Captain Obvious

If they wrapped a non-hardened shell around a hardened cylinder, then drilling it would be a breeze. But if these new ones pan out, of course that would be even easier. With the new ones, while they're off the car before you install, you might test the hardness with a file. If you're going to drill for a zerk, you could pull the caps off to clean out any chips. Of course, there's no guarantee that there's the same passageways in the bodies of new ones, right? You'll have to pull a cap or two to check. Either way, this could be a great find! New non-greaseable ones are still better than old dry non-greaseable ones. Keep us posted!

Don't want to pre-emptively bust your bubble, but seeing as how the cap is actually the outer race for the rollers, I'm sure it's hardened You got any carbide drill bits? Haha!

Yes, I believe the #5 inhibitor is for automatics only, so 1, 2, and 3 only makes sense for manual trans without A/C. Thanks for the help with the 78 point of view.

Thanks for the thoughts. Here's something that you might be able to do remote... This is a snippet from the 78 manual with a sketch of the late style relay bracket: Is that what yours looked like, because if so, it's completely different than the 77 version.

Seeing as how the yoke is actually the inner race for the rollers, I'm sure it's hardened. You got any carbide drill bits?

Of course that counts!!

Haha! No secrets! I got nothing but the ocean.

No worries! Bob, Thanks for the confirmation on the trans in your car and Chas, thanks for the pics. Those are great shots. I appreciate the help from both of you! PS - Bob, yeah Chas' car is a lot cleaner than mine too, but I don't let it get to me. Mine's much faster, and if he doesn't believe that, he's welcome to bring his around for a good ol' fashioned drag race. :laugh:

Great! I'd appreciate any pics. The issue for me is that I'm planning some electrical changes and I'm wanting to repurpose some of those mounting locations for other things and I don't want to put something new in a location that I'll regret using at some future time. I have a manual trans car so the seat belt interlock location is up for grabs, but can't figure out that other set of mounting holes on that front side. Anyone got pics of a 78 bracket configuration? Rossiz, if you're reading this, can you maybe stick a camera down in there and take a couple pics of the 78 design? Maybe they had holes laid out in 77 but didn't use them until 78?

Thanks for the help. I'm assuming your car is a manual trans? That would make sense that you don't have the seatbelt starter interlock relay.

Eastern Beaver (and no, it's not what you think). They are the only small onesie/twosie order friendly source I've found for the original Yazaki connectors used on the Zs. They don't have them all, but they do seem to have some of them. Here's their main connector page: Connectors And they've got one for sheaths: Sheaths If you're going to place an order with them, send me a PM because I might want to piggyback with you. Help you make minimum and split the shipping from overseas?

Thanks, but I don't think so. That stuff is mostly on the interior above the fusebox and I'm out in the engine compartment. Here's some sketches from the 77 FSM that seem to corroborate that the solo relay attached to the bracket in my pics above is for the air conditioning compressor. And it also appears that one of the relays to be mounted on the front side is for a seat belt interlock on the auto trans cars (#4 in the diagram). But what's got me is that I've got room and mounting holes for TWO relays on that front side, and I have absolutely no idea what the other one would be for: Here's another sketch from the FSM that shows a little more detail about the seat belt interlock relay.

This is a pic of the relay bracket from a 77 Z. There are mounting holes for relays that my car does not have. Does anyone know what the relays are that screw to this side? What are the functions of the two relays that screw to those four mounting holes on the side that faces forward toward the headlights: And for posterity, here are the other three sides. This is the side that faces the engine. The four screws attach the two fusible link blocks: Here's the side that faces the battery. The relay in the pic (I believe) is for the air conditioning compressor: And here's the side where the voltage regulator would mount:

[joke]Maybe he means you plug it in and then play with it for months trying to get the tuning right.[/joke] :paranoid:

I'm assuming they were licensed to be an authorized rebuilder of such things and were given enough info from Hitachi or Bosch to be able to test the module as a black box. Attach this cable and hit the "test" button. Probably runs through different simulated temperature, RPM, and air flow rates and then measures the pulse width output accordingly. As for the solder touch up, it doesn't seem to me that it would be that difficult to re-wave an already done board. Pretty much all you need to know is the outside dimensions of the board so you have locations to attach it to the fixture, right? Of course, I've got no idea if they are actually doing such a thing, but it doesn't sound that unfathomable. And, yes, I have verified (in my very limited experience of maybe three ECU's) that there are no electrolytics. Wait a minute... Are you talking about the module, or their owners?

That's awesome. Probably terrifying from the driver's seat, but awesome!

It's just boiler plate marketing. I wouldn't get my hopes up about anything specific.

Yeah, that's the guy! So he does architecture too, huh?

Heh! You're old. Where oh where are you tonight? Why did you leave me here all alone? And sorry... Can't help you with your quest. Thankfully I never needed to look for a replacement.

And here's why it needs to be replaced:

Jay, That lower bearing is definitely different than the later racks then. Both the bearings on mine were balls and they were bot the same. I'm with you... If you don't have a confirmed correct replacement for that bronze bearing in hand, I wouldn't mess with it. As for adding pics of the older rack style to that rebuild thread, I think that's a great idea. Would add to the resource. CanTechZ, That drawing is fine. Drawn by esteemed draftsman M.C. Eschersan.

Nice work on the engine. Any idea what happened to cause the valve to piston collision? Also, is everything else in your shop a Honda product? They let you play in their reindeer games? :laugh:

Excellent! Cheap easy fix. SteveJ nailed it!

I took a later 280 style rack apart in my rebuild thread and it's clearly different in a bunch of ways. One thing that was definitely different was that the pinion gear did not use standard ball bearings in the later racks. And there were two ball bearings, one on each end of the pinion gear shaft. And you've got just one ball bearing at the top of the pinion? What's at the lower end supporting the "down inside" tip of the pinion gear shaft? Is there a bronze bushing down in there or do they just run the pinion shaft right on the rack casting?

Congrats on getting your inspection! Older splined style column complete assy: Exploded: And here's the internal splines discussed above: