Fuel pressure regulator arrived and I put the car back together. It came with a whole set of O-rings. It wouldn't start and I thought maybe I had the distributor 180 degrees out. I don't know how that could have happened because I was very careful to note where the rotor was pointing before I took it out. Pulled #1 plug and cranked over the engine by hand until I got compression. Sure glad I have the $$$$ ARP harmonic balancer bolt in there. Make is MUCH easier to hand crank the engine. Distributor was pointing at #1, so ????

I opened the EST connector to take out the ECM's advance. Still won't start. I have fuel pressure on the gauge and I can smell gas (no leaks, though). The timing light is flashing (though it seems weak) so my guess now is that the distributor is off by a tooth. If I press down on the gas pedal I hear pops in the intake manifold. Don't have time to troubleshoot it now. Getting on an airplane early tomorrow morning.

This is frustrating. I've had this engine apart many times and it always started right up. I hope nothing is damaged.

 

Along with the hood release cables that most vendors sell to allow opening the hood when the cable fails or MELTS.. The ty wrap solution is cute but will melt steel cables will not. I have an extingisher and can of fix a flat in the Pass side bin FWIW.. I know a cold fire dealer and if anyone well enough people a better word there is interested will see if he will set up a group buy..
Dave

 

A group buy is a good idea. Put me in for one. Thanks, in advance.

 

I will make the call and see how many he needs to make it happen I am thinking at least 5 to make it worth the trouble and 10 would be better. But will get price info etc.. Gotta start somewhere..
Dave

 

I discovered tonight that I had very carefully lined up the rotor to #2 instead of #1. After fixing that it started instantly (as usual) but was idling very slow and a little rough. I figured the timing needed a little tweaking so I grabbed the distributor. ZAP!!! It helps to put all the plug wires back on... Now it's running great. I found out the stupid extinguisher powder starts smoking when the exhaust manifolds get hot. I'm beginning to really hate that stuff.

Since I have an empty spot where my fire extinguisher used to be, I'm looking for a replacement. I checked the ColdFire web site and I can't really tell which one fits my bracket since they don't show dimensions. Seems like the 1 liter size would be the way to go. I did note their "bungee cord" mount, which is not legal for most racing applications. Another thing I noticed is that they ship it empty and you have to fill it yourself.

 

One other thought.
After reading many stories about C4 electrical fires,
I not only started carrying an extinguisher,
but also a pair of wire cutters capable of cutting a battery cable.

 

I bought new connector shells for the distributor to ECM connection and EGR temperature switch. This shows the new distributor connector, old melted connector and the magic pin extraction tool. I popped the pins out of the old connector shell and put them in the new shell. Note the braided cable, a trick I figured out many years ago. No sleeving, Ty-raps or string ties. Braiding holds the wires together and still allows the cable to flex nicely:



The bulkhead feedthrough, located behind the passenger side head. It looks like a connector but it isn't. It's filled with thick sticky yellow stuff (blackened by the fire). I heard that heat will soften it, but I was afraid of melting the plastic vacuum tubing. I did find out that WD-40 will dissolve it when I sprayed some on the tubing, trying to lubricate it so I could pull it out. The thing that looks like a white string is melted vacuum tubing. The other vacuum tubing next to it has a kink in it. About 1-1/2" of the tubing is melted and open on the back. I dug down through about 1" of the sealer and managed to pull the vacuum tubing out. Then I cut out the bad parts and connected the pieces together with rubber vacuum hose. These two vacuum lines are 1/8". The vacuum lines on the engine are 5/32". I just found out that you can buy a "vacuum harness" that has all the engine vacuum lines as an assembly (part number 14082463). Wish I'd known that before I fabricated the vacuum harness with plastic tubing and rubber pieces. Now that the vacuum lines are all fixed my HVAC system works again. The only parts I have left to replace are the O2 sensor connector and wires (bare copper wire right now) and the oil temperature sensor connector and wire (the shell is completely gone, melted away -- there's a big lump of black melted plastic on top of my driver's side catalytic converter). The fire seems to have started there because that's where the most damage is.

 

BTW, to the fellow that had some lousy Security Torx bits: the Ace
Hardware chain sells a Titan brand set that's made in China but quite
nicely done. If you want to chase one up on the web, bar code is
8 02090 16061 5. Dunno if they are still available since Ace started
carrying Craftsman.


Chuck

 

That was me. Turns out they weren't really security Torx bits after all. They did have a small depression in the tip so I thought they were what I needed.

I bought a real set of Torx (and just about every other bit you can imagine) from a computer repair web site.