Captain Obvious

My wife has confirmed that male humor stagnates at age 13.

Beautiful car. I'm reliving my youth as well with mine. Good call. You're going to Zcon 2017? Right in your backyard?

Cool. I was poking around a little more and found "axle lock nut sockets" that are the correct octagon shape, but I didn't look long enough to find one at 2". Let us know what you get from ebay! Bow Chicka WOW WOW!

Probably not. The reason being that when they say "eight point" they are probably talking about the "star" looking heads, not what's on the gland nut. I haven't researched much, but I think the best thing you're going to find off the shelf is a 12 point. So in your travels, have you seen 8 point sockets that are not the star design?

What was the measurement flat-to-flat of the gland nut? I agree that for stubborn nuts, you would want a tighter fitting socket. You had mentioned going down a size... I'm wondering what size that would be.

Nice. That's better than what I did... I bought a BF adjustable wrench from HF. (BF from HF?) http://www.harborfreight.com/24-in-adjustable-jumbo-wrench-60702.html The wrench cost a little more, but is more portable to other tasks (although I haven't used it for anything else since). The wrench was able to be tightened up snug against two sides the nut, but only two sides at a time. The wrench was fiddly and easy to misalign. I think if I have to do struts again, I'll do something more along the lines of what you did. Hopefully my KYB's will outlast me...

So I got a question... Having never used one of them smoke machines, what is it that keeps the smoke from just picking a cylinder with open valves and passing through the engine and out the exhaust system? Do you stick a banana in the tailpipe or something?

Probably not the end of the world, but I wouldn't want the Delrin to spin in the sleeve. But just like my new TB bushings, it shouldn't take a lot of encouragement for the motion to be confined to the center cylinder.

Wow... That's cool. I think I might have to get me one of them smoke machines!

Well let me add a little clarity to my seemingly harsh review above... If you know what it is you're getting yourself into and your plan is to buy it cheap, cut the whole rear end off, and weld on a good one from a car that had been wrecked in the front, then this might be the perfect candidate. Or if you just want to drive one, and don't really care that it has had extensive poorly done body work done in the past, then this might be the perfect candidate. If this thing is being presented as "in good condition", or "restored", or "a survivor", then I protest. I'm out of touch with Z prices, and all I know is they are going up. But I sure hope you could do better for that money.

I can guarantee that the right has had extensive work as well. Look at the bad body filler outline at the front of the bumper tip. Look at the horizontal sheet metal line above that. The center side crease line is completely smoothed out with filler. The gas filler door won't close. Uneven body filler door gap. Body filler filled rocker seam. Ten foot pole, I tell ya... I know it's somebody's baby, but I can't help imagining what that thing looks like with the paint and filler removed.

Chickenman, Those are cool. Never having messed with such entities... What keeps the Delrin from spinning in the outer aluminum shell? Just pressed in?

What kind? One that looks nice. And not too expensive.

That body is not clean and straight. It's had a crap-ton of work done to it! You can even see the rivet heads poking through the incredibly thick runny paint. There is no body crease remaining due to the thick bondo on that thing. I may be imagining the worst, but I wouldn't touch that thing with a ten foot pole. Original owner, huh? Ask him if the bodywork is due to rust or and accident.

By normalize I mean "under no stress" and n the context of the control arm bushings, I mean "the rubber is under no torque stress when the car is sitting level on the road". Wait.... Are you using poly bushings or original style rubber bushings? If you're using poly, forgot I said anything. Doesn't matter. Go ahead and tighten to full torque with the wheels off and the suspension hanging.

Looks great! You probably took care of this, but just to make sure... Did you normalize your control arm bushings and do the final tightening with weight on the suspension?

Forgot about mounting position... I theorize that gravity should have some effect, but I bet it's negligible compared to the internal spring. In other words, I haven't tried it, but I bet it won't matter much. (Famous last words?)

I'm no PCV expert, but I think I can answer some of the questions. It is my understanding that there are three "modes of operation" of the PCV valve and the little plunger (the part that rattles) inside will be in one of three general positions. First mode is under high manifold vacuum conditions like at idle or light cruise. Under this condition, the plunger will fight against the spring and be pulled towards the intake manifold until it makes contact with a valve seat inside. However, it doesn't make a perfect seal. Either the plunger or the seat will have some cuts in it to allow a known and predictable small amount of air to flow through the valve. At idle and light cruise, there is (should be) a small amount of blow-by produced and that small amount of air through the valve should be enough to keep the crankcase ventilated while not screwing up your mixture ratios. Second mode is under lower manifold vacuums when the engine is being asked to do more work. Under this condition, there is more blow-by, and less manifold vacuum. The reduced manifold vacuum is not high enough to fight the spring and the plunger will be pushed off the metering seat and allow more air to flow. The lower the vacuum, the more open the valve will become. Also in this mode, if the amount of blow-by is greater than what the PCV can deal with, the flow direction in the vent side (the side off the valve cover) will change direction and push the excess blow-by into the intake tract. Third mode is any condition that pressurizes the intake manifold, such as a front fire, Under this condition, the plunger will be pushed towards the crankcase (away from the intake manifold), and make contact against a valve seat on the other end of the valve. This seat has no cuts in it and is intended to be a full seal. So... The PCV completely closes in one direction and almost closes in the other direction, and will pass a variable amount of air between those two points depending on the differential pressure across it. Why are there so many? Because the flow rates are calibrated and known and predictable. Even if they look the same on the outside, they may flow different due to internal features. I agree, however, that there sure seems to be more than we really need. Seems to me the auto manufacturers ought to be able to standardize a little. I found a catalog or website at one point that actually listed the flow rates, but I can't find it. If it turns up, I'll make sure to post that. Since they are rated for different flow volumes, I would assume a more thorough test (more thorough than the "rattle" test) would involve measuring the flow. And about the spring, it fights the intake manifold vacuum and because of that, the spring force is important. And since you want it to close instantly in the case of a front fire, you only need a spring on the one side. For something so seemingly simple.....

Me too! The waiting is killing me! I've got this and a couple other modifications and improvements that I'm not yet able to test because of the weather and salty roads. C'mon spring!! And thanks to you @Zlost for the spur to get this bushing project done. I wouldn't have done it without you.

I'm pretty sure it's neoprene. I don't think PVC could handle the temperature. it would probably melt. Hahaha!! My work here is done.

Mark, So when I said I had never seen one with the baffle removed, I was mistaken. Thanks for the great pics and the reminder. And you're right... Relocating the vent fitting to the side would allow you to hide the system even more. Nice idea! So was there anything else inside the baffle area, or is it just covered by the plate? Using your idea, one could plumb straight out the side of the valve cover. About one foot long straight tube, right into the PCV relocated to the side of the intake manifold. And then hide the other connection completely under the intake tract. I've recently replaced my rubber intact duct with an alternative from another car (yet another off season project), and I've got a (currently capped and unused) nipple connection on the underbelly side of the duct. Then if I could come up with a way to get rid of the AAR hoses. I could get rid of one of them by using a newer AAR with the hole in the bottom... and then I could... Oh look! Shiny!

Haha! Well of course it has a purpose. It helps positively ventilate your crankcase.

Basically, what I was thinking was that if you were to relocate the PCV valve to the inner face of the intake manifold (kinda above the exhaust manifold), then you could use a short tube that looks like just the first piece of your orange reroute. Short hose from the valve cover to the PCV valve. And the other hose that goes from the block to the stock PCV would go from the block to the intake duct instead. You still wouldn't see it.

Nice work!

Wow... I can still see floor. Clearly I need a bigger storage area.