jrhone

Thanks to all that helped!  Motorspeed West got me in and out today.  Now on to other matters with the car....(cough...sidedrafts).

2 hours ago, FunElan said:

I sent your info to the Resto Shop who is in the South Bay

Thank you!  I have an appointment to drop it off tomorrow at Motorspeed West which is about 9 miles from where I am.  So it should be a straightforward fix.  Hope to be back on the road tomorrow.  I will keep them in mind for future work I may need to have done while I am up here for the next 4 months.

Guibo. Center support bearing is good.  Guibo has a huge chunk missing.  

Thanks!  Will give them a call!

So I am in NorCal for work for the next few months with my 02. Today i got some vibrations after a loud sound under the car.  Im hoping it was an exploding Guibo but would like an 02 friendly place to take it to for hopefully a quick fix.  

Great info.  The fronts are the green sports.  When i got them i was told the greens last forever.  Suspension is just not feeling as tight or crisp.  Gonna check all the bushings. I repleaced most with poly about 10 tears ago.  Might just need to replace again and leave the shocks.  

I am going to refresh my suspension and my Bilstein sports are about 10 years old, and they were used when I got them so I am planning on new shocks all around.  The car is lowered on IE stage 2 springs with 15” BBS wheels.  Looking for opinions and differences between the Billy sports and Koni sports for aggressive street driving on a lowered car.   

Testing out the new iPhone 13 Pro camera.  
 

Looking for a passenger side square tail light assembly.  The tabs that hold the electrical bulb contacts on mine have broken off, so looking for a replacement unit with tabs that are not broken.  Need one ASAP...no tail lights.  Thanks!!

Interested in the black and blue.  PM sent.  

5 minutes ago, jp5Touring said:

I tried to purchase a header ,fuel rail for my Webbers and a tube of anti-seize.

I had three emails asking me if they should ship what they have ? I said yes.

On the Eleventh day of nothing shipped  I get a call telling me the header is out of stock and they only have

them with ceramic coat for another $120.  Oh and hey someone else cancelled their order so they now have a fuel rail.

The Website states everything is in stock all eleven days, but hey what do they know. 

I decided to cancel the whole order.  At this point my opinion of them is nothing but a Clown Show.

To bad they have some things I would like to buy.  

 

I think I'll just wait for The Going Out of Business sale. 

 

Ouch. I always had great luck just calling them.  Seemed faster and more reliable than the web orders.  Easier than waiting for (hoping?) them to go out of business.  The more businesses that keep 02s running the better.   

On 4/7/2021 at 5:53 PM, 2002iii said:

From all of the problems I've been reading about lately with LED's in 02's it seems the 02's factory lighting system is not easily upgraded for LED's, because it was not designed for them. Incandescent bulbs and LED's work differently and are not always interchangeable. Incandescent bulbs have a filament that connects the 2 electrical contacts and doesn't care which way current flows, LED's don't have a filament and are diodes which will only pass current one way.

 

So if you want LED's you should upgrade the wiring system appropriately. This may include the headlight switching system, the flasher/turn signal system, the instrument panel lighting and alternator wiring depending on where you are putting the LED's.

 

It's not a bad idea to update the original 45+ year old wiring that wasn't the best design to begin with and by now has probably become a fire hazard. That and if your upgrading the lights to LED's you are probably not going for originality. So adding a stereo and other electronic accessories will require you too upgrade your alternator and most likely get rid of the original external voltage regulator. And if you're like the rest of us on here you'll notice ten other things that need fixing/upgrading, maybe just stick with the old incandescent bulbs and enjoy your car during the day and not get carried away.....yeah right lol.

I did lots of research and this system was designed for classic cars...old wiring...all that.  From what I read, you could use relays or not.  System doesnt care.  Lots of old VWs and 60s Porsches and early 02s dont have relays and no need to add them for the lights.  Lower voltage drain than the H4 system.  Higher light output.

Here are the headlights by the way.  They come with 3 lens options.  Budget, E Code and Hella.  I got the E code lenses.  Unplug the light.  Remove from the light bucket.  Install new light in the light bucket.  Plug in the new light.  Done.  Install was simple.  Aimed so not to blind oncoming traffic.  Color is white.  

OK...guys update....

I checked the grounds...checked voltage everywhere.

Everything looked good...then I pulled the CRUSTY relay that ran the low beams...swapped it for a newer relay....

Problem solved.

Headlights work like stock...just aloft more light.

So the system i bought was a led bulb with a controller box with the 3 prong connector.  Plug that into the socket on the car for the headlights and go.   Designed for classic cars.  So i had zero wiring to do and it was designed that way. Lots of these lights sold to the vw and porsche community as well as american hot rods.  So not just some random bulb but a bulb, lens and it all plugs in into the stock harness.  Will check the voltage when then key is but engine off and when the engine is on.  When the key is on and the engine is off its perfect.  Its just for 5 minutes after first starting the car that its high beam inly and then it starts to operate normally.  

