2ManyZs

Yes, it was the Fall 2001 issue. I'm not sure they will mail overseas though. I know they take subscriptions from the US and Canada but you might want to visit their site to see if you can get them sent to you.

Not sure about the second condensor, it is possible the previous owner put a distributor from an automatic in. If you are running dual points you will need the second one, if you are only running a single point set you should be able to do without it. It definately sounds like it is electrical, something you said about the car not re-starting until you turn off the key has me wondering if it might not be in the ignition switch or relay. I guess when you get back and put the parts in, if the problem persists we'll have to get some more people on this to get their input. Let us know what happens and we'll go from there.

Well, since you say the points are pitted the first thing I would suggest would be a complete ignition tune-up. Points, condensor, cap, rotor, plugs, ballast resistor, and possibly a set of wires. That should cover the obvious things that may be causing a problem. If after that it still does it I would say to go over the wiring to and from the coil, distributor, and ballast resistor to see if any are corroded or loose. If after all that you may want to try a different coil and perhaps even check your ignition switch. This should give you a pretty good start towards curing the problem. It could be something simple or it could be something that is hard to find and diagnose. The main thing I can say is start from what it most likely is and then work towards the less obvious. I have seen some cars have a problem that took a long time to fix because it was something you would never expect. You could also check the ground wires on the wiring harness, check your alternator output and battery condition, there are actually too many things that could affect your ignition to diagnose the problem with any certainty. Sorry, you'll have to pick a starting point and go from there, hopefully it will be taken care of when you do the tune-up. If not, let us know and we'll get some more opinions to help you out.

Yes, it may seem like a lot of work, but having the rust go on eating away at your car will cause even more work sooner or later. Much better to do a little work now than to do a lot of work later, or in the worst case, end up sending the car to a junkyard when it could have been prevented. I had a 72 not long ago that didn't look too bad on first look, but when I took off the fender and started poking around large pieces disappeared. When it was done all the inner fender under the battery tray was gone the width of the tray from the frame rail all the way up the under the tray, plus a piece was gone in the firewall. After one afternoon of poking around the car was beyond hope, and I ended up parting it out and sent the chassis to the crusher. The battery tray I believe is actually made of a slightly thicker gauge steel than the fender so it may not be past hope yet. You'll have to decide when you clean it up. BTW, you should check the frame rail area carefully above the t/c rod mount too. If acid has run down the inner fender it is possible it has run down into the frame rail as the weld seam is not sealed, and the frame rail is starting to rust out from the inside out. When you are finished with your repair I suggest using a seam sealer to seal the top weld flange on the frame rail all the way to the radiator support to prvent any more water etc. from getting down into the frame rail itself. Anywhere there are gaps in a seam is a point where water can get in and if the drain holes are plugged it will never come out, at least till it rusts out.

Alphadog, do you have the production date? This should tell you if you have a series 1 or 2. Also an easy way to tell is the hatch vents, on the hatch is a series 1, no vents on hatch but ones on the c-pillar is a series 2. There are many other little variations but that is the most noticeable. There is a thread here, I believe it is "what year do I have, and which emblems do I need" that list most if not all the differences. I believe it is under Help Me.

My suggestion would be to take the battery tray out. You can get a spot weld cutter from Eastwoods for a reasonable price or get one locally. Drill out the spot welds until the tray comes loose, some may be impossible to get to, these you may end up using using a regular drill to remove. When you are done you could re-weld or bolt the tray back in. This is the only way to get at the rust that you really need to get to. If you don't get it taken care of the next thing you know you will have a large hole there, and then it can be hard to replace. Clean out the rust any way you can, wire brush, sandblasting, putty knife, sandpaper etc. If it is bad under there when you get done you may find you do have a hole that needs a patch panel. This is in a important place so take your time and do the best you can, as it is a seam that attaches the inner fender to the firewall. When you are done I would say to use a self etching primer on the bare metal (Eastwoods has an aerosol) and use a good paint to finish. Or you could use Por-15 or the Corroless from Eastwoods if you prefer, they will seal the area to prevent any further rust. The main thing is get the tray out of the way and get it as clean as possible under there, any rust you leave will continue to eat away the metal, if you can't reach it, you can't take care of it. One idea I have is after painting the engine compartment in my car, I think I may get a aerosol or roll-on pickup bed liner material and cover the area under the battery tray down to the top of the frame rail. This way any future spills (if there are any) hopefully will not get to any metal. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but it can't hurt to try. Use a good battery tray or mat under the battery when you are finished to prevent any more small spills.

