Arne

Yeah, I think the rivnuts will work well. Besides the ability to remove the tips for cleaning, they should allow me to adjust and fine tune the tip fit to make certain the tips are perfectly lined up. (The twin tips on my current Monza are not as well lined up as I would prefer, which is something I want to avoid on this new system.) I should also be able to attach the rear-most hanger to the tip using one of the rivnuts, and thereby avoid a visible clamp at the rear.

No change since test #4. Still working fine. I now suspect that the pair of condensers (one bad, and one possibly mis-connected to compensate for the bad one) was the cause all along. I still want to try a set of wide gap plugs (preferably BP6ES-11, as other than the gap those are identical to what is working now), but I haven't gotten around to picking a set up yet.

Depends on your uses, I've added a couple that I especially like. Some sort of front airdam or spoiler to improve high-speed stability (most useful on un-lowered cars) Improved differential mount (RT mount or similar)

More testing today, and some good news. 1.) MSA reports they shipped the system kit yesterday. I should have it in hand by late Tuesday. 2.) The original plan was to use tips with 2¼" ID inlets over the 2" ID outlets of the muffler. But I changed my mind when I ordered and got 2" ID tips instead. Good call. I took the tips and muffler to a local shop and they expanded the tip inlet to fit snugly over the 2" ID muffler outlets. A much better option. 3.) More mockup and test fitting. Tips and muffler would be easier to position if the tips were 6" long instead of 9", but I'm confident I can make it work. 4.) May pass on welding the tips on. I'm now thinking of using rivnuts in the muffler outlets and bolting the tips on. See below for my test rivnut.

Not as much sense as I would have hoped for, no. Fourth gear is direct drive, and there's no load on the countershaft. First through third (and reverse) all load the countershaft. So I wouldn't have been at all surprised had you said no noise in fourth, but noisy in all other gears. But quiet in first only? That is a bit tougher to figure. I'm going to need to stew on that a bit.

The left front - being the true tow eye - was supposed to be left in place. The other three should have been removed, but it's really amazing to me how many cars all across the country still had/have them all these years later. Lots of lazy PDI guys back then, I figure. I actually had to remove the tow eye also, to clear my front spook. It is also safely stored away.

I did give using screws some thought, and haven't totally ruled it out yet. But I may have squelched that by changing one part of the plan. After looking in person at a 240Z with this exhaust installed, I decided I might have a bit more room back there for longer tips than I first thought, so I bought a pair of tips with 2" ID inlets rather than the 2¼" I was originally thinking about. Uncertain as yet exactly how this will play out. I need to have the exhaust on the car before I can get firm measurements. Still on backorder...

I used to do that when I was young, but somehow that seems to be beyond my abilities these days. Don't understand why...

FWIW - My 7/71 car still has the early, forward located differential. So it should use the early style mount. When I replaced mine several years ago, I used 55415-E4102. Fit fine.

Outside.

Put the car on ramps and/or study jack stands, front and rear. You want it at least 12" off the ground. I use ramps up front, and jack stands in the rear so the rear wheel(s) can be turned when needed later. Set the parking brake, put the transmission in gear. (Any gear will do.) Disconnect the battery. Remove the starter. Remove the shift lever from inside the car ('72 and newer, or all with Type B transmissions). Drain transmission oil. Remove driveshaft. From beneath the car, unbolt the shift lever. ('70-71 cars with Type A transmissions only.) Unbolt slave cylinder and let hang. Remove the small bolts at the bottom of the rear engine plate (that screw into the bellhousing). Disconnect speedo cable and reverse light wires. Some later cars may have other wires to the transmission, label and disconnect them as well. Support transmission from underneath with a trannsmission jack (rented). You can also get by with a floor jack, but you have to be more careful as it will want to fall off the small pad to one side or the other. Unbolt the rear support crossmember from the car. Leave the crossmember attached to the transmission. Lower the jack supporting the transmission so the engine and transmission tips back some. Watch to be certain the cam cover does not hit the firewall. You want it to tip back some, but not that far. While making certain the transmission is stable on the jack, remove the four large bolts that hold the bellhousing to the engine. Carefully slide the transmission back and down from the engine. Do not let the transmission hang by the input shaft. Move the transmission out from under the car (or at least back away from the flywheel area). Loosen the transmission filler plug NOW. Do not wait to do this until the transmission is back in place. If it is seized you want to deal with it while the transmission is already out of the car. (Don't ask how I know this.) Service and replace the clutch parts as needed. Use a clutch dummy shaft to line up the clutch disc when you reassemble the clutch. Put transmission on jack, position and slide it up into place. Again, don't let it hang by the input shaft. To help get the splines to line up, slip the nose of the driveshaft back into the transmission, and use it to slowly turn the transmission shaft. (You did remember to leave the transmission in gear in step 2, right?) Once the splines slide in and the transmission slides up the rear of the engine, bolt it up to the engine. Jack up the rear of the transmission until the rear crossmember can be bolted back up. Reinstall shift lever (Type A transmissions). Re-install the driveshaft. Refill the transmission with oil. Reconnect the speedo cable and all wires. Reinstall the small bolts at the bottom of the bellhousing. Reinstall slave cylinder. Reinstall shift lever (Type B transmissions). Reinstall starter. Reconnect battery. It's not that hard, the list makes it look harder than it is. I can swap a transmission in less than three hours. (And have done so more times than I care to admit.) The only part that messes that up is that if you are replacing the clutch disc, you'll want/need to have the flywheel resurfaced, which generally means a wait for the machine shop.

