PeterVarga

how do you say "dang nam it" in german? Thanks Toby I figured it was a nogo.

Not an expert on tires but I knows whats I sees on my car. I think the wear occured when the tires were on your rear set....verfify the aligmnamt of the rear axle as well. Look at toe and camber. Since those are fixed by the trailing arm I previously thought that the were locked in and perfect. However, if the bushings are incorrect, or the subcarrier or trailing arms are not matched, you get incorrect toe or camber for street driving. As well, the tires say 34lbs but I run more. Produces less wear at the edges and even wear at the center. If your fronts measure 0 deg toe and the steering components are fresh not worn you should get and even wear pattern. (Verify that your tires havent been replaced without your knowldege by some midnight mechanic.....It happens!) You may be troubleshooting a tire swap and not an alighment/wear issue.

Is it possible to disassemble the vacuum advance unit. I want to change the actuator arm (that positions the distributor plate)....can that be removed or replaced? Anybody done this? Does it screw into/outof the diaphram. Want to remove it without breaking it.

Removal of stub axle on 2002 trailing arm is with 20 ton bench press. Disconnect half-shafts, brakes etc. Remove pivot bolts and place entire trailing arm on platen of press. Support work with metal blocks and 4x4 blocks. Place metal rod or pipe between end of press piston and work. Outer diam of rod must pass through support structure of trailing arm. Remember to press from outside toward inside. In same manner, use pipe coupler inside tube to press against outer race of bearing. Stack rod/pipe through inside and press out each side while supporting work on metal blocks. Slowly press parts apart. They move when there is enough pressure on them. I guarantee it. Be safety conscious becaause if the work shifts, it can be dangerous. Keep body parts a safe distance from trajectory path and wear safety goggles! There is a bearing removal tool that fits inside the tube and serves as a resting point for your push rod or pipe. Powerbuilt tools has a moderate cost offering.

I think TAP plastics in BAY AREA, SF, CA has a spray for removing mylar film from glass.

Yeah! I hope he's not been ShangHai'd. I was hoping to get a small spring for my door lock from him. Or at lease get a referral that has those 'hair clip,' springs that keeps the door lock upright and centered.

You didn't hear it from me department. Do we dare talk about the spec in the manual for the '76 California Emissions configuration. Believe it or not (This should be in Ripley's) max advance is 50 deg. +/- 10 on the advance side with 25 deg. on the retard. Most advance units pull 25/25. The correct unit is sold out in USA and over there. Can't find them. The myth that it is 'easy' modifying a 25/25 into a 25/50 is exactly that. But, it can be done and there are a couple of methods. On this car, the base setting of timing is pretty retarded probably for lower NOx. The extra advance under load is needed. Maybe thats what your once CA car needs. Just a thought.1

The retard side of a dual action vacuum advance has to go through the mag valve. When the engine heats up to op temp it brings advance into (or out of) play, can't remember. Diverter valve and dashpot are not on smogman's list. You can find dashpots and put one in but most run alright without. Diverter valve is part of air pump system. If you have an air pump and your diverter valve isnt working you'll know because your muffler gets blown out by the backfires. It looks as if you have the 49 states version of the air injection exhaust manifold. Test your diverter valve out of the vehicle with a hand pump and watch the internal piston. It valves on and off and should be smooth action with a pretty tight seal at the seat....its not a perfect flow blocker just a percentage of flow gets paused during decel. You need an EGR valve. Won't pass the visual in CA without it don't know about AZ. It gets exhaust from ex manifold and under certain settings of throttle recirc's it into bottom of intake manifold. There is a port in the stock intake for this. When they put the KN on they probably took the EGR off. There is another component called the EGR "muffler". This is for sound reduction and is not on the list of required devices. It is a minor function in the EGR circuit and you can pass withouy it. A proper EGR valve with the trimmings (ie. connected properly with clear hoses) is what is needed. Dashpot is sometimes overlooked if you engine burns clean enough to pass. They can be purchased and installed but they say minimal contribution to the smog workings and vehicles have passed withoug it. Your advance and retard hoses should be connected as shown in the diags.....intake runners or the carb bottom where indicated. The vacuum is different at these ports and would bring the modules into play at the wrong time if not connected properly. I know at least one thing is connected to vacuum not taken from the carb on my car but I'll have to look at which line it is. The temp sensor on the intake needs to be connected as well. My car has needs its mag valves connected but since yours has one it may be different And finally, homage for CD.....timing is very imporant. The little ball on the flywheel must be half viseable at the timing port. And for the Califonia emissions specs the timing is at 0 degrees. Your car is differnt,,,,it may not evey have a dual action advance,,,,so adapt these comments as fits your car. Timing specs can be found in the manual for your car. good luck

A couple of hints: your return from the charcoal cannister needs to be connected (goes to the bottom of the original air filter.) I don't know if K&N has a port for itt but it must be connected. Look at the emission vacuum diagram posted on the 2002tii registry BBS ('dagsites'). It has the diagram for the '76 CA emissions if yours is missing. Pass the visual inspection with every smog part in place, test EGR for pistion action anc clean the lines. Weber 32/36 has 140 main primary, with the linkage to the secondary defeated....only primarys for smog (I was told) air corrector at about 170 (180?) and make sure the choke is minimal. Then air pump, injectors, reactor have to be inspected (if you have them.) All lines "roto-rootered" and unobstructed. Magnetic valves and thermo sender must be connected and functional if your vehicle has them. Plugs, points, timing have to be set per spec as well. Good Luck.

I've seen the dicussion re: painting the inside of your inst. cluster with white paint for increased visibility at night, it reflects the bulb light toward the dials. HAS anyone ever painted the illumination bulbs themselves with a mirror or silver coating on the outside half of the bulb glass. This would reflect the light of each bulb toward the instruments. What type of paint would one do this with? Krylon makes a mirror finish metallic spray in a can. Would this stand the heat?

"I don't know if this is helpful or relevant but it happened to me:' Had a leak on top of the engine at the valve cover / cylinder head interface where the timing cover meets the block. Surfaces seemed very smooth and gasket wasn't damaged upon inspection. Then i noticed that there was a "step" where the head surface mated with the timing cover. It was hidden by the gasket. I took a small strip of cork gasket material, thick enough to fill the space at the junction of timing cover surface to head surface, glued it on the gottom side of the gasket and reinstalled as a sandwich. There was a space on the top (fuel pump) side and there was a space on the bottom (exhaust pipe) side. Put the gasket in without sealants and the leak went away. (IN my case, the "step" was exagerated by ball peen hammer marks on the cylinder head. Don't know why but maybe P.O. was trying to mark his engine for identification purposes. ) The lesson was that it was very difficult to find the surface depression the first couple of inspections due to the anger of finding an oil leak! Blinded by rage......etc.

never heard that one. Despite the 0 deg setting being just fine but not what the specs read. Do as you do not as they say....Sounds like you got the new guy at the alignment shop.

again...this is in the "long shot' department but what happens on the hubs is strange. If your trailing arm/bearings were put together properly there are spacers inside that keept the entire group (bearing protector, oil seal, grease disbursing spacer, shim, bearing, outer grease seal) proper. If they forgot something on the inside, when you tighten the castellated hub nut, it seats against the oil/grease seal and the end of the inner spaers/shims. Sometimes, after driving, the shims adjust position and the hub then needs a bit of retightening. Desipte the cotter pin that can cause a wobble. Let' s not even think that someone other than you pulled the cotter pin and backed out the nub one click just to prove that you can drive this tough little car with a 'loose' hub.... Incidentally, I've seen that 200 ft/lb spec. on the rear and while it certainly looks like the axle was built to handle that kind of torque....I've had luck with 70 ft/lbs. Besides my wrench doesn't read that much and I haven't got an 8' long breaker bar to bring it up to that number. I think that much is for the factory or a pro machanic.

...and while your checking your lug nuts, check the large axle castellated nut that holds the hub on. If this isn't tight enough, even one click makes the hub wobble. That makes the drums grind against the backing plate....ask me how I know!

all seriousness aside, its not that tough....just takes forever. first, remove obstacles like emissions equipment, watter bottle, air cleaner brackets, so you can get to it. Then get a 13mm gear wrench on the nut of the pinch bolt, with a 13mm box on the head of the pinch bolt. remove nut and bolt. Do this again for the other one. Then with a cold chisel and hammer, split apart the clamping halves that grab the splines. Do this from below with an extension on the cold chisel. This permits the coupler to move on the splined shaft. Then with your wrenches remove the flex disk (four bolts). Do this slowly and use curse words often and plenty of lube. When the bolts are out, pull the halves of the coupler away and the disk comes right out. First time took me four hours and bleeding knuckles. Good luck.

could be the mechinic was referring to a bent vacuum advance arm inside the distributor.

what he said: a bad battery can make alternator output look bad. If one or more cells are polluted with tap water or whatever they'll make the reading low. Check your battery. Next suspect the external voltage regulator as you suggested. Make sure the wires between the regulator and alternator are not frayed or 'Ohmic.' Since you are getting voltage out of the alternator, the requlator has to be doing something otherwise you would read zip. Check that Battery or swap in a known one and remeasure your voltage.....above 1500 RPM I think is the lower limit.

3y3: Sounds like when you're warm, engiine runs on much leaner mix. I don't know the '73 that well but look for something that changes on warming. Do you have emission eqt. that changes timing (advance) when at operating temp? Or it sounds like the choke still isn't set correctly. Did you know you can roatate the body of the choke to set it. Release the screws and adjust temp at out of circuit point. Butterflys should be wide open, maybe vertical when at operating temp. Then set the carb and timing for proper idle....500 rpm or slightly more. If your' engine can't hold an idle when at temp, something else needs fixing. Good Luck

1) choke on speed adjust (high idle setting) is on the choke cam. remove the idle cutoff solenoid with 13mm wrench and you can acess it from the front of the carb. It fits a flat blade screwdriver and turn it out about 3/4 turn. That should bring it down. Remember to reinstall the selenoid or the car won't run. 2) primary idle mixture too low. check timing first. then set idle stop screw (unscrew to no contact then turn about one turn in to remove play in the linkage) then adjust the idle mixture. Turn all the way in to find endpoint. Than unscrew for proper idle. On mine it is about three full turns out, then fine adjustment either way. Oh, remember to count the turns when you screw it in at first....this tells you where it was to begin with just in case you have to reset to original position. And of course, proper procedure is to inspect the air filter and 'intake muffler' and air feed for proper function. Blocked air will make your car run bad.

Final Final on the springs....purchased replacments installed them. Fixed the problem. Seller listed springs in 'great condition' and infact, springwise, they were. The lesson here is look at the offset angle at the ends of the torsion spring. They should be 90 degrees. The worn out set were about 45 degrees offset. It makes a difference.

mikeo.....yes, that is the part, but the threaded boss that receives it is widened (and internal threads partially damaged) and it only has one or two threads holding it in. and backed out half turn it wobbles.....thats why the other guys said fill it with JB weld and retap it.

Thanks guys. I think the dilemma was best stated by mr funk. it is an opportunity to test and enjoy modern redneck solutions. I like that. in fact if memory serves me, i repaired a solenoid that had a broken hot tab with solder and an epoxy fill inside a slice of pvc pipe.....on an alfa in the late '70's. But i could do that....but I want to make it more like a purring machine that runs like a sewing machine on steroids.....not something that'll break next time i hit a bump. The best fix is of course a replacement carb body. just transfer the components. but,,,i found a drill press for $119 with a tilting table. if i move the TV around and get rid of some stuff, i could put the drill in the corner and do it myself. Thats the DIY spriit in the less cowboy direction.....don't get me wrong....redneck mechanics is just fine...BUT! (when i said to myself "I want a car that breaks down every mile and the parts store never has the replacement part and you have to fix it with tape and glue and wire......I didn't think anybody was listening!)

Enrique dear man....this is my beloved '02....NOT dad's old chevy. One can't let wobbly threads come between man and his cherished ride, now can we? Well taken advice aside, if I want to install a threaded insert myself, can I do it with a cordless drill? Or should I get a drill press and right angle work vise and do it carefully and correctly. Plumbers tape and o-rings wouldn't suit a repair of the Mona Lisa....hence I'll try to do it correctly....or not at all. but thanks for the encouragment.

Still working on carb issues (Weber 32/36 DGAV). Threaded port that receives idle solenoid (idle primary side) is wobbly. I'd like to remove carb, bring to machine shop, have them install a threaded metal sleeve (like helicoil). Is this adviseable since this is a seat for the idle jet. I was told Harrison & Bonini in SF might want to do this. Looking into this next week.

November 1, 2007 Went to the candy store and purchased stock primary and secondary idle jets. Installed properly. Slight improvement in lurching on acceleration at low RPM. Did not solve issue on this try. Next, reset valves to spec. They may be out. Since it seems that the engine torque is less than needed at the low end I'll try to peak the power output given this stock CA engine. It does seem that one cylinder is pulling stronger than the others. If I can correct something in the others that may be the cure.