Forums

Whew, thanks Mike. So it looks like I can connect the BW wire from the ignition switch to the + terminal of coil, then run a new wire from the - terminal of the coil to the distributor. Does that sound right. I posted this question about wires on my project page if you had not seen it.  ('72 510 Goon - Prova )   <big sigh of relief>                                

Also for reference, my struts currently have ~140mm diameter springs and Akebono single-piston calipers, just in case there's a better or easier brake upgrade path I could be going down. Ideally I'd like to be running some vented discs if possible, slotted would also be nice but not essential.

That looks great!

It is being advertised as "Great for big brake upgrades as caliper bolt spacing is 100mm. Eg. R32/R33 4 pot calipers" All the info I can find online about this is very 1200-centric, so all I know is that R30 and R31 strut assemblies require a certain type of spacer to mount on 1200 steering arms, but I have zero idea as to whether or not I'll run into the same issue with the 180B stuff. I'm not *too* fussed about the spring size, ultimately. If it's going to make my life easier to upgrade brakes by simply swapping R30/R31 struts in, and I can't use my new springs, I'll just buy another set of springs rather than start cutting spring perches and such.    Of course, the easy solution used to be 200B/Bluebird struts, but they're damn near impossible to find these days. I know Datsport produce a coilover based on them, but that's about the only source I know of and I'd rather not spend upwards of $1k AUD before I even start thinking about what brakes I'm running when I really don't feel like I *need* coilovers and could save myself a lot of cash for the same result minus the adjustability.   Stock R30 and R31 brakes will clear with no issues, I'm running 15" R31 Pintara TRX wheels (something of a rarity). The DR30 struts wouldn't come with calipers, the HR30 and R31 struts, on the other hand, could be had with calipers, and if I know R31 struts will work with minimal modification/adaption or I know where to get the parts to adapt them, I have my sources for R31 parts (a lot of friends who own or have owned at least one R31, plus they come up at wreckers and for partout online fairly frequently in these parts) Supposedly Aus-assembled R31 struts are different to Japanese-assembled because of different parts sources for components such as bearings, brakes, etc.; in what ways exactly, I'm not sure.

Episode 26 - From feeling stud-ly to stupid, and needing a little space(er). Buckle up while I admit to a lot of newbie nonsense and bonehead near-catastrophes.    Yesterday I dove into reassembling the engine, finally. I got the head back on and the timing gear in, after some hassles. The cam sprocket in OSK timing kit I ordered didn't have timing notches on the back. After much deliberating and help from the good folks here I decided to re-use the old one, since it was in good shape.   I had the front cover on and off like 4 times. Dry fit, gasket fit, "wait, do I seal both sides?" *internet* "Yes, I seal both sides.", remove, seal the other side, replace, "Oh wait, the book said to add sealant in the top and bottom corners, too", remove add sealant, replace, figure out bolts, "Oh, I forgot to replace the crank seal", remove, replace crank seal, reinstall, tighten. I got it right, eventually.    Today I picked up where I left off and began putting the accessories on. That part was pretty straightforward. Except none of my 3 books had any information on the oval cover above the water pump. It had a strange, extra thick silver gasket. No idea if it needed to be sealed or what the torque specs are. I just ran them down to the same specs that the similar sized bolts called for, for now.    Oh, that reminds me, both of my torque wrenches are way out of spec. Time to upgrade from the harbor freight units. Good thing I have a digital adapter that was brand new. I used it to reference my click wrenches and discovered the massive discrepancies. At least I did that before I started torquing things.    So anyhow, I had to skip putting on the oil pan because when it came off it took 2 of us and a 60v industrial impact wrench to get the crossmember under it off and back on. Guess that will wait for the weekend. It will be easier to get the gas tank back in with extra hands as well.    I put in new studs for the manifolds, since most of the old ones came out of the block during disassembly. There were no torque specs in any of my books for installing new studs so again I turned to the forums for advice, and got it. Thanks, guys.    However, I put the studs in without realizing that there were 2 different sizes of spaces between the threads. So I got the exhaust manifold on and went to put in the shared spacers for the intake/exhaust and realized that I had a mix of long and short studs. I corrected the issue and started running torquing down the bolts. Well, I accidentally started using the specs for the long pipe instead of the manifold, which is like 3x higher. I thankfully noticed that things seemed too tight and the torque wasn't building normally and backed off before I stripped the threads in the block. Crisis was averted. Thankfully I had extra new studs and I switched the stretched ones out. Getting the hard to reach shared nuts torqued was a pain and took forever. I hope I didn't damage the gasket when I over tightened the exhaust manifold the first time. I don't want to have to do that again.    I had to skip installing the fuel pump because I discovered that I didn't have (and apparently never had) the insulating spacer. So that is on order but won't be here for a few days. Tomorrow I will get the distributor in and all the hoses hooked up, and hopefully the radiator, fan, and alternator in.