2 hours ago, Hans said:

It might vary a bit if the alternator is topping up the battery after starting. But it should be high 13s/low14s once things settle down.

Do you have the little brown ground wire between alt and engine? No harm in cleaning ground strap / battery connections.

yes i have the ground between alt and engine.  Will check and clean grounds.  

4 hours ago, John76 said:

JR,

If you have the stock '76 wiring and relays, the LOW beam lights are turned on by the LOW BEAM RELAY pin #85 being grounded through the HIGH BEAM light filament.  Your LED lights do not have a filament, so there is no connection to ground...resulting in the high beams always on.

 

Here is a sketch so you can trace the problem.  Hope it helps.

 

John

 

 

So question. Why does it work normally when the engine isnt running?  Why does it work normally after the engine has bern running 5 minutes?  
 

these are not just led bulbs plugged in. Its a whole light system designed for classic cars.  If that matters.  

its a 76 and it has the factory wiring.  working fine before.  new lights are plug and play and connect directly to the existing connector.  

6 hours ago, dlacey said:

Since you have a voltmeter, connect it to battery minus and at the lamp...are you still seeing 13+V? Connect it to Battery minus and the lamp ground connection....do you see anything more than 0.1V?  If you dont see 13V then check relays and fuse condition....if you see more than 0.1V on the ground then its time for cleaning earth points... can't comment on 'smart' lamps reacting to voltage - honestly that sounds unlikely that the lamp has some voltage sensing circuit.

will try those things.

I guess another basic question....

is it common for the voltage to fluctuate (at idle and various RPM's ) as the car gets warmer?

Since the issue only happens when engine is running...maybe check alternator connections...which I did...but check again?

My car is a 76. I have an e21 AL116x Bosch alternator.  I got a new set of LED headlights.  Install was easy, plug and play.  Turned the ignition to the on position and the lights worked perfectly.  Started the car and the lights jumped to hi beams.  Turn it off and they work normally hi and lo beams.  Started the car and played around with the fuses, relays, and after a few minutes, the lights switched to low beams and worked perfectly, low and high worked when switched.   Called Vintage Car LEDs where I got the lights and they said while not common, it’s happened a few times and the when the LED controller senses low voltage it fail safes to the high beams.   He thought it could be bad grounds.  So what happens now is when you start the car, when you turn on the lights, high beams are on no matter what you do with the high beam switch. After the car is on for a few minutes the lights flicker, and then go to low beams then operate normally from then on.  If this was a ground issue, I would think it would be constant, not just when the car is first started and for a few minutes.  I would also think it would happen when the engine is running or not.  When engine isn’t running and it’s on battery, it’s fine...when the engine is running and it’s on alternator, low voltage for a while then the voltage builds?  I have a VDO voltmeter and it’s reads about 13-14 volts at all times.  Maybe relay?  Bad or old relay?  Voltage regulator? Alternator?  One other thing that’s odd, when driving and it’s in high beam only mode, if I hit a bump it flickers like there is a voltage jump when hitting bumps.  Would love some ideas on where to start to diagnose the gremlins.  

Still waiting for tracking number and shipping confirmation.  

Interested...PM Sent

Lemme rephrase as now that I re-read my original post it doesnt sound clear.

The heater is now functioning.  The valve is fully open.  Its only REALLY hot when the car temp gets about halfway up the temp gauge.  That only happens at idle for a long period of time.  While driving, temps never get above 1/4 the way up the temp gauge.  Its an 80 degree t-stat.  

Will try and burp it again to get the air pockets out if there are any.  

Will check the cable adjustment.  

Thanks!

So I swapped my heater valve...yup the old one wasn't working...now the car is blowing hot air all the time..sometimes VERY hot and sometimes just warm.  It seems to fluctuate.  Good thing is its never cold.  I replaced the radiator last year with a 3 core high efficiency radiator from W&N.  The car normally runs about 1/4 up on the temp gauge.  almost never getting to halfway point unless sitting and idling.  Is the car running too cold now?  Maybe a Tstat stuck open? Or maybe it is my heater core?

Ok.  Update.  Went to the garage. Warmed up the car and manually turned the heater valve to the open position.  Turn the fan on and NO hot air.  Cold.  The hose going into the valve was hot.  The hose on the other side of the valve is lukewarm at best.  So it seems the valve is stuck closed.  Also seems to be leaking just a bit from the valve.  Not dripping just a bead of moisture under the valve and i could feel some wetness from the back of the valve.   So the first step may be to swap the valve and go from there.  

Will check the valve.  Thx guys.  Is there any way to check it without removing it?  Operation of the heat lever is smooth without any resistance.