Adam78

Well, that's one thing I didn't mention. I did take it back and explained the symptoms. They adjusted the slave cylinder rod at the clutch fork and changed the transmission fluid and drove it around the parking lot a bit and claimed it was better. Yeah, that doesn't give me the warm fuzzies either. Anyway, I've been communicating directly with the service manager and he told me point blank that if it isn't better after a couple of weeks that they will drop the transmission again and replace that bushing. What worries me is that the master tech might be out of his depth on this. He looks like he is 25 years old. To be fair, now that I am in my mid 40's I think anybody under 30 looks like they are in high school...lol.

Yeah, you're right.

Thanks Zed Head. Yeah, that's exactly what I am thinking. First gear is the most difficult to get into. In fact, it gets to a point that I can't physically force the gear shift into 1st but it will go into 2nd (although not without resistance). Now, I have noticed that as I am coming to a stop if I wait until the last second before I stop I can slip it into first. Of course that means that I am sitting at a red light with the clutch pedal depressed, which I don't like to do. I will also mention that if you cut the engine off you can row through the gears just fine. I don't think this is a transmission issue. Regarding your point about the hole getting bigger with heat it seems like the fact that the bushing is press fit into a confined space (i.e., the tail of the crankshaft) would restrict the ability of the outside of the bushing to expand, thus only allowing it expand inward. Of course the crankshaft itself must expand somewhat but its expansion coefficient would be different because it is made of a different kind of metal. Well, that's getting into the weeds a bit. I'm with you in the sense that I think the master tech at the dealer wasn't careful with the press fit. Maybe it is like you suggest and not in all the way, maybe it is ever so slightly crooked, maybe when he seated the transmission to the engine the input shaft struck the bushing and scarred it. I've read that people suggest put the bushing in a freezer so that it will contract and slide in just a touch easier. I'll have the master cylinder hydraulic fluid changed but the fluid doesn't look black or anything. I haven't eliminated the possibility that the clutch could be dragging ever so slightly, but the fact that this is clearly a heat issue makes me lean toward the bushing being the culprit, but I could certainly be wrong.

This is actually about my 04 Frontier SC. Mods, if you feel like this should be posted elsewhere feel free to move it and my apologies but I could really use some thoughts on this. I had my clutch replaced a year ago because it started making that groaning noise when you put the clutch pedal to the floor and I just assumed it was the T/O bearing. Well, it started doing it again a few months ago and it turns out that the pilot bushing should have been replaced as well. And this work was done at a dealer so I was not happy about that but I guess that's what I get for not educating myself. So, they replace the pilot bushing recently and now getting the shift lever in first when you are at a dead stop is extremely stiff. If it is cold it is fine but it only takes about 10 minutes of driving for the issue to start presenting itself. I am wondering if they compressed the I.D. of the bushing when they installed it and obviously when it gets hot and the metal expands that one or two thousands of clearance gets taken away. I know I am probably going to have to insist that they replace the bushing but before I do that I wanted to make sure that this isn't a normal break in scenario? Thanks in advance

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good body shop in the White Rock Lake area of Dallas?

Oh, this is just something I would do myself for my own car. I have no desire to produce anything.

I keep seeing posts that refer to an installation writeup by Dave (aka z'sondabrain) but I can't find it. It's not in the articles section. Can anyone help me? thanks

Oh, I know. I was just joking. Hopefully I can just figure this MS out and not have to mess with it at all. We'll see.

Yeah, you're probably right about me being too careful. And I am only thinking about this as a last resort. I need to load this newer firmware because I know it will make setting the cranking pw a lot easier.

No, don't go to the trouble of tracing your harness. I can figure it out. I mean hell, it's a 50/50 right? :-) I have been conservative on the megasquirt because the directions warn that it's very easy to overestimate the cranking values and flood the engine. I don't want to fall into that trap where you start tuning in the wrong direction because you started out on the wrong side of the line to begin with but you don't know it (if that makes sense...lol). There is a newer version of the firmware that allows you set the cranking pulses for individual temperatures instead of interpolating between two endpoints. I'm trying to get that new firmware because that would give me a lot more control than I have now.

Actually, it does get cold enough here to need some help. Megasquirt has a "cranking pulse width" section where you enter a PW value at -40 and 170 degrees fahrenheit and it draws a straight line between them for all the intermediate values. I'm just having a hard time getting it to start on one crank once I get below 50 degrees or so. I thought the stock CSV might be a good fallback plan, that's all.

