FastWoman

Make certain your EFI is sending pulses to the injectors. Otherwise you might just be running off of the cold start valve, as Joe suggests. Find a spare Xmas light bulb (the miniature sort), and plug it into an injector connector. Then watch the bulb while you crank the engine. It should flash once per engine rotation. If it does, and if your injectors are flowing (which they probably are), then you should have fuel to run. While you're at it, do the same test with the coolant temp sensor unplugged. The light should flash much brighter. If it doesn't, then your coolant temp sensor (or its connection/connector) might be bad (not likely).

Don't feel too bad. I had a pretty, aluminum billet fuel filter pop apart in my pristine '66 mustang. It dribbled fuel over the engine, and it soon ignited -- INSIDE MY GARAGE! You realize a lot of things very quickly with a burning engine compartment inside your garage. Fortunately damage was very minimal. I bought the black dragon bellows for my Z. It's a good part.

Hey, I'm probably the biggest clean-air, fuel efficiency nut on this forum, my beloved Z notwithstanding. Even *I* am happy to see this subsidy go! There's NOTHING good about ethanol gas, considering that it takes about 2 gallons of real fuel to make a gallon of less energy-dense ethanol. This has been the biggest scam perpetrated on us for a long time. So this is very, very big news on many levels! Woohoo! Thanks for making my day, horseman! :-)

VERY NICE, Brian! Beautifully executed! Hey, FAIW, I bet you could run your cutaway engine much slower with a large flywheel, but otherwise as-configured. You could probably run it even slower with the large flywheel by using only a single cylinder. Maybe you could close down the SU butterfly completely, and drill a tiny hole in it to regulate more precisely at an extremely low idle. That said, yours is one of the few cutaway models I've seen that I can actually see the parts moving in less than a blur.

I agree with 5th about the vice grips and the jam nut technique, but heating the stud does work. The technique is to hit it very selectively with a torch, get it pretty toasty, but not glowing, let it cool slightly, and then spritz with penetrating oil as it cools. The heat causes the stud to squirm and stretch in the cooler aluminum thread, fracturing the corrosion, and the hot oil quickly gets sucked into all the little cracks. You should let the stud cool completely before trying to turn it. IMO you should never try to turn a stud in hot aluminum. The aluminum gets too soft. Just my opinion.

Even a tight system leaks down after a while. I have a fuel pressure gauge on my system and have observed that pressure will be held anywhere between a few hours and just about as long as I would care to wait (at least a week or two?), so there's some variability in how the parts seat. Some of your pressure loss might occur when fuel vaporization in the injectors and/or fuel rail causes pressure to rise (which you can observe after engine shut-down), forcing fuel through the FPR into the return line. Then when the injectors cool, the pressure drops markedly, possibly even pulling a vacuum that draws in new fuel through the check valve. This is of course heresy, because fuel under pressure "never" boils. However, in practice, I think it does, often because the formulation sold to you is wrong for the season or climate in which you're using it.

That's actually a coolant hose. It feeds a block that sits beneath (and heats) the air regulator. I don't know whether you can buy one pre-formed anymore, but you can bend a piece of copper tubing and slip it inside a piece of hose to keep the hose from kinking. That's how I did mine. It's worked well for over a year now.

True, but these engines only really stop in one of 3 positions, somewhere towards the start of a compression stroke. I don't know how that would correspond to valve overlap on other cylinders. All I'm saying is that the odds are very slanted towards the engine stopping at exactly the same sort of valve relationship every time (just with different cylinders). In the case of my own engine, it's without any valve overlapping.

ZSaint, in my experience, the valves rarely overlap, which would of course allow you to blow air directly from the intake to the exhaust. There will be one or two open cylinders in their intake strokes, but the corresponding exhaust valves will probably be closed. So part of what you're leak-testing is a couple of cylinders. That's OK. Just blow into the intake and you'll see. It should hold pressure, and it should feel just a bit like blowing up a balloon, except that it will be easy to blow at first and will get harder as pressure builds.

Zsaint, have you done everything in post 8?

Nice jigs! Horseman, I hope my studs don't back out! I actually talked this issue around a bit before using the antisieze on the studs. Opinions were mixed; however, my own take-away was that the steel/aluminum corrosion would hold the studs in place quite well, while the antisieze, applied sparingly, would keep the corrosion from developing to the extent that the stud couldn't be removed. Now, in your 350, you would have been using the antisieze for steel-to-steel, so you wouldn't have had the corrosion to cement your bolts into place. FAIW, I've used antisieze sparingly on my saltwater cooled 318 Marine inboard (manifolds, transmission, alternator, fresh water pump, etc., and I've not yet had a fastener back out. The antisieze seems to strike a nice balance between salt-induced corrosion and lubrication. I don't have a particularly long track record with antisieze on this engine, but so far, so good.

