I posted that my new Boston Bob engine was producing no power a couple days
after the install, and asked if there was anything other than the cat to
check.

Several people wrote to say that it was indeed most likely a clogged cat.
Bob Donalds even called me at home this morning to suggest the same thing
and see how things were going!

They were right.

I was planning on taking it to a local tire/muffler shop to check the cat,
because they are open on Saturdays, but this morning when I tried to drive
over there, I couldn't even back out of my driveway!  It didn't want to rev
up, and died when I let the clutch in.

So, I called Randy, my mechanic, at home to see if he recommended having AAA
towing it to the muffler shop, or just waiting until Monday when he could
look at it.  He surprised the heck out of me by volunteering to drive over
and take a look! (There are a lot of advantages to having a long-term
relationship with a good mechanic)

When he tapped on the converter, it rattled, so we towed the beast (maybe I
should name her the Blue Beast?) around the corner to his shop and he
torched off the bolts.

The muffler had quite a few chunks of honeycomb up in the pipe, and the
remaining pieces in the converter were plugged solid.  He rodded it out, put
it back together so I could run this weekend, and we will get a new
converter early next week or when I get back from Vancouver.

Any recommendations for a good one at a good price?

But - there's more!  One of the fun things about electronic engine controls
is that they always have room to annoy you.

He test drove the van, and it seemed OK, still a bit of hesitation off the
line, but driveable.

I took my son to work.  About a mile down the road, the beast started
loosing power, and sort of surging.  That went on intermittantly until I got
back to Randy's shop.  He was still there, and poked around for awhile.

Digitool readings looked normal - Temp II .11 or less.  AFM an even rise and
fall as the throttle was advanced.  O2 sensor, bouncing around from .02 to
.7

A couple of times we heard a strange noise, sort of like someone blowing a
raspberry with their lips, but we couldn't see any splits or cracks in any
of the rubber lines.

Finally, we disconnected the O2 sensor, figuring I could test it that way,
and get back to it on Monday.  (I can't complain - that's a lot more than
other mechanics would have done!)

I took it for a drive and it ran OK.  Back home, I re-connected the O2
sensor, and went out, assuming it would act up again.  Nope, it ran about
the same!

I drove about twenty miles on the highway after that with no real problems.
It still seems that it's a little sluggish, and I might be getting little
surges and bucks as I go down the road, but it's hard to filter out the road
bumps and wind gusts to be sure.

Don't you love intermittant problems like this!

Bob thinks the valves and lifters are good, Randy swears the timing is
right.  The plugged cat was the big problem, but is that all?  Perhaps we
cleaned a connection by plugging and unplugging it?

Unfortunately, Randy's CO sensor is not working.  I wonder if I should get
another mechanic to check and adjust that before I head out on the highway
next week.

There's always something!

Thanks to everyone on the list for all of your help and support!

- Mike Finkbiner
'87 Westy (which needs a new catalytic converter)
Moscow, Idaho

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com