Zed Head

I don't know if it 's possible but maybe the fork just pulled off of its clips on the throwout bearing. If so, it would be extended out of the transmission and the slave rod would be at an odd angle. Might be worth a try to wiggle it around and see if you can push it back on.

If you're positive that this is the case, then it's a clue. It would be odd though. You're not looking for a shorted circuit in the ground system. You're looking for a short circuit to ground on a wire that should have resistance on it. "Short circuit" just means that current is following a path back to the battery or alternator ground that it wasn't meant to follow. A short cut. Test all of the wires, they should all have some resistance on them, in the tens of ohms at least. The shorted wire will have close to zero ohms resistance. I'm not sure what that last sentence since the starter grounds through the mounting bolts.

Did you check at the ECU connector? Or just the CTS itself? You could have a perfect CTS, that's worthless if it's not connected to the ECU. Make a list of all of the parts, and all of the test results, and post it. Something will show. The right parts, with the right numbers, and it has to run right.

I left an assumption in my method, that the master rod was sitting on its piston seat, when the pedal is on its stop. Which leaves essentially no free play. The fact that you have all of that free play makes me think that you pulled the rod out of the master cylinder to get it connected. That won't work. I would pull the clevis pin and push the rod in to the master cylinder by hand to see how much distance is there. The clutch hydraulic system is essentially self-adjusting. The only hydraulic play is the distance it takes to cover the hole to the fluid reservoir, which is not very far at all. The slave cylinder is the same, except that it is filled when you press the pedal, then it only retracts as far as the clutch fork pushes it. No play at that end at all.

Take a meter and find out which way is shorted - through the alternator's T plug or through the meter. Then find out how the battery current is getting to the short circuit. It's either shorted all the time, or when the key is On, or when the key is at Start. Hopefully you were able to stop it before the wire was destroyed.

I'm not familiar with any AFM measurements in the FSM or the Guidebook except resistance of the carbon trace. And that's not affected by the "calibration". Do you mean your resistance numbers are off by 12%? What are the numbers?

Here's the way I adjusted the rod in my car. It's not the factory way, but I think it works, just based on simple principles. I took out the clevis pin that connects the pedal to the rod end. (Tense change here). Let the pedal rest on its upper stop. Adjust it to the factory number if you like or to where it feels comfortable. Then turn the rod end (yoke, I guess it would be called), until the holes are lined up. Tighten the lock nut. Then slip the pin back in (it's easy now), and it's cotter pin. There's enough play in the hole and the pin that everything is about where it needs to be and you get maximum travel from the pedal stroke. The main reason I do it this way is because it makes the clevis pin easy to insert. There's no room up there. Here's another trick - run a thread through the clevis pin hole, then run the thread end through the pedal and yoke holes. Use the thread to pull the pin up and to the holes. Then you can hold it up with the thread while you do the final maneuvering with your finger tips. Forgot to say, re your problem, if you can't get the holes to line up, with the pedal on its upper stop, then the rod is too short. I think that my adjustment is way out at the very end of the rod. It's barely long enough.

Plus, the beer can method on the atlanticz site would be "calibrating". Turning the wheel to make it leaner would be "screwing it up".

You didn't mention the most important component, the coolant temperature sensor. And 32 psi is kind of high at idle, have you checked the FPR for leakage? See if there's fuel in the vacuum hose. With that gas mileage, the first tow things I would check are the coolant temp. sensor and the FPR. I had a similar problem, it was a bad FPR. And check your coolant sensor readings at the ECU connection. Then you'll see what the ECU sees. Get real resistance values and know what temperature the sensor is at. Also, vacuum advance helps gas mileage. Disconnecting it is a mistake.

It's been mentioned before, by guys with lots of experience, that the tires have a big affect on ride. If you're using low profile tires you're more likely to get a harsh ride with polyurethane bushings. Actually with any bushing. I have polyurethane everywhere but the small bushings at the ends of the control arms (aka transverse links), with KYB shocks (shocks are also a big factor since they are what actually damp the bump energy, not the springs) and Tokico springs in the back with cut stock springs up front. But I have almost stock-size 205-70-14 tires. I like the ride and don't really feel any signs of harshness. I've seen comments about Tokico shocks alone being harsh also, and people going back to KYB. It's the combination of parts that matter, as jfa's post implies, and one bad one can probably overpower the others. And, besides ride harshness, polyurethane diff mount bushings apparently can transmit diff noise in to the cabin. Not a harshness issue, but worth considering. Plus, one's person's harshness is another person's road noise. Bump size matters. It can get complicated. Besides... Therefore... With that being said...

Interesting topic. It begs the question (I've always wanted to say that), should all rebuilt engines be rebalanced, if they use new pistons, or rods?

What are these places? It seems sensible, since putting things back the way they came apart is generally a good idea. But you could also rationalize that moving them to other bores, as long as the piston specs. match the bore specs., is a good idea. The wear spots would probably be slightly different, extending the life of the engine. Just saying, if you were starting from scratch with used pistons, you'd take the measurements, including weight if that's spec.'ed, and fit the pistons to the bore they match best. If you're rebuilding, then all of the pistons are probably out of spec. after honing anyway. Whatever you do, you still have to take the measurements and hit the specs.

