About a week and a half ago my buddy picked up a white '79 SA with 57,000 miles on the body. The story goes, the car was stored from 1985-2009 and during that time mice had eaten up some of the interior. In 2009 the owner took apart the rest of the interior, "rubberized" it, and also tried starting the 7. He was only able to start it by putting gas directly in the carb. He said the engine was blown but replaced by Mazda in the early 80's, no documentation. He also said he dumped the 24 year old gas and add fuel stabilizer with the new gas.

Now what we've been able to do is the same thing. Putting gas in the carb allows the car to start (and actually starts easily and sound surprisingly smooth). Fuel is pumping through the fuel lines to the carb but not visible in the windows. Although this isn't the problem my buddy is concerned about at the moment, it should be noted. Also, the car is entirely stock other than plugs, wires, and what looks like a new distributor, too.

Here's the question now that the background is clear. In the pictures below are what we think are regulators and external resistors, or at least that's what the Haynes Manual stated. These particular regulators and external resistors get HOT! The regulator is constantly warm while the battery is hooked up, and the external resistors start to heat up as soon as the key is turned. Is this normal? And what exactly are they for?

Also, how many solenoids should there be on the rat's nest? From the book it shows up to 5, I've read threads on here reducing it to 1, but this one has 2? (blue - relief solenoid valve; white - a/c solenoid valve)


The regulator is on the left and external resistors on the right.



regulator



external resistors


The circled two on the left are the ones that get extremely hot on the spring in the back.









Thank you for you help.

 

Very nice!

No fuel in windows on carb = stuck float needles. Two choices:

1. Pull the top half of the carb off, inspect, move around to make sure they are free, then reassemble being very careful to get everything perfect.

2. Carefully bang on the top of the carb (using something that won't damage it) and shake them loose. This is what the previous owner of my car had to do when he pulled it out of storage.



.

 

I would also recommend taking the fuel line off from the carb and pump some fuel through to make sure its clean.

Sorry I cant help with the resistors or regulator as mine no longer exist.

Nice looking car though!

 

The resistors if I recall correctly step down the voltage to the coils as the 79 was a points ignition system and different the the later systems

 

Yep; they are high-wattage resistors and I would expect them to get quite warm, especially with the ignition on and the car not running. Used only on the 78-79 build, due to points ignition. They work as a voltage divider, lowering coil input voltage - - the 78's and 79's use 6-volt coils rather than 12-volt coils, to make the points last longer.

You need to the a hold-down clamp for the ignition coils; The top half of the bracket is missing.


There are two docs on Sgt. Fox's site that you really, really want to have besides the FSM and the parts catalog; the 1979 Product Information book, and the '79 Service Highlights are must-reads for anyone who's never dealt with an early SA!