Adk46

I should let someone more knowledgable talk about these plugs. They fit in a space that used to house the rear ends of the cam shafts. A switch to shorter cams meant that the oil supply to those spaces had to be blocked off.

They have fallen out on some cars. Each one that falls out lowers oil pressure a bit. Mine are where they're supposed to be. They've held for 29 years, so I'm expressing my appreciation for their loyal service by letting them continue.

The best fix, apparently, is using pins to block off the oil supply holes more directly. Those are listed in the spreadsheet as "cam oil block pins". I think the "camshaft end seal" is the item that falls out, but I'm not sure.

Adk46

I think I misunderstood you, Jeff. Never mind.

I did a little vacuum probing at the five-way splitter that is fed (sucked on) by the line to the throttle body. All held vacuum except the fuel pressure regulator (the thing on the starboard side, aft of the engine). I could pump it down to 10 on a Mity Vac, and it would drop to near-zero within 5 seconds. The other two fuel devices (dampers?) would hold 10 indefinitely.

I'll order a new regulator, unless someone can talk me out of it.

The line that disappears to the rear goes to my hard-shifting transmission? It holds vacuum, so that eliminates a couple of failure modes.

Adk46

Progress:

The order with Roger is all set. It's amazing: he had all the parts in stock.

I took out the heater valve. The actuator is good. Dwayne seemed concerned that his would pass water even when closed. I don't think it's designed to close off the flow completely; not necessary, and that would make it more prone to getting jammed. It looked clean inside, so I put it back in.

The crank position sensor is out. There are tales of woe over this. My engine seems generally less crudded up than most, so I was feeling lucky. I hit it with some penetrant, and about ten minutes later used an impact wrench (with universal and extension), and brattbratt it was out. I've been told impact is the safest way to get sticky bolts out, and I'm believing it.

From it's appearance, the CPS is fine, including the plug. Changing it anyway.

I have the FPR and FPD out. I'll replace the U shape hose between them, and the FPR; Roger confirms that if they don't hold vacuum, they're toast. I suppose the vacuum leak could correspond to a small internal fuel leak, adding a bit of fuel into the intake.

I think I'll work on the Sprite engine this afternoon, for contrast.

FredR

Are you going to hit the earth points while you are in there?

Rgds

Fred

Adk46

Those earth points are nearly invisible, so that's a good reminder, Fred. To all you folks who think you have cleaned up all your grounds - did you do these?

I must admit, I've never gone on a big campaign on my grounds. I've hit the ones I've encountered during other work, that's all. Never seen my CE panel, never touched a probe to a pin, and I'm not even sure where the EZK and LH computers are. I've been living an electrical dream.

Chalkboss

These are good ones to hit while you're in there. Very difficult when things are back together. Also inspect the wires as well- I found chafing through to bare wire on a section.

Bertrand Daoust

+1.

This is the best time to do those two in the back of the engine.
MP VIII and MP IX

MainePorsche

Ground point maintenance is mission critical in this car - all of them.
All can be accessed, some easier than others, without much work - the exception to this are points MPVIII and MP IX under the manifold deep in the 'V'. The ground points are the bolts into the block that hold the throttle cable pulley bracket. Your EZK and LH computers ground there. If you don't do them while the top is off, you will not do them until it is off again.

Captain_Slow

What does "ground point maintenance" mean fully? At a minimum I know it means removing the bolts, cleaning everything, maybe wire wheeling some things to remove corrosion to make good contacts. What else has this community determined are additional best practices to apply to points like Craig has shown above?

bureau13

Deoxit!

MainePorsche

Hey there Jon.
For addressing it the first time if the ends of the wires going in to the eye hook connectors look degraded, I cut them and re-crimp. For maintenance it is wire brush if needed, deoxidation, and I've started using dielectric grease over the ground points, and ends of the wires, on the points under the hood exposed to the elements - is good barrier protection.

dr bob

There are a few options for adding 'protection' to ground points. For grounds not on the engine, dielectric grease seems to be popular. I use Vaseline, since it comes off easily with detergent and water when desired, doesn't stain clothing as the silicone dielectric grease does, and... High dielectric strentgh isn't needed and really isn't wanted for these connections. Unfortunately, either grease will "melt"and run out under high heat conditions such as on the engine.

