74 LS4-454

POST #30 contains the draft for the proposed "sticky"

I started thinking of how many current and new 82 CFI owners are here on the forum. It seems that the 82 for whatever reasons is growning in popularity by leaps & bounds....
March 22, 2013 will be 1 year for me and I know there are alot of owners who are original and who are like me that have recently purchased these CFI's that some people frown upon and think we are .
That being said, what is your feeling about asking the mods if we can create & get our own sticky for the problems and possible solutions for the CFI .
I know that I have learned alot in the last 10+ months and still have more to learn, that is for sure
Our sticky could consist of the following problems associated with the CFI...(these are just suggestions)
1.Fuel
2.Spark
3.Idling
4.ECM-electrical
5.Tune-up
6.TBI solutions
7.References
etc.etc......
Of course there are a number of sites out there about the CFI with good info, that we could reference in one location and with the insight of the members that we have here, there would be no problem that we wouldn't be able to solve.
We could establish our own check list, so that when any of us have a complication, we would know what we should first check for and replace if necessary to help minimize the down time of these mostly understood machines.
I was also looking at an 81 before I bought the 82, and the fact that the 82 was a CFI and has the 700r4 trans persuaded my decision as mine is a "dd".
So let me know what you guys think if this would be a good idea or not, as we all would contibute in making a great sticky for all of the 82 owners here........thanks for checking this out.................Tom

Arkyvette

First post here.. I am picking up my 82 Tomorrow. On a trailer I have been bitten by the Vette bug since I was young when we took family trips to Bloomington Gold, then to the Vette Museum when it opened. My friends dad had an 82 in his garage. We would sneak out and sit in it and I have been in love with the C3 ever since. I have had a 64 Corvair, currently have and drive a 62 Corvair, and I have had a Chevette. Finally combined them! Common, Fuel injection AND a 700R4? Nothing crazy about that at all.

I have been researching the CFI system as I know this car has problems. It currently runs very rich and has some fuel making its way into the oil.. leaking injector? Leaky intake? bad valve guide seals? I look forward to troubleshooting this car as crazy as that may sound. I have had supercharged Thunderbirds, and all types of fuel injected chevys in my past, and i am an Avionics person by trade, so I am not scared of computer cars. A central place where all things known about Crossfire could be stored is a GREAT idea.

Daniel Yarbrough

I would really love to see this done. I have had my 82 for almost 2 years now. Absolutely no problems with the cfi. Everything else but not the cfi. I would like to see tried and true hp combinations for the cfi. I know the intake is very restrictive and have been looking at some aftermarket intakes and also thought bout finding a junk yard intake and doing a lil porting myself. I've thought bout changing to carb but I really like the cfi. Hardly anyone even knows what that is. And when they look under the hood I love to see the confused look on there faces! Lol But yea I would love to see this done.

lance m p

I AGREE!!!!!I've had my car for 13 yrs. AND EVERYBODY SAID "JUNK" well I totally DISAGREE!!! Ialmost did the same [buying a 81] the od tnans AND the fuel injection led me to get the 82 I drove both the 81 & 82 neither where a rocket and I KNEW that w/ my knowledge and will I could get the crossfire running strong it TOOK ALOT OF RESEARCH and ALOT of time however I'm glad I got the 82, OD trans,last year of the C-3 and fuel injection!!ya just gotta understand them thats it! AND I'll bet anyone w/a stock C-4 my crossfire [turd] will run EVERY bit as strong as any of them! My engine is finished JUST WAITING ON THE WEATHER TO BREAK! TA GET IT IN THE CAR! I have one last thing to do and there in the mail now boring out the tbi's to 51mm and putting 80# inj's in it. My engine on the DYNO would'nt take any more than 15-16psi before it started to lean out ABOVE 4000rpm's w/ my knowledge of the 3.8 SFI Turbocharged/intercooled engine's [Buick]I know that the inj's IN MY COMBINATION are too small. So w/ a larger inj I can get a lil bit more out of it than the 368hp/388ftlbs that it got!!!!!at the crank w/no air cleaners and no acc's.

chronos51

Ive only had electrical issues with my 82, the cfi runs pretty goood yes Ive had to install a fuel pressure assembily (sp) between the throttle boddies to get the right pressure but other than that, just a battery drain that I believe i finally located at the winshield wiper relay.

RicemanZ06

I've picked up an 82 just 3 weeks ago. My idle is high(900rpm).

Easy Mike

82s are the newest C3s you can buy.

74 LS4-454

Well it sounds like there is interest in doing this, so contribute as you see fit as to what is needed to get this started. We can all make suggestions here in this thread and then put them in a list that would make sense to even the novice and help in correcting any problems.
Could start out by listing problems that we have had and the solutions found that fixed them.
So feel free to contribute and we get get this going, we already have some tips that have been mentioned here.
So use the 7 suggestions in post #1 and add more as seen fit and I would be glad to put everything together and also welcome help from anyone else and then get the final approval from us 82 owners before we ask the mods to make it a sticky.
I know it may be impossible to cover everything, but at least we can cover the basics and then refer the more difficult problems to reference books and other web sites that may have more solutions in depth then we would have here.
It should be a fun project, as we already have alot of knowledgable 82 owners that can contribute so much....... Tom

Riceman Z06....congrats on maybe the latest 82 purchased on the forum........

jdp6000

Great idea! Its better then bouncing around from place to place looking for information.

Jim

74 LS4-454

Going out to brunch with the MRS. as it is her birthday today, will be checking in later......

Picking up more support as we move along.......great...

Tommy82

+1 for the sticky

jdp6000

Minor Vaccum leak. Likely the lid gasket. They always go. Change it and your RPM should drop. Easy job.

RicemanZ06

New gasket in there. I bought a new O2 sensor which looks like original. The car has 61k and the exhaust are all original.

74 LS4-454

See it is little things like above wih high idle problem and a possible solution given for that purpose.
We also need a Tool listing, so that could be #8 on our list, which would contain basic tools and specific tools needed to diagnose the CFI.
For "How to's" , we can refer users to web sites that already have excellent text & pics for us DIY's.

jdp6000

When you say new gasket you mean the factory gasket with no silicon right? Only thing that works right is the correct OEM gasket.

Did you check the TBI base gaskets? Are the TBI's down tight?

Its difficult to get 900 at idle without a vacuum leak. Ive tried to get the idle up by playing with the TBI balancing, starts to surge when I get above 800. Playing with timing same thing. Its something real minor. I idle at 550 in gear and 550 in park.

Its process of elimination. Little things. Lots of possible sources. some of which are the following: Disconnect the hose for the headlights and plug it. Disconnect the hose to brake booster (has one way check valve at booster) and plug it. Disconnect the hose to the EGR solenoid and plug it. Same with the PVC and hose to the cruise control.Easy stuff to do. See if the idle comes down. if none of that makes a difference you can move on to other stuff.

Otherwise it sounds like you have a decent running crossfire.

jdp6000

You really only need a sticky for the crossfire and transmission. The rest of the car is pretty well the same as the 80-81. Well almost, not sure if you all realize the rear yokes on the 82 are one year only, ask me how I know.

Jim

74 LS4-454

Agreed, as that is the actual intent of the "sticky"..
Just to be specific to the differences of yhe 82, CFI, 700R4, and the rear yokes....so Jim, do tell, how do you know????
Tom

jdp6000

My U Joint went on the rear drive side. When I took it apart the side that goes into the wheel was damaged. My friend has a corvette parts place with hundreds of yokes for 80-81 when comparing them to what came of my car none were the same. Length and thickness was not the same. The 82 is more meaty.

For example Eckers says 80-82. http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1980-1982.html

They aren't the same.

jdp6000

My U Joint went on the rear drive side. When I took it apart the side that goes into the wheel was damaged. My friend has a corvette parts place with hundreds of yokes for 80-81 when comparing them to what came of my car none were the same. Length and thickness was not the same. The 82 is more meaty.

For example Eckers says 80-82. http://www.ecklerscorvette.com/corve...1980-1982.html

According to this side the 80-81 4 speed yoke is the same as the 82 but not the 80-81 automatic. http://www.zip-corvette.com/GroupDet...+(Stub+Axles)&

So its possible that my friend did not have any yokes off 4 speed 80-81's and definitely did not have an 82's.

They aren't the same.

bpassmore

3 year owner, my best advice to new owners is don't over diagnose a problem, get the factory service manual and start with step one.. There a lot of good advice here.
It is good to see the interest in these "wonders".