offsubject

My electrical (L) idiot light came on a few days ago. Ran through the diagnostic checks, and thought my voltage regulator had given up the ghost. Jumping the D+ and DF pins on the regulator solved the issue (sort of, which became important later). Well, two regulators later, still not charging, so I dove into the wiring to see if I could find an issue. Replaced the Alternator ground, didn't fix it. Ran a continuity test on the B+ line from alternator to battery, and couldn't get a reading, so i opened up the harness a little bit near the alternator to take a peek. Now, I shouldn't have been surprised, given the endless wiring hackery I have seen in the car from the PO, but there was some more "questionable" repairs on the B+ wire to the battery. Broken wires kept together with a misplaced crimp connector and a bunch of oily electrical tape. After hacking out the cancer and replacing with a clean connector, problem solved (so far, fingers crossed it doesn't crop up again on the test drive).

So after my unsatisfactory carb rebuild and throttle rod adjustment (after which I was still having fueling issues with the secondary) I ordered a bunch of new jets and a new power pump and pulled out the instructions on best lean idle settings for the 32/36. Set idle speed and mixture screws back to Weber spec, and then waited for the parts to arrive. Parts came in today, and I replaced the power pump and re-jettet the carb to the specs laid out in C.D.Eisels 32/36 tuning FAQ entry. The secondary jet was only a 140, which I stepped up to 170. I moved from a 50 to a 55 on the secondary idle jet, and replaced both of the air correctors. I also blocked off the secondary enrichment circuit, as they described in the FAQ article. Just came back from a test drive, and BAM! Worked like a charm - pulls smooth from primary and into secondary engagement, no stumbles, coughs, or backfires.

Noticed a fuel leak in my 32/36, so rebuilt it - now its nice and dry. After discovering the leak, I chalked up a flat spot I had noticed in my acceleration around 3.5/4k to the unmetered fuel getting into the engine, but it remained in my test drive after refitting the rebuilt carb. Upon closer inspection, the secondary in my 32/36 was not opening under full throttle, hence the plateau in acceleration. The throttle rod looked like it had been mangled by a PO, so into the vise it went for some "persuasion" back to an angle which would allow full opening of the secondary. Still have fueling issues though - I had noticed that the primary throttle was a little wide when rebuilding, worried it might be idling on the first progression circuit, as I can't seem to get the car in a happy place. Ugh.

Got some care packages from FCP Euro and Blunt - slapped on some new exhaust hangars (after I noticed that the car had none on the muffler, exhaust just chillin on the rear subframe) and a set of shiny center caps for the e30 steelies

Yeah, it’s a cheapy clip over dash cap, from JC Whitney of all places. Doesn’t look half bad but the fit isn't perfect on my early two piece dash. I may take it out again and give it a spray in some vinyl paint to get it looking a little less plastic-y. But - much better than the very cracked dash with very poor attempted repairs underneath.

The car finally come off stands and took its first drive out of the shop! Spent most of the quarantine so far replacing suspension, ignition, and interior parts - and, amazingly, it made the drive all they way to my house and back again with no real issues

This is awesome - glad you took the risk and ordered a set! They look great. I've been trying to find something similar for my '02 (also inspired by Alfa GTV style wheels), and kinda can't believe i hadn't thought of Corn's yet. One of my other cars is a Miata and runs a few Corns parts, and I "knew" the two cars had the same bolt patterns.... What tire setup are you running on those?

Got the car back in my shop today to take a closer look at the ignition system - and there is some very sketchy wiring going on in there (sketchy seems charitable). In the pics you can see what looks like goop where there should be a spade connector, and then further down that same wire coming off the dizzy, an abomination of electrical tape and failure. I have a some prime suspects to start with here at least. Thanks everyone for helping out on this!

@KFunk could a bad instrument panel ground cause that? I noticed instruments like the temp gauge jump with things like turning on the blinkers

@John76 @dlacey thanks for the pointers - this helps to narrow things down a bit! @John76, I'll start at that wire and go from there.