Captain Obvious

We will never speak of this again.

I have no experience with ring gaps, so I don't have any input into your original question, but I am curious... You keep mentioning the average center of the range for the specs of the gaps. Is that your target for when you put rings on? Why don't you aim for the narrow end of the spec? I mean, as the cylinder walls and ring wears, won't that gap just get wider over time? That's about a six thousandth wide spec... Seems like aiming towards the narrow end of the spec would be a better place to shoot for than the center. Like I said, I have no expertise here, but just wondering.

LOL! I opened the thread at the newest post (yours above) and that way I don't have to punish myself with that pic again. The methylene chloride based paint removers will eat anything the PO put on there. Even if it's powder coat. Of course, bead blasting would probably be faster.

Ewwwww. I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to open this post ever again. Not even the tastefully done artful presentation make that thing pretty!

As previously mentioned, it's for the BCDD. The BCDD is active when there is no signal supplied to it. so with that connector disconnected, the BCDD will be active at all times. Of course, depending on how you have the BCDD mechanically adjusted, there might not be any difference whether it's activated or not.

That sure looks like a ported vacuum source to me. My assumption is that the little brass dot above the "F" is the plug they pressed in after they drilled into the carb throat. It's actually convenient to be on the bottom, right? Shorter line over to the distributor.

I'm thinking the previous builder screwed up. I agree that it could have been a units issue. Or maybe his math was just questionable. Math mistakes can crop up in the strangest places...

I wouldn't be so sure that the "gouged" area of the spacer is the only part they messed with. There are clearly grinding (looks like belt sander?) marks on the remainder of the face of that distance piece. I'm thinking they were shortening it and they slipped once causing that gouge. It looks to me like there's a heat-blued mark around the entire circumference, and I wouldn't be surprised if they took material off the entire face. They just took a lot more in one area than another. And... The ends of that thing need to be SQUARE. You could have a small area of missing material, but the overall vast majority of that face needs to perpendicular to the center line through the cylinder. You could check the length of that messed up piece with a micrometer to see if they shortened it. If it's a "B", it should be between 2.067 and 2.069 inches long. And if you get even more energetic, you could check it a couple different places to see if the end(s) are square. However, all of that is academic if you are replacing it (and I think that's the right decision). As for the torque of the stub axle nut, my guess is it's what crashed one of the Mars landers... A units problem. The torque spec in the FSM is 181-239 foot-pounds. But the spec is ALSO 25-33 kilogram-meters. My guess is that they (or Chilton's) screwed up the units. Torque it till your eyes bug out. If the bearings are properly seated and the distance piece is the correct one for the strut housing, the bearings should see little to no load as a result of the high torque. If everything is in the right spot, those bearing balls are floating in the grooves of the races.

Beautiful. Clean enough to eat off! Did you replace the little rubber bumper for the brake switch? Mine turned to dust one night and my brake lights stayed on (even with the car parked and shut off).

To further what Blue said about the vacuum source... The Z's all used a "ported" vacuum source, but I do not know what the 510 used. Since it's so similar in lots of ways to the Z, I would assume it wants a ported source as well, but I guess there's no guarantees. Here's an old thread that discussed the differences and advantages, etc of the two: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/41935-ignition-timing-theory-port-source-vs-manifold-source/ As an aside... I Teed in a vacuum gauge to my Z and routed the line to the interior. I drove around for a while like that with the gauge attached. It did exactly what I expected: Zero vacuum at idle. Narrow peak of highest vacuum just off idle at light cruise. About 20 inches hg at the sweet spot pedal position at 4000 RPM. Near zero vacuum at WOT.

I knew I couldn't possibly be the only X-Files fan! And I'm with you... I'm so glad they're back. There have been two really campy episodes lately with lots of references to other things like that. The one with the automation, and the one a couple weeks back where they were talking about the Mandela Effect. That one made me laugh out loud a couple times. Thanks for pulling me off "The Island of Misfit References". I've dropped a couple lately that have stayed dropped. I think I'm getting a little too obscure.

Haha! No, it wasn't quite that bad. Old friends as in I hadn't seen anything from them in quite some time. But after a long time away they're back.

