Reluctant to publish this "flame me" post, but here goes:

Took my maiden voyage in the newly-completed FD/LS1 this weekend. The initial around-the-block trip revealed little other than the fact that the alignment is horrible due to having disassembled the suspension to replace all the bushings. Second outing was to the neighborhood NTB, where I had new rubber installed and an alignment performed; apparently, my battery lost it's charge during this trip.

After getting a jump, and letting the engine run for awhile, I noticed some ugly smoke coming from under the hood. This was tracked to contact between the drivers' side header and some split-loom wiring protectors. I moved the wiring away from the headers, and set out on the 10 block trip home. On the way, I experienced trouble keeping revs high enough to avoid stalling. My guess is that I've burned though the O2 sensor, which gave the PCM a bogus signal.

Knowing that I had a nearly-dead batter, the drive home was focussed on avoiding a stall. When the car actually did lose revs and stall, I was able to pop the clutch in gear while the car still had enough speed. I have re-started manual-shift cars like this many times before, while still rolling, but this time I noticed quite a bit of "clunking" in the rear when I popped the clutch and restarted the engine. Sounded like something was coming loose.
Eventually, I was unable to maintain revs, and the car died, a fortunate 4 blocks from home (where I got a push home from friendly locals).

Questions:
A) I suppose I will find the answer when I probe the wiring, but how many of you think that burning the O2 sensor wires would confuse the PCM enough to make the car stall?
B) I'm unfamiliar with the FD differential, but would the clunking noises I experienced be expected during a "clutch-popping: re-start?
Thanks.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

A. check your alternator
B. replace or charge battery and/or alternator
C. get a scantool or find someone with one and check ALL vitals

I know you have a gto harness, check your 5v tps reference, for some reason when i first starter mine, the pcm was not putting this signal out (04 gto harness/pcm with 01 ls1), but the car was still running.

Without adequate power your pcm cannot function properly, diagnose any problems after resolving your power issues.

Not exactly sure how to check alternator (since I don't really trust the RX7 gauges).

The battery is one month old, and the alternator is original with the 2004 GTO 15K mile engine, so I'm thinking it's probably not the issue.

I just installed Aeroforce Interceptor gauges, which should show all the information, except they are more complicated to figure out than Chinese math... lots of capability, but I'm going to have to take a couple days off just o figure them out...

Any thoughts on the clunking noises when I do a "pop the clutch" jump start?

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Not sure on the stalling. Is everything stock with the motor? Check codes, etc.

My 14k mile GTO pullout has a bad alternator. Leaks 0.2A all the time, annoying. I usually leave a trickle charger on it since I'm too lazY to replace the alt.

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AFAIK, the motor is stock, but I've got to say the idle sounds really lumpy... who knows what kind of tune I've got on my PCM, though.

I guess the only way to "check codes" is through a program like HPTuners (which I've been told is expensive and mind-bending for anyone other than a "keyboard engineer") or gauges like the Aeroforce, which I already have.

Probably need to carve out some time to sit in the car with the Aeroforce instruction pdf and see if it can figure it out... seems unnecessarily complex, but that's the way all this is headed, anyway. Gotta say that it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence to be sitting in my FD with the engine running, dead (stock) gauges and a pair of undecipherable OBDII gauges.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

The stalling issue is most likey a battery issue. Your PCM is probably barely hanging on voltage wise and when the alternator voltage drops from going to an idle it isnt producing enough to let the PCM run properly. This is probably all caused by a bad alternator. You can take the alternator to advance autoparts and they will test it for you.

The rear end sound....did it do it constantly after you popped it or just when you popped it? Did you retorque everything? Do you have a torque arm setup?

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1993 Mazda RX7- Did you bring enough?

The rear end sound....did it do it constantly after you popped it or just when you popped it? Did you retorque everything? Do you have a torque arm setup?[/quote]

I neglected to add that I have the Paul3rdGen super-duper, torquearm-less rear end. I'm going to put in back on jacks and check the bolts one more time.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

Agree, either your PCM doesn't have enough voltage or your ignition coils don't (or both). Either way I'd suspect the alternator or possibly just the wiring to/from the alternator.

No clue on the clunking, let us know what you find when you get under it. If I can get away from the house on Sunday I'll try to drop by.

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It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need
and the government has to hold a bake sale to buy another bomb.

Craig, you have the same Oddesy battery as me right? How long was it connected before you drove the car? If I know I'm not going to drive mine for a couple of weeks I always disconnect the battery after I park it, otherwise it will be drained/dead the next time I try to start it.

Also the burned wires could also have grounded a power lead, draining the battery. The smoke may have been from the electrical short, not just the header heat. Either way you probably need to ring out the wires that were in that loom. Just a thought...

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It will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need
and the government has to hold a bake sale to buy another bomb.

congrats on the first drive! after checking the alternator as all these guys have mentioned, check to make sure you have the intake air temp sensor and GM water temp sender installed, i noticed that these two guys make a huge difference on run quality...

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