Sunroof can be dealt with, if you can find a donor roof. Search this site for "roof skin graft".

I'm hoping it'll be OK as is. Mike (website owner) has a custom 2.5" system that has only a single Magnaflow at the rear, and it's not bad at all. Totally different sound than the typical Dynomax sound, which I'd like to avoid. The Magnaflow I'm going to use is a bit smaller muffler than Mike's, but my tips will be glass-packed. So I'm crossing my fingers.

I'm a touch concerned that it might be a bit too loud, but the tips are glass-packed as well, so maybe it'll be OK. If not, then I'll add something in the center.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?42357-Customizing-the-MSA-flanged-exhaust

If it was all good and then suddenly went bad, and both cylinders are fresh, I'd suspect that maybe the clutch fork had slipped off the ball seat during the work, and then it popped back in place later. Try running through the adjustment procedure for the master pushrod again.

You haven't replaced the slave yet? Over the years I've found that replacing one cylinder but not the other is always a good way to prompt the remaining one to fail shortly. I always replace in pairs now. I'd watch the slave and clutch fork move when someone depresses the pedal. I'm going to guess that the slave is bypassing.

Robb, it's not too tough a job if you've ever done it before. If not, well, it could be a learning experience. But before you drop the transmission out, what exactly are the symptoms? Is it slipping, or is it failing to engage enough to shift? Or does the pedal have no resistance? Depending on the precise manner in which it "went out", you may have a much simpler job ahead of you.

I kept my old strap, just in case I should ever want to go back to totally original. But since the RT mount is 100% reversible, there's no reason not to install it.

Correct. Well, if the ballast wires exist, they must be jumpered together for the car to run. To install a resistor matching coil, you'll need to find and un-jump those two wires, and connect them to a resistor.

I expected a touch more noise, didn't really notice any. But a bit more could be considered normal.

Sounds like you are back on track, then. Let us know how it goes from here.

If it just dies suddenly, I'd bet on the Pertronix, not the coil. If the coil was getting too hot, I'd expect it to start breaking up and missing before it died. But if it just up and dies, that sounds like a sudden failure of the Pertronix to detect the passing magnets and therefore, no spark at all. Since this was installed by the PO, I'm going to guess that you don't have a set of points or the little nylon terminal block to be able to go back to points as a test? That complicates things, if so. The Blaster 2 coil is only 0.7Ω primary resistance, which is going to be quite low even with a resistor, the wiring for which appears to be missing in your pictures. If you can't go back to points as a test, the next best thing would be to get it warm enough to die, and then (while it still won't start), check for spark. Personally, I hate having to throw money at it for troubleshooting, so I wouldn't buy another cil just to test. Have you confirmed that once it dies, there is no spark at all? While it is dead, I wonder if you could test the coil by triggering it manually?

While there appear to be several versions of the Bosch Blue, they all seem to be about 3Ω rated, and so you're right, they should not need a resistor. That doesn't change the fact that something is overheating and causing the car to stop. There's really only two choices here - the coil or the Pertronix unit in the dizzy. When the car dies - does it die all at once (like switching off the ignition), or does it start missing and coughing and then die? Here's another thought - are you sure the problem is ignition? What fuel pump are you running?

You can get them here - http://www.technoversions.com/DiffMountHome.html