Today my 84 was fired up following new engine and new harness install. The mechanic drove it without the exhaust hooked up and it ran like a bat ouutta hell. He had the exhaust hooked up and when driving it back he said it was like driving a 3.8 Regal. No go at all. After a bunch of head scratching, he applied some vacuum to the wastgate with a hand pump and found it wouldn't move. To confirm, he applied vacuum in the same manner to the old wastgate on the old turbo and it moved freely.
What did we do to the exhaust that would make the wastgate suddenly freeze up? ...or is it an unrelated coincidence?
Sounds like coincidence ... probably due to things getting hot for the first time.
Further testing shows that we have about 12" of vacuum at idle, ran it up to 3000 rpm and it decreased. Isn't that a sign of a restriction somewhere down wind? Like maybe the cat is plugged?
Turns out the cat was plugged.
Yes, but how is the car?
Up and runnnning like a cat outta hell...