Thanks, Zedyone! I forgot to mention, get some nickel antisieze to apply to the threads of the new studs and bolts. IMO, this is a MUST when screwing any variety of steel into aluminum.

Well, true, but there's still no way I'd do it! I've really seen too many brain injury cases -- not specifically from that, of course. I don't think I'd use a screwdriver to listen to anything forward of the #2 cylinder. That's the bound of my comfort zone.

Ben, I have no way of telling you whether it's worth the trouble, as you'll be putting in another engine later. Getting the corroded studs out of the head can be a difficult undertaking. This may be obvious, but it's worth mentioning right here: Apply lots of penetrating oil to the studs now -- Kroil, PB Blaster, acetone/ATF mix, take your pick. Hit them again every now and then. Time and penetrating oil are your friends. Heat is another friend (see below). As far as I'm aware, there are three ways to remove the broken-off, forward-most stud: (1) Drill a small hole in the middle of the stud, and remove with a bolt extraction tool. That stud gets pretty corroded, so this approach probably wouldn't work. In any event, you've drilled out to the aluminum already, so it's a moot point. (2) Weld a bolt head onto the broken stud. A skilled welder extracted a 6mm bolt from my intake manifold that way. It was snapped off about 1/8" below the surface of the manifold. He built up the welded metal with weld ontop of weld, until he had a stalk that extended high enough to weld a nut to it. I was very impressed. (3) Drill it. You have to be VERY careful when doing this. You need enough working room to get your drill perfectly straight. You should use a punch to place a dimple perfectly in the center of the stud. Then the best way to center the hole is with pilot point drill bits. You select the size of bit that will cut out to just inside the inner diameter of the threads (not cutting any aluminum), and then you select the size of drillbit that is the same size as the pilot tip of the larger bit. Drill the smaller pilot hole into the stud as carefully as you can, and then chase it with the larger bit to remove the bulk of the material. Once that is done, drive an awl between the aluminum and steel (at the thinnest "wall" of the shell of the stud) to separate them, bending/folding the steel shell into the hole. Then work the steel out from the hole with needle-nose pliers. You'll finish by cleaning up the threads with a tap. If you're neat enough with your work, you won't need to helicoil. If not, drill larger, tap, and helicoil. As I recall, there is not enough room around that first stud unless you remove both the distributor and the thermostat housing (which can be difficult to remove, too). Remove some coolant first, obviously, and plug the #1 ports, so that you don't get coolant in the engine. Oh, and don't worry about the distributor alignment. Just mark its position, replace the same way, and you'll be close enough to have a running engine. If I were you, I'd replace all the studs. You can remove a "good" stud by jamming two nuts on it and using the nuts to turn the stud. If the studs are frozen in place, don't force them. Instead, apply heat with a propane torch, and hit them with a bit more penetrating oil as they're cooling. You can turn a chewed up stud with a SHARP (BRAND NEW!) pair of vice grips. Before you install new studs, clean out the threads with a tap. Be careful of that forward-most thermostat housing hole, as it opens into the timing chain tunnel right beneath the timing chain guide. You probably won't need to chase out those threads anyway, but if you do, you'll want to remove the valve cover and watch very carefully to be sure you don't bend the guide with the tip of the tap. Above all, take your time, and STOP whenever you get frustrated, tired, or impatient.

Ah, Blue, thanks! So people DO sometimes fill these things with oil! Dave, the zip tie is a great idea. I'll do that. Thanks, guys!

So the guy has cut his price to even lower 6-figures, but he's STILL unwilling to throw 3-figures to a decent photographer to show the car in the best possible light. Too, too funny! At least he's thrown out (almost all of) the pictures he took with his cell phone.

Well, '70's electronics do have "character," but so do carbs. I've never gotten along with carbs. They're magic, and apparently I don't use the right incantations with them. Zed, I had wondered about valve overlap, but I didn't have that issue when I performed the test. I suppose if a "massive" leak is felt, the engine could be turned a few degrees by hand to see whether the leak disappears.

