Captain Obvious

Yes, and yes. It could be off one tooth, and as long as you can adjust for it by moving the distributor, the end result is "it's OK that way".

It's not water soluble. (see updated post below) Label says "Hydrotreated light petroleum distillates" and "Solvent-refined heavy paraffinic petroleum distillates". So I don't know what "Hydrotreated" means, but despite the use of the reference to water, it's not water soluble. (see updated post below) I looked up the MSDS documents as best I could and they are as generic and ambiguous as what you usually find. I see what you did there.

My old trusty bottle of 3M rubbing compound is almost too dried out to use. It's more like a thick paste now than a liquid. Think more like peanut butter than mustard. Anyone have any tips on what solvent to use to thin it back out again? Old, dried out, and pasty. Happens to the best of us, right?

Oh, and I meant to complain about your hose clamps a while ago and forgot. So I'm glad to hear you don't like them either. Get some of the originals. They're stainless and don't cut into the rubber tubing. I don't recommend the aftermarket stuff that looks like the originals. They're not stainless. Get originals.

Those connectors are Yazaki. Good catch on the alternator wire. Glad you caught that one before it became more of a problem!

Actually there are a couple different spots that can be messed with on the AFM and the one you pictured is not commonly messed with (thankfully). The most common adjustment is to muck with the spring tension by moving the big black gear. There should be a silicone blob on the locking screw for the gear. In you pic, it would be hidden behind the counterweight. If you rotate the vane arm open some, it'll expose the blob I'm talking about. If it's still there. Swing the arm and look here:

If you hear a click from the solenoid and you can see a change on the ammeter, then the problem is not in the ignition switch. It's in the starter. I had a similar problem where my starter was a rebuilt unit installed by my previous owner. Intermittent operation where it made a loud "CLICK", but wouldn't engage the starter motor. Found that the Bendix unit on the stater had been assembled incorrectly by the rebuild company. Been a number of years (and I didn't take any pics), but fading memory says they had installed a spring incorrectly. On the wrong side of something. After seeing the problem, I was surprised that it ever worked at all, even intermittently. Anyway, took it apart, relocated the spring, and it's been flawless since.

Here's the link in question: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/56726-heater-core-alternative-escort-core-into-260280/

If your car runs OK and you don't have any reason to believe the traces inside the AFM are a problem, then I'd just let it alone. I wouldn't move the board around unless you have a reason to do so. Can you tell (by looking at the silicone blobs) if your AFM has been "adjusted" by a previous owner?

Thanks again. So you mentioned 190 cc/min as the target flow rate. Do you have a document source to back that up? I've looked in the past for some hard evidence about what the target rate is and I've got lots of speculation, but nothing totally conclusive. I checked the flow of the injectors installed on my car some time ago and they were all pretty much the same. At that time I didn't care about the absolute, just the relative with respect to each other. And they were all about the same, so I was happy.

Yeah, the plan is to build some sort of test and cleaning rig. I don't know how fancy it's gonna be, but I do plan to put something together. I remember your Coke bottle pic. So when you did yours, you wired all the injectors in series and connected them to what? Car battery? How long did you leave them powered to fill those bottles that far?

Glad I could indirectly help! Occam's Razor!

So I was this many years old when I learned this. I did the other five injectors today, and not only was there no damage at all to the barbs, but there was no swearing required! Well... I may have said "Dammn that was easy!!", but that was it! I made a shallow cut to expose the polyester reinforcement lattice. Doesn't have to be neat: Then I stuck the hot soldering iron all up in there and melted through the polyester weave and the rest of the tubing. After maybe fifteen seconds of wreching around in there, I was able to pull the tube off: After all these years and all that swearing!! Thanks again Zed Head for bringing it up!!

Well for me, the "old standby" method is using a razor knife to cut a slit into the rubber hose allowing it to be pulled off the barbs. That and a lot of swearing. The swearing is especially important when you get down to the bottom and are digging around inside the ferrule with the tip of the razor knife. But the problem with that old standby method is that no matter how much swearing is employed and despite how careful you are (I am?) with the razor, you always cut a little too deep and put cut lines into the barbs of the injectors. Memory says I've seen pictures and instructions put out by Datsun that warn exactly NOT to do it that way because of the inevitable damage, but that's the same old memory that says I've seen many recommendations for grinding the tubing off. As for the purpose of the ferrule? I'm thinking it's primarily there to prevent the tubing from being inserted too far onto the barb. It might also provide some support to the end of the tubing to prevent fraying and cracking over the years, but mostly for insertion depth. And as for how to get new tubing on? The service manual says to just put a little gasoline into the end of the new tube (as lubrication) and push it on. No clamp required. So I will try the soldering iron method for removal. Since the reinforcing threads inside the tubing are polyester, it makes a lot of sense. I have high hopes.

Haha!! Add it to the list for next time!

Zed Head, Thanks! I don't remember ever seeing that soldering iron technique in the FSM. I had always remembered the recommendation to grind the ferrule off and then peel the remaining rubber. Interesting thing is... The 75 manual recommends a grinder, but after that (76 an later) recommends the soldering iron. It's not like I spent a lot of time pouring over the 75 manual, but I couldn't find any other mention of doing it that way. Anyway I'll give that a try, and if that doesn't work, I'll try burning it like it floats. Thanks!

Haha!! You know me well my friend! I'm pretty sure I could make them, but I'm also pretty sure I would just rather buy them!

I'm working on getting the old dry-rotted cracked leaky hoses off some fuel injectors. In the past, I've simply cut/pulled/snipped/pried the old hose off the injectors, and while that works, it's always resulted in some scratching to the barbs on the ends of the injectors. The FSM talks about grinding the hoses off and I'd like to give that a try. Problem is, grinding could destroy the small metal ferrules at the base of the hose. So, question is... Anyone have a source for replacement ferrules? Here's a pic of injectors with and without the hose. I used the old standby method to get that hose off (in pieces), and I'm looking for a better option. Before and after the cutting/slicing approach to hose removal: If I destroy these ferrules, are replacements available? Note that you can see some scratching on the hose barbs from the removal process:

Sorry to hear about your friend and coworker. Are you thinking this will end up being another change of jobs for you, or do you think you'll stay where you are? Kinda up to the family, right?

Sounds like good progress! One other thing to check... The grommet around the antenna drain tube. It's back there in the same corner as the end of the exhaust pipe.

I'm sure they are hardened. The description on the website says: "Heavy duty inner and outer rollers are made from H11 tool steel to be used on stainless steel applications." Who in their right mind would make those dies out of tool steel and then not harden them afterwards? Who I ask would be so foolish???? OK... Who besides me?

Fingers crossed. How will you know? Just using your nose to verify, or do you have a smoke machine?

Yeah, that tool looks great. Probably much more durable than what I cobbled together. I didn't heat treat my dies and I'm not sure how many shots I'm going to get out of them before they start showing damage. Let's just hope I don't need to do a lot of bead rolling.

Cool. Hope it takes care of the leaks! Have you got other areas you think are leaking as well, or is the taillight the last one?

It's intentional. You're just the new guy providing the entertainment for us grizzled experienced owners. Soon you'll be just like us.