Captain Obvious

Hmmm... So on my and BoldUlysses distributors, the electrical connection to the coil sticks out sideways instead of upwards towards the cap. I had tried before to swing the condenser connection to the side (instead of from the bottom), but I changed my mind because of the poor fitment. It got in the way of the other spade to the coil. So the spade to the coil should point upwards instead of sideways? As shown on the euro distributor you linked to:

i kinda like the way your ground wire runs to the other side of the points. I wasn't completely comfortable with the way they were sharing a slotted hole on the points with the big washer AND the electrical connection. After seeing your pics, I'm thinking that wire should go to the other points screw like you have yours.

Glad to help. So comparing your pic to what I have here, there are some other differences. I'm not sure which is correct, but the wiring inside my distributor is a little different than yours. On the inside of mine, the ground wire went to the other side of the points than yours, and I've got this yellow wire on the high side of the points. Functionally it doesn't matter where the ground wire goes, and I'm guessing that my yellow wire was put in by a previous owner. Here's what I got. Input on originality appreciated:

I think I like the five lug options better. I'm just messing around with proof of concept at this point.

Like this?

Hahaha!!! That's how I usually roll. Lurk in the shadows with this kind of stuff, but I'm getting pulled out into the daylight. Aaaaaa!! It burns!

Yes, I know about on-car rotor turning. But won't quite work for everything I need here. Haha! And I'm sure you could guess that things aren't totally obvious on my end. I'm clearly jumping the gun a little, but here's a little of what's going on here.

Thanks much! Scan isn't necessary, but your damaged passenger front sounds perfect. What are the chances that you're not too far from Philadelphia?

LOL! Thanks guys. It's a double secret project that I'm working on. But seriously, the short story is... I bought a cheap rotor off rock-auto. China's finest. And right out of the box, it's got over .010 runout. I was thinking that if I could figure out a way to fixture it ON a spindle and run it on wheel bearings, I could take a clean-up cut on it and bring it back to running true.

I have one available, but I'm in PA. Send me a private message if you're interested. Does it matter what year? I don't remember the year of what I have here.

Well having not messed in depth with the electronics inside the tach, I could be easily convinced that the wave SHAPE and DURATION are also important, not just the peak current. Point is... I can provide no assurance that the stock tach will be compatible with anything other than points.

I have performed this procedure on a few carbs, but I think only one set has seen the road. Reports are that set worked well. So I made a custom threaded piece of brass. Maybe you could find something generic instead of making something special. I put it in a position where it did not interfere with the hinge molded into the float, and I did not want to put it upwards into the bottom of the float because of gravity. Beyond that, I tried to put it into a "fail-safe" position on the float such that if it starts to work itself out of the float, it would hold the float closed instead of holding it open. Figuring that a float level too low would cause the engine to not run, while a float level stuck open could cause a fuel spill.

Anybody have a front spindle laying around they don't need? I only need one side, and it doesn't matter which side or which year. I just need the part where the hub mounts. I'm thinking if someone was working on coil-overs and accidentally cut off the tube too short or something? Or if there was a car that was in an accident and the tube is bent? Or someone who couldn't get the gland nut off and the threads are totally ruined?

Sounds good so far. As for the runout on the gear, the first thing I would do is look everything over under magnification and look for burrs / kicked up material (or anything else) that is interfering with the positioning. Maybe you'll get lucky and find something that can be easily dressed off or cleaned up to make things better.

I've heard people say that about you. Oh wait... That's not true at all.

Wait.... If this pic was taken before the crank was rotated to TDC, then there is nothing to be gleaned from it with regard to valve timing. Who cares where the cam timing marks are if the engine isn't at TDC?

Some questions... At the end of your previous thread, you verified the float bowl levesls with the clear tube wet-set method. 21 and 19mm, right? If so, that should be fine. Was there fuel in the return line back to the red jug? If so, then the pump is providing more than the carbs will take (at idle at least). But here's the rub... These engines really don't need a lot of fuel to idle. In fact, if you fill your bowl up to spec level and start the car with the fuel line completely disconnected, your car should idle for over 30 seconds before you suck the bowls dry. I'm thinking that you have enough fuel to the carbs at idle, but maybe not while driving. So... Couple things to look at. First, take it out for a drive and get it to die. When it dies, turn off the key and go out to the engine and pull the tube off the bottom of your float bowl. See how much fuel comes out. If you sucked the bowl down, you won't get much out. If you DID suck the bowl down, then it's a fuel delivery issue. Have you checked the little screen filters inside the banjo bolts at the carbs? If they're clogged, the return line back to the jug will look full, but the carbs won't be getting fuel.

And if that doesn't work, you might be able to get the piece out with a drill like this:

Kats, Here's some pics showing what I would try: You're starting with something like this. This is a different carb, but the situation is the same: Tap some threads inside the hole. You may have to drill it a little first to the appropriate pilot hole for the tap. This is an English 4-40 tap, which is close in size to M3 x 0.6: Then I made a little puller adapter to concentrate the force in the perpendicular direction to pull the brass slug out of the carb body: Put it over the brass slug and carefully run the screw in: If everything goes according to plan, it should jack the brass remnant out like this: If it doesn't come out easily, maybe try a little heat from a small torch:

Gotcha. Yup, the original seals probably came with the metal retainer ring already installed, and for that reason, they didn't call them out on the diagram. They were considered part of the seal.

Next time it dies, you could just pull the coil wire out of the distributor cap and lay it close to one of the nuts on the strut tower. Crank the motor and see if you have healthy looking spark.

Well the potential pinging concern due to the chamber design is a second order concept beyond my pay grade. I can't add anything credible to that. But yeah, there are all kinds of numbers on the internets for the compression ratio and chamber volumes, etc. The number I'm using for E88b (late) is 47.8cc. And that came from the internets somewhere as I did not measure that myself. But... it does result in a CR close to what is listed in the 1974 FSM. The FSM says 8.8:1 and when I run the numbers, I get 8.86 (with flat top pistons that do NOT crest above the deck). If I crest the pistons .020 above deck, I get a CR of 9.3:1. Point is... I'm skeptical about the L26 pistons cresting above the deck.

I believe your assessment is correct. You should have power to that "S" terminal in the START position. Have you tried wiggling the key around while you have the meter on that terminal? I mean, even if it's just intermittent, it needs to be replaced, but maybe you could confirm that there is connection there sometimes.

If Part No.4 is a metal ring (no rubber) that retains Part No.5 (dust seal), then where / what is the hydraulic seal that holds the brake fluid in? I've never messed with that caliper, but looking at the drawing it looks to me like the hydraulic seal is Part No.4. Which would then beg the question... What would hold ithe dust seal on?

Well the carb work sounds like it turned out well. But the dying thing is certainly a pain. So what kind of ignition system are you running? Normal points and coil kinda stuff?