jeremy93ls

While replacing my throttle linkage boot today, I decided to remove the entire linkage and clean it up a bit. After wire-wheeling the pieces, I noticed a little rubber plug among the parts but don't know where it came from. Where does this go?

Problem has been solved. First, I thank you all for your help. You group of guys are what keep me wrenching on a car that's 2 years younger than myself. Secondly, I'm an idiot. I'm not generally seen as an idiot, I hope, but here's what happened: When I had the radiator out and was flushing the inside with Muratic acid/water, I pushed large corks into the inlet and outlet so I could really shake/rattle, and roll that stuff through the tubes inside. (you already know where this is going) After that, I decided to paint it before sticking it back in. Apparently, I didn't see the cork in the bottom outlet since it had a fresh coat of paint on it. How's that for an oversight? No harm done, thankfully. Oh, and my Temp gauge settled under the 1/2 mark afterward.

Yep, this is a good idea. I'll pour another beer and try this one.

Both hoses are hot and hard to squeeze, unlike a cold hose that squeezes easily.

I swapped in a new fan clutch this morning and topped off the coolant again, but it slowly climbed up to over 3/4 on the gauge. This time I had the front end raised a good bit. After it cooled down, I stuck a meat thermometer in the radiator neck and started it up. When I think the thermostat opened, it started spitting/splashing coolant out again. The thermometer showed about 140, but was still slowly climbing. Would an obstruction in the radiator cause this?

Thanks all for the help and suggestions. It's the stock fan. I cleaned/painted it bright white a while back. I'm unable to drive it on the road right now because it's not registered or insured yet. I'll get it out if I have to, but I'd really like to avoid it if possible. I agree, though. I'd love to know how it acts while driving instead of just idling in my backyard. The system did pull coolant back out of the reservoir bottle after it cooled down yesterday. The coolant was an inch or more over the MAX line when I shut it off. I should have raised the nose end up to purge out any air. I'll try that today. If it still gets too hot, I'll order another fan clutch. I remember buying the cheapest one ebay had a few years ago. Rock Auto has an AISIN unit for $36.

I got this far, but as the thermostat opened, coolant started gushing out of the radiator. Temperature gauge was a little over halfway. This video was from immediately after shutting it off. This went on for a few minutes. The overflow reservoir never dropped. Before the thermostat opened, the coolant level kept rising up and out of the radiator, too. VID_20171028_132300927.mp4

I swapped out the thermostat with a Nissan 180* this morning, but it didn't make a difference. $24 shipped because I'm lazy. The fan clutch won't even make a full rotation if I try to spin it. I've dealt with a bad one before, so I'm confident it's not the problem this time. On a related note, that Permatex 'Right Stuff' is an awesome product for gaskets. Buy some of this if you don't have it already.

I like how you made sure to say "with the motor off" haha

Fan clutch spins with resistance, as it should. I replaced it a few years/hundred miles ago. That is a good idea, though. When mine failed, it sounded like a tornado when I accelerated. I'll pick up a new thermostat next week at the new dealership near my office.

My 78 is getting too hot. I've done a few things to it since it was on the road, so keep in mind that I'm unable to drive it right now, only idle it when backed out of my basement garage. Here's what's been done to it since I drove it a few years ago that relate to the cooling system: -Deleted the coolant bypass line just to tidy up the engine bay. I plugged the thermostat housing and plugged the small coolant line that comes off the heater hose hard line by the #1 spark plug. -Tested the 180* thermostat in boiling water and drilled out the tiny bypass hole in the thermostat just a wee bit after reading about others who had bypassed the coolant line attached to the manifold. -Pulled the radiator out, flushed the not-so-cruddy mixture out of it, then poured in a gallon of water with a measured bit of muratic acid and shook/rotated/flipped/worked the mixture throughout the radiator to hopefully clean the passages. After a few minutes, I emptied, rinsed like mad and stuck it back in the car and filled with coolant/water mix. It's as full as it can get without lifting the front of the car and topping the radiator off. No air pockets, as far as I can tell. I ran the heater a few times to circulate it through the heater core and squeezed the hoses while topping it off. New Sankei radiator cap. -Replaced the aged water pump with a new Asin water pump with the cast propeller, and not the thin blade propeller found in some cheaper aftermarket units. Now, all of that above was done before I realized any overheating problems. I figured most of this was good practice on an old car and it makes me a little less nervous about a long trip with the wife with me if certain parts are replaced. I don't want to swap a water pump in a parking lot somewhere. This car always seems to take quite a while to warm up. (been that way since I bought it 4 years ago from original owner who did not tinker with it at all) Anyway, as it idles and (very) slowly reaches operating temp, the gauge continues to rise. Before I parked it in the basement a few years ago, it would barely get past the middle on the temp gauge in hot weather. Now, idling, it gets to 3/4+ before I shut it off, open the hood and let it cool down. Something I've done has affected it. Today when I shut it off at the 3/4 point, there was a bubbling sound coming from the thermostat housing and the coolant overflow was at the lower level line. I don't think I've ever seen the coolant overflow bottle with any coolant in it since I've had it. I thought I read enough from others who deleted those coolant bypass lines with no problems, but maybe that's causing this to happen. Or, did I unclog something in the radiator with the acid /water flush?

