Captain Obvious

I have verified that my solenoid valve pulls in when I apply power to it, but I'm not convinced that the valve makes a great seal. I can certainly tell a difference in BCDD operation between when the solenoid is pulled in or not, but I've got some internal leakage and I can't tell where it's coming from without taking the BCDD apart. Problem is that I sincerely doubt that I'll be able to split the BCDD parts apart without completely ruining the diaphragms. In other words, I'm not past the point of no return yet and I didn't want to pass that point until I had a "plan". Blue, this is your fault by the way... :laugh: It all started by looking into that goofy auxiliary throttle return spring that you pointed out to me and has spiraled out of control from there. I've been trying to figure out why that additional return spring was needed to get the throttle to return to idle and I've discovered a whole host of issues that are contributors. One of the fixes (so far) was to completely disassemble and clean the throttle body. With the exception of the BCDD or course.

Fastwoman, Where did you get the tube that connects the valve cover to the throttle body? Is that copper sweat tubing?

Be careful with the mounting bolts... It is not uncommon for them snap off leaving the threaded portion stuck in the aluminum. Turns a simple fifteen minute job into an all day swearing affair.

Haha! Yeah I saw that too, but... So? If they didn't want me to take it apart, they wouldn't have put screws on the bottom. Seriously though, I suspected as much. Most discussion I've seen on the BCDD is people talking about how they have disabled them, not repaired or replaced them. I just figured I would throw the question out there and see what stuck. Was thinking (hoping?) that maybe one of the aftermarket specialists might offer parts.

24 hrs and not a peep... So, I'm guessing that's a "no"?

Are the two diaphragms used inside the BCDD still available?

Put a filter on it and prime the oiling system before you try to start it. If it were me, I would also pull the valve cover back off while priming to verify proper oil flow to the cam lobes. Unfortunately the priming process requires you to pull the oil pump back off. I just went through this on my engine and here's my experiences: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?45440-Priming-New-Oil-Pump-How-to As for your leak at the pressure regulator plug... Yes, it should be as simple as changing a washer. However, when you take the plug out, look for scoring or deep scratches on the underside of the plug head and on the mating surface on the pump body. Just in case the problem isn't the washer at all.

Glad you got em replaced. Only thing worse than working on old rusty stuck in place suspension bits is working on old rusty stuck in place exhaust bits. :sick: Did you do anything to try to preserve the alignment to get it to the shop? I ask because I've seen tires ruined in just a few miles if the alignment is really off. Unless the shop is right down the block, you might want to stop a mile or so from the house and feel the tire treads for heat. If they're really hot on one edge or the other, than you might be at risk.

Heh. Sounds like I should take a look at ebay for a better scope. The hardest part about taking that pic was figuring out how to get the camera and the scope to play well together. It's a ten-fifteen year old analog scope while the camera is a two year old decent quality one. In other words, with a quick decent quality camera and a non-storage scope with very little natural persistence, the camera was too fast for the scope. All I would get was a single dot where the trace was at the instant the "shutter" opened. I had to get into the cameras settings and manually slow it down to a longer shutter opening to get a pic of the trace. I wish I had a digital storage scope...

The aftermarkets that are in there now are an off-white orangey pinkish kinda color. "Salmon" would be the best description. They aren't white. They aren't pink. And they aren't orange. But they have tints of each. The lead wires coming out of them are white if that helps at all. I looked them over (installed) and didn't see any markings. I'll have to take a better look once I get the car out into the daylight. Haha!! And Lenny, I couldn't have put it better. That's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't know just how power hungry the PO was, but it's clear that he was looking for something, and although most of his work has been satisfactory, I'm always a little suspect. I worry that he overcompensated for something that didn't need to be fixed in the first place. "Slightly" I've got a minor rich condition and I haven't spent a lot of time hunting it down yet, but figured I would gather information and study first just to make sure that I'm starting from the right place. I really don't want to pull the injectors and measure flow. I mean I could... I just don't want to.

The PO of my 77 replaced the fuel injectors with aftermarket while he owned the car. I assume that he picked an appropriate replacement, but he was into "more power" and I wouldn't be completely surprised if he substituted something different than original in an attempt to improve performance. Is there any way to check for sure? What do I look for on the aftermarkets? Any way to double check that I have the right injectors for my motor?

That waveform is pretty much a function only of the pickup and the reluctor wheel. As long as the pickup is working, I bet all of the stock distributors look the same. I guess you could get some timing jitter if the bearings are shot, and you might get some amplitude variation or asymmetry if there is some kind of problem with the pickup, but other than that, I don't know what could go wrong. Haha. Send it to me. I'd be happy to give it whirl (pun intended) and take some pics. Heck, I'll even include RPM and voltage measurements. I didn't bother to measure anything on mine. I was just looking at the pretty pictures.

Not just the bushings, but the rest of the ball and socket joints as well. Yeah, I hear ya about doing your own work. Alignments are one of the few things I pay others to do as well. I've toyed with the prospect of the do-it-yourself alignments, but so far, I've just paid. However, that said... The Z would be a very simple place to start as toe is the only adjustable parameter. Something I forgot to mention before... When you do replace that joint, here's an alternative to the "counting the turns" trick to getting your alignment close enough to drive to the shop. Note that I've not tried this on a Z so I don't know if there's enough room to get up in there, but it's worked on other cars. Pull the cotter pin, loosen the nut, and pop the tapered bolt out of the receiving part, but do not yet unscrew the end from the rod. Clean up the tapered bolt and the corresponding hole, and put it back together again without the nut. You can usually just squeeze the bolt into the hole with your hand and it will stay in place. Use the nut if it won't stay together without it. Then put the wheel back on and lower the car to the ground. With the tire on the ground nothing should move and you can preserve your alignment. So now undo the bolt again and this time unscrew it from the tie rod. Then when you screw the new tie rod into place, you can thread it on a little at a time and keep checking when the tapered bolt fits smoothly into the hole. When the it fits smoothly all the way home into the hole, you should be close to where you started from. Lock the end in place and tighten everything up. It probably won't be perfect, but you should be able to get to the alignment shop without ruining your tires. Does that make sense?

