apart!! Waiting for a dumb-assed little secondary actuator!! Unbelievable that GM has a bunch of parts listed as new, that dont work!! The most frustrating part is that I have like an hours worth of work left to do once I get the actuators replaced!!!

Not bitching, cause Stan from Tom Henry is really helping me out......I just can't stand the waiting!!! I live in southern Colorado & we have many, many days that you can drive without snow on the ground throughout the winter....if your car is running!

I know, I know

Ah! I feel your pain, buddy. I got a good deal on my Z, right before the snows here in "The People's Republic of Daley" (aka Chicagoland). I'm relagated to walking by and staring and drooling too!!

Hey, FWIW, Pete is running w/o secondary plates and I stopped by Marc Haibeck's shop this week (eat your hearts out! I spoze there are some advantages to living in northern IL and being a Z driver). Marc has a chip ready to go for just that conversion. And, he shared some ideas he has for a modification to the chip that looks to me to really optimize the results of pulling the secondary throttle plates. I've go to determine what my intermittent stumbling issue is from first (the plenum may be coming off in a few hours now), but after that, and I've convinced myself it might be a good thing to just jetison all that extra stuff.

Well, I hope you come up with your actuators soon. But, if not, I'll keep ya posted!

P.

[petefias]

Was the actuator leaking air or just binding?

If it was just binding you could flip it over and try it. You may try to slightly bend the arm to see if that helps. What have you got to loose?

With a vacum pump you can easily test it. Don't try it without installing, it's not the same.

[phrogs]

Are you in need of a actuator still or just waiting for it to arive?

Originally Posted by petefias

Was the actuator leaking air or just binding?

If it was just binding you could flip it over and try it. You may try to slightly bend the arm to see if that helps. What have you got to loose?

With a vacum pump you can easily test it. Don't try it without installing, it's not the same.

And by flipping it over, you can cause more issues as the rubber inside has formed a memory of it's travel. You swap it, you are now requiring to form a new memory over an old one.

Actually you do want to test it with out installing it, as it can kink when being drawn in. You want the arm to move seamlessly into the housing.

[32valvZ]

Originally Posted by phrogs

Are you in need of a actuator still or just waiting for it to arive?

The problem is trying to get a good one. Stan at Tom Henry has sourced some for me, but when they arrive, he tests them for me & they fail the test. So, he has recieved 4 so far, & sent 3 back that were no good. We have one good one at this point.........He's ordered more & we have to wait for those so they can be tested....

[petefias]

Originally Posted by 32valvZ

The problem is trying to get a good one. Stan at Tom Henry has sourced some for me, but when they arrive, he tests them for me & they fail the test. So, he has recieved 4 so far, & sent 3 back that were no good. We have one good one at this point.........He's ordered more & we have to wait for those so they can be tested....

As Jeffvette and I said, it should be installed before you can test it accurately for non-binding operation. It can be bench tested for leak without installing.

[32valvZ]

Originally Posted by petefias

As Jeffvette and I said, it should be installed before you can test it accurately for non-binding operation. It can be bench tested for leak without installing.

Thats not how I read what Jeff wrote. You can bench test it for non-binding as well. The bad ones are pulling back crooked and or in an interrupted motion if you will. The motion should be smooth and the arm should pull straight back as I understand it. I know that it should take 8-12hg to fully draw back once installed with all the linkage hooked up.

[petefias]

Originally Posted by 32valvZ

Thats not how I read what Jeff wrote. You can bench test it for non-binding as well. The bad ones are pulling back crooked and or in an interrupted motion if you will. The motion should be smooth and the arm should pull straight back as I understand it. I know that it should take 8-12hg to fully draw back once installed with all the linkage hooked up.

After reading his post he did say it can be bench tested.

The final test however, should be made while it is installed to verify non-binding operation. The reference to the memory of the rubber diaphram confirms that.

I did flip mine (they were installed "upside" down) and it seemed not as smooth as originally and I could "feel" the secondaries opening.
The opening vacum was low however. After couple of months it seems to have gotten smooth again confirming Jeff's memory theory.

It is amazing that such a small idiotic issue could make such a difference on these incredible engines.