Captain Obvious

Haha!!! And now that you've taken a highlighter to your hard-copy, you need to write a note next to it "This is the wrong position - See page RA-3 for correct orientation!" And putting the spindle pin back IN isn't a difficult job. It's often the REMOVAL that's the royal PITA. Once you have it out and everything is clean, the reassembly is the easy part. And I got another question... Did you replace the moustache bar bushings or wave washers with new parts, or are you reusing the old stuff cleaned up? Pic here:

And forgot to say... Glad it was just a documentation error and you got that part together now. Let's hope the next problem is that easy!

Sure does. LOL. That drawing was probably ported from earlier years. That could potentially encourage you to install your moustache bar backwards if you saw that sketch before you saw the one on RA-3. Also interesting to note... My .pdf scanned version of the 78 manual is completely missing RA-9 through the end of the RA section. Get what you pay for, I guess. Thankfully though, it appears that the 77 and 78 manuals are identical in that area and the 77 includes the pages that the 78 does not.

That top view showing the diff appears in the 1978 FSM on page RA-3. I don't know if there are other pics in the 78 manual that show the bar in the wrong orientation, but the one in the Rear Axle (RA) section shows it correctly.

Yeah, and look what it did... Rust is seeping out of the hood vents!! More pics here: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/60218-ol-blue-current-status/

Here's a previous thread where we discussed damper oil disappearing: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/44049-su-oil-consumption/ Doesn't appear that it was ever completely resolved, but interesting reading anyway.

Yup. I've not messed with those specific COPs before, but that's what I figured. And thinking about the wiring connections a little more... If they're logic level triggered, then the other two connections have to be +12 and ground. So the three connections would be trigger, power, and ground, but not necessarily in that order. It's still unknown if the high voltage side shares the same ground connection or if it snags a separate ground through the mounting bolt. I did a little digging looking for a wiring diagram for how those COPs are connected in-situ (same part on Acura's and Hondas) and didn't turn up anything. And I would take that as good news... Seems reliable enough that not a lot of people are asking questions about the wiring diagram? Anyway, I'm clearly getting into the academic part of it that doesn't matter to the application. LOL.

Yeah, I was wondering about that as well. There are three connection pins on the pack, right? Two of them have to be for the logic level signal (sig and ground), but what is the third wire for? I wasn't sure if that third connection was a ground return for the high voltage side or if that is a diagnostic "misfire" detection input back to the controller. It would sure make sense if the spark current flowed through the mounting bolt. The smaller the circle for that current, the better. it's really noisy and I wouldn't want that in any harness if I could avoid it. If the mounting bolt does provide one side of the high voltage coil, you should be able to measure coil secondary resistance by sticking one lead up the coil pack and the other on the metal part of the mounting boss. Without looking anything up, probably along the order of 10K-30K ohms maybe?

Another thought about the mounting of the coil packs... In the original application, the coils are designed to be pressed down all the way "home" against the top of the valve cover and the mounting hole comes into contact with the valve cover itself. Probably with a proud standing boss where the mounting bolt threads into. In addition, there is a sealing surface (might even be a rubber ring?) just below the electronics module portion that is designed to seal the larger hole in the valve cover. In your design, the holes you have the coil packs poking through is much smaller than the original design and your mounting tabs are hanging in free space. You don't want to stress the mounting tabs by putting a bolt through them and tightening them up while it's unsupported below the pack. Kinda hard to do without marked-up pics, but here's the issue I'm talking about... See the gap underneath the coil pack where the mounting bolt goes through? That thing is just plastic and you don't want to put a bolt through that and tighten it up. I suggest either using some sort of standoff boss (could be as simple as a tubular spacer) to support the bolt hole, or even better would be to make the holes in the COP bracket larger (like the original application) and have the coils mounting face sit down further (flush) against the plate. Without some sort of support under the mounting bolts, you are going to cantilever the coil pack body with the bolt and potentially crack the mounting tab off:

No, but removing the COPs is easy. Or you could leave all the coils attached to the plate and lift it off as an assembly with the six coil packs still attached. Un-clip six electrical connectors and the whole thing is loose.

I'm still uncomfortable with the bracket design... Six little springs in those coil packs pushing up, and three tiny little aluminum tabs holding the whole mass in place. I'm worried that you hit a certain frequency, and that whole assembly is gonna sing. Stress cracks in the sharp inside corners of the mounting tabs.... Misfiring because the whole thing is lifting off the plug electrodes when you hit bumps... Bedlam. Anyway, I hope I'm completely wrong and I'm not going to bring it up again.

Yeah, sorry I couldn't help you out with the RH needles. Good luck with the tinkering, and keep us posted! Short story for the rest of the forum... I went looking for my RH needles that I thought I had and only came up with just ONE instead of two. Not much help there!

So you're thinking that maybe they were working furiously when they wrote it.

You're probably too young for this, but the answer is shift it like Rat Fink: RIP Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: http://www.ratfink.com/

I'd rather have the skills that are in play here. I could buy the tools.

LOL!

I've been poking around looking at ignition system options recently and now know just enough to be dangerous and say stuff like: So one of the big advantages of using that GM HEI module is that you can remove the ballast resistor which results in a hotter spark, right?

I'm not sure I'm understanding your measurement technique exactly correct, but it sounds like it should be pretty close. My geometry sense tells me that as long as the "pulled up" support point was the same distance from the center of the car as the "pushed up" support point, then the summation total result should be accurate. In other words... If you did all of your pulling and pushing from the same bars that connect to the rotisserie, then I think it works out. This is really hard to do without drawings.

It's about an inch diameter. Are you a mold maker?

Thanks again guys. Some follow-up questions... motorman7 and Zup, Does that $140-$150 per batch at Sav-On cover both colors of chromate dip, or are the two different colors considered two different batches? The reason I ask is that I was figuring I would only do one color chromate (yellow this time), but if I've got the option to do different colors without affecting the cost, I would include some clear chromate parts as well (like the ashtray). duffymahoney, Would you share some more info about the shop you are using currently? I like the sounds of the cost and the batch size, but can you put a little more definition around what constitutes a small batch? And what about different chromate dip colors? Do different colors add to the cost? jfa.series1, How does your plater stack up cost-wise to the other options above? And does it have to be an in-person transaction? zspert , How does your plater stack up cost-wise as well. And as Zup mentioned above, I'm in the Philadelphia area, so something south of the city would be possible to do drop off and pick-up instead of shipping. I could spend shipping money on gas for the car instead.

Possibly... Just turning the wood part? Send me a PM and we can chat.

I just do them by eye and check them with calipers. "Custom Hand Crafted" And, like so many of my projects, that's why it's hard to charge what they're really worth. If someone is looking for a concourse quality repro that even at relatively close examination is indistinguishable from a stock original, then I have painstakingly made a couple of those. But there's no way I could ever make any money doing it. I just don't think pockets are that deep! Haha!!

I like this kind of replacement part stuff, especially if you can find something that's cheap and easy to obtain and hidden (so it still looks stock from the outside). If it weren't so cold, I'd be out at the junkyard pulling VVT oil filters out of heads and measuring them. But it's just too cold for my fingers. I got issues...

Thanks for the info so far guys. I don't expect to have a full box either. Maybe there's another owner out there thinking the same thing that would like to share an order? So, if you don't mind me asking... How much was it for each batch?

That banjo bolt is a cheap and simple way to check the levels, but it only works on the bowls with the drain hole. If you don't have that hole, you still need to splice into the hose between the bowl and the nozzle. Same for this device: