Captain Obvious

Seriously? He towed it from MO to NJ for you??? Wow! A laminated wiring diagram included with the car is never a good sign. And I like the multiple generations of cycles. Yours and the kids? You two ride together? Good luck with the project. Looks like a great starting point.

2050-Z, Everything sounds like it is working exactly as intended except for the click and then completely dead. And as Zed Head suggested above, that is probably as simple as bad battery cable connections. The charge light is supposed to light up if the key is on and the engine is not running. The beeper is supposed to beep six times or so before stopping. Clean your battery terminals and cables and the "click-dead" thing should go away. As for the two small wires hanging down below the steering column, I believe those two used to connect to your ignition lock. They are used to beep the beeper when the key is in the ignition and the door is opened. A reminder that you have left the key in the ignition. If you removed the ignition lock portion, you had to disconnect those two wires to get the lock out of the car.

So I think I have the green light for ZCON 2015 although I'll probably fly in instead of drive. I'd love to have my car there, but I just don't think I'll be able to swing that. So without entering a car... Do I need to officially register? About the only thing that sounds like it might be a problem is that I'd really like to go to the awards presentation at the end. I don't need food or drink... I just want to sit with some friends whom I've never met and have some good conversation. Patcon and siteunseen, you guys are going without cars and without registering? You guys got a plan for the end presentation?

Oh, and something I forgot to ask about... You mentioned above that you had not noticed any ears on the tail lamp connectors, but what's confusing to me is that the photo you posted HAS the mounting ears. Did you take that pic or just nab something similar (but not quite identical) from off the web?

Cool Got any pics of what you nabbed at the yard? Your intention is to swap them out for the original roundish headlight connectors? I toyed with the idea of getting rid of those roundish connectors completely and hardwiring the headlight connector pigtails right to the main harness. I was trying to minimize voltage drop and power losses in my headlight circuit and any connector is a source of some drop. The fewer connectors the better. In the end I kept them, but can get rid of them in the future if I change my mind.

Congrats! And those numbers look fantastic! I saw your other thread where you throttle position switch was out of adjustment. Glad that was the only serious issue. That was an easy one! So now that you got the WOT switch working properly, can your nose tell a difference? Is it less stinky?

No they don't. The later roundish style headlight connectors are actually FOUR cavity connector shells which only have three positions populated. And to make matters worse, two of the cavities accept a smaller crimp on contact, while the other two accept a larger contact. Cycle terminal does not offer that style, and I've not found it anywhere. The only thing I HAVE found (new) for sale is the smaller of the two crimp contacts. I got a couple spares of each (male and female) from Cycle Terminal a little while ago, but I've not turned up a source for the larger contact. I did buy some easily available larger contacts from Digi-key and while they might work in a pinch, they're not quite right. I can get them to click in and hold into the old contact shells, but they're not as good a fit as the original Yazaki contacts. Anyway, get the info out of me now because I just did a whole headlight relay and harness upgrade, so before I forget the details! When I get some time to breathe, I'll make up a thread about it, but I can't do that right now.

Are the two mounting ears necessary? I (thankfully?) have never yet had to mess with the the tail lamps. Anyway, if the two mounting ears aren't important, it looks like Cycle Terminal has something close. http://www.cycleterminal.com/250-connectors.html

Well, here's some carb trivia that I just learned... They changed those clips somewhere along the way. Earlier round tops used a different clamping scheme. Here's what the older version looks like. This is what I was thinking of when you said you needed a clip: However, your carbs don't use that scheme. But here's the thing... I knew I had seen cable clamps like the one you need, and then it struck me... Flat tops! Here's a cable clamp from a 74 flat top that looks like it would work perfect and it's yours if you would like: Assuming the size is about the same, the only significant difference is that the later versions are slotted where the screw mounts. This allows for more adjustability for variations in cable sheath thickness. I can send two of the slotted versions if you want both sides to match. Send me PM for shipping details?

Have you got a pic of what it looks like? I'm sure I could find a pic with some searching, but you're the one looking, so you get the honors.

I got one. You just need the question mark part, right? You have the plate it screws to, right? Post a pic of exactly which part it is that you need and I'll get it to you.

I think someone had been mixing parts before you got the carbs/intake combo. The carbs are definitely 72. I can tell because of the water passageways at the bottom of the face that mates with the intake manifolds. Only round top year they did that. And the N33 manifolds are from 73 which originally had flat top carbs on it. 74 used N36 intake manifolds. So I'm guessing that someone had a 73 car with flat top on it and they pulled them off to install some 72 round top carbs instead. Then at some later date, the whole intake tract got pulled off and sold.

Yeah, I don't know what made them draw the relay the way they did, but they certainly could have done a better job with that part. Like the fusible links... They spent a lot of effort trying to make the components on the wiring diagram somewhat match the physical location of the devices on the car. And then they screwed up the fusible links when it would have been easy to draw them "right". Unfortunately, they're NOT drawn where they actually appear on the car. Haha. Maybe you're right. "It's too complicated for you... You shouldn't work on it yourself. Take it to the dealer."

Those intake manifolds are from something that used to run flat top carbs. Either 73 or 74. Don't remember the numbers... Four of the holes (two on each manifold) are blind and were used to mount the idle mixture tube. The two nipples (on the front manifold) were used for some of the extra vacuum plumbing that went with the flat top system.

Tamo, Your schematic for the ignition relay looks correct to me. By the way... Every time I look at the ignition relay on the factory wiring diagrams I ask myself "Could they possibly have drawn that thing in a more convoluted way?" It's like they TRIED to make if confusing!

Yup. Hope it works! I don't remember the comparison between the SM's and the stock needles, but I do believe the SM's are richer across the board. Even if you would be running a little lean with the stock needles, the SM's wouldn't be as much of an issue. And again, the farther you are from idle, the less of a contribution those fillets would add.

Oh, and I forgot about the water hardening series as well. Here's a page from McMaster with a little info on some of the more common grades of tool steel: http://www.mcmaster.com/#tool-steel/=x8iikp And I still have no idea if any of those grades are commonly used for spring applications. I don't do much of that and what I do-do (doodoo?) usually starts with an existing spring with modifications to something that already exists. And one more thing... I purchased some anti-scale coating compound after the last time I did some home hardening. I haven't use it yet as the need hasn't come up, but the next time I'm going to give it a shot. I have a jar of this stuff sitting on the shelf: http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/heat-treating-accessories/non-scaling-compound-prod1122.aspx

Drill bits produce a hole larger in diameter than the bit itself. And the worse the drill is produced, the more poorly the two cutting lips mismatch, the larger the hole (within limits) it produces. Those drills that measured undersize when static may actually produce the advertised correct size hole! Only real way to know for sure is to use the bit to drill a hole and then use pin gauges to check the hole size.

There are quite a few different compositions of tool steel designed to be hardenable. Some are designed for an oil quench and some are designed for an air quench. Steel hardening is a complex science. Not easily done right in the home shop. I've done some and have had "reasonable" results. The most difficult hurdle I've had is oxidation while hot. Unless you're using an inert atmosphere or coating the parts with a compound designed for heat treat, the parts get an oxidized scale of material on the outside. If the part is very thin (like a small spring), by the time you oxidize that outer portion, there isn't much left. Most of what I've done has been using O-1 (oil quench 1), but next time the need arises, I'm going to try A-2 (air quench 2) because I believe it machines easier. I'm not sure if either of those grades are suitable for spring making.

Nice polish job! I have a concern on the suction pistons though... On the pistons, you removed material around the entire bottom corner of the piston and I'm worried that you have created two small pathways for air to go around the venturi instead of over it. The original sharp corners around the sides of the pistons provide somewhat of a seal to encourage air to flow through the center (recessed) area of the piston where the nozzle is. When you rounded that corner all the way around, you provided two additional parallel paths for air to flow past the piston without passing over the nozzle venturl. I'm no expert, but I'm concerned that you might run lean at low throttle positions because the airspeed at the nozzle will be reduced. At higher flow rates when the piston is pulled higher it will be less of a contribution, but at very low flow rates you might see an effect. Let's hope I'm just a worry wart.

Tamo, The 77 diagram looks good.

Oh yeah... I don't do bodywork. You're on your own with that!

I'm about an hour south of you. Maybe a little more? I'm no expert, but I know some stuff. If you get stuck, let me know.

Woof. 0 for 2. Sucks. So how bad was the first head? You sure it can't be cut to take care of the warping?

You should be able to tell if it's internally regulated or not by measuring Ohms from the two small "T" connections to the case (ground) of the alternator body. If it's externally regulated, one of those two connections should read a low resistance to the body. About 5 Ohms. (Page EE-14 of the 77 manual). But if it's internally regulated, neither of those connections will have a low resistance to the body. In other words, if it's externally regulated, you should find that one of the small connections has a low resistance to ground, but if it's internally regulated, you won't. Note that I haven't actually tried this, but looking at the schematics of the alternators it should be an easy way to tell.