My '79 Log Thread

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by t_g_farrell

You don't like that smell? My wife hates it but shes a girl. I suspect the TR is
not doing anything for emissions anymore because I bet a number of issues with
the carb plumbing may be causing it. Also the SAs do weird things with the
trailing firing (or not firing depending on gear you are in and a couple of other
factors). This is all controlled by that little box the ignitors live in on the fender
well (its a 79 so maybe no ignitors). Anyway, the idle being lumpy like that
may be a timing issue or a mixture issue when no advance is being applied.
At idle the vacuum should be zero and no advance happens. As soon as you
give it gas it will advance pretty quickly.

Go through the ignition section of the FSM and make sure its all set to spec if
you haven't already.

I don't mind the smell. It reminds me of my other cars with the emissions equipment removed. The thermal reactor probably isn't doing much these days, that's true. I did have someone in a truck follow me just to tell me my car was a "stinky piece of shit" once.

The only thing I haven't checked is the dwell angle. To date I've been setting that based on the points gap. I plan on picking up a dwell angle/tachometer over the winter so I can get better control of the ignition.

[chibikougan]

Originally Posted by infernosg

I don't mind the smell. It reminds me of my other cars with the emissions equipment removed. The thermal reactor probably isn't doing much these days, that's true. I did have someone in a truck follow me just to tell me my car was a "stinky piece of shit" once.

The only thing I haven't checked is the dwell angle. To date I've been setting that based on the points gap. I plan on picking up a dwell angle/tachometer over the winter so I can get better control of the ignition.

Or you're cars on fire....

[infernosg]

Finally got the idle sorted out. It turns out the culprits are the aftermarket (Airtex) points I purchased a while back. Even though the car has only 26,500 miles I figured it'd be a good idea to overhaul the ignition so I replaced the distributor cap, rotor, capacitors, and points along with the spark plugs and wires. Ever since the bouncing idle started I've been slowly swapping the stock parts back in. Go figure the last parts I swap back in, because I've been avoiding resetting the points gap, fixed the issue.

On top of that I started pre-mixing at a ratio a little less than 0.5 oz to 1 gal with this tank of fuel. After that I re-set the ignition timing (with the vacuum advance disonnected this time) and the idle fuel mixture and speed and she's running as smoothly as ever despite temperatures in the mid-30's (Fahrenheit). Hell, once warmed up she's so quiet I can barely tell she's running!

[t_g_farrell]

Points are probably not made to spec just like the float needles and seats in the nikki
rebuild kits. Can't trust the replacement parts, what ya gonna do?

[infernosg]

Originally Posted by t_g_farrell

Points are probably not made to spec just like the float needles and seats in the nikki
rebuild kits. Can't trust the replacement parts, what ya gonna do?

That's the biggest thing keeping me from attempting a carb rebuild at the moment. This car sat for long periods (years) several times during its life so far some I'm certain the carb isn't operating at 100%. That and the MOP are the two biggest things I'm worried about at the moment.

[t_g_farrell]

The MOP is pretty reliable unless it starts leaking or the lines break. The original needles
and seats are probably fine. Inspect them, clean them and put em back in and be very careful
not to mess with the floats if the level is already correct.

[curiousfool]

The car looks great.