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I can't wait to see it running. You've put so much time and effort into this. hopefully soon!
YES! Soon I hope, and thank you!! All along I was trying to get this back to an almost new or respectable restored condition since it was my dad's favorite car. This car was his baby so I wanted to do right by him as I went along. Lately though I've been dealing with broken washing machines, broken dryers, and some rather sad family news....
Originally Posted by lduley
a distributor almost ALWAYS moves slightly when installing into a car, the gears never line up perfectly so they move slightly so they can mesh, your fine, thats why the stud for the nut is designed like that, so you can adjust your timing
put the nut on snug and the cap, you'll be adjusting the timing when you fire it up no matter what
Excellent, thank you lduley! I hope and think it'll be close.
Originally Posted by WJM ROTARIES
Move the dissy so the lobe lines up with the pickup on leading and should be close to timed and re set when it is running
Yes, and thank you! The only other setting I messed with but think I restored close to where it was, was the advance when I removed one of the dash pots...
Originally Posted by 82transam
This is looking great, you're doing really nice detail work on this. Would love to see it in person someday!
Thank you Sean! I'd love to finally meet you and buy you a beer for all the advice you've given me along the way. And show off the car!
Well, I always knew this day would come, but I was hoping that when I was finished, maybe this fall, I would be able to drive my dad's baby back up to NY and show him what I'd accomplished. He and I always talked a lot about it and I was able to show him pictures of what it looked like as the restoration slowly plodded along. I'd ask him questions about it, like "did the heater blower motor ever work?", or "did you ever have any body work done on the car to repair any dents?" Unfortunately, my dad passed away a few weeks ago. I was able to show him on my laptop what it looked like as it sits now and he was proud and excited. He always was amazed at the progress and said "I feel like you've taken the gas cap and made a car around it"! I was really close and getting excited but then I got the call that I knew one day would come. I know he'll be right there riding shotgun with me when I do get it on the road and take that first ride. I have a tribute to him planned when I finally get it registered. He always enjoyed this car.
Condolences on the loss of your father. I have followed your thread and appreciate what the car means to you.
Originally Posted by Banzai
Sorry for your loss.
Originally Posted by scaleyflyer
My sincerest condolences. This is a great project, I'm sure he's very proud wherever he is :-)
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. This forum really has a lot of great members that have supported me along the way in one way or another, even met a few of you, and I can honestly say that this is a pretty tight community, so thank you all. This car has become my heirloom.
I've been following the tutorial on the modification of the ignition system from points to electronic that bobrx7 posted. It's pretty straight forward and so far I've bypassed the two ceramic resistors that had power going to them and soldered the two wires from each resistor together and covered them with the heat shrink and electrical tape as the tutorial states. I even taped the removed connectors into the harness and reinstalled them to the ballast resistors for that factory look (taped in place but not connected to the harness). The connected wires are hiding behind the blue tape. I used 12 gauge black wire and ran it behind the ballast resistors so you cannot see it unless you're looking for it. I also have to find a way to make those four connections on the right look connected to something without connecting them to the ballast resistor... I'm sure an idea will come to me there.
For my own sanity, I have to ask the obviously stupid question that I think I know the answer to. I have to reconnect the factory harness and connectors that are in the car now to the coils, and then ADD my distributor connections directly to the coils after/on top of those connections, correct? I need to buy new coils too btw. The ones that are in there are 12V, but are rusty as hell.
Second, what do I connect the black wire that goes to the condenser on the side of the distributor to? It needs power alllllssoooooo..... soooo just thinking out loud here .... tie it into the positive on the leading coil maybe?...
Third, there is a larger white with red stripe wire in the factory harness from the 85 distributor. The tutorial doesn't mention it or where it connects to. Can I just remove it from the harness?
Again, thank you all for the sentiment about my dad, and thank you in advance for help with the wiring. Electricity is NOT my strong suit.
I have not read the "tutorial" but yes the black/yellow wires go to their respective coil primary+ terminal. The negative-primary coil connection will be in the distributor harness as will the black/yellow feed wire for the igniter which gets bolted down on top of coil primary+terminal on ignition coil.
On your distributor,the ignitor facing front of car is the leading igniter to help you distinguish between leading and trailing.
The larger white/red wire would have come(on a Fb) from the output(battery)terminal on back of alternator and go to main fuse link on left inner fenderwell. It was bundled with all other distributor wiring as it was convenient and the termination point at main fuse link. You can delete that from your harness if you wish.
The condenser wire is basically ignition feed(black/yellow) and can be picked up from positive coil connection from ignition switch.
You should replace the ignition coils as the original points system coils will work but not as well as coils meant for electronic ignition. You want a coil with about 3 ohms resistance on primary side of coil. The original FB coils were very good quality,made by Diamond. If you could find some good used ones,i wouldn't hesitate to clean/paint them and bolt them in place. Some pop up on ebay occasionally for not much money,maybe post a want to buy in classifieds here. Testing them before purchase is a good idea. Make sure they're not leaking oil from secondary tower. Use a multimeter set on low ohms scale and put leads on positive and negative primary terminals,should read around 3 ohms. Set meter to 10k ohms scale and put one test lead down secondary tower to terminal,the other to positive primary terminal,should read 5k-8k ohms for good coil.
