Captain Obvious

Looks great so far. I'm assuming the stitch design will make more sense to me when it's done.

I'm so there!! I'm getting to Austin on Wednesday mid-day or so. Hoping to grab the rental car and head straight to the Oasis from the airport. I've got a local place to stay, so I won't have a room at the host hotel, but I'll be there for the CZCC meetings.

He turned me into a newt.

RIP Greg and Chris. I was out at a bar last night and the entire time they were playing Chris Cornell in all different configurations. I was very pleased with the music choice.

I agree completely. I'm positive he weighs the same as a duck.

"Or I could buy a stitching awl and do it all by hand." I unfortunately believe this would yield the best results.

Arrrrrgggh!!!

I would use a cheap generic relay with maybe a 20A rating, and put it in an accessible spot so that when the contacts burn up, you can just pull it out and replace it with a new one. I don't think I would go as far as to use a 40A continuous rated relay.

That's exactly what I answered. 30-40A for an instant, and then about 8A continuous after that until you release the key.

I have. First, let me point out that the starter solenoid actually has two coils inside it, which are wired in parallel (a "pull-in" and a "hold" coil). When you first apply power to the solenoid, both coils are activated and are used to PULL-IN the solenoid. Once the solenoid has pulled in, one of the coils is disabled and just the second coil alone is used to HOLD the solenoid in place. So the answer to your question, based on my measurements is... When you first apply power to the solenoid, the solenoid current will very quickly ramp up to between 30 and 40A for a short period of time until the solenoid has pulled in. Then once the solenoid has pulled in and disabled one of the internal coils, the current will drop to about 8A when just the "hold" coil is energized. And by the way... It's those high currents involved that eats ignition switches for lunch. Here's a guy who took apart a Bosch starter solenoid and talks about the two different coils: http://www.ifitjams.com/solenoid.htm

Haha!! I wouldn't eat those...

And if you get stuck, send me a PM and I might be able to swing by to lend a hand.

Haha! That's exactly how most of my projects go: "And then a completely unprofitable huge amount of time later, I have this...."

What's your skill level? Are you comfortable pulling the valve cover off yourself? And I'm not too far from you. Maybe half hour. Welcome aboard neighbor!

Incredible. You are working on the wrong kind of car. I know this isn't the "day job", but you should consider changing focus to doing metal restoration work on Ferraris or Maseratis. Something with a higher price tag than old Datsuns. There are people out there willing to pay for that level of work.

That's probably the case. I modified a couple different rear view mirrors from other cars to fit my Z, and it takes a bit to get used to it. I wish they were all closer to the roof.

Thanks for the tips on the Loctite. I'll keep that stuff in mind next time this job comes up. I was installing bearing races onto antique motorcycle magnetos and that sort of work doesn't come along every day! Keep up the good work!

"They seem wider at the top too which is like the one in the first post." It's a spherical mount. Turn it 180 degrees and it'll be wider at the bottom?

Howdy Cousin!! Year or three ago I was at a beer festival and they were raffling off some prizes. You filled out the form and put it in the box and they pulled names out later in the evening and announced the winners. I filled out my form as Haywood Jablowme. They called the winners up on stage. I won a shirt. It was epic. All my friends and all the eighth graders in my area still talk about it. It's my second favorite shirt behind the one from Back Forty.

Well, there's no reason to feel bad. Mine's a half finished yet to be tested project that hasn't yet seen the road. Still plenty of time for the whole thing to go horribly wrong!

Haha! "insulted connectors". Spell check to the rescue!

Yup. You got it. Here's a pic of the original combo. The timer box is the white plastic covered cube in the center, while the part that actually makes the noise is the smaller nodule on the right with the red and yellow wires terminating in insulted crimp on connectors: And here's a pic of the original combo again, with the Acura ding-dong in the center of the pic (the two wire device with the orange and black wires): Just connect up the orange and black of the Acura ding-dong to the Y and R coming out of the timer module, and you're good to go. Only other thing to remember is that since the Acura DD is an electro-mechanical device, the mounting position may be important. I found that if it wasn't level, it would "ding" - "clink" because one of the internal bell chime bars wasn't sitting on it's mount properly. I suspect they're like little xylophone bars inside and if they get cokked to the side, it won't ring properly. I drilled a new small hole and mounted mine like this (it's upside down). You can see that the original buzzer cube is still there, but is no longer connected: But none of this is about the HVAC servos that the thread was started for.

Haha!! That's my "screen name" from back when I was working that video store job we talked about earlier!

Sorry for the lack of correspondence. I've been off-line for a couple days. Mostly working on my kids car. So that ding-dong is a two wire device. It "Dings" when you apply power to it, and it "Dongs" when you release the power. There's a little spring loaded clapper in there pulled to one side by an electromagnet, and pulled back the other way with a spring. Power on - Ding Power off - Dong The trick is... The original buzzer device is actually in two parts. Second part is a buzzer. All it does is buzz anytime it is powered. First part before the buzzer is a little timer module that intermittently applies power to the buzzer. The timer module creates a square wave output that makes the buzzer alternate ON and OFF. You leave the timer module in place and just run the output of that timer to the ding-dong and that way the square wave gets you both the ding and the dong. If you just put power on it and leave it on, you get one Ding and no Dong. And a Ding without a Ding is never a good thing. I've got pics and I promise to get them uploaded as soon as I get a chance!!

Nice work on the inserts. What are you planning to use to lock the inserts in place? I'm no expert in the field, but I've had (mostly) good luck with the Loctite Bearing and Sleeve (which is green). You mentioned Loctite green earlier. Is that the stuff you were referring to? I also don't know how large of a gap it will deal with, but I have had situations where it cured on me with a half installed bearing race. I was using it as belt and suspenders on a reasonably well fitting bearing and I got it half pressed on and it flash cured and wouldn't go no more. Happened to me twice with the same pair of parts. I found the solution was to make the fit sloppier. I bet if I would RTFM, I would figure out what I was doing was a problem. Point is... It would really suck for that to happen to you with a half-inserted spacer. Took me heat to get things apart again. Look into it maybe before you go for it? I don't think the bearing and sleeve retainer is intended to be wicking after assy. The green thread lock is, though. Also... WD-40 - Worlds best cutting fluid for aluminum! Sorry, I'm rambling.