Yeah I was always just able to get it tight enough with just the hose. The end of mine is slightly different, but not a ton.

Unfortunately I don't think the K&N without modification is any better on the heat soak issue. I have a cooling plate, removed all of the OEM crap so air can be directed through the cooling plate, modified the box to direct cool air/block hot air better, and then used a crap ton of gold heat tape to get that setup as good as I think it will be. My dynos were all prior to that though, who knows what that did for the car.

You seemed to acknowledge prior that "Sheldon" didn't have the greatest life and were not expecting the greatest results. Care to share more detail on that, I just really still feel fairly confident that 175 is not a normal result and something is up. Maybe it is as simple as a valve adjustment maybe it is more than that, but I would expect a stock Ap1 to put down 190+

 

I'll hafta investigate what a 'cooling plate' might be. I've seen it mentioned in the intake thread but had never heard that term before. Is the issue with the K&N the fact that the insulated box that covers the filter doesn't actually meet the hood? I'm an HVAC guy...we're pretty experienced at stopping heat from going where we don't want it to go.

I bought Sheldon from a used car lot. It's missing the AC and cruise control components, the battery is in the trunk, the engine bay fuseblock is rotated, and some chopping of the metal head shield near the battery was performed. These latter indicators lead me to believe there may have been something extra installed at some stage, maybe a turbo? There was a wire going from a mysterious toggle switch under the dash which I eventually traced to an extremely amateurish connection to the radiator fanstat connector (stripped wires stuffed into the connector and duct-taped). There's no fanstat at all, so unless the ECU is bringing on the rad fan, I don't see any way it COULD come on now...but Sheldon never overheats, even in 95F temps and stop and go driving.

The cam chain tensioner makes a ton of noise, so that's in dire need of replacement.

The air filter isn't actually mounted, it just sits on the end of the intake tube and is tie-wrapped to the radiator fan shroud....directly. So all the heat removed from the coolant by the fan is being ducted directy into the intake.

The exhaust was an unnamed piece of crap that was basically straight pipes.

Every piece of sound-deadening insulation's been removed in the cabin.

The front end grill is missing. I see indications of chopping around some of the structural pieces in the nose bodywork.

The suspension is garbage...it's like it's a hardtail.

The tires are cheap all-season radials.

The passenger interior door handle was snapped off.

In short, whoever owned this car in the past was a.) not the most conscientious craftsman on the planet, and b.) didn't seem to know a lot about what he was doing. That's why I say Sheldon appears to have lived a hard life.

As for the possibility that a valve adjustment needs to be done, I just did one two weekends ago. None of the valves were out of spec, although several were near the tighter end of the window. I replaced the plugs at that time as well, though the old ones looked fine.

 

^ omg dude... that thing sounds like a piece of crap I wouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole lol. Glad you picked it up though and it sounds like you'll be the type to bring it back to it's former glory.

 

I got it for a song and the body's in great shape. I originally started out looking for an NSX, but they've held their value too well for my wallet. As for Sheldon, I didn't particularly want a project car...got enough crap to do in my spare time already. But it's a car that rewards garage time, so it's all good. All my mechanical background comes from motorcycles, so I'm working to overcome a learning curve here, but if people are patient and don't mind me asking stupid questions, I'll eventually become a contributing member here.

My goal is to have a mechanically sound car with some reasonable performance updates. Not looking to turn 9's. I could see some forced induction at some point if I get really nuts down the road, only because I've driven an Ariel Atom and having that performance in a daily driver would be....enticing. But in the meantime I just want to get things reliable.

 

Sheldon is like a sweet dog rescued from the animal shelter. He wants to please and just needs love. And is getting it.

-- Chuck

 

Wow, there are lots of things that indicate issues the most notable though is the fan issue and you said it has not "overheated". An AP1 can run dangerously hot and still only show 3 bars on the temp gauge, which is why the Modifry fix is a great idea. 4 bars is 235 degrees so you had better be looking to pull over at 4 bars, any more than 4 ever and I bet you caused problems. Running at the top end of 3 for periods of time is likely not good at all either. I have the Modifry fix and I typically see 3 bars when moving if I stop it does not take long at all to bump to the 4th and on hot summer days I have seen 5 bars. I installed a cooler fan switch (175 deg) and as soon as I click to the 4th bar the fan is on.

 

Hmm. This is new info to me. The temperature is dangerously high when the gauge is halfway across its scale? That seems rather odd.

 

It is odd, but it is the reality. if your seeing more than 3 bars and could very quickly destroy a head gasket! The attached image is the AP1 gauge, you can see that 4 bars isn't illuminated until 235 degrees. The third bar (the one you should always see on an OEM gauge illuminates at 160, so that is 160-235, which is a massive range!!

 

I have the Modifry ECT. I am almost always at 3 bars while moving, 4 bars my 175 deg fan comes on (sometimes high 3 if I am moving and the temp is more even between the two sensor locations). If I was running 4 bars while moving at highway or even city speeds I would be aware and watching things, if I hit 5 bars while moving I would think something was wrong and be pulling over to turn the car off and investigate. 4 bars on a hot day in traffic would be normal, maybe 5 for a moment, but I would certainly be aware and watching things. If I ever hit 6 regardless of if I was in a traffic jam on a 110 degree day I would be pulling over and shutting the car off. For perspective 4 bars for me is 205, 5 bars 220, and 6 bars is when you would just be going up to 4 bars.

 

Based on that graphic, I'd have to say that the Modifry fix seems like a very valid modification. The OE gauge appears fairly useless.