Woof... If it's not one thing, it's another! Is this the same shop that bent your control arm? All else fails, I can probably make a new spacer. I can certainly shorten one up if you find you can get the longer length but need something shorter.

Some old friends of mine recently used these guys after a night out for some sushi:

It's true.

And here's the final test: When they can get from one end of the country to the other without ever once pushing that "imaginary brake pedal"... You know the one that we all use when we aren't the driver? If they can get completely across the country without ever pushing that pedal once, then they're done.

I know I'm beating this topic pretty hard, but just to illustrate why all of this scares me..... Here's a situation we have all shared: You're driving along minding your own business and see a car approaching the road you're on. He's got a stop sign so he's supposed to stop. But as he approaches the intersection, something about him makes you start to lift your foot off the accelerator. You don't know what it is, but "you don't trust him." You can't quite put your finger on it, but there's just something that makes you pause.... Even though he hasn't done anything wrong, there's something about the whole situation that makes you uncomfortable and you give him special attention. You've just got a funny feeling. In most cases, everything turns out fine. He stops and waits for you and the whole thing was a false alarm. You put your foot back down and continue on your merry way. But then there are the cases where you suspected he was going to do something stupid, and you were right... He pulls out in front of you or cuts across your lane a little too close for comfort. The point is that you saw a non-logical feeling before something bad happened and reacted to it. You can never program a computer to react to a feeling. You THINK another driver MAY pull out in front of you. You THINK a person MAY step off a curb. You THINK another driver MAY change lanes. You THINK another driver MIGHT turn left in front of you. You THINK another driver MAY run a yellow or red light. Not to mention things like you've made eye contact with the truck driver and are sure he knows where you are.

Ummmm.... I think that might be an old nickname. Crap! He beat me to it!

Haha! Well I'm no expert, but since I can't judge the parts with my own two beady eyes, I should err on the side of caution. We don't need any "Z widows" for reasons other than spending too much time with the other woman (the Z). Keep us posted!

Yuck. That's no fun. Glad to hear that nobody got hurt. How's it feel to see all those flashing lights outside and know that you AREN'T involved?

Here's what they should do.... Once the companies pushing for this believe they have this thing working, they should do a multi-year long road test. And the owners and employees of the companies involved should be required to be the test subjects. In other words, the people who own the companies, developed the technology, and wrote the code should be required to use these things as their only form of automotive transportation for five years to prove it works correctly. Prove how confident THEY are when they have to put their wife or husband and infant kid in the back seat, close the door, and wave goodbye as they head off two states over to go visit grandma?

Here's a crappy pic of the back of my 280 tach:

It's a 280 tach. Probably came from the same car as the speedo. The wiring is the same as the one on my 77, so it should definitely work in 77 or 78. Might work in 74 through 76 too, but I believe somewhere in there they may have changed the connector shape. I could research that if someone with a different year wants it. But I'll hold off on that since it seems you've got a nibble already from jcb (a 77 owner). Biggest issue would be the cut off wire at the connector (the one out by the connector that goes nowhere). Looking at the un-populated connector position, the cut off wire should go in the empty corner. I believe that's a green/white wire? And if so, that's one of the wires that feeds power to the illumination bulbs.

I think the same thing. I have no problem with driverless cars in their own sequestered tunnel lane where there is no interaction with the rest of the sentient traffic. Then to me it becomes more of a subway or railway system. There will still be accidents, but with less unpredictability comes less accidents. Brains are great at both predicting and reacting. Computers can only react.

Oh, I'm sure there is lots more than just GPS involved. But it still not enough to take the place of sentient thought. Which do you think the computer is gonna hit. The kid, or the dog? The arguments about horses to cars to planes doesn't hold water with me. All of those transportation modes have one thing in common... They are (or at least are supposed to be) being controlled by sentient thought in real time. The driverless car is not. How confident in the technology are you going to have to become before you're willing to put your wife and infant kid in the back seat, close the door, and wave goodbye as they head off two states over to go visit grandma? Open the pod bay doors HAL.