Hairs are splittin' here. He said the motor was locked up initally, He took it all the way apart because he was looking for internal damage. He didn't find any. So the remaining question is - what, exactly, stopped the engine from turning, and, my point, is there more damage to be found? A starter can pump out a lot of torque (I moved my car up a driveway incline that was too steep for me to push it, using the starter in first gear), and it has a lot of leverage on something with the radius of the throwout collar. That's all I'm saying - if it's not the engine internals that caused the lockup, what did? Is there something being overlooked, that still needs fixing?

You're right I was trying to reason out why Diseazd thought the throwout bearing was locking the engine. Still doesn't add up. He says everything is fine. Now if the throwout bearing was jammed or cocked on to the nose of the transmission,and "welded" to the pressure plate fingers, that would lock the engine. That's downstream though... Yours works too, if the "ears" jam on the clutch fork. It all sounds scary though. Better check the transmission case around the fork and the nose that the collar rides on. The noses have been known to break, especially the aluminum ones.

They never got back to me.

If it was just a clutch welded to the transmission it should still turn when the trans is in neutral. The facts aren't adding up. Just sayin'. On oil pressure, you might consider pushing some oil through the passages with the pan off to see how much flow you get. Pressure is a secondary number. The pressure relief springs are described in both books, Rebuild and Modify. The spring(s) and valve can be removed with the pump on the engine. The Modify book covers it in great detail on page 96. Says 70 - 100 psi is desirable for performance engines.

You can move the left and right sides independently as long as they both move the same amount when you're done. In other words, if one wheel gets ahead of another, you can turn them independently until they match up again. Because it's all gears and rotating stuff. I put marks on all three parts and just move the two and watch the center one. And, because it's all gears and stuff, the propeller shaft moves 1/2 as far when you lock one wheel. 3.36 becomes 1.68, etc. Just like when driving, and the outside wheel moves twice as far as the inner for the same number of propeller shaft revolutions. And I did confirm this on one of my garage diffs just because the whole spider gear rotating carrier thing is hard to visualize.

So, throttles mostly open, engine working hard to push the car. Did it miss at or stutter at all while at speed? Does the engine use any oil? Could just be an occasional oil ring letting some oil slip by. Or worn valve seals, same thing. Or a leak on to a hot manifold, vaporizing. Do you ever smell burning oil? It has a distinctive odor. It's an interesting puzzle, but if everything else is perfect are you going to tear the engine down to fix it? Might be one of those things you live with when you have an old engine.

Could really use a lot more detail. Where was your buddy? In the car or behind you? Where were the puffs? In the car or behind you? How much time did you spend between 90 and 100 mph? Seconds or minutes? What was going on with the engine, were you goosing the throttle or just cruising along at 95 mph? Literally, it's not even clear that it was your car that was puffing smoke. Maybe someone had a camp fire going and your buddy was looking out the window - "Hey look, I see some puffs of smoke". Kind of kidding, but seriously, there aren't many clues here.

I had a 1978 B210 coupe with 5 speed. Carbureted 4 cylinder. Awesome little car, 38 mpg at a 70 mph, plenty of power, no problems at all over the 4 years I owned it. Sold it to move cross-country, but should have drove it there and kept it instead.

Sorry, odds are you guys are right. I'm certain it was tiny though. I have one of those little jeweler's screwdriver sets, Phillips and slot, and it was one of those small drivers for sure.

I think that the aluminum fuel rail is the key. Lots of fuel volume to boil and condense, to bring the heat up to the rail to be dispersed. I'd been thinking about posting in my other thread recently. I got a tank of gas a little while ago that caused bad heat soak. Ran through it and refilled, and it diminished, now it's almost gone. The winter fuel has to be a big factor.

Forgot to say, I think that I used a small mirror to get a look at the orientation of the slot so I'd have a head start once I stuck my hand in there.

Almost positive it's a tiny slotted head screw. Jeweler's screwdriver size. Slotted heads are the hardest to find, blind, Don't take it all the way out, just loosen it and turn it out enough to release the cable, plus a little more so you can get it back in. There's a tiny hole for the tiny end of the screw to sit in. You'll know you got it it in if you turn the screw in finger-tight and it locks the cable end in. Then tighten the screw down. I dinked around with that several times because I never got the screw tip in the hole before I tightened it down.

If the gear in the transmission had a problem, then it seems like it should have been the same problem after changing the cable. Can you be more clear on what's happening? Is the needle indicating 0, then 40 mph? Or is it bouncing a little bit as you accelerate from 0 to 40 mph? And before, was everything fine until you reached 60 mph, then it started bouncing? Or was it bouncing on the way up to an actual speed of 60 mph, then it stops bouncing? Did you replace the compete cable or just the inside portion? And does the sheath, or housing, for the cable have a kink in it? Not real clear what exactly is going on.