I don't have it any manuals and can't seem to find it anywhere else. I'm thinking I may have guessed a little high, it's probably closer to the 150 psi range. If you have more than 10 pounds variance between cylinders it's time to start taking it apart to find the cause. If there are all within 10 pounds you can safely say the rings are in pretty good shape. If you do a leak down test and prssurize the cylinders with 100-120 psi of air pressure and can hear air leaking out of the intake manifold or carbs the problem is most likely worn valves or seats. If you open the oil fill on the valve cover and hear air the problem is in the rings, or cylinder walls or both. No, like Royce said you still won't know how the main and rod bearings are but to be safe you should hook up a mechanical oil pressure gauge to the stock sending unit location and check the pressure, better to do it wiht a mechanicla gauge and get an accurate reading than to trust the electric stock gauge.If you are going to pull the pan to check the mains you are half way to a rebuild so it might pay to check the pressure correctly and get a good reading.

Teamsters don't have engineers, just hard working "normal" people, I USED to be one.

Save the whales. Collect the whole set A day without sunshine is like...night! On the other hand, you have different fingers. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. 42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot. 99% of all lawyers give the rest a bad name. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe. Honk if you love peace and quiet. Remember, half the people you know are below average. He who laughs last is the slowest. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. Support bacteria, they are the only culture some people have. Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your week. A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines. Always try to be modest, and be proud of it! If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments. How many believe in telekinesis?? Raise my hand. OK, so what is the speed of dark?? When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now! Why do psychics have to ask for your name?? I used to have an open mind, but my brains kept falling out. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder. Get a new car for your spouse. It will be a great trade!

Unless they have come out with something new these are probably the aluminum adjustable camber bushings. Notice I said aluminum, the ones I have in my 280 have no urethane or rubber, they are solid aluminum. Yes, they will work, and they should give you plenty of camber adjustment to compensate for a 1 inch drop, but they will wear out quite quickly, unless you want to keep pulling them out and lubing them. Maybe they have a different style out now that I'm not aware of. You might be better off to go ahead and drop your car, and then see what the camber change is. You might be able to get away with not having them depending on your tire and wheel combination, and of course every set of springs is not exactly equal either. So depending on the brand of spring you may only get 1 inch or you may end up with more. I don't know if any one still makes them but there used to be camber plates that went on the top of the strut in place of the stock insulator that required no cutting. But that was many years ago, a friend of mine has a set on his IT car, but he built that back in the early 80's.

I wouldn't attempt anything like that, about the only way possible way to use the stock springs and lower your ride height would be to lower the bottom spring seat on the strut. But you would lose a lot of your suspension travel (not good when using the stock springs). You would run into hood interference if you attempted to raise the strut tower height and if it weren't done correctly you would run the risk of a catastrophic failure. A better idea would be too use the progressive rate springs from Eibach, it would lower your ride height about an inch and still give you a decent highway ride. This would be your best alternative.

Ahh geez, now you went and done it, now I gotta have one too!

I believe by the pictures I have seen the urethane underskirts will come up as high as what you have. I don't know exactly how they attach but I would guess they stick on at the top edge with double sided tape. Kinda like most factory fender flares do on new vehicles. I think it would be possible to drill some drain holes in them from the bottom so they wouldn't be noticeable to let any water that does get under them to drain out. At least with an air space in under them it would be better than the aluminum ones that would trap it against the metal. Of course someone who has a set could tell you better, as I have not gotten a set yet.

If a picture is possible that would help greatly. In fact a picture here might find you a buyer since most everyone here is more interested in the 240 series. The pricing can be over a wide range depending on the condition of the car because so many early cars have been neglected. A few examples of this would be does the chassis have any rust? Does everything work? Has it been kept covered or out in a field? How long since it was last driven regularly? Is it in original condition? How is the interior? That's just a few of the questions and the answers will have a lot to do with just how much the car may be worth.

I agree, I guess I was kinda assuming someone was going to get serious about autocrossing. But we all know what the first word is in assume. Most people when they upgrade automatically go out and get the stiffest bars they can thinking it is going to be the best thing they can put on and it isn't always the case. In my case I learned by making that mistake.:mad:

I don't have the autocrossing experience John has nor do any of my cars look as good as his. But I would like to put a penny worth on the table. I would highly recommend spending a little extra money when it come to sway bars and get some decent adjustable bars, especially if you use a welded rear. The added flexibility of being able to adjust the bars according to the course you are running will pay off in the long run. I ran an ITS 280 with a welded rear and non-adjustable bars. It just had way to much oversteer with the bars I was running and even by swapping out for the stock bar I never could get the car to handle the way I liked, especially when I was racing in the rain. The more adjustability you build into the car the better of you will be when it comes time to run a different course, and that is primarily what autocrossing is, it's not like running around the same race track weekend after weekend. No two autocross courses are ever going to be exactly the same even if it is in the same parking lot.

