Captain Obvious

Tamo, Your schematic for the ignition relay looks correct to me. By the way... Every time I look at the ignition relay on the factory wiring diagrams I ask myself "Could they possibly have drawn that thing in a more convoluted way?" It's like they TRIED to make if confusing!

Yup. Hope it works! I don't remember the comparison between the SM's and the stock needles, but I do believe the SM's are richer across the board. Even if you would be running a little lean with the stock needles, the SM's wouldn't be as much of an issue. And again, the farther you are from idle, the less of a contribution those fillets would add.

Oh, and I forgot about the water hardening series as well. Here's a page from McMaster with a little info on some of the more common grades of tool steel: http://www.mcmaster.com/#tool-steel/=x8iikp And I still have no idea if any of those grades are commonly used for spring applications. I don't do much of that and what I do-do (doodoo?) usually starts with an existing spring with modifications to something that already exists. And one more thing... I purchased some anti-scale coating compound after the last time I did some home hardening. I haven't use it yet as the need hasn't come up, but the next time I'm going to give it a shot. I have a jar of this stuff sitting on the shelf: http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/heat-treating-accessories/non-scaling-compound-prod1122.aspx

Drill bits produce a hole larger in diameter than the bit itself. And the worse the drill is produced, the more poorly the two cutting lips mismatch, the larger the hole (within limits) it produces. Those drills that measured undersize when static may actually produce the advertised correct size hole! Only real way to know for sure is to use the bit to drill a hole and then use pin gauges to check the hole size.

There are quite a few different compositions of tool steel designed to be hardenable. Some are designed for an oil quench and some are designed for an air quench. Steel hardening is a complex science. Not easily done right in the home shop. I've done some and have had "reasonable" results. The most difficult hurdle I've had is oxidation while hot. Unless you're using an inert atmosphere or coating the parts with a compound designed for heat treat, the parts get an oxidized scale of material on the outside. If the part is very thin (like a small spring), by the time you oxidize that outer portion, there isn't much left. Most of what I've done has been using O-1 (oil quench 1), but next time the need arises, I'm going to try A-2 (air quench 2) because I believe it machines easier. I'm not sure if either of those grades are suitable for spring making.

Nice polish job! I have a concern on the suction pistons though... On the pistons, you removed material around the entire bottom corner of the piston and I'm worried that you have created two small pathways for air to go around the venturi instead of over it. The original sharp corners around the sides of the pistons provide somewhat of a seal to encourage air to flow through the center (recessed) area of the piston where the nozzle is. When you rounded that corner all the way around, you provided two additional parallel paths for air to flow past the piston without passing over the nozzle venturl. I'm no expert, but I'm concerned that you might run lean at low throttle positions because the airspeed at the nozzle will be reduced. At higher flow rates when the piston is pulled higher it will be less of a contribution, but at very low flow rates you might see an effect. Let's hope I'm just a worry wart.

Tamo, The 77 diagram looks good.

Oh yeah... I don't do bodywork. You're on your own with that!

I'm about an hour south of you. Maybe a little more? I'm no expert, but I know some stuff. If you get stuck, let me know.

Woof. 0 for 2. Sucks. So how bad was the first head? You sure it can't be cut to take care of the warping?

You should be able to tell if it's internally regulated or not by measuring Ohms from the two small "T" connections to the case (ground) of the alternator body. If it's externally regulated, one of those two connections should read a low resistance to the body. About 5 Ohms. (Page EE-14 of the 77 manual). But if it's internally regulated, neither of those connections will have a low resistance to the body. In other words, if it's externally regulated, you should find that one of the small connections has a low resistance to ground, but if it's internally regulated, you won't. Note that I haven't actually tried this, but looking at the schematics of the alternators it should be an easy way to tell.

Hi Tamo, Looks better. Two small issues on the 77 diagram: 1) The white wire going to the ignition relay should be white/red instead of just white. 2) The black/blue wire you have going to the coil doesn't go directly to the coil. It goes to the ballast resistor. Other than those, the 77 version looks good. I didn't review the 75 version.