Hmmmmmm.... Yes, good advice, but I don't know whether it's safe. Personally, I wouldn't put one end of a long screwdriver against a running alternator and the other end to my ear. Being a neuroscientist, I have visions of another Phineas Gage incident happening. Personally, I'd just stop the motor, loosen the belt, and wiggle around the various bearings by hand. You should feel roughness and play in the one that's complaining.

Well, so... not getting into any arguments here, I think I'm concluding that the transmission couldn't have been overfilled if it was level when the work was being done. The guy has a lift and used a breaker bar to free the plugs, so I'm guessing the fluid change was done level. I'm further guessing that there's some asymmetry in the oozing back and forth of oil. I'll look to see whether there are any vent issues. (Thanks, Beerman! ) Zed, I've never seen under the boot before, so I don't know the leakage rate. I assume it's slow, or at least that it has some sort of equilibrium, because I have no spots in the driveway. I could tell that some of the oil was old, because it was a bit black. I'll try drying out the area and looking for leaks while I shift. Maybe I'll find what's left of the prior nylon bushings. I presume after I pull out the oil that I should put a bit of grease on the moving parts? Steve, I've heard good things about the brass bushings, but the rattling issue makes sense. (I was wondering about that.) The problem with the nylon ones is that they don't last. Maybe I'll just change out the brass ones every several years when they start to rattle!

Yogurt cup test: Remove the air flow meter. Stuff a yogurt cup (Yotastic brand works -- or a similar similar object, such as a cup, glass, ball, etc.) into the rubber boot to the throttle body to seal off the air. Remove the brake booster hose from the intake manifold, and attach another clean hose that you don't mind putting your mouth on. Blow through the hose to "inflate" your intake system. You should feel plenty of back pressure, and the intake should hold most of the pressure for maybe 20 sec or so. Then introduce a small leak by pulling a small hose, e.g. the one that goes to your fuel pressure regulator or HVAC control. Repeat the test, and you should feel a BIG difference in leakage rate. If you don't, then you still have a considerable leak somewhere that you haven't accounted for. If you smoke, you might be able to find leaks by blowing cigarette smoke into the hose and seeing where it comes out. Or you might borrow a friend who smokes.

I think Zed was being diplomatic. I'd say simply, "GIGO" -- or "Garbage In, Garbage Out." Getting an engine to run well is a detailed process. Everything must be correct, particularly in an open-loop system such as these early L-Jetronics. As Zed said, your fuel pressure should be approx 36 psi (36.3, as I recall). You need to check the fuel pressure with the vacuum hose disconnected from the fuel pressure regulator. With the hose connected, the idling fuel pressure on a healthy engine should be slightly south of 29 psi, but if your engine is running that badly, it should probably be more like 32 or 33 psi. I would bet your lean-running issues aren't limited to inadequate fuel pressure. I suspect you have multiple vacuum leaks. You might even have a whopping intake leak from a split in the big rubber boot between the air flow meter and throttle body. You should also check your throttle position sensor to ensure that it's working properly. Otherwise you might not benefit from either idle enrichment or WOT enrichment. Finally, do a read on your plugs to make sure they all look the same. If they look dramatically different from each other, you may have additional issues, such as a shorted or open plug wire or a clogged/nonfunctional injector. There are very few engines that won't run like a sewing machine, so long as they have even reasonable compression and a properly functioning valve train.

What does the smoke smell like? No unusual odor = exhaust steam Sweet = coolant Somewhat like bacon = oil Pungent and black (makes your eyes burn) = excess fuel I agree with others. All plugs looking the same suggests something besides a blown/leaking head gasket. If the plugs are fouled with gasoline, it could be an EFI issue.

I'm going to have to study the anatomy of this thing. Do you know where the breather vent is? As for checking the oil level... Ooph! The reason I had the Z specialist change the oil was that I couldn't get either of the plugs loose in the first place! Maybe they're less welded into place now that he's broken them loose. Is it even possible to overfill the transmission? Don't you fill it to the brim at the level of the fill plug? I'm betting on the breather vent. I hadn't thought of that.

Personally I like the silver.

Well, that's sort of what I've been thinking. However, the shift linkage end of the transmission is elevated at the top of the transmission housing. Wouldn't the oil drain back the other way when the car sits? FAIW, I've not noticed any oil spots under the car, but the rear of the transmission is a bit oil soaked. I imagine I might drip a bit as I drive. The boot seems to retain the sloshing, but it's inevitable it will ooze between the housing and the boot (as it's done).