For the hard-to-get-to ground connections where they might be exposed to corrosive elements or even just moisture, plus the ones on the engine under the throttle area, I carefully mask around the bolts and spray them with a waxy spray battery terminal sealant. It's almost like cosmoline, except that it's already brown while cosmoline is pale yellow when applied. Once cleaned and sealed, I don't worry about those connections.

Use care when 'cleaning' ground points, particularly the wire connectors. They are tin-plated copper, with the tin adding a somewhat sacrificial protective layer to keep the copper from oxidizing. --Don't Go Through The Tin Layer-- with your brushes or sandpaper. I use a soft brass detailer's brush for this job if needed. Folks who put a steel wire brush in the Dremel may like the quick results, but may also get to redo this cleaning a lot if they breach the tin layer. Deoxit does a credible job on these connectors without risking the whole tin layer, so should be considered. Respect the plating on the body sections where ground connections are made for the same reasons.

Adk46

Good info on the grounds.

Today I did another cleaning cycle on the intake manifold; the ducts are pretty oily, blackened near the head end. Normal? Not easy to clean, gave up, and took it and other parts over to a guy near me that does powder coating. Not many things are near me, so this is remarkable. I'm doing the original color, either due to my frumpy nature, or the Originality Directive, or both. I might subtly enhance the "PORSCHE". He told me about the care he's going to take to keep sand out of the insides, and how he's going to scrub the insides afterwards as well. He'll be masking off all mating surfaces. I think he said he'd be putting on a clear coat after the silver.

I also contacted the plater some of you have used, Burbank Plating. They recommended the cadmium plating. I have some work to do to get the parts cataloged well enough to throw them in a bucket. I'll probably be tossing in any other stuff I can find, maybe items from the Sprite, which is in an exploded state. I believe there's room before I exceed the $200 minimum charge.

The powder coating guy showed me some of his own hardware that he'd given a clear coat. Just the heads of bolts. The 400F bake temperature probably does no unwanted tempering or annealing to intake hardware, but I wouldn't do it to high strength fasteners.

Hershey or bust!

dr bob

Curt--

The original intake color is a single-stage silver that did not have (but needed/deserved...) a clear protective topcoat. At the time I suspect that available/common clearcoats were prone to yellowing with the elevated engine bay temps, otherwise I can't think of a reason for the not using it originally. So... to clear or not to clear, that's the question.

and the plating...

Before we did the intake refresh, Rob shared a couple buckets of recently-plated hardware (yellow zinc...) to use/replace. I looked carefully at what was coming off (cad plated in OK condition) and the new stuff, and quikly decided that I would keep the original stuff. Not because it looked better than the newly-plated bits, but because those new bits would immediately make my carefully-aged original parts look like crap. I'd need to remove every exposed fastener and bracket visble when the hood is open, and replace or replate.

Moral: As you scrounge around to find stuff for the plating bucket, put the car up on stands and remove every originally-plated part you can see or find. All that engine bay stuff down to hose clamps and brackets for stuff. Steel fuel line and brake line sections. Nuts and bolts. Than work down and then towards the rear. Everything in the wheelwells, including the fasteeners that hold the liners in place and the little spring clips that hold the brake lines in place. And the metal brake lines, caliper through bolts and all the little hardware bits at the caliper. And the suspension fasteners. Move to the rear, repeat. Everything you don't plate now will bug you whenever you look at it.

From someone who is a bit AR about this stuff, use appropriate judgement when plating "a few" parts.

Adk46

I'm going to use the principles used in photo retouching. Improvement, not perfection. Know where the observer's eye travels, and focus on those areas. Consider ordinary observers, not other retouchers.

In any case, I'm too lazy to have OCD.