Captain Obvious

Get ready for a lot of words... Let me first explain why I'm looking for a new helmet in the first place. My current helmet (Horror Freight blue design) works pretty well with the MIG, but won't stay dark with the TIG. I'm assuming that the TIG currents are just too low and it won't pick up the arc. Either that, or I'm shadowing the sensor with my work position. In any event, it flashes me with the TIG. And just recently, I was doing some under-car exhaust work on the family Truckster, and my HF blue flashed me even with the MIG. Something about the working position again... Must have blocked the sensor or something. Once I finished the tack welds under the car, I pulled the parts out and finished the job on easels in the driveway and it was fine. Just something about the position under the car. So I've had it... I busted my balls on that car job and saved over a thousand bucks by throwing labor at it instead of new parts. With the money saved (think "unrealized expense"), I think I deserve a new tool so I can do a better job next time. I figure even if I spend a couple hundred of that saved thousand, I'm still way ahead in the end AND I've got a new helmet! Right? I deserve that, right? Who's with me?? Anyway, that's where I'm coming from. I wanted something more reliable with more sensors and rated for lower TIG current. So I did a bunch of investigation into helmets and came to multiple conclusions. First of which is that asking people what is the best helmet is like asking someone "What is the best brand of tools." and is likely to start a religious war. Beyond that, I did some reading of on-line reviews. Here's a couple examples: https://welderportal.com/ http://weldinghelmetexpert.com/ https://weldinghelmetpros.com/ And here's one that talks about the EU's relatively new rating system being used as an attempt to provide some objectivity to the highly subjective topic of viewing quality: https://www.thefabricator.com/article/safety/1-1-1-1-clarity All the top of the line helmets seem to be great. Optrel 684, Speedglas 9100, Miller Elite, Jackson BH3, Lincoln 3350. All fantastic, and even with the unrealized expense, they're still all more money than I can justify spending. However, there is also one lower priced contender that just kept popping up... The Antra AH6-260-0000. This one seems to be very highly rated despite the costs. It's seemed to be at the very top of everyone's "Best helmet for the money" category. So, I was just about ready to pull the trigger on the Antra AH6-260-0000 when I noticed that all the sensors are in a line across the top of the window. I can picture welding positions where all of these sensors get blocked. Might be very unlikely, but I think it's possible. In the end, I went with the Lincoln 2450, and here's why. It's got the same optical technology as the very highly rated 3540, but has a smaller viewing window, and hence a lower price tag. But the biggest reason I went with the Lincoln over the Antra is that it has four sensors as well, but they are in the four corners of the lens. I cannot come up with an easy way to shadow all of them at once. And it's TIG rated down to 2A or so. I went with the cheapest "Name brand" helmet I could find with four sensors in the corners of the lens. If you think the four sensors in a line aren't an issue, then the Antra sounds like a great alternative for a lot less money. Keep in mind that I'm no welder. I know just enough to make myself dangerous. And light stuff on fire.

Speaking of such related things... I just asked Santa for a new auto-darkening welding helmet to replace my current one. I'm tired of getting flashed. (No Cliff... Not that kind of flashed. )

The vampire hunter, right?

Putting in pallet cutouts is a really neat idea. Just because you CAN move them around with a pallet jack doesn't mean you HAFF to. Do you have a pallet jack? And out of curiosity... Why are you raising them up in the first place? Because you're so darn tall?

Haha!!! I feel better knowing it's not just me!

Ewwww... Are you sure you didn't forget to turn on the gas?

Not just your shop. Mine's like that too. And so is Granny's! And I had a vise just like yours. Loved it, and I ruined it. Broke it pressing ball joints into my Fiero control arms. Cracked the jaws right off the center tube. That's why I have a hydraulic press now. I've also got a replacement vise similar to the original one, and it's just OK. Sloppier than my first one.

Smells like a Z to me.

Haha!! From the Zcon thread:

Nice work. Makes you wonder how you managed to live all those years without a lathe, right?

I haven't personally confirmed, but my understanding was that the 77-78 sender unit could be removed through the access hole in the rear hatch. I don't know about other years, but I believe 77 on you don't have to drop the tank (or even drain it) to do that kind of work. Thanks bud, and you too!! Yes, it got way colder way quicker than it's supposed to be here. In fact, we got a bunch of snow middle of last week, and it ended my Z driving season with very little warning. I thought I was going to get a couple more weeks, but they salted the roads. I guess there's still a possibility that if we get a couple non-freezing rainy days it could clean off the roads enough to at least take it out and get some gas so I can circulate some stabilizer. As it sits now, it was a big surprise... Tank is pretty much empty and there's no stabilizer in it. We were supposed to get just a dusting of snow followed by an inch of rain that would have washed away any salt they put down. But that's not what happened. Instead, we got four inches of snow and very little rain at the end of the storm. Roads are covered with salt and I got kinda stuck behind the eight ball.

