hello i received the full bassani exhaust system last week and i have a problem. today i had the bassani headers put on it and was planning on the rest tomorrow. i went and picked up the truck tonite and i drove down the road. when i stopped and power braked a little to come off the line it made an awful sound (like rocks or maybe a ticking noise) when i let off the gas and drilled it to the floor it would not even spin the tires. i got off the line and it had no power it shifted at about 4800 (which is unusual). it shifted hard into second and it pulled like it should then it went to 3rd pulled good and then it just died no power again (it felt like something was holding it back) then it came out of it and went back pulling. my first thought on the ticking was an exhaust leak but it dont tick constantly like an exhaust leak should. when it is in park and you rev it up you cant hear it until you put a load on it. after i got it home i looked at it good and everything appears to be bolted good. i took it down the road again and now it is just flat everywhere. the truck doesnt run right and it sounds like a pulp wood truck when you hold the brake. i have a little test run i go to at the end of the run last week bone stock no chip but psp filter it hit 115mph on a full tank of gas. tonite it hit 107 my brothers svt contour will hit 109. at this rate it will not run with an old lightning.

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

have any of you bassani owners had any problems like this? i did not put the big bucks on this supposedly high quality exhaust to have exhaust leaks and lose a ton of horsepower oh and yes i had boost the whole time 10-11psi

sal or anyone please help what could be wrong with my baby.


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Rusty McLain 99 Red Lightning w/ cd changer and towing package,superchip,PSP Filter,and full bassani exhaust on order. and a red 94' lightning.
99' 1/8 mile 8.76 @ 81.6mph
94' 1/8 9.69@72.9mph
1/4 15.101 @ 89.9mph

 

Wow Rusty, I don't know what to suggest. Obviously the headers themselves can't be causing this, becuase all they are are just metal tubes (of course the exhuast leak could be related). I would re-check the installation. The only thing I can think of, is make sure the oxygen sensor wires were not routed incorrectly and may have burned and shorted on the headers. This could spike the PCM and cause it to loose power on acceleration when the motor torques up.

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SAL (E-mail- PowerSurgePerf@aol.com)
13.35@103mph
All stock with PSP 99 Lightning Chip and Filter Kit

Power Surge Performance--- Your SOURCE for SVT Lightning EFI Tuning and Performance!! http://members.aol.com/NLOCsvt/svt.html

 

thanks sal ill check tomorrow with the mechanic and keep you informed all i know is the truck will be lucky to outrun my brothers bone stock svt contour and thats pretty bad. maybe i can get to the bottom of this tomorrow and find out what happened, i hate that i have hurt my baby.

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Rusty McLain 99 Red Lightning w/ cd changer and towing package,superchip,PSP Filter,and full bassani exhaust on order. and a red 94' lightning.
99' 1/8 mile 8.76 @ 81.6mph
94' 1/8 9.69@72.9mph
1/4 15.101 @ 89.9mph

 

Rusty:
It sound's like they left out 1 of the 4 senors. Or maybe forgot to plug one of them back in. That's a real bummer!!
I didn't have any problems like that. The passanger side O2 sensor is a mother to get pluged back in.
Are you getting a check engine light?

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JIGAWATT SVT#2698
N.L.O.C. Member
4:10's
Bassani kit
TransGo shift kit
AIM 2 inch drop shackle

 

According to the article in MMFF 2-2000, there was a reference to this engine being "especially sensitve to exhaust upgrades",- referring to the MAF-according to Hyland. They didn't elaborate. They put on a "Pro-M MAF" which employs a "Optimizer"-whatever that is. You might call the guys at Hyland for elaboration.
Kent

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99 White Lightning
#2277, built 6-11-99
52 F2 Street Rod built from scratch-yes by me!

 

I've seen this behavior on my truck, both before and after the bassani header install. I have already had one o2 sensor replaced and my check engine light is on again. So, this will probably be my 3rd sensor.

Could the intercooler coolant loss be related to this if it was being sucked into the engine and fouling the sensors?

 

Nathan,

I have changed more than one head gasket in My Merkur Xr4ti's. Once I had a catalytic fail and plug due to coolant being dumped into it and more than likely sitting for a few days. I do suspect that coolant will damage the catalyst and cause backpressure upstream...decreased boost and associated lack of performance will be an indicator.
If they are plugged you could hog out the cats and not be bothered with replacement..Sal can delete or circumvent the O2 sensor problem I believe..not sure.

On Ford's Taurus SHO cars a problem with the cats could cause residue to be sucked into the exhasut on deceleration. maybe inspect the cats and look for white looking powders or residue. Just a suggestion...Sal may be more informed.

Jeff C.



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Red 99 Lightning (Totaled)
Black 99 Lightning
White 88 SVO Merkur Xr4ti
Sand Gold 88 Xr4ti
Silver 95 SHO
Red 99 Prelude SH adopted

 

Had the full Bassani xhaust installed 2/5/00
and have had no problems whatsoever.My comment,would be to have the sensor connections checked & check for leaks.

1999 RED, Bassani, Suoerchip, Downs Filter Kit.

 

Jeff,

My '90 SHO had the dubious honor of being the first SHO in the nation to "eat its cats" like you described. Ford paid almost $10,000 to replace the motor. Needless to say, after the new motor install I made sure that bad cats would NEVER be a problem again.

Mike

 

What about checking to see if something is hitting the engine maybe the knock sensor is picking that up as a ping and retarding the timing?

 

Ruslow:
Ford has a knock sensor?? If they do where is it?