Zed Head

You didn't mention the most important component, the coolant temperature sensor. And 32 psi is kind of high at idle, have you checked the FPR for leakage? See if there's fuel in the vacuum hose. With that gas mileage, the first tow things I would check are the coolant temp. sensor and the FPR. I had a similar problem, it was a bad FPR. And check your coolant sensor readings at the ECU connection. Then you'll see what the ECU sees. Get real resistance values and know what temperature the sensor is at. Also, vacuum advance helps gas mileage. Disconnecting it is a mistake.

It's been mentioned before, by guys with lots of experience, that the tires have a big affect on ride. If you're using low profile tires you're more likely to get a harsh ride with polyurethane bushings. Actually with any bushing. I have polyurethane everywhere but the small bushings at the ends of the control arms (aka transverse links), with KYB shocks (shocks are also a big factor since they are what actually damp the bump energy, not the springs) and Tokico springs in the back with cut stock springs up front. But I have almost stock-size 205-70-14 tires. I like the ride and don't really feel any signs of harshness. I've seen comments about Tokico shocks alone being harsh also, and people going back to KYB. It's the combination of parts that matter, as jfa's post implies, and one bad one can probably overpower the others. And, besides ride harshness, polyurethane diff mount bushings apparently can transmit diff noise in to the cabin. Not a harshness issue, but worth considering. Plus, one's person's harshness is another person's road noise. Bump size matters. It can get complicated. Besides... Therefore... With that being said...

Interesting topic. It begs the question (I've always wanted to say that), should all rebuilt engines be rebalanced, if they use new pistons, or rods?

What are these places? It seems sensible, since putting things back the way they came apart is generally a good idea. But you could also rationalize that moving them to other bores, as long as the piston specs. match the bore specs., is a good idea. The wear spots would probably be slightly different, extending the life of the engine. Just saying, if you were starting from scratch with used pistons, you'd take the measurements, including weight if that's spec.'ed, and fit the pistons to the bore they match best. If you're rebuilding, then all of the pistons are probably out of spec. after honing anyway. Whatever you do, you still have to take the measurements and hit the specs.

Hairs are splittin' here. He said the motor was locked up initally, He took it all the way apart because he was looking for internal damage. He didn't find any. So the remaining question is - what, exactly, stopped the engine from turning, and, my point, is there more damage to be found? A starter can pump out a lot of torque (I moved my car up a driveway incline that was too steep for me to push it, using the starter in first gear), and it has a lot of leverage on something with the radius of the throwout collar. That's all I'm saying - if it's not the engine internals that caused the lockup, what did? Is there something being overlooked, that still needs fixing?

You're right I was trying to reason out why Diseazd thought the throwout bearing was locking the engine. Still doesn't add up. He says everything is fine. Now if the throwout bearing was jammed or cocked on to the nose of the transmission,and "welded" to the pressure plate fingers, that would lock the engine. That's downstream though... Yours works too, if the "ears" jam on the clutch fork. It all sounds scary though. Better check the transmission case around the fork and the nose that the collar rides on. The noses have been known to break, especially the aluminum ones.

They never got back to me.

If it was just a clutch welded to the transmission it should still turn when the trans is in neutral. The facts aren't adding up. Just sayin'. On oil pressure, you might consider pushing some oil through the passages with the pan off to see how much flow you get. Pressure is a secondary number. The pressure relief springs are described in both books, Rebuild and Modify. The spring(s) and valve can be removed with the pump on the engine. The Modify book covers it in great detail on page 96. Says 70 - 100 psi is desirable for performance engines.

You can move the left and right sides independently as long as they both move the same amount when you're done. In other words, if one wheel gets ahead of another, you can turn them independently until they match up again. Because it's all gears and rotating stuff. I put marks on all three parts and just move the two and watch the center one. And, because it's all gears and stuff, the propeller shaft moves 1/2 as far when you lock one wheel. 3.36 becomes 1.68, etc. Just like when driving, and the outside wheel moves twice as far as the inner for the same number of propeller shaft revolutions. And I did confirm this on one of my garage diffs just because the whole spider gear rotating carrier thing is hard to visualize.

So, throttles mostly open, engine working hard to push the car. Did it miss at or stutter at all while at speed? Does the engine use any oil? Could just be an occasional oil ring letting some oil slip by. Or worn valve seals, same thing. Or a leak on to a hot manifold, vaporizing. Do you ever smell burning oil? It has a distinctive odor. It's an interesting puzzle, but if everything else is perfect are you going to tear the engine down to fix it? Might be one of those things you live with when you have an old engine.

