Captain Obvious

Haha!!! So it's a shame that some of you guys won't be able to make it. For those of you who are still on the fence, here's to hoping you fall on the Zcon side!

I just heard that the shift map is cracked, so I'll step aside and let subsequent interested parties have a shot. Naaa, but thanks! I was just interested in messing around with an un-cracked shift map. I've got a couple already, but I think everything I have has some sort of defect.

And somehow I think I missed your completely heater core and valve assy. Looks great. Is that a new feedthrough tube for the firewall? Was turned down ninety and you cut it off to make it straighter? You're probably going to want some sort of flow restricting device somewhere in the lines besides the new valve. I found that after making mods like this, the flow through the heater core is way more than ever necessary. I believe the original temp control valve was much more restrictive than the new style ball valves. You may want to cut the flow down somewhere else with a fixed restriction.

Woof. That harness is going to take some sorting. Going through someone else's electrical work is always a real treat. The first group of hacks is clearly headlight related. The second set... Not sure. Hazard? Radio? In any event, you've got your wires cut out for you.

Can't quite tell from the pic... Is that a crack on the left side of the shift map on the OEM knob? Over on the 1-2 side? If it's not cracked, I'll take it.

I wouldn't rewind anything unless I had a reason to believe I needed to. I would give the field windings and armature windings a good visual and if I didn't see anything troublesome, I would put them on a fixture to check the resistance and make sure everything was in spec. Would probably also hi-pot test to check for leakage and/or shorts between windings. If everything there checked out OK, I wouldn't rewind anything. And I can assure you from the costs that are being charged... The rebuilders aren't either. Think about it this way... RockAuto is currently selling reman units from seventeen to fifty-five bucks. Seventeen bucks!!!!! How much labor does seventeen bucks pay for?? It's all labor since you are sending back a core. They put labor into the core and send it back out. Even at fifty-five bucks... How much labor do you get for that? Certainly not enough to strip, rewind, and varnish field windings!

I'm in along with my local buddy Gary @GGRIII. The plan is to drive down in his flat top fueled 260.

Well I'm not in the rebuilding business, but it's clear from the costs of the remanufactured parts that they simply can't be spending a whole lot of time one each one. It sounds like you are a lot closer to the reman sources than most of us and you would have a better chance of providing some real input here. If I were in that business, I would do as little as possible to get things turned around and back out the door. Based on the costs involved, they can't be spending more than fifteen total minutes on each one. New bearings and brushes, some quick plating, check it on "the test fixture", some crappy paint and into a box before the paint dries. Have you asked your supplier for a description of their rebuild process? I have no doubt that it would sound completely credible and reasonable. Which begs the question of why the failure rate is so high and the reputation is so bad. I am much more confident in my own work. Might not look as pretty because I'm not going to re-plate anything, but I would use bearings who's lineage I could trace, and I would make sure the brushes ran true on smooth surfaces. I've been into at least ten alternators in my automotive past and none of them ever needed any more attention after that. In fact, the one on my 77 is an internally regulated 83 version that I "rebuilt". It's been trouble free for a couple years now.

And that's what it's all about!

On my 77, the gasket for the steering column was glued to the column side, but not on the firewall side. No guarantee, but your earlier year is probably the same. I don't know about the pedal box reinforcement. Never had that out.

Booster looks great. I'm not positive how those studs are held in place, but I would assume they are resistance welded. It could just be a press fit, but I'd be surprised if they didn't do some welding there as well.

Darn tootin!

Did you put your right foot in?

Sounds like textbook fuel percolation.

Yes, that's a correct interpretation. It's just a suggestion for an easy method to determine the difference between 1) a faulty pressure regulator and 2) a regulator that works fine but simply cannot deal with the aftermarket pump is currently paired with (as chickenman suggested). Of course the validity of any of this is dependent on the accuracy of your test equipment (as Zed Head suggested).

I think you should add more detail about what the pressure settles at when you stop the fuel pump. I understand that it'll droop overnight to zero, but the number I'm looking for is five seconds after you stop the pump. Why? Because you said you have 42 psi engine off while the pump is spinning. That's too high. But it's important to see what the pressure does right after the fuel pump stops spinning. If it stays at 42 even with the pump off, then you have a regulator issue. If the pressure snaps down to 36 and holds there when the pump stops, then you're overwhelming the regulator. In other words, the regulator works, but can't handle the volume. It's trying to bleed excess pressure back to the tank, but it can only do that up to a certain volume. Above which, it's full open and can't bleed any more fast enough. That's the issue Chknman suggested. Not sure I said any of that right... Does that make sense?

What does the fuel pressure do when you let go of the key? Does it drop to zero, or does it stay up? And if it does maintain pressure, what pressure does it maintain? Answers to those questions could help determine if the FPR is being overwhelmed or if something else is going on.

Excellent. Glad it was that simple. Don't forget about an alignment before you call it "done".

Wow. An offer to refund without even any prompting whatsoever. Now that's customer service. I wish some of the people who had sold me unusable parts would have done that. Most of them just disappear after I have expressed displeasure. I hope good karma shines brightly on you both.

Haha! I like it!

So you had mentioned before that agitating the liquid in the tanks was advantageous as well. Are you going to circulate the fluid through the filter at the same time you are plating a workpiece? Or clean the tanks first and then plate a batch?

Also, I don't believe you ever mentioned the year of the car, but I'm guessing 73 or 74 and it appears to have had a flat-top to round-top modification. And with that in mind, your throttle linkage between the two round top carbs is not correct and does not fit right. It's too short. Note how the ball is almost completely slipping out of the rear carb linkage in your pic. That's because the linkage between the two carbs is too short.

I figured out what's the deal with the damper stalks. The "normal looking" one is from your typical 240 round top carb. The other "top hat shaped" one (with the protuberance) is from a 73or 74 flat top carb that your PO has "repurposed" to use in one of your round tops. Problem with this plan however, is the damper stalks or the flat top carbs are longer than the ones for the round tops and will bottom out if you try to do this. So your PO punched the damper rod out the top of the cap to shorten the effective length and be able to use it on the round top carb. Then it appears he applied epoxy to attempt to seal the rod and lock it in place. So, the cap has been punched through, but what I said before about it happening accidently was incorrect. It appears to be an INTENTIONAL misuse. Mother of invention and all that... Also explains the different fill level markings.

Funky different caps. Is the lower one glued together from multiple pieces? Are they both plastic?

I don't have a lot of input that would be valuable, but want to wish you luck with this project. I don't think I ever even tested my defroster, but I assume it doesn't work. My relay clicks. but I assume all or most of my traces have gone open circuit. Anyway, about the only thing I could add is I have worked quite a bit with membrane keyboards in the past (as a user) and they use lots of silver conductive ink keyboard applications. Silkscreened and cured (either heat or UV cured) after screening. It's durable enough that the keyboards don't smear the material around in the contact area.