rossiz

i found the post on hybridz: "Find a thin piece of flexible plastic (coffee can or margarine lid), cut it in to strips about 2" wide and use them as ramps to get the gauge edge past the lip of the dash cap. Lubricate things with some soapy water and you might be able to get them out. Once the edge of the gauge is past the lip it will slide out pretty easily." just a cut/paste from another forum, so no personal experience w/this but it's worth a try...

i've read posts where a thin strip of plastic or metal is slipped in between the speedo surround and the cap, as a ramp to get the speedo to pull through from the front, essentially stretching the dash cap rim a little to pop the gauges out. never tried it myself, but it sounds possible...

I'm not sure if a megasquirt system would be all that noticeable. For a stealth install you could keep all the stock setup, just add the MS ECU in a discreet location. Maybe hide it behind the stock ECU panel? Leave the AFM in place, but disabled and maybe remove the vane to reduce obstruction and use the OEM harness. Just a thought...

or go the other direction with megasquirt and you will be able to set up dual maps: one for power & fun, one you can switch to for the emissions test... not as simple as carbs, but reliable and perfectly tunable. it's not efi per se that gets me, it's the old system and its limitations - great for its time, but you can't expect too much from it.

shocking, indeed - fortunately a few minutes with an open window and they rebound from the experience. my wife usually gives me a bump to stop it... (jack over, back to the thread at hand)

i usually equate a high amount of gas pressure with a high amount of legume consumption, and i don't know why you can legally do that...

you are wise to sort out the front/rear placement before the install, as you would wind up with a very odd stance - been there...

Ahhhh yes.... to be clear, the engine does in fact require an electrical system to run - and i have been looking at a distributorless system for a while. i fit up an msd system for the bike shown above and love it. this is an example of a small bit of electronics that is actually simpler, more reliable and easier to tune in my experience. using a coilpack and crank trigger actually removes even more clutter from the engine bay, and i can mount everything on the plug side of the engine (fuel on the drivers side, ignition on the passenger side). while i don't think i'll realize significant performance gains with it, getting rid of the distributor, vacuum advance and rats nest of plug leads does have it's appeal... the trick is to find the right system that is small, simple, and affordable. i have no issue fabbing up the crank wheel and sensor brackets, but i'd like to keep the rest to a minimum.

yes - since our efi systems are not very adjustable, and the new build will a platform for more performance, i'm going carbie. in addition to this, my goal is to rip out every possible wire and sensor and strip things down to the absolute bare essentials. i know some of you folks are very comfortable with electronics (Captain, SuperLen & FW for starters) and i mean no disrespect here, but the more grass i can see when i look down into my engine bay, the better! in absolute contrast to the above, i do plan to weld a bung into the exhaust and install a wideband o2 sensor to assist w/tuning. that sensor doesn't bother me, as it is a diagnostic tool and if it were to crap out for some reason it wouldn't leave me stranded (again!). i'm very happy with the condition of the su's i found and will be ordering the ZT DVD to start the learning process...

wow - looks great! nice work chas (as if there was ever any doubt )

goodies just arrived - almost done amassing bits to start the build...

given the source, i'd tend to agree...

i feel your pain. i was lucky enough to have a bolt break with 3/4" sticking up and got it out w/a pair of vice grips. if you need to drill yours out, be sure to tape off everything to keep metal particles from getting into the bores, as well as water jackets, oil passages, etc.

looks great - well done!

craft stores such as joanne fabrics or michaels (west coast chains) sell foam sheet with a self-adhesive peel-off backing, used for making stick-on decorations. i've used this material for non-critical sealing and squeak-fixes between interior parts. industrial fabric shops that sell fabrics/supplies for upholstery, outdoor equipment etc. (we have seattle fabrics out here) sell neoprene in many thicknesses.

the pic on msa's website shows some clips that look like they go around the outside of the sheathing and black wires to bring that to a ground. other than the braided sheathing, i don't see anything that shows a performance spec. they are also listed as tin coated copper, and may not exactly match the color or weave of the sst braided hose you have elsewhere.

you've been busy. if you overheated, it's very possible that the head warped - been there. a new head gasket won't fix that. when the head comes off, you can pull the rockers out (keep them organized by cam lobe in an egg box) and see if the cam still spins freely in the towers. any resistance and your head is likely warped. it's also possible that your coolant passages are filled with crud. the situation: small leak, owner tops off w/water over and over and eventually there's not enough antifreeze in the mixture to prevent rust. then a "stop-leak" additive is put in, which is gloopy stuff that plugs the leak, and happy owner drives on having "fixed" it. meanwhile the block continues to rust, and rust particles + gloop = sludge which can block water passageways - been there. when you have the head off, check the water passages and flush if needed. i yanked my frost plugs and used a pressure washer, which blew gobs of crud out of the motor. head bolts, if 40 yrs old and never been messed with, can freeze up and break when removing - been there. you can re-use 'em, but for $60 (courtesy nissan) a new set is great insurance from having them break on the way back in. either way, use anti-seize on the threads. beware the "hole of doom" - stuff rags around the timing chain to keep a bolt or tool from dropping down there, otherwise it's a loooong job. when the head comes off, keep track of the locating dowels in the corners - they are pressed in to the head, but may pull out/fall out and you need them - been there. i've got some threads on this, mostly showing the things NOT to do...

apparently "bug sinks"!!

um... me too... (awkward pause)... seriously...

or cross drill and weld it full - easier to get in there from that angle than in the hole. after welding shut you can grind it clean and nobody will be the wiser. or just chewing gum...

i can't say if one alternator will produce more power with less drag than another - that would be an efficiency issue. again, the electricity you are generating is not created by magic - you are converting mechanical energy (the pulley being rotated by the engine) into electricity, same as if you were using a windmill, water wheel, or one of those flashlights where you crank the handle. the efficiency of the conversion determines how much energy input is needed (drag on the engine) to supply current for a given draw (the lights).

dude... you hulked out on that!!

i think that when you turn on the headlights you are asking the alternator to provide more power, which takes energy and slows down your idle. electricity isn't free - requires work to generate. mine does that exact thing and it's a 78 280 with efi - no carbs or timing issues. i can turn the lights on and idle drops 100 rpm, turn 'em off and it goes right back up again.

who wants to resume normal driving after that?? ...unless you spy LLE in the rearview...

just a thought - i believe you mentioned that you took the cold start injector out of the equation by removing the electrical connection, but if it's leaking that wouldn't solve the problem, it would continue to leak due to the pressurized fuel behind it regardless of whether it's getting a signal or not. you might pull the hose off it and block it off temporarily with a bolt and clamp to see if that helps. to test, you could pull it from the manifold (2 bolts) and pressurize the system without turning the motor over and see if it's leaking.