You could purchase new coils,but replacement ignition parts for 38 yr old cars suffer from poor quality. Even much touted Accel and MSD coils are chinese made and are hit and miss quality wise. Higher quality Napa ignition coils are ok.
Mike, I know I’m a little late to the show, but condolences to you on your dad. I know he’d be proud of what you have done and will do as she moves to completion. He will be turning those last bolts with you and listening when you fire her up, guaranteed
I have not read the "tutorial" but yes the black/yellow wires go to their respective coil primary+ terminal. The negative-primary coil connection will be in the distributor harness as will the black/yellow feed wire for the igniter which gets bolted down on top of coil primary+terminal on ignition coil.
On your distributor,the ignitor facing front of car is the leading igniter to help you distinguish between leading and trailing.
The larger white/red wire would have come(on a Fb) from the output(battery)terminal on back of alternator and go to main fuse link on left inner fenderwell. It was bundled with all other distributor wiring as it was convenient and the termination point at main fuse link. You can delete that from your harness if you wish.
The condenser wire is basically ignition feed(black/yellow) and can be picked up from positive coil connection from ignition switch.
You should replace the ignition coils as the original points system coils will work but not as well as coils meant for electronic ignition. You want a coil with about 3 ohms resistance on primary side of coil. The original FB coils were very good quality,made by Diamond. If you could find some good used ones,i wouldn't hesitate to clean/paint them and bolt them in place. Some pop up on ebay occasionally for not much money,maybe post a want to buy in classifieds here. Testing them before purchase is a good idea. Make sure they're not leaking oil from secondary tower. Use a multimeter set on low ohms scale and put leads on positive and negative primary terminals,should read around 3 ohms. Set meter to 10k ohms scale and put one test lead down secondary tower to terminal,the other to positive primary terminal,should read 5k-8k ohms for good coil.
You could purchase new coils,but replacement ignition parts for 38 yr old cars suffer from poor quality. Even much touted Accel and MSD coils are chinese made and are hit and miss quality wise. Higher quality Napa ignition coils are ok.
Thank you for the testing procedure GSLSEforme. I tested the coils that were in the car and got about 1.5 ohms across the primary positive and negative terminals and 10k ohms across the positive and secondary tower terminal. I was able to run the car when I got it, so aside from the rust I think these coils might work. They're 12V coils, not 9V, so I'm gonna give it a shot. My budget has taken an hit on this build and I want to try to get it going since I'm so close so I'm gonna try these coils. More to follow!
Sorry for your loss. I think that he would want you to do a sacrificial burnout to put a huge smile on your face once you got things running and sorted. Enjoy the car to it's fullest for both him and YOU.
Thank you everybody for the words of inspiration and condolences. It's TRULY an amazing group of folks on this forum.
A couple weekends ago I finished up the electronic distribution mod. I decided to keep the resistors in place for a more factory look. On the resistor with the four connections I wrapped the posts with electrical tape, wrapped the eye connectors in tape, the reinstalled the boots so it looks as if they're connected. I conveniently had an empty bullet connector on a positive connection in the harness so I soldered on a new connector to the condenser wire and plugged it in. I hope this works!
I've been busy today. I went back and forth about tearing the carburetor apart or leaving it alone. I recall my dad saying that he had just had it rebuilt at some point when it was in storage, and I also recall that it ran pretty good when I got it started, so I decided I'd prolly do more harm than good if I tore it apart and decided to clean the heck out of it and cross my fingers. I'd rather roll the dice and see if it will work to get this thing fired than screw something up by tearing it apart. Before and afters of the cleaning:
It isn't gonna win any car shows or beauty pageants, but my hope is that it'll fire and run. Lots of the small bits are rusty, but I'm looking for function at this point. I then set about installing it onto the intake manifold. I had forgotten what a joy it is to tighten the one bolt down.... Seems like it took me over an hour to get that bolt on and then tightened down. Then I connected the vacuum tubes and installed the engine wiring harness and made the connections. I replaced the water temperature sensor that mounts on the back of the water pump housing with one I scavenged from a junkyard years ago. Unfortunately one of the wires broke so I soldered it back on. Solder burns on the inside of your arm are quite annoying!
So my list is getting shorter!
ELECTRICAL STUFF:
Buy and modify a spark plug socket.
Tighten the spark plugs
Install new wires.
Reassemble alternator (disassembled and painted it)
Install alternator
Install drive belts
Install battery
Install drives side side marker light
COOLING SYSTEM:
Connect radiator upper and lower hoses.
Buy replacement heater core hose (thanks Tim for the link!)
Install heater core hoses.
Install thermostat
Fill with coolant
OIL SYSTEM:
Install MOP lines.
Clean and install MOP.
Install oil cooler.
