Long frustrating spring. Still slowly making progress, but sheeeesh
All fuel leaks are fixed. ECU tuning continues. Finally got to the upper end of revs and set a new speed record. 37mph with full tanks! I think I'll be able to squeeze a little more out yet. Motor running pretty nice at all rpms now.
A slight hesitation between 1 and 2 thousand rpm when I hit the throttle. I can probably tune it out. It is possible that I have a small vacuum leak causing this. Did a thorough search with a listening probe and also a can of carb cleaner and could find nothing.
On the positive side, I finished up my exhaust cutouts. When I first hit the switch, I just about pee'd my pants it sounded so nice. Low, loud and throaty. I won't be using it much out on the lake because I need to be nice to the neighbors. It certainly will sound nice trolling up to the bar dock tho
Now the bad news. The oil leaks that I have been chasing have certainly been persistent, but I am a stubborn SOB. After fixing a fitting drip, I still was getting a little from around my oil filter (remotely mounted, thank god). You can see my 'bandaid' that sort of was keeping it at bay here.
At first I thought maybe I had a bad filter seal, so I made a mess and replaced the filter. And it STILL leaked at higher revs. After making another mess, I ran a finger around the sealing surface that the filter screwed on to. Felt rough, so I pulled the whole fitting off. This is what I found.
On close inspection, it almost looks like grinder marks. Some idiot before me really did a number on it. Why it didn't show up last year I have no idea. Consulting with my local machinist, he said it would be hard to mill it and make sure the surface was perfectly flat because of the screw thread fitting sticking out. I said screw that, and found a new one on eBay. So another 75 bucks and a few days of down time.
Oh well, the big lake temp is still in the 50s.
JT, ain't it fun to own shiny, pretty things that need constant attention and financial input?