So you would ground the CSV and then relay the hot with a switch in the cabin so you could manually energize the CSV? Interesting.

Yes, I think that makes sense. So, just to clarify, the polarity of both the switch and the CSV matters? The reason I wasn't sure was because on the AAR and the injectors as well you can flip flop the hot and the ground and they still work so I thought maybe everything in the EFI system was designed that way. Well then my next question would be how do you know which side is which? Are the switches marked with a + and - ?

Right, that's the reason for having the starter trigger the relay; the thermotime switch would only get power during cranking. I understand the relationship between the switch and the CSV and how the thermotime switch warms up from receiving current more than a certain amount of time in order to prevent the CSV from flooding the engine. I just wanted to see if my wiring logic makes sense :-) Regarding MS, I would still need to use a little afterstart enrichment and obviously the coolant temp enrichment. It's just the cranking pulses in cold weather that is giving me some trouble.

Ok, I have a megasquirt unit but I am considering using the OEM pieces for cold temp cranking fuel. I already use the AAR for fast idle. I realize this may sound like a head scratcher but I have my reasons. So my question is how would I wire this since I no longer have the stock EFI harness that I could use. What I was thinking is this: Run power from the positive battery post through a relay that closes the circuit only when the starter is engaged which then connects to the thermotime switch. I don't think polarity matters on either the thermotime or cold start injector so then run a wire from the thermotime switch to the cold start injector and from the cold start injector to the negative post on the battery. Does this sound like it would work? thanks

Yeah, I meant a leak-down although I can smell just the slightest amount of fuel in the engine bay when the system is pressurized. It has aircraft fittings, a Russell filter and the aeromotive FPR. I've read the threads that mention the leak down tendency of the aftermarket FPR's and thought "screw this, I'm putting things back to stock", although I will keep the aftermarket fuel rail. I got a roll of EFI hose, a new OEM FPR and filter and had to get on EBAY for the filter bracket. I'm just going to put NPT-to-BARB fittings on both ends of the rail and maybe bolt the FPR to the firewall or something. The lines connecting the pump to the tank and hard lines are new.

Does the direction of flow through the regulator matter? I ask because I have a aftermarket fuel rail (bar stock style) with an aeromotive FPR and I am going to replace the fuel lines as well as put the stock regulator back (I'm hunting for a leak). Of course, I'll have to mount it somewhere since I don't have the original fuel rail and therefore I can't remember which way is the inlet and outlet for the regulator. Thanks :-)

Thanks!

Ok, I'll keep this short: I've inadvertently (and frustratingly...) ended up with a 78 with the stock transmission coupled with a 3.90. I was supposed to have the 82-83 transmission but that didn't happen. Anyway, I'll live with it for awhile (maybe do some rock crawlin') but I want to get the speedometer right. Will the white, 19 tooth pinion work? I've always been told that you pair the pinion with the differential and that the transmission doesn't matter. Just wanted to verify. thanks :-)

I just installed the EP-34 last weekend. I bought them on Amazon-no hassling with a guy at the parts counter ;-) Pretty easy, just get some 1/4" female spades and some ring terminals, ground the "E" tab as previously mentioned and the stock connector has only one way it can plug into the relay. I wish I could have found a better way to mount the relay. I pretty much just had to zip-tie it somewhere. Of course, it's so light it doesn't really matter I guess. And I am glad it still makes the clicking sound! Anyway, thanks everybody for this thread :-)

Yeah, I've got one of his parking light harnesses. I would like to have him make me a headlight harness as well but I have to source a harness for a 78 so I can cut the plugs off. If I do that I'll just have him leave me a spare wire for this purpose, but I have to find a harness first.

I'm wanting to install a buzzer and obviously will need to pull power from when the headlights are turned on. I was wondering if there is any way I could avoid cutting into the wiring? I was thinking that maybe I could use the connector from the combo switch. I could fabricate a short stretch with a tee that would insert between the plugs on the combo switch and the dash harness. As long as those stock bullet connectors aren't an oddball size I would think that would work. Thoughts?

Does this relay make a sound of any kind? Call me old school, but I like a "click/clack" or whatever when my blinkers are on. thanks