Av8ferg, Your 77 uses a different style lock. Looks like this: After you have removed the hinge screws underneath, there should (might? probably?) be enough of a gap to get in there with a hand or a screwdriver and pull the latch tab down and get the door off the dash. Use a long hooked pick maybe? You want to pull the latching hook downwards to unlatch it. And yes... Even with the lock in the latched position, the hook will still pull down. It's spring loaded, but it pulls down easy. You won't be able to get the lock off the door, but you can send me the whole door with the lock still on it and I'll open it for ya.

All depends on what you mean "handle". The only thing that can go wrong is (since you will be operating in a lower "average" length of cartridge extension) you run an increased risk of bottoming out the strut cartridge . However, if you install lowering springs that are stiffer than stock, you can compensate for the reduced amount of travel. Not sure I said that right.... I'm not a suspension guy. Haha!

These are not the helmets you're looking for.

Yeah, I'm not surprised the first couple seconds are unreliable. After that though, it sounds like it tracks the mixture very nicely. That's cool. I wish I had something like that installed. But back to the point I was trying to make originally... People talk about the mixture oscillating quickly between rich and lean. I propose that the only reason that's occurring is the control system is MAKING that occur. And that's because that's the only way they can measure the mixture. They are using a narrow band sensor and shooting for "an average" mixture at stoichiometric. If you stick an O2 sensor in the Z's exhaust stream and hold the engine condition steady, then you will measure a steady voltage out of the sensor. It won't be flipping around. It will probably be pegged rich, or pegged lean, but it'll be steady.

I'm no expert on O2 sensors, but I don't believe the output will be jumping around unless the mixture is jumping around. When used in the control loop in a car, the only reason the O2 sensor output swings back and forth from rich to lean is because the controller is adjusting the mixture and making the output swing from rich to lean. If you hang that 3914 based meter on your car and you're running lean, it'll always show lean. It won't be flipping around.

Good luck and here's to hoping it's not serious.

Just to be completely clear... There was no "racing" on the street. We were road testing the carburetor rebuild quality. And maybe you'll have a Z ready to drive?

Picking that lock should be a breeze for a locksmith. I'm no locksmith but I'm confident I could do it if you want to pay shipping. Probably cheaper to find a local locksmith though!

That is correct. The gauge should read F if the sender wires are shorted together. Just make sure you're shorting the correct two wires together. Don't do something like accidently short your fuel pump wires together. Make sure you have the fuel gauge wires.

Here's one thread that contains discussion about the spring in the wiper linkage: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/58474-wiper-arm-linkage-assembly-parts/

Haha!!! Don't poke the bear!

Cool. Must be the road! I had a memorable I-85 experience while on the way to the show at Road Atlanta as well. Goes like this: I was riding shotgun with @Zup in his flat-top powered 73 and we were following behind @S30Driver (who was our navigator) in his red 280. Out on I-85 while we had the opportunity, Zup decided to put the pedal to the metal and show me what the boat anchors could do. He pulls out into the left lane and punches it. We pass S30driver and are gaining speed rapidly... Zup is counting off the speed tics as I'm watching the "slow" traffic in the right lane quickly fall behind. ninety-five. one hundred. hundred and five. hundred and ten. At that point, he lets up on the pedal. The car had more to give, but he just wanted to guarantee "over a hundred" and figured that an extra ten would account for any errors in measurement. Anyway, so we're slowing down and are about a half mile in front of our navigator... As our exit for the track peels off to the right!! So after we slowed down, we tucked back into the right lane and let our navigator catch up and pass us. "Re-calculating!"

Well before you go and start looking into other more complicated possibilities, I would double check the results with another compression test gauge. Get your hands on one that you have confidence in. For all you know, it's a test equipment issue. Maybe that lent unit has been dropped one to many times. And as for the test procedure, everything looks good except for at the very end... What do you mean "3-4 seconds for each cylinder"? Are you actually watching the gauge while you crank the engine, or are you just blindly cranking the engine for three or four seconds and assuming the cylinders have topped out in compression pressure by then? Reason I ask, is that in my experience, it takes three to seven compression cycles on the cylinder to top out at peak pressure. If you're just counting to "four one-thousand" and letting off the key, you may only be at half the peak "achievable" pressure. Here's to hoping your having a test procedure or equipment issue and not really having a problem with the engine itself.

Haha!! The link would be much less tenuous if you included "Montana". Or "Zircon-encrusted tweezers"