If the tachometer problem is unrelated and just needs repair like mine did, search for 'tachometer repair' on zdriver.com. I fixed mine with a $1 capacitor and a soldering iron.

That's some nice bamboo in the background, though. Pseudosasa Japonica, I believe.

Good to know! Nothing's gonna stick until I wash 40 years of dirt off these things, anyway.

The inner fenders on my 78 look like that, too. I think they're repairable. I wonder if a fiberglass patch would work if applied to both sides?

Thank you all or the advice and suggestions. Since I've never had to coax it to idle, I assume my AAR is at least somewhat operable. I'll take it off, clean it, maybe adjust it if possible and stick it back on. Speaking of those coolant lines under the AAR, my two rubber hoses are sketchy at best. I'll replace those, while I've got easy access. I've seen a few with that coolant bypass blocked off completely.

I'm about to install my Pallnet fuel rail and want to remove a few things from the intake before putting it all back together -purely for aesthetics. I live in the southeastern US, but still want to drive my '78 in cold weather here. I'm the kind of person who will always start (any) car and let it warm up a minute before gingerly driving away. I like to keep the RPMs low until the engine is warm. That being said, how long would I expect to coax the car until it could idle steadily and could be driven in colder weather? A minute? 5 minutes? I believe my AAR is inoperable, or at least inconsistently working because the car has never started with a higher idle until it reaches operating temps. Once started (after a few times turning it over and sputtering to life eventually), the idle is steady, but very low and its slow to move the temp gauge. I'm OK with how it starts now, and wonder if it would start the same way with it removed/blocked off. I won't know until I get the fuel rail in and everything buttoned up, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has deleted their AAR and drive in a similar climate.

I use scraps of window tint for things like this. Alarm clocks, stereo displays, basically anything that shines too bright at night when I'm trying to relax. If its too bright, it ain't right. Light pollution solution!

Beautiful. That's exactly what I've wanted to do to my plug wires. If a kit including wires were affordable, I'd be down for purchasing one for my 78. I don't trust myself to make custom length wires... me and plug wire boots have a long, complicated history.

My 78 has most of them still in the fender wells. I haven't taken them off yet because I know they'll never go back on the way they are. They're busted/cracked very badly. My plan is to use some thick plastic and shape it with a heat gun when I eventually get to that part of the car. I've heard of people using something like a thin plastic trash can to make custom fender liners with.

My driver's side door lock has been difficult to unlock since I acquired the car. The little arm attached to the lock cylinder that fits inside the locking mechanism in the door has way too much play and I had to jiggle the key back/forth forcefully to get it to unlock. While I had the door glass out, I cut a small piece of fuel line from an old weed-eater and slid it over the arm. It works so much better now. Easy to lock/unlock with very little force needed. I shot a little silicone lube on the outside of the hose to keep it from binding in there. Is good, yes?

Reminds me of a cool junkyard here in NW Georgia called Old Car City USA. It's mostly old domestic cars from the 50s/60s, but well worth the time. I spent a few hours walking around it last summer.

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. I found a cheap set at walmart and another set at Joann's, but the studs weren't long enough to work. Last night, I ended up removing the original snaps and carefully reusing them. If anyone reads this while searching for info, be sure to locate snaps with longer than usual studs to make it past the thickness of the carpet.

For those who have replaced carpet and bought new snaps for the parking brake boot, what did you use and where'd you get them? Yes, I've seen them everywhere from ebay to walmart, but would love to skip the trial & error phase. I imagine they would have to be a little taller than regular fabric snaps, no?

This just started happening out of nowhere a while back. I can feel the popping/vibration through the handle as it rolls up and down. It doesn't appear to be slipping on the little gears, but that what it sounds like. I've lubed the window tracks but it still pops like this. Any ideas?