Could really use a lot more detail. Where was your buddy? In the car or behind you? Where were the puffs? In the car or behind you? How much time did you spend between 90 and 100 mph? Seconds or minutes? What was going on with the engine, were you goosing the throttle or just cruising along at 95 mph? Literally, it's not even clear that it was your car that was puffing smoke. Maybe someone had a camp fire going and your buddy was looking out the window - "Hey look, I see some puffs of smoke". Kind of kidding, but seriously, there aren't many clues here.

I had a 1978 B210 coupe with 5 speed. Carbureted 4 cylinder. Awesome little car, 38 mpg at a 70 mph, plenty of power, no problems at all over the 4 years I owned it. Sold it to move cross-country, but should have drove it there and kept it instead.

Sorry, odds are you guys are right. I'm certain it was tiny though. I have one of those little jeweler's screwdriver sets, Phillips and slot, and it was one of those small drivers for sure.

I think that the aluminum fuel rail is the key. Lots of fuel volume to boil and condense, to bring the heat up to the rail to be dispersed. I'd been thinking about posting in my other thread recently. I got a tank of gas a little while ago that caused bad heat soak. Ran through it and refilled, and it diminished, now it's almost gone. The winter fuel has to be a big factor.

Forgot to say, I think that I used a small mirror to get a look at the orientation of the slot so I'd have a head start once I stuck my hand in there.

Almost positive it's a tiny slotted head screw. Jeweler's screwdriver size. Slotted heads are the hardest to find, blind, Don't take it all the way out, just loosen it and turn it out enough to release the cable, plus a little more so you can get it back in. There's a tiny hole for the tiny end of the screw to sit in. You'll know you got it it in if you turn the screw in finger-tight and it locks the cable end in. Then tighten the screw down. I dinked around with that several times because I never got the screw tip in the hole before I tightened it down.

If the gear in the transmission had a problem, then it seems like it should have been the same problem after changing the cable. Can you be more clear on what's happening? Is the needle indicating 0, then 40 mph? Or is it bouncing a little bit as you accelerate from 0 to 40 mph? And before, was everything fine until you reached 60 mph, then it started bouncing? Or was it bouncing on the way up to an actual speed of 60 mph, then it stops bouncing? Did you replace the compete cable or just the inside portion? And does the sheath, or housing, for the cable have a kink in it? Not real clear what exactly is going on.

If they do a load test,which I think they do in CA, you'll end up screwed up. The system is designed so that idle fuel is a whole separate function from driving (loaded) fuel. That's why there's an idle switch in the TPS and an idle air bypass screw on the AFM. You'll probably pass idle, but fail 2500 RPM.

Could be that one of the ends is not seated correctly, probably the transmission end. I've found that there's enough play in the sheath to get the fitting partially tightened and have that happen. Take the transmission fitting off, pull the cable out partway, and insert it into the transmission. Then slowly tighten the fitting while rotating the propeller shaft. That way you'll know the trans. end is in, and the odds are good that the speedo end will slip in like it should.

One easy small step up in usable power is the exhaust system, apparently. Shouldn't affect emissions negatively. If you have a catalytic converter, there might be better flowing newer options out there than the stock unit. Slightly bigger pipes, new cat, better muffler.

This isn't about ignition switches or anything causing bodily harm, just a view on how business people think. I had to read it twice to be sure I understood. The words, not the logic. This product's value is not drawing the consumer in. We need to make it worse. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-cut-chevy-gmc-powertrain-warranty-60-000-143947688--finance.html

Did you hear about the constipated mathematician? He had to work it out with a pencil. Har har, a joke from before calculators. You probably could have worked that pencil out with some math though...

Looks great! So, of course, it's time to change things for more power! Seriously, it all looks good to me.

I didn't actually see anything on my AFM contacts and it was a new one from MSA also. Out of nowhere it just quit. I got home, took the AFM out, checked the pins for continuity (none), took off the side cover and fiddled around with the contact surfaces, and it started working. I figured that a hair or something small and hard to see got stuck between the contact surfaces. But I didn't have all of the issues you had before I got the "ten seconds of running after Start", so I went directly to looking at the AFM contact switch. Good luck. The worry will fade away eventually. With these cars there's always something else anyway. I have my favorite tow shop's number in my cellphone.

There's a good picture of the fuel pump switch here - http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/afm/index.html I wouldn't do any adjusting though.