Here's the deal:
I installed a 1.25" Body Lift and 1" Motor Mount Lift on Saturday Night. While driving it home, it didn't feel as "peppy" as usual. (I have
4.56 gears and 33" tires.) It almost felt like I was back driving with my old 3.55 gears again. The engine is running perfectly fine, just doesn't feel as powerful from the get-go, or at speed. What could cause this?Background of what I did to install the motor mount lift, in case any of these procedures could have jostled (sp?) something loose:
Body Lift 1st: Unbolted Radiator Fan Shroud. Removed all body bolts. Used a lift at a friend's shop to lift the body about 1.25". Shoved all the 1.25" durathane spacer pucks on top of the rubber body isolator bushings. Started the bolts. Dropped the body back on the frame. Tightened all the bolts down.
Motor Mount Lift 2nd: Mechanic friend rigged up about 6 or 7 random serpentine belts with two of the arms from his vehicle lift, to "pick up" the engine from above. The belts were supporting the engine primarily from the intake manifold on the driver side and from the AC (or in my case, York Air Compressor) mounting bracket. Removed the bolts/nuts holding the motor mounts down. Lifted the engine a bit. Removed the bolts holding the motor mounts to the engine. Lifted the engine even more in order to fit the new motor mounts in and bolted them to the engine. Dropped the engine enough so the passenger side settled into place. Driver's side was too far back to settle into its holes. Now loosened the tranny mounting bolts on the bottom of the t-case skid plate. Managed to leverage the driver's side of the engine forward to line the motor mount bolts up and drop it in place. Tightened all motor mount bolts and nuts up. Re-tightened the tranny mount bolts (they were now about 1/4" more toward the front of the vehicle; no surprise there).
Re-attached the fan shroud screws.
That's the extent of what we did. Before doing this, it was peppy as can be. Now, it just feels more sluggish than I feel like I remember. I don't understand it.
As a side note, I did notice my coolant reservoir is completely empty when I removed it to get at the fan shroud screws. I think my (still OEM from 1997) radiator must be leaking, though I've never seen a puddle; it must be a slow leak. But I have been watching the temp gauge today, and it never moved above the normal operating temp of 210 deg.
Final note, I very recently replaced both my MAP and TPS sensors. So if anyone were thinking of mentioning one of these might have gone bad, I doubt it, because (a) the engine ran like complete shit when they went bad and is running fine right now and (b) they're brand new, dangit! ;)
So, that's all the information I can provide. Where should I look first to find out (a) whether there really is a power loss or if I'm going senile and just imagining things and (b) what is causing the power loss if it indeed exists? (I'm betting that question "a" and "b" are inexorably intertwined here, but thought I'd seperate them out anyway.)
Thanks in advance for all the helpful advice I know you guys will provide.
/Bob