Haha! :laugh: I'm not sure which side of the line is the "fashionable" side. I'm not telling which are my three... The Z is clearly one of them, but mum's the word on the other two! :tapemouth

Yes, you should have a front end alignment done after replacement. With that in mind (since you're going to be paying for an alignment anyway) you should take a good look at the rest of the suspension components up front and take this opportunity to replace any others that look suspect. As others have mentioned, with the looks of that one joint, it wouldn't be surprising for others to be in similar shape.

I have owned three of the five. Can anybody do better? FYI, here's thier list: 1979-82 Fiat Spider 2000 1987-93 Ford Mustang 5.0 1975-78 Datsun 280Z 1988 Pontiac Fiero 1960-63 Ford Falcon sedan

Well to be completely truthful about the whole thing, I thought that you were kidding with your original question. Yes it looks bad!! That tie rod end is obviously in need of attention, and I actually thought you were being sarcastic with your question of "does this look bad". It doesn't look "wheel gonna fall off tomorrow" bad, but yes... it looks bad. So as soon as I realized that you were not kidding, and you were honestly asking that question, I jumped back in to clear things up. You never know the levels of experience of anyone unless it's been discussed, right? So, with all that hopefully behind us... I wouldn't try to salvage those joints at this point. I would either replace them now, or replace them later. I think that throwing any money at them (like new boots) would be like lipstick on a pig. ("Lipstick on a pig" - That means "wasting effort on something that is not truly important instead of focusing on the real root issue.") If they aren't all loose and floppy from wear or gritty and sticky from rust, I would run them until you had a convenient time to replace with new. I would not put new boots on those rusty joints. I think that's all water. Looks like he was driving on wet roads right before he pulled the wheel. If it's been like that for a while, I suspect water has worked it's way down inside the joint.

Sorry... I was joking. And poorly it seems. So, the serious answer? It looks to me like the dust boot on that joint has failed and fallen off. And based on the rusty looks of the pivot bolt sticking up out of the socket, it's been that way for a while. With that in mind, I bet water has gotten down inside the socket, and that joint isn't long for this world. If you don't choose to replace it now, I'd keep a close eye on it. So, back to the semi-comedic answer?? Yes, I'm sure. Torque it to 200-250 and you're problem will become obvious. The pivot bolt will surely snap off at that torque and you'll have to replace the joint. Problem solved. :laugh:

Thanks Chase. I've been told by my PO that he did the tank with POR-15. I'm hoping for the best. Makes sense to me.

Looks fine to me. Just tighten the nut up and make sure you use a new cotter pin. Don't cheap out and try to re-use the old one. Oh, and make sure you use a torque wrench. I'm thinking 200-250 ft-lbs will cinch things up and you'll be good to go.

Any ideas as to why that is? What is it that makes the Red-Kote so much less sensitive to prep details when compared to the POR-15?

Sorry I didn't get to you sooner. On the good side, if you do decide to replace them all with OEM, you can replace the clamps without taking the hoses off the nipples. If you are careful and are comfortable working with small easy to drop parts, you can take the screws completely out and spread the clamps enough to get them onto the hoses without taking the hoses off. I really don't like the water style (with the slots in them) for fuel line applications. The shots cut into the hoses...

Assuming the original Phillips screws aren't all smeared out, I recommend that you switch back to the original factory hose clamps. Why? Because OEM Nissan is stainless, while the aftermarkets are zinc plated steel. Take a magnet to the OEM's and then to your new ones. I bet the new ones are magnetic, while the originals are not. I've been known to grab a couple of the OEM Nissan clamps from the junkyard while I'm there. I use 'em all over the place. They're not just for Nissan anymore.

I was giving my distributor a once over while I had it out of the car for my oil pump replacement, and while it was laying on the bench, I figured I would hook it up to a scope while I give it a spin with a screwdriver bit in my drill. Just to see what would happen. No real conclusions, but thought someone might like to see the pics. This is a manual trans 77 USA market distributor, but I suspect the waveforms for the pickups would basically be the same for all of the non-points distributors starting in 74. Here's my fancy test set-up: And here is the corresponding waveform. Important to note that the steep falling edge of the waveform is where the point on the reluctor is passing the metal tab on the electronic pickup, and that's the point at which the ignition module would fire the plug:

That's what I'm going to have when I'm done except I'm going to reuse my original hatch lock at least for the time being. I suspect the reason the doors and ignition work more smoothly is because of the internal design. All the springs (in all of the locks) push the tumblers in the same direction, and this causes some issues. Seems the hatch lock doesn't seem to do as well of a job centering the key in the tumblers as the doors and ignition and because of this, it can be finicky. So if you don't mind me asking... What $$ did they get you for a NOS hatch lock? :bandit: Also, did you remember to get your glove compartment lock keyed to the rest of the car?