Fill with oil
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:
Repair and install vertical back carpet section
Install gear shift know securely
Paint and install radiator valence
Install hood
Worked most of the day today on odds and ends. I removed the thermostat housing, cleaned it up and then installed the thermostat. Bolted up the alternator. Installed all the coolant lines. I researched that heater hose and the temperature sensor that goes in the top of these replacement radiators. They can be expensive! Mazdatrix has them for $36 and Atkins for $46. Lucky for me I had one on the radiator I scavenged from a junk yard. Saved me some jack there!
SA radiator I scavenged a few years back....
The interesting thing is that this radiator came from an 80. The fan switch sensor is located on the upper left of the radiator in this pic... On my 79 that sensor is on the back of the water pump housing. Atkins now sells them new .... for an arm and a leg. I did take the coolant level sensor from this radiator and the gasket and installed it in my replacement radiator.
I need to order a bottom plug for this radiator... One of the differences between OEM and these aftermarket replacements is that the SA radiator had no bottom plug but this replacement does. I got the overflow bottle cleaned up and reinstalled. Thanks again to KansasCityREPU for powder coating some of the bits I sent him. A couple of the parts I sent were the radiator overflow bottle mounting hardware and the alternator bracket. I'm beginning to like the look of the engine bay more and more!
My list now looks like this:
ELECTRICAL STUFF: Buy and modify a spark plug socket.
Tighten the spark plugs
Install new wires. Reassemble alternator (disassembled and painted it) Install alternator Install drive belts
Install battery
Install drives side side marker light
COOLING SYSTEM: Connect radiator upper and lower hoses.
Buy and install replacement heater core hose (thanks Tim for the link!) Install heater core hoses. Install thermostat
Buy and install radiator plug
Fill with coolant
Install fan
Install fan shroud
OIL SYSTEM:
Install MOP lines.
Buy MOP gasket
Clean and install MOP.
Install oil cooler.
Fill with oil
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:
Connect throttle cable
Connect choke cable
Connect cold start
Connect hot start
Replace RF brake line
Repair and install vertical back carpet section
Install gear shift **** securely
Paint and install radiator valence
Install hood
Install lower grille
Install MINT tail lights.
Has anyone bought any parts from either realmazdaparts.com or mazdafactorypart.com? If you have a part number and can search they seem to have stuff available for less than Mazdatrix or Atkins. I was looking for that heater core hose, part number 8871-61-230. These two sites have it for at least $10 less. Curious to know if anyone has sourced parts from either of these two sites before.
One thing you might consider is drilling and tapping the top of the water pump neck for an aftermarket water temp gauge. It's perfect for a 1/8 npt water temp sensor.
Today after getting everything connected and all the fluids filled and topped off, I put about 3 gallons of gas with pre-mix in the gas tank, connected the battery, got in, pulled the choke and let the fuel pump pump a little bit, then turned the key all the way and cranked it a couple times. It caught on the 3rd try, and on the 4th it lit off!! I was so excited! It settled in to an idle that sounded almost about right. I was so excited I didn't look at the tachometer. I was overwhelmed. It has a bit of a skip/miss, but no fires or explosions! I know my dad would be proud and happy to see it running!
Good for you! Now,ya wanna...drive it,i know i would. Start and let it warm up a couple times,check for leaks,top up fluids. Set ignition timing and adjust idle speed and mixture. Sounds a little lumpy like it has a small port job. Likely smooth out by getting adjustments where they should be. Set the hood on the lawn and take it around the block,crack a beer and look up at your dad looking down. Good on ya!!!
Good for you! Now,ya wanna...drive it,i know i would. Start and let it warm up a couple times,check for leaks,top up fluids. Set ignition timing and adjust idle speed and mixture. Sounds a little lumpy like it has a small port job. Likely smooth out by getting adjustments where they should be. Set the hood on the lawn and take it around the block,crack a beer and look up at your dad looking down. Good on ya!!!
Thank you GSLSEforme! I was pleasantly surprised that it started and ran so good, and YES! I SOOOOO want to drive this car!! Funny thing. I let it idle for about 10 minutes when I noticed that smoke was coming from under the car. Uh oh. I had a large puddle of oil coming from the mid section of the car that was running onto the exhaust and burning.... It was at that moment I realized I prolly should have installed the drive shaft (smacks forehead)... I rolled it back into the garage and had a look around. Looks like my oil pan gasket is leaking (dammit), and I have a small leak at the thermostat housing. Easily remedied. If those are the only things I need to address I'll consider myself lucky.
I need to borrow a timing light and look up the specs... Can't wait to get this thing out of the garage regularly!
Today after getting everything connected and all the fluids filled and topped off, I put about 3 gallons of gas with pre-mix in the gas tank, connected the battery, got in, pulled the choke and let the fuel pump pump a little bit, then turned the key all the way and cranked it a couple times. It caught on the 3rd try, and on the 4th it lit off!! I was so excited! It settled in to an idle that sounded almost about right. I was so excited I didn't look at the tachometer. I was overwhelmed. It has a bit of a skip/miss, but no fires or explosions! I know my dad would be proud and happy to see it
08-19-18, 02:45 PM
Mine isn't doing so great either so I can only imagine "the call" and how it must feel...