Most people never think about what their parents sacrificed to bring them into this world and to raise them right. Zmefly, I guess your parents did a pretty darn good job. If I could I would gladly give up all my cars if it would bring my father back so I could just tell him things I now wished I had said to him before he passed away. I never realized until it was to late that spending time with my folks was more important than most anything I had going on in my life. Yes, you have lost a car, but I doubt you will be without one long. The next one will probably be even better than your last. And you'll have someone to share the fun you will have in it. JUST DON'T SCARE THE YOU YOU KNOW WHAT OUT OF THEM!!

If you can't get anywhere with Monza try Impact Parts. I bought some pieces for my Webers there, they might be able to help you find one. I think they still sell the Monza header. Not sure about their web address but their info number is 1-914-434-3338.

Hey, Daniel, you ever thought about doing a MOBILE gauge repair business?? We could help you get them out if we had to, but since you know how to do it and how to fix them when they are out........ Just kidding, thanks for the info, it will probably come in handy but hopefully not too soon.

Well Bill, as you can see we all have different opinions. Guess it will be up to you to decide which way you want to go. Royce is right, the load leveling attachment is a very handy item to have, it saves a lot of time, and holds the engine in any angle you wish, it also will save you from having any nicks and gouges in the paint if you have just detailed the engine compartment. One little trick I use when I'm installing the engine to help line up the tranny is to take a block of wood (2x4 or 4x4) and place it across the top of the tranny in the tunnel, place a floor jack under the tranny and jack it up so it will hold the trans still, then use a rope or chain around the bottom of the tranny up through the hood latch bracket and secure it. This makes it so the tranny isn't moving around while you are trying to line them up, a lot of times one person can do it by themselves. With the tranny moving around it almost takes 2 people to put them together, one on the trans and one to work the engine around.

I have never tried to pull both at once, since they are so long. You can do it but it isn't easy with the amount of room you have to work in, plus you would have to have the car off the ground quite a bit to be able to let the trans. swing down enough to get the front of the engine to clear the radiator support. I usually drop the trans. first with a floor jack, then pull the engine. Or tie the front of the trans. to the hood latch bracket and pull the engine by itself. You can do both but it will be a lot easier on the knuckles to do them one at a time. Not only that but you would have to lift the engine so high to get the trans. to clear it would have go above your head almost, unless you wanted to try to drop the engine and trans. out the bottom the way they do old Mopars, and lift the chassis over it, again not an easy task. Hope that helps...

byuniqe is right, $1300 is way out of line. I believe you could probably buy a completely rebuilt head and pay the core charge since yours may not be accepted and only pay in the neighborhood of $600. Take a look in the For Sale Forum and you should be able to pick up and an E-88 pretty cheap, then you could always use it as a core to turn in for a rebuilt head. I believe MSA has rebuilt heads fro around $450 plus a $150 core charge (old catalog price). You may be able to find them even cheaper. Another thought is to check with ATK engines, look in the links section for their web-site. I believe they sell rebuilt heads as well as rebuilt engines. I would be a little leary of junkyard heads as you never know if they are warped or if they are full of corrosion etc. but they would be a good alternative to use as a core when if you can find a place to buy a rebuilt one.

I don't know if this will help you at all but in looking at the service manual for my 75 the fuel pump is wired through a relay to the Air Regulator and is then fed off the number 34 pin on the ECU. The pins are numbered from 1 to 35 on the ECU. When mounted on the car the number one pin is bottom left, 18 being top left, 19 being bottom right and the 35 pin is top right. The relay is tied into the ignition switch as I though, but exactly which relay it is on the panel is a question I don't find an answer for.

Sorry that I can't help you much. Not only is this something I've never done before, I thought about it once and decided it was going to be a nightmare trying to get it right and being "electically challenged" doesn't help me much. I will say this though, I don't think the blue wire you refer to has anything to do with the fuel injectors or distributor. I believe the pump is wired to the ignition switch as it runs when the switch is on and runs constantly any time the switch is in the run position. Hope that may help some, of course not being able to see what you are doing, I can only guess at what or where you are referring to.

It sounds like you have a tedious job ahead of you. If the chassis is in good shape you have the basis for a good car. There will be a lot of work in finding all the little pieces that need to be replaced by the long term sitting in a field. To answer your question about the VIN number, the don't "decode" like a Chevy or Mopar would. The HLS30 is the model and series designation and the 95972 is the sequential build number. 7/72 is the build date and the GVWR is the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the car with passengers and anything else they might put in. The chassis weight is closer to 2300 plus or minus a bit. Vintage racing? Ouch, read that expensive as is most any other type of racing, except for autocrossing or Solo. Before you decide on that you might want to get the car back into road worthy condition and then decide on how deep you want to dig into your pockets, how deep you go will judge what kind of modifications (if any) you can do to do any kind of racing. I have raced in Improved Touring and yes it is a blast but it is a lot of work and it definately isn't cheap anymore.