I was talking to a local buddy who put LEDs in his dash gauges and he says the dimmer works fine for him. I looked at him like he was nuts, but he swears it's true. I'll verify with my own two beady eyes when I get a chance. I don't know what lights he used, but maybe some of them are dimmable? Failing that, I think one of the PWM dimmers we were talking about before in your ding-dong thread ought to work. Let me get some details from my local guy first. If he's got a dimmable option, that would certainly be the easiest.

That's crazy talk!!

That would be awesome. I'm not sure what time I'll get there or have to leave, but if we can swing it, trading seats for few minutes would be great. I've got a recently refreshed suspension as well and would love to compare. Mine feels good to me, but I've got nothing to compare it to.

Out of curiosity, who did the roll bar? Was it a professional shop?

"I'm working on their cars, I won't do it if they won't help. They can walk, I have a car that runs." I hear ya loud and clear and am planning to do the same thing here. Unfortunately I bet this is something that SWMBO will disagree with... Maybe she'll fix the car for the kid?

You didn't get any current flow beep on the circled link because that one is for your headlights. Nothing flows through that link unless the headlights are turned on. Also, something to keep in mind. Just because it's black doesn't mean it's ground. The largest black link for example... Neither end of that link goes to ground. One side goes to your alternator and the other side goes to your battery. No grounds there at all. I'm not sure you're using the circuit checker properly. Where are you located? Anywhere near Philadelphia?

I'm looking forward to catching up too! Not sure what time I'll get there as I've always had good intentions of getting there early, but I never seem to get it to actually happen. I'll be there as soon as I can. Saw your other thread about the suspension work you just completed. I'd love to take your car out for a spin!

Sounds like the alternator is fine. As for the rest of it, welcome to the world of old car electrical systems. A lot of that stuff in your list could be related to dirty electrical connections. I'd disconnect the battery and then using the wiring diagram, I'd trace the items that are giving you problems and clean all the involved connectors. For example... I had troubles with my turn signals and traced the issue to one of the connectors by the passenger's left foot that made connection to the center console. The turn signal connections go into the center console because that's where the hazard switch is located. based on some staining in the area, it looked like my previous owner had a heater core leak sometime in the past and the liquid dripped down onto the wiring in that area and dirtied up some of the connections. Your issue might be different, but that's the kind of thing you're looking for. And about the brake warning lamp... I respectfully disagree with S30Driver above. The connection from the parking brake CLOSES to light the lamp, so if the wire is off, the bulb will stay out regardless of the handle position. It's a lot harder to get the light to stay ON due to a problem at the handle. For the brake light, first thing I would check is make sure you have the two wires that go to the underhood inspection lamp and the brake warning switch going to the right places. Those two items are up by your brake master cylinder and your windshield washer bottle. If you switch those two wires around, the wander lamp won't work and the brake warning light will be lit all the time. Not that I've ever done that or anything...... The wires are probably dirty and difficult to determine the colors, but if you can, the wire to the lamp should be blue/white and the wire to the brake warning switch should be green/yellow.

Haha! That's a great road trip when the "questionable" vehicle does better than the chase vehicle! Glad you made it OK and I hope you enjoy the new digs.

How were you measuring that 6V on the coil? Where were the meter leads and was the engine running at the time? But in the meantime... your issues could be either fuel or spark. If your plugs are black after ten minutes of running, I'd fix that first. There may not be anything wrong with your ignition.

Nom! Nom! Nom! Nom!

Well I'm registered. DId it over the phone with a credit card. So at least I get to stand in the SHORTER of the lines when I get there. Still a line, but usually better than the one for the people who register the day of the show. So hopefully all of us ClassicZ club members get a chance to meet up and chat. And the smiley face above? It comes from the fact that the forum software interprets a letter "B" followed by a close parenthesis ")" as the keyword for a smiley. I didn't intend to put a smiley there, the software did that for me. Kinda like when you try to do an ordered list: a) c) d)

" I am going out to get a voltmeter and delve into learning things electrical" Let me be the first to welcome you to the dark side. We have cookies.