[T3] Flaps Closed for Business

[Chris Sheridan]

I ended up removing the air cleaner, fuel rail, right hand intakes and
cylinder cover tin. I re-attached the flap return spring, checked the
linkage and movement of the thermostat and flaps.

My theory is that I originally set the flaps properly with 2-3mm clearance
about 8 months ago but the thermostat was and is not contracting all the
way so after my return spring fell off, the range of motion once the car
warmed up was inadequate to open the flaps enough. At stone cold, my
thermostat was starting off at 40mm and expanding only to 46mm, not opening
the flaps enough to prevent my enging from running hot and red light coming
on. With the spring in place, my flaps stay open all the way, providing
enough air flow to prevent overheating. However the thermostat needs to be
replaced with a good unit to preserve engine life and proper warm up. I'm
driving it again but the idle and acceleration is still crappy, but it's
running cool on the highway and getting me to work. Now I just need to
figure out the idling problem. Over the weekend I also checked the timing
and rpm, replaced the spark plugs. some photos of my adventures with the
return spring are here:


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-9QLEx0LIuOY2xIQ19lZ1VBNmc&authuser=0
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