Wet Electrics Troubles!!!

[Grant Garrison]

Sad, sad day for my new Superformance Cobra. I've had it for about a month, and have already put 800 miles on it (can't keep my hands off of it!). Little adjustments here and there (rear sidepipe brackets broke, went back to a regular alternator pulley to cope with the fuel injection's electrical demands).

Then I got stuck in a BIG rainstorm about 2 weeks ago. Rather than sit under an awning and wait for it to pass like an intelligent person, I decide I had to get it to my garage NOW.... the net result being that I went thru some flooded-out roads, getting splashed by big SUV's and barely made it home on 4 cylinders. Top was up, for what that was worth. The car (and I) were soaked.

When I got it home, the headlights went on all by themselves, and would not go out, so I hit the kill switch. I cleaned it, let it dry out, and it still was barely able to run. So off to the engine builder's. He discovers that the Accel brain box had gotten wet, resulting in severe corrosion of all the pin connectors on the box. The box itself got a little wet, primarily from water dribbing down the A-pillar holes (time for some silicone sealant). He swapped-out all the EFI sensors, and spark plugs. The MSD box appears OK.

Now here's the weird part:

I picked it up last night, and it was running great. Full power, not a hiccup in sight. Then a slight hesitation was felt up near 6000 rpm. Then it started doing it at any speed, and I barely managed to cough my way back to his shop. It's now running just like it did when it was wet.

20 minutes of running perfectly, then within 2 miles it gradually went to hell. The only clues I can offer are the ammeter reading a constant charge of 25 amps, then the needle started vibrating like crazy (from about +10 to +30 amps). Also my Valentine radar detector now goes off whenever I accelerate hard. It NEVER did this before the rainstorm, and the detector does not act up in my other car.

Sorry to ramble on forever, but engine builder wants to send the Accel brain back, which will cost me big and may take 6 weeks!!!! Neeedless to say, I'm bummin'. Any thoughts?

Thanks!